I've been here for an hour and a half and still, Casey hadn't shown her face. I wondered if I was being too paranoid or if it was okay that I had been worrying this much about my girlfriend. I grit my teeth as I watch the door of the gymnasium.

When I arrived and hadn't spotted Casey with Desire or her friends, immediately worry settled in my heart. I asked and the answer I received was along the lines of 'She told me she couldn't pick me up, so I don't know where she is.'

And I knew she was telling the truth but I wanted something more that could settle this aching in my chest. "This is probably the best proms I have been to since I've worked here" Mr. Andrews smiles as he sips on his non-alcoholic beverage. I turn my head in his direction, just in time to spot two teenagers next to the punch, emptying the contents of a silver flask into the liquid.

I glance at the man beside me, wondering if I wanted to be the bad guy and snitch on the kids. I dismiss the action, not entirely bothered with the idea of teenagers letting loose and having some fun. It wasn't like they weren't already drinking. I spotted several boys already sharing a flask in the corner of the gym.

It was too many students to worry about. I was only here to make sure things wouldn't get out of control. The man beside me heads back over to the punch, refilling his cup. Well, he's about to figure out the punch has been spiked.

My eyes leave him and land on Emily and Sophia dancing in the back of the gym. I make my way to the couple. The two were too immersed in each other they hadn't noticed my presence. I press my hand between their stomachs pushing them apart, "The appropriate distance is 3 inches. You two are practically fucking back here" I joke teasingly.

Emily flicks me off, pushing me away as she hugged her wife. I chuckle awkwardly as they get a bit too touchy-feely. "Where's your girlfriend? I thought you two would've snuck off by now" the blonde questions glancing around.

I scratch the back of my neck, "I'm not sure. She didn't arrive with Desire like I thought and she hasn't called me. I'm trying my hardest not to freak out but I'm freaking out."

Sophia eyes me cautiously and I smile nervously. "I'm fine, I'm just scared. I don't think I'm going to have an episode. I think I should call her."

I pull out my phone, ready to dial her number. I jump and curse as my phone falls from my hands as I get a call. I pick my phone up from the gym floor and glance at the caller ID. My heart jumps in my throat as I see Cassandra's name on my screen. I glance at Emily and Sophia before cautiously answering the phone.

"H-hello?" I answer, heart beating harshly against my ribcage.

There's nothing on the other line for the first 40 seconds of the call. I pull the device from my ear, checking to see if she had hung up. Maybe it was a butt dial. I bring the phone back to my ear just in time to hear her voice panicking. "Dammit, breathe Casey! Breathe."

My vision unfocuses as I recognize the sound of sirens in the background. "Fuck!" Cassandra cries, "C'mon sis, you can't give up on me. Fucking breathe."

"C-Cassandra? Cassandra what's going on" I question, my voice shaking as I think of the worst-case scenario. I was just freaking out, right? Nothing was wrong. Casey was just choking on a carrot, right? Nothing was wrong.

I wait for the older sibling to speak to me but she doesn't. "Ma'am I need you to step away so we can help her." My mind is racing with a million thoughts as I try to make sense of the situation. I hang up the call and inhale, calling the woman again and hoping this time she'd answer and give me details.

She does. On the third try, but it doesn't matter. I exit the gym with Emily and Sophia following behind me. "Cassandra!" I hiss at the girl, getting her to pay attention to me. "What happened? You called me earlier but I couldn't hear what was happening and... is Casey okay?"

"Casey... is, Casey's going to the hospital" she spoke. She sounded stunned almost as if the situation hadn't fully registered with her. "Hospital? What happened?"

She stammers over her words, "I don't. I-- she called-- highway... car crash. Casey. Casey's in the hospital. Her heart... she stopped breathing. She- she- she stopped breathing. My little sister died."

I stop and try to make sense of her words as I pace in front of the gym doors. "Cassandra I need you to speak in complete sentences. Tell me what happened to Casey. Why is she going to the hospital?"

Emily and Sophia glance at me, wondering what exactly was going on. I wave them away, my focus on getting details from Cassandra. "I can't talk Kathryn. I have to make sure she's okay. I have to make sure she's alive."

"Alive?" I hiss but the call ends. I can't help but groan as I stop myself from destroying my phone. I inhale sharply and exhale. I need to calm down or else I'll start hyperventilating. I pace in front of the doors as I try to make sense of the little sentences Cassandra managed to get out. I couldn't entirely be upset with her, whatever was happening was obviously a lot for her to handle.

Car crash. She mentioned a car crash, on the highway. I stop and glance at the rocky ground. "Kathryn?" Emily questions, grabbing my attention.

I sigh and look at the blonde and her wife, "We need to get to the closest hospital. I need to look for Casey and Cassandra."

The two women eye me in confusion. "I'm not too sure either. But we need to hurry. Please."

- - - - -

We searched the nearest hospitals, with no luck at each one. It didn't make sense, Casey was supposed to be heading to the school for prom, so why would she be in a hospital further away from the school?

My ringing phone grabs my attention and I answer immediately. "Cassandra?" I questions, hoping to get details and good news only. "She's fine. We had a little scare but she's fine. There are no broken bones, she did have a heart attack but nothing else major. She's got a few scratches, flesh wounds, and a concussion, but she's fine now. She's going to be really sore when she wakes up."

I smile softly, feeling relieved. "Where are you? I've been searching the whole city for you two" I spit.

She hums and I hear her speaking with a nurse for the address. "Yeah, we're at Southwest Memorial Hermann."

I frown, "Why so far? She was supposed to be at the school."

Cassandra sighs, "I'm not all too sure either. I only got a few words from her before she..." she trails unable to finish her sentence. "Just get here and maybe we can figure it out. She's been in and out of sleep maybe you'll catch her when she wakes up." Once the call ends I give Emily the address and we head towards the hospital.

45 mins of overthinking and we arrive at Southwest Memorial Hermann. Cassandra meets us outside, her face looking tired as she pulled me into a hug. "My parents are here. Casey hasn't woke up for more than 5 minutes, so we're still in the dark about the details."

I nod my head and follow her to the 8th floor.

My heartbeat slows as I spot Christian exiting a room, his face somber. He picks up his head, eyes immediately landing on me. I frown at his expression, not liking the atmosphere one bit. "How is she?" I question as Cassandra leads Emily and Sophia to the waiting room.

The man wipes his face, "She's fine. She's been asleep since we got here. Why wasn't she at prom? Did you two fight again?"

I shake my head, not entirely sure why she wasn't at the school either. "I don't know. Can I go in?" I question turning towards Casey's door. He nods his head, walking off in the direction Cassandra and my friends disappeared to. I take a shaky breath as I turn the knob and enter the room.

My eyes land on the unconscious Casey Kings in her hospital bed. She had bandages all over her body but I was glad I hadn't seen any of her body parts hidden by a cast. I close the door behind me before making my way to the chair that was already placed beside her bed.

I sit, my eyes taking in her bandaged body. I was happy that nothing major happened, except the heart attack. Reaching over, I place my hand on hers, my thumb rubbing patterns into her soft skin.

Silence is the only thing floating around the room as I watch my girlfriend in confusion. What was she doing? How come she wasn't in that gym with her friends? How come she was laying in this hospital bed with IVs inserted in her hand. I wondered a lot of things.

Why was she so far from the school? Why hadn't she called me? Why did she have a heart attack? If there was one thing I knew it was that Casey's a healthy girl. She prides herself on her health. So why?

I remove my hand from hers and scoot the chair closer for a better examination of her face. I sigh as I notice a cut starting just below her left nostril and moving past her lips, ending at her chin. Why was she cut? This wasn't something that happened from a car crash.

This was a cut from a knife. I furrow my brows and glance over her body, looking for any similar cuts. I remove the blanket and lift her gown. My eyes scan over her nude body. I notice matching cut marks on her torso.

"Taking advantage of a hospitalized girl is way worse than grooming your student" I hear.

My eyes land on Casey's recognizable brown eyes. She licks her chapped lips and smiles at me, but I couldn't reciprocate her feelings at this moment. I sigh and fix her gown and blanket before exiting the room to find a nurse.

I made my way to the waiting room to get everyone. "I feel like she only wakes up if Kathryn's here. I feel betrayed" Cassandra tries to make light of the mood. I chuckle in agreement. From my knowledge, Casey had been in and out of sleep since she got here and suddenly she wakes for more than 3 minutes the moment I get here.

Once the nurses got everything they needed they left, giving us privacy until visiting hours would be over. Casey glances around the room, "You guys are acting like it's my funeral. Please stop looking at me like that" she chuckles, lifting up.

My eyes follow her. When she notices the hostility in the room she sighs. "Can you guys at least sit down? You all hovering over me like this is making me very uncomfortable."

They do as she requests. Cassandra sits in the chair by her bed as her parents and my friends take the couch by the window. I remain standing, not bothered by her tone as I stand next to her bed. I lean on the counter, never taking my eyes off of her. She rolls her eyes at me before scooting over and patting the spot beside her cutely.

I shake my head but she's persistent that I take a seat. I finally give in and she smiles, throwing her arm around my shoulders. "Are you okay?" I question noticing her trying not to wince at the sudden movements. She nods her head with a wide grin.

"Are you going to tell us why the hell you weren't at the school? Why the hell were you even on the southwest?" Christian hisses, not pleased with his daughter.

Casey winces at his tone. "I'm not sure I want to tell you. You might wake the whole neighborhood with how much you're yelling."

Cassandra chuckles at her sisters' sarcasm but the rest of us don't find anything funny. Christian had a right to yell, he was worried. I mean he had to stop whatever he was doing to come to the hospital for his youngest daughter. I know, no parent would ever want to do that. They'd much rather have to deal with them drunk than having to go to the hospital.

"Casey this isn't a joking matter. Aren't you aware of where you are?" her mother questions. The brown-skinned girl beside me sighs, nodding her head.

She doesn't say anything as she gathers her words. Her eyes land on each and every one of us, me being the last pair of eyes she takes in before spitting out her words. "I went to go see Rai" she answers honestly.

The room is silent, allowing all of us to let her words sink in. I quickly reach over and pinch her leg causing her to wince and remove my fingers. "What the hell is wrong with you? Have you seriously not thought about why I didn't want you to see him?" I hiss slapping her leg.

The girl whines and forces my hand away from her. We finally take into realization that no one else was speaking.

Her parents didn't need to speak, I could feel the anger coming from their glares. Cassandra couldn't even look at her sister. Emily and Sophia just eyed the girl in disbelief.

"Look I'm sorry. I know you all told me not to get involved with him but he called me and I'm not the person who cowers when someone threatens me. Kathryn and I have been through so much in just a short span of 6 months. He's been harassing and threatening us and I was tired. I was already trying so hard not to attack him when I saw what he had done to her. I'm sorry. I know you're all mad but I don't regret my decisions."

Casey removes her arm from around my shoulder, grabbing my hand. She pulls it up to her lips.

"I wasn't planning for it to end this way. I was just going to go see him and maybe negotiate but he showed me the pictures he had of us and he threatened to send it to Principal Espinoza. I snapped."

She sighs, eyes down on our intertwined fingers. "I punched him and we fought a little. He got the upper hand when he went for his pocket knife. He got me a few times but they were only flesh wounds. He pushed me down and I hit my head on his table, I'm guessing that's why my head is booming so much."

I should've dealt with Rai before all of this happened. I felt guilty for not informing Casey about my resignation. Maybe had I done so, she wouldn't feel responsible to deal with him. "When I came to, he was in the restroom and his phone was on the counter. So I took his phone and I left. But he followed me. I don't know how he even caught up with me."

"Everything was happening so fast the next thing I knew my car was upside down in the middle of the freeway. I don't remember who pulled me out I tried to call you guys but I passed out. Or died, as the nurses insist happened. I woke up here."

I lean my head on the girl's shoulder, happy that she was still here and not resting somewhere in the morgue. She was lucky. Way too lucky. I hide my face away from the others as I feel my tears roll down my cheeks.

I'm so happy she's okay.