Muse - Fighting Fate #1 (26 page)

Chapter 46

Mia

I was drawn to the music like a moth to a flame. It was soft and comforting, and its sweet melody was like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes there was a voice that sang along with it. Sometimes it was just the music. I liked the voice. It made me feel warm and protected.

I listened to it intently, fighting the darkness so I could find it, but just when I thought I might get there, it disappeared.

I struggled, disorientated, suddenly frightened of being trapped in the darkness, but then I heard my mom’s voice and the relief I felt was almost overwhelming.

The first thing I noticed was the brightness. The instant I opened my eyes a crack, I had to close them again. The next was a dull ache through the top of my head. I groaned.

“Mia?”

Mom. Oh, thank god. I opened my eyes again, but it still hurt so I kept them closed. “Too bright,” I tried to say, but my voice only came out like a gravelly rasp. Shit, my throat hurt.

“Hang on, just let me get the lights…”

I heard Mom moving around the room, then I saw the lights go dark on the other side of my lids. Carefully, I opened my eyes and blinked.

“Is that better?” Mom asked.

I turned my head so I could see her. She looked tired. She had dark circles under her eyes and her brow was wrinkled with worry. Panic washed over me. What was wrong? Why was she so obviously distressed?

A persistent beeping noise caught my attention. It was getting faster and faster.

“Are you okay, baby? How are you feeling?”

What? How as
I
feeling? I didn’t understand. What was going on? Looking around the room, I suddenly became aware of my surroundings and the beeping grew faster again. Was this a hospital room?

I looked down at myself and saw tubes attached to my arms. My gaze shot up to Mom’s, alarmed. “What happened?”

Before she could answer, the door swung open and a nurse swept into the room. She smiled when she saw me. “It’s good to see you awake, Miss Campbell.”

Awake? What did she mean?

The door opened again and I saw a doctor walk in. “Miss Campbell.” He grabbed a chart from the end of the bed and plucked a pen from his coat pocket. “How are you feeling?”

“My throat hurts.”

He smiled warmly. “Yes. I’m sorry about that. You’ve had a tube down your throat, so that’s expected I’m afraid.”

A tube? What? I was beginning to get a little frightened. What the hell happened to me?

He must’ve seen the panic on my face because his expression turned slightly more serious. “Mia, my name’s Dr. Sanders. Do you remember what happened to you? Why you’re here?”

I shook my head, tears pricking my eyes.

That warm smile touched his lips again, easing my worry a little. “It’s okay. That’s quite normal. It’s just your brain’s way of protecting you. It’ll come back when you’re ready. All you need to know for now is that you fell and hit your head. You got quite a nasty cut on your forehead-” He reached out and touched my forehead with his fingers to show me where. “But you’re all patched up now and well on your way to recovery.”

I fell? When? How? Where? It felt weird not to know these things.

“Let’s check you over and see how everything’s going,” Dr. Sanders said cheerily, pulling out his stethoscope.

I nodded, too confused to answer properly.

He spent the next few minutes looking me over and jotting things down on the chart. When he was done, he smiled again, seeming happy with what he’d found.

“Mrs. Campbell, may I have a word with you outside?”

I threw Mom a sharp look, wondering why he wanted to speak to her without me hearing, but she just gave me a comforting smile and followed the doctor out the door.

She returned a few minutes later, a slightly drawn look to her face. It worried me. What was wrong? I waited for the nurse to leave, then I pounced.
“How did I fall?”

“Just a little accident at school sweetheart. Don’t worry about it. Dr. Sanders said it’ll all come back to you when you’re ready.”

Stuff that. I wanted to know now. I didn’t see how it would hurt to tell me. “Well, I’m ready now, and I want to know.”

She blinked at the forcefulness of my tone and sighed.
“Apparently there was a big fight at school. I think you must’ve had an anxiety attack and fainted. You hit your head on a bench when you fell.”

Holy shit.

Mom sighed. “Yeah, the last few days have been very long. I think I’ve grown a few more grey hairs since Monday.”

Wait. What? “Monday? What day is it now?”

A guilty expression crept over her face. Obviously she wasn’t supposed to have mentioned that. “It’s Thursday, baby. They had to put you asleep for a few days to help you recover.”

A few days…?
I swallowed hard.

“Everyone’s been so worried. God, Aiden and Jace have been
like a couple of caged tigers,” she said, staring down at the comforter on my bed.

I blinked. What?
Jace? I could understand Aiden being distraught. God, I would be too if it were him, but Jace? That confused me.

“I
should tell them you’re awake,” she continued.

I stayed silent
. Mostly because I was so confused, but also because Mom often rambled when she was worried and I needed to know whatever she was going to spill.

“
They’re both so stubborn. The doctor told them you wouldn’t wake up until today but they both still insisted on sleeping here last night…”

Jace slept at the hospital last night? Now, this was just getting weird.

“You know I had my doubts when you told me you were dating Jace, but…” she shook her head. “He’s been worried sick. I’ve never seen anyone look so haunted before.”

I couldn’t stop the sharp intake of breath at her words
. What the hell was she talking about? I never told her I was going out with Jace.

Mom’s gaze snapped up to meet mine and her eyes
narrowed in confusion. She studied me for a few seconds before a slight panic came into her eyes. “Mia?”

I just stared at her. I couldn’t speak. There was no way I was dating Jace. No way. I shook my head.

“Why would you say that? I’m not going out with Jace.”

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

“Mom?” My voice had a slight hysterical sound to it.

Her mouth opened and closed a couple more times before she tried to place a calming expression on her face. “Don’t worry about it for now, sweetie. We’ll talk about it later when you’re not so disorientated.”

Hell no. She couldn’t drop that kind of bomb on me and expect me to just smile and continue on. I needed answers. And now.

I shook my head and stared at her hard. “No. I want to know now. I won’t be able relax until I know what the hell’s going on.”

Mom eyed the machine that was emitting the beeping sound and I realized it was growing faster and faster. She bit her lip nervously. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, baby girl. It’s obviously upsetting you.”

“Are you serious? There’s no way known I’m going to be able to calm down until you explain to me why you’d think I was going out with Jace.”

She watched me for a while, indecision flickering in her eyes.

“It
can’t be true, Mom. You know I’d never go out with Jace.”

“Okay, honey.”

Okay? No, it wasn’t okay. I hated being placated. I raised my chin in defiance. “Tell me then. Did you ever see us together?”

She stared at me for a fraction then gave a slight nod.

I gasped. “What?” The word came out a squeak.

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter right now, okay? Just concentrate on getting better and we’ll work it out later. Dr. Sanders said your memory will come back, so don’t think about it.”

Don’t think about it? How could I not think about it? This was huge. I thought about all the attention Jace got at school. The huge crowds that hung around him and the guys at lunch time. Shit. The beeping of the machine started to get even faster. Mom gave it another worried glance.

She moved closer and put her hand on my cheek. “Mia. Look at me. It’s okay. Just breathe
.”

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to blow it out slowly. Then I did it again. And again. Gradually, the beeping slowed. Mom smiled.

I shook my head. This was crazy. I felt like I’d woken in some space/time continuum or something.

“You really saw us together?”

She sighed. “Yeah, baby girl. I did.”

I swallowed hard. “How long have we been going out for?”

“You told me you’ve been serious for a couple of weeks.”

I stared at her for a long time, trying to get it all to make sense. I just couldn’t. It was just too far removed from what I knew to be true.

“When you saw us…” I started, not sure what I was asking. “I mean, you said I told you we were serious, so…how serious?”

Her gaze flickered with unease and she looked away nervously before meeting my gaze again. “You were pretty into each other.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and she looked away again. She was hiding something from me.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

She looked at me guiltily. “Nothing, baby.”

“Mom,” I barked. It made me feel bad, but I was getting pretty damned frustrated. “This is my life we’re talking about. I think I deserve to know. Please? Tell me.”

She exhaled shakily, the noise sounding incredibly distressed, but I couldn’t let it get to me. I needed to know what she was keeping from me.

“
We went to see Dr. Markey last Saturday so you could get contraception.”

My eyes almost bugged out my head.
I was speechless. That had been the last thing I would’ve thought she’d say.

I heard my breath coming and going, my ears kind of blocked. I think I was in shock.
The pill? Seriously? What freaking planet was I on? There was no way I could’ve been considering sleeping with Jace.

Mom cursed, something she never did, and squeezed her eyes shut in a long blink. She was clearly distressed.
I knew she wouldn’t lie to me, but what she was saying was completely impossible. Jace and I had hardly even said two words to each other in the last four years. I was sure he didn’t even know I existed. How could we have gotten so close in such a short amount of time that I would be comfortable dating him?

Dating. Jace. Oh. My. God.

“I…” My head was so screwed up. I had no idea what to even say. “Okay.”

Mom frowned at me. “Okay?”

I think I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for telling me.”

Mom looked even more worried than before. “Are you alright?”

I felt like laughing. One of those really hysterical laughs that needed someone to slap them to stop.  “Sure.”

Mom shifted uncomfortably in her chair, eyeing me wearily.

“Can I see Aiden?”

She took a deep breath as she watched me and slowly nodded her head. “Sure, baby girl. I’ll go get him now.”

She stood and leaned over to kiss me on the forehead before heading for the door. Before she walked out, she turned to look back at me. “Did you want to see Jace?”

The panic that surged inside me was instantaneous.
The thought of Jace coming to see me was terrifying. I’d never even really had a conversation with him. I shook my head. “No. I…can’t.”

Mom nodded sadly.
“Okay, baby. It’s fine.”

I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself down. “Tell him…tell him
, I’m sorry…”

She nodded. “
I’ll send Aiden in.”

“Okay
.” I breathed, long and slow. Aiden I could handle.

Chapter 47

Jace

Aiden and I were sitting in the waiting room when Kaeli walked in, scowling and tense. “They’re running an investigation at school,’ she announced bitterly.

“What?” I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I thought everyone involved had been suspended.

“It’s all bullshit. Everyone already knows what happened.”

I looked over at Aiden, seeing the same confused expression on his face. He raised his eyebrows
. “You’ve lost me…”

Kaeli threw herself down on a lounge and huffed. It was obvious she was pissed. “I spoke to Ryan just before. He said when he arrived at school this morning, Corey came to ask him if Mia was okay. They talked for a little while, and Corey mentioned how he thought it was strange that C
oach Anderson would ask Mia to come to see him in the gym if the Grunge Guys were in there.”

I hadn’t really thought about how Mia had ended up in the gym. With everything that’d been going on, I’d forgotten about it.

“When Ryan asked him what he meant, Corey told him that Melissa had been looking for Mia because Coach wanted her to tell Mia to meet him in the gym.”

I straightened in my seat, my brain switching to high alert. “
Melissa told Corey that Coach wanted to see her in the gym?”

Kaeli nodded, still looking incredibly pissed off.

I frowned, thinking. “There’s no way Melissa would pass on a message to Mia. She’d purposely not do it just to spite her.”

Aiden grimaced. “When we were in the waiting room downstairs,
Ryan said the basketball team had gotten wind that the Grunge Guys were going to destroy their stuff so they went on a rampage to find them.”

I n
odded. “Yeah, someone said the Grunge Guys were pissed because someone from the team had put something on their cars.”

Kaeli smiled humorlessly. “Yeah, but it wasn’t anyone from the basketball team that did it. It was
Melissa. April saw her do it.”

What the fuck?!

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Melissa set it all up?”

Kaeli nodded. “That’s what everyone’s figuring out now. Apparently
Melissa put some offensive note on the Grunge Guys cars then happened to mention to someone who knew them that she saw some of the basketballers doing it. When she made sure the Grunge Guys were good and pissed, and heard of their plan to destroy the guys’ equipment, she told Jordan. Once she knew Jordan and the guys were out for blood, she sent Corey off to find Mia to deliver the message that Coach wanted to see her in the gym. The end result? Two very angry groups of guys and one very fragile girl with a fear of angry crowds.”

I felt fucking sick. What the hell kind of person did shit like that?

“What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with that girl?” Aiden spat. “I swear to god, the next time I see that chick she’s going to wish she were never born.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Kaeli said snidely. “Everyone
more or less knows now, and if what Ryan says is true,” She looked at her watch. “She’s going to be feeling it right about now.”

I was
lost for fucking words. I couldn’t believe someone could be so vindictive. I mean, she almost cost someone their fucking life! Did she not have a fucking conscience? I wanted to grab her by her scrawny little neck and choke the life out of her.

Kaeli sighed and stood up. “I need coffee. You guys want any?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Aiden said, anger still audible.

I shook my head. “Nah. I’m good.”

I watched Kaeli slip from the room before slumping back on the lounge. “I knew that chick was going to be trouble.”

“She’d wanna fucking hope she doesn’t cross my path for a really long fucking time,” Aiden growled, looking ready to rip someone’s head off.

We sat there in silence for a while, trying to let the news sink in. It was a difficult thing to swallow. Mia was the sweetest, most loving person I knew. It was almost impossible to think anyone could hate her so much.

The door to the waiting room opened and Lillian stepped inside, her eyes immediately pinned to us as she closed the door behind her. The look on her
face had me instantly on edge. Aiden must’ve seen it too because I felt him tense beside me.

She came forward and took the seat across from us, giving each of us a worried look before speaking. “She’s awake.”

The relief I felt was smothered by the constant worried look on Lillian’s face.

“Is she okay?” Aiden demanded.

“She’s good. Fine.” She swallowed. “She’s a little confused. She’s having trouble remembering some things…”

I nodded. That sounded normal. Right?

“The doctor says that’s normal for her type of injury, and the missing pieces should come back when she’s had time to recover.”

“Okay, good. So other than that, she’s okay?”

I heard Aiden’s question, but the worried look on Lillian’s face had me feeling uneasy.

She sighed, fiddling her fingers nervously.
When she looked up and met my gaze, my breath froze. “Jace…”

I didn’t know what she was going to say, but I instantly wanted to tell her not to say it.

“Jace…she doesn’t remember being with you…”

Her words hit me like a brick. I felt the shock go through me
Felt it shutting my brain down to protect me from the hurt. She didn’t remember being with me? How was that possible? I closed my eyes as though that would somehow take the pain away, then dropped my head into my hands.

I felt Aiden slump back in his seat. “Fuck.”

I’d been preparing myself for different scenarios when she woke up, but this hadn’t been one of them. How could it have? It was a fucking nightmare. Everything we’d gone through, everything we’d shared. Wiped from existence like it’d never happened. How was I supposed to deal with that? How was I supposed to accept it?

“Can I see her?” I asked. I didn’t even recognize my voice. It was broken and full of pain.

“She needs time, Jace. It’ll work out. You just have to give her time.”

She hadn’t answered my question. I looked up to meet her gaze, asking with my eyes.

“She can’t, sweetie. She’s not ready to face you yet.”

Aiden groaned and let his head fall back on the lounge, his eyes scanning the ceiling as he ran his hands over his head.

I thought I’d felt despair before. But I was wrong. I hadn’t known it before this moment. What was I supposed to do with this? Where did I go from here? My new found reason for living didn’t know me – not like I needed her to.

My chest ached. It hurt so fucking much.

“Aiden, she wants to see you though. She’s pretty distressed right now. Try not to talk about things she can’t remember unless she wants to, okay? That’s what Dr. Sanders has recommended.”

A lump grew in my throat. I felt Aiden watching me. I knew he was torn between going to see Mia and being there for me. I could feel his worry, but I couldn’t ease his concer
ns. My whole world had just tilted on its axis, and I was now upside down.

I had no idea how the fuck
I was going to get through this.