The next day, I went to school again like any other day. Emily, Jessica, Amy, Nancy, Sylvia, and Rosemary attacked me on the spot. They gave me sympathy over my arm and cried at the thought of Taylor and the accident. I didn't cry with them. Instead, I looked down at my arm and stared at the two signitures scribbled on it.
There was one from Zac and a new one from Ike. It made me smile with the thought that they cared about me. I told my friends the whole story of how I escaped to the hospital and got grounded for it.
They all looked like they were about to pass out after that. I guess they'd never known me to do something so wild like running away from home to the other side of town. Well, I wouldn't consider it that bad, but let's face it, I'm not like that.
Towards the end of school I was sitting in math class doing problems from our text book when the secretary came onto the intercome and asked the teacher to send me to the office.
Now what? I asked and felt myself tense up. The whole class snickered. It usually meant that you did something wrong when you were sent in the middle of class.
I took the hall pass and slowly made my way down the hall. I took all my time and stepped on all the cracks. I did it to slow my pace and to brake my mother's back.
When I finally reached the school's main office, the secretary looked up from her work and smiled at me. "Someone's here to see you," she said kindly and pointed behind me.
I turned around. "Zac?" I asked in confusion when I spotted him sitting in a chair. He gave me a huge toothy smile.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
He stood up and walked over to me. "I've got something to tell you," he said calmly. I laughed.
"You made me come here in the middle of class so you could tell me something?" I smiled to myself and laughed a little more. "That's the funniest way I've ever gotten out of math class before. A celebrity had to tell me something!"
I noticed Zac wasn't joking along with me. "Zac? What's up?"
He looked down. "It.. it.. it's about Taylor," he said and bit his lower lip. My smile fadded and I stopped laughing.
"What happened?" I asked nervously.
"The hospital called us at home. They said... he... Tay.. he..."
"He what?" I asked frantically.
I searched Zac's expression for clues to what was going on. Had something bad happened to Taylor? Had he....? I couldn't even think of it. What happened? Zac continued to play with his fingers nervously. I felt my breathing speed up.
"Zac, tell me. What happened to Taylor?"
"He.. he.. he..." Zac sputtered. I nodded to show him I wanted him to go on.
"He.. he... he.." Zac looked up at me and I saw a small twinkle in his eyes. "He woke up."
At first I didn't think I heard straight. Had Zac just said that he woke up? Was that right?
"What?!" I asked now very confused.
"He woke up. Taylor woke up. The doctor's said he's going to be okay!" Zac said in a now excited voice.
I felt my breathing stop short. Taylor was okay! He was fine and awake in his bed at the hospital. I've got to sit down, I thought to myself and felt my stomach churn.
"Isn't that great?" Zac yelled in my face.
But I couldn't answer, because at that moment, I passed out right on the floor.
* * *
"Jen? Hey Jen?" I heard a voice in the distance. My vision was all blurred and I couldn't see straight. What had just happened?
"Jennifer! Wake up! It's me, Zac!"
Ouch, my head I thought as I looked around. I was on a chair in the school's office with a secretary on one side and Zac on the other.
"What happened? My head hurts," I said groggily.
"Here's some ice," the secretary said and handed me a package.
"You fainted," Zac told me with amusement in his voice.
"I did what?"
"You fainted when I told you that Taylor was okay."
I smiled. He's okay! Taylor's going to be out of the hospital. He's fine. He's awake, my mind sung out. I leaped up out of the chair and hugged Zac with all my might.
"Ouchies! Put me down, you're squeezing me and I can't breathe," Zac said like he was about to burst.
"Sorry," I told him in a squeaky voice. With all the excitment building up inside me, I gave Zac a quick peck on the cheek and said, "I can't believe it! Taylor! Ahhh! Don't ever scare me like that again!"
"Ewww!" I heard Zac cry out in disgust. "You kissed me!"
"I know," I told him. When he looked at me strangely, I laughed and said, "Oh, don't be such a big baby!"
We both burst out into halrious laughter and ran out of the building to the Hanson's van. Who cares about my school stuff? It would just have to wait at school until tommorow. I was going to see my Tay baby!