Chapter Thirteen--Friend Disputes---Angels Among Us/The Blessing

Chapter 13
Friend Disputes

Vanessa pulled out her cell phone and punched her father’s number in. She was furious; how could she have been so stupid? To think that Chad had really changed that fast had been wishful thinking on her part.
“Hello?”
“Hi dad, it’s me, can you come and pick me up?”
“Sure, I’ll be there is about five minutes.”
“Ok, see you then. And dad?”
“Yes?”
“Hurry.”
“Alright, see you in a minute.”
“Bye.”
She pressed the red button and hung up. After putting it back in her purse, she began praying fervently that Chad wouldn’t find her
And he didn’t. But Elizabeth did.
“Vanessa! What’s the matter? What did you mean by…”
“By me saying that he couldn’t have changed so quickly?”
“Yeah.”
“It all links back to why Mike is here, ok? Chad beat Mike up, ok? He beat him up so bad; he’s been here for a month. After the accident, he began feeling guilty, or so I thought, because his best friends had beaten me up. Apparently, however, I was mistaken. It just makes me angry that he is thinking about himself right now, and that he doesn’t seem to understand how much I care about this situation.”
Elizabeth stood there, now knowing and understanding why Vanessa had gotten so furious. She couldn’t believe that Chad had been the one who had landed Mike in the hospital.
Just then, Vanessa’s dad drove up and she jumped in the car. She waved by to Elizabeth and jumped into the car.
It was that night, a Saturday that Vanessa talked to her dad about the situation with Chad. The result was a very interesting conversation,
“Have you ever thought that maybe you could change Chad? Remember when the youth minister a few years ago that you should try to turn someone from their evil ways? And I remember you telling me that you would never know anyone who would be evil enough for you to change. Well, you now have a person to turn from evil.”
“But-.” Vanessa stopped short. She was about to argue, but had realized that she didn’t have anything to day, because her mother made perfect sense. As the phone rang and her mother ran out of the room, she began thinking about how she would be able to ‘convert’ Chad.
Then, she realized that there was one thing that she knew he didn’t know. She had even complained about this. He didn’t know the pain that she was going through. She went to her room and began to think up of ways to show Chad pain in a way that he would always remember. Just as she was pulling her notebook out so she could jot down ideas, there was a knock on her door.
“Come in.”
Her dad walked in,
“The phone’s for you.” He said.
Vanessa put the phone up to her ear,
“Hello?”
“Hey, Vanessa, this is Chad.”
“How did you get my phone number??” “Mike.”
“Just now?”
“No. It was a while ago.”
“What do you want?” Vanessa asked roughly.
“Can’t you use a nicer tone with me?” Chad asked.
“What?! Tone?? Who are you, my mother or something??”
“No.”
“Well, then what the hell do you want!!??”
“I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“For what? For making me feel like no one else except Elizabeth knows what I went and am still going through? You know what? I hope that someday, someone beats you up. Then, you can come to me and I’ll ask you one question. How does it feel? And then, if Mike is still alive, you can go and talk to him. And he will ask you the same question.”
Right before Vanessa was about to hang up on Chad, he said something,
“Wait! Don’t hang up on me yet. What do you mean by, ‘if Mike is still alive’?”
“Oh, don’t pull this with me! You know perfectly why!”
“No, I don’t, seriously. Tell me.”
“Because he’s in a coma! Haven’t you been wondering at all why he hadn’t woken up yet! Was your whole goal to cause skull and spine damage?? Because if that was, you certainly met it!”
With that, Vanessa hung up and flung herself down on her bed. Into her pillow, she screamed, then cried, then screamed, then cried some more. The thought that Mike could come out of that hospital with more physical disabilities than before the fight hurt her inside.

The phone rang again, and this time, she picked it up from her phone.
“Hello?”
She was surprised when she heard a weak voice at the other end of the line.
“Hey Vanessa.” It seemed to whisper.
Vanessa was confused.
“Who is this?” She asked, confused.
There was a long silence while the person on the other line had a fit of coughing. “Mike.” He said, weakly.

Vanessa couldn’t believe it. Mike was calling her.
“H-how did-.”
Mike seemed to know what he was saying,
“Elizabeth gave me your phone number.”
“Did you just wake up?”
“Yeah; Elizabeth was there and introduced herself. I was so confused. She said that you and Chad had argued, though she didn’t say why, and that you had left. Then, she gave me the phone number. I didn’t even ask; she just seemed to read my mind.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Was Vanessa’s reply.
There was a long pause, during which Vanessa searched her mind for something to say. She didn’t want to elaborate on the argument. Thankfully, Mike began first, and Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief,
“Who is Elizabeth?”
“She…I…We met when I came to see you.”
“Oh, she said that she met Chad first.”
“Yeah, she did. I-I sorta fainted when I first saw you. Chad carried me to the waiting area, where he met Elizabeth.”
“Oh.”
“She’s here because her friend is there also. We hit it off because we were both really worried about people who were there.”
“Oh,” Mike said again.
While Mike contemplated whether to bring up the argument, Vanessa wondered if he would.
“Did they do anything to you?” was Mike’s next question.
“Who?” asked Vanessa
“Chad.”
Vanessa gulped
“Uh, y-yeah.”
“How badly?” Mike asked, softly.
“The doctors said pretty bad.”
“I swear, someday, I’m just going to…”
“Mike, please,” Vanessa pleaded, “Don’t start with the whole, ‘I’m going to get him someday’ thing. Wait until you get better and then we can talk about it.”
“Okay. Say, how have things been at school lately?”
“Uh, Mike, it’s, um, sorta Christmas break. Christmas is on Wednesday.”
“Oh! What day is it now?”
“Monday.”
“Already? You’re kidding me! I guess I woke up just in time.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Mike sensed that something big was on Vanessa’s mind.
“You okay?”
“I guess. I-I just wish that you wouldn’t have to be in the hospital for Christmas.”
“Oh, yeah I kinda wish that I could be with a certain someone this Christmas.”
“Who?”
“You.”

“Y-You wish you were with me?”
That one word had sent shocks down her. He wanted to be with her! Someone needed her.
“Well, yeah. You’re my best friend. Of course I do.”
In a way, Vanessa felt stupid that she hadn’t come to that conclusion herself. However, after he said it, she could see the logic in his thinking. Then, she felt stupid that she wasn’t there. After thinking about just how much Mike wanted to see her, she made a conclusion that would, hopefully, be just right for the both of them.
“Okay, I think I have a solution that would work for the both of us. I’ll come by tomorrow to see you and to see Elizabeth and ask her about Josh. Then, I’ll also come Christmas day.”
“That sounds really good. That way, I won’t be all alone. But wait, who’s Josh?”
“He’s Elizabeth’s friend.”
“Alright. Listen, I have to go and call my parents. They don’t know that I’m up. See you tomorrow.”
Vanessa said bye and then hung up. She couldn’t believe that Mike had called her before his own parents.