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“You can,” he said. I knew he was upset but then so was I. “I turned to Aiden and Luke. Sorry you guys you’ll have to find a way home tonight.”
Aiden hugged me. “Let us know how Abby is. Johnny will take us home.”
“I will?” He frowned at Aiden.
“Or let us spend the night?” Aiden suggested.
“If they notify my parents this happened, I might need to leave with you,” Johnny replied. “I’m supposed to keep order if I have a party.”
“Not your fault man,” Tyson informed him. “It’s mine. I’m supposed to protect my baby sister.”
I knew what they were thinking. The two of them were twins. He was older but not by much. We headed to my car at the middle of the long line of cars. I maneuvered my way out and drove down the street heading towards the highway.
Tyson and I were quiet at first. Then I said to him, “It really isn’t your fault Ty.”
“My mother blamed me.”
“She’s just upset.”
He shook his head, but I could tell that he didn’t believe me. These girls had been asking for trouble for a while. They had gone too far this time, hurting Abby as they had.
“Cal, I knew they were after her. I had heard rumors but man I didn’t think they would go that far. I should have been watching her closer.”
“What did you hear?” This was news to me. I had been caught up in Abby then Aiden maybe I had missed the White Oak Creek High School rumor mill too.
“Locker room gossip,” Ty replied. “Johnny told me first that he had heard the girls were planning something for Abby. I blew it off as typical high school bullshit.”
I gripped the steering wheel. No one had told me. My girlfriend was being targeted by these bitches and no one told me. “Then what?” I asked. “What else did you hear?” I looked at him. I knew there was mor
e.
“Aiden warned me that Luke had told him the girls were planning to jump her. I didn’t believe them.”
I slammed my fist into the steering wheel. “When did he tell you this?”
“Last week when he was hanging out one afternoon after school. It was when Luke left early for a dentist appointment.”
“Why didn’t you believe them?”
He shook his head over and over. “I don’t know, Cal. She’s quiet. She doesn’t bother anyone. Why? It made no sense to me.”
“They have been giving her a hard time since she started school,” I told him. “Don’t you remember what they did to her at Coach’s house?”
“I do but I thought that was more Aiden than anyone and he’s come around, so I didn’t know, man.”
“Did you see the bruises on her back and shoulder?” I didn’t wait for Ty to respond. “I did, Ty. I’m ashamed it was my friend that did it. He wouldn’t be my friend now if Abby hadn’t forced the issue. Trust me, Delia Art and her crew were throwing apples at Abby too. I know these girls.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “How bad is she, you think?”
“Bad Ty.” I flipped on the turn signal and took the exit for the hospital. “She had her head bounced off the concrete floor.” I choked on the last few words. “I wanted to bounce Delia’s head off the floor and I’ve never hurt a girl in my life.”
“I know what you mean Cal. I watched it but I couldn’t make myself believe it was Abby even though I saw her lying on the floor with my own eyes.”
I glanced at him quickly then back at the road. “It was her.” Those images of her before they took her away were killing me.
I turned into the emergency room entrance and parked in the lot across from the doors. The bright red lights signaling the entrance to the ER. We jogged across the parking lot to the double doors and they automatically opened.
In the lobby to the left were Mr. and Mrs. Gardener. “Mom, any word on Abby?” Ty asked.
