The next day, Tuesday, Aaron didn't want to go to school.

"I'm going to stay with Mandy," he said firmly to Joanna.

"But Aaron, honey you can't stay home!" the poor woman tried to convince him.

"I'll call them up, okay? Just please don't argue with me right now," he said in exasperation.

Joanna sighed, looking helpless.

"Aaron maybe you- "

I began but he wouldn't hear of it.

"No, Ashley, Joanna for the last time I am not going anywhere. Drop it," he said with finality.

"Fine."

"But you need to go.Okay?" Joanna told me sternly.

"But that's not-"

"Stop being childish,Ashley.Finish your breakfast and go to school," Aaron told me, sternly.

I knew I was acting stupidly but I really did want to stay with Amanda.I figured Aaron wanted some time alone with his sister so I gave in.

"Okay," I huffed, grabbing an apple and got up to leave."Take care," I muttered quietly as I walked outside.

"Yeah," he mumbled,rubbing his eyes.I could tell that he hadn't slept all night.

Sighing I got into the car when I heard a tap at the window.

Surprised, I rolled it down to find Joanna.

"Ashley,don't worry about them sweetie. They've been through a lot together.Aaron knows how to handle her," she said reassuringly and I nodded.

"Yeah.Thanks Jo," I smiled at her before the car left the Woods' driveway.

***

"You're really quiet today," Cole commented as the teacher scribbled something on the blackboard.

I glanced at him and shrugged.

"Where's your lover boy today?"

Glaring at him I said,"He's not," I paused,"that. He had to..um..take care of something. "

Cole raised an eyebrow looking suspicious. "Come on, tell me."

I shook my head."It's nothing, Cole."

"Fine, you don't wanna tell me, I get it. I'm here if you wanna talk though," he said with a wink.

I couldn't help the smile creeping up on my lips."Thank you."

The rest of the day went by incredibly slowly. I couldn't concentrate on anything. My mind kept wandering to Aaron and Amanda.

As soon as the bell rang, I jumped out of the seat and walked outside looking for Trent.He was my ride today.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait for long because he just came a minute later, and shot me a smile when he saw me.

I tried my best to return his smile but I probably looked like something had died inside my mouth.

"Okay tell me what's going on," Trent said when he reached and put his hand on the hood of his car.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to play the fool.

"Ashley Forbes, I know you better than you know yourself and I know something is bothering you. So come on, out with it."

I stared at him for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and telling him everything.

"Oh.That's... she must be a mess," he frowned.

I nodded."And ever since we found her yesterday,everyone has been really disturbed, you know. Especially Aaron-you should've seen the look on his face when-What?" I stopped when I realised Trent was smiling at me like a creep.

"Nothing," he chuckled.I smacked him upside the head.

"You really are violent," he said, wincing.

"Yeah whatever.Can we leave now?" I asked, impatient to get home.

"Hop in," he said.

Once I was home,the house was eerily quiet.

Quietly, I tiptoed to Amanda's room to find her staring at the television screen in front of her.

I wasn't sure if it would be okay for me to talk to her just yet.I needed to get an update about her from Aaron.

So I went to his room and knocked twice, and entered when he still hadn't opened the door.

As I crept in, I noticed him sitting on the bed,shirtless with his head in his hands.

"A-Aaron?" I said uncertainly.

His head snapped towards me."Ashley?"

I nodded , slowly walking closer to him.

"You okay?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He shook his head."Amanda ... She's just not talking to me.I don't know what to do Ashley," he sighed.

I had never seen him this stressed.

I didn't know what to say to him .I'd always been shit at consoling people.

"It's okay, Aaron.She probably just needs some time alone . She'll be fine," I tried to assure him.

I mean she would be...Right?

***

The next day, Joanna forced all three of us : Aaron, Amanda and me to go to school.

Although Amanda had been more than reluctant about going to school, Joanna had managed to persuade her by putting on her "scary" face as she liked to put it.

We were all trying to get her to smile but it was all in vain.She barely even looked at me once, let alone talk to me.

She said a few words to Aaron and Joanna, and by few I really mean a few.

Aaron insisted on going all the way to Amanda's school to drop her.

"Bye Mandy, I love you," Aaron said as Amanda got off but she barely gave him a nod before going inside.

Aaron sighed.

"She needs time, Aaron. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"I know...It's just that I have never seen her like...this."

"Guess she was really in love with him," I muttered softly making Aaron snap his head towards me.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head."Nothing."

***

We had Chemistry when it happened.

The teacher rambled on and on about something lame as usual and I kept glancing worriedly at Aaron. He really, really wasn't himself today.

He looked at me when I was already looking his way and I wanted to look away in embarrassment, but for some reason I kept looking at him as did he.

"You okay?" I mouthed.

What a stupid question to ask.Of course he wasn't.

He shrugged in reply.

Sighing I looked away, wondering what I could do to help the siblings.

It was killing me to see them like this.I could only imagine what Aaron and Amanda were going through.

"Mr.Woods?" a voice said, making me snap out of my thoughts

It was Paula, the receptionist standing at the door.The second I saw her, I knew something was wrong.

I worriedly looked at Aaron who stared at Paula, a blank look on his face.

"Yeah?" he asked, getting up from his seat.

The entire class was staring at him.

Paula had a sympathetic look on her face.

Something was wrong.Something was very, very wrong.

"You've been called to the office."

He nodded, looked at me with an alarmed look and left.

"Mr.Graham I need to go, too," I said with urgency, without thinking, to the Chemistry teacher.

"Please sit down, Ms.Forbes."

"Sir, this is really really important," I said desperately , trying not to shout at the greying man stood in front of me.

He somehow seemed to get that something was wrong so he nodded, to my relief. "You may leave. "

I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran as fast as my legs would take me to the Principal's office.

It was quiet for a while as I stood outside the door, and without being able to wait, I barged inside.

Three heads snapped towards me as soon as I walked in.

"Ms.Forbes, what are you-" Mr.White, the principal began.

"-Sir, please tell me what's wrong," Aaron cut him off looking panicked.

A pained look crossed Mr.White's face."Mr.Woods...I'm afraid your sister has met with an accident.We got a call just now from the hosp-"

"What?" he whispered, his face turning pale.

"Please calm down, I-"

"I need to go," Aaron said, cutting him off yet again.

Before another word could be spoken, Aaron dashed out of there, with me right behind him.

"Aaron!"

"Aaron, wait up!" I yelled.

But he was running, he was running really fast.

"Stop!" I yelled louder now and he finally stopped in his tracks.

"You can't run all the way to the hospital! Calm the hell down," I panted as I finally reached him.

"Like hell I can't!" he barked, turning to run away again but I yanked him back.

"We need to get a cab, okay? Relax," I said, trying to calm my own nerves.

I looked around then, and to my surprise I found a cab waiting to our left.

Mr.White must have called someone up.

We jumped inside as he drove off.Ten very long minutes later, we finally reached the hospital.

We didn't even have to pay the cab driver, Mr.White had apparently already payed him.

We both ran inside the hospital, panting. "Woods.Amanda Woods," I said breathlessly to the woman at the counter.

She pushed a few buttons on the computer,"She's in room 506 but you'll have wait till the doctor is done with her," she said in a monotone.

"Like fuck I'll wait!" Aaron yelled at her and I had to put my hand over his mouth to shut him up and pull him aside, while apologising to the woman.

"Aaron, calm down," I said, putting my hands on his arms in an attempt to relax him.

He was breathing rapidly, his hair dishevelled and eyes wide with panic.

He didn't speak.He nodded silently and I made him sit down.We waited for what seemed like hours before the woman Aaron had previously yelled at, said it was okay to see her.

Together,we hurried into the elevator.Ages seemed to pass before we finally reached the room.As soon as Aaron was about to push the door open though, a doctor came up to us.

"Mr.Woods?" he asked.

Aaron silently nodded,looking at me for a millisecond before turning to face the doctor again.

"You're her brother, I assume?"

"Yeah," he replied impatiently. "How is she?"

"Mr.Woods, your sister seems to be a very lucky young lady.She has only fractured her leg, and there are bruises all over her body but she'll be fine, soon.Had she hit her head...Well, let's not go there. You don't need to worry . She'll need a few weeks of bed rest, but other than that she's alright."

Thank God it wasn't anything serious. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, can we see her?" I spoke, in place of Aaron who still seemed to be having a hard time absorbing the information.

He nodded,"She might be asleep though," he said and left us on our own.

We then entered the room Amanda was in.She was sleeping,like the doctor had said.

Her arms, though, were covered with bruises.I resisted the urge to run out of the room.

Aaron gasped when he caught sight of her."Mandy..."he whispered.

I wanted to say something to comfort him but I didn't know what to say so I kept quiet.

Slowly, he walked over to his sister and sat down on the chair kept beside the bed.

Sensing that he needed some alone time with her, I left the two alone.Besides, it was too overwhelming for me to go through.

After about ten minutes, Aaron finally came out of the room. He still looked like he had after going in there, but the frown on his face had deepened.

"You okay?" I asked hesitantly as he sat down next to me.

"I don't know."

"Everything will be fine soon."

"I know..I just-I feel like..like..I've failed her as a brother," he buried his head in his hands.

"No way! Are you crazy? I'd kill to have someone to care for me as much as you care for her.And just to be clear, you did not fail her.Things..happen and there are some things no one can prevent.Especially things like this.So don't blame yourself or I'll kick your ass.Okay?"

He pulled his head out of his hands and looked at me blankly for a few seconds before saying,"And you say you're not good at comforting people."

***

T