Page 16 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)
Sunaina was in the ninth grade and had been in the middle of her chemistry lab class this morning when she threw up all over her beakers. The solution hadn’t turned blue as it was meant to.
Virat lay in his bed in the corner of the infirmary watching as her parents rushed in to fuss over her. They’d flown in as soon the school had informed them about her supposed stomach bug.
It had been five days since he’d collapsed from the infection caused by the burn on his shoulder.
His father hadn’t come. He’d heard the nurse telling his father that Virat had been admitted in the hospital for a day for an intravenous antibiotic.
And then he’d watched her face tighten with whatever response she’d received.
There had been no call to his mother. Which wasn’t surprising since no one knew who she was. Not even Virat. And his father’s wife would rather see him rot in a shallow grave than turn up at his bedside.
His fever had broken but he still felt like he’d been run over by a truck or something. His shoulder ached, his body felt weak, and he had no energy for anything other than to lie there and watch Sunaina moan and groan while her parents fussed over her.
What would they do if they found out that their precious daughter didn’t have the stomach bug, he wondered?
All she was doing was recovering from her first hangover.
He’d known about the plan for the party the tenth graders were having to celebrate the end of term exams. Just like he’d known that the smuggled in alcohol and smokes, regular and pot, had been supplied by the Dusty Devils.
He'd traded that information for something far more valuable. Their silence on Ishaan’s assignment for a fee scheme. Out of the three of them, Ishaan was the one who couldn’t afford to lose his place at Crestwood.
The door to the infirmary opened and Celina walked in, a bunch of raggedy flowers in her hand.
She seemed to have tied them together with her hair scrunchy, because her braid appeared to be coming loose at the ends.
She whispered something to Nurse who nodded with a dark look in Virat’s direction.
The minute Celina turned towards him, Nurse reached for her phone.
“You should go,” he told her, the minute she reached his bed. “Nurse is calling your mother.”
“Let her.” Celina sat down on the little stool beside his bed. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Please go.”
She firmed her lips into a thin line. “No.”
His gaze flicked to Nurse’s grim expression, Sunaina’s parent’s worried ones and back to Celina.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked softly.
Her only answer was to hold the scraggly flowers out to him. He stared at it for a long moment before he took them from her. Her satin scrunchy felt soft against his fingers as they closed around it.
“Thank you,” he said simply, ridiculously touched by the flowers she’d clearly picked from the school gardens.
Nurse walked over to them. “Celina, your mother wants you to go back to your dorm immediately.”
“No,” she said again. “It is visiting hours, isn’t it?”
Nurse nodded, though her eyes spat fire in Virat’s direction. “Yes.”
“And friends and family are allowed to visit during visiting hours?” Celina’s pointed gaze went to where Sunaina’s family was sitting, her mother holding her hand.
“Yes.” Nurse’s cheeks turned red with the force of holding back her emotions.
“I am his friend.” Celina enunciated each word. “I won’t leave.”
Nurse marched off without another word, already pulling her phone out of her pocket.
“Why are you doing this? Your mother-”
“My mother doesn’t get to make my choices for me. This is my choice. I choose to be your friend. I choose you.”