"I'm sorry, ma'am, but only family is permitted to enter. We're having trouble enough keeping the reporters out," the lady at the desk kindly said.

"Please, I have to see her," I pleaded, my hands anxiously tapping on the desk.

"I'm sorry, but you're more than welcome to stay in the waiting room. I'll try to find you to update you on her condition," she kindly said. I sighed and nodded. "Katherine's lucky to have a friend like you."

"Yeah, I guess," I meekly replied. I made my way to the waiting room, waiting for any of Katherine's actual friends to show up. They didn't.

After thirty minutes or so, I poured myself a cup of coffee, turning my head to see my mother. "Oh, sweetie, what are you doing here?" she asked, walking up to give me a hug. She looked exhausted--the night shift did that to her.

"Um, y'know Katherine?"

"The Summers girl? The one that came over yesterday?"

"Yes, that's the one. Well, on the news, it said that she got attacked," I said. "Got hit on the head."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby!" my mother cried. "Want me to go check up on her? They'll let me into the room."

"Yeah, that'd be good," I replied. I wrapped my arms around her. "Thanks, Mom."

"Anything for you, sweetie." She rushed down the hall to Katherine's room. I took a sip of my coffee, wondering how much it would take to calm me down. A hand grasped me on the shoulder.

"Boo!"

I jumped and then punched him on the chest. "God dammit, Landon." My pal, Landon. "What're you doing here?"

"I saw the news. Thought I should make sure she's not...uh, dead, or anything," he answered.

"Who do you think did it?" I asked, walking over with Landon to take a seat.

"I don't know. She's a pretty, rich girl. Maybe she was mugged?"

"I have no clue. I dropped her off at her house after she came over my place. She must've gone out afterwards," I replied. "They're not letting me inside. My mom went to go check in for me." I instinctively reached to my pocket to answer my buzzing phone. "One second." Landon nodded, folding his hands on his lap and humming to a song to pass the time.

"Why do you think he did it?" I asked into my phone.

"I drove by Katherine's place afterwards," Pierce said. "She left her pocket book in my office. I saw Landon storming out of her place. Katherine rushed out after him following that."

"That doesn't mean that he hurt her," I scolded.

"But it does mean that he could have possibly been the last person to see her before she was attacked," Pierce replied.

"I mean...I guess...maybe, okay? Landon wouldn't hurt a fly, though."

"There's a first time for everything," Pierce replied. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah. He's in the hospital--with me."

"Don't let him do anything," Pierce warned.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't let him hurt you, kid," he clarified. I smiled. "I'll be there soon."

"No, it's okay," I said. "You do your lawyer thing. Besides, Katherine probably wouldn't want to see you."

"Why, Avery! I'm insulted."

"Whoops," I said. I turned to see my mother walking down the hall. "I've gotta go. I'll tell you if Katherine remembers anything."

"Okay, kid. See you soon. And I still owe you one."

"Yeah, I know." I hung up and approached my mom, who was busy talking to Landon. I eyed him carefully. His dirty sweatshirt clung to his skin. He scratched his arms and yawned. His brown hair was messy but his eyes were bright.

"How is she?" I inquired, folding my arms against my chest.

"There's bruising and swelling right here." She gestured to the back of her head. "She probably didn't see it coming. Honestly, she's lucky to be breathing. I'm guessing someone ran up, banged her on the head with a bat, then ran off. She didn't have her pocket book, so it might've been a mugging."

"She forget her pocket book," I said, "so they couldn't have been after that. They were trying to hurt her."

"Oh, dear. Come on, you two look like a mess. You head home and I'll make sure that she's okay."

"It's okay, Mom. I'll stay." Landon nodded in agreement. "We'll be fine."

"We're better than Katherine is, at least," Landon murmured. "Are you sure we can't see her?"

"I, um...screw it, just follow me," my mom answered, blowing her hair out of her face. I happily nodded and followed her down the hall.

"Um, is her father currently in there with her?" Landon asked. "We aren't on the best of terms with him."

"I think I saw him walking down the hall to go to the bathroom. Whatever you say, make it quick." We curtly nodded and scurried into the room where Katherine was residing. She lazy perked her head up and glanced at us.

"Oh, hey," she said in a garbled tone. "Avery?"

"Yeah, it's me," I said. I walked over near her bed. Landon looked on the other side. He gave me a worried glance. "What happened, Katherine? Do you remember?"

"I...ugh," she made a gagging sound and weakly pointed towards a wastebasket in the corner. Landon rushed over to get it and then lifted it to her lips. She threw up right into it. I rubbed Katherine's back in an attempt to soothe her.

"Crap; doesn't that mean she threw up the meds?" Landon anxiously inquired.

"Go tell my mom," I ordered. I did this partly because this definitely needed to be reported, and partly because I needed Landon out of the room. In my peripheral vision, I saw Landon discuss the matter with my mom and then the two dash down the hall, probably to alert a doctor. "Katherine, stay with me." She made another garbled noise. Her hand twitched, reaching out for me to grab it. I clutched onto her wan hand, her fingers intertwining with mine. "Did you see who did this to you?"

"I..." She coughed and heaved. "Hoodie."

"You...you saw someone in a hoodie?" I thought back to Landon's tattered one. "What color was it?"

"I...too dark," she muttered. "Where's Daddy?"

"It's okay, Katherine. He's here. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I whispered.

"O-okay, Carson. Okay." Her eyes fluttered themselves close. I squeezed onto her sickly hand one last time before making a break for it. Damn it, I thought. As I gyrated on my feet, I came into a staring contest with Mr. Summers.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed.

"I...I wanted to see her," I answered quietly. Be determined, Pierce's stupid voice echoed in my head. "I needed to see her," I added loudly.

"Why? Who did this to her? You're a murdering lunatic; you did this to my daughter!"

"No, I didn't--"

"First, I'm calling security. Then, I'm telling the cops that you attempted to kill my daughter. Finally, I will fucking ruin your entire family," he assured with a sneer.

"I didn't do it. Please, she was asking for you," I said, backing up slightly. "She doesn't know what happened. She saw someone in a hoodie."

"I don't give a damn who she saw!" he yelled. "You killed that damn boy, and then you tried to kill my damn daughter!"

"No, I didn't, I swear!"

"Why should I take your word? You're all a bunch of liars and scum," he spat.

"'You're all'?" I asked, my voice dripping with disgust.

His eyes scaled me up and down. "You know what I mean," he sneered. "I'm calling the police right now. They're probably already on their way to question my girl about the attack."

"No, you can't," I pleaded. "I didn't do it." He was done talking to me. Okay, so if talking it out didn't work, I could always go on the other form of getting things done: force. At full speed, I ran into him, knocking the phone out of his hand. "I'm sorry!" I yelped, scrambling off of the floor. He looked at me, bewildered. I picked up his phone and clutched it close to my chest.

"Give that to me," he ordered with an open palm. I shook my head.

"Just hear me out, and I'll hand it over," I offered.

"This is not a negotiation," he replied. "Give me my phone, and I won't tell the police you assaulted me."

"Mr. Summers, you can ask Katherine when she's better, but we're...friends now," I said.

"She would never be friends with the likes of you."

"Well, she is. And I'm friends with Matthew, too, if you wanna ask him," I retorted. "I know you don't like Landon--he's an ass, sir. To be frank, I know you don't like me. But this isn't about me, this is about your daughter. And I promise that I'll be there for her."

He looked reluctant, but still gestured for me to hand the phone over. "I will not call the police if you give me that damn cell phone and stay out of my daughter's life," he said with a "change of heart".

"Please, sir," I said. "Please." He approached me and grabbed my hand. "Get the hell off of me!" I spat. He wretched the phone out of my hand, and in the process, turned sharply to go back into the room. His coat jangled and something fell out his pocket. I bent over to pick up the object. I brought it up to my face: it was a bottle of diamond-shaped pills. Lamotrigine, I read. Mr. Summers reached for his pocket. He turned back to face me, heaving to regain his calmness. His eyes were full of worry.

"I need those," he said.

"Yeah...yeah, of course," I said. One thing was to deprive him of his phone--what kind of person was I to withhold his medication from him? "Please...when Katherine is lucid, just tell her I stopped by. Please?"

He nodded and took the bottle from me and shoved it back into his pocket. "Fine. W...why do you care about my daughter so much?"

I rubbed my aching wrist. "None of her other friends are here. But I am. So I guess it's because we're friends." He nodded and turned away. He sat down on a chair next his daughter and held onto her hand. I saw her smile. I left the wing.

My mother rushed by me with a doctor, off to treat Katherine. I sat next to Landon. Hoodie, I thought as I opened up Google. I typed in "Lamotrigine" into the search bar. Anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer, I read. It can treat seizures and bipolar disorder. I continued to look into the medication. It is a common treatment to Bipolar II Disorder. Mr. Summers has Bipolar II Disorder? I thought. "Your mom said that Katherine hadn't had any treatment since coming into the hospital," Landon suddenly said, "because the doctors knew she would just throw it up."

"So then why was she worried of her throwing up her medication?"

"I don't know, but she had something in her system."

"Oh...oh god, I know."

"Know what?" Katherine has Bipolar II Disorder.

"Landon, what were you doing at Katherine's mansion?" I demanded, turning to face him.

"What do you mean, Avery?" he inquired with a tilt of his head.

"Don't bullshit me, Landon," I asked. "Please. What were you doing there?"

"I...damn, it's hard to lie to you, Avery," he said, scratching his head. "I went to Katherine's to apologize. For saying she murdered Carson. It was a really shitty thing to do. I remembered she always liked me because of that science project we did together in eighth grade, so I thought I owed to it to her. I went to her house. Her dad wasn't there, thank the lord. So she let me inside. We began to talk it over--hell, I even made her laugh. But then, she got mad all of the sudden. She snapped at me, called me an asshole and a liar. She accused me of killing Carson--can you imagine that? Me? So I stormed out of the house, with her screaming out after me. I...I guess she went out to clear her head, and then she got attacked."

I stared at his hoodie. It's all she remembers, I thought. For now. Anyone could have been wearing a hoodie. Millions of people wore hoodies; it wasn't evidence that Landon attacked her. And he was one of my best friends and would never do that to somebody. I thought of all the lies that I had told and had been told to me. I stared at him. Or would he? "Okay, Landon. Thanks for telling me the truth." He smiled a dazzling smile at me in a thankful way. "And don't be mad at her for yelling. There...I know the meds she was on."

"What were they?"

"Lamotrigine," I answered. "I just looked it up. It's for Bipolar II Disorder."

"Oh," Landon uttered. "Oh, oh shit." He held his arms to his chest. "Holy shit." We sat in silence for several moments. "Are you going to Dakota's party?" he whispered to break the quiet.

"Of course," I said, elbowing him on the side. "What are you going as?"

"I don't know. I think I'll go as a vampire. Nice and scary."

"Maybe I'll go as something nice, instead of scary," I said. "Maybe as a fairy. Or a princess."

"Liam can go as your prince. It'll be adorable."

"Great idea," I said. I allowed myself to believe in the lie that he may have been telling me and reclined onto his lap. "I hope Katherine's okay."

"She will be. Then, if she can, we can take her to the party. Bring that Pierce dude--I bet he party's hard." I snorted.

"You just want him to bring alcohol," I snickered.

"Oh, hell yes," he replied, pumping his fist. It was nice to just lie down for a while, joking and gossiping and smiling, just like we used to. Before Carson. Before everything.

It was sorta late. I closed my eyes. The chairs weren't comfy, but Landon's warm hand was. He seemed wide awake. Don't let him hurt you, kid.

I slept. And I dreamt that I was a fairy, Landon was a vampire, Dakota was a warrior, and Liam was a knight. Katherine was Sleeping Beauty. Everyone wore a mask. They hid their faces, their secrets, their scars, their tears. It was easier to wear a mask. To hide the truth. But that was okay.

I reached down and put on my mask. I smiled and wore it proudly. Don't let him hurt you, kid.

Don't let any of them hurt you.