***3 Months Later***

                3 months. Davey was still in the hospital. He had slipped into a coma. His broken legs, arm, and ribs were healed. His mom refused to leave the hospital. She wanted to be there when her precious son finally woke up.

                Sam was dating Brad.

                She had stopped tutoring me. My teachers were giving up on me. I was spiraling straight down into a deep depression and no one could drag me out of it. Even my dad was beginning to get nervous. He wanted me to get good grades to make himself look better. His friends at work who came over also expressed concern about my depression. My father knew he had a find a way to cure it.

                But there was no way to cure it. Davey was in a coma. Sam was with Brad. I didn’t even have Sonny to hang out with anymore. I refused to talk to Michael. It was his fault Davey was in the hospital. Partially my fault, I accepted that, but mainly his. He had attacked me when my back was turned.

                His mom refused to believe her son had caused Davey’s accident. Mrs. Taylor was convinced her sons were perfect little angels. They could do no wrong. To her, there was no possible way that Michael was a backstabbing bastard or that Chance was a cutter who liked to do drugs and get drunk.

                No, the Taylor boys were perfect.

                I walked into geometry class and sat down in front of Sam. She and Quinn were giggling as they talked about Brad. I felt my depression eat at me even more.

                “Mr. O’Dell, did you do your homework?” my teacher asked. I shook my head slowly. She hesitated before glancing at Sam. “Your test grades are poor Eli. You might fail the marking period if you don’t pass the next one. I’m leaving Samantha to tutor you again,” she said, giving me a sympathetic look.

                I was just too tired to argue or snap at her for the sympathy. I saw the shocked look on Sam’s face. She glanced at me nervously and bit her lip.

                When class ended, I stood up. “We can work at my house if you’re alright with that?” she said. I shrugged and followed her to her brother’s car.

                He looked at me as I got in the car. “I have to tutor him,” Sam explained. Mickey nodded and drove to their house. We got out of the car and made our way inside.

                Their mom smiled at me. “Eli! I haven’t seen you in a while.” I nodded and sat down with Sam. I pulled out my math book and just stared at it. I had no will to do work in it. Not when there was a picture of Sam and Brad on the fridge in front of us.

                Sam opened my book for me and began to explain things. Her words were lost on me but her beautiful voice taunted my foggy brain.

                “Eli? Are you listening to me?” I looked up slowly. “I…No. No, I’m not,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t care about geometry.” She sighed and closed the book. “Eli, you have to care. You can’t pass without it.”

                “I don’t care about school,” I said, going even quieter. She glanced around to make sure we were alone before grabbing my arm. I tried to tug it away from her but she held strong. She shoved my wristbands up and gasped in horror.

                I finally managed to yank my arm away. I covered the deep cuts and looked away from her. She shouldn’t have seen that. No one should ever have to see what I do to myself.

                “Why do you have to do that Eli? Why?” she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. Because I love you, I thought bitterly. Yep. Eli O’Dell was in love with a shy girl dating his enemy.

                “Because I suffer from depression.” There. A whole hell of a lot of the truth. She looked at me sadly. “Aren’t there pills you can take?” I laughed bitterly. “My dad wants to get me on antidepressants. I don’t want them. They won’t help.”

                She gave me a pleading look. “What will help you Eli?” You. You would help me Sam. But you want Brad. All because I lost my temper.

                “Davey,” I said at last. “Davey recovering.”

                I would feel a lot better if I knew Davey would be alright. He wasn’t the kind of person who liked discussing feelings, but maybe he would at least listen to me. I needed to talk to him. He was the only one I trusted.

                Sam got a sad look. “Eli, he’ll be okay. He’ll wake up soon.” I shrugged. “Point is, he’s in a coma right now.” I stood up. “Thanks for helping me Sam,” I said, back to being quiet. “Eli, I’m sorry. I’m sorry things got bad. Can we be friends again?” she asked, avoiding my eyes.

                I dropped my head. Friends. That’s all Sam would ever want from me. Friendship. But it was the best I was going to get. I nodded my head carefully.

                “Yea, we can be friends.” It wasn't much, but it was a lot better than the nothing we had been for the past 3 months. And maybe, just maybe, we could work our way up to something more.