"So, Miss Williamson, can you tell me why you're here?"

"Because my parents are assholes."

"No, dear, the real reason," Dr. Richardson replied with her annoyingly calm voice that Patricia couldn't stand. The woman just watched her with eyes filled with such compassion she wanted to vomit.

"Oh, that," the redhead muttered before yanking up her sleeves to reveal the long, ugly pink scars on her pale arms. "I dug my plastic knife from dinner into my wrist a couple days ago."

Dr. Richardson remained silent as she wrote something down on the notepad on her desk. Patricia let her sleeves fall back over her wrists and shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

"Can I go now?"

The blonde haired woman gave her a tight smile. "No, there's still much more to talk about."

"But what if I don't want to talk," Patricia deadpanned. It was more a statement than a question.

"Then we're going to be here for a while, aren't we?"

Patricia couldn't really think of a response, so she chose to not say anything. She really hated the smug look that grew on Dr. Richardson's face when she was met with silence.

"What do you think is troubling you? Why are you so determined not to comply?"

The high schooler's expression hardened even more, and she failed to keep the sarcasm out of her tone. "Maybe it's because my parents hate me, and now I'm stuck here without my friends until they decide to get there shit together."

"Language, Miss Williamson."

Patricia cringed slightly. Now she wasn't allowed to cuss? This was going to be a long day.

Although there was a movie playing on the tv, no one was really watching it. Jerome and Alfie had invited everyone over after school. They had tried to start a movie, but Alfie had brought out a board game and now they were all playing monopoly.

Frankly, most of them really sucked at it. Joy, on the other hand, was bankrupting them all.

"That'll be $300," the brunette exclaimed with a grin as she held her hand out towards KT. KT left out a frustrated sigh before handing the rest of her money to Joy and joining Amber, Alfie, Piper, and Fabian, who had already falling victim to Joy's monopoly skills, on another couch right next to them.

Fabian leaned over to Nina and whispered, "If you get her to trade one of the railroads you might have a chance."

The dirty blonde haired girl gave him a thankful smile and turned back to the game.

"I'm gonna beat you, Joybelles," Jerome said in a sing-song voice.

Joy nudged him roughly with her elbow and shot him a glare. "Ha. You wish."

"You wouldn't bankrupt me, too. You like me, remember?" he teased, making a mock kissy face at her.

"Jerome!" Joy hissed. In one second flat, she shoved him off the couch and he landed face first on the floor. They had started dating a few days earlier, but it hadn't really changed their relationship that much.

Nina had to admit, they were pretty cute. She glanced over at her brother, who had chosen not to play. He had been pretty down for the past five days; ever since he found out he couldn't see Patricia. All of them were sad about it, but they couldn't change it. All they could do was give Piper notes to give to her sister when she went to see her.

The day family had been allowed to see Patricia, Piper had sprinted there and immediately given her a huge hug, along with a dozen letters from all of them. Eddie had written that he chose her, that he missed her, but there wasn't much else he could do.

Patricia wasn't allowed a pen or pencil unless she was under supervision because they were convinced that she would try to hurt herself with it, so she had very limited time per day to try to write them back. She hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Nina didn't really know what to do besides keep hoping that their friend would be back to school soon, and trying to go on with her daily life without her. There really wasn't anything she could do.

"Do you think I should hang it here, or over my bed?" Willow asked cheerfully as she held up her One Direction poster.

Patricia winced at the sight of it. It was awful. Not only did she not like the band, but she didn't really think any of them were cute. At all.

When she asked herself why, the only thing she could come up with were that they weren't Eddie.

"I don't really care, Willow."

The orange haired girl gave Patricia a huge smile. "If you let me hang this, I'll let you hang a Sick Puppies poster."

In Patricia's mind, there wasn't really a decision to be made. "Deal."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door before Poppy entered the girl.

"Squea!" Willow yelled, giving Jerome's little sister a huge bear hug. Poppy grinned and hugged her back.

Patricia liked that girl. Not only was Poppy one of her closest friends' little sister, but she genuinely enjoyed spending her free time with Willow.

"Hey, Patricia, you have guests here to see you in the waiting room," Poppy told her when she pulled away from Willow.

The redhead perked up slightly. "Tell Piper I'll be there in a minute."

"It's not Piper. It's your parents."

Without another word, Patricia jumped up and raced towards the waiting room. She might have been mad at her parents, but the idea of them coming to see her made her excited.

They were coming to get her! She could leave! She guessed that she could learn to forgive them for leaving her here as long as she could get out as fast as possible.

When she finally made it to the waiting room, she stopped in front of her parents. She didn't hug them. She didn't even smile at them, but they didn't show any signs of being happy to see her either, so she definitely didn't feel bad about it.

"I'll just go get my stuff and then we can go," Patricia stated, turning back to go get her things, but her father's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Patricia." Something about his tone made her stomach drop. She waited for him to continue, but it was her mother that broke the silence.

"Tricia, we're not taking you home."

And she though waking up from a coma was painful.

Poor Patricia. She just doesn't really have good luck. So yeah, there's chapter 17. Thanks for all the reviews and encouragement! I'll try to update again soon!

pure-black-wings