TONY'S POV

Carrying Rachel bridal style, I rushed to the car and placed her in the back before hurrying to the hospital. I parked close to the A&E unit and proceeded to carry her in. Noticing her condition, I nurse gave us a wheelchair and informed the receptionist that it was urgent.

'This way,' said a nurse, guiding me as I rolled Rachel through the corridor. Taking a left, we entered a small room. 'I'll just get a doctor, won't be long.' The woman looked at Rachel sympathetically before waddling off.

'I'm sorry this date has been shit,' I said, taking the seat next to her bed. Her beautiful face was distorted by her hair as it fell across her face.

'It hasn't, I was enjoying myself.'

I went to reply but a doctor entered just as my lips parted. 'I'm Dr Martin. You must be Rachel. What's happened?'

'I tripped and fell, there's a bone sticking out,' she said, face scrunched up.

'Ah,' exhaled the man, pushing his glasses up his button nose. 'Right, I'm going to give you some pain killers and then we are going to move it back into place. Is that okay?'

'Fine,' she groaned.

'Great.' Anne here will give you some medication now, I'll be back in 10 minutes.'

The tall nurse that had entered behind the doctor went to a cupboard and fished around before pulling out a box of pills. Removing two, she filled a cup of water full and then handed it all to Rachel.

Tossing the pills back, she took multiple gulps of water before looking up at me with worry in her eyes. 'Think it'll hurt a lot?'

'It'll be over in a second,' I comforted, 'you'll barely feel it.'

'You better be right.'

A few minutes later, the doctor reappeared. 'Sir,' he said as he looked to me, 'are you family?'

'Boyfriend,' interjected Rachel, putting her hand out to one side. I took it in my hand and she squeezed tight as our fingers laced together. My heart began to race - boyfriend? Seriously? She actually does like me back. Fuck yes.

'Okay, Rachel are you alright with hi-'

'Just hurry up and do it. Please.'

'Okay. On the count of three you're going to feel a pop, try not to move.' The doctor took Rachel's ankle in his hands and a nurse held her leg. 'Three, two one.'

Biting on her fist, she threw her head back and dug her nails into my hand as she moaned at the pain. 'Ow,' she laughed, turning her attention to her foot. 'That bloody hurt.'

'It's over now. We'll just need to put a cast on it and that'll stay on for a month. Anne? Could you start on that please?'

The tall girl nodded and went back to the cupboards, rummaging around. The doctor exited the room and left just us three in the otherwise silent room as Rachel hissed at the pain.

'You did great,' I said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. I couldn't believe how incredibly flawless she looked - her eyes were mesmerizing and I had the constant desire to kiss her lips.

'Thank you,' she said softly. 'God, I feel so tired.'

'That will be the drugs,' said the nurse in a high pitched voice as she came o the bedside with a trolley full of equipment. 'I'm going to put the last on now, try to stay still.'

Rachel nodded before resting her head against the pillows and shutting her eyes. I let go of her hand and sat back down, twiddling my thumbs as the nurse wrapped bandage round her ankle. Once the cast was made, the nurse went and got Rachel a pair of crutches.

'Okay, that's you. We'll just check these fit right.' The nurse handed Rachel the crutches and balanced her as she took to her good foot. 'Perfect,' squeaked the girl. 'You're free to go.'

Thanking the woman, I followed out behind Rachel as she limped down the corridor and towards the doors. Getting out of the hospital doors, I could tell that she was incredibly tired. Her movements seemed to require far more effort than usual and her eyes were dropping.

'Come on,' I said, steadying her and removing the crutches from under her arms. 'You carry these, I'll carry you.'

Murmuring, she clung on to them as I lifted her up and carried her to the car. Gently placing her in the seat adjacent to mine, I kissed her cheek as her eyes fluttered shut. I shut her door as quietly as I could and then hopped in my side, cringing as the engine roared when I turned the key.

RACHEL'S POV

'Rae,' said Tony softly. 'Come on, we're home.' Opening my eyes, I realised that Tony had carried me all the way from the car to my dorm room. I groaned into Tony's shirt as my eyes dared to close once again, a result of the strong pain killers.

'Put me down,' I murmured. I moved the crutches and Tony gently placed me down on my foot. I tangled my arms in the poles.

Tony knocked on the door and I could hear the faint sound of muffled laughter before Beth answered the door. 'What happened? Oh, babe!'

'She broke her ankle,' he explained, looking down at the floor in shame.

'Thank you for everything,' I whispered to him, standing up in my tired state and planting a kiss on his cheek. His cheek grew red and a grin came across his beautiful face. 'Night,' I smiled.

Shutting the door, I limped towards my bed and collapsed once I reached it. Jack and Alex were whispering and Beth was trying to quiet them so I wouldn't hear.

'Good night?' laughed Jack.

'Fuck off,' I scoffed, scurrying under the covers and removing my jeans. I didn't care - I was too exhausted to change. I could hear the boys and Beth continue to make rude remarks, but I had no energy to fight back. My eyes fell shut within a matter of seconds, letting me leave the room full of endless nasty comments.

---

The following day was a pain in the arse. I was late to almost every class and the pain killers I'd taken that morning wore off quickly. Finally, lunch came - I could relax.

A few nice people allowed me to skip them in the line as I slouched into my crutches. I received my tray of food and handed the required money before spotting the boys at their table and going over.

'Hey,' I said to Vic, Mike and Jaime. 'Where's Tony?'

'No idea,' sighed Jaime. 'He came home and just started talking shit about love and I haven't seen him since.'

'How was the date?' Asked Mike as I took my seat.

'It was good until, y'know, I tripped and broke my ankle.'

'Yeah, Tony seemed pretty mad at himself.'

Grumbling under my breathe, I took a bite of my sandwich and tried to silence myself. Where is Tony? Pulling out my phone, I began to text him and Vic watched out the corner of his eye as I did so.

To: Tony Turtle
Hey, where are you?

To: Tony Turtle
Tony:(?

To: Tony Turtle
Seriously, where are you? I'm worried.

To: Tony Turtle
Have I done something wrong? ..

'No reply?' said Vic quietly. I shook my head. 'Maybe he's not well or something.'

'Rachel,' said a confident voice from over my shoulder, I turned to see Alex. 'How are we feeling?'

'Shit, what do you want?'

'I bet you're wondering where Tony is,' he said as he pulled out his phone. 'Remember how I said I'd catch him being bad?'

'Stop talking shit,' said Jaime.

'I'm not. He's with Christie from our Art class right now, see?'' Alex showed his phone to the table and my stomach did a flip as I looked at the picture. It was Tony walking alongside Christie (who was wearing the same clothes as she was 2 periods ago). 'Case closed,' he smirked, stealing a chip before walking away.

My head fell into my palms as I tried not to cry on front of the others. I thought he liked me? Why wouldn't he.. why would he... Couldn't he at least reply?


TONY'S POV

'Tony, hey,' said Christie, nudging me as I exited the English classroom. 'What was that all about?'

Taking to my feet, I felt everyone's eyes on me as I cleared my throat. 'I think Lancelot ran away from Venice because of Helena. He loved her so much that it terrified him. He couldn't breathe without her and whenever her skin wasn't against his, he felt unsafe. The idea of being so reliable on someone scared him to the point that he had to escape. I think that's why he ran, and I think that's why he's going to return later in the play.

'Uh, can we talk? Like, in private?'

'Sure,' she said. We wandered out the hall in silence and began to walk along the shady path as everyone else rushed off to lunch.

'I think- I think I'm in love.'

'That's great,' she smiled.

'No, it's not. I've fallen to fast and I don't know if she feels the same and I'm scared in case I turn into Lancelot and fuck it all up.'

'Tony, breathe.' She put her hands on my shoulders and smiled at me - I could always count on Christie. She was a lovey girl, and so was her girlfriend. Nobody knew she had one except me, she only told me because we use to be pretty good friends. 'Can I ask who?'

'Rachel Ashby,' I said under my breathe. 'I can't face her, I can't do it.' I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket and squeezed my eyes shut as I had a premonition that it was her.

'Think that's her?'

'Yeah, oh God.'

'I need to go and find Fiona, but you need to calm down. Even if not right now, talk to her at some point today. Promise?'

'Promise,' I mumbled, my palms becoming sweaty at the thought.

I'm falling in love.

I'm falling too fast.

I'm falling alone.

Notes

I wrote like 3 chapters and they've all gone? WHAAAT.
Anyway, one re-written...
thank you for reading<3