He left me there and after the surgery I understood why. I was a coward settled with my plan A, poorly thinking my future depended only on one thing: dancing. I knew deep inside he was right but I wasn't willing to call and apologize, he hurt my pride and it scared me. It made my heart scramble to think how affected I was by his sincerity by the words I have never said to myself out loud.

I was on my couch trying to sit up to reach my phone to text Mila to ask her how much longer will she take to get here. School ended an hour ago and it wasn't common of her to be this late.

After the surgery the doctors told dad I had to keep my feet immobile for seven days and to stay at home for two more weeks.

In conclusion, I was missing a whole month of school. Since Mila is my best friend and we take most classes together dad talk some sense into her to help me after school. She wasn't very pleased. She had non existence patience when it comes to teaching. We proved it a year ago when she tried to help with chemistry. She was coming for the third time this week, with my school bag and all school papers I needed to keep working from home.

I lean in a bit being careful not to hurt myself and reached out for my phone. I was about to call her when I heard a loud knocking on the front door. My heart stopped at the sudden noise, but I let out a relief sigh when I heard her voice.

“I'm hungry Jess!” she yelled, knowing I was on the same spot I was yesterday. I haven't move since I got here four days ago, of course only when I have to go to bed.

“Come in through the back door” I yelled back at her trying to held a giggle after I heard a desperate growl from her.

It has been almost two weeks since I had my surgery and four days after I got home. It made me cringe every time I remembered the painful scenarios he described if I hurt my feet.

Mila came into the living room plopping into the couch as if it has been the worst day of her life. She started to murmur about not being well fed up in my house. I laughed at this. She was always thinking about food.

“I need food Jess, I'm dying”she said, faking a slow death as she closed her eyes.

“Then go to the kitchen and get something to eat” I knew she didn't want to cook. The kitchen was one of her nightmares.

“You know? The least you could do is to have food waiting for me, woman!”she joked acting up as 1950’s husband. “Food and a clean house would be nice for once”

I laughed at her boyish expressions and failed attempt to imitate a man’s voice. She smiled back at me before taking my bag from the floor to start telling me everything I needed to get done. I took the books out of her hands and screened the subjects to get ready for what was coming next.

“It is cold and we are only in the middle of october” she took off her coat and shoes before walking to the closet.

“Are you in a bad mood, Mila?” I joked around using a little girl's voice but when she gave me a deadpan look I decided not to cross the line this time. “Let’s order pizza!”

“That is a good idea actually, I never thought you would have such a great brain” she laughed, bitterly at my comment. I decided against making fun of her and order the pizza.

I took my phone to call when a text came into view. It was from Eric who has been calling and texting every once in a while since the accident. I took my time to reply his text before calling the pizza.

Eric
Can I come over on Saturday?

Jessica
Sure. I'm dying to have some company.

I dialed the number and ordered the pizza making it a large one since Mila was so hungry. After I ended the call I looked at Mila who was texting like crazy.

"Is everything okay?" I asked worried. She looked unsettled.

"I have been getting messages from an unknown number. It is annoying" she complained, while putting her phone away.

"You shouldn't reply" I said.

"Don't worry about it" she said, uncomfortable. “If it is dangerous I will stay away”

“How was school today?” I asked trying to change the subject. I didn’t want to push it since I know Mila knows what’s best for her.

“Oh! It was good! Julie tripped in the cafeteria and showed her naked butt but James was there and helped her out. Mr. Ng is driving us crazy with geometry. He sent two pages of exercises to work during the weekend”

Julie was one of our friends. She was good to us but could be a spoiled little brat to everyone else.  She was after Max from what I've heard since school started.

“Mr. Ng will make me fail my senior year, Mila” I complained. It is hard to keep good grades if I wasn't there to see the classes first hand.

"You will be fine because you are doing perfect in school. We, the other half of the school population, are the ones worried about failing". She turned on the TV and sat back on the couch closer to me.

"I'm so lost. I need to go to school," I told  her pulling my cover over my legs.

"Enjoy your time out of that prison, you are so weird Jess" she laughed as she decided to watch a rerun of Friends on tv.

"And if I am here, how am I supposed to make something about the Maxwell thing?" I reminded her about my plans to make Max fall in love with me.

"Oh! About that, Ms. McGowan made pairs for this semester project.  I told her it will be a good idea for us to work together, but she decided to give you another partner. Maxwell will come over soon to work on it" she said with not a hint of emotion behind her words. She told me he was my partner for the rest of the school year.

"Dear God! Mila, were you going to tell me about it today or let it pass?" I yelled at her. I thought about how awkward it will be to work together after what happened.

"I was thinking after the pizza because I'm too hungry to freak out with you"

"Sometimes, I question your loyalty Mila" I smiled at her. I took my math book and started with the exercises.

Mila watched TV while I worked on school papers. The pizza guy came with an extra portion of mushrooms and I gave her the money to pay.

"I was thinking that you should apologize to him" she suggested while biting a pizza slide.

"I thought about it, but he yelled at me too. He should apologize as well" my pride wouldn't let me get this one go easy on him.

"If you want to try this and make him see you are the type of girl he can fall for you have to make things right with him." I thought about it for a while as we ate pizza and do homework.

Without even noticing it was dinner time and Mila had to go back home. It was Thursday and dad wasn't coming back from New York until Monday afternoon. He left my neighbor in charge of taking me to bed and help me to take a shower. Mrs. Norris helped me and left me alone around ten for me to rest.

My mind was still thinking about apologizing or not, should I call him? Or should I text? Mila was right, if I wanted to get close to him I had to admit this time that it was my fault and say sorry.

I made up my mind. I was going to call but since my nervousness didn't let me calm down I waited a few minutes before I dialed his number. It rang three times and went to voicemail. Damn! Should I leave a voice message or should I call later? I couldn't make up my mind when I heard the beep to start recording my message.

hmm...Max, I wanted to...you know talk about what happened but hmm...forget it. I will call some other time.

I closed the call placed the phone on my night stand and proceeded to get comfortable in my bed. I guess he was busy. I wasn't planning to call again, even when I wanted him to notice me, I didn't want to look desperate. I wrote a few paragraphs for my English essay before I felt tired.

I put my laptop, notebook, and pencil in the corner of my mattress and reached out to turn off my night light. I heard my phone ringing making my heart stop, he was returning the call. I took it from the nightstand and pressed accept before putting it on my ear.

"Hello," I said listening carefully to his breathing on the other side.

"Hey" he finally said after a few seconds that seemed like an eternity.

"I called you," I said before realizing it was something stupid to say since he was returning my call.

"I know. I heard your message" his voice wasn't friendly or sweet. He was waiting for me to start the conversation around our fight.

"I--," I said before cutting myself "damn I thought this was going to be easy" I breathed out on the phone.

"I'm sorry," he said before I did. He sounded defeated as he had been fighting a war inside his head "I am so sorry for being jerk to you"

"I'm sorry for being a bitch. The way I acted up when you wanted to give me some hope was completely wrong" I finally said, biting my lower lip.

There was an awkward silence on the phone for a minute or two.  I was hearing weird sounds from where he was. He got out of his car because I heard the alarm. He broke the silence after a few seconds.

"Are we on good terms now?" he asked doubtfully and weirdly out of breath. I imagine him, resting his body on the car.

"Yes, we are" I bit my lower lip harder as I laid on my bed looking at the ceiling.

"Are you biting your lower lip? Are you still thinking about the fight, right?" he asked with his manly voice; too much for an eighteen-year-old.

"What?" he took me by surprised and I stopped biting it "no, I'm not" I lied while hiding how freaked out I was.

"You are a liar, Jess," he said playfully, making me frown on how weird this conversation turned out to be.

"How would you know if I'm lying or not?" I asked, triumphantly and then I heard a knock on my balcony doors.

I leaned forward and found Maxwell sitting on my art chair looking directly at me.Just like he used to do. A self-satisfied smirk on his lips.