In Your Time novel Chapter 18

*Phoenix's POV*

I woke feeling groggy. It was a moment before I realized I was sleeping in Braden's bed. I sat up quickly and winced as my ribs began to throb.

"Take it easy before you crack a rib," Braden said as he draped his towel over the back of his chair.

"What time is it?" I asked. He glanced at his watch before he sat in his chair.

"It's about noon," he answered. My eyes widened before I shot up quickly.

"Why didn't you wake me! We have to get ready for school," I said quickly. Braden only laughed at me.

"It's Saturday," he said like that explained everything.

"And?" I asked confused.

"We don't have to go to school on the weekends," he explained. I sighed and sat back down on his bed. I'm pretty sure I hurt myself when I got up too quickly. I held my side gently as I relaxed. Braden came closer as he watched my face. I closed my eyes to try and hold in how much pain I was in.

"What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" He asked. I sighed and opened my eyes. I put a fake smile on my face as I sat up a little more.

"I'm fine," I lied. Braden sighed and gave me a look that said he saw through my bullshit.

"You're not fine," he said. I dropped the fake smile before I laid back down.

"I'll be fine after a while," I tried to reason with him.

"You're really starting to scare me," he said softly. I didn't know how to respond so I settled for trying to give him a reassuring smile. I guess I scared him so much that he actually started to worry. He stood before stretching.

"Are you hungry?" He asked. I nodded. He left for a while before coming back with some snacks and ice packs. I propped myself up and put the ice on before I started eating.

"Have my dad take a look at you again when he gets home today," Braden said. He turned his projector on before playing more movies for me. I found it odd that Elizabeth hadn't made an appearance yet. Matter of fact, I hadn't seen her at all since she dropped us off yesterday. I ate my snacks as we watched movies. It was a great studying tool. I learned more about this time period from the movies than I ever could trying to read about it. At first, it felt like I was dropped in a foreign country, but it was a little easier now. One of the movies Braden showed me was 'Back to the Future'. I found myself laughing almost the entire movie.

"You don't time travel by car," I found myself commenting.

"Then how do you time travel?" Braden asked.

"It's like two huge magnets spitting colors back and forth," I said absentmindedly as I watched the movie. I paused and glanced at Braden. His eyes were still focused on the movie. It seemed like he didn't hear me, which was a good thing. I stopped talking and paid attention to the movie. It was comical.