the only exception

"Phoebe, you need to eat something," Hayley sighed, rubbing the girls back softly.

"I don't wanna go." Phoebe mumbled in response, curling more into herself.

"I know you don't, but there isn't really a choice."

"There's never a choice." Phoebe snapped, a slight edge to her voice as Hayley's shoulders deflated.

"I know and I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do right now. The doctors can't keep you here because there's nothing physically wrong besides a few bruises and it's still up to your case worker on where you go. At least you'll still be able to go to the same school, yeah?" Hayley tried looking for the light in the situation, but knew nothing was working.

"But a group home?" Phoebe whispered, "I don't wanna live with a bunch of strangers."

"I know, but it'll be okay." Hayley tried to assure her as Phoebe spun around.

"Stop saying it's okay! None of it is okay and nothing has ever been okay. It never will be." She all but cried out, gripping the bed sheets in anger.

Hayley nodded, looking a little sad. Phoebe felt bad for snapping at her, but she was just so angry and tired. She couldn't help it.

"Well, your caseworker is gonna be back in an hour to get you. I'd really like it if you would eat before you left." Hayley told her softly, moving off the bed to sit on the chair. "Do you want me to have Taylor pick something up? I know hospital food isn't the best."

Phoebe just laid back on the bed, closing her eyes. She really, really didn't want to go live in a group home with a bunch of strangers. It was all she could think about and that thinking was constantly accompanied by anxiety rising in her chest, making her feel sick.

"I'll have him get you something pizza, yeah? You like pizzal." Hayley decided for her, reaching for her phone to type out a message.

Phoebe just shrugged in response and closed her eyes, finding it surprisingly easy to drift off back to sleep.

The sleep, however, only seemed to last about thirty minutes before she woke up to hushed voices behind her. She could easily pick up Hayley and Taylor's voices, but her mind was awake before her body fully had the chance to so she just stayed still for a moment.

"No, I haven't told her." It was Hayley.

Taylor spoke up again after, both of their voices still soft, "I don't know, might make her feel better about the situation."

Phoebe rolled her eyes, as if anything could make her feel better about any of this. She rolled over to sit up and watched as they quickly stopped talking, moving slightly away from each other.

"Hey, sorry. I was just talking to Hayley while you were sleeping." Taylor apologized quickly, already beginning to head towards the door.

"Wait, no," Phoebe shook her head, still feeling groggy, "You can stay, it's fine."

"He got food." Hayley smiled softly, moving the table over to the bed so she could pull everything out. "You need to eat then get changed back into your clothes, it's almost time to go."

Phoebe's stomach lurched at the thought of the group home again, but nodded a little before beginning to slowly eat her food.

"So, me and Taylor were talking and decided that, if it's okay with you, we wanna have your phone put on our line? Just so we know it won't get shut off again." Hayley asked, making Phoebe freeze.

"You don't have to do that," she mumbled, taking another small bite.

Hayley shrugged, "We want to. I'm not sure a group home will be able to pay for every single person to have a phone and I want to be able to contact you."