Chapter 4 - Stereotypes
It was a warm day out and the breeze was just right. School just ended a few minutes ago and after stopping by my locker to drop some things off I came to the courtyard to wait for Beth to pick me up. I have yet to run into Greer and I haven't been able to tell her I'm going to be joining her late at the soup kitchen. I hope she's okay with that – I don't know how much longer I can wait before Beth gets here.
I took out my phone to check the time – 2:45PM. As I looked up from my phone, I heard a car approaching slowly. Oh, Beth…when are you finally going to upgrade from that beat-up old Volvo you drive around?
"Hey, Bren!" she called out the driver's side seat. "Hop in!"
"Hey, Beth," I said walking up to her window. "I was waiting to run into someone because it turns out we have to volunteer at a soup kitchen when you and I are done at the hospital. But, I haven't run into her yet."
"Well, do you have her number?" Beth asked.
"Uhhh….no," I started.
"Good one, B," Beth said somewhat impatiently. "Listen, we gotta go though. Ape has a procedure starting around 3:20 so if we're gonna get to see her at all we gotta go now, kiddo."
"Ugh, alright!" I said, annoyed. "I'll just make sure I don't get there too late."
I hopped in the car and fastened my seatbelt.
"Look, I can drop you off after we're done at the hospital," Beth said. "If we're super late, you can totally blame it on me!"
"I just might have to, you know," I agreed.
Pulling up to the Visitors Lot outside of the hospital, I felt less nervous than I thought I would. Maybe at this point, I had gotten accustomed to the unpredictable changes in Ape's health that nothing caught me by surprise. Well…not all that much anyway.
Beth's car tinkered into the last open spot in the lot and we headed through the sliding doors of the Main Building. I walked up to the Information Desk and said: "We're here to visit April Carver. What room?"
"She's in 931 in Unit 9B – the Oncology Ward," said the lady at the front desk. "Just take those elevators down the hall on the right up to the 9th floor and the signs will direct you there," she said pointing down the corridor.
"Great, thanks," I said looking around for where Beth was. Finding her still back at the sliding door chatting up the obviously attractive security guard, I rolled my eyes while smiling just the same. "Beth, stop hitting on him!" I yelled loud enough for everyone in the waiting room to hear.
Looking horrified, Beth said her quick goodbyes and ran right over to me: "Embarrassing, B! Why did you do that?!"
Pushing her towards the elevators we made our way up to the 9th floor.
'::ding:: 9th floor', said the robotic voice of the elevator, as the doors swiped open to show us a carpeted hallway with light orange wallpaper. At least this hospital wasn't all that dreary. I'm sure the patients were thankful for a little splash of color here and there.
We found our way to Room 931 and entered slowly in case April was sleeping. Swinging the door open fully we saw April was asleep and she looked so exhausted. Beth looked my way with an empathetic smile as we pulled up chairs next to Ape's bed. Moving closer, April looked so weak and I hated to see her like this. I wish we could just rewind time. I wish we could go back to a point in our lives when April was healthy. A time when Dad was alive.
As we looked at April, she started to stir awake. Slowly opening her eyes she looked back and forth between us both with a mixture of surprise and happiness on her face. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Oh, come on, Ape," Beth said, "did you really think we were gonna let you hang out here alone? What kind of people do you think we are?"
"Only the best people ever," April laughed looking at Beth.
"How are you feeling?" I asked quietly.
April turned my way: "I'm doing okay, Bren. They said I could probably come home in like a day or two so don't worry about me. I'll be home before you know it! They're actually going to take me to another procedure soon that's supposed to take about 1 or 2 hours. I guess you guys are gonna head out then?"
"Well, we'll come down with you to wherever they're doing it," said Beth. "Once they get started we'll head out, but you got us for a few more minutes, girl."
As we chatted about the random goings-on of our lives, the Medical Transport team came by to take April down for her test. Placing a breathing mask over her nose and mouth, they unlocked the wheels of the hospital bed and we all headed out of the room. After we arrived at the procedure room, we watched behind a glass window as they set everything up and moved April to a long, skinny metal table with a lot of buttons and controls along the side. We didn't really know what this procedure was for and the doctors didn't really seem like they wanted to deal with our questions either. A few minutes passed, and they were ready to begin as one of the doctors nearby grabbed some numbing medication and a syringe to administer it. He gave her some medication and went back to his tray of tools to get ready for the rest of the procedure.
Beth and I looked back at April to see that her face had begun to change. She looked as if she was struggling to breathe and in the blink of an eye, her monitors started beeping as alarms on the machines were sounding left and right. In a second, nurses and doctors alike were frantically running around, wires were flying everywhere, and a technician was rolling in a large cart with all sorts of medications and equipment on it. I banged my fist on the glass window yelling for April but of course, she couldn't hear me.
A nurse came running out speaking a lot of words that, to me, just seemed like they were jumbled together and I couldn't make sense of any of it. She spoke quickly to Beth who nodded her head – seeming to understand something that I couldn't even hear as my mind was running a mile a minute. Beth grabbed my arms and swung me around to walk back to the waiting room but I resisted.
"No!" I yelled behind me as Beth pulled me away. "April! APRIL!"
"Here, have some," Beth said as she sat down in a chair next to mine in the waiting room, offering me a cup of coffee that definitely did not smell like something I should be drinking. But hey…I guess I can't be too picky in a hospital. I took a sip and I was right. Making a face of utter disgust, I put the cup down next to me and stared back at a set of double doors – waiting for some doctor to come by and let us know how April was doing. We had been sitting here for three hours already! Beth looked just as worried as I was but she gave me a brave smile and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
In a few moments, a doctor came out and he was heading straight for us. "You're April's sister, yes?"
"Yeah, I'm Brenna."
"Um, if you wouldn't mind, I can only speak to family so-" he said looking at Beth.
"She is family. It's okay," I said looking over at her.
The doctor hesitated but continued, "So…she's doing okay right now and she's going to be okay."
"Oh, thank God," Beth said. "What happened?"
"Well, it turns out the physician giving her the numbing medication gave too much and she didn't react well to it," he began to explain. "Her heart went into an irregular rhythm and her blood pressure became very low. But we've since stabilized her and she's going to be okay – we just need to keep a close eye on her."
"Oh," I let out a sigh of relief though still mildly panicked. "Can we go in to see her?"
"Not yet, I'm afraid," he said. "They need a little more time."
"Bren, she sounds like she's doing okay now," Beth chimed in. "Why don't we call your mom to let her know what happened and she can stop by later tonight once April is back in her room?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," I said.
"Besides, don't we need to get you to that soup kitchen?" Beth reminded me.
Panic struck yet again: "Oh no! I completely forgot!" Glancing at my watch I saw it was already 7:00PM and the soup kitchen was going to stop serving in another hour or so. "We have to go, now! Greer's gonna kill me!"
Beth thanked the doctor for letting us know what had happened and we grabbed our things – running back to the car.
By the time I had gotten to the soup kitchen it was already 7:30PM. I thanked Beth for dropping me off and assured her I would call a cab later to get home safely. As Beth sped off, I walked into the building feeling nothing short of ashamed that I was so late and certain that Greer would hate me because of this. First day on the job and I was already disappointing people. Walking in, I saw a number of people finishing their meals and putting on their coats to leave. I looked around the room to see if I could find Greer and sure enough she was behind the serving counter already wrapping things up. She saw me walking over to her and she immediately B-lined for the back of the kitchen. I opened the side-door to the kitchen and followed her back.
"Hey, I'm really sorry," I started to say heading over to her. "Something came up and I didn't have your number so I couldn't tell you."
"Why does this not surprise me?" Greer asked rhetorically with an expression on her face that was almost certainly pure annoyance. "Something will always come up for people like you. It shouldn't surprise me that you wouldn't care about this. You're just doing this for the credits!"
"I do care about this!" I yelled. "I waited after school in the courtyard but you never showed! I tried to see you all day to let you know but I never ran into you!"
"Let me know what?" she snapped back. "That you were gonna bail on this like you usually bail on everything?"
"That's not fair," I said trying to remain as calm as possible. "You don't even know me!"
"You're right. I don't know you, but I know your type," Greer responded. "Ms. Gregorian warned me that you might not seem like the most committed person but she said to give you the benefit of the doubt. She said to be patient. So I did. And I was. But this is something else, Brenna."
"Listen, something came up okay?!" I pleaded. "If I could tell you more about it I would! But I can't, right now. Look, I didn't mean to make it seem like I don't care and I'm sorry that I left you to do all this by yourself," I said gesturing to the room we were in.
"Well, stupid me for hoping that you might actually try for once," Greer said in a resigned tone. "Whatever. You don't have to show up the next few months if you don't want to. I'll say you did and you'll get the credit. Everyone's happy." She grabbed some empty pots and utensils and stormed out of the kitchen.
"Greer!" I called after her. "I'm sorry!"
It was no use, she wouldn't hear me out anyway.
I called a cab to pick me up in a few minutes and soon enough it pulled up to the curb outside of the soup kitchen. I made sure I had all my things and told the driver my address. By now, it was dark – the streets were only lit dimly by the lamps – and it was getting colder. For whatever reason, the drive home was taking a long time so I had plenty of time to think.
I should've said why I was so late. I should've at least tried to explain it to her. Maybe she would've understood if she knew where I was. Ugh, those Populars are so judgmental! She was so quick to label me, to pin me down to a stereotype. She doesn't even know me! But then again, I should've said something. I don't know what it is about her, but she seems like someone I can trust. Well…she seemed that way before all the yelling and the blaming and the accusing…
"We're here!" said the driver. "Have a good night, young lady!"
I hopped out, gave him some cash, and walked up to my door.
Ugh, whatever. Tomorrow will be a new day.