"Kortney?"

There was no reply.

"Are you awake?"

A low moan came from behind the drawn curtain. "Mom?"

"I'm right here, sweetheart." Kortney's mother hurried in, thanking the nurse as she took a seat next to Kortney's bed. "They told me you're not too bad."

"Yeah. I just have to wear a back brace for three months, but hopefully my spine will still be straight when it comes off."

"Oh, honey, what happened? You were playing some kind of game?"

"Yeah. It was so stupid."

"Tell me what happened."

"Okay, you know I was playing flag football. I got through the season with no problem, and my team did so well that we beat all the other girls' teams. I told you about that."

"Right."

"Well, then, there's kind of a tradition that the winning girls' team plays the winning boys' team, and whoever wins that game is the champion of the whole school."

"You didn't tell me that part when you signed up!"

"I didn't know! They only told me after we had won our division."

"Who is 'they'?"

"The other girls."

Her mom sighed. "So you agreed to play an extremely violent game, against boys."

"It's not that violent, Mom. There's no tackling. You just try to swipe the other players' flags and get the football away from them."

"Where are these flags?"

"On your belt."

"So you didn't have young men tackling you. They were just grabbing at your waist. That makes everything better."

"Please, Mom …"

"Why did you even play this game?"

"Well … I wanted to win. And I didn't wanna be left out."

Her mom pressed her lips together and looked up. "So then what happened?"

"Well, we were losing pretty bad. I figured I had to help the team out, cause they all said I was such a good player, and it seemed like it would really … boost our morale if I scored against Logan, since he was the best player on the boys' team."

"Now, Logan is the young man that you said seemed to show some interest in you?"

"He kinda asked me to be his girlfriend, actually."

"And you decided it was a good idea to play a contact sport against him, without telling me anything!"

Kortney sighed. "Things have been kinda weird between us lately. He thought I was flirting with another boy behind his back, when it was really just that annoying twerp who won't leave me alone. We never could seem to meet up for lunch or anything, and both of us were getting frustrated about it, and our Freshman Family Groups hate each other, and our flag football teams were competing in the biggest game of the whole season, which also happened to be a secret game, cause the administration doesn't really like it; and I guess I was in a snarky mood. I just really wanted to beat him. Then he could come crawling back to me and say he was sorry for thinking I was flirting with another guy — who also happens to be someone I can't stand — and then we'd be okay again, and we'd have a real-life relationship. That's what I thought."

"And what happened?"

"I dunno exactly. I think when I went for Logan, all his teammates got around him to protect him from having the ball stolen. Everyone was in the same place at once, and our feet got all tangled up cause we were all trying to run in a huge group. I tripped and tried to do a ninja roll out of the way, and some guy landed on top of me right as I was rolling over my neck. Then someone else landed funny on him right as I was getting free. It really hurt. I got this weird buzzing in the back of my head when I tried to move."

"You broke your back for football," her mom mused. "And for a boy."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry."

"Well, I guess there's nothing you can do now but recuperate, and hope you can walk again."

"I think I'll be able to. And I've almost started making a decision while I'm here."

"What's that?"

"If I can move around again like normal, which the doctor said is very likely, I wanna transfer out."

"You've had it with the rich kids?"

"No, it's not the people. I'm really gonna miss my friends. Mari came to see me, actually. But I'd like to go to a school with a dance program."

"Baby, you haven't danced in years."

"I've kept up my practicing, though. It's like a hope that won't go away, that I'll be able to take dance again. I don't know of anyone off the top of my head who's actually come back after this long, but I'm sure it can be done. I'd like to try it."

Her mom stroked her hair. "And if you don't make it professionally?"

"I'll still minor in education, so in case it doesn't work, I'll still have something I can do. Maybe I could be a ballet teacher." Kortney's eyes were lighting up at the vision.

"Sounds like you've got a plan. Just heal up first. Dad and I are gonna have to think about this. You realize we don't trust your judgment much right now."

Kortney closed her eyes. "Yes ma'am."

Logan plunked down onto the slatted metal bench and ruffled his hair. The guys had won, of course. They won every year. No matter how many female quarterbacks Disney tried to push at its TV audience, football was still a man's sport. Guys were just bigger.

"How ya doin'?" asked Nathaniel, coming to sit beside him.

"Well, life basically stinks right now."

"I bet. Seth and Shara —"

"They told me."

"You and Kortney hadn't been fighting like they had, though, right?"

"Almost. I thought she was two-timing me."

"You really thought Kortney would do something like that?"

"I didn't know! She said she'd never had a boyfriend before. I didn't know how she would handle liking two guys at once, if that was what was going on. When you're that naïve …"

"It's the naïve girls that are more likely to stay true to you. It's the ones that have had way too many boyfriends that know how to date more than one guy without the other one knowing about it. They're the ones that would enjoy it, too. Believe me, Kortney would feel too guilty to do it."

Logan smiled. "Yeah, she would."

"Have you gone to see her?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nah. That might look a little sketchy. But if you're still going out, you should."

"Dude, you don't know how much of a douchebag I was."

"How much?"

"We both wanted to win so bad, and we were so ticked off at each other …" Logan looked down and fiddled with his water bottle. "I tripped her. That's why she broke her back."

Nathaniel didn't say anything. Logan got up and walked away.

"Should we go see her?" asked Rayne.

"Yeah, I feel like we should."

"Kristeen went tonight. We can go tomorrow," suggested Noelle.

"Has Logan gone?" asked Tiffany.

"I don't know. Nobody's seen him since he talked to the dean. He's in a lot of trouble. Somebody said it was his fault that Kortney got hurt."

"People are such rumormongers," Rayne complained. "You know they only said that because he and Kortney weren't getting along right at the moment. Everybody loves to make a scandal out of nothing."

"Look, there's Mari," said Hayley Anne.

The girls crowded the doorway to ask if Mari had seen her.

"Yes, I went yesterday. When I was coming in just now, Logan asked me what her room number at the hospital was."

They stared at each other. "Maybe he's going," Noelle said.

Logan stepped up to the entrance of the ICU, stepped back, and scratched his neck nervously. He looked around. A nurse came up and asked him who he was there to see. He told her Kortney's name. A woman instantly jumped up from a waiting chair and came over. "I'm Kortney's mother," she said.

Logan could actually feel himself starting to sweat, but he held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Logan."

"I see."

"I came to tell Kortney I'm sorry for what happened to her, so I was wondering if I could see her, maybe."

"She's about to be airlifted out for surgery. I'm afraid you can't."

"Oh, well, can I call her, or anything?"

"She won't be using her phone around all the equipment, but I can tell her you came."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

Kortney's mom turned to leave.

"Will she … be back at school anytime soon?"

"Actually, no. She told me today she wants to transfer out."

"Oh. You mean permanently?"

"Yes."

His head sank. What sloppy hair, Kortney's mom thought disapprovingly. It would be best if she never saw this young punk again.

"Well," Logan sighed, "please tell her I said goodbye."

Kortney's mom nodded grimly and watched him leave. As soon as he was gone she hurried to her laptop. There was a change or two that it might be best to make to Kortney's Facebook before her daughter got back online.

"Mom?" Kortney asked when she returned.

"Hmm?"

"I wish Logan would come."

"Why's that?"

"I wanna tell him I'm sorry for all the drama. I guess I can understand why he would be jealous if all he heard was that I was flirting with another guy. I didn't need to get as mad as I did. That probably only made it look more suspicious."

"Well," her mom sighed, "you can't use your cell phone because it might disturb the equipment, but I guess if he comes you can see him."

Kortney secretly hoped her mom would be out of the room when he came, so he would kiss her on the forehead again.