Chapter 12
The next night, Beth called to cancel their rehearsal. She'd said it was because she wasn't feeling well, but Keith didn't believe her. He just assumed she was still feeling guilty about their kiss under the mistletoe and didn't want to see him again so soon. He moped around the house that night and quickly excused himself to go to his room.
He'd been getting critical stares from his grandfather all night who must have shared what he'd seen with Grandma as well because she was giving him strange looks too.
He sat at his desk and did some homework before finding himself yawning. He glanced at the clock to find that it was only 8:00. Why was he so tired? Come to think of it, he did feel kind of achy and his throat was a little sore. Maybe if he just lay down for a little while, he'd feel better and could finish his homework later.
He woke up to his mom sitting on the side of his bed and shaking his shoulder. "Keith, what are you doing sleeping on top of the covers?"
"Hmmm?" Keith mumbled confused at having his sleep interrupted.
"Keith, you were sleeping on top of the covers and you're still dressed. What's wrong? You're usually a night person. Are you feeling alright?" Shirley's questions were quickly followed with her putting her hand gently on his forehead.
Keith pushed her hand away and swung his legs around her to sit up. The room spun around him and his answer was quickly forgotten while he dealt with this latest physical issue.
"Keith, stay where you are." Shirley instructed as she put one hand on his shoulder to keep him seated and her other hand back on his forehead. He'd pushed her away so quickly before, that she hadn't been certain that he felt hot. Now that she had more time to rest her hand on his warm face, she knew for certain he had a fever. No wonder he hadn't eaten much at dinner. At first she'd thought it was because Beth had cancelled their rehearsal that night and he was just too sad to eat. Now she knew differently.
"Change into your pajamas. I'm going to get the thermometer." Shirley said as she got up from the side of the bed.
"Mom, I'm fine. I have to finish my homework." Keith said as he tried to stand up. The room did that funny spinning thing again and he sank back to the side of the bed.
"Fine, hmmm? I'll be right back. Don't move." Shirley said firmly and watched Keith close his eyes almost in relief.
A couple of minutes later, she was back with the thermometer to find that Keith hadn't moved from the spot she'd left him. "Open up and put this under your tongue."
Keith's mouth opened automatically and closed around the thermometer as his mom gently guided him back onto the pillows. She brushed his hair back from his forehead waiting the several minutes required by the thermometer. He felt awfully warm. She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his forehead. Her poor baby.
When she checked the thermometer, it read just over 101 degrees. He definitely had a fever and it was high enough to cause concern.
"Well, you have a fever. What other symptoms do you have?" Shirley asked. It was so much easier when a teenager was sick than a baby. At least they could tell you what was wrong.
"I have a sore throat, my head hurts and I ache all over." Keith admitted.
"Ok, let's have a look at your throat." Shirley turned his face toward the light and watched him squint at the pain the light caused him. She looked at the back of his throat and thought it looked pretty red. Wait a second; were those white spots on his throat? Oh, no. He probably had strep throat.
"What is it? You're frowning." Keith whispered as if talking hurt him.
"Well, I'm not a doctor, but I think you might have strep throat. Stay here and stay away from the other kids. I have no desire to have a house full of sick kids. I'll call the doctor and see if he can come and see you tonight yet." Shirley said as she got up from the bed and noticed Keith suppress a shiver. "See if you can work up enough energy to change into your pajamas and crawl under the covers. I'll be right back."
She leaned down to kiss his forehead one more time and then left the room.
About a half an hour later, she had her answer. The doctor confirmed that it was likely that Keith had strep throat and would miss the rest of the week of school. He'd know more once the throat culture was analyzed. Hopefully Keith would be well enough to go back to school the next week.
Shirley had to run to the pharmacy to fill the prescription the doctor had left. Thank goodness her parents were here. She could run tonight and get Keith's first dose of antibiotics coursing through his body before the next day.
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"Hey Molly! How's it going?" Gordy jogged up.
"Oh, hi Gordy. What's up?" Molly smiled as he tripped just before he reached her.
"Not much. Just thought maybe you'd know where Keith is." Gordy said looking behind him to see what had tripped him and noticing nothing.
"He's at home with strep throat." Molly grinned at Gordy's dumbfounded look. "Tripping over invisible tree roots?"
"Haha, you're a laugh a minute. Strep throat, huh? When did he get that?" Gordy tried to gloss over his klutziness.
"I'm not sure. We haven't seen each other most of the week. He told me he was helping a friend and he never came over to my house at all this week. Usually we'd watch TV or do homework together." Molly frowned. "Don't suppose you know who the friend was that he was helping?"
"Don't look at me. I haven't seen much of him this week either. He's been helping Mrs. Williams with the girls' choir after school and I haven't heard from him any night this week either." Gordy admitted. "Skiz doesn't know anything either. I just asked him."
"Well, I guess we won't be seeing him until next week then. Mrs. Partridge asked me to bring his homework over to the house, but told me that I couldn't visit Keith as strep is contagious. She was hoping he'd be well enough for school by Monday." Molly told him.
"Hey, I thought strep was passed on with saliva. I thought for sure you were the one to give it him. Aren't you feeling the least bit sick?" Gordy teased.
"Healthy as a horse." Molly said and then looked down to hide her disappointment. Had Keith been kissing someone else?
"Well, maybe you should be worried about your boyfriend kissing other girls." Gordy kept up the teasing not realizing that Molly was hurt by it.
"Just like a guy. Right away you think Keith is cheating on me." Molly shot back and then turned on her heels to walk away.
Gordy gaped at her as she stormed off. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. He'd only been kidding, hadn't he? Keith wasn't kissing anyone else. As best friends they shared everything. If Keith was cheating on Molly he'd know it. Right?
Gordy spotted Skizzy and went to tell him the new information he'd just found out; besides he wanted to find out if Skizzy knew anything about Keith having another girlfriend.
Gordy never noticed Greg standing on the other side of the tree near where he and Molly had been talking. Nor did he see the angry look come over his face when he heard that Keith had the same illness that was keeping his girlfriend from school at the same time.
He was also angry to hear that the punk freshman was helping out the girls' choir. The same choir that his girlfriend sang in. The same girlfriend that had been busy every night earlier in the week with someone who was helping her with her solo. That someone who was starting to look like the same guy who had been holding hands with Beth only a few short weeks earlier. The same guy who Beth had denied having feelings for and the same guy who Beth swore meant nothing to her.
Greg hated being made a patsy, but it was starting to look like Beth had pulled the wool over his eyes on this one.
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Keith wasn't able to return to school until Wednesday. His fever had spiked over the weekend and he'd been weak and tired from not eating. He'd refused food the first several days as it hurt enough just swallowing; adding food had been excruciating.
He looked tired, but at least had enough energy to navigate the halls of the high school. His friends had welcomed him back with open arms and lots of teasing about how he'd gotten strep throat. He'd pushed them all off with the explanation that he'd gotten it from one of his siblings. No one would go so far as to check if that were true. By Friday, they'd forgotten all about it. Unfortunately, Greg was still doing a slow burn.
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The movie had been pretty good and now Keith, Gordy and Skizzy were enjoying a taco at the taco stand. Molly was out of town with her parents visiting relatives.
The three buddies had been joined by a big group of friends and the party had become quite boisterous.
Keith had excused himself to go to the bathroom and was returning to the group when he heard someone yell.
"You'd cheat on me with a punk freshman?" The male voice shouted from the end of the parking lot.
Keith couldn't hear the answer from the other person, but he could see Greg towering over a much smaller figure. A figure who was very likely Beth.
Keith stayed in the shadows but inched his way toward them watching to see what would happen next. He didn't have to wait long before he saw Greg slap the girl across the face. He didn't even pause to think about the fact that Greg was much bigger than him. He just ran over and yelled. "Hey, knock it off."
"Go away." Greg warned without looking up. He was enjoying the sight of his girlfriend cowering in front of him.
"No." Keith said with false bravado.
"No?" Greg finally looked up and realized that the person interfering was the same exact person who had caused this rift between him and Beth. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the trouble maker himself."
"Excuse me?" Keith was surprised and confused by Greg's comment.
"You're the one who's been swapping spit with my girlfriend, aren't you?" Greg said menacingly. "The one who she gave strep throat? The one she cheated on me with?"
Keith swallowed hard and tried lying. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, you don't, do you? Well, let me see if I have this right. You start helping out with the girls' choir and the next thing I know, my girlfriend has secret meetings with someone who's helping her with her solo. My superior reasoning skills lead me to one person and that'd be you." Greg said snidely.
When Keith didn't try to deny it, Greg continued. "Then, my girlfriend calls to cancel another date because she tells me she has strep throat. The next day at school, I overhear two scrawny freshmen talking about the fact that their friend has strep throat too. Coincidence? I might have believed that if not for all of the other evidence. All roads point to you punk; care to deny it? I didn't think so."
Keith couldn't bring himself to deny any of it but he also couldn't bring himself to leave Beth to face the obviously angry Greg. He'd hit her once already; if he left, who knew how many more times he'd hit her.
"Keith, go away. Please." Beth said with her hand still protectively over her left cheek.
"Yes, Keith – go away." Greg sneered at Beth as he said the words in a sweet voice. "Can't you hear what MY girlfriend is asking you to do?"
"Can't do that." Keith could feel his knees shaking slightly. He blamed it on the fact that he was still weak from being sick instead of fear that he might be facing his last days on earth.
"Keith, please, he'll hurt you." Beth begged drawing Keith's attention away from Greg making him slow to react to the punch that Greg threw.
Better me than you was Keith's last thought before he belatedly attempted to duck the incoming fist. It made contact with his left eye and the pain was immediate. The impact was solid and he would have gone down completely if not for the car that stopped him.
He reached up from his partially prone position to touch the spot that felt hot and swollen already. Man, Greg's punch packed a wallop.
"Well, at least you're no longer hitting girls." Came out of Keith's mouth before he could stop it. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. As Keith straightened up, Greg came charging at him. Greg's shoulder made contact with Keith's chest and they were both propelled back until they ran into a parked truck. Keith's left side and shoulder took the brunt of the impact. He felt something give and heard the rain of glass as it fell, but he had no time to dwell on the pain that erupted.
"Greg! Stop!" Keith could hear Beth screaming. He glanced up to see her approaching and while he tried to draw breath back into his lungs and tell her to stay back, he watched Greg throw her off of him like a rag doll. She went down hard, but sprang back up.
Keith had no time to worry about her as Greg turned quickly back to him. He threw another punch that Keith ducked. When Greg's fist made solid contact with the truck frame, he howled in pain and Keith used the few precious seconds to try to get away.
He made it only a few steps when Greg's left hand reached out and pulled Keith's sore left shoulder spinning Keith back to face the now even angrier football player. He was cradling his right hand against his chest and Keith was grateful that he wouldn't be punching him with the punishing blows of his strong hand when Greg threw an equally punishing punch with his balled up left fist.
"Help! Oh, god, please. Someone help us!" Beth was screaming for the other kids a short distance away at the taco stand. The noisy crowd took a while to notice the fight taking place a short distance away, but Beth's continued screams finally brought everyone running.
By this time, Keith was feeling like the piñata at a child's party. Greg had hit him so hard that he'd gone to the ground and now Greg was blindly kicking at Keith as Keith tried to roll away. Greg got in several solid kicks to Keith's stomach and ribs before three of Greg's own buddies pulled him off.
"Greg! Have you lost your mind?" His best friend was yelling at him to break the fog that seemed to have taken over. "You're going to kill him."
"Let me go!" Greg ranted while struggling to break the hold of four guys who were as big or bigger than him.
"Keith? Oh my god, Keith. Are you alright?" Beth bent over Keith and noticed him struggling to catch his breath. She looked back at Greg and screamed. "Are you happy? You've beat up a guy who's a lot smaller than you. I bet it makes you feel like a big man, doesn't it?"
Greg seemed to have a switch that could flip quickly and right now it changed from crazed fanatic to apologetic boyfriend in a heartbeat. "Beth, please. How can you say that? I didn't mean to hurt him. He just kept egging me on. I'm sorry."
"Egging you on? Are you serious? He did nothing – NOTHING!" Beth was crying in her fear for Keith. She turned her back on Greg and talked quietly to Keith. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
Greg's switch flipped back to angry in the blink of an eye; more likely it was the concern that Beth showed Keith that turned him back into a raving lunatic. Thankfully his friends hadn't let go completely or Greg might have done more damage. As it was, this time they dragged him away kicking and screaming at Beth and Keith. Threats and epithets turned the air blue before his friends threw him in one of their cars and drove away.
Keith was still struggling to draw breath and realized it hurt to do so. Oh, man, his parents were going to kill him.
"Keith, can you get up? We need to get you to the hospital." Beth couldn't stop the tears from flowing.
Gordy and Skizzy finally came out of the their stupor as they'd watched the scene unfold before them.
"Keith, talk to us man." Skizzy said as he knelt down beside Beth.
"If you slap me, I'll break your arm." Keith tried joking to lighten the mood. His attempt at a smile caused his split lip to begin bleeding again and instead turned the smile into a wince. Every part of him seemed to hurt.
"Ha! Just like you Partridge, fake it to make a good impression on the girls." Gordy joked back ecstatic that his friend was in good enough shape to joke.
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"I've got it." Dan said as he detoured to the ringing phone. He was glad to be home for the weekend with his family. He had been gone for most of this week too and with Keith having been sick over the weekend, he hadn't had a chance to talk to him as he and Shirley had discussed. He'd planned a day away for the two of them on Saturday under the auspices of taking Keith's car for a spin. It was ready to be test driven and he planned to make it a good long one. A long one that would require long bouts of conversation between his son and himself.
"Hello." Dan said into the phone. "Slow down….How bad?......We'll be right there."
Dan hung up the phone and tried to keep the worry from his face. Shirley had gotten up and walked over to him while he'd been on the phone as if sensing something was wrong. He whispered to her. "Shirley, do you think Mrs. Monahan would mind coming over for a few hours?"
"What happened? It's Keith isn't it?" Shirley whispered back with a sick feeling coming over her. She hadn't overheard any of the other side of Dan's phone conversation, but she could just feel that something was wrong.
Dan had thought that he'd hidden his fear and worry pretty well, but realized he must not have. Then again, it might be that woman's intuition that his wife repeatedly warned him about. "Yes, he's at the emergency room."
When he realized Shirley was about to pepper him with questions, he continued quickly, "Shirley, not now. Let's just get Mrs. Monahan over here and then we can talk on the way." Dan's eyes moved to Laurie and Danny who were still up watching a movie that they had begged to be allowed to watch.
"I'll call her." Shirley picked up the receiver that was still warm from Dan's hand and dialed quickly as her mind swirled with possibilities. She clamped down firmly on her fear and forced her voice to stay steady.
In under 5 minutes, they were headed toward the hospital.
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They had yet to be let in to see him. Dan was pacing the room and Shirley was sitting quietly in a chair biting her lip in worry.
Gordy and Skizzy had greeted them when they came in, assured them that Keith didn't have any life threatening injuries and then sat quietly in a corner waiting to hear news themselves. They were pretty sure they hadn't lied to Keith's parents, but the longer it took for the doctor to come out and talk to them, the more they worried that they might have been wrong.
A police officer came through the doors first and walked over to Dan, shaking his hand. "Mr. Partridge? I'm Officer Mulroney. I just got done talking with Beth Morgan about what happened tonight, but I will need to speak to your son later. Would you like to be present while I do that?"
"Absolutely. But, Officer, can you tell us what happened? We just got a call from Keith's friends telling us he was here. We have no idea why or how badly he's hurt." Dan pulled his wife to his side as she came to stand beside him and hear what had happened.
"Well, as far as I can tell so far, Keith tried to break up a fight between Beth Morgan and her boyfriend Greg Nolan. Greg is a good 6 inches taller than Keith and he's a football player. Good enough to play college ball. Well, before this all happened at least. I've already called into the station and someone will be going to pick Greg up and arrest him for assault and battery. All I know so far is that Greg was using Keith as a punching bag before his friends stopped him and took him away. Beth Morgan and Keith's friends brought Keith here." Officer Mulroney motioned to Skizzy and Gordy. "More than that I don't know. I have yet to talk to Keith myself."
"Officer, how if Beth Morgan?" Shirley asked, now more sure than ever that Beth was the girl Keith had been talking about when he'd asked Dan about girls in abusive relationships.
"She's got a few bruises herself, but she's going to be just fine. It took a while to talk her into calling her parents. They should be here soon." Officer Mulroney looked up and watched a concerned couple walk through the door. "If I'm not mistaken, I'd guess that the Morgans have arrived."
"Dan, Shirley, how's Beth? And, Keith, of course?" Mrs. Morgan quickly walked over and figured they were the best source of information as they'd gotten to the hospital before them.
"Actually, we haven't seen either of them yet. But, from what we've heard so far, they're both going to be fine." Shirley answered.
"What happened?" Mrs. Morgan blinked back her tears of worry.
"Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, I'm Officer Mulroney. I can take you back to your daughter. I think it might be best if she explained things to you. She's more shaken up than hurt. Why don't you come with me." The officer took them away to see Beth.
Dan and Shirley watched them go; envious that they were already being allowed to see their child while Keith's doctor had yet to let them know how he was doing.
"Oh, Dan, what could be taking so long?" Shirley asked and gripped his hand even harder.
"I'm not sure. Let me go check." Dan guided Shirley back down to a chair and went in search of someone to help them.
He came back a few minutes later and told Shirley that he'd gotten permission for them to go back and see Keith. Shirley immediately jumped up and they headed through the emergency room doors.
They were taken down a hallway and then asked to wait a moment while the nurse checked to make sure the doctor was ready for them to enter. She came back in less than a minute and waved them into the curtained area where a still figure lay on the gurney. He looked so small and wounded was Shirley's first thought before her son's head turned and he graced them with a slight but groggy smile. The smile was lopsided as the swelling on his face had already started to take while the bruising would hold off for awhile.
"Hey, kiddo. How are you feeling?" Dan asked as he walked with Shirley to the bed. He could feel her begin to shake as they got closer.
"Right now I'm not feeling much of anything." Keith admitted and then added. "I'm really sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry about?" Shirley asked with tears shining in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I got beat up." Keith said and then his eyes drifted shut. "I'm sorry I worried you."
"It's alright, honey. It wasn't your fault." Shirley reassured her son who very likely never heard her last comments.
"Mr. and Mrs. Partridge?" As the worried parents looked up and nodded, the doctor motioned them back outside the curtain. "We gave him some morphine for the pain and he'll likely sleep through the night. Why don't we take a short walk and I'll tell you how he's doing."