Awakening

Chapter Eight

"Exercise"

Sunday

"Whoa, okay, let's put her down on that bench."

"Watch her feet!"

"What happened to her clogs anyway?"

"Lor watch her head!"

"Hey, she may not look like much, but she isn't exactly light!"

"I heard that…."

"She's coming around!"

Tino stepped aside while Carver and Lor unceremoniously sprawled a half conscious Tish across a bench. "Hey, where have you been? You missed all the action. Okay, maybe it wasn't action, so much as it was the three of us watching in morbid fascination and horror when Tish's left foot slid the wrong way and she ended up heading down Two Mile Hill. We're a little surprised she's still alive, and in one piece. We're going to try and bandage her up as best as we can. I think Tish's first aid kit comes with everything we need. Man, I'm afraid to take off her pads. It's unbelievable. Poor girl, it's like the second she puts on a pair of skates, the pavement wants to get really intimate with her." Tino grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Okay, let's get the hard part over with."

"Tino, you got that stuff?" Carver asked.

"Yeah, coming!" He stepped over to the bruised body of his friend. "Oh boy, this won't be fun." Occasionally, a moan escaped Tish's mouth. Carefully, Tino reached down and lifted Tish's glasses from her face. "Carver, hold these. She's going to get real alert real fast when I do this, and the less she sees, the better. Be careful with them."

"No prob." Carver took the proffered glasses, careful not to touch the lenses.

Tino grabbed a gauze from the box he had brought, then held it to the open bottle of peroxide. He hesitated as he removed Tish's right elbow guard. He didn't much like the sight of blood, plus he knew Tish was going to wake right up and scream bloody murder as soon as he applied the gauze. "This isn't going to be pretty. Stand back, guys." Taking a deep breath, he pressed the damp gauze to Tish's wound, trying to keep as much distance between himself and the girl as possible.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Tish screamed less than two seconds later, trying to sit bolt upright. For a moment, Carver thought that Tish's glasses would shatter. Lor clamped her hands over her ears to shut out the sound, while Tino swiped the gauze for a second pass.

"Good Lord!" Carver yelled. "I think she just hit a high C!"

"What are you doing?!!" Tish howled, yanking her arm way from Tino "What happened?"

"You fell." Lor answered.

Tino grabbed hold of Tish's arm again. "Hang on, Tish. You got scraped up pretty good. The elbow guard protected most of you on this arm, but we still have to clean these. Good thing you had that first aid kit."

"Did I pass out?" asked Tish.

"More or less."

"Man, Tish, you should've seen yourself go!" Carver leaped into the air. "You were flying."

"Um, Carver, not the time!" Lor quieted the enthusiastic boy down.

"Aughhh that hurts so bad!" Tish's cry pierced as Tino finished cleaning her wound and began searchinf for a bandage and antibiotic crème.

"Sorry." Tino sighed. "Really, I am."

"Not your fault…..OH NO! I can't see! Where are my glasses?!"

"Relax." Carver smiled. "I got them right here. Tino was afraid that if we didn't take them off, they would've went flying when he started cleaning you up. They could've been broken." Gladly, he handed Tish her sight.

"Yeah, and he was right too." Lor smirked. "Geez, Tish, I thought you were trying out for an opera when you started screaming. Then again, it was the dreaded peroxide."

"Yeah really, Tino, peroxide is the worst!"

"It's what was in the kit! Why do I have to be the bad guy?!" Tino cried. Lor just looked at him. Tino sighed in frustration. "Okay, I'm sorry for being such a good friend and trying to keep my friend's scrapes from becoming infected. What a jerk I am!"

Abruptly, Tish laughed at him. "Don't worry about it Tino, I'll take care of it from here."

"Ah-ah." Tino shook his head. He squeezed some crème onto a bandage and carefully covered Tish's scrape. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it? Um, you can do the rest, I guess. You've probably got a lot."

"Ugh." Tish responded, taking assessment of herself. "You're right. Lor, I'm uh, going to need your help."

"Why don't you girls take care of that while Carver and I bring back some Chug-A-Freezes?"

"Now that sounds like a plan!" Lor seemed happy. "Chug-A-Freezes on the boys, oh yeah."

"Woo-hoo." Carver said enthusiastically.

"C'mon, Carver, it'll be, um, nice." Tino tugged at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming. We'll be back!" He called as they both walked away.

"Okay." Lor laughed. "Let's get you to the girls room and see how bad the damage is."

"I think I ripped my dress."

"Maybe we'd better get you a change of clothes too, then."

"So remind me again why we're buying all the Chug-A-Freezes." Carver insisted as he and Tino stood in line at the Snack Shack.

"Um, because we feel bad about happened to Tish." Tino reasoned.

"Yeah, that I can see, but Tish probably wouldn't have started down that hill if Lor hadn't high-fived her and sent the poor girl flying in the wrong direction."

"That's true, but this is Lor we're talking about. Besides, it's not like she did it on purpose or anything."

"Nah, Lor's tough, but she's loyal to her friends. Most of the time."

"Yeah, well, I think the same can be said for all of us."

"Please don't tell me you're inferring that you're tough."

"Me? Why one look at my physique would send most challengers screaming into the night." Tino attempted to flex his left arm for emphasis.

"Yeah, with laughter."

"Oh, what do you know!" Tino scoffed.

"Order?" a voice droned.

"Huh? Oh, four Chug-A-Freezes, please."

Carver reached into his left pocket, frowned, then repeated the process with his right. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Hey T, think you could cover for me. I spent all my money on those Addidas."

"Of course. What else is new?" Tino sighed as he handed over the full amount, dimly recalling something Tish had once said about a fool and his money. "Carver, how would you eat on the weekend if Tish and I weren't around to feed you?"

"Foods of the World."

"Yeah, well what if they don't have something as appetizing as the 'Stuff Your Face a la Outer Space" theme that ran today?

"Dude, I've seen some of the things your Mom feeds you! If you could get that stuff down, I'm sure I can handle whatever they serve at that silly exhibit. If I had to, anyway."

"I guess."

"Is anyone still paying attention?"

"Nah, they'd probably rather know what's going on with Lor and Tish in the girl's room."

"So, uh, how's it going in there Tish?" Lor wondered aloud in the direction of a metal door.

"It's not so bad. My thigh is pretty scratched up, but it's not too messy. And I think I can salvage this dress."

"Padding save you?"

"You know it!" Tish giggled. "Toss me some of the creme Tino was using before. I should put some on this just to be safe."

Lor rummaged through the kit, found the tube, and tossed it in a clean, overhand arc. It passed over the door of Tish's stall and dropped inside. "Incoming!"

"Ah!" Tish half-caught the creme, it bounced once in her left hand, flipped over into her right, then slid out and dropped with a splash. "Ummmm, I don't suppose you have another one of those?"

"Another one? What's wrong with that one?"

"It's, um, well, let's just say I'm not going after it."

"Geez, Tish, sometimes you can be so helpless."

"Will you just check and see if there's anything else?" Tish growled.

"Yeah, yeah, let's see.....nope, no more creme. We've still got the peroxide, though."

"Wonderful....." Tish sighed hopelessly. "Give it here."

"Your funeral!" Lor laughed.

"Don't throw it!" Tish yelled.

"Relax, I'm just going to slide it under the door."

A moment later, the bottle in question did indeed appear under the door, and Tish took it, using a piece of toilet paper to apply the disinfectant. "Here we go again." She moaned. "Might as well get it over with...........ow!" She let out, taking a deep breath and deciding not to scream. Wincing thrice, Tish finally discarded her makeshift applicant and finished up. Straightening her dress and shirt, she stepped out of the stall to clean up. As she washed her hands, cringing a few times as the scrapes on her hands stung, she looked in the mirror. Her hair was rather disheveled on top, while at the end, it was curling in different directions instead of lying straight. "I look like I've been swimming in the River Styx." She moaned.

"What river?"

"Forget it. I knew I should have braided my hair this morning."

"You look fine. Chill out, I doubt your parents will even notice."

"I hope not."

"Come on, let's go pick up those drinks. I'm thirsty."

"You're thirsty?! I'm the one who's been through the ordeal!"

"Yeah, but it was a lot of work taking care of you." Tish opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She decided to pick her battles.

The girls emerged from the restroom to find Tino and Carver sitting on a wall across the way, slowly sipping away at their drinks. Lor quickly ran over and snatched her Chug-A-Freeze, Tish was a little slower, as she was carrying the first aid kit.

"So you're okay?" Tino asked after both girls were situated.

"Yeah, she's fine." Lor assured them. "Just a few bumps and scrapes, nothing to call the medics about. She doesn't even need a change of clothes."

"Good to hear!" encouraged Carver.

"I'm all right." Tish smiled. "More or less."

"Well," Tino began, "I guess that was kind of a bust. What should we do now?" Tino wondered as he handed Tish her skates.

"Something safer, I hope."

"Don't tell me we're back to this again." Lor groaned. "I'm not letting you guys blindfold me again!"

"We could just, y'know, go to the mall." Suggested Carver.

"I'm in!" Tish grinned.

"Sounds good to me." Tino added.

"I'm there." Replied Lor.

"Great, then it's settled." Tino felt a surge through him. "One Sunday at the mall, coming up. Or at least, half a Sunday." Tino pushed himself off the wall. "C'mon, we'd better get moving. I don't wanna get there and have everything closed!"

As the four of them began walking towards their goal, Tish slid up next to him and mumbled something softly. "The Chug-A-Freeze was supposed to be on me!"

"Extenuating circumstances." Shrugged Tino.

"Well let me get the next one, okay?"

"No prob."

"Hey," Lor started, "Is anyone else getting in the mood for chili cheese fries? I've been wanting some since last night."

"Now you're talking!" Carver shouted. "First stop, food court!"

I guess I'll stop here for today, I try to break the chapters whenever I shift gears. I felt this chapter was just...kind of weird. If I do the commentary, there's a lot of funny stuff I can talk about here. The most astute of readers will notice there's a small plot hole in this chapter. I know it's there, I could fix it, but I've decided that it just gives the story a little more character to have it's own little quirks and flaws, much like the Fab Four themselves. Okay, I'll be back soon with another installment. Don't forget to tip the server on the way out!

Lord Malachite

5/23/03

4:42 PM, EST

E-mail: ranger_writer@yahoo.com

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