"Who did this to you?" she asked me, leading me into the kitchen. She pulled out a small first aid kit and an ice pack from the freezer. She wrapped the ice pack in a towel, and told me to put it on my eye. I guess it was probably turning black and blue. I didn't remember Spinner or Jimmy hitting me, but I wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to exactly where the blows were coming from. I was mostly trying to hit back and get away.

"JT," she said, calling me back to reality, "I asked who did this to you. We ought to call the cops, and have you file a complaint, especially if you know the guys."

My first thought was happiness that she had said guys; she didn't think I was too weak to not even be able to handle a fight with just one guy. My second thought was that it wasn't fair for me to break Paige and Spinner up, just because I had a huge crush on Paige. Yes, I wanted them to break up, but no, I did not want me being a tattle-tale to be the cause. I knew that if I told Manny who hit me, that she would tell Paige, and that everyone would just think I had told Manny so I could get with Paige.

"I, uh, didn't know the guys who did it. They were just some guys from around the neighborhood, but I didn't really recognize either of them. The one called me a bunch of nasty names, and then starting hitting me. I hit him in the nose, and I probably gave him a black eye, but then some guy came around and joined him, so I didn't have a chance."

She busied herself cleaning out some of the cuts I had. This was not like in movies, where the good guy winces when the antiseptic touches his cut, but manages to get through the actual fight without seeming to be in any pain at all. Yes, the antiseptic stung, but I didn't wince. I just wanted to make that clear because I hate those action movies.

We didn't really talk a whole lot. Every once in a while she would shake her head and sigh when she caught sight of another bruise that was just forming or cut she hadn't seen yet. I kept remembering back to when we first started going out. I hadn't cared about what had happened in her past. She was used by an older guy and she got all the blame. That's how it usually goes. But then she dumped me for being too immature. I don't know; I couldn't help it. I knew I shouldn't have compared my, er, assets to Craig's, but I guess I just feel a little self-conscious about sex. But really, who could blame me for that?

"Well, I've done about as much as I can do," Manny said, as she was putting away the first aid kit. "Let me see your eye again."

I took off the ice pack, wincing a little bit. It must have been swollen shut, because everything was dark in that eye.

"It's good to see that you can open that eye again. When I saw it, it looked awful. You couldn't even open it. It's actually not all that bad now. You'll have a pretty good black eye though, but it'll just make you look tough," she said, jokingly.

It didn't register with me right away that she had said my eye was open. When I finally realized it, I said, "This eye? You mean the right eye?" I pointed to it, just to be completely clear about which eye we were talking about.

"Duh, come on JT. Yes, I mean the right eye, the one you're pointing too. Your other eye is fine, so I wouldn't be talking about that one."

I started to feel a little panicky. I held my hand up in front of my face and I waved it back and forth between both eyes. When it was by the left eye, I could see it fine. I couldn't see it thought when it moved to the right side, out of the peripheral vision of the left.

I must have gone a little pale because Manny said, "Are you all right? Are you going to faint? Do you need a glass of water or something?"

"Manny, I think...I think...I can't see out of my right eye."

She gave a little gasp. Almost immediately, she went to the phone and dialed 911.

"Yeah," she said. "My friend's over here and he got in a fight with a couple of guys. Anyways, I got him cleaned up and I put some ice on his eye which was swollen shut. The swelling went down, and his eye opens fine now, but he says he can't see anything out of it." She paused for a moment. "Well, I don't know if it's an emergency, and I can't drive him to the ER because I don't have a license." She listened again and nodded, even though the operator couldn't see her nod. "JT, face me a second." I did as she asked. Then she said to the operator, "yeah, the white part of his eye is red. Not bloodshot red, but like a dark even red color. Is that bad?" Her face paled, and I closed my eyes and turned away. I couldn't believe this was happening. "Okay," she said "I'll have him do that."

She turned to me, and said "go lie down on the couch, but with your head elevated." I sort of thought lying down might be a good idea, so I did. "Don't fall asleep!" she shouted to me.

A few minutes later, an ambulance was there.

"Wow," I thought to myself, half in horror, half in amusement as we headed to the hospital. "I warrant an ambulance this time. First I get a cop car, now an ambulance. Next, I suppose, I'll be riding in a hearse."