"Come in."
"Mom, I don't feel good."
Prue became concerned. Nancy never complained about how she felt. Walking over to Nancy, Prue placed her hand on Nancy's head.
"Well, you don't feel warm. Maybe I should call Lucy."
"No, I don't need a doctor."
"Sweetie, I know you don't like the doctor's office, but if you don't feel good, we should have you checked out."
"Really Mom, I don't need a doctor."
Nancy claimed with fear in her voice. It was bad enough to have to see Lucy as often as she did, she didn't want to see her unless absolutely necessary.
"Alright honey, let me get a thermometer."
"But…"
This wasn't going the way Nancy planned. She quickly realized that if she complained a little more often, the girls wouldn't get so worried when Nancy was trying to act like she just had a cold. Before she had time to come up with another excuse, Prue returned with the thermometer in hand. Not giving Nancy a chance to protest she placed it in Nancy's ear and waited the few seconds for it to beep.
"Alright you don't have a fever, and you don't want to go to the doctor. Why don't you tell me, how you don't feel well."
"What?"
"What exactly hurts"
"Oh right….um, my…um, my stomach hurts."
Prue could tell that Nancy wasn't telling the truth.
"Ok Nancy, what's up? You never complain about not feeling well, now you are. You don't have a fever, and don't what to go to the doctor. Let me guess, you don't want to go to school today. Why don't you want to go school?"
Nancy knew she couldn't lie anymore, it wasn't going to work. Sitting there with an innocent look on her face she tried to just play it off as no big deal. She couldn't come up with an answer quick enough.
"Wait, it's Wednesday. You're presentation is today isn't it?"
"It is isn't it. I totally forgot. It must be my cold…"
"Nancy you're a terrible liar. What's up?"
"My presentation stinks."
"I'm sure you'll do fine. Now go get dressed, you're going to school."
"Come on Mom, I mean, I'm already 4 years ahead of a normal kid my age. What is missing one day going to hurt?"
"Nice try kid, but that's not going to work. Besides you're going to have to give your presentation sooner or later. If not today, then tomorrow. Go on."
"No it can't be tomorrow, this is the last day for the class."
"Well then you better get going."
Nancy left the room mumbling something about this being totally unfair, and how it was only one day. Prue stood there smiling, she remembered when Phoebe used to try acting sick to get out of something she didn't want to do at school. The memories just came rushing back.
Nancy tried to play the sick act with both Phoebe and Piper, but they weren't falling for it either. She didn't let it drop until Piper dropped her off at school. Sighing she went into the school knowing it was another half-day, and she had two finals.
She went to her first one, which was English. Flying through the exam with ease, she was done way before the rest of the class. After handing in her paper she pulled out her note cards and ran her presentation through her mind. By the time the bell rang she had recited it three times, and still hated it.
Heading to her locker she grabbed her presentation materials, and headed off to her anatomy class. Arriving in the classroom, she took her place, and could feel her hands sweating. She was really nervous.
"Alright, everyone settle down. We have the final 3 presentations to get done today. Rob, you're first."
Nancy was glad that she wasn't first. She stared at her notes, rehearsing it all in her head, changing words here and there. She tried to act like she was listening to Rob's presentation, while trying to change her cards.
When Rob was finished, Mr. Tinman called Julie up to the front to present her project. Nancy may not have wanted to go first, but at this point the wait was killing her. She couldn't take the pressure. With only ten minutes before the class was let out for the year, Nancy had hopes she wouldn't have to present at all.
Julie was still talking and it didn't look like she was going to be finished. Her hopes were crushed when Julie asked the class if they had any questions, and nobody raised their hand. Nancy would have come up with some questions herself, but she was so busy reviewing her own notes, she didn't know what Julies topic was.
"Alright then Julie nice job. Nancy, your up."
Sighing, Nancy grabbed her materials and headed toward the front of the class. She placed her charts on the easel next to Mr. Tinman's desk, and slapped an x-ray in the light box next to the chalkboard. Taking a deep breath and starring down at her note cards, she began to speak. She was interrupted by a voice from the back of the room.
"Speak up, we can't hear you back here."
Signing once again, she took another deep breath and decided to pick a spot on the back wall. Not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, she simply starred at the spot as she spoke her words loud enough for the whole class to hear.
"My presentation is on the neurological spinal system, focusing specifically on how the spinal nerves can effect the brain and body functions. For the purpose of my presentation I'm going to use this chart."
Nancy grabbed the pointer off Mr. Tinman's desk and began pointing at a charted diagram that she had set on the easel.
"You can see here by this chart that on a normal spinal cord all the nerves are connected which allows for a good blood flow, and a normal function of the upper and lower extremities."
She paused a moment as she looked at all the students making sure they were following along alright. Realizing that they were she continued.
"Now this is an x-ray of an injured spinal cord, specifically…um…mine."
She once again looked around the room and could see peoples eyes perk up as they leaned a little closer forward in their seat. She knew now she really had their attention, and she wasn't pleased about it.
"A lot of people at one time or another have asked me about my injury. You can see by the x-ray that the spine, I mean my spine, is twice the size of a normal one. You can also see that there is fluid build up around the spinal cord. That fluid blocks the nerves from sending signals to my brain, my legs, and at times my arms, to do what they are suppose to do."
A hand raised in the air and Nancy stopped for George to ask his question.
"How did the fluid get there?"
"Um, just like if you were to slam your hand in a car door, or bump your head on the ground, a bruise will form. When this happens to the spinal cord it causes pressure and traps fluid. As the fluid becomes trapped and has no where to go, it causes pressure, which in turn causes more damage."
Nancy knew this wasn't the answer that George was looking for, but figured it would satisfy him. Nancy continued with her presentation, focusing mainly on facts, and trying not to talk in specifics. Her presentation was eight minutes long, which left a few minutes for the class to ask questions. Nancy figured there wouldn't be any, they didn't ask questions to any of her other classmates, but Mr. Tinman decided to fill the last few minutes with a question.
"Nancy, how long does it usually take for the swelling to go down?"
"Well, truthfully it depends on what caused the injury. In most cases it can take at least six months, but for a full recovery it can also take up to two years before the nerves begin to function properly."
Another student raised her hand, obviously the class was interested in the topic, or they were bored enough to want to fill the time. Nancy had no choice but to let the questions be asked.
"How do you cope with all the waiting?"
"Well, I have a really great family. They support me, I have friends who don't judge me, and you would be surprised at what you can do when you have to. Yes?"
"How did you get hurt?"
George re-asked. Nancy looked up at the ceiling for a second, Mr. Tinman saw this and was going to try and give her an out.
"You know, I don't think that's important..."
"No, you know what it's alright, I don't mind. I mean it's nothing I need to be embarrassed about. My parents died a few years ago and I was placed in a foster home, well, several, actually. The last one I was in, the man like to hit...a lot. I took so many beatings to my back that it started the whole thing."
"But when you first came to the school, you were walking."
"Well, you see, this type of injury can take years to develop. I had an accident in gym class. I was accidentally hit in the back by a basketball. The hit that I received caused the swelling to expand rapidly. In fact, it saved my life."
"How is that?"
"If the swelling had continued at the rate it was going..."
Nancy turned and pointed at the chart again tracing the image she was trying to explain.
"...it would have continued up this way, causing pressure on the lungs and the heart. Eventually it would have blocked the blood supply to my brain. Once that happens the brain can't tell the body when to breath, it can't tell the heart when to beat. I could have died in my sleep."
The entire class sat there and listened to everything that Nancy had to say. Some of the class had looks of pity in their eyes, other just had looks of interest wanting to ask more questions.
"I know that the bell is about to ring but before it does, I want everyone to do something for me. I want you all to close your eyes. Imagine waking up in the morning and feeling so hungry you want to run downstairs and raid the refrigerator. Then you open your eyes, stomach growling, ready to eat your hand, yet you still have to work your body into a wheel chair, struggle to get on a toilet, climb into a chair lift, and then back into a chair before you can even get to the kitchen. When you get there, you can't reach the glasses, so you can't have any juice. You can hardly reach the top of the stove, so can't cook any food. The cereal is on the top shelf, way out of your reach, not to mention the bowls are also in upper shelf. Your family is still asleep, upstairs, and if you want to eat, you need their help. What do you do?"
Nancy looked around the room and saw that the whole class did have their eyes closed, and by the looks on their faces they were trying to imagine what that would be like.
"Now open your eyes. This is what I do, I live, I deal, and I move on. I can see the look in some of your eyes. The looks are saying, 'OH, THAT POOR GIRL', but I have found that everything happens for a reason. Maybe the reason I am the way I am is so I can teach you guys about it. I don't know, I may never find out. Just don't feel sorry for people who are different. Different isn't bad, it's just different. If we were all the same, life would be boring. We don't need life to be boring, we have school for that"
At that moment the bell rang as the students laughed and started clapping for Nancy. They all knew that it took a lot of courage for her to say what she did.
"Well, I think that is a great way to end the school year for this class. Good luck on the last of your finals, Class dismissed."
The classroom cleared out and Mr. Tinman walked up to the front of the room and helped Nancy unload her x-ray from the light box.
"Nancy, I want to thank you."
"For what?"
"I think you have taught them something that I never could. Sometimes we forget that part of anatomy is to explain that although sometimes are insides are different, we're all still human. I don't even know if that came out right"
"Don't worry, it did. I understand what you meant, I just hope they understood it. You're a good teacher."
"Well with students like you, it makes my job easy."
With that said, she left the room with a really good feeling. A feeling that today she made a difference in people's lives. Arriving in the hall she saw Chad coming down the stairs backpack in his hand. "Hi. How did it go?"
"Actually, I think it went really well. So, are we on?"
"Yes. They are meeting us in an hour."
"Great, but I have to be back at the Manor at 5:00. I told Jamie what was going on and she arranged to move my appointment. I need to be there at 5:30."
"Why don't I just take you?"
"NO! I mean, listen, I know you care about me, but there are just some things that I really don't want you to deal with."
"Nancy, I care about you...A LOT...and I am here for you no matter what. Besides it's stupid to take you all the way home when you'll have to have them drive you half way back."
"Well, you can drop me off, but you can't stay. Believe me, you don't want to."
"You better call home and you can tell them to pick you up there."
Walking up to Chad's car he reached under the seat and pulled out his cell phone. Hitting the speed dial he handed the phone to Nancy and started to pop the trunk while she waited for someone to answer.
"Hello.."
"Hey Phoebe, it's me."
"Nancy, I thought you had a study session with Chad after school."
"I do, but so we don't have to cut it to close, Chad's going to drop me off at therapy."
"Nancy…"
"I swear Phoebe I'm going. You will have to pick me up there, so you'll know I'm going. Chad just convinced me it's stupid to drive me all the way home, when therapy is on the way."
"Well alright, but if this is some kind of trick…"
"I promise it's not. Do you think I would pull something with Prom coming up this weekend. I may be young, but I'm not stupid."
"Alright, I'll pick you up at therapy. Take care."
"Bye. Alright, let's go. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to make this work."
Nancy said as she hopped into the passengers seat and waited for Chad to load her chair in the trunk. Then they headed off to Anna's house.