Disclaimer: Same disclaimer applies….
A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews!!!!
This chapter focuses on something else that goes wrong…
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The chemo had ended, the stitches were still in her stomach, and hard-core surgery was on the way. Kirsten walked into the house shivering. She was sick, cold, and really upset. The doctor had scheduled an appointment for Seth, Caleb, Ryan, and Sandy to get their bone-marrow tested. Kirsten had not yet figured out the date for surgery yet, she was too scared. She knew that the cancer was obviously bad and actions needed to be taken, but she feared her own life. Moments later her cell-phone rang and the number showing up was her dad's.
"Hello?" she asked in a shaky tone.
"Kirsten! It's great to hear your voice!" he sounded relieved.
"I need you back soon, you have to get your bone marrow checked," Kirsten told him.
"Oh god, you don't have to have the surgery?" he asked worriedly.
"Yep," she told him, "I'm tired, come home ASAP!" With that she slammed down the phone and stumbled towards her room, ready to sleep.
Seth and Ryan had been sitting on the front stairs, Seth was getting really beat up over everything that had gone on and he just needed a friend.
"Summer and Marissa are going to come over soon," Ryan reassured his brother, "Don't worry man." He watched Seth start crying. Seth hadn't ever necessarily been the coolest guy in school, but he surely had A LOT of love for his mom and if she happened to die, Ryan assumed that Seth would runaway…or worse.
"Thanks Ryan," Seth said, giving him a look that said I'm pathetic, "I'll be OK." Seth walked towards the house and Ryan knew that he needed his "Seth time". Actually come to think of it, he needed his Ryan time because he felt like he was about to explode.
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Ryan couldn't take it; he heard the whispers as Seth and him walked down the hall. His head was spinning and he wasn't in the mood to deal with these people surrounding him. He also wasn't looking forward to soccer practice. He knew something would go wrong. Ryan walked into biology and sat down next to Marcus, a member of the water polo team.
"I'm sorry about your family's issues," he turned towards Ryan and gave him a pitied look, "Even though Kirsten Cohen ain't your really mom, I've heard she sure as hell acts like it." Marcus turned around. Ryan wanted to slap him but he knew it really wasn't the best idea at the time. Ryan just turned around and looked down at his book.
"Boo!" Marissa grabbed Ryan's shoulders as he grabbed his history book out of his locker.
"Hey," he responded with a glare in his eyes.
"Are you OK?" she asked, knowing that he probably wasn't.
"I guess," he shrugged, inside he felt like he was being eaten alive. He was the one that had to be the psychologist in the house because he hadn't known Kirsten as long as the rest of the family. Ryan just walked away, he couldn't stand talking to someone that could make him burst out into tears in front of the whole school.
At the end of the day Ryan had managed to eat alone at lunch and avoid anymore meetings with Marissa. He wasn't really in the mood to play soccer and knew that he wouldn't really pay attention anyways. He shrugged and walked into the locker room to change into his soccer clothes. Even the guys whispered about him in the locker room, it didn't seem like their business. Ryan didn't care he just ran out onto the field and decided to start warming up. He hated being around those guys anyways. Ryan stood out on the field and started running laps. Before he knew it he stopped running and started thinking. The problem was that he stopped right in front of another player and tripped. Ryan landed with a nasty crunch. He groaned, his knee hurt really bad and he just couldn't hold himself together, he started sobbing. "Dude are you OK?" Brandon, the guy who tripped him, asked, "Oh my god, your knee!"
"Coach!" another guy yelled, motioning the coach over to the scene. Ryan lay on the ground helplessly; it was all he knew to do. He knew he might have been overreacting that day on his actions, but he had finally lost it.
"Damn kid," the coach motioned towards his knee, "You dislocated it." Ryan looked at his knee in disgust, "Mark, go call her dad, or Sandy Cohen." The assistant coach scurried away and the rest of the team continued their laps.
"I heard all about the family stuff," the coach patted him on the back, "It's hard at first, but don't worry, it just gets better from here." Ryan gave the coach a half smile and then continued looking at his knee. The hospital was his new home away from home. Somehow the coaches got him into the office, but they didn't want to put the knee back in place because the trainer wasn't there. A few minutes later Sandy pulled up in the parking lot and ran into the office.
"Hey bud, are you all right?" he looked over at the puny face on Ryan, "What do I need to do?"
"I think you should take him to the ER," the coach examined the knee, "Just in case." The coaches helped Ryan into the back of the BMW and Sandy and Ryan drove off.
"Pretty screwy start to senior year, eh?" Sandy questioned Ryan from the front seat.
"I thought senior year was supposed to be fun," Ryan asked, "So far Kirsten has found out she has cancer and I have injured myself at the second soccer practice of the year." Ryan turned around indicating that he didn't want to talk.
"I've got to call home," Sandy flipped out his silver phone, "I'll tell them not to come." Sandy started dialing and Ryan just turned around.
"Hey Seth….I'm on my way to the hospital….everything is fine…Ryan dislocated his knee at soccer…no please don't come…yes we will be home tonight….we're here I gotta go," Sandy hung up the phone, "What a nosy kid." Sandy gave Ryan the crutches the coach had provided him with and let him lead the way into the ER. Sandy walked over to check Ryan in to the front desk and Ryan found a seat away from anyone waiting.
"Hey bud," a nurse motioned him over to the counter, "Another nurse and a wheelchair will here momentarily." She was right; a blonde nurse with a slight country accent came around and helped Ryan into the wheelchair.
"Let's go wait to get some CT scans and x-rays done to that knee!" she pointed down at the blue and purple, swollen knee that was giving Ryan tons of pain. She rolled him up to a room with a big machine, Ryan sat as the doctor that was in the room put it up to his knee. (A/N: I've never had an x-ray so I am guessing) Ryan winched as the x-rays were being shot. Soon the nurse rolled him into another room, where he took his CT scan. Ryan wasn't paying attention so soon it was done without him even realizing.
"Ryan, we are going to go into another room with Sandy, to discuss what is wrong," the nurse wheeled him into another room where Sandy was already seated.
"A doctor will be with you shortly," the nurse left the room.
"So how'd it go?" Sandy asked Ryan who face has softened up a bit since they arrived.
"All right, I think I fell asleep though, it seemed to take 5 minutes," Ryan glanced at the clock on the wall, "Not an hour." The doctor walked in with a smile on his face, I guess he wasn't admitting to the two that they had a life-threatening disease.
"When Ryan's knee popped out of place it tore some muscles and ligaments around it," the doctor pointed at some x-rays, "he will be on crutches for quite a while." The doctor sat him on a stool, "This brace will be yours," he slid the brace on after he had put a cast-like thing under it, "Do not bend your knee past this angle." Ryan daydreamed as the doctor told him everything he needed to know. At 9:00 Ryan and Sandy got into the BMW and headed home.
"God, the hospital is our home away from home, eh?" Sandy looked at Ryan.
"Basically," Ryan lifted his eyebrows and started to doze off.
"Ryan!" Seth opened the car door to find a sleeping Ryan.
"Mmmm…Ryan sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Blech…you have to use crutches?" Seth pointed at the crutches on the floorboard.
"Yeah…Doc says I don't have to go to school tomorrow so don't come wake me in the morning," Ryan got up on his crutches and headed towards the house.
"Ryan how are you?" Kirsten rose from the couch. The day that she started feeling a little bit better, her son got worse.
"I'm gonna go to bed now," he told her, "I'll see you in the morning…and could I get some Advil to put next to my bed?" Ryan took the Advil and hobbled towards the pool house. Ryan changed and lay in bed. Before he knew he was in dream land.