I got my new school schedule today, and am quite convinced that whoever the heck does them hates me.

I'm on the team that NONE of my friends are on. I literally don't know anyone who's going to be on that team.

But cross your fingers that Aaron will be…

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The tips of my fingers just barely touched the edge before it slipped out of my grasp, resulting in me fall to the ground on top of some un-identified object, also resulting in my flamingo-foot landing under my butt, twisting in an incredibly painful way.

Is it any wonder that I started swearing in French?

"Merde Putain! Sacré nom d'un chien, sacré pied de le mien!" I rattled off, gingerly pulling my leg out from under me, biting my lip.

"Katey…" the guy from the doorway said, and to my heart's pleasure, it was Ethan. Normally I would have gotten all nervous and shy, but the throb from my head and leg rather than heart kind of pushed that from my head.

"Ethan, could you help me up?" I asked, my voice lined with a little pleading.

"Yeah, hang on…" he said, and I saw him kick the unconscious guy off to the side. "Nice move by the way."

He meant the whole smash-him-over-the-head-with-a-toaster-or-whatever-the-thing-was bit.

"Yeah, well, you do what you have to…" I said, shrugging as he stooped over so that I could put my arms around his shoulders.

And yes, funky little tingles erupted all over my arms, thanks for wondering.

"What happened to Zach?" I asked as he stood up slowly.

"Well…" He said reluctantly, but I stopped him.

"Wait…do I want to know what happened?"

"If you'd like to know why everyone's running around incredibly freaked out, then yeah, you might want to know."

I sighed and prepared for worst case scenario.

"He got stabbed by that guy right there." He said, giving the guy on the floor another kick.

Okay…that was so not my version of absolute worst case…but still just as bad as having a seizure I suppose.

"Ohmigod…where?"

"I think the guy was aiming for the heart, but Zach must have moved, because the guy only got his arm." He said, and I wanted to burst out yelling. Oh God, it just might be as bad as seizure if he'd been sliced under his bicep…That was one of your important veins or something…it was how that guy died in 'Cellular.'

"His arm? Like, bicep or forearm? Specifics, please!" I said; panicked, but not hysterical.

"Just his forearm, but it went all the way through."

"Have you called the police or an ambulance or something?" I asked.

"That's what they're debating. We're going to be having some serious explaining if us guys are found over here when we said we were at each other's house." He said, and I understood what he meant.

They wouldn't be allowed out of the house for the next ten years if they got found over here. I racked my brain, trying to remember what the doctor at the opera house had done for me when Erik had decided to vent his anger on me.

"Aller être plein de, avoir un tas de serviette…" I began, recalling how I'd been fixed, but Ethan cut me off.

"You do realize I don't understand a word you're saying, right?"

"Sorry…" I said, and the continued, not mussing a beat "Do you think you can get me up the stairs?"

"Yeah, but you, what, broke you leg?" He asked, doubtful.

"Ankle." I corrected briskly. "Alright, get me up there; I think I can help him out."

"How?" He asked, already on the first step.

"Experience. Let's just say…never ever try to out run Erik and expect to get away unscathed." I said, smiling a little.

At the time it hurt like a salaud, but looking back it was actually kind of funny. Next time I saw Erik I would have to remind him to apologize for that too.

"And yet millions of girls still adore him…" Ethan said, shaking his head while lifting my waist to help me to the next step.

"They should have their heads examined." I agreed "That reminds me…I forgot to congratulate Christine on getting engaged to Raoul."

"That sounds incredibly odd, you know."

"Yeah, but still…I hope I can be there for the wedding…of course I'll have to stay in the back where no one can see me so that I don't set off another angry mob…don't ask." I added, knowing perfectly well that Ethan was giving me a very confused look.

"You're going to have to explain that sometime." He said, pulling me to the last stair, and I got a good view of utter chaos.

Zach was laying on the floor bleeding all over quilts while Jenny, Brad, Abby, Clair, Kurt and Aaron argued over if they should call an ambulance or not, Clair and Kelee were trying to persuade Zach to let them take the knife out of his arm.

"Lordy, Lordy…" I said softly, noticing the pained expression on Zach's face, as though he just wanted to scream bloody murder but couldn't.

Ethan waited for me to stop gazing open mouthed at Zach's wound before asking me what I needed to do.

"Get some Aspirin or Tylenol, whatever's down there. Then get some hand towels, hydrogen peroxide and cotton swabs. Take Clair with you so you can get the stuff faster…and go see who that guy in the kitchen is; be sure to make sure that he can't get away, or at least until we question him." I added in an undertone. He nodded and helped me over to Zach before he left with Clair.

"Hey Katey." Zach said as I sort of half squatted half kneeled next to him.

"Hey Zach, what's up?"

"Unless you count the knife, not too much."

"Yeah, what happened with that?"

"Well, one second I was asleep, the next I had a knife stuck in my arm." He said, chuckling a little.

I smiled a little, and he continued on, "What about you? You turned up missing during all this mess. Not that I blame you or anything; I'd sure like to be away from all this mess for sure, but there was a whole lot of thumps and junk from downstairs."

"That was my souvenir from tonight…I've got a broken ankle to show for it all." I said, lifting my striped pajama pants to inspect my swollen and bruised ankle.

Zach let out a low whistle, and I turned back to him and shrugged. "Might as well get my doctor career started tonight…"

Zach raised an eyebrow.

"Well, someone's got to take that thing out of your arm, so why not someone who's experienced, and I've got to help this thing somehow; better now than never." I mused.

Either it was a trick of the light, or Zach actually paled a little more.

"What experience might you have with stabbings?" he asked, keeping his composure.

"I never told you all about when Erik stabbed me?" I asked incredulously.

"Obviously not, unless you decided to keep just me in the dark." Ethan said from behind me before handing me the things.

"There're only white towels, so you had better have some good bleach when this is all over." Clair added.

"I'll try to remember that…" I said, laying it all out beside me, organizing it in the order I needed it. "Now let's see what we're dealing with…"

I cautiously removed the blanket, careful as to not disturb the steak knife that was lodged between his radius and ulna, and examined the wound.

Blood was oozing around the stained steel that was imbedded a quarter inch, and was all over his arm and blanket.

Behind me, Christi made a gagging sound and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She had evidently forgotten that she threw up at the sight of blood, and hadn't gone with Jenny to Clair's bedroom.

I ignored the outburst and grabbed the Aspirin, handing two to him, and then the glass of water that I had forgotten to mention, but Clair had obviously gotten what the Aspirin was for.

Zach downed them, and I waited for a moment for them to kick in.

"Alright, Zach, I'm going to take the knife out…" I began, but Zach shook his head vigorously.

"Oh no you aren't. I'm waiting for an actual licensed doctor and some serious pain meds."

"Zach, trust me, I had to go through this too, and I didn't even have the Aspirin." I affirmed, and paused a second before starting to tell him what happened after the sword fight between Raoul and Erik.

"You want to know what happened?" I asked, and I felt like a teacher talking to a little kid.

He shrugged, and I smiled, knowing that he, along with everyone else who was crowded around us, wanted to know what happened.

"Close your eyes and lie back on the pillows and I'll tell you…and keep your arm as still as you can." I said, waiting for him to lie back before I got to work.

"It was after the whole Graveyard bit, you know, the 'Angel of Music' thing, and Raoul and Christine left, forgetting me of course." I started, holding his arm with one hand, the other on the base of the knife.

"I was stuck between Erik, a prickly hedge, a giant mausoleum, and a conveniently placed concrete wall that was three feet taller than me. I was debating on making a break for it, but just then Erik turned, looking like he was ready to just, like, kill someone. And then, he saw moi." I started pulling up slowly, and Zach's face got a pinched look, like he was going to yell.

"So naturally he rounds on me, sword sheathed, and ready to come and kill me because, after all, it was me who had woken Raoul to tell him to get his butt up there.

"I'm trying to think quick, weighing my chances on getting past him, scaling either the mausoleum or the wall, or getting through the bush of doom." I eased a little more, and he gasped.

"He charges at me, and I just instantly decide on pushing through the thorn bush, which, let me tell you, hurt like heck. So I tumble through, and start running for dear life, only to find that Erik is in hot pursuit, just behind me.

"This goes on for like, two miles, and you guys know perfectly well that I'm not a good long distance runner, but let me tell you, if that had been timed, I'd've had a seriously awesome time." The knife came out, along with a moan from Zach. I wiped down the knife and set it down next to me, and grabbed the cotton swabs and the hydrogen peroxide, dipping the swab into the bottle.

"The whole time I'm running I'm debating on whether or not to turn and look, for fear that I was going to trip and fall, but I decide that I was going to be okay. Hah, like that worked out. I tripped and fell hard, but got back up, and, like a total retard, looked back again." I dabbed some of the peroxide on his cut that was bleeding freely, and shushed him gently as he cried out in a restrained way.

"Well Erik had decided he'd had enough of my shenanigans, and decided to just take me down…so, he lunged at me, and made this awesome tackle. I swear, if he wanted to, he could go pro for football. Anyhow, so he does that, and then I notice that arm seriously hurts. I look down, and Ohmigod, there's a sword sticking through my arm. Not kidding, there was like, five inches on the other side." I lied. The thing had barely shown on the other side.

"Well, jolly old Erik decided that that wasn't enough, so he starts attacking me, but, thank God, Meg, Richard, Fredrikk, Isabelle, and all the others showed up and took me back to the Opera House, and got a doctor, who was doing the same thing I'm doing to you, only, he didn't tell me a story to keep my mind off the pain; which sucked, because no one was talking to me…" I paused my delicate rubbing of the alcohol to recall that the room had been a stony silence until the doctor left.

"Anyhow, Madame Giry hadn't made him apologize for that one, so next time I see him I have to tell him that he still has to."

I blew on the cut to dry the peroxide, but switched the waving my hand over it after Zach twitched.

"So did you have a scar?" asked Zach painfully.

"Psh, did? Still do. Right above my wrist. Haven't you seen it before?" I asked, holding up my right wrist for him to examine.

True enough, there was a small circular scar that was only just starting to go away.

I grabbed a towel and wrapped it tight around his forearm, tying two of them in a knot to form a sort of a bandage.

"Tahdah! Wound cleaned and knife out. That wasn't so bad, was it?" I said, patting his shoulder.

"Bad enough so that I never want it to happen again, but I think I'll live; you obviously did." He said, nodding.

I grinned, and bent to pick up the things that I had used while Zach got up, testing out his fingers to make sure they wiggled.

"Nice surgery, Dr. Douglas." Clair said, helping me out with the towels.

"Yeah well, I'm not out of the woods yet…I've got to set this ankle." I said, gesturing to my bum leg.

"Oh, Katey…no! Go see a doctor for that…you can seriously hurt yourself…" She said, dropping her towels and grabbing my shoulders.

"I think I'll live…after all, how else did they do it back in the old west when you couldn't get a doctor…just look at 'Little House on the Prairie,' Ma pulled through alright." I said, shaking her arm off.

"Yeah well this isn't 1850-something." She said, but I rolled my eyes.

"Clair, if it bothers you so much, then don't be in the room." I said, and she looked at me like I was insane, which is exactly what she thought of me.

"You must be insane if you think I'm not going to be with you while you mess with your future ballet, tennis, track and whatever else athletic career." She said firmly before adding "What do you need?"

I thought for a moment, and then answered simply, "Aspirin."

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OHMIGOSH! I ACTUALLY PROOF-READ IT!

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Please review, lovies!

Also, this just so happens to be the longest chapter so far, so be happy!