A/N: Okay, we're at the halfway point as Jade is getting released from the hospital today.
Please drop a review, tell me what you think and as always ENJOY READING
"Knock, knock!"
Jade turned to see Dr. Fitzhenry; his usual cheery self.
"Today's the day, huh? Excited?"
The goth just sat there expressionless.
"There we go!"
He then turned his eye toward Jamie.
"And you!"
The kid perked up at the doctor.
"I heard that you're doing awesome and should be out in a couple weeks, max."
He started to look a little disappointed.
Fitzhenry and Lori exchanged concerned glances.
"You okay, buddy?" she asked.
"Hey after today you'll have the whole room to yourself," the doc said enthusiastically.
Jamie looked up briefly at Jade and then back down at his crayons.
"Yeah," he said softly.
"I'm sorry it can't be sooner but we have to watch over that broken bone, my dude!"
The doctor then proceeded to talk a little with his mom before exiting.
"Oh, Jade! In case I don't see you later, good luck."
"Thanks," she moaned.
Lori looked over at Jade as he left. Watching these two share a room, she's grown to care for the girl. In a way, she's sad she's leaving too. At least when she's here, Lori knew Jade was okay. But now there's no way of knowing and that bothered her.
She wanted to approach Jade and have a last little heart to heart before...
The nurse burst in with Pamela in tow.
(Too late.)
An orderly came rushing in and assisted the nurse in getting Jade onto the wheelchair. Pam stood there with her phone, watching the hospital employees like a hawk. She looked like she was judging them and grading them on their performance.
"There we go," grunted the tall orderly. "Now let's roll."
He started wheeling Jade carefully out of the room.
"Wait," insisted Jade. "Wheel me to Jamie real quick?"
The nurse nodded and gestured for the orderly to move her by the boy's bedside.
"Hey little man," Jade managed despite her feeling lousy right now. "You're gonna be good and get better?"
"Yup," he said.
"I had a good time being roommates with you. I never had a little brother before so this was nice."
Jamie smiled and held out his arm for a fist bump.
Jade smiled back and reciprocated, being sure to let him do most of the work so she didn't hurt him or anything.
They waved at each other as Jade was wheeled out of the room.
Lori dug deep and made a civil smile toward Pam as she left. Her face stayed even as she followed her daughter.
Pam brought the car around and opened the rear side door as the orderly assisted Jade hopping from one seat to the other. He carefully helped her left leg sit up on the backseat while Jade's good leg kind of dangled. It was the most accommodating way to transport her. She surely couldn't ride shotgun because the stiff cast would not fit in that small of an area.
So Jade sat across the backseat, facing sideways. She looked down at her white cast and sighed.
(Welcome to the new fucked-up normal.)
Her mother thanked the orderly and got into the driver's seat.
"They give you a prescription?" she asked.
"Just an 800mg ibuprofen," Jade replied. "They already called it in. Should be ready now."
"Good because I wanted to stop at the pharmacy anyway."
Jade was confused as her mom drove away from the hospital.
Ten minutes later, they were parked at the local pharmacy and Pam got out.
"I'll just be a minute so you don't have to get out just to get back in."
"Oh-Okay," Jade said.
Pam shut the door and walked inside.
The goth sat in the backseat of the quiet car. Alone.
"This sucks," she sighed.
About fifteen minutes later, Pam returned with her hands full. She was carrying a few bags.
"Got your meds," she huffed. "Line was ridiculous."
She placed them on the seat next to her and began driving home.
Finally back at the house, Pam ran inside to get something.
Jade didn't understand what she was doing but figured she was probably getting...
"Crutches?"
Pam was indeed holding a pair of aluminum crutches as she came back to the car.
"But I thought the doctor said that I'd be in a wheelchair and then crutches."
Pamela huffed.
"Jade, be reasonable. How do expect to get around here in a wheelchair? I'm not set up for that! What if you get stuck somewhere, or break something?"
She winced as her mother helped her get out of the vehicle. Jade did her best to get up so she could get the crutches under her arms.
"See? What does that doctor know?" she scoffed.
Jade started faltering a bit but was working out her balance. She then planted her good foot firmly on the ground and flung the crutches ahead of her. Then she let momentum swing her legs to meet the crutches' position. It wasn't too much to get the hang of for Jade but that cast really weighed on her and made the part when she swung her lower extremities difficult.
"You can go around in a wheelchair at school on Monday. Besides," Pam continued, following Jade into the house. "You're going to end up in them eventually. Why not get ahead of it and start getting acquainted with them early?"
"You didn't have these when we left the pharmacy," Jade observed. "Where did you get these?"
"Your Aunt Helen had them for her post-surgery recovery. But she barely used them, if you ask me. Just stayed there in bed, looking out the window."
The pale girl gazed up the stairs. They certainly looked higher than they did before.
"What's wrong?" Pam asked.
"Just thinking of going to my room."
She waved her hand at her daughter.
"No, don't worry about that. Why go through all of that when you can just sleep on the couch."
Jade was a little taken aback.
"The couch?" she asked, looking down at the brown monstrosity. "What about my stuff?"
"Oh, you can charge your phone or whatever down here. No big deal. You're near the bathroom, the TV, the kitchen. The only thing you'll need to do upstairs is get a shower."
Not that it didn't make sense to Jade. It was her mother's eagerness that she found off-putting. She was behaving as if breaking her leg was an upgrade to her life. I mean an injury or a disability's hold on your life can be influenced on your attitude but this is a bit strange for Jade.
Speaking of showers, Jade had to remember not get her cast wet. Her options were taking a "half shower" which was just her left side kind of hanging outside, or wrapping the injured leg in plastic like a garbage bag. Either way, hygiene was going to be a pain in the ass. This isn't the hospital; sponge baths aren't a thing around here.
The all-too-familiar ring of Pam's phone made her stop and answer it.
"Yes, what's going on?" she asked. "Oh, really?"
Then she just forgot about Jade and left the room.
The goth hopped over to the couch and carefully sat down. She was trying to swing the cast over to the sofa but it didn't go far enough and rested on the coffee table.
"Eh," Jade shrugged. "Good enough I guess."
The students sat in class waiting for Sikowitz to appear.
Most teachers enter their classroom. Sikowitz appears.
And this time he emerged from behind Robbie, making him jump in surprise.
"Greetings, weekenders!"
He sashayed over to his desk, holding a big top hat.
"I know, I know, I know; you're excited because school's almost over and it's Friday."
Sikowitz then raised his fist at nowhere in particular.
"Curse you, Rebecca Black and your earwig of a song!"
He then focused back on his student, with a befuddled expression.
"What were we doing again?"
They all stared at him blankly.
The teacher looked down and saw the hat in his hands.
"OH YES! HAT was the reason I was a little late."
He placed the top hat on the desk and clapped his hands together.
"NOW! For those who aren't aware, Jade West suffered a pretty bad injury last week and had only now gotten released from the hospital. According to her mother she will be back on Monday. However; being in her current predicament, she is unable to drive herself to and from school. And her mom works full-time." Then he put one foot on Tori desk, like he was posing for a painting of a pirate captain. "So it's up to us! And by us, I mean you!"
A collective moan permeated through the room. The teens present had a gut feeling what was about to happen.
"In this hat, are names...in a hat," Sikowitz said. "I have names of Jade's fellow classmates and by fellow classmates I mean the five kids she hangs out with. I mean come on, there's only five days in the week and you people in the back are just there to nod and not speak."
The miscellaneous students looked at one another and nodded wordlessly in agreement.
"So, let's begin," he started as he dug into the dusty hat. "Monday is...Tori Vega!"
"Wonderful," Tori sighed. "Can you get your foot off my desk now?"
"Not yet! Tuesday is Beck Oliver! Wednesday is...Robbie Shapiro."
The boys looked at each other, not looking forward to the coming week.
"And then we have...Andre Harris for Thursday. Last but certainly not least..."
"Oh no," Cat muttered.
"Cat Valentine for Friday, Friday...GOSH-DANG IT, REBECCA BLACK! WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME!"
Sikowitz then threw the hat to the side.
"Sorry, kiddos. But that's gonna have to be the new normal until Jade is better or other arrangements can be made. Now that's out of the way, let's begin."
As he began his ramble, Tori leaned between Andre and Beck.
"Can you believe this?" she asked. "I'm gonna have to drive Jade to school."
"Aren't we members of an exclusive club?" Andre quipped. "Maybe we should get jackets."
Beck just shook his head.
"I mean we can't avoid her forever. We literally have most of our classes together. It was bound to happen but its..."
"Too soon?" Tori offered.
"Yeah, I just don't feel ready you know?"
"Well, at least we're in this together," Andre said.
Robbie looked over at an irritated-looking Cat.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No, but what choice do I have?"
A/N: Yeah, I was figuring the whole "Tori can't drive" thing was getting a little old. So in this story, she has her license.