bronny9: Thank you for the review, I'm glad you thought it was a cute chapter.
Ethan doesn't have the gene.
I've got nothing against people with dyslexia, I'm just using what I found on the net as a basis to this chapter, I'm really sorry if it offends anybody reading. The chapter is rated T for the nature of the storyline.
Cal never stole Ethan's research paper on the show.
The spelling mistakes in this chapter are on purpose, as in this chapter Cal is dyslexic.
The Secret Life Of Casualty.
Chapter 284.
Cal had never been good with exams. When it come to his GSCE'S, it was only because of Ethan that he had passed with A's, and B's, GCSEs were a particular problem due to the amount of work, he needed to do 10 subjects. French gave him particular problems as he has accents to figure out as well, he hated doing accents, despite Ethan telling him they were easy.
His A level exams with 3 As by some miracle and the help of his younger brother but he found studying for his FCEM exam, a real challenge. Ethan no longer helped him out as they had drifted apart as they had grown older, he said Cal should now be doing it for himself. In the room, next to his, Cal could hear Ethan scribbling notes and making up rhymes to help him remember what he needed to, Cal could never do that.
The brothers left their rooms after Ethan had straightened his bed up.
"You ready?" Ethan asked.
Cal nodded, but he didn't sound convincing.
"You'll be fine. " Ethan reassured him as they left the flat, driving in to work. The drive was silence, but they soon arrived at the hospital. Taking deep breaths, they walked in and met Connie in her office. She told them, just to do their best if they did fail, they could always resit. The boys nodded as they followed her to the Board Room where their exam was taking place.
On the table, there were two exam papers, as well as a pen, pencil, and rubber. There was also a jug and two glasses in case either of them wanted a glass of water during the exam.
"You have an hour. Good luck, " Said Connie as she left the room.
Cal stared at his booklet, at least thinking he should write his name on the front cover. Beside him, he could hear Ethan scribbling his answers down on his paper. He opened his own paper and read the question's, a few times to see if it would go in to his brain but it just floated in and out the other ear. He picked up his pen and started writing, but his words were jumbled and he couldn't make the words out, he couldn't ask Ethan as it was against the rules to speak when you had an exam and if he did talk, he'd get them both disqualified.
"Times up" Said the invigilator as both brothers closed their booklets and handed them to the front as they left.
A sense of relief washed over the brothers, but while for Ethan, it was relief that the exam was over, but for Cal, it was a sense of dread. Dread that he had messed up. He already knew he was thick and people, who were supposed to be his friends, were making him feel worthless. They left the exam room and soon Cal could hear someone talking.
"Your younger brother is so much smarter than you maybe if you tried harder you could be like him although can't see you putting the effort in because you are just far to lazy" Said Iain as he got a drink with Jez and headed out to the rec room, where he and Jez were going to chill out, before going on their next shout.
Cal felt tears sting his eyes, he had tried so hard to complete his exams, without relying on Ethan so much.
Connie went to her office and sat in the chair as an alert popped up in her inbox, telling her that the boys exams results would be with her that afternoon. An hour later, their results appeared in her inbox under the title: "Doctor Hardy's and Doctor Knight's exam results. "
She clicked on the attachment that showed their results and quickly read them before closing the email and computer. She stood up and made her way down the ED stairs, on a mission to find the brothers, she found them both in cubicles, where Alicia was taunting Cal.
"Your just lazy Cal, why can't you try a bit harder" Alicia rolled her eyes, as she thought about how someone as dumb as Cal had even got to be a doctor.
"Doctor Monroe!" Connie snapped.
"He's not lazy!" Ethan said passionately. "He got through university without any help. "
Alicia had gone red and shouted. "Don't shout at me. "
But Cal and Ethan ignored her as they followed Connie to her office.
"I have your exam results here, " She told them, looking at the papers. "You've both failed. "
Connie spoke to Ethan, as Cal had bolted from the office, he just kept running and running with no destination in mind as he left the hospital, leaning against the wall when he heard his dads voice in his mind.
Cal's flashback
It was in year 6 that Cal's teacher noticed something was wrong, he seemed slow at reading and often pronounced the simplest word such as "dog" the wrong way round.
She called a meeting with his parents. "I'm concerned about Caleb's reading ability, he seems to be slow at sounding out words. "
"You stupid boy" Calvin hissed. "Why can't you be smart like Ethan?"
Even though Ethan was only in year 4, he could read better than Cal.
"It's not my fault dad" Cal whispered.
"Can you read this?" The teacher suggested, getting a book from the shelf.
"The tca nda dog play tgother " It was clear Cal was struggling, but Ethan read it clearly
"The cat and dog played together" He said as Matilda hugged him close and that caused jealousy in Cal.
"Cal naughty?" Ethan said.
"Yes son, Caleb is naughty " Calvin said.
"I think Caleb would benefit from some counselling. " Smiled their teacher.
"We aren't paying for an expensive counsellor "
The teacher shook her head "The school has one"
"No, the boy needs to learn by himself. " Calvin grabbed the young boy and pulled him out.
Back home, Cal found himself being punished by his father. He was locked in his room and not given any dinner, even though his tummy was hurting with hunger pains.
"Shut your whining. " Calvin snapped from the living room.
End of flashback,
Cal walked back in to the hospital, he was sure that he could hear colleagues laughing at him.
Ethan's laptop was on the table, his lid open, his research paper on the screen.
Could he do the unthinkable and steal his brothers research? He felt like he had two mini versions of him on his shoulder "Good Cal "was telling him not to do it, Ethan would never forgive him. But "Bad Cal " was telling him to do it, that you only lived once.
Ethan wondered over to his laptop and saved his paper as Cal hid behind the door, waiting for him to leave.
"Nibbles123" was his password. Cal laughed, Ethan always wrote down the simplest things if he ever needed a password. Cal clicked print and watched as it printed, when it had finished he picked it up and put it in his locker.
"Where's my research paper?" Ethan said as him and Cal walked back to their flat after their shift had ended.
Cal shrugged in response, but he felt a pang of guilt.
Cal wrote Ethan a note, while the younger boy was in the kitchen and started making them both
"I'm sorry I sltole your peper "
Ethan picked up the note and read it, for a moment anger flashed in his eyes, but then he sat down beside him and questioned him softly.
"Why did you take it?" Ethan asked.
Ethan handed him a tissue as Cal blew his nose and wiped his eyes, before throwing it in the bin. "I was worried you'd think I was stupid, "
"I could never think you were stupid, " Ethan told him softly as he kissed the top of his head as he felt Cal snuggle in to him, wanting the comfort of his brother.
Cal looked up tears in his eyes as he whispered. "Really?"
"Really" Ethan wanted to laugh at his brother but the expression on his face told him to leave it as Cal was upset, tired and hungry.
Ethan walked in to the kitchen to make himself and Cal some food, he made them both some noddle's.
Ethan handed Cal a notepad and a pen.
"Try and write something for me" Ethan suggested.
Cal shook his head.
"Go on, " Ethan encouraged him.
Cal took the notepad and copied a sentence from the medical book Ethan had placed in front of him.
"The stethoscope is used to check a patients heartbeat"
Cal picked up his pen and began writing:
"The setthoscope is used to check a patiennts haertbaet"
Ethan picked up the book and looked at Cal's sentence, he'd given it a good go.
"Well done. " Ethan praised, ruffling Cal's hair, but he pulled back.
"What's wrong?"
"Dad used to hit me whenever I did something wrong. "
Ethan hugged him tightly. "I'm not going to hit you. "
Two days, later, Ethan got a text from Connie, to come in to re - sit their exams.
This time, they were in separate rooms, Ethan was back in the Board Room while Cal was in Connie's office. After they'd completed their exams, they could go home.
Ethan received a text off Connie, asking them to come in, he replied "Sure"
Cal's favourite song which was "Castle On The Hill" by Ed Sheran was playing when the brothers got in to the car with Ethan driving them to the hospital as Cal stared out of the window, not noticing how fast Ethan was going and soon they were at the hospital, they met Connie and she led them to her office in silence.
Connie once again grabbed the envelope off the desk and opened it, pulling out the papers and quickly scanning them as she placed them down. The boys gave each others hands a quick squeeze as Connie turned to face them, her lips forming a small smile, a smile that the boys could only be taken as good news. She wouldn't be smiling if they'd failed.
"Congrulations, you've passed" She told them. Cal and Ethan hugged as Connie left them to it. From now on, Cal decided, he was going to put the effort in, instead of relying on Ethan, it just shows that if you put hard work in, it will pay off.
The brothers went to the pub with Jez, Iain and Alicia to celebrate their passing of them becoming registrars. Iain brought Cal a drink, apologising for his earlier behaviour while Alicia went over to Ethan, while Cal just rolled his eyes, hoping that Alicia wouldn't mollycuddle him all evening as he wanted to buy him a drink to show him how proud he was of him.
"Can I have a larger please?" Ethan asked the barman, Cal was surprised to hear this, Ethan never drank larger, he usually went for an orange juice or water. But it was soon placed in front of him.
"Thanks, " Cal said as he took a sip, he then put an arm around Ethan as he held Ethan close, relieved to have his brother back by his side. Brothers that would support each other through anything.
The note Cal left Ethan, for anybody who didn't understand, reads: "I'm sorry I stole your paper" I just wanted to try and get the difficulty across that he had with spelling.
Thank you for reading and thank you to Guest for the prompt, I hope this is what you wanted, apologises if it isn't, have a feeling that I've just gone off on my little ramble, sorry about that.
Next chapter: Cal, Alicia and their young daughter, Emma, are involved in a freak accident, will they be ok? Prompted by Guest: Leah.
