Lee was on 'keep the washing machine door closed' duty, he was busy drawing. I sat at the table and ate my sandwich while I watched him. He stopped, took a bite of his sandwich then held the note pad up. "What is it?" Ian asked him. "Mythical creature, legs and body of a rooster, snakes for arms and a lion head" Lee said. "I don't think I've heard of that one" Lip said. "I made it up" Lee said. "Looks cool" Ian told him. "Do the snake arms eat too?" I asked him. He thought for a second "yes". "And the lion head?" Debbie asked. Lee nodded. "Does it poop like a bird or like a human?" Carl asked. "How the fuck would I know?" Lee said. "It's your thing" Carl said. "So?" "Don't you know Lee, you got to know how every creature poops, even the made up ones" Ian said. Carl kicked Ian. Fiona came down the stairs and went into the kitchen. "Why is the bread dirty?" she asked. No one answered her. She dusted of the dirt and made herself a sandwich, she joined us at the table. "And that's why, you could have at least washed your hands before eating" she said. I looked at my hands, they were covered in dirt. Carls, Lees and Ian's were just as dirty. I took another bite of my sandwich. "Why is there a bowl of worms on the table?" Fi asked, one worm had managed to get to the rim of the bowl and was trying to wiggle away. Carl pushed it back in. "They're Lips" he said. "For a science project" Lip said. Fi looked at us all and sighed. "Everyone needs to wash up before we go to Ian's football match" she said. "Lee, I'm doing another load of washing before we go do you want to put your clothes in too?" she asked. "I don't have anything else to wear" he said as he looked into his lap. "We will find you something" Fi replied. "I've probably got something that's too small for me now" Ian said. "Lucy take over from Lee. Lee go have a shower and leave your clothes in the hallway" Fi said.
Fiona and Debbie held up the sign while everyone else cheered. Lip passed another beer to a guy and quickly pocketed the cash. Ian got the ball and took off down the field, I stood up on the bench and screamed. Everyone around me was yelling too. A guy from the other team tackled Ian from the side. Ian crashed to the ground. We all went quiet, Fiona ran down to the fence. A few guys from the other team jumped on top of him as well. The referee blew his whistle and yelled at them. One of them stomped on Ian as they got up. Ian didn't move. "Ian get up!" I yelled. Fi and Lip were running onto the field.
"Don't touch him!" The coach yelled at Fi. Fiona didn't listen, Lip grabbed her and kept her back. Ian was still unconscious. The coach was busy talking on the phone. "Why aren't they doing anything?" Debbie yelled. "They are worried about his back, moving him might make it worse" Lip said. "What the hell?" Fi said. I grabbed her hand and leaned into her. "It's just a precaution" Lip said. Fiona went in the ambulance with Ian while the rest of us caught the bus. Lee offered to take Liam and the cooler back to Vs.
"You are the prettiest girl ever Lucy. You're like an … an angel" Ian slurred. The doctors had fixed up his arm, we were keeping him company while they waited for a ct scan. "Good drugs huh?" Lip said laughing. "The fucking best man. We … we need to know what they are so we can do … so we can get more" Ian said. "Wow! Look at my hand. When did it get so small" I followed his gaze, he was looking at my hand which was resting on his arm. "That's my hand" I said and pulled it away from him. "What? No way! Where did it go? I only got one hand now" Ian said. "Nah, you got two. See? One. Two" Debbie said and pointed to both his hand. "Oh thank fuck, I was panicking" Ian started laughing. "High Ian is awesome" Carl said and waved his hands in from of Ian's face. Ian stared at them.
"Do you have money?" I asked Carl on our way to the vending machine. He shook his head. "Beg or scam?" I asked. He thought for a second "scam, lost the money and only want one bar to split between us". I nodded. We approached the vending machine all eager and started chatting about which bar we wanted. I frantically searched my pockets then started crying. "What's wrong?" Carl asked with his best impression of concerned. "I can't find the money, we can't get any candy" I sobbed. Carl looked disappointed "it's ok, don't worry. I'll … we can … ummm. We don't need any candy" he said. "I'm sorry, I really wanted you to have some chocolate for being such a good brother" I said. Carl put his hand on my shoulder. No one offered us money so we pushed the sob story further. Carl hugged me. "It's not a big deal, let's get back to mommy incase she wakes up. We can't let her be alone now" Carl said only loudly enough for the people closest to us to hear. I grabbed Carl and let tears well up in my eyes and spill down my checks. "I just wanted something nice for a change and that money was all daddy had. I'm sorry". I noticed someone move towards us "here" she said and gave us a dollar bill. A man did the same, then a third guy came over. "No it's ok, we have enough now. We will share one bar" Carl told him. "No it's ok, here get a bar each and a drink too" he said. "Thank you" I told everyone. Carl thanked them too then we made a show of choosing a bar each and a drink and quietly walked out of the waiting room.
Once we were out of sight Carl snatched the candy off me and ran off. Then ran straight into an open cabinet door. I burst out laughing. He grabbed his head and looked shocked while the nurse started apologising. "Are you going to cry?" I teased him. "No" he said sternly. "Yes you are" "no I am not. You're the one that cries" "no I don't" "yes you do" "no!" "You cried last week" I stopped arguing and thought about it "you blew up my baby bunny" I told him "you cried like a baby" "that was my special toy". "Hey, we don't need to have this fight again" Lip told us as he and Debbie rushed over to us. A couple of nurses were watching us. Carl went back to rubbing his head. "What happened?" Lip asked. The nurse that had the door open came to her senses and went back to checking Carl was ok. He shrugged her off.
"Here" Dr Ross said and threw a basketball at Lip who caught it. "Stop causing trouble and entertain yourselves. I'll let you know when Ian gets back" he said. "I need to piss first" I told them and went to find a toilet. no one followed me.
"Carol caught Fiona and her boyfriend?" a nurse said as I walked past, I found a hidy spot and listened from there. "Yeah and apparently Fiona didn't look very into it" the other nurse said "he forced her?" "She's denying it. Poor kid, like she hasn't got enough to worry about" "why doesn't she say something?" "It's not what they do, none of the girls that grow up like that do. Bet he is kind to everyone else and spoils her …" she was interrupted by a doctor. I snuck down the hallway and into the bathroom. What the hell were they talking about? I felt angry more then sad. What did they mean?
I looked in a few rooms before I found her. She was sitting on a bed, Carol stood next to her. I noticed she was crying "why are you crying?" I asked. She and Carol both jumped a bit. Fiona quickly wiped the tears away. I slowly approached her and put my hands on her knee. "Just worried about Ian" she mumbled. "He is ok, he was laughing and being funny" I told her. She didn't say anything. "It's just scary when someone you love gets hurt" Carol explained "oh yeah" I said. I tried to get Fiona to look at me but her head was hung low. "We are going to play basketball. You come? I'll need help to beat the boys" I told her. She smiled. "I don't know, you might be better than them both" she said. "I am, I get the ball all the time but the hoop is too high. You can do that bit" I said. "Sounds like a plan" Fi said and jumped off the bed. She put out her arms and I jumped up. She picked me up and walked out of the room. I looked over her shoulder at Carol, she looked sad. I waved at her as we turned a corner.
Fiona was sitting on her bed sowing up some clothes. I ran over to her bed "are you still sad?" I asked her. "No" she said and put the bra she had just fixed on the bed. I grabbed it "I'm going to wear it" I told her and took my top off then put it on "how do you do the back up?" I asked. She instructed me on how to do it. I struck of few poses for her "I'm going to show the boys!" I said as I ran out of her room and jumped down the stairs. "Look at me!" I told them as I ran around the couch. "Am I sexy?" I asked as I spun around. None of them answered but they were all watching me "we are trying to watch tv" Lip eventually said. "Go put your clothes back on and join us" Conner said. "No" I said and stuck my tongue out at him. "You need to show me more respect" Conner said. "I don't like you" I said. Lip chuckled "you can't say that" Ian snapped. Anger flashed across Conner face and for a second I thought he was about to lose it, I took a step back. He took a deep breath and the chuckled. "Lucy, stop annoying the boys and come back upstairs" Fiona said from the stairs. I quickly ran to her.
I put my arms up and Fiona pulled my nightie over my head. "Do you want to join us Debbie?" She asked. "No" Debbie mumbled, she was busy reading in her bed and when she was focused on a book not much distracted her. "Just us then" Fi said and slapped my hip. I ran into the hallway and looked at the books on the shelf. I picked two books, Alexander and the terrible, horrible, very bad day, and caps for sale.
"Read it again" I begged Fiona. "You're just trying to delay bedtime" she said. "Yes" I said simply. Fi chuckled. "How about you read it this time." She said. "No, I hate reading. I like listening to you better" I whined. "What are you still doing up?" Conner asked from the doorway. I stared at him. "When I was you're age my parents made me going to bed at 8 so I would get enough sleep" he said. "I don't need sleep. If I go to bed early then I wake up really early" I told him. "We tried it for a bit but 4am is too early for anyone to deal with her" Fi said. "You need to enforce some rules. Things are going to change now I'm around. We make sure the lights are on, heating and food in the fridge. You, Lucy, need to do what you're told" Conner said, he was still standing in the doorway. "You don't do those things, we do" I said. Fiona started to fidget. "I help pay the bills, I get you food. I look after Fiona and help Ian, Lip, Carl and Debbie" "ok that's enough reading, go to bed now Lucy" she said, something in her voice told me to just do as I was told. I kissed her on the cheek then stomped by Conner on my way out.