Before It Rains

Max and I waved as a school car drove Layla to the airport on Monday afternoon.

All the other guys had sports practices. Although it was a holiday for us too, and we had gotten the day off, none of us were going anywhere, so they had extra training unlike Max and I, to whom Mr. Samuels had given the day off.

“Max?” I asked as we walked over to the hill to hang out. “You were here last year, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So,” I said, sitting down on the grassy hillside. “What went on with Austin and Kelsey?”

“Um… I guess we don’t really know. I mean, Austin does, but I guess they just went out for a while, and he spent so much time with him that his grades started going down the tubes. Just before finals last year, they broke up because he found her kissing some other jock guy. It seemed like he was really into her and stuff, and he ended up failing two classes because he couldn’t get over her. And that’s it, I guess, because it seems like he’s into someone else this year,” he finished, nudging me.

I sighed. I probably could’ve guessed half of that, but it wasn’t really what I had wanted to hear. “So that means he wants me as… what’s the technical term? The rebound-girl?”

Max shook his head. “I don’t think so, Sam. I think he really likes you.”

“But you can’t tell! How can you tell?” I said, maybe shouted, a little too loudly.

“Tell what?” I whipped my head around to see Ruben and Austin coming over towards us, still in cleats and covered in mud. It had rained a lot over the weekend and the playing fields were surely slippery and caked with mud, just like the two players standing in front of us.

“Tell what?” Austin asked again. I shot Max a don’t-you-dare-or-you-will-pay look and luckily he got the hint.

“We were just talking about some science stuff… um…”

“The difference between the two kinds of cells. I don’t get it,” I finished for him. Austin just nodded. It sounded good to him, but I knew Ruben would know I had made that up. We’d had that information drilled into us our freshman year. Oh, well. I hoped it wasn’t a piece of information that he’d just so happen to pass on to Austin later.

*******

Tuesday afternoon, I was back at rehearsal. We were working through our choreography again, and Alison was helping Jeremy and I in our attempt to master the flip once more. Across the stage, Sophie and Matt, playing Laurey and Curly respectively, stood across from the piano working out musical notes.

“Jeremy, try to support her a little more. We don’t want her flopping around,” Alison told him. He nodded and grinned at me, and I promptly rolled my eyes back at him. “Try again.”

We tried again, only we lost balance somewhere in the middle and I tried to come out of the flip slowly. I toppled onto my right foot, slipping off the edge of the mat, and quickly fell the four feet off the stage to the ground below. There was a popping sound as I landed on my right shoulder and I screamed.

Mr. Samuels came rushing over, kneeling down next to me. “Sam, Sam? Are you okay?” He looked up at Alison and Jeremy. “What happened?”

“She fell off the stage during the flip,” Alison said, hopping off the stage and coming over to examine me. “What hurts, Sam?”

“My shoulder… my arm! Owwww!” I winced again as she and Mr. Samuels rolled me over onto my back. Jeremy, Sophie, and Matt just watched wide-eyed from the lip of the stage.

“Matt, run over to the office and tell them what’s going on. Jeremy,” he said, flicking his phone up to him. “Call an ambulance please. I don’t think we should move her by ourselves.”

“I want my brother!” I cried out, sobbing. Alison wiped my face.

“Sophie, go run over to the soccer fields and find Ruben Prindle,” Mr. Samuels commanded. By then I could hear sirens wailing, coming closer, and minutes later, two men came in with a stretcher as Mr. Samuels explained the situation to them. I screamed again as the gently put me onto the stretcher they had rolled in.

“Don’t do that!” I yelled in pain. My arm felt like it was going to fall off. I looked at my right arm to make sure it was still there. It was, but in a position that an arm shouldn’t be able to reach.

A group was gathering outside around the ambulance, and Alison motioned for them all to back up as I was loaded into the ambulance. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to make the pain disappear as the ambulance turned its siren back on and we sped out of the school towards the hospital.

X-rays revealed that I had dislocated my shoulder, but had not fractured it. The doctor came in ten minutes after I received my x-rays. “Alright Samantha, I’m going to slowly pull your arm to put your shoulder back into place. Let me know if it hurts.” He took my forearm and twisted carefully as he pulled. “Just relax all of your muscles… relax them… good.”

He tugged at my arm until there was a popping noise, much like the one that had occurred when I’d hit the ground after my fall. I let out a sigh as there was no more pain. My shoulder was just sore. “Can you sit up?” he asked. I did. He checked my shoulder, had me move it, and did a few last minute adjustments. “Does that feel better?”

“All things considering, yeah, probably,” I told him as he walked over to a wall cabinet and opened it, rummaging inside. The doc came out with a long length of cloth.

“Alright Samantha…”

“Sam.” I was feeling well enough now to correct his error.

“Sam,” he smiled. “We’re going to let you leave here tomorrow morning, we just want to keep an eye on your arm to make sure the swelling isn’t too much or that nothing more serious than a dislocation occurred. I’m going to show you how to wrap your arm up, and you’re going to need to wear it in this for another four weeks at least. Then you can come back and we’ll check on it.”

He pinned the sling around my neck, which pretty much left the whole right half of my upper body immobile. “Four weeks?”

“’Fraid so.” Just then there was a soft knock at the door and a nurse stuck her head in.

“Oh sorry doctor, I didn’t realize you were still in here.”

“Not a problem. I’m just leaving,” he said, picking up his clipboard. “Bye, Sam.” He stepped out and the nurse stepped in.

“There are some people here to see you.” She also left and Mr. Samuels, Ruben, and Jeremy came in and took her place.

Jeremy looked at my intense sling and then up at me, wide-eyed. “Oh my gosh, I’m so so so sorry Sam, I should’ve been holding on tighter. I had no idea you were going to fall, I’m so so so sorry!”

I shrugged with my left shoulder. “It was an accident. It hurt like hell, but it’s better now. But I am starting to think you want to kill me,” I said. “First the soccer ball, now this… who knows what’s next?” I smiled.

“Sorry!”

They stayed with me until the end of visiting hours, and Mr. Samuels told me someone from the school would be driving back to get me at noon the next day. I was exhausted by the time they left, not having realized it until then, and I drifted off to sleep in the hospital bed.