Operation Beautiful

They move us from the emergency room to an Intensive Care Unit. Thankfully, this means more people can come visit at once.

When we re-enter the hospital room, Emmaleigh is lying on the bed. The nurse comes in with a huge IV bag on what looks like a hat rack on wheels.

“We’re going to hook you up to an IV and pump you with saline solution,” the nurse explains, a little too calmly for my liking. “This will lower your blood sugar.” She looks down at Emmaleigh. “You need to take care of yourself from now on, this is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.”

And with that helpful statement that makes me want to slap her silly, the nurse leaves.

“What is she talking about?” Emmaleigh asks, her eyes wide and scared.

I sit down next to her in the bed, taking one of her hands in my own. “She says you have diabetes.”

Emmaleigh just looks at me. I look back. “Oh,” she says. She leans back against the headboard and shuts her eyes. “I-I see?”

We’re all in shock. I don’t think the reality of what’s happening has really set in yet. For anyone.

Emmaleigh gets up to the bathroom twice before Matt and Jessica get back. Jessica moves instantly to Emmaleigh’s side.

“We’ll, uh, we’ll leave you to talk,” Matt says. “If you need us, we’ll be right outside the door.”

Jessica nods, her worried eyes on Emmaleigh’s face.

“It’s going to be a long wait,” Trevor says, sitting on the floor right outside the door. Matt and I sit down next to him, the half-eaten box of pizza in Matt’s lap. He and Jessica ate in the car. “Don’t worry too much,” Trevor continues, patting us both on the back. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Christa!” Matt says suddenly.

Trevor’s eyes immediately begin darting around. “W-what about her?” he asks, the words stumbling out.

“Have you spoken to her about the whole ‘Corey’ thing?” Matt presses. I guess he doesn’t want to admit that he and Janice saw him.

“Yeah...” Trevor says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What happened?” I ask.

“She...I...I told her that I really liked Haley and that she and I were together and that she should stop all of her games.” His eyes still dart around, his neck is still flushed.

“And then?” I press on, knowing there’s more.

“She...she started crying.” He shudders. “What the hell was I supposed to do? I don’t deal with crying. It was...it was really awkward.”

“You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?” Matt warns, his voice edged with anger.

“No!” Trevor nearly yells out. “I mean, I tried to pat her on the back and I apologized and she...and she said she really liked me and...and she kissed me.”

“What?!” I’m standing up now, anger coursing through my body. That bitch. That little bitch.

Trevor puts his head in his hands. “And then I pushed her.”

“You pushed her?” Matt asks, horrified.

“A little harder than expected,” he groans.

“She didn’t get hurt did she? The bitch.” The brief flicker of concern is swept away by my coursing anger.

"No, but I felt a little bad about it. I mean, she stumbled backwards and bumped into a desk. I didn't want to hurt her!"

"Please tell me you yelled at her instead of apologizing," Matt says through gritted teeth.

"Of course!" Trevor says. "I was freaking pissed. But now..." He sighs. "I can't look at Haley without feeling guilty."

My mind goes back to his jittery, anxious manner around Haley at school and her tired face.

"You guys just need to screw all this space crap and get back together," Matt comments.

"Well, I can't even look at her, let alone talk to her about it!" Trevor says. "I don't know how she'll react when she's being weird like this. I don't want her to use this as an excuse for more space."

"If you don't tell her, Christa will. And then Haley will be even more pissed," Matt warns.

"She'd expect you to let her know," I agree.

"I know..." Trevor moans.

My phone starts to buzz. As I look down at it, Matt jumps up, realizing something.

"I should call my parents," he says suddenly, walking some distance away.

I pick up the phone. It's Spike. He wants to go skating in the dark again but I quickly cut him off, my heart racing as I think of Emmaleigh on the hospital bed.

"Her blood sugar is extremely high," the nurse's voice tells me. "She has diabetes."

Spike says he'll be over immediately and hangs up.

"Spike's coming," I say, sitting back down next to Trevor. I hear Matt's voice from down the hall.

"Hello? Aunt Mary? Are my parents there?" His eyes grow wide. "They're kind of tipsy?" he says, in a calmer voice than I could have managed. "Umm...no." He looks over at me, his face conflicted. "Gah! Can you just have them call us when they're sober?" He hangs up and sits down next to us.

"They said they'd spend the night, right? So they took that as an opportunity to drink." He sighs and leans back.

A robust nurse with a cart wheels past us, a look of disdain on her face. "Dinner!" I hear her call out cheerily as she walks into the room, her face bursting into a smile. Wow. Bipolar much?

She leaves, but we don't move from our spot. We hear more footsteps.

"Trevor!" it's his mom.

"We managed to slip away for a few minutes," Mr. Choi says. "We took a look at Emmaleigh's charts."

I jump to my feet. "And?"

"She's not in any life-threatening danger," Mrs. Choi says comfortingly. "Her blood sugar was very high when you brought her in, so the fact that she's here is good."

"A normal blood sugar count is somewhere near 80-100," Mr. Choi explains. "Hers was 400." He looks down on us sadly. "She definitely has diabetes."

I know what diabetes means. It's a hell of a lot of needles and veggies. My heart wrenches for her. I can't speak. A bell somewhere goes off and, just as quickly as they'd arrived, the Chois disappear.

"Diabetes, huh?" Matt says, leaning his head against the wall. "I wonder how she'll take it."

We just sit there for a long time. I learned about diabetes in health class, but all I remember is that there are two types. One because of a bad diet and lack of exercise and one because the Heavens want to laugh at you. I'm not sure which one this is. Probably the latter.

"Hey!" Spike calls from down the hall. He jogs towards us, followed by Clarice who has her arm around Haley. Haley. Why the hell is Haley here? Do they want her to have a fit on the middle of the hospital floor? Is Spike insane?

"What the hell were you thinking, bringing her here?" I demand, striding towards him. But as Clarice and Haley pass us, I hear Clarice whisper to her.

"You and I both know you can't handle this on your own right now. Don't let your pride get in the way."

"It's a good way of getting those two together," Spike says calmly.

"It's not about them!" I hiss angrily. "It's about Emmaleigh lying in a hospital bed!"

Spike puts a hand on my arm. "Clarice was at Haley's house when I called. And even when Clarice and I both tried to make her stay home, she wouldn't hear of it. She's really worried about Emmaleigh." He looks at me, his eyes betraying his fear. "We all are."

I can't speak.

"Anyway, we agreed to bring her if she promised to stay with Trevor the entire time."

We look over. Haley stands awkwardly where I was sitting before. Trevor looks up at her, his face concerned. She sits stiffly next to him, her face anxious. Her hand moves around until she finds his hand and grips it tight.

A grin breaks out on his face, Christa momentarily forgotten. He moves an arm around her and brings her to his side. While Matt explains the situation to everyone, Trevor moves constantly: playing with his girlfriend's fingers and tugging on her hair, distracting her from the hospital setting.

"We should go see Emma," Matt says, standing up. The others all follow, but Haley doesn't move.

"I-I don't think I can go in there," she says.

"I've already seen her," Trevor says soothingly. "We'll stay out here, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Haley asks. "I think you should at least go say hello."

"Haley, I already-"

"Please?" she asks. "At least tell her I hope she's okay or something."

"Okay," Trevor says, knowing she won't take no for an answer.

"We'll stay out here," Spike says, putting an arm around Haley's shoulder and gesturing to me and Trevor. "You two go in and say hello and then we'll switch."

"Thank you," Haley whispers.

So Trevor and I go inside.

"How are you?" I ask Emmaleigh.

She smiles. "I feel fine. Kind of tired. And that dinner was not big enough."

“I see.” I look over at Jessica, who manages a weak smile.

“Spike and Clarice and Haley came,” I say, and then stop. Maybe it would’ve been better to pretend Haley didn’t come. Now we’ll have to explain that she won’t be coming inside.

“That’s so nice of them!” Emmaleigh says. “They can come in, if they'd like."

"Yeah..." Trevor begins. He sits down on the bed next to Emmaleigh. "They hooked you up to an IV, huh?"

"Yeah," she replies. "It's really annoying." She gently rubs the spot on her arm where the tube goes into her arm and makes a face.

"Okay, we're going to send the others in," I say. "Haley won't be coming inside, though."

"Why?" Jessica demands. "Has she not noticed that Emmaleigh is in the hospital?"

Trevor ignores her. "She wanted me to make sure you were okay and apologize for the fact that she can't come see you."

Emmaleigh looks confused and opens her mouth, but I cut her off. "Just drop it, okay?" I look hard at Jessica. She shrinks back: her expression a mixture of disgust and hurt.

We leave and Trevor takes up the opportunity to talk to Haley about Christa. I don't know if he's forgotten I'm here or if he needs my support or if he's just so nervous that the words fall out of his mouth now that they're alone.

"Christa," he says the minute the door shuts behind the others.

"What about her?" Haley asks. She's no longer shaking or anxious.

"I-She-I..." Trevor explains how he told Christa to back off, making Haley smile and wrap him in a hug. Then he stumbles through the telling of the kiss, causing Haley to freeze.

"What did you do?" she asks.

"I pushed her," he says guiltily. "And then I yelled at her to just give up already and left. I feel kinda bad because--" Haley cuts him off by hugging him again.

"That's the best possible way that could have gone," she murmurs.

"Really?" Trevor asks.
"Mhm."
"So you're not mad?"
"Just upset in general, not mad at you."

Trevor's whole body relaxes. "Well, I'm sure a kiss will make it better."

"Trevor!" she blushes and glances around, her eyes making brief contact with mine as she takes in the starched white hospital halls. "Not here!"

"Why not?" he asks. "I haven't talked to you since Thursday and it's Wednesday now. I'm dying over here! Besides," he circles a finger in the general direction of his mouth. "I need some disinfection."

Haley doesn't say anything, so he leans forward and pecks her once. She just smiles a little.

"Haley!" It's Trevor's mom, here to check on us again.

"H-hi." Haley takes one look at the scrubs and grabs Trevor's hand. "I-I'm sorry. I have to go."

"Okay," says Trevor's mom. "Well, I'll go check on Emmaleigh." She shuffles off, her face concerned.

"Let's go," Haley says as Trevor puts an arm around her. "Let's go. Let's go. Please?"

"We're going," Trevor comforts her. He waves to me. "I'll be back tomorrow."