Boston Garden High School

"Hey Z. How was Kansas City?" Brad asked on Monday morning. Zdeno climbed out of his car,-the one his insurance company gave him-and this car was smaller than the last.
"It was okay. But could have gone better." Zdeno locked his car door and another car pulled up in the parking lot.
"How'd ya mean? You get harassed? Damn, you're 6 foot 9. I'll be your body guard, I'm an MMA fighter, nobody would dare mess with me-I'd beat the holy shit out of them..."
"Marchy, that's NOT what I meant." Z smiled.
"The Red Sox won, so what DO you mean?"
"My neck, Marchy. It's still aching like nothing else."
"You should seek a second opinion." Brad said, craning his neck to see. "It looks quite red and bruised. Are you sure it isn't broken?"
"Very. I've had lots of x-rays." Zdeno said, rubbing his neck.
"Just put another icepack on it for today, I'll take you to the hospital tonight."
"Marchy, that isn't necessary..."
"I'll tell Kat, she'll understand."
"I'm okay, Marchy. Don't worry."
"Z. Please. What if the doctors missed out on an injury and you HAVE broken your neck and you wake up tomorrow a quadriplegic? Please, let me take you to the hospital."
Zdeno groaned. "Alright."
"Thank you, Z." Brad smiled handing Zdeno the fabric strap Zdeno put on the roof of his car as he was getting out. "Krech!" Brad yelled upon seeing David crossing the parking lot.
"Marchy! Thanks for dropping the whole Internet dating shit."
"You're... Welcome!" Brad smiled falsely. David carried on walking to the school.
"Internet dating? What's that about?" Zdeno asked.
"I'll tell you later." Brad said, putting his hand on Zdeno's back.
***
After work, Brad fulfilled his promise and took Zdeno to the hospital. They'd been waiting an hour for Zdeno to be seen.
"So... That Internet dating thing..."
"Oh, right. Me and Tuke, we signed David up for an Internet dating site. I'm paying fifteen dollars a month."
"For him to get catfished?"
"No-why does everyone think that? Sure that damn Catfish show is all the rage and then there's Manti Te'o and his dead non-existent girlfriend, but come on!" Brad whined.
"I overheard Matt and Soupy talking about some fake Facebook profile."
"Oh that's... That's not us." Brad's cheeks went red.
"So you and Tuke have signed him up for a dating profile and Matt and Soupy are catfishing him over Facebook?"
"It uh... It appears so." Brad shrugged and Zdeno rolled his eyes.
"What do you think Krech will make of all of this?"
"I don't really think he'll make anything of it. Sure he begged Tuke and I not to sign him up for a dating site, he'll change his mind when he meets a girl."
"How do you know he's into girls?" Zdeno smirked.
"Because he's not gay, Z. That's why."
"No, but he could be bi." Zdeno shrugged and immediately rubbed his sore left shoulder.
"I don't think he is." Brad shook his head. "So, I heard Seidy got a dog."
"Did he?"
"Yeah, over the weekend apparently. There's pictures all over Facebook."
"I don't do Facebook." Zdeno said.
"Eh, you don't do anything." Brad chuckled.
"Facebook is too intrusive, Twitter is too stupid and Instagram is for teenage girls." Zdeno smirked at Brad, being fully aware he had accounts on all three.
"Pfft. Whatever." Brad pulled out his iPod Touch.
"I thought you had a BlackBerry?"
"I do." Brad took his cell phone from his pocket. "This is an iPod."
"How can you afford both?"
Brad shrugged. "The iPod was a present from Kat for winning a big fight. I'm the number one amateur MMA fighter in the USA and I'm currently defending my title."
"Oh wow."
"Yeah, I did it in July."
"That's awesome, Marchy."
A doctor came into the waiting area holding a clipboard. "Mr Chara, we're ready to see you now." Zdeno stood up and rubbed his neck.
"Z, you okay?"
"It hurts. I'm fine." Zdeno shrugged. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not, that's why you're here." Brad put his hand on Zdeno's back. They followed the doctor into her examining room.
"My you're one big man, aren't you?" The doctor said, chuckling. Zdeno raised an eyebrow and the doctor cleared her throat. "Well, I'm Dr Brown. Is this your..."
"Colleague." Zdeno said. "I have a wife."
"I never said you didn't. I was going to say 'friend', but... Whatever. Now what's the problem?"
"No problem, I..." Zdeno stood up to leave, but was interrupted by Brad.
"He got into a car accident a few days ago and he was examined at the time, but they found nothing wrong."
"So if the doctors found nothing wrong, then why are you here?"
"His neck is still hurting, he says, worse than when he had the accident."
"Alright, let's see." Zdeno sat down and Dr Brown massaged his neck and felt around it. He whimpered in pain. "There DOES seem to be something wrong... We're gonna send you to x-ray, see if there's something."
Dr Brown stood up with Zdeno and she escorted him and Brad to the x-ray waiting room.
"Happy you came now, Z?"
"Yeah, I guess. But what if my neck IS broken?"
"Then you'll have a neck brace and rest for a few weeks. Really what's so bad about that?" Brad nudged Zdeno, who smiled briefly.
***
"So Krech responded to my Facebook request." Bartkowski said. He was on the phone to Greg, Daniel and Chris again. "He's asking questions though, like 'who are you' and 'did we', uh ... You know."
"Yeah, we know." Greg said.
"Tell him 'yes' to the sex question." Chris blurted out.
"And DON'T tell him you're a drag queen, let HIM figure it out." Daniel said.
"So I heard Tuke and Marchy set Krech up on a dating site." Bartkowski eventually said.
"Yeah, I heard the same. Whatever, we're not catfishing him, are we?" Daniel asked.
"No, Dan. We're not. This is just a prank. Remember, the... He was passed out and the condom and the razor and whipped cream?" Greg said.
"Soupy! No need to get antsy!" Bartkowski laughed down the phone.
"So I wonder if Krech WILL get a girlfriend." Chris mused.
"I wonder that myself guys. I personally can't believe he's single, but hey. Weirder things have happened." Bartkowski said, swinging around on his office chair.
"Like Merida having no prince or song and a full family." Chis said.
"Dude... What?" Greg said and everyone laughed.
"I have very young children! I watch Disney movies with them! Is that a problem? Watching family movies with my family?"
"Chris, we didn't mean it like that!" Daniel insisted.
"Yeah, we meant it as in 'this grown-ass man is talking about Disney movies to his grown-ass man friends', lighten up, dude." Greg laughed.
"Okay, no more making fun of Chris." Bartkowski said. "So how're the tea parties with GI Joe and Barbie? Or is it with Optimus Prime and My Little Pony?" Everyone giggled.
"Go screw yourselves." Chris said.
"Come on, Chris." Greg said. "Do you play dress up?" He snickered.
"When you play dolls, are you Ken or Barbie?" Daniel laughed.
"Have you ever been bedazzled?" Bartkowski struggled to suppress his laughter. "And if you were, was it ever pink and on your face?"
"Have you ever gotten a makeover? You know, had glitter tipped in your hair and makeup so bad you look like a drag queen?" Greg asked.
"Ooh, I remember he came to work one day and there was glitter on his face!" Bartkowski blurted out.
"Maybe he's been coaxed to make a model train set?" Daniel suggested. "Made from Thomas the Tank Engine trains!" Everyone laughed again.
"When was the last time you had a night out?" Bartkowski asked
"Or listened to a song that WASN'T from like... Pocahontas, Toy Story or Cinderella or some shit?"
"I'll have you know that Ne-Yo, My Chemical Romance, Mumford and Sons, 30H3, Daft Punk, Brad Paisley and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's have done songs for Disney. It ain't all 'Someday My Prince Will Come' anymore." Chris argued.
"Brad Paisley? Where have I heard that name before?" Greg asked.
"Oh, he did that 'Accidental Racist' song with LL Cool J." Daniel said. "I'm sure of it."
"My Chemical Romance, eh?" Bartkowski said. "Kind of surprising, that one. And Mumford and Sons."
"Yeah, I've heard that one. It sounds like The Pogues or Dropkick Murphys slowed down. They got a girl on it too..." Greg began. "Wait, we're all grown-ass men and we're discussing Disney songs. This one's on you, Kelly."
"Screw you. When you have kids, you'll get the idea of making them happy." Chris hung up.
"Yeah, I better go too, my girlfriend wants to talk to her friends. See ya tomorrow."Daniel said before hanging up.
"I'm NOT gonna be the last one to hang up the phone again, so bye!" Greg hung up the phone, leaving Bartkowski on the phone alone. He put the phone down and logged out of Facebook.
***
"Looking at these x-rays, I certainly can't see a noticeable break... Ah!" Dr Brown said as she pointed at the x-rays of Zdeno's neck.
"What is it?" Brad asked worriedly.
"There's no break, but two of the vertebrae have ever so small pieces of bone chipped off."
"So his neck's broken?"
"No. It's a sprain. Quite a severe one actually."
"What happens now?" Brad asked. Zdeno was too in shock to say anything.
"Well, in the state your neck's in right now, you really shouldn't be moving it. But I'm hesitant to immobilize it because it will heal faster if I don't... I'll put you in a soft neck brace for now and schedule an appointment for next week to see how it's healing. I'll also prescribe some painkillers. But Zdeno, you really SHOULD be taking it easy. And that means no driving."
"But... But I drove here."
"I'll drive your car back to yours and tell Tatiana what happened. She'll come for you in her car, I'll catch a ride back here and take my car home. It can all be worked out, Z. Don't worry." Brad patted Zdeno on his leg as Dr Brown fitted a soft foam neck brace around Zdeno's neck.
"You can take it off, but I wouldn't do that today unless it's to shower or take a bath." Dr Brown said.
"I'm gonna leave, go get your wife, Z." Brad said and left leaving his giant Slovak friend filled with fear.