She Said, She Said

"I can do it by myself," I scowled and swatted Caleb's hands away. Mr. Stubbs told us to practice moving from our wheelchairs to other places, with our partners' help. As if.

"Fine," Caleb snapped, folding his arms across his chest. I glared at him, and tried to slowly lift myself up from the wheelchair, without falling on my butt. So far so good, I thought, and just at that moment, the wheelchair slipped backwards, and I landed on the floor with a muffled thump.

I yelped. I knew I was going to cry soon so I pinched my nose to stop the tears, closing my eyes tightly.

"Here," Caleb muttered. He held me by my elbows while I tried to grab the wheelchair. When I was finally sitting down, Mr. Stubbs came over and smiled.

"Good job, Caleb," he gave him a big smile. Caleb nodded, looking down at his beat up sneakers. "Are you okay, Valerie?"

I nodded, and felt my face heat up with anger. "It's just this stupid chair - it keeps sliding back!"

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," he nodded, flashed us one more smile, and walked away.

I looked at the clock; nine forty-five. How long was this class, anyway?

"Fifteen more minutes," Caleb stated. I gave him a confused look. He pointed at the clock. I looked back and forth between him and the clock, then realized I had asked the question out loud. I nodded, gave him a forced smile, and waited.

As I stared at the clock, willing to somehow make it go faster, Aunt Debra's name seemed to pop into my head out of nowhere. Where was she, anyway? Since the day I moved in, which, I realized with a shock, was only yesterday, I hadn't seen her at all. I'd thought that she would come visit me after I was settled in, but I guess not.

A sound, which sounded like someone was clearing their throat, caused me to look up, and see Mr. Stubbs. He gave us one of his flashy smiles, and held up his hand. The room fell silent. "Okay, it's ten," here he pointed at the clock, "which means you're now dismissed. But, since it's Wednesday, you'll be going straight to the patient lounge instead of your usual sessions."

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the class. A chorus of, "Bye, Mr. Stubbs," filled the room before people starting strolling out of the room. I waited until half of the class was gone, and then wheeled myself out. I looked around, trying to spot either Lacey or Sylvia, but had no luck.

The wheelchair started to move by itself, and I almost jumped off. Looking back, I realized it was only Caleb, who was now rolling his eyes at me, which, I noticed, he did a lot.

"Where are we going?" I asked, fiddling with the hem of my shirt.

"Were you even listening?" His voice sounded somehow angry, yet bored and uninterested. I forced myself not to turn around and glare at him. I heard him sigh. “To the lounge or whatever the hell it’s called.”

I nodded, and leaned back. After going down yet another hallway, we stopped outside a room labeled “Patients’ Lounge.” Caleb pushed open the door and walked in, leaving me outside. I scowled at the door and pushed it open.

It was a fairly large room with lilac colored walls, a big flat screened TV, and three soft looking couches. Two guards stood, leaning against one of the couches, a bored look plastered on their faces. People were spread out all over the room, some laughing, some talking, and some just simply trying to watch TV. I didn’t recognize what was on, so I looked around for Sylvia.

“Hey!” Lacey waved, and I waved back, wheeling myself over to where she was sitting with Sylvia, the guy Sylvia had been with – Samuel? – and the guy who had been holding Lacey’s leg.

“Hi, guys,” I smiled.

“Samuel, this is Valerie,” Sylvia said, through a mouthful of, what I assumed, was Skittles, “and Valerie, this is Samuel, or you can call him Sam, even if it makes him sound like a dog,” she glanced at Samuel, then back at me.

“Hi,” I smiled at Samuel, who was making circles on the side of his head, and then pointing at Sylvia, indicating she was crazy.

“Hey,” he gave me a lopsided grin.

I glanced around the room, and realized that Caleb wasn’t beside me anymore. I tried to spot him, but the room was too crowded, so I shrugged it off.

“Anyway,” Lacey cleared her throat. “Well, this is Nathan. And Nathan,” she glanced at him, “this is Valerie.”

I nodded at Nathan, and he nodded back. I averted my eyes to Sylvia.

“So, those were sessions?”

“Nope, those were the practice sessions. The actual sessions are way different than these,” she said, lazily scratching her arm.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“Uh. Well, let’s just wait to see who’s in-charge today, and then we can bring in the games,” she grinned.

“Okay.”

A few minutes passed before the door opened, and a woman, probably in her mid-thirties, walked into the room. She was wearing a bright pink pencil skirt, a white blouse, and white heels.

“Oh great, it’s Mousey Mary,” groaned Samuel, only loud enough for us to hear.

“Hi, guys!” chirped ‘Mousey Mary.’ “I’m, as some of you may already know, Marietta, but feel free to call me-“

A chorus of “Mary,“ went through the room. Mary smiled and clapped her hands. Nobody moved. She cleared her throat while slightly rolling her eyes.

“Get…the…games…” She spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a bunch of three-year-olds. She smiled then, and walked out the door. Groans and snickers erupted from all over the room as people started to move towards a walk-in closet. I didn't move partly because I had no idea what the hell was going on, and partly because I was pissed off at this Mary character. Upon hearing the tone of her voice as she spoke to us, it was clear she didn't like doing her job, which probably consisted of talking to people.

“Come on,” A voice growled and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I wheeled myself around to see Caleb standing in front of me, a box in his hand.

“What’s that?” I asked, reaching towards the cardboard box. Caleb drew his hands away, taking the box with him. My eyes flickered to his for a moment before going back to the object he was holding. “Come on!” I whined.

He rolled his eyes and pulled a chair from a nearby corner. A thoughtful look on his face, he kicked the chair away, and sat on the floor. His gaze lifted to mine. He pointed to the floor. I shrugged, reached my hand out for him to hold, which he did, and slowly lowered myself down. Just as I was about to softly land on the ground, Caleb snatched his hand away from mine, causing me to land with a thump. A pain, worse than any before, shot through my thighs.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit-,” I continued to curse, ignoring Caleb completely who looked somewhat shocked and disgusted. When the feeling came back into my thighs, I smiled, and looked at Caleb with a dull expression on my face, completely forgetting about the small cardboard box.

Caleb, avoiding my eyes, brought the box into the middle. Before he took off the cover, I noticed a picture of Winnie The Pooh. Averting my eyes away from the lid, and into the box, I realized it was a puzzle.

I couldn’t help it; I snickered, and said, “Nice choice.”

Caleb glared at me. “It was the only one there, okay? And I got the easiest one since you’re not exactly the brightest crayon in the box.”

I scowled. Wasn’t he supposed to treat me better than this? I thought he was my ‘helper’ or ‘partner’ or whatever, and so far, he hasn’t helped me in any way or behaved anything like a partner towards me! Surely, this had to be against the rules or something.

“I’ll tell,” I stated, thrusting my chin slightly in the air. Okay, so, I sounded like a five-year-old, but I was pretty sure if I threatened him, he would have to respect me. And anyway, what’s wrong with acting like a five-year-old?

“What are you going to say?” He asked, an amused expression on his face.

“I’ll say that you’re being…disrespectful,” I grinned.

“Why the hell do you think I"m in a Rehabilitation Centre? Certainly not for giving out cookies to old ladies! Of course I’m disrespectful!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

“Shut up, we’re trying to watch a movie!” A scrawny looking kid shouted at us from the couch, where he was sat along with some other people. Caleb looked around, spotted him, and flipped him the finger. The kid rolled his eyes, and went back to watching the TV.

“Hey! I was talking to you,” I retorted, pointing at myself.

“Look, let’s just get this-,” he looked behind me, his eyes widening, and then his mood switched completely. From being a total snob to grinning like an idiot, in a second! “Don’t worry, Valerie, I brought the easiest one, so you can finish it early, and we’ll get to spend more time together!”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Does Winnie The Pooh have a special effect on you that I didn’t know about?” I gasped in mock surprise, clutching my shirt. He continued to grin, and finally I turned back to see black boots, then khaki colored pants, a waist, khaki colored button-up shirt, and then a face.

The woman who stood before me was probably six feet tall, with broad shoulders, short black hair, and hard-looking eyes. I gulped, noticing the stick she was clutching in her right hand.

“Hello, I'm Ava Shekler, one of the main daytime coaches at the Boys’ Rehabilitation Centre (BRC),” she said in a rough-sounding voice, as she bent down to glance at me.

“H-Hi, I’m Valerie,” I smiled crookedly, wondering why I was scared of someone with such a gentle and kind smile.

“Is Caleb here doing well? He’s known for his anger issues,” she chuckled; a sound that sounded forced yet gentle. Her eyes averted to Caleb’s face, who still had his idiotic smile on.

I nodded frantically, not knowing why I was defending him. Ava nodded back, got up, and walked away. I let out a breath of air, and looked at Caleb, who glared at me.

Shrugging, I poured all the pieces of the puzzle out of the box, and started randomly putting pieces together. Caleb, who was still glaring at me, finally got bored of my expressionless face, and gave up. Lost in our own thoughts, we continued to do the Winnie The Pooh puzzle in silence.