One hundred and eighty three centimeters tall. A sentence that used to hold so much power over Samantha Mewis, it controlled her life, the second glances she got, the sly snickers when people thought she couldn't see them. Yet reading the bold words at the top of Amelia Turner's medical record made her feel like a complete ass.
Shoving it back into its correct place, Sam slammed the filing cabinet door shut just in time to sit back down and see the trainer return and exasperated look written across his face.
He turns her attention back to Sam "Sorry about that Sam it-"
"No worries, I think I'm all good now anyways, I felt something click and my ankle, all fixed" Sam rushes out, jumping off the bed to show she's in perfect condition and heads towards the office door with haste
"oh are you sure Sam, I should still look at-"
"Nope" She declares with a quick laughter and smile "Thanks for looking at it, see you later!"
She doesn't bother looking behind to see him undoubtedly standing their in utter confusion and most likely concern over her strange behaviour. But at this moment in time all Sam can think about is getting as far aware from those medical files as possible. It's only when she turns the corner and met with the excited faces of Kelley and Sonnett clearly waiting in anticipation, that she realise she has no plan.
"Give us the news then!" Kelley says first only to be egged only Sonnett "I want to hear that I'm right!"
Sam swallows the lump in her throat, her mind racing around in circles trying to come up with a plan in the next 5 seconds or so. She weighed out her pros and cons; telling the pair she never managed to look at her height would ultimately lead them into a fit of frenzy, Kelley claiming her acting was put to waste. But they would soon forgive her when she told them what else the report said.
Yet Sam Mewis knew she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. Deep vein thrombosis, that's what the bold red letters said at the top of the page, something that wouldn't make much sense to anyone who hadn't learnt it in science class or knew certain factors that could lead to its increase chance of developing. One Sam was more than aware with because as soon as she wouldn't stop growing in fourth grade and towered over the small school librarian, her parents took her to the doctors where they said she's grow up to be a 'tall child'.
The short lived excitement of possibly towering over her friends and reaching cupboards most kids her age still had to ask adults help for, swiftly disappeared when a leaflet was thrown on her lap glaring multiple problems she was most likely to face as she grew. Problems like pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis, words too long and hard to say for any 10 year old let alone understand the significance behind them.
It worried her parents endlessly, especially when she started getting into sport using her height as an advantage. She felt a swell of pride when she played basketball with the boys and volleyball with the girls, the worry of possible future problems washing away when she dunked the ball in the basket or easily blocked a shot from flying over the net.
As she got older she realised the seriousness behind it all, made sure to pay attention to her body on long bus rides and after stretches of intense exercise but it had never effected her life to were it stopped her from doing the things she loved, god she loved soccer and the thought of not being able to play it over something completely out of her hands made a shiver fly down her spine and shoulders tense at the mere thought crossing her mind.
It was that thought that led her to clench her jaw tightly and push aside any resentment or cockiness over the 'height wars' that had been the long debate in school the past month. Instead she focused on the feeling of pity she knew she would get if she ever had this problem, telling her teammates that she couldn't carry on playing soccer felt like cutting out a piece of her heart.
