Is It You? (Keaton Stromberg)

Hospitals

Claudia's P.O.V

Sunday went by in a woosh, filled with homework. Monday morning rolled by and I walked into homeroom. We only have homeroom once a week, during every other block. I have what is known as a block schedule. 4 classes one day, four different ones the next day, and then we alternate each week. Unfortunately Keaton wasn't in my homeroom. I didn't know anyone in here, which completely sucked, but homeroom was more like study hall. I guess if I didn't have any friends, I wouldn't get distracted from my work. So as usual, I went through homeroom blasting music on my headphones and doing my work. Break came around and I had 10 minutes to get to class, and do anything else that I needed. I had dance practice, which luckily counted as P.E credits, so I was all good on that.

When I got to the auditorium, I got the most dreaded dancer news. Today's practice was conditioning. Which basically meant endless amounts of running, sit ups, ab work in general, gym time, rope time, and arm strength. Conditioning is a tough part of dancing, mainly because tomorrow I'm going to have to wear sweatpants to school and take in ice bath tonight. Some people don't really understand the pain dancers have to go through sometimes. I met up with Kelly, Meg, and Madisen at the base of the stairs that lead to the stage. We took off to the dressing rooms to change into our dancewear. The outfit I picked for today was probably the coziest thing I've ever worn. I had an oversized white sweater with tangerine colored roses on it, some light wash skinny jeans, and tangerine colored sneaker wedges. I'd bought these when we were in L.A, at the beginning I thought they were going to be really uncomfortable, but they turned out to be so comfortable. (OUTFIT IS ON POLYVORE, IT'S CALLED "TANGERINE TOUCHES")

Back on the stage, we started warming up, and then the dreaded words came. "We're starting off at the gym" I'm not sure why the coach was making us do this, but I guess I better start working before we begin competitions. I walked into the gym with the girls to find none other than Keaton, Kyle, and Wesley... shirtless. Well talk about awkward. Meg gave Wes a small wink from across the gym, so did Kyle to Kelly. I was sure they wanted to just go make out somewhere but our coach would've murdered us. I gave Keaton a slight wave and he smiled back. I found myself checking him out on accident, and damn do I tell you, the guy's got some body building up on him. Claudia stop perving you probably look like a creep.

I tried to keep my mind off of Keaton doing abs, pushups, running on the treadmill, and doing stretches in the bar that was built up in front of a huge mirrored wall. I was stretching my leg past my ear when I felt people staring at me. I turned around to see Meg, Wes, Keaton, Kelly and Kyle were staring at my with their mouths wide open.

"What?!" I said in the most awkward tone ever

"Oh um nothing nevermind" Wesley stuttered

"Okay yeah sure, now seriously what is it?!" I asked. They're so weird....

"Um well you're kind of like.. really really flexible" said Meg.

"I'm a dancer... of course I am, isn't it normal?" awkward.

"Well yeah I guess..." how many times have they said well?

"Oh okay haha" this is just too awkward.

"Doesn't it hurt?" And so Keaton speaks, I thought he'd gone mute.

"Well if I warm up first, and then stretch, it really doesn't"

"Oh that's cool! It looks painful though," He said again

"ENOUGH CHICHAT BACK TO STRETCHING GIRLS" coach Nielsen cried.

We scattered back to our spots while the boys went back to bench pressing. It was almost time to go back and change, how did time go so fast? I though we were going to do floor today, I guess not. We changed in the locker rooms that were next to gym, since we'd brought our bags with us. Since we had about 20 minutes to change I decided to take a shower. Good thing I always keep a shower cap and towel with me. I didn't wash my hair, and before you say that's just gross and unsanitary, I put dry shampoo through it. I didn't even want my hair around my face so I traded my waves for a high ponytail. All the girls except Kelly, who'd waited for my, had left the locker rooms already. Kel and I were making small stalk when we left the locker room and encountered the awkward sight of Wesley and Meg making out in the corner of the gym. Does this day get any more awkward? Things were getting quite heated between those two, so we just scattered outside as quickly as we could. I tripped over something, or rather say someone. I landed on the cold, hard, hallway ground (sorry I had to do the Taylor Swift reference) with a loud thud. My backpack landed on the other side of the hall, and I was throbbing in pain on the floor. I'd heard a crack when I landed, and as soon as I tried to move my arm was in severe pain. I heard someone's voice behind me, when I noticed that the person I'd tripped over was Keaton.

"Claudia!" Kelly and Keaton screamed in unison

"Are you ok? I'm sorry I shouldn't have been sitting there" Keaton was next to me.

"My arm really hurts," I whimpered as I stood up.

Keaton took me to the nurse and stayed there with me while I waited for my mom to come get me. He was apologizing over and over again, and I kept reassuring him that I was fine. Kelly had to go back to class, but Keaton refused to leave my side until he found out what was up with my arm. I knew there was no use in telling him to go, so I let him stay, and I needed to company anyways. I was in the middle of getting some ice on my elbow when my mom came in. She told me that I had to go to the hospital and get x-rays done just to be sure I didn't break my arm. Keaton insisted on coming with me, so mom checked us both out of school in the middle of the day, and off to the hospital we went.

When I got out of the X ray room, Keaton was waiting for me while pacing back and forth. He must feel really bad, but it really wasn't his fault. We went back to my house and to my surprise, my car came in earlier! I was so excited to have the car back, now I could get my own ride to school and back, and just anywhere I wanted! My mom made us some lunch while I took my sweater off and changed into an ombré tank top, we then got the call from the hospital saying that my x-ray results were ready. We packed back into my mom's car and drove off. The hospital wasn't very crowded; therefore we were able to go into the office really quickly. My arm had been immobilized so it wasn't hurting if I moved it. I took a seat after I said hello to the doctor, whose name I really don't remember.

"Well Claudia, luckily you didn't fracture anything. However it is a sprain and I'm going to have to put a cast on your arm for two weeks until the elbow is fully recovered." Oh fantastic, no left arm for two whole weeks, there goes my driving. Keaton's face fell apart when he heard the doctor. I know he thinks it's his fault, but I don't want him to feel bad about it. I reached and gave his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze along with a genuine and reassuring smile. The doctor started putting the cast around my elbow and down my forearm. The material, whatever it's called, was cold and sticky.

I was able to leave the hospital around half an hour later, and Keaton hadn't said a word to me since. I walked over to him; he was over on the other side of my back yard sitting on a bench.

"Hey, I know you think it's your fault. But I'm not mad at you! How could I be? There's no way you could've known that was going to happen, and I walked the wrong way. So don't beat yourself up for it, I'm okay and that's what matters right? It could've been anyone else, and this is seriously nothing. Just let it go, do it for me please?" I let it all out in one breath. I knew he needed to hear it now, before he started overthinking.

"I'm just angry cause you won't be able to use your arm for two weeks! All because I was sitting at the wrong place at the wrong time" he whined

"Look it's all fine. Now come here" I opened my arms wide and engulfed him in a hug. I think we both needed it and hugged back right away. Maybe if things didn't work out the way I wanted to, Keaton was still my friend. And I wanted to keep him around as long as I could. Because he's honest, and really caring. I wish I could be honest with him too. I need to tell him, now.

"Keaton, there's something you need to kn- "

"CLAUDIA THE CLUTS HOW IS YOUR ARM" damn you Wesley.

"It's fine" it was dry and mean, always with the wrong timing.

Keaton and I had to go back into the house, as it was time for him to go home. I don't think he saw Noah, which was a good thing; otherwise I would've had to blur the truth out. I needed to tell him soon. The girls came over a little bit later, just to check on me. I loved how caring they were, and I knew that I could count on them for anything. They also wanted details, gosh girls haha. I told them everything, and they knew how I felt about him. I might not know him for too long, but he's grown on me. And I really hope I'm growing on him too, because he's becoming a big part of my life now and he's important.

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