Summer Camp Sweethearts

Chapter 21

A week has passed since I have shown any response to the hospital staff. I have been told that the injury in my left humerus is severely fractured and will require additional surgery. My doctor, Dr. Tanner McClaren, an older doctor, is also unsure of how much time I will have to recover after the surgery because my bone was crushed in several places. Since then, I have been getting physical therapy and occupational therapy.

"We have scheduled the surgery for tomorrow," Dr. McClaren says, standing at the end of my bed. I nodded and glanced at my mom. She catches it and returns with a tight-lipped smile.

"I'll be here with you," she says, her voice breaking. I reach out and squeeze her hand before releasing it.

"I know."

"I will leave you to rest and be back later," he said, writing a few last notes in my file, and left the room. I look around and notice that many people have been sending me flowers. There are succulents, poppies, Lillies, and even roses, all in water vases that my mom probably brought, or we have just used up all the hospital vases. I smile at the thought and close my eyes, trying to relax. I haven't heard anything from my friends back home. Sofia either does not want to disturb me or doesn't even know I was in an accident. Yet again, my story was the headline news for about a week. Blake also has not reached out. He was the one that wanted me to come to the dance. Even though I initially said I would come, he was why I decided to go. At that moment, something in me went off, like a light bulb.

"Mom, remind me what hospital we are in again," I ask, looking in her direction.

"Pineburg Hospital," she answers, and a look of confusion appears on her face as she tries to figure out why this weird question. Why did I not click it earlier? I sigh heavily at the realization.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" my mom asks.

"The guy I went out with at summer camp," I sigh again, trying to catch my breath as well, "he goes to Pineburg high. I left the camp without properly saying goodbye to him," I explained. I close my eyes for a few seconds, taking this all in. I feel like I'm going to vomit.

"Melissa, you're scaring me," my mom says as she reaches to touch my arm.

"I know. But you are scaring me too with that look on your face," I tell my mom. The look she has is one I know very well. She is hiding something from me. "What don't I know," I ask, bracing myself for the worst.

"Well," she begins, coming closer to my bed and taking my hand in hers. "I might have decided to move here while you were in a coma." she finishes.

"What?" I ask, completely taken aback. "Why would you do that?"

"Mel, honey, I was not sure how long you would be in the coma, and I had to earn money to keep you here. My work has kindly given me a position here in Pineburg," she tells me. I am shocked.

"I need a few minutes alone," I say. My mom nods, grab her purse, and leaves the room. I just stare out in front of me, out the window where Pineburg's skyline stares back at me. No wonder my friends have not come to visit me. They are in my now old hometown, probably too busy reading gossip news than the headline of their best friend in the hospital.

***

It's past 4 pm that afternoon, and I am being pushed down the hospital halls in a wheelchair. The guy pushing me in the wheelchair can't be much older than me. He has been talking to me since he was ordered to take me to the x-ray department. I need to get one final x-ray done before surgery tomorrow.

"So, Melissa, I hear you've been in the hospital for a while now," he says with a smirk. I glare at him and ignore him as we make round another corner.

"What do you want?" I ask, trying not to sound too hostile. He just grins wider and pushes me into the reception room of the x-ray department.

"Nothing," he says. I eye him carefully, not trusting that word of his. He wants something. I decide this is not the time to argue about his wants. He's a cocky one, and I understand entirely with his age. I narrow my eyes at him, trying to figure him out.

"Aren't you a little young to be working at the hospital?" I ask as we wait in the reception room. He eyes me skeptically and raises his eyebrows.

"I'm seventeen," he says. "And I am just volunteering after school."

Now it's my turn to shoot up my brows and look at him, all shocked. A guy like him doesn't usually come across someone who would like to be spending their free time at a hospital. He looks like he needs to spend it on a football field shouting out commands across the field at his teammates.

I catch a glimpse of his name tag for the first time. Jayden MacCuoid. Interesting surname.

"Melissa Anderson?" the receptionist announced from behind her desk. Jayden perked up and went to talk to the brunet lady who had just called my name a few moments ago. Their conversation lasted about 2 minutes before Jayden returned to me and wheeled me to the lady waiting for me.

"Thanks," I say, smiling up at him. "No problem. I'll see you around." He left down the hallway with that, leaving me to get my x-ray done.