My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Forty-One

Good news? We won and are in the playoffs. Bad news? My shoulder is shot and I'm out for the rest of the season. Once again I am not going to be able to help get them to the championships and to say I'm bummed is an understatement.

Once Uncle Byron got me out of the gym and to their car they took me to the nearest hospital to the town we are in. I was squeezed in the back with Aria and Mike, my eyes out the window as I tried not to think about the pain I was in but was hoping that the doctor would pop it back in and be fine, but no, when I got there that was not what happened. Instead it felt so sore I could barely even move my arm when the doctor fixed it. My shoulder dislocated completely from the socket rather than it doing a quick pop and back to its regular position. Now I'm in a sling until the swelling goes down and have to go to my local hospital to see if there is any damage to my nerves. But they assured me that my basketball season was over and that was not what I wanted to hear.

When we pull into the driveway to the house after the hospital I hop out of the backseat with Aria and Mike behind me and we walk to the door. My brain is on fire with thoughts because I hate that I can't play, and my arm in a sling limits me to use it in general, which sucks.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and thankful it's my left arm that is out of commission so I'm able to dig it out without an issue. When I check I see it's Spencer asking how I'm doing, so that means Aria told her and I should expect more texts soon. But what catches my attention is the text I got from Hanna during the school day when what seemed to be A had somehow made it seem like she took a naked picture of her step-sister and sent it to everyone in her phone contacts. Basically the entire school got this picture and Hanna has been a mess since.

A hand lands onto my good shoulder and I see my aunt is standing beside me when the rest of them went inside. I smile gently at her and then walk inside as she starts to talk to me with a worried tone. She wants to know how I'm feeling.

I give her a look like that's a stupid question, "Pain mostly."

She sighs and ushers me into the kitchen so that I can sit, "I'm sorry this happened during such an important game."

I take a sad breath as I watch her go to the fridge and pull out the food she had picked up from the Grille before they went to the game, "Better me than my teammates." I say with a shrug and wince because obviously that hurt my shoulder.

Aria is sitting at the chair beside me and gives a sad smile. But it's Mike who says, "That is such a captain's answer." He teases as him and my uncle are setting up the table for us.

I smile at his joke but it doesn't help me feel any better. So the subject is dropped, we eat dinner and then get ready for bed. Trying to lay down on an injured shoulder is a whole other mess completely.

—

I'm home from school for two days and then I'm back at it. I even passed by the store to check in on Marie with my aunt on one of the days I was out since it was open to make sure she was okay. I hate when she is there by herself into the nights because of weirdos and obviously my nervousness with A lurking being high on my list. So I've made a mental note to hire an extra person for times like this.

Once I'm back at school I'm shocked to see no one is glaring at me with looks of annoyance. Instead they all stare because they seem to feel bad that I got hurt during a game. A person I have a couple classes with but don't really know took it upon herself to talk to me and ask how I am. Feeling seen as a person who is not being picked on is very odd.

After I get my stuff into my locker, with some help from Andrew who met up with me we both walk over to the courtyard to sit and talk. When we walk out there is when I see Noel sitting over with Jenna and I still hate that he is with her. His smile is bright as he is in mid-talk with her, but when he looks over to me his smile fades quickly and he gives me a sad look. He knows I don't approve of dumping Mona for someone else, but he also knows Jenna isn't the best person when it comes to me being friends with Toby and the others. I miss him being the nice guy I used to witness and would stand up for me. He has turned into a bigger jerk than usual.