Table for 6

Part 26

Part 26

"Guys, what just happened?"

"She- We didn't do anything. She just fell down." Kathy said incredulously looking like she didn't know how to explain.

"We thought she looked a little tired, and before we could ask her about anything, she collapsed." Macy added.

"We didn't even have time to catch her." Kataniss sobbed with tears streaming down her face.

Other than the tears that had welled up in Macy and Kathy's eyes, the two were emotionless. If I hadn't noticed the tears, I wouldn't have guessed anything was wrong. Ryan on the other hand looked brutal. I think he was having a hard time seeing Aisha on the floor like this. Especially when just a few minutes ago he told us how he never wanted us to get hurt. I think it was clear to me that he meant getting hurt physically, just as much mentally.

"We need to get someone right away, and get her to a hospital." I insist. I for one was not going to let Aisha lay here on the ground and, in the worse possible circumstance, die. I had no idea what could happen, since I had no idea what was wrong with her.

Almost as if my silent prayer had been answered, Mme walked around the corner only to be met with us. "You six, you should be in class by now. What is all the commotion ab-" Then she noticed Aisha on the floor. "What happened?" She asked, her voice sounding very concerned. Since two of the girls looked almost dead themselves, Kathy was in hysterics, and Ryan, well I didn't think he was in the right position to tell the story, I went ahead and answered.

"Um well, she fell, fainted possibly. Just collapsed. We don't know what's wrong with her. I think we need to get her to the hospital. We need an ambulance." As soon as I said that, I realized Aisha's breathing was becoming abnormally slow. I thought she might stop breathing all together. I think I looked as scared as the others because that's how I felt.

"Mme, please go and call an ambulance." I screamed at a shocked teacher standing in front of me. She ran down the hallway and said something into the walky-talky all the teachers had. Everything became a blue and soon enough, I heard the sirens approaching our school.

Now I had tears in my eyes. Kathy, Macy, and Katiniss were sitting together in a small group around Aisha whispering and sobbing uncontrollably.

Ryan, well Ryan was sitting on the ground beside Aisha, but he was also sort of holding her hand and I could hear him whisper to the girls, and probably Aisha, that it would be okay. We all knew he had feelings for Macy, and only Macy, so seeing him like this, made me realize how much he did care about the rest of us.

The paramedics ran through the hallway towards us, with Mme. trailing behind them. When they approached us, they loaded Aisha onto the stretcher and then asked us for the story. Ryan answered this time and told them exactly what happened. Just as they were rushing Aisha out of the school, they thanked us and told us we could go back to class.

"Oh, no actually can we go with her?" Kathy proposed politely.

"I'm sorry, but we can't take you." The paramedics told us.

"Are you serious? We're coming." Ryan stated firmly. The paramedics found this act of behavior disrespectful so they gave him a distasteful look. I think I would've laughed at them given a different situation.

Macy stepped up beside Ryan and gently pushed him out of the sight of the paramedics because we all noticed he obviously wasn't helping us right now. "Listen, we need to go with her. Please, she's one of our best friends. We need to know if she'll be okay." Macy begged.

Maybe something in the paramedics' hearts changed, or maybe they just didn't want to deal with a bunch of kids arguing with them, but they agreed. Which was a good choice on their part. I mean, who knows what we, mainly Ryan, would've done if they didn't decide to let us.

The five of us huddled into the back of the ambulance around Aisha. We just sat there together and watched her. I silently prayed for her, I most likely wasn't the only one doing so.

To pass the agonizing time, I sang to her, and Kathy recited a poem. Ryan told us some jokes, some inappropriate ones earned him a flick on the head, but he was only trying to make us laugh. Macy told us things she loved about all of us. Katiniss sat in silence and I think it was hard for her to see Aisha like this.

Luckily, Aisha had gotten an oxygen mask and was now breathing at a steady pace.

When we got to the hospital, we ran in behind the paramedics. Only to then be forced to sit in the waiting room and wait for her to be checked out.

Longest hour of my entire life. Well other than the night when Jason passed, but this is a close second. The five of us were on the edge of our chairs when the doctor came out to tell us about Aisha.

"Aisha is going to be okay." And with that said the tension noticeably decreased. "She fainted from having very little energy. Possibly from not getting enough sleep or food. We also noticed multiple bruises and cuts on her arms, which could have led to lack of blood. Would any of you be able to enlighten me about how she got the cuts and bruises?" The doctor asked.

We all looked at each other, contemplating on whether we should tell Aisha's secret. If this was going to speed up her chances of recovering, then I was going to tell this doctor. The five of us asked if we could talk to him in private. After he agreed and led us into a small room, we told him everything. From the basketball practice I saw, to what she had told us. I needed her to get better, and this doctor was going to make it happen.

"Thank you." He told us, as he left the room. We made our way back to the waiting room, and within five minutes we were called into Aisha's room.

We ran to her bedside, and she looked at each one of us. "Guys, why are you here? Shouldn't you still be at school? You really didn't have to come."

"Well, we all agreed that we needed to know that you were okay." Kathy said.

"I couldn't have done anything without knowing that you were okay." Macy told her.

"We also care about you." Ryan said sincerely. This made Aisha blush a little bit.

"Well, I can't thank you enough. You guys really are the best people in the world." She replied. She gave each one of us a hug. And then we started talking about grad again. We decided that Kathy, Aisha and I really didn't need dates, so we were going alone together. That makes sense, right? Anyway, we were totally stoked for it, discussing dresses, awards and everything, when the doctor walked in.

"Aisha, I have some bad news." He started. "We have noticed some abnormal things in your tests, and are going to need to keep you here for another three weeks."

But graduation is in two weeks, and Aisha won't be out. She has to stay here for three weeks.

Our faces fell. Hard.

"What?" Aisha choked out. "Three weeks, why three weeks?!" She exclaimed utterly shocked.

The doctor sighed, "Well the test results show that- "

"But I'll miss my own grade eight graduation!" Aisha yelled in frustration.

"I'm truly sorry Ms.Chambers."