The Story Of Alex

Chapter 12:

Wednesday night at practice:

On Wednesday the crew for our play was going through Green Cast for the very last time before the show. Yes, we still had tomorrow night but that would be Blue Casts final practice. Green Cast always went first. We made it to intermission before I realized something was off about me. I had all my costumes ready to go, I knew all my lines, had my next few scenes prepared.... so what was wrong with me?

Intermission ended and our big song "Singing in the Rain" came on. I was ready! Don sang his solo and all the backup dancers entered the stage. My smile was perfect and I was so into the moves. Until I lifted my right shoulder and tilted my head to put the umbrella down... the pain shot from my chest to my neck and from my neck to my head. The first thing I thought was get off stage and get a parent! But my body today me to stick it out for the team.

I shot Sara- who was maybe four feet away from me- a look that told her I needed help. And I tried to hold that look until she looked back at me but she was too busy staring straight. I finished the dance and ran of stage. Tears started rolling down my face and Cassie told me to tell the high schooler on the headset to get our play teacher.

Jacks mom was supposed to help me change dresses really quick but I couldn't lift my shoulder to take this one off. Of course, she didn't know my condition and thought I was just nervous crying. In between sobs I explained how my shunt tube that runs from my head to my stomach had kinked like a gardening hose. The high schooler told Mrs. Bakah to come up quickly because I was hurt.

They stopped the show dead in its tracks and Mrs. Bekah came running on stage to make sure I was okay. I told her I needed to call my mom but I didn't have a phone. Luckily, my mom was already in the parking lot and waiting for practice to end when I called her. Mom came rushing in and Sara ran over to me. She scolded me for not giving her the signal that I was hurt but I couldn't deal with her at the moment. I tried and she hadn't looked at me.

My mom sat me down and helped my stretch my muscles while she told all the kids to go away and told the parents that I'd be okay. Once I was mostly settled, I told mom that I needed to go change, return my costumes, and get my mic' off. All I wanted to do was go home!

Everyone asked me if I was okay as I walked from right stage to the dressing room (aka the band room.) I didn't want to talk so my mom did it for me. She helped me get dressed without hurting my shoulder. One of the triplets were crying for me, Emma was crying, Sara was sobbing, and everyone was surrounding me. When I finally got my costumes off and my street clothes on, I headed out to the hall where we had to turn our costumes in. Another mom said she'd take my stuff for me so I didn't have to wait in the ten minute line.

Sara was in line and I had to pass her to get to the door. She was still sobbing with makeup streaming down her face. "Wow you look bad," I joked with her.

"So do you," she replied, "but you should see Alex. He looks like a raccoon."

"He's crying?!" I asked.

"Sobbing worse than the two of us combined."

"Can you go get him?"

And she did. I held her costumes while she went to get Alex. Less than a minute later the dressing room door for the guys closed and Alex came walking around the corner. I handed Sara her costumes back and hugged Alex. He didn't say anything so I spoke. "I'm okay. It's okay. I'm okay" I kept repeating. The last thing I wanted was to make everyone cry, including him.

We hugged for maybe a minute before I pulled away. Black makeup was on the shoulder of his new Singing in the Rain sweatshirt. And I'm sure I had some of his makeup on mine.

"She's going to be okay. You'll see her tomorrow" my mom assured my friends. And without another word to them, I left. The adults all said to get better and with that, we were headed home.

********************************

The next morning I was feeling a little better. I still wasn't able to lift my shoulder or raise my arm higher than shoulder height but it was better than being in constant pain. I set my alarm a little earlier that morning so that I didn't have to rush my self and take the chance of pulling a muscle again.

I got to school around 7:40 like normal and immediately thought to go see Alex and Sara. I knew Sara would be okay because she already knew my condition but I wasn't so sure about Alex. So I headed to table C4 where Alex usually sits in the morning and found him with a few other friends. He didn't see me at first since I came up from behind him.

He finished his sentence with one of his friends before I tapped on his shoulder. His headed turned so fast and he stood up as soon as he noticed it was me. Before I could tell him I was okay, he had his arms around me. I didn't mind but I had to be careful to not lift my shoulder. He is taller than me by at least three inches and I almost had to stand on my tip-toes to hug him.

"How are you?" He asked while still hugging me. "I was so worried last night. I cried until I got home. Sara said you'd be okay. Oh, and she's looking for you."

"I'm okay, a little sore right now but the tube in my neck isn't kinked any more. Just he muscles around it are tight."

I almost pulled away from the hug but he held on a little tighter. "I want a longer hug," he whispered. I smiled but he couldn't see it.