Zoey 101: You Must Of Had A Broken Heart ☑

Chapter 44

“Zoey? What’s wrong?”

“Come get me,” my voice cracked.

“Omigod, are you hurt?”

“Lola, please come get me as soon as you can.” My voice quivered as I fought to hold back the tears.

“Where are you?” she inquired urgently.

“At the coffee place near my house.” I took a calming breath to keep from losing the little composure I had left.

“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

I hung up the phone.

I spent the time it took Lola to arrive, staring at my hands, willing them to stop trembling. My breath shook with each pass through my quivering lips. I didn’t dare look around the shop; instead I stared out the window, searching for Lola’s car. When I saw her pull in, I rushed to meet her before she had a chance to get out.

I winced as I settled onto the passenger seat, the pain streaking up my entire back. I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath. The tears found their way down my cheeks as I swallowed against the lump in my throat.

“Where are you hurt?” Lola asked, her voice unsteady.

“My back,” I quivered, with my eyes still closed.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No,” I shot back quickly. I attempted to release the tension in my shoulders and opened my eyes. I wiped away the tears and searched for my voice. “No hospital, okay? Just… do you have anything to help, aspirin or something?”

Lola rummaged around in the compartments of the center console, then handed me a white bottle of Advil. I spilled some pills onto my hand and swallowed them dry. Her forehead creased, mirroring the pain that was evident on my face. “Do you want to go back to my house?”

“Can we just stop there so you can get me a bag of ice? Then let’s go somewhere where I can walk around.”

“You want to walk?”

“If I stay still, I’ll get stiff. I need to keep the blood flowing through my muscles so that I can play tonight.”

“You think you’re going to play basketball?! Zo, I’m still trying to decide if I should take you to the hospital. You’re pale, and you can’t hide how much pain you’re in. And if you can’t hide it, then it must be pretty bad.”

“It’s because it just happened and my body’s still in shock. I’ll be fine, I promise.” But I knew I was lying. I was far from fine.

Lola drove to her house and I waited in the car until she came out with a small cooler filled with ice, some storage bags and a couple of waters. She handed me a water when she entered the car.

“Let’s go to the high school, and we’ll walk the track,” I suggested before taking several long gulps from the bottle. “I only have to waste a couple of hours before the JV game.”

“Are you sure?” Lola asked, still uncertain with my decision.

“Lola, I swear, I’m okay.”

I eased my body into a controlled place where the quivering hid beneath my skin. There was a deep ache in my head that trailed all the way down my back, but the piercing pain was gone - as long as I kept still.

We drove to the high school and parked near the football field. The parking lot only contained a handful of cars since it was still too early for anyone to be here for the game.