The Boy Who Broke My Leg

Chapter 1

"'Nessa, slow down", my best friend, Kayla calls behind me as I skillfully navigate the maze also known as West Redwood High on a Friday afternoon. I narrowly dodge an elbow as I duck under somebody's raised arm. Someone steps on the back on my shoe and as I sigh and as I turn my attention to fix it, I knock my head against an open locker and swear under my breathe.

"Are you okay?" Kayla asks as she catches up to me,grinning at my clumsiness.

"Splendid", I mutter, rubbing my injured skull.

"Slow down", she tells me. "Friday afternoons are a hellhole in these corridors."

"But I have a whole tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer", I protest as I start squeezing my way through the hoards of impatient people again. "It's the only thing that's been keeping me going all week!"

Some may call it obsessive but I literally have thought about ice cream every class the whole day. I have no shame - ice cream is amazing. I hope heaven is made up of mounds of ice cream and giant spoons.

I let out the breathe of air I was holding as I finally reach the staircase leading to the ground floor, also known as my freedom. A few kids are standing by the edge of the stairs and I recognize Alistair LeBran from my history class among some of the other guys laughing and talking. 

I dodge my way around them and as I put my foot on the first stair, I turn around, checking if Kayla made it out in one piece. She emerges from the swarm of people unscathed and gives me a thumbs up. I nod back at her as I turn back around and go down the next stair. And that's when it happens.

I notice it in the corner of my eye a second beforehand. Nothing major that screams danger. Just a guy with a baseball cap bursting into laughter and shoving the Alistair guy's shoulder. A casual action that any best friend would do without even consciously processing it. Not realizing that Alistair was at the very edge of the staircase with one leg propped up behind him against a wall.

In the second it took for me to realize what was happening, a heavy weight hits me square on my back throwing me face first down the flight of stairs. Unfortunately, I don't throw my hands out in time to avoid my face from taking the worst of the fall and I hit my head hard on the edge of a step and makes me see stars. What's worse is that amidst the chaos I feel my leg fold in a weird ankle, the weight fall on it and suddenly a crack echoes through the room. Shit.

The room is dead silent as I lie at the base of the stairs,my head spinning violently, a heavy weight still pinning me down. I feel the weight slowly get off me and that's when I feel pain hit me everywhere. My left wrist, my ribs, and most profoundly, my right leg which is bent at such a weird angle it causes a wave of nausea to course through my stomach.

I open my eyes slowly, biting my lip hard to keep from groaning and look up into a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes, widened in terror. Alistair's eyes. 

And that's the last thing I see before the world blacks out around me.

And my last thought? My mint chocolate chip ice cream, all alone in the freezer, with nobody to eat it and satisfy it's life purpose. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A bouquet of sunflowers on my bedside table. That's the first thing my blurry eyes focus on when I finally come to. A vision of my mom laughing as my dad handed her a bouquet of her favorite flowers, like he did every time there was a special occasion. 'Why mommy?' I would ask as she searched for a vase and filled it with water. 'Why are sunflowers your favorite? They smell yucky.' To which she would smile. 'The bright yellow color reminds you that there's always something to be happy about, Nessie. Sunflowers are a symbol of happiness.'