Red Band Society

Emma Chota

I sat, cross-legged, on the white tiles that made up the floor of my hospital room. I was next to my bed, my back leaning against it as I finished reading a new novel. I turned the last page, and my eyes filled with tears. The book was amazing, definitely worth re-reading in the future. I closed the book carefully, admiring the cover for a moment, and then sighed happily.

My moment of peace was interrupted by the distinct clicking noise of Leo Roth's crutches. "Emma?" he called, not able to see me in my hiding place. I sighed, and the sound echoed through the room. Wow. It had surprisingly good acoustics. "Emma?" he asked once again, this time clicking his way over to where I sat, wiping away my tears to avoid embarrassment. Too late. His eyes filled with concern, and he was about to question my tear-stained face, when he noticed the novel that I held in my hand. His once-concerned features now possessed a sly grin.

"Wow, Emma, crying over books? You know, this only proves that you-" he was silenced by the dangerous glare that I threw his way. He laughed nervously as I pulled myself up from the floor, cleared my throat, and set the book on my bedspread. We stood quiet for a while, until I could no longer stand the awkwardness of the situation. "Leo, can I help you with something? You came in here to ask me a question, what was it?" He blushed, and then--wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. WHAT? Leo Roth does not blush. In all the time that I've known him, I've never SEEN him blush. Now that I think about it, I've only ever seen the guy even LOOK embarrassed on that day with the broken hearts and the failed attempts at moving on. The day he dumped me. Yeah, he had been pretty embarrassed then, I mean, he couldn't even look me in the eye until the one week anniversary for the breakup had passed. I raised an eyebrow, questioning his tomato-red cheeks.

"Well, about that whole 'let's just be friends' thing, well, the truth is, I-" but he was again silenced, and not by me this time. By Nurse Brittany. She was giving us that "look" that adults often give to love struck kids. That knowing look. Not that Leo and I were in love, or anything, but I knew the look when I saw it. My thoughts were interrupted by a quick, "Uh, bye," from Leo.

Nurse Brittany set down the lunch tray that she had brought for me, her eyes following Leo out of the room, and then turned to give me the "look" again before skipping away. That look. I absolutely HATE that look. I took a seat on my hospital bed, and began to think, not even acknowledging the food that sat on the small table in the middle of the room. No, I was more worried about the words that Leo had almost shared with me.

That "let's be friends" conversation that we had on the roof last night. I knew exactly what Leo was implying when he talked about "making things work". I really wanted to, oh how long I had to wait for him to say those words. But when they actually came, I was scared. What if he blew me off again? I couldn't risk it, so I acted oblivious to his intentions, and drop-kicked him into the friend-zone.

Dang it, Emma, I told myself. You could have handled that a lot better. Sitting on my bed for what seems like hours, i feel myself becoming very philosophical as I think about my stupid teenager problems. Boys were at the top of the list, and that's saying something, coming from a girl in the hospital for an eating disorder. It says two things, actually. One, my life was becoming an episode of Days of Our Lives, and two, I needed help. Serious help.