Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn The Cheerleader

Sprain

Dicky sat on the hard surface the nurse called a 'bed'. His ankle was propped up on a stool in front of him. Kayley stood by, seeming genuinely concerned for the fate of his ankle as they waited for the nurse to finish rooting around in her medicine cabinet for a gauze.

"Here we go!" The nurse stepped back with a roll of beige cloth.

"Do you really have to wrap it like that?" Dicky winced as the nurse knelt and got to work on his ankle. "It's probably just a pulled muscle or--or something." The nurse looked at him, like, really? and poked between his bones. Dicky cried out.

"Nope." The nurse continued wrapping. "Definitely a sprain."

"Aw, you poor thing," Kayley simpered sympathetically, batting her eyelashes, "You must be in so much pain."

"It does hurt quite a lot, yeah," Dicky agreed, oblivious to her flirting. The nurse looked back and forth between the two ten-year-olds and smirked. Young, utterly naive lovers. She slapped the cloth ends together with a strip of velcro, causing Dicky to grimace in pain and stood up.

"I'll just go fill out a note to your parents explaining what happened." The nurse said as she started to leave. "Try not to injure yourself any more while I'm out."

"So," Kayley sidled over to the bed and plopped down next to Dicky. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Dicky wiggled his ankle a little. The pain was started to recede a bit. "Shouldn't you be going? The game's over."

"My parents can wait a bit." Kayley waved her hand dismissively. She looked at Dicky with big doe eyes. "I just want to see if you come out of this okay."

"It's a sprained ankle, Kayley." Dicky said. "I can take care of myself."

"I know that." Kayley smiled. She scooted a little closer. Dicky was starting to get uncomfortable, but he couldn't move away. Every move he made affected his ankle, and it was already sprained.

"Are you feeling okay, Kayley? Looks like you're coming down with a fever." Dicky blurted in a last-ditch attempt at avoiding awkwardness. It didn't work, as Kayley just sat there looking at him curiously. "Um... what?"

"You don't feel it?" Kayley seemed confused.

"Feel... what?"

"Oh, Dicky." Kayley's laugh was like a wind chime in a hurricane. "You're so young. So innocent."

"I'm the same age as you are!"

"So what will it be?" Kayley leaned her head to one side inquisitively. "Yes or no?" Dicky was confused. What the heck was this girl talking about?

"Yes or no.... what?"

"You're asking what a lot nowadays aren't you?" Kayley giggled. To anyone not totally clueless, she was going overboard and flashing way to many normally ineffective signals that would drive any other boy off their rocker, meaning, no way would they go out with a crazy flirter like her. But to Dicky, who had little to no experience in the world of whatever-this-is, just thought Kayley was acting uber weird.

"I'm confused." Dicky stated. "You're saying--"

"Do you want to be my boyfriend or not, silly?"

Dicky nearly fell off the platform. He completely forgot about the pain in his sprained ankle. "You--you're boyfriend?"

"Mmhmm." Kayley was getting impatient. "Yes or no?"

"But--"

Kayley batted her eyelashes at him again. She shot him a look so devastatingly beautiful in a ten-year-old way (what some adults would call 'adorable') and opened her eyes wide; she drew her eyebrows together a bit and pouted and made a puppy-dog face. Dicky faltered.

"...okay. I'll be your boyfriend."

Kayley brightened up at once and bounced off the platform. "Yay! Wait till we tell everyone!" Dicky swallowed.

"Um... everyone?"

"Of course! Don't you want everyone to know that we're together now?" Kayley asked. "I'd want everyone to know that I'm with the cutest, most adorable, hottest boy in the entire grade..."

"And I'd want everyone to know that I'm together with the the prettiest, most beautiful, hottest girl in fifth grade!" Dicky chimed in, really starting to get into the boyfriend mood. He had no idea why he'd hesitated when she first asked him. Kayley was the prettiest, most beautiful girl in fifth grade. Having her for a girlfriend would make even the eighth graders envy him. Why, Martin would look up to him! Kayley bounced over and hugged him, not bothered 

"Okay, here's the note to your parents and a note explaining to your basketball coach that you can't play for a while." The nurse reentered the room. Dicky pulled away from Kayley quickly, his cheeks burning. The nurse looked back and forth between the two fifth graders. "What's going on here?"