Invisible String

but nothing was easy between us

Five minutes after sitting on the couch with my leg up, Cari arrived, with MC Donalds combos for everyone and her hair still wet from the shower. That was my favorite Cari.

"Hi Debbie, how is she?" I heard her saying from the front door.

"Hi honey. She's okay, just a little upset. She's on the living room, come on in."

"I brought dinner."

"You didn't have to, Cari."

"It's okay Debbie, I'm always eating your food, let me pay for it at least once."

"Okay, okay, but it's the first and the last time, alright?" My mom said finally giving up. "Give it to me, I'll set the table."

A few seconds later she was sitting by my side, holding my hand between hers.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"How bad is it?"

"The doctor said it will take between 12 to 15 weeks to remove the cast and a couple of months more to be one hundred percent fine again. By the time it gets good the season will be probably over, so no more volleyball for me this year."

"Oh no, are you serious?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"That sucks, babe, what am I going to do without you on the team?" She said in a low voice so my mom couldn't hear it. Her face showed that she was really disappointed with the news.

"I know, but there's nothing I can do about it, I hate it too."

We didn't eat even half of the food she brought. After the drug side effects were gone and the sadness took over my feelings, my hunger disappeared. All I wanted was to lay on my bed with Cari by my side and relax, but that would be weird for my mom and I still had to take a shower, which I had no idea how the hell I would proceed to do that. Also, Cari had to leave right after dinner because she was supposed to be with Tyler and he didn't stop calling her the whole time.

He knew she was at my house because she had to tell him where she was going. She thought it wouldn't be a problem to tell him the truth since she was the captain of the team and she had to see how one of her teammates was doing, but that caused us problems in the days that followed my misfortune.

It was one of the breaks between classes. I was just minding my business trying to balance myself on my good foot while changing books for the next class in my locker when someone took my crutches propped up in the locker next to mine. It was Tyler, followed by a couple of his friends.

"Hello Beveridge, how is your foot?" He said ironically, playing with my crutches when I looked at him.

"Tyler, give them back."

"What? These?" He hanged them in front of me with a devil smile on his face.

"Yes."

"Go get them." He threw them across the hall, drawing everyone's attention and laughing hysterically.

I closed my locker door and took a deep breath, trying to contain my anger. I was about to start jumping to get my crutches when Veronica arrived.

"What the fuck is going on here?" She said out loud after grabbing them for me, drawing even more attention.

"Nothing Veronica, it's fine." I didn't want to start something with Tyler, it was just not worth it, but he didn't have the same thought in mind.

"You know what I was thinking Beveridge? Why don't you tell everyone what you really are? I think it's about time to let people know your true self." By that time, people were already gathering around us, wanting to know what was the beef about, and my heart was already racing inside of my chest.