Sneakers over heels #Wattys2021

Chapter forty two

Two weeks
 
Three weeks
 
It’s the start of the fourth week since I got admitted. The official orthopedic surgeon was still away and so I was continued to be kept in the hospital for further checkups and medication. Even though nothing was of help.
 
In the beginning, I had refused to let anyone into the room except Dad. I didn’t have the courage to face anyone in the state I was in. Ava broke down the inferior wall I had built around me and Travis was helping me to get back my lost personality. 
 
Most times I was alone in the room and I couldn’t help but ponder over the worries that I was to face once I am dismissed from the hospital.
 
They say me to not lose hope. Was there still something I can hope for?
 
My teammates had tried to talk to me from outside the door but I always hid under the sheets and faked sleep. And so they left. Countless times I had people visiting me. Some I didn’t even know existed, claiming to be my classmates came for a visit only to be sent back without a word from me.
 
Until today.
 
I could hear a ruckus just outside the door. I’d been napping when I was suddenly disturbed.
 
Struggling to sit up, I stare at the door wondering what’s going on, when a familiar voice comes through.
 
“I demand to see her this instance! I don’t fucking care if she’s asleep or on medication rounds. I’m leaving for Ohio tomorrow and I just have to see her somehow.” She was yelling, most probably terrifying a nurse. I couldn’t help but chuckle knowing all too well who the loud booming voice belonged to.
 
The door is thrown open and Cassy barges inside with her back facing me. She was in casuals much to my disappointment. I had wanted to catch a glimpse of the proud Hawkette’s uniform. Not that Cassy would continue wearing it, now that she’s graduated.
 
Ava had filled me in on the Senior’s graduation ceremony, which I was unable to attend. Senora somehow was elected to be the person to give the final speech and upon my request, Ava had recorded the entire thing up to the last moment. I had decided to never shed another tear and yet when Senora had mentioned me in her speech I broke down to tears for missing such an important occasion of my senior teammates whom I considered my closest friends. Family even.
 
“She's just after her medication. She needs to rest!” A nurse whose voice I was very much familiar with scolds my favorite giantess. Of course, Cassy just ignores it. The only person who could control Cassy was Coach.
 
I miss coach.
 
“I don’t plan on staying here forever. Get off of my back!” And Cassy slams the door shut quite forcefully I was afraid the door would come off its hinges.
 
“Can you believe her!?” She turns to me and snaps. I stare at her quite dumbfound, forgetting to hide under the sheets. “God, the troubles I have to go through to meet my friend.”
 
“Uh, I’m sorry?”
 
What am I apologizing for?
 
“It's fine. Not your fault Judy.” She dismisses me and I stare at her blankly.
 
The room grows silent and at once I remember I was seeing a teammate. After almost a month of not meeting their eye, I was out in the open in front of one. I felt exposed. Scared.
 
“What’s with that look on your face?” Cassy breaks the silence. I finally meet her eye and the sad expression on her face stops me from any further movement. “Where’s my old Judy?”
 
I finally turn away from her gaze and stare at the floor.
 
“Gone.”
 
As the empty words leave my mouth I hear the footsteps of Cassy closing in. She grips my shoulder hard and makes me look her in the eye once more. Her sad expression was replaced with fury. Her nostrils flaring in anger.
 
“What do you mean gone!? Where the fuck has she gone to? You’ve just buried her deep inside of you not letting her break through.” She yells so loud, my ears were ringing. I stare at her big round eyes trying to understand the meaning behind her words.
 
“Cassandra!” an authoritative voice emerges from behind her and at once the both of us search for the source. I didn’t need to look at the person to know who the voice belonged to.
Senora.
 
“Goodness, you're going to break her arms. Get off her, you insane giant.” Beside the captain stood the one person I didn’t want to meet at all costs.
 
‘Tori.” As her name leaves my dry lips, the said girl turns to me with a smile on her lips.
 
“Hello, Judy. Been a while.” Tori pulls Cassy back and I could feel my arms once more. With the way the girl was gripping it my arm had grown numb.
 
“Are you out of your mind?” Senora scolds Cassy and the girl looks at every other space in the room except the strict captain.
 
“She was spouting nonsense. So I got a tad bit irritated.” Cassy makes excuses and I roll my eyes at her.
 
“What in the world did I ever say that resulted in me almost losing my arms?” I fake being hurt as I rub my hands and at once the other girls turn to glare at Cassy who had her mouth open wide.
 
“Judy!” She hollers and unable to hold back anymore I break out laughing. Soon everyone follows except Cassy who grumbles under her breath.
 
God, How long has it been since I laughed so heartily?
 
“How have you been Judith?” I stop laughing and take a deep breath before turning to Senora.
 
“I’ve seen better days,” I respond and the atmosphere turns tense at once.
 
“Now you see what I was going on about?” Cassy yells pointing at me. “She’s gotten so gloomy that even I’m feeling gloomy!”
 
I laugh dryly at that. True. I was never this gloomy.
What’s happened to me?
 
Ah, that’s right. I’ve lost my legs.
 
Senora takes a seat on one side of the bed while Tori takes the other side. In front of me stood Rekha, Kaera, and my partner, Nora.
 
“Hey, Nora.” There’s not an ounce of happiness in her eyes as she stares at me coldly.
 
“Nora?”
 
“Was I only someone you threw the ball to?” she snaps and at once everyone grows silent.
 
“What?”
“Was I just another girl in the team? Did you not once consider me as your friend?”
 
“Nora I-”
 
“Why was I not allowed to see you? Why did you not once contact me? Am I not your friend?” She continues yelling and I could only stare at her dumbstruck. Nora has never yelled at anyone. Even on court she has never once voiced out aloud.
 
“Do you have any idea how anxiously I’ve been waiting to hear from you? Do you fucking know how many trips I’ve made to the hospital with hopes of seeing you only to be declined visiting? You’re awful
Judy!”
 
My nose flare at once and an unknown source of rage wells up within me. My eyes blur with the fury and I grip the sheets tight, my knuckles turning white.
 
“What was I to do? What the fuck did you want me to do while I was lying hopelessly on the bed?” I scream. Senora and Tori get back on their feet clearly surprised at my outburst. “You think I wanted to stay away from you girls? I wanted to get back to school. Get back to the team. Get back to you girls-” I choke up on my tears sniffling and rubbing my eyes furiously not wanting for the wretched tears to fall out.
 
“I didn’t want to fucking show you my desperate side!”
 
“What's so wrong in being desperate? We all feel desperate at some point in our lives.” Nora yells back and Kaera tries to calm her down. “Doesn’t you being desperate prove you want to keep fighting? That you want to get back to playing? What the
fuck are you doing cutting us all out?”
 
At once the rage dies down. I stare at her with wide eyes. Her face was red with all the screaming and so were her eyes with the unshed tears building up.
 
“I have to side with Nora on this. I’m disappointed in you for not letting us see you all this time. Do you know how hard it’s been on all of us? At moments like this, you should let your friends help you. Not push them away.” Senora says softly touching my shoulder gently.
 
“I’m useless Senora! There’s nothing I can do now.”
 
“You’re not useless Judy. We as your teammates know that more than anyone. We’ve seen you at your best. So let us see you at your worst as well. Let us help you stand back up. That’s the least we can do for what you’ve done to us.”
I stop rubbing my eyes which were surely puffy now and stare at her with a frown.
 
“What do you mean?”
 
Senora’s hand leaves my shoulder and she joins the rest of the girls in front of my bed. They stand in a line just like we used to do when greeting the coach. First, it was Senora, then Kaera, Rekha, Tori, and finally a grinning Cassandra. Nora moves to stand beside me still glaring at me coldly. I’ve no time to throw back a glare since I'm busy frowning at my seniors.
 
“Ohio State University.” Cassy all but yells and the rest of us cover our ears.
 
“Duke University.” Tori follows up.
 
“University of Minnesota.” Rekha grins smugly.
 
“University of Minnesota.” Kaera, our sweet vicecaptain voices.
 
“University of Connecticut.” Senora finishes with a smile wider than any of her smiles before.
 
A moment of silence follows. 
 
“Did you come here with a plan to make me cry?” I mumble softly letting the stubborn tears break through. I wasn’t crying. No, I was grinning wide with all my tooth out on display.
 
“They all got scholarships to universities.” Nora fills me in with a light pat on my back. “Lift your head,
Judy. You made it possible for them.”
 
And once more like the day I had broken down seeing the graduation video, I broke down now, crying aloud as I gripped the sheets, covering my face.
 
“God, did you know she was such a crybaby?” Cassy teased and I throw the pillow at her. Strike! It smashes her on the face and she loses her footing barely standing straight almost falling on her butt.
 
“Shut up!” I snap wanting to blow my nose ever so badly. Instead, I wipe it with the back of my sleeve.
 
“Well, now we know her aim is as perfect as ever.” Cassy laughs holding the pillow in her hands, and her words lighten the burden in my chest.
 
“Thank you.” Senora wasn’t a person who would show her emotions on her face, but right now she had a look of appreciation as she looked at me. “What are you thanking me for? Every one of you played well. You all deserve the scholarships.”
 
“You got us the final basket. And for that, we will always be grateful. Thank you for being a part of the Hawkettes Judy. Thank you for being our Point guard.” Kaera adds with a warm smile.
 
“Let me be honest with you. I am capable of playing a much better point guard than you.” Tori starts and I look at her closely. “But on that day, if it hadn’t been you on court, I don’t know if victory would
have been possible Judy.”
 
I had been ashamed to look at Tori. She gave me her position and I had wanted to stand tall and proud as a point guard until the day she left school. And yet now she was here, seeing me on a hospital bed with no future ahead of me.
 
“Get back on your legs. We’ll be waiting for you Judith Drakeyer.” Senora voices, her tone loud and clear and authoritative. A tone I’ve loved since I first met her on the day of selection.
 
“Of course,” I whisper, feeling overwhelmed at the amount of support I was receiving.
 
The girls all start talking afterward and even Nora begrudgingly joins the conversation. I apologize countlessly until she finally agrees to accept my apology.
 
“Oh, that’s right.” Rekha cuts in. We stop and stare at her wondering what got her to jump all of a sudden. “Coach Harlot is furious with you.” She grins. My insides flip with terror.
 
“Why?”
 
“Well, since you’re not the proud Drakeyer she
knows. Or so she said.”
 
“You better get back on your feet and knock that coach out cold Judy.” Cassy teases with a wink and earns a hard slap from Senora for talking about the coach in such a manner. I chuckle nervously.
 
Coach Harlot has never really approved of me. It’s in the final moment of the game that she really acknowledged me to be a true Hawkette. So why is she disappointed in me now?
 
Was she actually having hopes on me?
 
“I’m sorry but would you mind leaving?” The nurse who I’m pretty sure was the one scolding Cassy earlier appeared with a tray holding syringes and a glass of water and juice. “Ms. Drakeyer needs to get her shots.”
 
I turn to Cassy and sure enough, she was scowling at the nurse. I flick her hand and she shrugs.
 
“We’ll come to visit again.” Senora says as she gets to her feet. The rest follow the captain.
 
“Concentrate on your college now Captain. I ain’t going anywhere.” I didn’t mean for it to sound so forced but naturally, my tone came out in such a way.
 
“I'm looking forward to seeing you back on your feet Judith. That’s my final order as your captain.” She teases and I grin at that liking the sound of it.
 
“I’ll be back soon Judy,” Cassy says hugging me tightly. “I’m just going to tour the college before I move to a college dorm.” I nod at that already wanting to hear how the University of Ohio is like.
 
Tori comes in next throwing her arms around me. “Get well soon. Show us that old spunk of you.” She winks. “Oh and please try calling James,” Tori whispers in my ears. “He’s looking worse than how he did when you rejected him.” Does she love teasing her brother that bad?
 
I chuckle at that and taking it as a response she lets go of me.
 
“I’m coming to visit you every day even if you hate it.” It was more of an order rather than a statement from Nora. She glares at me and I just nod since arguing with the girl would only result in her yelling at me. Something which I never knew she could do.
 
“I’ll bring my brother along the next time. He’s dying to see you.”
 
Right! That little boy.
 
“And don’t you dare say how you’re going to face him. He’s crazy about you and he’d accept every part of you as a player.” She warns before I could even open my mouth to respond to her. Sighing I only nod since I had nothing better to say.
 
Noah if I remember correct. And that brat Greg who’s always with him.
 
I clench my fists underneath the sheets and then let them loose. “Bring them along.”
 
Nora stares at me for a moment, a look of suspicion crossing her face.
 
“What you think I’m going to run away after asking you to bring them along?” I deadpan. Finally, she gives a nod and I sigh at how ridiculous she was being.
 
Where’s my cold classy Nora disappeared to?
 
“Take care, Judith.” Everyone wishes at once and they all leave one by one out the door.
 
The nurse comes closer with the syringe in her hand. Opening a bottle, she inserts the syringe into it, sucking the liquid up. Rolling my sleeves up I wait for the pain of the needle to touch my skin but the knocking on the door stops us both and we stare at the door. I frown confused.
 
Who's that now?
 
“May I enter now?” a soft voice whispers and a brunette head pops in. I choke on my own spit.

“Ava, What the fuck?”