The Big Five

36. No Problem

I waited for him to tell me.

"I'm still waiting for your answer."

Right. I completely forgot about that. I exhaled and turned around to face him properly.

"We're doing this now?" I said. Before he could reply, I answered. "Look, Joey...we still have senior year and well, I'm not sure I'm looking for a relationship right now. That's the whole reason I was able to come so far without giving in to five gorgeous guys."

He smiled at that and I continued. "I just...maybe if you still feel the same way in college, I'll give you a chance. Right now, I just want to concentrate into getting into a good college. You know how much I stress over it. I still don't know where I want to go or what exactly I want to be when I grow up."

Joey still smiled. "I figured as much," he sighed. "But I will wait, okay? Maybe I'll get over you, but until then, I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best."

I nodded proudly and exited the room. Joey was mature compared to before. At least he was direct now instead of doing silly acts to send a message.

I waited outside until he came out and then we drove to the school. I could hear cheering as soon as I got out of the car.

"Come on, Joe!" I said, excited to watch the game for once. We ran into the school and to the football field. It was packed with people and I barely spotted Maggie.

She waved and we made it over to where she was. She grinned when she saw us and shouted when we scored a point.

I glued my eyes on the field and tried to look for Alex. I couldn't tell where he was until Maggie pointed him out.

"He's number five!" She yelled over the cheer of the crowd. I could now see him.

"Let's go, Alex!" I yelled. I doubted he could hear me, but he gave a thumbs up to the crowd and ran with the ball.

"Woo-hoo!" Maggie cheered. "We are so going to win this game! Let's go, Lions!"

I laughed and cheered along. The game was going great and we were winning 20 to 17.

Time was almost up. Alex had the ball and he was attempting to score one last time.

The crowd cheered as he got closer to scoring another point. I sat at the edge of my seat.

Come on. Come on.

Almost there.

Another player from the other team tackled him to the ground. Alex landed on the ground with the heavy player on top of him. The ball bounced away and time was up.

At first, the crowd cheered. We had won the game. The player got off Alex, but Alex remained on the ground.

"What's going on?" I asked Maggie. "Why isn't Alex getting up?"

"I don't know," Maggie answered. The crowd quieted down when the players ran towards Alex. The referee blew a whistle and scattered the players. He crouched down next to Alex and touched his legs.

He then looked to the sidelines and waved someone over. A man with and med kit ran over and checked on Alex.

"Is he okay?" I asked panicking.

"I don't know."

Joey was standing now. He was looking over at his friend and yelling at him to check if he was all right.

The crowd began to murmur and Alex was carried off in a stretcher. I saw Sophie run from the crowd to follow them.

"So..." I said. "Do we go see him?"

With a nod, we all got up and walked through the bleachers. As soon as we were able to enter the school building, we ran to the main entrance. We arrived just in time to see an ambulance leave.

"Hey, guys!" I turned to see Emma panting behind us. She caught up with us and took a breath.

"Emma. Come on, we need to see if Alex is okay."

We all got into Joey's car and he drove off quickly.

"Slow down, Joey!" Maggie yelled.

"We need to get to the hospital!" He replied.

"Relax. Alex was just injured. He's not going to die!" I tried to comfort him.

He drove fast anyway and we arrived at the hospital within minutes. We ran in and Maggie asked where Alex was. She directed us to the third floor.

"Come on!" I said. We took the elevator and entered a room with several beds. The smell of medicine and ethanol hit me as I walked through the room.

I saw several people lying on the beds and finally saw Alex on one of them. Sophie was already there.

"Sophie?" Maggie said. When she turned around, she quickly wiped off her tears.

"Guys?" Sophie said. "What..."

"How's Alex?" Joey asked.

"He's fine," I could hear the relief in her voice. "He just has a broken leg. They're going to take an x-ray to see how bad it is."

Having nothing else to say, Joey walked over to the side of the bed. Sophie got up to let him sit.

"Alex?" Joey said.

Alex let out a laugh. "Talk about a grand finale."

I smiled. He would be all right.

I saw Sophie and Maggie walk out. I guess they needed a talk.

I looked at Joey and Alex. Then at Emma. She caught my eye and nodded. We left the room and sat on the waiting chairs outside.

"Hey, Em?" I said. She looked at me and I saw how tired she looked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you...meet the guy who...?"

"Yeah."

She seemed detached and I wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it. I didn't have to say anything.

"He...he was only a boy," she whispered.

My eyes widened, but I didn't know how to respond.

"A...a boy?" I gulped.

"Barely eighteen," Emma continued. "He looked so guilty and...I..."

I couldn't even fathom how Emma must have felt. It was so unexpected and just when she met someone she could blame, she just met a broken kid.

"I...I can't blame him. He was just so...he looked so innocent and..."

"It's okay," I said. "You don't have to say. I'm so sorry."

She nodded. "It's fine. I'm fine. My grandma would have wanted me to forgive him. She was always so religious."

I laughed. "I can imagine. Funny how she was also so scientific."

Emma laughed too. "Yeah. You remember how she would tell us Bible stories and tell us how science worked in each one. She was so amazing."

"She was awesome," I agreed. "She definitely wasn't a crazy grandma, but she was awesome."

Emma leaned on my shoulder. "I miss her so much, Nic. I don't know how I'm going to live without her."

I smiled. Time for a comforting cheesy quote from the quote master.

"Live with the pain," I said. "It makes you stronger. You may not heal completely, but you will be a stronger person."

Emma giggled. "Thanks."

"No problem."

No problem. I wish.