Patrick had said he knew somebody who could get us to the hospital quickly, and all I wanted was my wrist to stop hurting, so I went along with it.
He helped me limp-run through the school until we found Josh and Tyler.
"Josh! Josh, I need you to transform," Patrick said once we got close to them.
"What?" Josh asked. "I'm not Pete; I can't transform anytime I'd like."
"Just do something to transform!" Patrick nearly yelled at Josh. Josh was about to protest again when Tyler poured his water down Josh's pants.
"Ah! What was that for?!" Josh screamed at Tyler. "Auuuhhhh, it's so cold!"
Just at that moment, a small group of cheerleaders walked by and laughed at Josh, 'cause it looked like he wet himself. He blushed and ran for the door. We saw a poof of smoke from the window and they helped me walk outside.
When we got out there a zebra-Josh was sitting on the ground like a dog.
"I hate you all," Josh said.
"Stand up so you can take us to the hospital," Patrick said.
"Alright," Josh said, standing up. "Tyler, stay here and finish school."
"No way," Tyler said. "I'm coming with you guys."
"Well, I can't carry all of you," Josh said as Patrick helped me mount him.
"You can at least try," Patrick said, climbing on behind me.
"I can barely carry both of you," Josh replied. "And carrying Tyler with us will only slow me down."
"Don't be such a wuss, Josh," I chuckled.
"I am not a wuss. It is a fact that having Tyler's weight along with yours and Patrick's will slow me down," Josh defended. "Do you want to get to the hospital or not?"
"Fine, I'll run," Tyler said, taking off. "I'll meet you guys there!"
"Ride like the wind, Josh!" Patrick yelled. Josh sighed and took off galloping.
"Did you guys remember to get my clothes?" Josh asked slowing down a little.
"No, but keep going!" Patrick said. Josh sighed again and continued galloping. Thankfully, the hospital wasn't too far away, so we got there within a few minutes.
I started to wonder how strange we looked; two teenage boys riding a zebra through town to get to the hospital.
"Hey guys? Could you, like, go inside now," Josh said. "I'm about to transform back and I don't have any clothes, so..."
"Sorry," Patrick said, jumping off. "Thanks got giving us a ride." He helped me down.
"No problem," Josh said, walking away. "Gotta go." He ran into the woods, conveniently next to the hospital.
Patrick and I walked (or in my case, limped) into the hospital and to the receptionist's desk.
"Hi, uhm, my brother here, we think, has a broken wrist," Patrick said to the lady. She eyed us oddly.
"You two are brothers?" she said, pointing at us.
"Adopted," Patrick said. "He's been here before. George Ryan Walker."
I flinched at the sound of my first name. I was named after my dad, who was named after his dad. But since Pete and Jon had adopted me, I was now 'legally' George Ryan Walker instead of George Ryan Ross III.
"Alright, George Ryan Walker, right here," she said, typing on her keyboard. "And what is the problem, today, George?"
"Ryan. Call me Ryan, please," I quickly corrected her. "I got into a fight and I think broke my wrist."
"A fight you say?" she said, looking up at me.
"Yes. These guys at my school were calling me names and I was just trying to defend myself and then they beat me," I explained. "Now if you could just get me to a doctor because my wrist is hurting me so much I feel like I want to die, alright?"
"Alright. The doctor will be with you in a moment," she said. "Please take a seat in our waiting area."
Patrick and I took seats and waited.
I looked at my crooked wrist and winced in pain.
"Yeah, you might want to hold it up like you're giving the Pledge of Allegiance," Patrick told me.
I held my hand up and put my other hand to my heart.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America," I said. Patrick lightly hit my shoulder and chuckled.
"George Walker?" a nurse called.
"Ryan," I corrected as Patrick and I stood up and walked with her.
"Sorry," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "So Ryan, what happened to you?"
"Well I got into a fist fight and broke my wrist," I explained simply. "And maybe sprained my ankle." I limped down the hall, trying to keep up.
"Oh, really?" she asked, stopping by a door and opening it. "How did that happen?"
"These dicks that go to my school think it's ok to mess with someone because of their sexuality," I said as she closed the door after Patrick had walked in.
"S-So you're gay?" she asked, picking up a clip board. "I mean, I don't have a problem with it or anything."
"No, no. I-I'm straight," I lied.
"Alright," she said. "Well Ryan, take a seat on the bed and tell me all your major injuries." She sat down in a chair.
"Well, first of all, I think I've broken my wrist," I said, and sat on the bed with Patrick's help. "Well, I didn't break it; a stupid kid named Brent stepped on it."
She scribbled on the clip board and nodded for me to go on.
"I sprained my ankle, I believe. And I also have a few bruises and the inside of my mouth is bleeding a lot."
"Wow, uhm. Ok then," she stood up. "There's a trash can and a sink if you need them. I'll be right back with some pain medication." She walked out of the room.
"I think she was flirting with you," Patrick said.
"Really?" I asked. "I didn't see that."
"Are you kidding me?" Patrick asked. "The whole tucking hair behind ear, actually calling you Ryan. Just the way she was looking at you screamed flirting."
"Well, now's not exactly a good time for flirting." I held my wrist up and winced again. "I hope she gets here soon with that pain medicine."
"Yeah, me too," Patrick said. "Hey, uh, why did you tell her you were straight earlier?"
"Uh... I don't know," I said. "I guess it's just kind of an automatic thing."
"Well, she said she doesn't have a problem with—" Patrick was interrupted by the nurse walking back in.
There were awkward 'hello's and she gave me a shot of medicine in my butt. I don't really remember much after that. I vaguely remember seeing a doctor and getting an x-ray and I remember getting my cast on.
The nurse had come back in with the stuff for the cast, telling me that before she could do that, she had to straighten out my wrist.
"How bad is it going to hurt?" I asked as she carefully took my arm in her hands and sat down in front of me.
"Well it all depends on how well the medicine works," she said, looking at my wrist.
"Oh. Well alright," I said. She snapped my wrist straight and I screamed in pain.
"Oh, sorry," she said. "Guess the medicine hasn't kicked in all the way yet."
I chuckled a humorless laugh. "Ya think?"
"I'm sorry, Ryan," she said, getting the stuff for the cast ready. "Just hold still and take deep breaths."
I nodded lightly and closed my eyes. Everything was kind of fuzzy until she told me I could open my eyes.
"I think the medicine's kicking in now," I said, blinking a few times slowly.
"Now, the only color we have left is hot pink. Are you alright with that?" she said, holding the color-cover-thing.
"Uhm. Yeah, that's fine," I said, not really caring anymore.
"Alright," she said, wrapping the color-cover-thing on my arm cast. She lightly patted my arm, making me wince.
"Now you're going to want to hold your arm up like you're giving the Pledge of Allegiance," she told me. I glanced at Patrick and he glanced at me. I held my hand up and started to say the Pledge of Allegiance again. The nurse laughed and stood up.
"Well it looks like you two are ready to go," she said. Patrick and I stood up, too.
"What was your name again?" Patrick asked as she held the door open for us.
"Ashley," she smiled. We started walking with her to the exit.
"Now take these papers," she said when we got to the front desk. Ashley handed Patrick a stack of papers and said, "These will have instructions for taking care of your cast and other things." She looked at me. "Just call the number at the bottom of the page--" she pointed on the first piece of paper where a series of numbers written in pen was placed "—if you have any questions or concerns."
"Alright, thank you," Patrick said and helped my walk out of the hospital. "I told you she was flirting with you," he said once we were outside. I gave him a quizzical look and he continued.
"I'm pretty sure she wrote her cell phone number on the paper," he clarified.
I was pretty much extremely high at that point, so I didn't say anything.
Tyler came running down the street at that point, breathing heavily and carrying a bundle of clothes.
"Hey, hey guys!" Tyler panted as he ran up to us. "Thanks for waiting up!" He saw my cast as he slowed down and stood and panted. "I see you... you already got... your cast..." He held up the clothes in his hand. "I got Josh's clothes. Where is he?"
"I don't know," Patrick said. "We haven't seen him since--"
"Hey guys?" Josh called from the woods. He was standing behind a tree. "I'm over here. Could you toss me my clothes?"
"Yeah, sure," Tyler said, walking over closer to the tree before tossing the wad of clothes. Josh caught the clothes with one hand and disappeared behind the tree.
"So how are you guys gonna get home?" Tyler asked once he had caught his breath. "Because Josh isn't going to give you another free ride."
"Darn right I'm not," Josh said, walking out of the woods fully clothed. "Tyler, you forgot my shoes."
"Sorry," Tyler said as a purple minivan pulled up to the hospital. "I think they're back there." He pointed down the street where there was a single shoe.
"Nah, that's not mine," Josh said.
The window of the minivan rolled down and Brendon's head popped out.
"Sup, bitches?" he said.
"Brendon!" his mom exclaimed from inside the car. "Don't use that kind of language!"
"But it's the guys and you use that word all the time!" Brendon defended.
"I do not!" she protested. "Stop being such a whiny bitch!" She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean that."
"It's alright, Mom," Brendon laughed. He turned back to us. "Get in the car, loser. We're going shopping."
Patrick laughed and asked, "Is that always how you always ask people to get in a car with you?"
"Pretty much," Brendon replied. "Now get in."
"Us too?" Tyler asked as Patrick helped me into the car.
"Mom?" Brendon asked.
"Of course," she said. Josh and Tyler climbed on and she asked, "What are your names?"
"He's Josh and I'm Tyler," Tyler said. "Thanks for giving us a ride."
"No problem, boys," she said. She saw my elevated hand and asked if I had a question.
"No, ma'am," I said. "I'm just elevating my wrist."
"Oh, alright," she said. "Is everyone buckled up?"
We all answered 'yes' and she took off.
"Uhm, Brendon?" Brendon's mom said, coming close to the woods. "Where did you say your friends lived again?"
"Oh, right up here is fine," Brendon said, pointing to the spot of the woods where the path started.
"But that's just the woods," she said, slowing down.
"Yeah, they live right across from that spot."
Brendon's mom looked across the street from the path. "But I thought that was Emily's house."
"Uh, not anymore," he said. "She moved."
"And her mom didn't tell me?" she asked, staring at the steering wheel as if it was Emily's mom. "That's why she hasn't called me back. She is never invited to book club again." She snapped out of whatever she was in and asked, "Are you boys sure this is ok?"
"Yeah, this is fine," Patrick said before opening the door. "Thanks for the lift."
Patrick helped me out of the car and Josh and Tyler followed. We could hear Brendon asking his mom if he could stay with us from outside and that's about when I blacked out and stopped remembering things.
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sorry there wasn't a chapter for the last few days :( but the reason it took so long was because this chapter is so long. we'll try to have the Christmas special up by/on Christmas day
picture to the right is Josh in his zebra form