My mother woke me in the morning or breakfast. My hand hurt like hell but I grit my teeth and didn’t say a word about it. I tried to stay awake but failed horribly. Before I knew it the holidays were over and I was getting dressed for school. The cast had been taken off and replaced by a tighter sponge cast that I could take off to clean the cuts. The doctor had looked at the wounds and had decided to leave the stitches in another couple of days.
I drove myself to school, music down low. I was met by a couple of seniors in the parking lot. They chatted around me and took my bag to carry it to class. I had half a dozen people around me. I shook my head and looked for Tommy who was off to one s
The light was rather bright. I heard people talk about ripped stitches and wounds and blood loss but I couldn’t put them all together. “She has a fresh needle mark in the centre of her right arm. Test for drugs, she was here previously for a drug over dose.” I heard people call out.People were talking and yelling around and above me, talking things that sounded like gibberish. After a while I felt that I was on the move again and taken to a quieter place. The doctor stood in my room, talking to someone as if he was giving them a
My father picked me up from the hospital. We drove in silence to the house. He tried talking to me but I was not in the mood to speak to him. He took my overnight bag and dropped it in my house before he said“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” “Yeah. Thanks dad. I think I’ll be going to take a nap.” I replied with certainty.
School was finally over. It was the first day I successfully avoided Miss Preston and Miss Sheldon. I walked through the crowded hallways to my car, listening to the just completed Biology lesson. I was walking past Mr Berk’s class when I heard a slight commotion in the room. I stopped in the door and watched him teach.“Andy? What are you doing here?” he asked carefully.“Are you giving extra maths lessons sir?” I asked him carefully.
I got into a solid routine the next week. Wake up an hour early, do any homework I had neglected the previous day, shower, go to school, home and then work. On the next week I went back to the hospital on Wednesday to take the cast of. The wounds had healed nicely, leaving only thin pink scars. The doctor complimented me and told me to take care before he left me to sign out and go home. It was so much easier to work without the cast. I did my job and got out of there as fast as I could. I was tired but still had some homework to do.My mother&rsqu
Mr Stevens caught up to me at the car. I ignored him, unlocked the car, dumped my bag in the bag seat and got in. He got in on the other side.“What are you doing?” I asked him furiously.“Pretend I’m not here. Drive.” He said and faced front.I shook my head at him and did just that. I drove. But instead of turning right at the school gates I turned left and headed for
The amount of cars in the driveway told me in how much trouble I was in but none more than the glares from my father when I pulled up. “Where were you?” he yelled when I opened my door.He took a look at my clothes and said in a soft whisper“You went out there again?”
I went to school with a heavy heart the next morning. I attended my lessons but kept my head down, not saying a word, didn’t even react when I got my tests back, English was an A minus, maths a B, chemistry a B plus and biology a B plus. it was massive improvement from the Fs I used to get but it wasn’t that exciting to me. My teachers seemed to realise that when I just took the paper and turned it upside down. I went back to my old seat upstairs during break, keeping to myself. I was listening to my music again, hoping to improve my mood. I stood up and stared over the banisters, looking at the people walking below.
I went straight to the bar after school. I walked in and found Frankie sitting alone in the empty bar.“You look like hell. You are early. You looking for a drink?” he asked with a smile.I rubbed over my eyes tiredly and nodded. He handed me a shot of tequila.“Want to talk about it?” he asked carefully.
We left the clinic early that evening, feeling elated. I was nearly drunk from the excitement. I walked into the house with a grin.“I assume things went well?” my father asked as soon as he saw me.“Dad, the song is almost perfect. Now, Geraldine said she is going to organise some kind of show, get the publics’ feelings then we are going to record it and send it to the sponsors, see if we can get piece of the action.’ I said excitedly.My mother came in and asked
The exams did not go too badly. But I have to say, my focus wasn’t solely on the exams, it was with the show that we were putting on. Geraldine was right about the orchestra. The conductor was a relatively young man, mid-thirties slightly balding, but he had a lanky frame. He was very kind and patient man, showing an obvious interest in what we were doing.I had met him in the reception area to have a chat while the orchestra went to set up in the room. He introduced himself as Roy Brown and we hit it right off from the start.
Geraldine and Brandy were waiting for me at the clinic. I greeted them and started taking everything out of the car. They were more than willing to help me get everything, including the six-pack of beer, into the music room. When I had everything connected and settled I gave them an expectant look and said“Thank you for your assistance, you may go now.” Brandy gave me a confused look and said“Surely you don’t expect us to eave you here? It would be more interesting to see how you wor
Time flew by that week. I had three places where I could be. At the clinic with Brandy or Joanie, who took turns to give me the exercises, at school writing my exams, or at home studying. By the weekend I was desperate to go out, just relax with someone who wasn’t involved with either the band, my studying or my health. The only option I had was either a drink or another tattoo, but I didn’t have the money for either. It was frustrating for me. When I was in that kind of mood in my own house I’d just lock the doors and hide my car in the garage, pretend I wasn’t home. The unfortunate thing about my current
Lara dropped me off at home at midday. I refused to go home with Carol and Gwen. Lara went in with me, spoke to my parents, and explained what had happened and then she left. My father allowed me two hours of sleep before waking me up to study again.I drove myself to school on Monday morning to sit through the two and a half-hour physics exam. It wasn’t too bad and I thought I had done really well. After school, I drove to the clinic for some exercise and spend some time in the pool. My back was starting to feel really good and I thought of dropping the physio but Brandy emphasising another two weeks. Things were not as awk
We had four acoustic guitars and we were ready to use them. Juan usually played the bass guitar but he was more than capable of playing the acoustic. Tom used his drum sticks to tap the beat out on the edge of the truck.“Ready?” I asked them and just started playing random chords. “Hang in there Andy! What are you playing?” Claude asked confused, trying to watch my fingers.“Nothing mate.” I laughed at him.
Turned out, my old boss did not mind at all. We set up outside the bar and made music. Geraldine’s band laughed at us the first ten minutes, until we got the cops called on us. Lucky for us, Tom had a friend in the department, so instead of locking us up, they closed a couple of streets, turning the road in front of the bar into one massive street party.It was nearing eight pm when I ran out of ideas and called for requests. The craziest thing happened when people called for things like 500 Miles and Thunder from Imagine Dragons. We tried to play the songs, as best we could.
I slowly walked through the hall, ignoring the calls from Joanie. Brandy was very quiet. I pushed into the music room. The band stopped playing immediately and stared at me as I limped inside.“You lot are out of tune, off-beat and are making a mess out of a damned good song.” I commented drily.“Well, that is why we need your input, are you ready for it?” Geraldine Jones stood up from her chair and walked towards me.
The alarm went off at six-thirty the next morning. I almost jumped out of bed and got my things together. I had my shower then went to the kitchen to join my parents for breakfast.“You’re up early.” My father commented over his cup of coffee.“Yeah, I want to get an early start. Doc said she’ll be there at seven-thirty so that I can get in before the first patient.” I replied with a smile.