Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose (44 page)

"You okay?" Gracie asked as she ran to him.

Shaun let go of the door to rub his forehead. "Uh, yeah, I think so," he said. "The damn thing came loose all of a sudden, whacked me in the head. Am I bleeding?"

Gracie peered at his head. "Not a drop," she said. "I don't even see a red spot; you can't get out of playing football that easy!"

Shaun shut the locker door and then cautiously pulled it open again. It opened without trouble. He tried it again just to be sure. "Got stuck on something, I guess. It'd take more than this to bench me – but did you hear about Andrea?"

"No, what happened?" she asked.

"They hauled her away to the hospital last hour," he told her. "She was acting all confused, said she was dizzy and threw up in class."

"Was that the siren we heard?" Kelly asked.

"Sure was," Shaun said. "Hope she's all right; she had us all pretty worried."

"Me too; that sounds pretty serious," Gracie said. "I'll call her tomorrow to see how she is."

"Give us a good game!" Kelly said, offering a raised fist which Shaun duly bumped.

It sprinkled on Gracie and Kelly during the drive out of town, but stopped just before they arrived at the 'enemy' stadium. They paid their way in and followed the signs to the visitors' section. Kelly carried a blanket and Gracie had a big umbrella so they felt they'd be comfortable enough even if it did start raining again. They found a group of their friends and settled down – as much as teenagers settle at a football game. There was a constant dance of kids getting up, going to get food or just moving to sit with someone else; and of course everyone seemed to think they had to stand to cheer their team on when the situation was tense.

The whole gang was there, with the exception of Serene and Tanya who were on the field with the cheer team. They – and everyone on their side of the stands – had a lot to cheer about too, as the football team played a great game against their long-standing rival. Every time Jake took off running all of his girlfriends were on their feet screaming his name and exhorting him to "Go!" Gracie noticed that many of the girls seemed to be there together and reflected that it must be difficult vying for the attention of the same guy. The girls were friends, but it must hurt when Jake took one of them out and the rest were left home alone.

Gracie cheered right along with them although she was only interested in the collective efforts of the team. Amy seemed particularly full of school pride, jumping up ready to cheer before a play even started and doing a little victory dance when the team did well. At times she'd run down the steps to stand at the rail so she could hopefully see a bit better. Just after half-time the clouds drizzled a little rain on the stadium; Gracie and Kelly shared the blanket and umbrella with those next to them and for awhile everyone huddled in little isolated islands while the game went on.

The rain stopped, though Kelly remarked that the clouds must still be there because he couldn't see any stars. The fourth quarter was particularly tense as the opposing team made a concerted effort and gained two touchdowns, tying the score. But their team rallied and Jake ran 70 yards for the winning TD. The spectators were ecstatic, alternating cheering with hugging anyone in sight.

Kelly leaned close to yell in Gracie's ear. "We should get outta here now, while everyone's still hanging around. It's a 30-minute drive back to our school and the wind's picking up, it might rain again before we get there."

Gracie looked at him like he was crazy, then apparently realized he was right. "Just let me ask if anyone needs a ride back."

She squeezed through the crowd of her friends, checking on their return plans and giving them all another hug for good measure. Everyone had a way home so she waved happily at them as she and Kelly headed toward the parking lot. Like coming back from lunch a few minutes early, leaving the crowded stadium while most everyone else was still celebrating (or not, as the case may be) was a great idea; there was little traffic to contend with in either the parking lot or on the road home.

Kelly was right about the rain, though. About halfway home the skies poured on them and Kelly slowed down to accommodate the conditions. "Just what we needed!" he said.

"I hope no one has any trouble," Gracie said. "At least this highway's pretty straight. I'd hate to be riding with Madison tonight though, her driving scares me."

Kelly stretched his right hand out to take her left and squeeze it. "I'll be careful. I wouldn't want to hurt you."

She squeezed back, brought his hand to her mouth and gave it a quick kiss. "I don't want you to get hurt, either."

He returned the hand to the steering wheel for safety's sake. "Just think – we'll get back to school ahead of everyone else, so you can have first dibs on the food."

Gracie's face turned serious. "Seems funny that just a week ago everyone wanted to skip the school-sponsored party and go to Mrs. Lane's house."

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "And now she's dead and I bet there won't be any more private parties the rest of the year. And we still don't know how it happened!"

"I think
someone
had to be there when it happened," she mused. "But I don't know if we'll
ever
know for sure."

They drove out from under the rain a block from their high school, parked, and slogged through the puddles into the building. They were indeed the first people to arrive, although of course the staff had already heard they'd won the game. Other students began arriving and the party got noisy quickly. They had a lot of celebrating to do and everyone was impatiently awaiting the arrival of the football team so they could tell them just how proud of them they all were.

Gracie had almost gotten to the bottom of her second piled-high plate when she noticed a commotion nearby. Jennifer had her cell phone pressed to her ear, a look of intense concentration on her face, and she was frantically signaling those near her to be quiet so she could hear. Everyone in the gym seemed to realize at once that there was a problem and a hush fell over the room; even the canned music seemed to get quieter.

Jennifer nodded and told the phone, "I'll let everyone know." She pulled it away from her face and flipped it closed from force of habit. Only then did she look around to see all eyes on her. "That was Amy," she said in a weak voice, a look of horror stealing over her face. "Meaghan's had a wreck. The ambulance is taking her to the hospital."

Chapter 38

"Did she say anything else?" Gracie asked.

Jennifer wrung her hands and looked up with tears in her big blue eyes. "I think she said Meaghan was unconscious, but I'm not sure. Can't you drive any faster, Kelly?"

Kelly glanced over his shoulder at his passenger and said, "I don't want to have a wreck too, Jennifer." He realized immediately that his words were a mistake. "I'm sorry, I didn't really mean it like that."

Gracie turned around in the front seat as best she could with her seatbelt on and took one of Jennifer's hands in hers. "It'll be okay. The EMTs are taking care of her and they'll take her straight to the Emergency Room; we probably won't even be able to see her tonight."

Jennifer snuffled and wiped at her tears with the back of her free hand. "I'm just so worried about her."

"I know; I am too," Gracie tried to soothe her. "But we don't know how bad she's hurt; maybe she just got knocked out. We just have to wait 'til we get to the hospital."

Jennifer examined her face in the rear-view mirror as they drove under a streetlamp. "I look like crap," she stated. She paused a moment and said, "What kind of friend am I? Worried about how I look when Meaghan might be dying."

Gracie wanted to reassure Jennifer – and herself – that Meaghan wasn't dying, but the fact was that none of them knew that. "We're all upset. You won't be the only one crying, so don't worry about that. Unfortunately I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to fix your makeup while we're waiting to hear something."

Jennifer gave her an angry look. "I can't worry about makeup at a time like this!"

Gracie sighed inwardly and let her face relax into a calm smile; it reminded her of her mother, who often did that very thing. "You'll feel better if you look better," she said.

"Maybe," Jennifer allowed. "But I want to know how Meaghan is first."

"We're here," Kelly announced as he turned into the hospital parking lot. "I'll drop you two off at the ER and go park farther out. The spaces close to the door are for people who really need them."

As Gracie and Jennifer got out they saw a steady line of cars behind them. It looked like half the high school was gonna be there. Shawna pulled up to let Cheryl out as Kelly drove off.

"Looks like we'll have a big crowd," Cheryl said. "Why don't you go in and see what you can find out, and ask the nurse if there's a big waiting room. We don't all need to hang out in ER."

"That's a great idea," Jennifer said.

"You gonna wait here and handle crowd control?" Gracie asked, trying to make it sound a little funny to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I figure we can help Meaghan best by staying out of the way and letting the doctors take care of her."

Gracie nodded and started after Jennifer through the over-sized revolving door, silently cursing its slow movement. Behind her she heard Cheryl's voice saying "Hi Elyzabeth. We're all gonna wait out here for a few minutes.
Josh
! Don't go in yet."

Gracie and Jennifer walked up to the desk and waited for the nurse there to hang up the phone. "Has Meaghan Pruitt been brought in yet? She'd be in an ambulance."

The nurse looked suspiciously at the two young women standing there; they looked nothing alike. "Are you relatives?" she asked crisply.

"Yes, she's our sister," Jennifer said decisively. She intended to let a tear trickle down her cheek for effect, but her emotions got the better of her and she began sobbing.

"No!" Gracie said. She gave the nurse her most honest smile. "She's our friend. She's been in a car wreck and they're supposed to be bringing her here." She reached out to pat Jennifer on the back.

The nurse raised one eyebrow at the two opposite stories. "I'm sorry, girls. I can't tell you anything; it's those privacy laws you know. You'll have to wait until her parents get here."

Jennifer nodded and started to turn away but Gracie took her arm to stop her. "I understand the rules," Gracie told the nurse. "But there's a bunch of her friends on the way here and it's gonna get real crowded and noisy real quick. We
don't
want to get in your way, but we're all worried about our friend. Can you at least point us to somewhere we can all wait?"

The nurse looked beyond the girls to see the growing crowd outside the ER doors. She was tempted to alert Security, but the darker-headed girl's request was reasonable and she could see their concern. It wouldn't be good PR for the hospital to turn these young people away, and she could tell someone to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't get too loud and rambunctious. "There's a room on the 2nd floor you can use, it's the one with the tables and vending machines. You'll have to keep the noise level down, but I'll let everyone know as they come in and I'll tell her folks you're there when they arrive."

"Oh, my God! Has anyone called her
parents
?" Jennifer wailed.

"Thank you very much," Gracie said. "If you'll give me directions there's a girl outside who can direct everyone. Jennifer, why don't you go on up and we'll be there in a minute."

Jennifer headed for the elevators and Gracie went back outside. There were a lot of kids out there now, huddled under sheltering overhang of the building, but not saying a lot. She heard more than a few sniffles and sobs. They all looked at her as she walked out. At that moment they heard a siren in the distance and as one turned to watch its approach. Kelly took her hand in his.

The ambulance screamed into the parking lot with its lights strobing, stopping at the Emergency Room door; the ambulance door was flung open from the inside and medical personnel ran out of the hospital to take charge. Meaghan's friends were too far away to see anything but the rounded shape of a body on the gurney as it was pushed inside. No one said a word.

A car pulled up and Amy jumped out of it, leaving it running with the door open. "I followed the ambulance in; I don't know if she's still alive." She looked shaken to the core.

Brittney stepped out of the throng and threw her arms around Amy. "It's all right," she said, though tears were running down her own face.

"Take her inside, Brittney," Kelly directed. "I'll take care of her car and be right back." He got in the car and drove slowly away while Brittney and Gracie gently urged Amy inside the building.

"Listen up!" Cheryl yelled. "We're going to the 2nd floor. Remember this is a hospital! We need to be on our best behavior; no running, pushing, shoving, or yelling. I'll stay here to let anyone else know where we are." In a quieter voice she remarked, "Jeez, I feel like a kindergarten teacher or something."

Students started going through the revolving door two or three at a time. It was a mark of their shock that Cheryl's admonitions hadn't been necessary; no one felt like running or yelling.

"It's chilly out here, Cheryl," Josh told her. "I've got a heavier coat, I'll stay and give directions if you want."

"Thanks, Josh." Cheryl patted his arm and took her place in line, thinking it would be easier for him out here than dealing with the emotions upstairs.

Gracie and Brittney walked Amy through the ER waiting room to the elevator and up to the 2nd floor; Jennifer had propped the door open with a chair in anticipation of the large number of friends who'd be coming in. They sat Amy down at the first table they came to then sat down themselves on either side of her. Jennifer was moving around the room picking up trash and straightening chairs.

"Jennifer, get some water for Amy, please," Gracie said. "I think she's in shock. Maybe something with a little sugar would help; are there any cookies or candy bars?"

Amy just sat where they'd put her, staring straight ahead. Gracie noted that she wasn't crying, but then she herself hadn't felt like she'd had time for this tragedy to soak in and move her to tears. Brittney was holding Amy's hand and saying things like "It'll be okay" and "Just relax", talking to her almost as if Amy were a child. Gracie tried to help take Amy's coat off, but Amy made no move to help and Gracie had to do all the work. She vaguely registered the sounds of a vending machine spitting out a selection and a minute later Jennifer walked up with a bottle of water and a package of Oreo's. Amy looked at them like she didn't know what they were.

While Brittney continued to say meaningless soothing things Gracie opened the bottle and put Amy's hand around it. "Take a drink, Amy. It's just water, it'll make you feel better."

Amy obeyed like a robot and seemed to come to her senses a little with the first drink. She took several more while Gracie opened the package of cookies and pushed them across to Brittney who let go of Amy's hand and put a cookie into it. Amy ate the cookie and took another drink to wash it down.

"Thanks," Amy said, and picked up another cookie.

Their friends had been coming in, quietly staking out tables and buying drinks and snacks. It gave them something to do with their hands. They talked softly amongst themselves, impressed with the need not to disrupt hospital patients or staff and frightened at even being there. Most of them had dealt with the death of someone they knew but it had been a grandparent or auntie, not someone their own age. Though they had no idea how badly Meaghan was injured, they all feared the worst. And none of them knew how to handle their fear.

Kelly came in last and closed the door behind him. He walked up to the table where Amy was sitting and dropped two purses in the middle of the table; his attitude said he was glad to be rid of them. "I found both of these in your car, Amy. I guess one is Meaghan's?"

Amy seemed to have recovered somewhat; she reached out to take her purse and drop it on the floor beside her chair. "Uh, yeah. The paramedics were gonna leave it in her car so I took it with me. Thanks for bringing them in."

"Amy," Jennifer began hesitantly. "Did, uh, did the paramedics call Meaghan's parents?"

Amy looked confused for a second, then grabbed at the other purse and began digging through it. "I didn't even think about that!" she said, agitated now. "They just asked me what her first name was, so they could talk to her. But she was unconscious….I think. Anyway, she didn't say anything. I called you while they were getting her into the ambulance, but it never occurred to me that I should call her folks." She'd found Meaghan's cell phone and was poking at its unfamiliar buttons.

Brittney tried to take the phone from Amy saying, "Here, let me do that."

Amy pulled the phone away from Brittney. "
I'll
do it! It's all my fault, I should be the one to tell them what I did." She pushed another button, frowned and muttered, "Damn it, that's not the right one."

Kelly, standing behind her, reached over her shoulder and took the phone before she realized what happened. As she turned around in the chair to see what had happened he made a big show of pushing the phone into his jeans pocket. "I don't know about the rest of you, but that is one phone call
I
don't want to make. Brittney, why don't you take Meaghan's wallet down to the nurse in the Emergency Room.
She
can call Meaghan's parents, she's probably had to do that before and she'll know better what to say."

Brittney nodded and began looking through Meaghan's purse. "They'll need her drivers' license for identification, and she might have an insurance card in there too." She found the wallet and stood up. She hesitated a moment and then said, "This is
so
scary." Then she straightened her shoulders and walked out.

Kelly sat down in the chair Brittney had vacated and everyone stared at each other for a minute, no on knowing quite what to say. Finally Gracie spoke quietly. "What did you mean, Amy? When you said it was all your fault."

Amy broke down in tears, sobbing loudly. "It
is
my fault," she said, sniffling. "I hit her car and pushed her off the road!"

"Amy, you didn't do it on purpose," Jennifer said.