At the clinic, the doctor wrapped up my legs and called my parents. I looked pitiful with heavy bandages wrapped around my legs from mid-thigh to my ankles. I couldn't walk very well, so they gave me a pair of crutches. Jocelyn, Virginia, and I thanked Ryan and Mike for helping out. Ryan and Mike went home in Mike's car, while my friends and I piled into Mom's van. Jewel sat in the middle seat, looking worried. She stared at my bandaged legs.
"Are you okay?" she asked. I gave her a hug.
"Sure I am," I assured, smiling. She smiled a little, but didn't look too convinced. We drove home and Jewel tried as much as she could to help. I couldn't really bend my legs, so walking was difficult. Soon I was laying on the couch, watching tv. I kept remembering the look on Taylor's face. I think he knew what happened....but was he happy about it?
I wouldn't be surprised if he was, I thought. Katrina walking into the room, diet soda in hand. She looked at my legs.
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked, scrunching up her nose.
"I fell..." I answered.
"Figures," she said.
Stupid idiot, I found myself thinking. Instead of answering, I continued to stare at the tv. She sighed and headed towards her room. I decided that I wanted to take a nap, so I changed the channel to one of the soap operas and closed my eyes.
Taylor walked into his house, red faced and sweaty. He went into the kitchen to get something to drink. Isaac was sitting at the kitchen table, eating some leftover pizza.
"Hey Ike," Taylor said, opening the fridge. Ike said something inaudible, his mouth full of pizza. He swallowed and cleared his throat.
"What'd you do?" he asked.
"Played some football at the middle school," Taylor answered, pulling a jug of juice out of the fridge.
"Anything interesting happen?"
"Yeah, sorta,"
"What?"
"I saw Katya...." he said quietly.
"The one that beat you up?" Isaac chuckled.
"Shut up!"
"Okay, okay, geeze. So what about her?" Isaac asked, taking another bite of pizza.
"She fell over, on her bike. One her her friends came over and told us that she was hurt pretty bad. She hurt her legs or something. Ryan and Mike went over to help. I thought it was pretty funny,"
"Taylor! That was mean."
"I'm sorry, but I did. I think I was the one who caused her to fall over. I had yelled really loud and suddenly, she just went skidding across the track," Taylor explained.
"Maybe you should apologize to her," Isaac said.
"What?! She was the one....who...um..."
"Beat you up..."
"Yeah, and she didn't apologize!"
"Maybe she's afraid to," Isaac pointed out, going over to the fridge and getting a soda.
"Yeah right," Taylor said dryly,"I don't think I'll be able to see Katrina anymore,"
"Wait a minute! Katrina? Didn't you used to like Katya?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow. He remembered Taylor talking about Katya's cousin.
"Yeah, but that's not the point..."
"The point is, you used to like Katya. But when her cousin came around, you ditched her and went after Katrina,"
"I did not!"
"Yes you did. It's obvious. Remember, Katya is going ot be here a whole lot longer then Katrina will. Plus, isn't Katrina fifteen? You're only thirteen!"
"You're not helping any Isaac."
"I'm just saying what an idiot you've been. That's probably the reason why she beat you up."
"Nevermind," Taylor said fuming,"Thanks for nothing," and he stomped out of the room.
"He still has a lot to learn," Isaac mumbled, taking another bite out of the pizza.
Meanwhile
Taylor lay on his bed, pouting.
Isaac is wrong, he's wrong! Katya's just jealous of Katrina. Just because Katrina's older, prettier, more talented, nicer then her doesn't mean that she should go and....beat me up. It's just too confusing, Taylor thought.
Taylor thought about how Katrina acted. Sure, she thought about herself more then she thought about others. But she was nice to Taylor. He remembered their first conversation...
"Hi, I'm Katrina," she said, smiling.
"I'm Taylor," he said, sounding a little surprised.
"Do you live around here?" she asked.
"Yeah, down the street,"
"Cool," she smiled that award winning smile,"I'm staying with Katya this week. Sure this place is different from Vermont, but I'm sure I can handle it,"
"You're from Vermont?" Taylor asked. He didn't really care about Vermont, he just wanted to hear Katrina talk.
"Yeah, Rutland. Second biggest city in the state. All of my friends didn't want me to leave, but my daddy said that it would be good for me or something like that," she laughed.
"Yeah...."
"Hey Taylor, can I have your number? Ya know, I might need to talk to someone who knows their way around..." she grinned.
"Sure, do you have piece of paper and a pen?" he asked.
"Sure I do," she said, pulling a small pad of paper and a fuzzy pen out of her little backpack. He wrote down his name and number and handed it back to her.
"Thanks," she smiled sweetly. Taylor felt his heart melt. All thoughts of his past crush dissappeared.
"I gotta go home now, I have to go somewhere later," he said.
"Oh okay. I'll see you later Taylor," Katrina said and turned towards the house. Taylor smiled dreamily and headed home.
Taylor shrugged. Katrina was nice enough, and a little outspoken. Katya was quiet and nice. Taylor suddenly felt incredibly confused. Katya or Katrina, Katya or Katrina, Katya or Katrina? He would have to fidure it all out later, because he was really tired and needed some sleep.
After being cooped up in the house for a whole day with Katrina, I finally got some peace when Mom decided to take her to the mall. I sighed happily as the front door shut and Katrina was gone for the moment. My legs were now incrediby sore and I was incredibly cranky. Jewel had invited Jessica over and they were playing on our ancient Atari. It was older then I was. They were playing their favorite maze game, Cops and Robbers. It was a fun yet simple game. I watched them laugh and giggle as they tried to beat eachother through the difficult maze.
I watched them play for a half hour, got bored and decided to go outside. I grabbed a book, a box of crackers, with some juice, and hobbled outside. I sat on the porch swing and happily began to read Jurassic Park. It was probably my most favorite book in the world. It was funny, scary, gory, and everything else. Michael Chrichton was an amazing author. I was getting to an exciting part when I heard the sound of rollerblades against asphault. I looked up, hoping the person wasn't who I though it was. Luckily, it wasn't. Taylor's little brother Zac came skating down the driveway. He saw me and stopped.
"Hi!" he waved, slowly skating towards the front porch where I was sitting.
"Hey," I answered.
"Ouch. What happened to your legs?" Zac asked.
"Nothing," I said.
"I canem to pick up Jessie," he said, going up to the door and knocking. It opened, Jessica and Jewel stood there.
"Hey Jessie, it's time to go home," he said to his sister, and then smiled at Jewel. I knew that look. Jewel scrunched up her nose for a second, but then said goodbye to Jessica. I watched as Jewel went back inside while Zac and Jessica went down the driveway and dissappeared from view. I grinned. Maybe little Zac had a little crush on my little sister. I laughed and continued to read my book.
An hour later, I was still reading when Mom and Katrina came home. I looked aazed at all of the bags that Katrina was trying to carry. My mom looked tired and nerve-racked. Obviously, all of the bags were Katrina's. As Katrina struggled to get onto the porch without dropping anything, she looked at me.
"You could at least help me!" she said. I knew she was making sure that my mom couldn't hear.
"Sorry, can't," I said, looking back down at my book. She sighed angrily and attempted to open the door. Soon, all of Katrina's bags were inside. I followed and sat on the couch again.
"I'm going to take a nap, I'm exhausted," Mom said, heading upstairs.
"Alright!" I called back. I watched tv for a while longer when Katrina came jogging into the living room.
"I need the tv!" she said, grabbing the remote off of the couch next to me.
"Hey!" I said,"I was watching that."
"Well too bad. My show is on," she retorted, changing the channel. A soap opera was on. I groaned, and left the room to let Katrina watch her stupid show by herself.
A few hours later, before dinner, Katrina came out of her room, wearing a tight shimmering blue dress and blue heels with three inch heels. Her hair was put up in a pretty bun.
"Where are you going?" I asked, while she put on some light colored lipstick.
"I have a date tonight," she stated.
"What?!"
"Don't be so surprised," she said, placing her hands on her hips and stared at me,"It's not difficult for me to get a date, you know,"
"Who is it?" I asked.
"A really nice guy named Steven. He was so sweet when we met. I met him at the mall," she said, smoothing down her hair.
"Okay, um, well, be careful,"
"Whatever," she said. There was a beep of a horn outside.
"Is that him?"
"Yep, bye. See ya later. Don't wait up for us," she said, grabbing her purse and leaving.
"Alright," I sighed,"Don't worry, we won't."