Dispute not with her: she is lunatic.
-William Shakespeare, Richard III
"JC"! Voices echoed in my ears and faces appearing in and out of my sight. "JC snap out of it"! But all I could do was just stare. In shock no thoughts at all, just in shock. Did this really just happen? Did Cameron just try to kill me? But why? What did I do or deserve for him to try to kill me? He had to be on drugs or something. Maybe he hit his head from trying to hit me with that car because he in front of me thrashing around, foaming at the mouth. They could hardly hold him down. It took two people just to hold him down on the ground. "What's he saying"?! One of them yelled. "I'm pretty sure no one would make it"? One of them replied. "What does he mean by that"? The other answered. "Out alive"? They both said. It was the same thing I said in my head. Did he mean me and Oliver or anyone else he was after on this field wasn't gonna make it out alive.
What finally pulled me out of my shock was my grandfather calling my name and shaking me hard. "Jc"! He yelled. "Come on boy"! He yelled at me. "Jc"! "Pops"? I said finally coming to my senses. He sighed in relief and hugged me. Everyone was sort of crowded around us on the field. With looks of worry and pity. Even for Oliver who was getting hugged from his own dad. The only ones who weren't staring at us like that were Jorge,Noah,and the twins who had somehow made their way over to me. They seemed more angry than they seemed worried or pitying. Still even though I had come to everything was still going in slow motion. "Why are the ems here"? I asked. I stared up at the ems guys who started running vitals on my unpacking gauze and packing something. My grandad didn't answer when I asked what they were doing. He just stared down at something in shock. His mouth opening and closing.
"You think you can stand up". I was confused as to why they were asking me this. "Yeah why wouldn't I be able to"? I asked. "Maybe it's not that bad". One ems guy said to the other. "We
Re gonna try to stand you up". The guy said. But as soon as they tried to stand up my right leg gave out and I fell back down. They both had concerned looks on their faces and shook their heads. "I think it's worse than we thought". One of them said,
"Whats wrong with my leg"? I asked looking down at my legs. Gauze was all over my right leg it was soaked with blood and the ems sighed with worry and began removing the gauze. They paused for a moment and I couldn't read their expressions at all. They looked worried, almost scared at what they were looking at. "What's wrong"? I asked. "Th-Thats". One of the ems guys started stuttering and pointing down at my leg. "More gauze"! The other ems guy said, trying to snap him out of it. "But-but-".
"That's my bone". I said, staring at my leg. "Why is there suddenly bone"? The ems said freaking out which almost made me start freaking out too if it wasn't for the calmness for the other ems guy. "There was too much blood and debris that's why". "We didn't notice the bone at first but after we cleaned it up with the gauze we were able to see it calm down Andrew". "What a way to start my first day". Andrew said. "Well if you want to switch with Deborah you can the other guys much easier". "The other guy"? I asked.
looking over at Oliver who was getting taken care of by another set of ems people. I had almost forgot he was there due to all the chaos going on. His dad was freaking out more than Oliver who just sat there calmly answering the ems's questions. "This is a career ender". My uncle yelled. "Sir please calm down if anything the boy over there saved your son's leg from being a career ender"! The ems yelled. I didn't know what human muscle looked like even with taking biology but I found out today what it looked like. I was staring at Oliver's tendons,muscles, things I didn't know the name of and all through it Oliver was just as calm as ever. Up until what the ems said. "Wait what"? Oliver asked. He looked over to where I was sitting at and a guilty and sad expression came over his face.
He didn't let his eyes off of me even when he got up and put on the stretcher he kept looking back and staring at. "I don't feel anything". I said to the EMS. "You probably aren't gonna feel anything until tomorrow". He said. "His bone's exposed, he probably isn't gonna feel anything for a while". "Blunt trauma to the leg with an open fracture". One of the ems guys said on the radio. "I'm not gonna be able to play football anymore am I". There was a silence from the ems guys that confirmed what I thought. Not that I cared. I only played football because it made my dad and mom happy. "We'll see son". My grandad answered. I shook my head no and stared at my leg. "No, I think I'm done". I said.
When the ems said I was gonna be out of it he was telling the truth. I was hooked up to so much pain medicine that I just slept most of the time I was in the hospital. By some chance me and Oliver were in the room. We both had chop force injuries on our legs. From what we were told from the doctors I got the butt of the swing from Cameron. The axe went down through my leg and bone and stopped at Olivers. Cameron then proceeded to pull the axe pit and raise it up to try and swing it again. Thank God he was tackled before he could do anymore damage or take our lives. Which was what Cameron was aiming for in the first place.
Both me and Oliver wasn't doing much talking. Heck I couldn't do any talking I was sleep most of the time but when I was awake Oliver would talk to me about random stuff and ask me random questions and I would answer them with a slurred speech from being doped up on pain medicine.
"You don't like rap"? He asked. "Nah I don't really have a genre of songs I listen to I just listen to anything". I answered. Oliver nodded and this silence came over him. He sat there looking at both of our legs and sighed. I wanted to sigh too but my throat was too dry and talking only made it worse so I stayed quiet most of the time Oliver was talking. We had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and eventually they took me off of the high dosage of pain medicine and put me on milder ones.
"This is my fault". Oliver said suddenly. "Why do you mean"? I asked. "Cameron always wanted to be running back". "Always asking me to put in a word with the coach". "You don't have control over that". I interrupted. "I told him that but when you came he thought I was lying. Thought I had put a word in because you were my cousin and started to distance himself from me". Oliver shook his head, still staring at his leg.
"I'm the one that got us hurt, I probably could've said something to the coach". "No you couldn't have". I said, staring at him. "If it wasn't running back that caused him to have a downward spiral it would've been something else". "Normal people don't rationalize not getting running back by choosing to kill their teammates, that's not normal". Oliver threw his head back seemingly thinking about the situation.
"Nothing is ever normal in this town". Oliver mumbled. "I would bet it isn't normal to have a star quarterback in a town called Waterville either". I joked. Oliver finally cracked a chuckle making me chuckle also. "Sorry for being rude to you man". Oliver said. "Apology accepted, sorry for calling you stuck up". "You called me stuck up"?
Me and Oliver didn't get out of the hospital after that conversation until a day later. With Oliver seemingly moving into grandpa's house with the way he was over our grandparents house all the time. We didn't go back to school until a week later from the injuries and any mental health problems it could've caused us. I was still on crutches of course and eventually I would have to go to physical therapy. "You two aren't gonna be able to play for a while". My grandma said placing pancakes on our plates. I looked down at my bad leg and sighed knowing I'll probably never play football or any other sport for that matter again.
"I prepared for that". Oliver said. "It'll be a good break so I can focus more on student council work". 'Who's been doing student council work while you've been focusing on football"? My grandpa asked. "Uhh". Oliver wiped his mouth nervously. "Uhh the vice president". "All year round"? My grandpa raised an eyebrow. "Yes but pa i make sure my body is in shape for the next season". He protested. "So really the student body council vice president is the president"? My grandpa roared.
"Didn't Noah apply to be the student body president?" I said staring at Oliver". He had this guilty look on his face and avoided my eyes. "I uh about that it wouldn't make sense for both her and Kateri to be on the student body, one is vice president, one is president". He argued. "But isn't your friend on student body also in fact they replaced Kateri". I said. My grandpa crossed his arms and stared at Oliver waiting for an explanation for this. I was pretty sure Oliver was gonna come up with some lame excuse as to why he kicked Kateri off the student body and won over Noah of all people. "So cough it up". Pa said.
"Dad had a talk with the principal he thought that since I was quarterback I might as well be student body president as well. It was only natural since he and uncle Jackson were on student body so I should be as well". My grandpa sighed. "And Kateri"? My grandpa asked. "Kateri was trying to take over my position"! "Your position? You don't have a position you didn't win student body president out of your own work"!
"Kateri was the one doing all the work for you. Your position is really that clumsy girl's position". "Take your position how? By doing the work that you're supposed to be doing"?! My grandpa walked off with a huff. My grandma chasing after him to calm him down. There was silence between me and Oliver. Mostly because I was busy eating my breakfast. But Oliver had this guilty expression on his face and kept glancing over at me while taking bites from his plate. I honestly didn't care all that much, it was none of my business about what happened before I came here. That was between him, Noah, and Kateri. Besides, it seemed like they had already taken their revenge on Oliver.
"Stop staring at me, I don't care". I finally said. "It happened way before I came so It doesn't concern me that up with pa and them". Oliver nodded, seeming to hear me out. Because as soon as I finished talking he got up and went to where pa and grandma went. It was silent for a couple of minutes. The pa's voice started to raise and Oliver's seemed to tremble a little when he talked.
It was silent again and Oliver came out of the room looking flushed. "You ready to go"? He asked. I looked down at my unfinished pancakes and back up at Oliver who seemed like he wasn't in the mood for something that was his fault. "Yeah". I said looking back at my unfinished pancakes. I grabbed a piece of bacon before rushing(But really slowly because of my crutches) out behind Oliver who was grumbling away. He sounded like Pa sometimes with the things that he said and did. Oliver's car was fixed so he was the one taking us to and from school now. I couldn't drive because my car was total because of Cameron…and my leg was messed up…also because of Cameron.
"I wonder if this limp is gonna be permanent". Oliver groaned getting into the car. "It's just from the cut you're fine". Some of the things Oliver said made me think he was dumb. But when watching him he would just speed through his math homework like it was a fourth graders homework. He was just slow but not slow at the same time. A smart jock I would call him. "You gone be alright to get around on your own"? I looked down at my leg that still had pains here and there and nodded. "I should be able to". I answered. "What about your medicine"? Oliver asked like he was my dad or something. "Yeah I got it". "Remember you have to take it before lunch".
"I know Oliver". I groaned. "You do realize you're only one year older than me right"? OLiver chuckled. "Yeah but you're still the baby cousin". I shook my head, sighing. This felt good. When it was just me and my parents I would oftentimes find myself being lonely due to being home alone by myself. We had no other family members around us. So I was alone with my parents who didn't have time for. Though they were good parents there was little to no warmth in our households. The warmth that was there was shared between my mother and father who seemed to love each other more than me. No matter how much my mother told me otherwise. So this was new…this was exciting and I never felt more comfortable. When we arrived at school what I thought ended with Cameron proved otherwise.
Stares were upon me and Oliver as we went through the hallway and when we were met by our friends really my friends they looked scared and worried. "Hey guys first day back seems we are stars". I cracked a joke. "Did you not hear"? Jorge said. "Hear what"? I answered. "Cameron-". Jorge hesitated and leaned closer to me and Oliver. "He escaped last night no one can find him".