are you doing here?” I asked as he came up the bleachers.
“Hey, ladies. Kate’s the one who wanted to come. I thought I’d join her and check them out.” He made a sound in his throat and I knew he didn’t mean their skills. Girls clad in tight, sparkly clothes were everywhere, a guy’s dream.
“Alicia’s in drill. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” I eyed him suspiciously and he shrugged.
“I’m sure she’s really good at it.” Jibby would never have admitted to knowing if Alicia was there or not, but I knew better. “Can I sit down? I think Kate is going to sit over there with her other friends.”
Looking over to where Jibby nodded, I could see that, sure enough, Kate was sitting down with a gaggle of girls, already comfortable and looking like she’d been there for a while.
“Where’s Chad?”
“Work. Lucky dog,” Jibby muttered. “So, Krissa, you still dating that guy long-distance? What’s his name? Ryan?”
Krissa turned a light shade of red before curtly answering, “No, we broke up.” It was still a sore topic.
Looking at Jibby as covertly as I could, I mouthed that I’d tell him about Krissa and Ryan later and focused my attention as the announcer’s voice boomed out overhead, welcoming everyone to the day’s performance. Suddenly the school’s drill team appeared from behind a doorway and made their way to the middle of the gym floor. The crowd erupted into loud cheers, and by the looks Jibby and I were giving one another we both knew that for the next hour we wouldn’t be having any kind of conversation. Krissa ignored us both and was transfixed on the performers.
As time went on and the drill team performed to a few techno songs, Alicia, whom was in the center row of girls, caught my eye. Her smile was bigger than I’d ever seen her smile before, and after a minute or so I was sold on the idea that the massive amount of lipstick she was wearing had everything to do with it. In fact, even from where we sat I could tell all the girls around her were wearing gobs of make-up. Nevertheless, Alicia looked happy. Jibby looked so, too. He seemed engrossed in all the moves of the drill team, but then I saw where his eyes were directed and wondered if it was really Alicia he was into. They seemed to follow her everywhere and he wore a funny little smile on his face. I grinned as I speculated what excuse he would have used about being there had his cousin Kate not wanted to go to the performance that day.
Toward the end of their last set, the gym lights turned off and the crowd went wild when members of the drill team switched on regular flashlights and began another routine. Rays of white light flooded the darkness and Krissa excitedly grabbed my arm as the light rays began making patterns reflected around the gym. Halfway through, though, someone either dropped a flashlight or missed a catch, I couldn’t tell which, and the performance came to an abrupt halt followed by a few loud yells and a bit of commotion. In seconds, the lights were turned back on and I looked to where the drill team had been performing. A crowd began to form around someone, and when I stood up and strained to see more, I gasped when the crowd split for a second and I recognized a red-lipped Alicia sprawled out on the floor, hugging her right ankle. Tears were streaming down her face, smearing her make-up something awful. Jumping up from beside me, Jibby pushed his way down the bleachers, through the crowd, and right up to Alicia. Kneeling down he looked intently at Alicia’s ankle and asked her questions concerning her ankle and the pain she was in. Never being one to take action when someone else was hurt, I knew I’d just be in the way if I went down there. Krissa held onto my arm tightly and we both watched as more school personnel gathered around Alicia.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Krissa asked. “Maybe we should try to get down there.”
“I don’t know if we can with this mob.” I looked around as dozens of people still crowded the bleachers trying to get down to the main floor.
“Let’s at least try,” Krissa suggested.
Stepping down the bleachers from my seat and with Krissa right behind me, I prepared myself to push through the throngs of people at the bottom of the bleachers. Before we got very far, the announcer was asking everyone to leave the gym quietly and calmly to ensure no one else was hurt and so that paramedics could swiftly come in once they arrived. Slowly we made our way on the floor toward Alicia, but were caught up in a large amount of people heading toward the exit. Try as we might, we found that we couldn’t do anything but exit with them.
Once out of the gym, Krissa pulled me over to the far side of the commons near the counseling offices. “Let’s wait here for Jibby to see what’s up,” she insisted. “He might be able to stay with her until the paramedics come.”
Screams of sirens soon pierced the air, and it wasn’t long until we saw an ambulance pull up and paramedics run into the gym with heavy red bags slung over their shoulders; one of them carrying a long orange plastic-looking board I assumed was a stretcher. About ten minutes later, Jibby came strolling out. He scanned the commons and saw Krissa frantically waving and yelling for him to come over.
“What happened?” we demanded in unison once he reached us where we stood by the wall.
“Someone dropped a flashlight, or didn’t catch it, and Alicia slipped on the damn thing and broke her ankle. They’re taking her to the hospital now to get it set. I’m sure someone on the team has tried calling her parents, but maybe you should, too.”
“Shit, you’re right. I’ll call them,” I said, looking around and remembering there was a pay phone around the corner, near the attendance office.
Sprinting to where I knew the phone was, I dug through my purse until I found the right amount of change to put in. Suddenly remembering that her dad was out of town and her mom was working at their jewelry store, I grabbed the phone book and began frantically flipping through it to find the number to the store. When Ashlyn finally picked up, I launched right into the story of how Alicia had been injured and was on her way to the hospital. Krissa and Jibby had joined me by then, waiting patiently beside the payphone as I finished giving Alicia’s mom the details.
“We’ll go from here to the hospital and keep her company until you get there,” I offered. Ashlyn thanked me and said she would be jumping in the car right away.
Hanging up, I turned to Krissa and Jibby. After discussing who didn’t have a car and who had ridden to the performance with whom, it was decided that I would drive us to the hospital. Leading the way with my friends slightly behind me, I listened as Krissa asked Jibby what he was doing out on the floor with Alicia.
“I was assessing the situation. I’m an EMT.”
Hearing Jibby, I had to swallow a gasp at his news. He had never shared this with me and I never would have pegged him for an EMT. The guy was full of surprises. With that in mind, I knew I had to get him alone at the hospital to ask what was up with him and Alicia.
Leafing through magazines and sitting patiently in the waiting room at the hospital while Alicia was having a cast put on her leg, we all looked up when Ashlyn arrived shortly after and hurriedly rushed past us and went in to see her daughter.
“Well, at least it wasn’t both of her feet and she can still drive with her left, unless she has a stick, of course,” Krissa commented.
“It’s an auto, but I don’t think that will make much of a difference with Alicia. She’ll be upset if she’s out the rest of the season for drill.” I reached
