Penalties

A New Friend Arrives - Chapter Thirteen

I sat in the hospital waiting room, still in my pajamas and my hair probably looked like I had been living with Wolves. I nervously picked off my neon orange nail polish that reminded me of a sunset over glittering over the ocean. It was 10:00 and half of my soccer team was buzzing about what happened to Alex. None of us could determine what happened to him, it all went by in a blur.

I was sitting next to Mark, who tapping his foot to the beat of the music that was blaring out of his headphones.

"Mark." I whispered and tapped his arm nervously.

"Yes..." He said, reluctantly taking off his headphones, giving me his undivided attention.

"What do you think happened to Alex?" I asked, still keeping my voice low to avoid the gazes of my team.

"To be honest Taylor, I don't know. Most people don't know about the tree house, so I don't know how someone would have reached him up there. " He said, looking me in the eyes, which frightened me because I don't think I had ever fully appreciated the beauty of his eyes. Or maybe I have. I don't know anymore.

"Parents and family of Alex Rosen may see him now. " The nurse said emerging from Alex's hospital room. My whole team got up, but were shot down by the nurse. "Family only. Sorry guys." the Nurse said. All of us groaned at the lady, but she only shrugged in dismay.

We all sat in the waiting room for another hour. I tapped my foot to the beat of the heart monitors.

"Bum, bum, bum. Bum, bum, bum."

"Taylor please! could you not?" Mason hissed from across the room. I silently turned my attention to him and his eyes widened. I could tell by his facial expression that he knew I was upset and not in the best mood.

"Sorry." he mumbled, and turned his head back to the comic book he was reading on his tablet. We were all pretty stressed out right now because we may or may not ever get one of our best players back.

"Soccer team of Alex Rosen, c'mon." the nurse said, clearly agitated with such a large group of children. We all walked in a single file line into the room. This was the second time I had visited someone in the hospital this month, and I didn't want to get used to this either.

"Hey Taylor, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Emily said, pulling my arm just as I entered the room. I nodded and reluctantly shuffled out of the room.

"Do you remember Andrew?" Emily asked staring at her toes, and I nodded. Andrew was this tall athletic boy who had hair about my color and crystal green eyes. He was Emily and I's major crush in second grade, until he moved to California to play soccer on a junior Olympic team. We hadn't seen him in years, and it was strange that Emily had brought him up, now of all times.

"Yes, but why do you mention him in a time like this." I asked, wanting to see my friend who was waiting for us in his hospital room.

"Well, Jason, on our club team, he came over to my house the other week, and he told me that Andrew, well he's coming back!" Emily shouted, but quieted her voice on the last phrase. I stood for a good 20 seconds until my head came back to reality.

"He's what!?" I asked, clearly astonished by what had just came out of my best friends mouth.

"His flight come's in on Wednesday, so we will be in school, but we're planning to all come to my house when he gets here." She said. Everything was coming so fast. Andrew, who I hadn't seen in ages, and don't know if I still had feelings for, was coming back from across the country this week. Emily was talking to Jason again, (long story involving a lot of fights between them,) and Alex was still in the hospital, and Mark In a boot. And most importantly, the Miami tournament was 2 weeks away.