Leah Archer was just 12 years old when she hit her head on a rock and fell into a coma, one that doctors weren't sure she'd ever come back from. But when she wakes up four years later, she faces the struggle of recovery and fights to regain any hint...
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3 years later
"Here you go," Karla says as she hands me my iced tea and sits back down in the plastic seat next to meet. I can barely hear her over the chatter of everyone around us, the crowd a flowing sea of blue and gold.
I cheer with everyone else as the offensive team takes the field, my eyes instantly latching onto the number 12 on the back of Noah's white jersey. UCLA has been treating him well.
The last two years of high school were all kind of a blur in my memory, but I couldn't have been happier with where we ended up.
Shortly after I woke up – for the second time – Noah was contacted by the UCLA football coach who wanted to offer him a scholarship to play for him down south. He'd be able to continue his education while playing the sport he loved, and it was a no-brainer choice.
But the first year he was gone was hard; I was still at home finishing up my senior year, but with my brother and Noah both off at college – Caleb had agreed to play with the University of Arizona – I felt alone and discouraged. Even though I still had Bree and Sage and my friends, I wasn't quite happy.
Everything turned up when I was reunited with Mrs. Rose Lewis, the woman I talked to in the hospital over a year before. I had been showing some of my paintings at a local art competition, which was the last place I expected to see her.
She was impressed by my work; like, really impressed. She told me about an opportunity she had; she was on the board at an art school in LA, and she wanted me to apply for the next year. When I told her how I wouldn't technically be graduating because I was so behind, she told me to apply anyway and send her an email when she did.
It's crazy how meeting someone in a hospital changed my whole life; Mrs. Rose was able to make me a deal; if I worked on getting my GED while taking some a few art and general classes, I could attend the school and work towards getting an art degree. It may take me more than four years, but I could continue painting and drawing as I worked. It was literally a dream come true. And the best part?
I was just fifteen minutes away from Noah.
Which made it especially easy to attend football games like this one. I still didn't really know what was going on, but over the years I've really grown to appreciate football pants.
Karla was my best friend from art school. She was from a small town somewhere in the Midwest, and the two of us were roommates our freshmen year and just clicked. Bree was at school in New York, but when she came to visit she got along with Karla just as well as I did.
The two of us cheered on the Bruins to victory and I waited for Noah in the lobby of the stadium. Karla said goodbye as she left to drive to her apartment, while I waited for Noah to take me to ours.
I was distracted, inspecting a trophy case, when I felt a pair of arms snake around my waist, a smile taking over my face. "Hey," I said, tilting my face back to look at Noah's. "Great game."
