Trade Mistakes

10

"I'm fine." I told the paramedic when I came to in the ambulance. Truth be told, I knew I definitely wasn't fine, but I sure as hell wasn't going to the hospital. "I don't want to go to the hospital."

"You got hit by a car, you need to go in and get checked out."

I tried sitting up but I was way too dizzy. "Why'd I get hit by a car? Wait... no, that's- that's stupid. I don't- I don't want to go to the hospital."

Darkness was fogging up the edges of my vision and I felt like I was going to pass out again, but I refused to pass out without seeing any of my brothers. "I want- I want my brothers. They don't even know I'm goin' to the hospital, and they don't even care."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"I don't want to go to the hospital!" I snapped, but the ambulance was already there. I was on a gurney? When did that happen? I could see people in the hospital passing by. Or was I passing by? "Where's my brothers?"

"They're being alerted that you're here." A nurse assured me.

And with that, I blacked out.

.

When I woke up again, my left arm was sore and so was the entire right half of my face.

"Soda?" I mumbled, sitting up.

"Hey, Lizzie," Soda smiled tiredly. "You feel okay?"

"No... my arm hurts. And so's my face." I gingerly touched the right side of my face and winced. "What... what happened?"

"You were hit by a car."

"Ow. Of course." I sighed, then looked around. "Hey, where's Darry and Pony?"

"Darry's checking you out of here, and Pony went to tell him you're waking up."

I looked down and realized my arm was in a cast. "I broke my arm?"

"Yeah, two breaks in two different spots."

"Damn."

.

When we got in the car, I was informed that I'd broken my arm, had twelve stitches on one side of my face, bad road-rash on the other side, and had a mild concussion.

"How'd you even get hit, anyway?" Pony asked.

"Oh, Curly stood me up and I was crying and I didn't realize where I was goin'."

"What?" Everyone shouted at the same time, and I realized what I'd said.

"Is it too late to rephrase my answer?" I asked weakly.

"Nope, too late. We're gonna kill that little-" Soda went on to cuss Curly out under his breath.

"I regret opening my mouth at all," I grumbled.

"You shouldn't. He did a shitty thing and it ended up with you in the hospital." Darry said pointedly.

"Yeah, but if I'd been watching where I was going, then none of this woulda happened." I argued.

"How about you stop trying to pin everything on yourself?" Soda asked. "This discussion is over."

"When did you turn into Darry?" Pony grinned as we pulled into the driveway.

"Since Lizzie became self-deprecating and sad."

I tried to smile, but it pulled on my stitches and it hurt too bad. We went inside and found Johnny, Steve, and Dally watching TV.

"Hi, Lizzie," they chorused.

"Hey." I greeted.

They didn't ask many questions, and no one said anything about Curly. Soda and Pony were drawing on my cast and I was internally complaining that school was starting in two weeks and I would have to use my right hand to write, and I wouldn't have any friends. There was Pony and Johnny, of course, but they were older than me and I'm different classes.

Thinking about it made my head hurt. I stared out the window and saw the mailman walking away.

I stood up and got the mail, flipping through the letters that we had gotten. There was one addressed to the four of us from grandma.

I walked slowly back inside, reading the letter carefully. The last line made me worry.

'Give your mother and father my best wishes, and tell them to write me.'

I checked the date on the letter and seeing it was written a few weeks ago. She should have known- mom and dad had been dead for months. She was at the funeral, too. I decided just to ask about it later.