The Nerdy Girl

“Nope, not happening,” Cal replied. He lifted me in his arms. One arm around my back and one beneath my legs. Our teacher raised an eyebrow at him.

“Take her to the nurse. She’ll call the parents. She might need stitches,” Mr. Hill informed Cal looking at my chin. It was like I didn’t exist.

We met Tyson on his last lap. One would think my own brother would stop running when confronted at seeing his sister covered in blood. I was a mess by then. He ran past me and Cal. A girl stopped and opened the heavy, metal gym door so Cal could carry me through it.

“Isn’t Tyson Gardener your brother?” Cal asked. He wasn’t even winded carrying me. I wasn’t a light little thing either. I was lanky but not small.

“He is my twin brother,” I replied.

He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I have five sisters and one brother. I have to admit that those sisters are a pain in my ass, but I wouldn’t just keep running if one of them was hurt.”

I laid my head on Cal’s shoulder. I didn’t think that he minded even though I was now bleeding on him too. What could I say to that?

**

Dad was the one who picked me up at school. Mom couldn’t be reached. He wasn’t happy that he had to leave work but since I was bleeding all over the place and had at least a sprained ankle it couldn’t be helped.

He kept looking at me sideways and shaking his head. The nurse had given me something to hold against my chin. A cloth covered bag of ice that was now red with my blood.

“You’re a mess.”

“Thanks Dad.” I rolled my eyes at him.

My backpack rested on the backseat. I wanted a book in it to hide inside of, where I didn’t feel it necessary to talk to Dad. Where he didn’t feel it necessary to talk to me.

“How did this happen?”

“I stepped on my shoestring,” I replied staring out the passenger window.

“I’m surprised I didn’t see Ty with you,” he said. “Who was that boy?”

I snorted. Apparently, Dad hadn’t gotten the memo that Ty no longer had a sister. At least, he pretended he didn’t have one.

“His name is Cal. He’s in my first period English class, second period History and obviously last period gym class. He carried me to the nurse’s office.”

“Really?” Dad sounded interested and I didn’t know why. He wasn’t getting any other information from me.

“I couldn’t put weight on my ankle,” I explained feeling the heat of embarrassment rise to my cheeks.

All our lives they had tried to keep Ty and I from having too many classes together. They wanted us to have separate identities. Although we looked nothing alike, we were still the Gardener twins. The school always tried to accommodate my parent’s wishes.

“Have any classes with Ty?” Dad asked.

I glanced over at him and nodded.

He sighed at me. I knew what dad was thinking. Getting information out of me was like a criminal interrogation. He had to pry it out of me with a spotlight in my face and/or water torture.

“Well which ones?”

I knew he felt like this was never easy with me. “Gym.”

Dad blinked a few times. He frowned at me. Then he dropped it, for a while he just drove us to the hospital. I really hoped that I didn’t need stitches.

He parked at the entrance to the ER and got out. He came around to my side of the car and opened the door for me. I hopped out of the car holding onto the frame for stability, still unable to bear weight on that foot.

“That isn’t going to work,” Dad told me.

He lifted me with a grunt and a groan. Cal hadn’t made any noises. I looked at him with concern. He smiled at me. “Cal is much younger than me,” he teased me.