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favoritebean_writes) wrote2022-06-14 01:08 am
Stuck on Crutches- contains some profanity and adult issues
When I was sixteen, I was hit by a car on the way home from school. The driver was an off-duty cop, and he crossed over double yellow lines to pass a bus, taking me out in the process. I was sent to the hospital via ambulance, and eventually discharged with a heavily sprained ankle, scrapes, bruises, and enough emotional and mental baggage to follow my days. I don’t remember if I lost consciousness. I don’t think I did.
After I was discharged, I went to my orchestra apprenticeship as if nothing happened. I hobbled on crutches and finished out the day. The police officer paid for the immediate medical bills, and his car, a Karmann Ghia, was no worse the wear for what happened. Eventually, a highly visible crosswalk would be installed at the corner where I was hit. Better late than never, right?
The story doesn’t end here. The next day, I went to school, but news of my altercation had spread before I hopped through the doors on crutches.
I managed to catch a ride to school with my dad on that drizzly Thursday morning. I couldn’t get the hang of the crutches, but I was grateful that at least they were new. The hospital issued fresh metal crutches, which was far better than the second-hand wooden ones I’d been forced to use last time I sprained my ankle. These were padded, and I hoped that my torso wouldn’t blister from the weeklong relationship.
As I hopped over the threshold, Henry rushed over to me. “Jules! What on Earth happened to you?”
“I got hit by a car,” I shrugged. “Typical Wednesday activity, you know.”
“Oh Jules, don’t joke about that kind of stuff.” Henry gave me a gentle hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. I gotta stop at the office to get an elevator pass. Wanna come with?” I asked with a small smile. I adored Henry’s company, and he could always cheer me up with some musical antics. I was sure Henry would be on Broadway before we both turned 30.
“I’ll walk you there, but then I’ve gotta get to class.” At the office door, Henry held the door open for me, winked, and was gone in a flash.
The office clerk glanced at me, rolled her eyes, and jotted something down on a pad of paper. After tearing off the top sheet, she extended the note to me. “I can see you need an elevator pass. You’ll need to get another one on Monday.”
I took the slip of paper, and the clerk turned her attention to the computer screen.
A teacher opened the office door to come inside, saw me, and held the door for me so that I could make my way out. Already, I was tired.
“Crutches are exhausting,” I thought to myself, “It’s not even 7:20 yet.”
I made my way down the hall toward the elevator. I had about ten minutes to get to first period class. Unfortunately, I was late, because it was twelve minutes before the elevator, an old freight elevator that required a key, arrived. The custodian surveyed me and frowned.
“Good luck, kid,” was all he said, when I got off on the third floor. Going to the 4th floor for orchestra was going to be a major chore at this rate.
As I made my way into first period class, choir, the director looked at me with narrow eyes. About two seconds later, he pantomimed an expression of shock.
“Well, Julie, you’re never late. I’m guessing you had some sort of tussle,” the director quipped. He winked.
“I was hit by a car,” I said. I felt weary. I could already tell that this was going to be a very long day.
“Yeah, you shouldn’t do that. Don’t worry, you can still sing, right? We haven’t started rehearsal yet.”
I made my way to the risers where the rest of the choir waited. My classmates watched with worried expressions and awe. A junior gave me a thumbs up, as if I’d passed some sort of test to become the next champion of Survivor. The rest of class went smoothly. Because I moved slowly on crutches, I was released a few minutes early, so I could make it to my second period class on the other side of the school.
Second and third period classes went fairly smoothly. I did have to endure questions from teachers about how I ended up on crutches, but that seemed par for the course. People were curious, and I had nothing to hide. I almost felt like it was a badge of courage. Definitely nothing to be ashamed of.
When it was time for 4th period lunch, I decided that I would just stay in the cafeteria, so I could just make my way to the 5th floor for orchestra. It took fifteen minutes to get from the third floor to the fourth, which was about fourteen minutes, forty-five seconds too long. I ate my lunch, chatted with my friend, Devin, and when Devin left, I read my book.
“What happened to you, girlie?” Sasha asked, sidling up to the lunch table. “Did Prince Devin save you? Are you two a ship now? Devin could clean up as a prince, you know.”
Devin looked down. “Rude, Sasha!” I shouted. “Don’t misgender Devin, you know she’s a girl, and she did nothing to you, leave it.”
“Fine, fine,” Sasha shrugged. “I’m not wrong about the look though.”
“Piss off! Oh, and it’s none of your damned business what happened. Go bother someone else!” I slammed my water bottle down on the table.
Sasha sauntered over to another table. Sasha was not known as a bully, but for some reason, he really zeroed in on Devin, and would not leave her alone.
“Sorry,” Devin said quietly.
“For what?” I asked. “You’re not the asshole.” I sighed. “I hope he leaves you alone.”
“Yeah,” Devin said. “I’m gonna go downstairs for the rest of lunch. I need to finish up my trig homework.”
“See ya,” I said. I had homework that was due, but I didn’t feel like working on it. Instead, I pulled out a novel I had been reading, and settled in for ten minutes. After, I decided that I was just going hop up the stairs and not bother with the elevator.
It took about two minutes of stair hopping to reach the orchestra loft. I had five minutes to spare.
The conductor looked at me, surveyed my crutches, then asked. “You can still play, right?”
I nodded. Fifth period was spent working on Schubert and Bach.
My sixth period class was on the second floor, so I had to leave class early. The conductor had a special key though, so he was able to summon the elevator right away. It arrived in thirty seconds, and I was on my way. As a result, I wasn’t late for class. Unfortunately, the teacher was, so we all had to wait in the hall.
“Ugh, what happened to you?” Jason asked with a sneer.
“I heard that Julie was hit by a bus,” Robert replied.
“What?” I gasped, “no! I was hit in front of a bus.”
“Wait, I heard that Julie was shot,” Kevin said nonchalantly, “and that’s why she’s on crutches.”
“Who told you that?” Rebecca asked, turning toward Kevin.
“Actually, I heard that too,” Evan said excitedly. “Gang related.” Evan turned to me. “Is it true? You were shot, right? No joke? Did it hurt?”
“Uh noooooooo? Who the hell told you that?” I asked.
“Justin,” Evan said. “Sasha said Justin was there.”
“Ugh, Sasha and Justin are lying liars that lie,” bellowed Jake, who sauntered up to the clustered group of students. “I was on the bus. It was a Karmann Ghia, an old Volkswagen.”
Students whispered in excitement. Jake was the school drug dealer, so a rush of whispers always followed him.
“It’s true,” Beth piped up. “I was there. I was the Karmann Ghia.”
I rolled my eyes. “What even is this day?” I muttered to myself, “I should have stayed home.”
Jake turned to face me, “Thanks to you, I was late for work! My manager was pissed.”
“Sorry? It’s not my fault the stupid car hit me,” I said.
“I don’t fucking care! I was late, and you were part of the problem!” Jake yelled.
“I didn’t know dealers needed day jobs,” I whispered under my breath. Jake was close enough to hear me. Clearly.
“Go to hell, Julie!” Jake glared.
“Sorry I’m late, class!” Mr. Edwards breezed past us to the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll get all of you caught up by the end of the day.”
Mr. Edwards opened the door, and we were quickly ushered into the classroom.
The remainder of the school day went along without gossip or drama, but I wasn’t looking forward to spending more days than necessary on crutches, nor as the center of such a scandal.
By Monday, I’d ditched the crutches, and once the crutches were gone, so was any speculation that anything had happened. Days later, we had an assembly where Montel Williams came to speak. His message was about keeping away from drugs.
During the assembly, Jake was called from the audience to come on stage, and we watched with fascination as a Student Resource Officer demonstrated how drug searches were done on students. Jake had a few blotters of LSD hidden under his right sock, but while Williams and the officer said, “Normally, we would ask the suspect to remove their socks after we had searched their shoes, but obviously, we’re not going to do that. Young man, you’re an upstanding kid. Thank you for volunteering for us today.”
Sasha transferred to another school during the semester, and Devin finally found peace. Lunch period became quiet. Henry moved to Pennsylvania. I still wonder if he made it to Broadway. The other students? I have no idea what happened to them, but I do know that they did get the last word in before I graduated. In a “Most likely to,” featurette hosted annually for graduating seniors, I was listed as most likely to develop superpowers, and host a television show. Alas, I did neither, but I’m happy not being the center of school gossip.
Author note: Based on actual events. Names and some details were changed as a courtesy. Except for Montel "Mountain! Get OUT OF MY WAY!" Williams, who remains a legend among my former classmates.
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