Song of a Sophomore

CHAPTER 23 - You're All I Need

Coach Roberts' grimacing face hovers inches above mine. The roars of the crowd are replaced with a defeaning silence which buzzes in my ears like an insect beating its wings. The sting of a hundreds of pairs of eyes focused on me sprawled on the middle of the basketball court  penetrate my skin with searing heat.

"Give her some air," Roberts holds back a distraught Katelyn and Bernie with her outstretched arms.

"We're so sorry!" Bethany clutches her cheeks and paces around me.

"Someone, get a stretcher." Coach claps and it the angry sound rattles inside my aching head. "We don't want to take any chances."

"Please, no. I can get up." My body tells me otherwise. A throbbing ankle and pounding head bring tears to my eyes but I hold them back. 

Roberts, still kneeling, waives off a tall, trim man I assume is the athletic trainer who comes at us carrying a stretcher. She helps me into a sitting position. "Can you walk?"

"Umm..." I hesitate. "My ankle hurts."

One look at at my left foot and she is shaking her head in disappointment. "It's swelling up,"

"We need to get some ice on it." The athletic trainer frowns and point to a room across the gym.

"Let's carry her out." Roberts motions toward the football team. "I need a volunteer."

Zachary Ashburn jumps to his feet. In a flash, he is at my side, lifting me off the ground with the help of Coach Roberts. The entire student body claps, as if I am an injured football player being carried off the field.

In that devastatingly embarrassing moment, my only thought is of Zach. His chiseled face hovers inches from mine and soft ash brown waves fall into his eyes. I lean into Zach's shoulder and breath his familiar scent, sandalwood and vanilla and a deep, dark fragrance as grounding as the forest floor. It's the closest I've ever been to him and, strangely, for a moment, I am thankful. Coach Roberts and Zach set me down gently on a padded table in a small room off of the hallway between the auxiliary and main gyms.

"Thanks, son. You can go back to the gym." The athletic trainer shows Zach the door.

Don't go. Zach nods and disappeared from the room. Once his calming presence is gone, the unwelcome heaviness of defeat presses me flat onto the table.

"Please, Coach." I grab her wrist and dare to ask the question tugging on my heart . "Do you think they dropped me on purpose? Because they hate me?"

Coach Roberts is so surprised he jaw drops and she shakes her head emphatically. "Oh, sweetie, that's ridiculous. Bernie and Katelyn were so upset when they didn't catch you. I accept full responsibility. This was an unfortunate accident, the result of a last-minute change and lack of preparation. It's the risk we take when performing stunts on a hardwood floor. "

"But—" My voice cracks and I am unable to hold back the heartache bottled inside and it explodes from my chest in a heavy sob, shaking my shoulders and leaving me hollowed and empty on the inside.The tiny room spins, the walls seem to close in, and the weight of the world threatens to crush me out of existence. I lay motionless on the table trying to catch my breath.

 Unbelievably, the band strikes up a lively beat and the pep rally is back in full swing,

"The show must go on." Roberts hands me a tissue. 

I dab my tears as she calls my mother from the corded telephone hanging near the door.

The athletic trainer eyes me with pity he leans against the wall. "You know, you're going to be off your feet for a while. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a fracture—judging by the way you landed. And the snapping sound."