Page 101 of Bending Under Pressure

I thank her and hope I won’t need any help. I don’t want this kind of attention. I don’t want to relive the wreck either. All day, it’s like any free moment that appears, someone is asking me what happened, wanting a play-by-play. How many times can I say I don’t want to talk about it before they stop asking me? At lunch, someone asks me and I’ve reached my limit.

“God, can’t y’all just leave me alone?” I snap. My head hurts worse than it did earlier. The constant noise of the cafeteria is making me wince and cringe.

“Are you okay, Haley?” Keelan asks me quietly, throwing me off when he says my real name.

“No!” I growl, thoroughly exasperated as I try my best to rub my temple with my good hand.

“Come on.”

Huffing, I glance over to see what he wants. He’s standing with my bag on his shoulder and his hand out for me to take. “What are we doing?”

“Taking you to the nurse.”

“Why?”

“Just come with me.”

Like I can truly resist him. I take his hand. The pounding in my head lessens a little the moment we step into the quiet, deserted hallway.

“I think you’re having some concussion symptoms. A guy on the team had one last year and he was moody and had problems with things being too bright and too loud. Maybe you should go home. I don’t know if it’ll make it worse or not,” Keelan tells me.

“Home sounds nice,” I agree.

When we get to the office, Keelan surprises me when he tells the receptionist, “Can she use the phone to call her mom to come pick her up?”

The lady eyes me with pity. “Not feeling well?”

“No.”

“I think it’s her concussion,” Keelan adds.

“You poor thing. The whole town has been talking about what happened. Here you go,” she finishes as she hands me the phone.

I dial my mother’s number and wait. When she doesn’t answer, it takes me a minute to remember Walter’s number. He answers on the fourth ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Haley.”

“What’s wrong?” he interrupts.

“Could you come pick me up? My head is really bothering me and Mom didn’t answer.”

“She’s asleep,” he explains. “Give me a few minutes to change and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Walter.” I hang up and say, “My stepdad is coming to get me.”

“Okay. You can have a seat and wait here. Keelan, you should get back to lunch.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nods. “Text me later and let me know how you’re feeling.”

“I will.” He’s about to leave, but I grab his hand. “Thanks for being the best boyfriend.”

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Keelan grins. He leans down to kiss my cheek. “You make it easy by being the best girlfriend,” he whispers.

Despite not feeling well, I smile until Walter comes to pick me up. The rest of the day is spent with Mom and Walter in their respective recliners, me on the couch, and us watching TV together with the volume low enough that it doesn’t bother me.

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