Page 170 of Pride High

She shook her head. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” He was already heading for the door. “Can you drive me there?”

“You’re sixteen now.”

“Yeah, but I only have my learner’s permit.” He grimaced. “And I haven’t done much learning yet.” Instead of taking the driver’s ed elective like he should have, he’d let Anthony rope him into journalism, which admittedly had been a lot of fun. That’s where he’d met Ricky. Man! What if he’d gotten run over by a car or something terrible?

“What’s going on?” Mindy asked when she saw them hustling down the stairs.

“Ricky is in the ER!” he said.

The news spread like a ripple, eventually reaching Anthony, who turned down the music and came over as Omar was explaining things to the growing crowd. “I don’t know the details,” he finished, “but I need a ride.” He started to turn toward Silvia again when Cameron spoke up.

“I can drive us.”

“I’m coming too,” Mindy said.

“Same here,” Anthony chimed in.

“And me!” Whitney said. “Ricky is adorable. This issonot funny.”

“It’s a station wagon, not a bus,” Cameron warned.

“I wanna go too,” Dave said. “Ricky is cool.”

“Yeah,” David said. “He better be okay.”

Omar began counting under his breath.

“I’ll hold down the fort here,” Silvia said. “I can keep the music going.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes. This isn’t the way I’d want to meet someone new.”

“Thanks.” Omar went to tell his parents that they were picking up a friend, not wanting them to get involved. Adults made everything so tedious. Then they all piled into Cameron’s car and rushed to the urgent care center.

When they got there, the woman behind the desk was soon overwhelmed. “Patients are only allowed two visitors at a time,” she said. “Decide who it’s going to be. Everyone else take a seat.”

“I’m going,” Omar said.

Anthony nodded. “Me too.”

They were being led down a hall when Anthony hesitated. “Maybe I should have let one of the others go instead.”

“What?” Omar scrunched up his face. “He’ll be glad to see you!”

Anthony pressed his lips together.

When they reached the correct room, the receptionist made them wait in the hall while she spoke with Ricky.

“I’ll let you go in first,” Anthony said. “So he doesn’t get overwhelmed.”

“Whatever,” Omar said, his stomach twisting up with nerves. What if Ricky was missing half his skull or something terrible like that? Please let him be okay. He was such a cool little dude!

“Go right in,” the receptionist said when reappearing.

Omar didn’t hesitate. He rushed inside, relieved to see that Ricky was still in one piece. He was propped up in a hospital bed and looking pale, his face gaunt. For whatever reason, his chin began to tremble when he saw Omar.

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