Page 18 of The Forever Gift

‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘Let’s go. If we leave now, we might make it in time before school closes.’

‘School closing. Oh Jesus,’ I say, twisting on my chair to look at the clock. ‘It’s ten past two. Molly. I forgot Molly. I should have picked her up ten minutes ago.’

EIGHT

KAYLA

I can’t believe I’m crying in front of my whole class. And not even just a few tears, I’m bawling my eyes out. I’m never going to live this down.

‘My leg. It hurts,’ I sob, my eyes slammed shut as if it will help with the pain if I block out everyone. ‘It really, really hurts.’

Half my class are gathered around me in a circle. I open my eyes and look up from lying sprawled on my back at their heads bowed and staring down on me. I’m still crying. I can’t stop even though I want to. Everyone’s faces are so serious. No one is laughing or pointing, the way people usually do when someone falls and makes a show of themselves at PE.

‘Excuse me. Excuse me,’ Miss Hanlon our PE teacher says, trying to shuffle her way into the circle. ‘Guys, move. Now.’

The circle parts and Miss Hanlon hurries over, her runners squeaking as she crouches down on the gym floor next to me.

‘What happened, Kayla?’ she asks.

I shake my head and try to catch my breath. My heart is racing and my whole body is shaking.

‘She fell,’ Aiden says, suddenly crouching at the other side of me after fighting his way through the circle too.

‘Yes. Thank you, Aiden. I think we can see that. But did anyone see how it happened?’ Miss Hanlon asks.

Blank faces stare back at her and the usually noisy PE hall is quiet except for the echo of my crying.

‘Well, something must have happened,’ Miss Hanlon says, sternly. ‘I turn my back for two minutes to fetch some bibs…’

Miss Hanlon is tiny. Everyone in my year is at least a head taller than her and she’s not even up to most of the boys’ shoulders. She only wears tracksuits. Nice ones though, and she’s super skinny and toned. From running around all the time, I guess. She’s young too. Well, not too young, like thirty maybe. But that’s super young compared to some of our other dinosaur teachers. And if I ever had a problem or someone was being an asshole or bullying me or whatever, Miss Hanlon is the teacher I’d talk to. I think Miss Hanlon is the teacher our whole year would talk to. She has a way of making everything seem calm and okay, even when it’s not. Like now.

‘She was just running with the ball, about to score a basket when she went down,’ Aiden says.

‘Guys, it’s just a game,’ Miss Hanlon says. ‘There really is no need for all this pushing and shoving. Look at poor Kayla.’

Everyone looks at me again. I pull myself to sit up and pray that my face isn’t as red as if feels. I bet I’m an actual tomato.Oh. My. God. Shoot me. Shoot me now.

‘No one pushed her, Miss,’ Aiden says.

‘Is that true, Kayla? Did you just slip?’ Miss Hanlon asks, unconvinced.

‘She didn’t even slip,’ Aiden says. ‘She literally just fell over. I mean, like, just splat for no reason.’

There’s some giggling and snorting from the other kids.Ugh.As if this wasn’t bad enough already, Aiden is making me sound like an old granny. I’m going to kill him later.

Miss Hanlon breathes out slowly. I can smell the garlic something-or-other she had for lunch.

‘Okay, Aiden, thank you,’ she says, ‘But Kayla really can speak for herself.’

‘I- I-,’ I begin. The pain in my leg has changed from sharp to throbbing and I dry my eyes. The hall starts to become noisy as my classmates lose interest, thank God, and begin talking among themselves.

Aiden is staring at me with wide eyes and I know he wants me to tell Miss Hanlon about the tests Mam’s been taking me for. I shake my head and scrunch my nose, pleading with him to keep his mouth shut. If Miss Hanlon thinks I’ve a recurring injury she might make me sit out the rest of the season.

‘I don’t know what happened,’ I say, attempting to stand up. ‘I had the ball and then I was on the ground.’

‘Hang on,’ Miss Hanlon says, placing her hand gently on my shoulder and encouraging me to stay sitting. ‘Let’s take a little look, eh?’

I nod.

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