It didn't really seem like a medical question, but the doctor truly looked concerned about her. She was used to doctors asking a lot of uncomfortable questions, most because of her mother's mental health. There was no way to get around the embarrassing aspects of bipolar disorder if she wanted her mother treated properly, such as promiscuity. She shouldn't even get embarrassed anymore, but it was a bit different when it was about her mother and not Tess herself, directly.
“I didn't go to the hospital because I just moved back home to take care of my younger brother and sister while my mother is admitted at the hospital. She has bipolar disorder type 1, and also experienced a recent psychotic break, so we don't know how long she's going to be hospitalized. I didn't think I was that hurt and I chose to stay home.”
The doctor nodded as she talked. She could tell he probably had a few questions about her mother, but to her surprise, he didn't ask them.
“Thank you for your honesty. Now the next question I’m going to ask you is difficult. I want you to know that if you answer something that makes me worried about your safety or the safety of the children in this home, I won't be able to keep your confidentiality but I will ensure that you are safe.”
He was being honest with her, and better yet, he was treating her like a responsible adult. She appreciated it. “Okay, I understand,” she told him.
“Did one of your friends cause this injury?”
She should have known this was the question he was going to ask. It made sense now why he had insisted the boys go upstairs. She wondered if the guys already knew what he wanted to ask from her, too. It actually made her feel more comfortable, knowing that the guys were the ones to arrange for the doctor to visit, yet the doctor still pursued this line of questioning to ensure she was safe. And the guys, they had gone upstairs and let him do his job.
“No, my friends didn’t hurt me; they didn't even see it coming. To be honest, I met Warrick and Bastion today, along with their friends, Kade and Keir. Well, I saw Kade a couple of days ago, but I didn't really meet him then.”
She was rambling. The doctor, to his credit, was patient and made notes as she talked.
“Anyway, I think Kade, and possibly his friends by association, are all being bullied at the school I started attending today. I noticed some inappropriate name-calling and there was some behaviour that ended up sending both myself and Kade to the principal's office. So you see, this attack on me was random, and although it probably was because I've become friends with these guys, they weren't the ones to hurt me.”
“So, what happened to you was just as Warrick described to me?”
“Yeah. Although I did have a bit of a headache when it first happened, you know, the kind of pain when you whack your head on a car or something really solid. Severe, but it devolved to a dull ache within a few minutes. No vomiting, no vision changes, and I remember everything. The pain only began getting bad again when I started laughing and goofing around after studying for a couple of hours.”
“Okay, Tess. I think I better understand what happened to you, and we've ruled out the most dangerous mechanisms. I still want you to be aware that this is an assault, and I do recommend that you report it to the police, but as an adult, you need to make that decision on your own.”
Now that the doctor had cleared the guys of any wrongdoing, she wanted them to come back down before he examined her. It was hard to justify because the guys were strangers to her too, pretty much, but they had been there to take care of her first when she'd gotten hurt, and they were closer to her in age. No matter how casual the doctor dressed or talked to her, the doctor was still in a position of power and that alone made her uncomfortable.
“Can Warrick and Bastion come back down?” she asked.
“Of course,” the doctor answered.
She was wondering if she should excuse herself to get them when she heard their footsteps. Yep, they had been eavesdropping. She wasn’t upset about it. They cared enough to keep an ear out for her.
“Everything okay?” Warrick asked when he reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah, come on back,” she said, giving permission.
“Tess collaborated your story,” the doctor said and War nodded. She was a bit embarrassed at the implication the guys were being truth-checked but reminded herself this was part of the doctor’s job.
Her mother had bruises that hadn’t been an accident so many times. And those scratches now? Tess had to check out this Daniels bar and get to the bottom of this. Who had hurt her mother when she was at her most vulnerable?
“Tess, I’m going to start by looking at your head where you were hit with the bottle. You bled from a laceration, right?” the doctor said, digging through his bag for a stick light that he flicked on. It was quite bright, so she looked away.
“Yeah, on the back of my head,” she said, leaning forward and using her hands to move her hair from the still swollen goose egg.
The doctor put his lit lightstick down on the bed and snapped on some gloves before he picked it back up and gently probed the wound with his fingers. He used more pressure than Bastion, saying that her skull felt fine, no depression fractures, and the laceration was amenable to gluing.
“You want to put glue on my head?” Tess said, still bent over. She wasn’t really impressed with the idea. Would she have to cut off her hair to get it out? Was it really gunky?
“Instead of stitches,” Warrick said. “Had it done a few times myself. It’s easier.”
“We could staple it,” the doctor said. “But glue is less painful.”
“Can you give her freezing before you staple it?” Bastion said. “Explain the difference first.”
“Freezing is injected and it stings going in, so really for the few staples she would need, it would be less painful to staple without freezing and get it done. It’s quite quick. It would also do well for healing, but then she would need another visit to get the staples out.”
“And the glue?” Bastion said.
“I’ll clean the wound and ensure it is dry, then simply apply the glue very thinly to the skin, avoiding any excess on the hair. It will require about 3 minutes to fully adhere. It’s waterproof and nearly painless.”
Okay, the glue did sound better. Bastion didn’t make that decision for her. In fact, they all waited for her to decide.
“Glue,” she said.
The doctor made an approving noise than stood up and shone his light in her eyes. “Keep your eyes open and look straight ahead. I’m checking your pupil response.”
He swung the light back and forth.
“Does anything else hurt?” he asked.
“Not really. My neck did earlier but Bastion helped me with that and I took ibuprofen earlier,” she said. She had forgotten to mention it earlier and the doctor hadn’t asked.
“Warrick did tell me about the ibuprofen. How is your headache now?”
Surprisingly, almost gone. Even the bright light wasn’t bothering her. “It’s really not that bad,” she said.
“I believe you have a concussion,” the doctor said turning his lightstick off. “Physical exertion, loud noises, bright lights and concentrating may bring out your symptoms again until you are fully recovered. Normally, I would request you take some time off school and you couldn’t do any sports, but I have a feeling you aren’t going to take that advice.”
“I just had my first day at school and already I’m behind because of the non-semestered to the semestered system. And I have the kids and my mom.”
“Yes, I hear that you are very busy. If you want to continue to go to school, I think it’s best to give your teachers a note explaining you may need to take breaks in a quiet room like the library if you get symptomatic and you should accept help from your friends to make things a bit easier on yourself.”
“Like drives to school,” Warrick said.
“Okay,” she agreed. She didn’t want to make the concussion worse, especially as this wasn’t her first traumatic
concussion. She had heard that further concussions could get worse and doing things to slow her recovery might result in very unpleasant consequences. Tess needed her brain in top condition this year.
“I’m going to get your wound ready for the glue and seal it up now,” the doctor said.
It didn't take him long. He was right, the glue was much more convenient. She had sutures her last scalp wound and those got crusted over and were hard to have removed. The local anesthetic was quite stingy, too.
War walked the doctor out.
“Doesn’t he need to see my health insurance?” Tess asked once the doctor had gone back upstairs with War.
“Don’t worry. He’s on retainer with my dad. It’s under occupational health so it doesn’t need to go under public insurance.”
“You won’t get in trouble for asking your dad’s work doctor to come here? We’re not exactly at the workplace.”
“He gets paid a retainer no matter if he had work or not to do. And he’s a friend of the family. Don’t worry,” Bastion dismissed.
He acted like it was no big deal. Maybe to him, it wasn’t, but to Tess, it had meant everything. She had been worrying when the headache got worse and that laceration on her head would have been a nuisance if it had gone without being glued. She had gotten treated and the kids hadn’t been freaked out.
“Thanks, thanks a lot,” she said.
“Do you want to come upstairs and talk to your sister and brother? They are in their rooms, but I think they’re waiting up for you.”
“And hot chocolate?” she said, thinking about what War had promised her earlier.
“And hot chocolate,” Bastion agreed. “We figured it would be best to wait in case you needed staples or sutures.”
They went upstairs and in short order, she had talked to the twins, drank a steaming cup of delicious hot chocolate and took another ibuprofen. The last of the tension fell from her shoulders and the headache disappeared as she drank the end of her hot, sweet drink.
“It’s really getting late, Tess, so we’re going to head home soon,” Bastion said.
“But we want to talk to you tomorrow about Daniels,” War said.
“You’re not going,” Bastion added.
“It’s a terrible idea. That’s a motorcycle bar,” War said.
“Wait and talk to us about it tomorrow,” Bastion said.
“Okay,” she agreed. It definitely wasn’t worth arguing over tonight.
She would rather end her wild first day on a sweet note.
Chapter 14
THE NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL was nothing like the first day. To start, she had plenty of coffee to begin her morning. The twins showed up as promised to drive her to school. They had offered to take her younger siblings, too, but Ashley had a bus pass and a friend that always went with her and Jason carpooled with some seniors he knew from football.
Their first stop had been Starbucks. Keir had insisted on a cheese danish that had been delicious and Kade was reluctant to let her order real coffee. He tried to convince her to have the chai tea again, and although that had also been delicious last night, she wanted something stronger and her headache was gone.
She had to settle for a caramel espresso-based drink, which really wasn’t that much of a compromise. It had a lot of kick despite the sweetness. She secretly thought it might be even better than the chai tea but she didn’t want to hurt Bastion’s feelings so she just said it was okay, and tried to play that she wasn’t all that picky.
Of course, Bastion asked her about it as soon as she and Kade left detention, waiting at her locker. She found out that the guys used the group chats to talk about everything and there was definitely some group chat they had that excluded her because she had caught Keir texting twice in a row and she had only gotten one of the messages. When she had confronted him about it, he had said it was a group message for them all to talk about her.
What could she do about that blatant taunting?
She resolved then to try to snag one of the guys’ phones and check out the chat ASAP. Considering they all probably were password protected and she had the ethical backbone of someone that still believed honesty could get you somewhere, she would have to set one of them up instead. It would be all above board, like a bet that said she got to use their phone for five minutes if they lost so she could download funny apps or take crazy pictures or whatever she wanted, and the ‘whatever’ would actually be browsing their group chat.
She was sure it was a goldmine of stuff they didn’t want her to know and that made her all the more eager to dig into it.
The morning was spent half listening to stuff she already knew in her Chemistry class while plotting against her new friends and the rest was spent learning how much fun religion could be with the right nun teaching you. Seriously, Miss Paula was a riot. She didn’t take anything too seriously, especially herself, and was one of the most open-minded people Tess had ever been around. She let anyone present a point of view and didn’t judge it but encouraged the students of her class to think about it from their perspectives as well as the perspective the person had presented.
Walk a mile in my shoes.
The moments before religion class started had been fraught with tension because War brought the guys that attacked her to class with him to apologize. Nobody looked like they had been beaten up but there was no doubt something, or better said, someone, was forcing them. War had loomed like a vengeful dark angel, big and intimidating as he crossed his muscular arms across his chest and told the jerks that they better confess their sins in front of Miss Paula and ask for Tess to forgive them.
Thankfully, none of the guys had been willing to admit what name they had called her in front of a real nun, but they had both apologized for striking her with the bottle and promised it would never happen again. Tess had been ready to let them off with that, especially given how War had watched and given them the stink eye, but surprisingly, Miss Paula insisted on a week of detention.
She also advised a proper confession as soon as possible.
By lunchtime, all the talk about Tess, Kade or any of the other guys she had befriended was only whispered too quietly for her to hear. Nobody dared harass her again. The teachers treated her like another student and the day went on without another hitch.
Tess was left wondering if she had imagined all the bullying yesterday. Why had the guys put up with it so long if they could have easily handled their peers like War had today? None of them were wimps, or seemed to be the type that bullies typically favoured: friendless, and lacking a sense of self-worth. Yesterday she had been shocked to figure out they were the victims. Today, she questioned what was really going on at this school.
Asking those questions though, might be better for another day. She had told the guys she would give them time to talk to her, let them all get to know each other at the slower pace reserved for the wary.
How do porcupines mate? Carefully.
Unfortunately, the guys didn't give her as easy a time of it. Bastion started in on her at lunch, after he thanked War for taking care of those assholes in the park, then he turned his blue eyes on her and told her to take a seat. He used his bossy voice; the one that made her want to disobey to see what he would do, but warned her that his response might not be appropriate for public consumption.
She sat.
“War didn't do anything to them, just had a talk, right?” she said, more suspicious when Bastion framed it like all of them had planned it out. Talking only seemed less likely by the second.
“We talked. Well, I talked and they listened. Trust me, Pumpkin, things would have escalated if I didn’t make a clear statement today,” War said. He sat down at the table as well, taking a seat beside her like he had yesterday.
“Hey,” Keir protested. “No fair. It's my turn to sit beside Tess for lunch.”
“Snooze, you lose,” War said, starting to dig his lunch out of his backpack. It was as substantial as yesterday’s lunch and looked divine. An
athlete like War must need a lot of calories.
She hadn’t packed a lunch today. It had been such a rush to get up extra early because of detention and, yes, she had spent more time primping in the only bathroom of their house because she knew Kade and Keir were coming to pick her up. She didn’t need them seeing her dark circles and texting the cavalry on her.
Keir noticed her lack of food first. “Is it Kraft Dinner again?” he asked. “We can take you out for groceries if you want after school,” he offered.
“Uh, actually, I do need to do some shopping but I have to go see my mom first. Can I text you when I’m done? Would you mind coming all the way to the psychiatry hospital to pick me up?” she said, tempted to take them up on the offer.
Lugging groceries home, even on the bus, was not something she wanted to attempt with her concussion. Although the headache was better now, heavy lifting might be the kind of physical exertion the doctor had warned her could bring back her symptoms.
“We will take you there, wait, and then go grocery shopping,” Kade said.
The bus going to the psychiatry hospital took an hour because it wasn't a direct route and the connection had a bit of a waiting time in between. The sooner she could get to her mother after last night, the better.
“Okay, that would work well for me. If you really don't mind, I would appreciate it a lot. I'm not sure how long I'll be at the hospital though, so do you guys have anything you can do while you're waiting?” she said.
It was going to be kind of boring otherwise for them. The hospital was in the middle of nowhere, outside of town. Probably because it was also a forensic psychiatric hospital and technically that made it a jail. There were high walls and barbed wire fencing, although it wasn't actually gated. Maybe they have outlawed that kind of thing nowadays. It wasn't the kind of place that held high-security criminals.
Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1) Page 20