Cheers, Chocolate and Other Disasters

by Mikki Sadil

  I looked at Amberley and saw she was shivering uncontrollably, with her face even paler than before, if that was possible. “Amberley, why don’t you go get into the truck. I put towels and blankets behind the back seat, so dry off and get warm.”

  She didn’t argue, so I knew she must be feeling really bad. Andrew, Lisa, and I managed to stay another few minutes before Andrew said, “Come on, we need to get out of the water. It won’t do Sunni any good if we all come down with pneumonia.”

  We led Sunni out of the water, and dried her off with the barn towels I had brought. I rebound her leg, put her heavy winter blanket and hood on her, and we got her back into the trailer a little more easily than we had gotten her out.

  We dried ourselves off and put on heavy dry jackets and boot socks. Lisa and I wrapped up in blankets while Andrew turned the heater up high. Amberley was already asleep, with two blankets curled around her, making her look like a mummy. We closed the doors quietly, and Lisa and I took a nap while Andrew drove us home.

  Just as I got Sunni into her stall, Amberley walked in, yawning. “How is Sunni? Is she walking any better since she got into the lake?”

  “A little, but not much. The swelling seems to have gone down some, though. See? Her bandages are looser than they were this morning. I’m going to change them and put some more salve on her stone bruise. Could you go into the kitchen and get one of those ice packs in the freezer?”

  She nodded and headed out of the barn, but as I watched her walk, I noticed that she was kind of wobbly and wasn’t walking straight. Lisa held Sunni’s lead line as I unwrapped the bandages. I heard a small noise and looked up to see that Amberley was coming back with the ice pack but she had dropped it. She was having trouble picking it up. I started to say something, but she looked at me and shook her head. Her heavy glasses had slipped down on her nose, and her eyes had dark circles under them that hadn’t been there earlier. As she handed me the ice pack, her hands were shaking and her lips were drawn down into a thin line that I had never seen before. Right then, I knew Amberley was sick. Really sick.

  Chapter Nine

  Troubles

  I finished wrapping Sunni’s leg in silence because Lisa was chattering about her ‘European experience’ and the different kinds of equine techniques they had in Germany and Italy. I knew she was trying to be informative but I was sick of hearing about Europe. I really liked Lisa, but there were times when I could have cheerfully put a sock in her mouth. I looked over at Amberley who was quietly learning against the stall door, as though she was having trouble standing up. I handed the lead line to Lisa.

  “Lisa, will you take care of Sunni for a minute? Come on, Amberley, I’m going to get Andrew to drive you home.”

  When she didn’t protest, my heart started beating faster, and in that instant, I realized how much she meant to me as a friend.

  On Sunday, I spent almost the whole day out in the barn with Sunni. She was eating better and I could walk her out of the stall and back again without coercion, so I felt like things were getting better. But after dinner, her leg was hot and feverish again. I decided I had to talk to Dr. Cross, hospital or not.

  Monday, Sunni didn’t eat her breakfast, and I was really upset by the time I got to school. To make matters worse, Amberley wasn’t at school, and Lisa said no one answered the door when she went to pick her up in the morning.

  At our cheerleading meeting that morning before homeroom, Coach Williams gave us a new schedule.

  “We are having our first competition a week from this coming Saturday, so I will expect every one of you here at seven a.m. every morning for practice. We will also practice at noon, during PE and for one hour after school. I suggest that each team also find time to practice on their own every day.. You will come prepared for competition or you will not be on the squad. No questions, no remarks, no opinions, and no complaints. Dismissed.”

  As I started to leave at noon to go change the ice pack on Sunni’s leg, Celine walked up to me. “Look, AJ, we’re going to meet at my house every day for after school practice. I expect you and your team to be there, no exceptions. Hey, where do you think you’re going now? We have lunch practice in five minutes.”

  “Celine, I can’t practice now. My horse comes first, and I have to get home to take care of her. Don’t worry, my team will be as ready as yours, and probably much better.” I turned around and marched off, but not before I heard her say nastily, “Well, if you knew how to ride, your horse wouldn’t be such a mess.”

  I ran all the way home to change Sunni’s dressing and put a new ice pack on and then started back to school. Half way there, I changed my mind and headed for the hospital. When I got there I looked at my watch and saw that classes had started ten minutes ago. I was already in trouble.

  Dr. Cross was sitting up in bed eating his lunch…or what passed for lunch. He had some kind of ‘mystery meat’ on his plate with soupy mashed potatoes and a runny-looking jello salad. No wonder he wasn’t getting better, they were starving him to death.

  “AJ, how nice to see you. But what are you doing here this time of day?”

  “Dr. Cross, I have to talk to you. I thought Sunni was getting better, but she isn’t, and I don’t know what to do anymore.”

  Dr. Cross put his lunch tray up on the bedside table and patted his bed. “Come on, sit down and tell me what’s going on. Didn’t Dr. Bailey come out to see Sunni?”

  I sat down carefully so I wouldn’t brush against his hip. “Yes, he came out, but he doesn’t know much about horses.” I told Dr. Cross about the antibiotics and wrapping her leg.

  “Hmm, that’s what I would have done. So what else?”

  I explained what I had learned on the Internet about icing the leg and about taking Sunni up to Bear Creek Lake.

  Dr. Cross gave me a big grin. “AJ, that’s good thinking! Okay, now this is what I want you to do. You use Jim Johnson for your farrier, right?” When I nodded, he went on. “Get Jim to come out as soon as he can and have him drain the infection, which is probably nothing more serious than an abscess. Ask him to put a protective shoe pad on to cushion her hoof. That will ease the pain a lot, so I want you to start walking her several times a day. Keep the ice packs on, and don’t let her bluff you into thinking she can’t walk. It’ll take a little time, but Sunni will be fine. I’m proud of you for taking on so much of her treatment all by yourself. Now you’d better scoot, I’m sure you’re already in trouble at school!”

  I figured I might as well go home. I would only make it to school in time for the last twenty minutes or so of my last class, and it wasn’t worth it. Besides, my English teacher probably didn’t know if I was in class or not.

  When I got home I called Jim, and he said he would come out after five o’clock. I took Sunni out and made her walk the length of the barn, even though she was limping badly and protesting with every step. As I was leaving the barn, Lisa walked around the corner of the house.

  “AJ, what happened to you today? First Amberley is absent and then you were not around even for lunch. Celine is really mad at us because we were not practicing.”

  “Well, I don’t really care how mad she gets, Sunni is more important.” I told her about going to see Dr. Cross in the hospital and what he said about the abscess.

  “Lance the abscess? Of course, I should have thought of that. I have seen it done a lot in Europe…”

  “Lisa! Enough of Europe, okay?” I looked at her and crossed my eyes, so we both burst out laughing. When we stopped to catch our breath, I said, “What about Amberley, have you talked to her?’

  When Lisa said she hadn’t heard from her, we went into the house and called her. There was no answer. We flopped down on my bed and stared at each other. Finally, I said, “Lisa, what’s wrong with Amberley? After all that happened at the lake, she must be sick, but it’s not like she’s just got the flu or something.”

  “I do not know. This is not the first time Amberley has had a problem like she did Saturday,
but she will not talk about it. Sometimes she just disappears for a couple of days, then she comes back and acts like everything is back to normal. It’s non ȇ buono.”

  I sighed. “Okay, what does that mean?”

  “It is Italian for ‘not good.’”

  “Can we speak plain old English? Look, Amberley really isn’t normal. I mean, everybody talks about how clumsy she is, and how she’s always stumbling and dropping things. That sounds like more than just being clumsy, doesn’t it?”

  We looked up on the internet a bunch of exotic diseases Lisa started throwing around, but since we couldn’t spell them correctly, we didn’t have any luck. I sighed and shut down my computer.

  “Well, we’ll just have to make her tell us what’s wrong. After all, we’re her best friends and we need to be able to help her.”

  Lisa had a strange look on her face. I realized I had said “We’re her best friends.” Oh wow! I don’t think I meant to say ‘best friends’. In that instant, I knew I liked Amberley more than I had thought. Maybe I did want to be her best friend. But…that would mean I was giving up on Julie and Jaime. I didn’t know if I could let someone like Celine ruin our friendship without fighting for it.

  I backtracked hastily. “Well, we may not be best friends, but we are friends and Amberley needs us, right?”

  “Right, whatever you say. Look, I have to go. Maybe we can practice tomorrow if Amberley is back. Ciao.”

  Without another word, she picked up her backpack and stalked out. Aaghh! I guess I said the wrong thing again.

  The next morning I was surprised when the doorbell rang, and I saw the J’s and Celine standing on the front porch. “What are you guys doing here?”

  Celine turned up her mouth in what I guess was supposed to be a smile. “We thought we would all walk to school together. We need to talk about our practice today.”

  As we stepped off the porch, Julie asked about Sunni, but before I could answer, Celine said impatiently, “We’re not going to talk about horses, Julie. We have to get something straightened out. AJ, you and your team are goofing off, you’re not practicing even at school, and you didn’t come over to my house like you were supposed to. Are you going to continue with cheerleading or not?”

  I was walking backward so I could talk to all of them at the same time. I was hoping I wouldn’t trip over my feet. “Look, we’ll practice when we can, but Amberley has been out sick, and I have to take care of Sunni right after school. Sunni comes first. Of course, we’re going to continue cheerleading. We’re a good team and we’ll do just fine.”

  “You’re not going to do just fine if you don’t practice. We have a competition next Saturday, in case you’ve forgotten. You don’t even know what the squad is doing. Cheering has to come before your precious Sunni, because it’s not just you, it’s the whole squad that you’re screwing up.” Celine’s face was getting redder and her eyes were flashing daggers at me.

  “Oh, come on, Celine. I’m as good a gymnast as you and probably better. All you have to do is tell us when our rotation fits into the program, and everything will be okay. We already know all the moves, and Lisa and Amberley will be as ready as I am.” Actually, I was not at all sure about that last part, but I wasn’t going to let Celine know that.

  The J’s were letting Celine do all the talking, until Jaime spoke up. “AJ, why are you pretending? Everyone on the squad knows Lisa is awkward and Amberley is nothing but a big klutz. There’s no way you all are going to be ready for this competition, and we think you should just withdraw now. That way, you won’t embarrass the rest of the squad. And besides that, it’s about time you quit using Sunni as an excuse for missing practice.” She had that same smug look that Celine usually had.

  I got that fish-out-of-water feeling in the pit of my stomach. The J’s were siding with Celine again. I was disgusted with myself for thinking we had any friendship left at all. I sure as heck wasn’t their best friend anymore.

  “Look, Jaime, we’re not going to quit cheerleading. Why are you being like this, anyway? We’re supposed to be best friends, but lately you’ve been acting like I don’t even exist. If you don’t like me anymore, why don’t you just come out and say so?”

  Julie looked away. Jaime glanced at Celine. “Oh, it’s not that we don’t like you anymore. But let’s face it, since you’ve taken up with Lisa and Amberley, you’re just not the same person. You’re not like us anymore, we’re moving on with our lives, and you’re just stuck in the same rut as those two girls. You know no one likes them. We’re better than they are, and you just have to choose. Do you want to be friends with them or with us?”

  I stopped in the middle of the road and stared at them. “What the crap are you talking about, Jaime? What does ‘moving on with your lives’ mean? And since when are you better than anyone else? Obviously Celine is putting ideas into your head.” I could feel the rage building in me.

  Right then Mr. Fox drove by, stopped, backed up next to us, and rolled his window down. “Girls, what are you doing standing out here in the middle of the road? You’re going to stop traffic or get hit. Besides, I thought you were all supposed to be at cheerleading practice. Now get a move on, so I don’t hear complaints again from Coach Williams.” He rolled his window up and drove on.

  I was so angry with Jaime and Julie I couldn’t stand it. “I can’t wait to see how you are going to ‘move on’ with your lives, J’s. Be sure not to let Celine get in your way.”

  I turned and ran the rest of the way to school. When I got to the football field, Lisa and Amberley were already there, doing some warm-up stretching exercises. I ran up to Amberley and threw my arms around her. “Amberley! Where have you been? We’ve been worried about you.”

  “Isn’t that sweet? Amberley finally comes back to school and AJ has to make a big production out of it.”

  Celine’s loud voice rang out over the field, and everyone stopped their exercises and looked over at Amberley and me. I dropped my arms from around Amberley.

  “What’s the matter, Celine, aren’t your friends good enough for you to hug when they come back from being sick?” I turned to Amberley with a big smile. “I feel sorry for Celine, don’t you? Poor Celine, she doesn’t have good friends like you and Lisa and me!” I made my voice as sticky-sweet as I could, and Lisa and Amberley giggled before we all burst out laughing.

  The J’s looked like someone had pushed them in front of a car. They were not accustomed to me being sarcastic, but then, neither was I. Celine just seemed to bring out the worst in me.

  Celine recovered first. She moved closer to me and whispered, “Don’t mess with me, AJ. I promise you’ll live to regret it.”

  She turned to the J’s. “Come on, we’ve got practice. We don’t have time for these losers.”

  Julie and Jaime turned away as if they were robots responding to signals from Celine, and all at once, it was too much for me. “Yeah, that’s right, J’s. Just go with Celine like she was your master. You both act like you’re her puppets, anyway, ’cause she’s always pulling your strings and you let her. You don’t even act like you’ve got minds of your own, anymore.”

  Those words erupted out of my mouth like lava from a volcano. I didn’t even know where they came from.

  Jaime came up to me, her face curled into a nasty snarl. “You know, AJ, it wasn’t very long ago when you couldn’t stand Lisa and Amberley. Now you’re giving Amberley hugs, when you used to call her a stupid klutz and Lisa a spoiled brat? How two-faced can you be?”

  The whole field became so quiet you could have heard a gnat whisper. I gasped, my heart suddenly racing. I couldn’t believe what Jaime had just said. From somewhere far away, I heard Amberley say, “Oh!” in such a hurt voice that I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I looked at her and Lisa and tried to say something, but where just a second ago I couldn’t stop words from flowing out of my mouth, now it seemed as though they were frozen in my throat. Tears filled Amberley’s eyes, and Lisa’s pale cheeks turned bri
ght red. They turned around and walked away from me and off the field.

  My face was burning, but at the same time I was icy cold from the inside out. Finally, I found my voice. “No. Amberley! Lisa! Please don’t go!” It was too late.

  Chapter Ten

  Confrontation

  I was drowning in silence. I couldn’t hear the birds singing or the sounds of feet slapping the dirt as the rest of the girls ran around the track. I couldn’t believe what Jaime has just said. All I could do was to stare after Lisa and Amberley as they walked away.

  Celine’s voice, slimy with sarcasm, broke the quiet. “Aw gee, what’s the matter, AJ, did your friends walk out on you?”

  I ignored her and turned to Jaime. “Why did you say that, Jaime? You deliberately hurt their feelings.” I felt I should be screaming at her, but my voice came out as a whisper.

  “Hey, it’s not like I was lying or anything. You used to not like them any more than we do, so don’t blame their hurt feelings on me.”

  “That was true a long time ago, but I’ve gotten to know them now, and they’re cool. You would know that, too, if Queen Witch here wasn’t doing your thinking for you. You guys were never this way before she came into the picture.”

  Celine laughed. “Hah! I get a headache just trying to imagine those two with personalities. Sort of like I do with you, since you are so pathetic, AJ.”

  I whirled around, practically in Celine’s face, my heart pumping, my fists clenched.

  “Celine, shut up! If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened in the first place. Julie and Jaime weren’t like this until you came here, so just butt out of our business.”

  I started to walk away but Celine grabbed my arm and twisted it behind me. I turned and, without thinking, slapped her across the face. One second I was upright, the next I was on the ground and she was on top of me, scratching and clawing at my face. I tried to fight back, but her knees held my shoulders down and I couldn’t get my arms to move. Then it was all over.