Red Heart Tattoo Read Free

to get their kids away from Edison High School.
    “You fell from the top of the human pyramid, Kelli. There’s no way I’m
not
taking you into the ER for X-rays.” Jane Larson’s look of determination was fierce.
    Kelli felt a wave of panic. No way did she want to hit the ER. They might want to do blood work with her X-rays. “I fall all the time, Mom. Jennie broke my fall. She’s the one who’s hurt. I’ll just have a few bruises.”
    Jane glared at Kelli. “Your wrist is swollen. It needs an X-ray.”
    Kelli fought to calm her breathing, racked her brain for a way to change her mother’s mind. Her wrist hurt likecrazy, but she refused to complain. That would just make her mother even more determined to elbow her way into the ER. “Listen,” she said, with a sudden inspiration. “Take me to Dr. Trubey’s office instead.”
    “Your pediatrician? Why go see him?”
    Kelli only saw Trubey for extreme illnesses and annual checkups now that she was a senior. Teens like her were caught in a no-man’s-land between child and adult doctors—too old for the former, too uncomfortable with the latter. “He has an X-ray machine. He can X-ray my wrist. I mean, can you imagine how backed up the ER is? Everybody’s going there, even for a scratch. Why should we be stuck for hours waiting our turn?”
    She saw her mother cut her eyes her way and realized she’d scored a point.
    Kelli’s heart hammered harder in her chest. Dr. Trubey was a kindly man in his late sixties who’d been her doctor since she was a newborn. He’d check her over and X-ray her wrist but wouldn’t require blood work like the ER would.
    Jane turned at the corner and Kelli breathed a sigh of relief. Dr. Trubey’s office was divided into two waiting rooms—the sick-kid room and the well-kid room. Both were full, but Kelli took a seat in the well room. She recognized students from her school who’d had the same idea about avoiding the ER, and speculated that they all recognized her. As a cheerleader, she was seen every year in front of the football stadium bleachers, plus she was still in her uniform. Her mom went to the sign-in window andKelli whipped out her cell from her purse. She had nine text messages, four from Morgan.
    R U OK?
    Whr R U?
    Call ME!
    NOW!
    Two were from Mark, her boyfriend.
    U OK?
    At hom. Txt me.
    The remaining texts, from other cheerleaders checking on her, didn’t matter. She’d get to them later. She put off texting Morgan and went straight to Mark’s number. She wanted to talk to him, needed to hear his voice, but texting him back was all she could do for the moment. She thumbed her way through a quick return message to his cell.
    Doc. Wrst x-ray. Wil cal latr.
    It hurt her feelings that he hadn’t added “ I LV U ” or any number of sweet things that he could have to his message. Hurt her a lot. She closed her cell just as her mother returned from the check-in window, and forced a smile.
    Jane settled in the chair beside Kelli with a grumble. “We’ll have to wait.”
    “Not as long as at the hospital,” Kelli said brightly. Her wrist throbbed, but she didn’t let on. She felt threatened from all sides—her position on the team, her relationship with Mark, her grades. No need to bring that up with her mother, but she already knew she was going to have a bad year. A very bad year.
    •  •  •
    “Well, it isn’t broken,” Dr. Trubey told Kelli and her mother, waving the X-ray as he came into the examination room. “A bad sprain, though. I’ll wrap it and give you a sling.”
    Jane said, “She has a game tomorrow night.”
    “No games for you, little girl,” Dr. Trubey said to Kelli. “Not for at least six weeks.”
    “Six weeks!” Jane blurted.
    “She can cheer in two weeks, but no tumbling routines. She could do some real ligament damage if she injures her wrist further.”
    “But she’s the head tumbler,” Jane said. “The team looks to her.”
    Dr. Trubey skewered Jane with a look