Val wakes me up and I wonder if there are any nurses besides her in this whole hospital. “Breakfast!” she says happily. Maybe they gave her the same painkillers Taylor’s on.

I poke at my scrambled eggs, finally picking up a piece of toast. “Only slightly preferable to hunger,” I comment to no one in particular. I think Val is afraid of me. She wakes Taylor up next.

“Hey,” he says to her, smiling. I am hating her and I don’t know why. I stab my eggs with a vengeance.

“Hi, Veevie,” he greets me.

“Hey.” Stab. Stab. Attempt to eat. Stab.

“Your parents are all on their way,” Val informs us. “Aviva, your sister is coming, and a few of your siblings are, too, Tay.”

Stab. Val makes an exit. There’s a funny sound in my head, almost like a ringing but not quite. This is great. I’m hearing things on top of everything else. “What’s the story, Morning Glory?” asks Taylor cheerfully.

“Nothing.” The urge to stab my food has left the room with Val. “Do you hear that?”

Taylor looks uncomfortable. “Hear what?”

“There’s a funny sound, like a really faint screaming. Do you hear it?”

He raises his eyebrows. “I, uh, don’t hear anything.” He’s an even worse liar than me.

“Yes you do.” With the pain in my head still very apparent, I get out of bed and head over to the window. “I think it’s outside.”

“No it’s not,” Taylor says quickly.

“What the hell, Taylor? What’s going on?” I smell a secret, and I forget my headache as I look out through the glass. “Oh, my God!”

There is a swarm of people in the parking lot below our room, and as I look closer I see they are mostly girls about five years younger than me, give or take a few training bras. Some are screaming, some are crying, and a few are...waving signs? I grab the glasses I usually forsake in favor of contacts and squint down at them.

“TAY, WE LUV U! GET BETTER SOON!” screams one of them in hot pink poster paint. “I’ll be with you in ALL your dreams!!!” cries another. A bright green one just says, “TELL THEM TO LET US IN!”, and the largest one boasts a huge picture of Taylor, surrounded by the words, “In an MMMBop we’re here! Feel Better Taylor!”

Have you ever seen Looney Tunes, where a character thinks and thinks and thinks and suddenly the light bulb goes on? Well, this is exactly how I feel, and I turn savagely on Tay. “YOU! You’re the MMMBop kid!” I struggle to run a hand through my hair, but it’s so tangled with sleep I can’t make it. I walk over to my bed and sit back down- my head is really hurting now.

Taylor is blushing, but I cut him off as he opens his mouth to speak. “I know, you’re not ‘the MMMBop kid’. You’re a serious musician...or something. But I feel really dumb now, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to sleep until I can go home and sulk about my stupidity in the comfort of my own bedroom.” I lie back down and pull the navy blanket over my head.

“Veevie.”

I don’t respond, instead chewing on my thumbnail and wondering why I feel so hurt.

“Veevie, be fair. I’m an invalid here; I can’t come over to you and make you look at me. So I’m just going to ask you very nicely to be the lovely young lady I know you have the ability to be when not dealing with a certain blond nurse who shall remain nameless, and listen to me for a second.”

“You’re a toad, Taylor.”

“Ummm....Anna, The King and I.”

“Nope. I wasn’t quoting, but if I was, it would have been ‘all your people are toads’.” I pause. “Don’t try to change the subject!”

Taylor tries again. “Fine. If you had known about...everything, would it have made a difference? Would you have treated me differently?”

I poke my face out just enough to glare at him. “Well, Taylor, I don’t know. You didn’t give me the chance to find out. Instead, you let me go on ahead thinking you were some normal kid. I told you the Saint Pe ter story!”

Taylor looks frustrated. “I am some normal kid, Veevie dear.”

“No, you’re not. Normal kids do not make cd’s and go on Regis and Kathie Lee.”

“Who says?”

I pout. “It’s a rule.”

“Then it’s a stupid rule.”

I mull that over for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew you’d do this!”

“Do not presume to tell me what I will or will not do. You don’t know me.”

Taylor cocks an eyebrow. “Thank you, Kate Winslet.” He looks over at me with innocent blue eyes, and I bite my tongue to keep from grinning at him. “Seriously, are you going to make me pay for this?”

“Perhaps.”

“Fine. Be that way.” He knows he’s won, but shoots me a “we’ll talk about this later” look as the door to our room opens and Thalia enters.

“Veevie!” She runs over to me, but I put a hand up.

“Do not ask me how I am. I’m fine.”

She laughs and gives me a hug. “Okay. Did you know that Josh is outside?”

“No, I didn’t. But I’m mad at him, so he can wait.”

“Why are you mad at him?”

I shoot her a “duh” look. “Thal, he let a house collapse on me!”

“And me!” Taylor cuts in from across the room. “I’ve never met Josh, but he let the house collapse on me, too, so I’m mad at him.”

I stick out my tongue. “You I’m still mad at, too. Thalia, this is Taylor, the rescuee who is currently trying to seduce our nurse. Taylor, this is my sister Thal.”

“Your sister wants me,” Tay says helpfully.

“I do not !” My pillow sails across the room and hits him in the face. I turn to Thalia. “Are Mom and Dad here?”

“They’re on their way. Steve and I stopped by the house on our way here, and they were getting ready to come. The doctors think you can go home either tonight or first thing tomorrow.”

“Tonighttonighttonight,” I chant.

“Is my company that deplorable?” asks Taylor.

“Yes. Thalia, what’s the holdup here?”

“Veevie, you had a severe concussion. They need to be absolutely sure your brain isn’t mushed.” Thal pulls a brush out of her shoulder bag and hands it to me. “Use this.”

“I love you, too, Thalia.”

She shrugs. “Just trying to be sisterly.” She checks her watch. “Wanna go for a walk? I’ve never pushed someone in a wheelchair before, and it seems empowering.”

“Uh-oh. Save me, Taylor!”

“Save yourself, Veevie darling,” Taylor tells his pillow. His eyes are closed, and I throw another pillow in his general direction.

“No fair. I saved your ass.”

Thal and I head out into the hallway, and she waves to Josh. “He’s cute,” she tells me.

“Josh?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess.”

“He was really worried about you before, Veevie.”

“Thalia, what are you insinuating here?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

Josh walks over to us, holding a bouquet of daisies. “How ya feeling, Veev?”

“Okay, I guess. My head hurts.” I don’t want to talk to Josh right now. I actually want to talk to...Taylor?

Josh nods and hands me the flowers. “These are for you.”

I manage a watery smile. “Thanks.”

Thal pipes up. “Josh, I’m going to wait for my parents- would you mind taking Veevie for a spin?”

Oh, God. “I don’t feel too good- I was thinking of just going and lying down.” I flash Thalia my best Veevie Collins Death Stare.

“Aw, come on, Veeves,” says Josh, and I lean my head back, too tired to argue. “Okay. Let’s just go.”

Part Six

“What’s that noise?” Josh has wheeled me into the courtyard, and the screams from the parking lot can faintly be heard.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Josh smiles and takes my hand, and I am hating Thalia with a passion I had up until this second reserved for hating Val. “I was really worried about you, Aviva,” he says. I am very uncomfortable. He continues. “And I’ve been thinking about our relationship.”

What relationship ? I scream inwardly. We have no relationship! I am wishing for Taylor to be here- he would know what to say to get Josh away from this scary, scary topic. Maybe he would burst into song or something, seeing as how he is a teenage pop star extraodinaire. Josh is still talking. “Veevie,” he is saying. “I want to take our relationship to the next level.”

What in hell is he talking about? We can’t take our relationship to the next level, because we have no relationship. Josh takes my speechlessness as agreement, and leans in- to kiss me? No, Veevie. You can definitely not let this happen. Burp or something. “Josh, I have a boyfriend,” I blurt without thinking.

Joshes eyes pop open. “You do?”

I study the arm of the wheelchair. “Um, yeah.”

“How come you’ve never mentioned him?”

“Well, um, you see, it’s hard to explain. You see, Taylor and I are just, um, trying to figure things out right now.” I can’t believe the lie that has just rolled off my tongue, but thank God for putting it in my head.

“Wait- Taylor, the guy from the basement?”

“Yeah! Turns out we, uh, knew each other from Sunday school, and last night, we got to talking.”

I realize that my lie has just collapsed- the Star of David that hangs around my neck (and has somehow managed to escape my misadventures unscathed) tells Josh that I wouldn’t know Sunday School from a sex ed course. He nods anyway, though, and stands up. “Okay, then. Make sure to tell him he’s very lucky. See ya around, Aviva.” He wordlessly pushes me back upstairs before making an exit.

“I take it that didn’t go too well?” asks Thalia, after Josh stalks away.

Part Seven

Thalia is pushing me back into Taylor’s and my room as Val is pushing Taylor out. “They’re starting physical therapy on my leg already,” Tay informs me in passing, and I nod.

“Have fun. Oh, and remind me to tell you a funny story later.”

“I don’t know if you can get much funnier than Saint Peter, Veevie.”

“Shut up!”

“Later, dear,” he calls cheerily. “I’ll be back.”

“ The Terminator. You’re so bad at this! Adios, love.”

Mom and Dad come in to get me situated, as well as to inform me that Dr. Majong isn’t completely sure that my brain isn’t pea soup yet, so I’ll have to spend another night.

“Is Taylor staying?” I ask automatically.

“I think so, Sweetie.” Mom crouches down by the bed and looks at me slyly. “That Taylor seems very nice.”

“Argh!” I cry, rolling over and covering my head with a pillow. “Why do all the women in this family feel the need to set me up?”

Mom chuckles, and Dad rolls his eyes. “We have lots of forms to fill out, Veeves,” he says, “so we’ll be right outside if you need us.”

I nod and wave, then channel-surf for a little while. Unfortunately, though, pregnant, cheating lesbians lose entertainment potential after a few minutes, and Jerry Springer soon grows old. I reach for the orange juice on the nightstand, and proceed to knock it all over the floor.

“Damn.” I reach down to pick up the plastic cup, and as I do, a crumpled piece of yellow legal paper sitting in the little garbage can catches my eye. At this point I’d like to make it clear to the jury that I don’t make it a habit to look through garbage cans, but I am bored to tears. I capture the balled-up paper and smooth it out on my blanket. It’s been torn clean in half, but what I can make out is this:

just astounds me- she can take it as well as she can dish it out, which scares me, but we have the best time. Have you ever felt like you’ve known somebody forever, even though you only met them less than 24 hours ago? It’s crazy. She’s pretty in a kind of unusual way, but she acts like she doesn’t know it. She’s like an itch I can’t scratch, and I don’t know what’s going to happen when we have to go home.

Well, you could knock me over with a feather. I twist a piece of hair around two fingers and stare out the window past the screamers, trying to make sense of my rapidly whirling thoughts. It could have been about Val. Maybe Taylor didn’t even write it. Maybe somebody else did, some guy that had his room before us. I try to remember whether it was here this morning, but I can’t conjure up that memory. He probably didn’t write it, I tell myself firmly. And even if he did, it probably wasn’t about you. But what if he did? And what if it was? What if-

My thoughts are cut short by the door opening, and I hastily shove the note under the mattress. “Hey, Veevie,” says Tay, as Val helps him out of the wheelchair. I wish for some scrambled eggs and a fork with which to stab them.

“Do you need anything, Aviva?” asks Val innocently.

Yeah. Sedatives. “No thanks, Valerie.”

Val leaves, and the urge to cause physical harm to breakfast food passes. Taylor turns to me. “She’s really nice, once you get to know her.”

“Uh-huh. And I’ll bet she’s really smart, too, and makes a mean apple pie.”

“What’s wrong, Veevie? What happened to your usual chipper self?”

“Taylor, I don’t think I have a ‘chipper self’, and if by some random twist of fate I do, I doubt you’ll see it too often over the course of our relationship.”

“Ummm...Dangerous Minds?”

“I’m not quoting!”

“Oh.” Tay looks over at me. “Are you staying tonight?”

“Yes. If the stupid doctor would come in and talk to me, he would realize that I am just fine, and that my brain is solid as ever and that I have not suddenly acquired any chipper selves, but I think I’ve seen him maybe once since I got here, and he doesn’t believe me fit to go home.” I prop myself on both elbows and smile. “And you?”

Taylor cracks up. “You scare me, Veevie Collins.”

I grin at him. “Good.”

Part Eight

Night has fallen. I’m feeling much better after a shower, lying on my stomach reading Circle of Friends, my comfort book, in the soft glow of the bedside lamp. Taylor has taken control of the remote, and has spent the last half hour watching everything from a rerun of Dawson’s Creek to wrestling on channel 27.

“Veevie?”

I look up. “Yeah?”

“Come over here.”

“Why?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“So talk.”

“Come over here.”

“No. You come over here if you want to talk to me.”

“Veevie!”

“Oh, right. I forgot about the whole leg thing.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “Move over,” I command, and stretch out on top of his bedspread, amazed at how comfortable I feel around this boy who I hardly know. “ I think we were married in another life.”

“We were probably Fred and Ethel Mertz.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” I stare up at the crack in the ceiling. “It looks like Val.”

“What?”

“The crack in the ceiling. If you squint, it looks like Val.”

“You are so jealous of that woman.”

“I am not.”

“Uh-huh.” A pause. “Veevie?”

“Yeah?”

“What would you say if I kissed you right now?”

“George Clooney, One Fine Day. Just stop trying, kid. You’re never gonna get one on me, so why don’t you just stop the humiliation now?”

“Veevie?”

“Yeah?”

“I wasn’t quoting.”

“You weren’t?” Oh.

“Nope.”

“Oh.”

“So?”

“You want me to answer?”

“Yeah.”

“Um...probably I’d kiss you back. And then I’d panic because if any of those scary girls out there ever found out about it, they’d probably kill me.” I blush, wondering what it is that makes me so honest with Taylor.

He laughs. “Veevie?”

“Yeah?”

Taylor leans over and lightly kisses me on the lips, and I smile before returning the favor. He smiles, looking like a little boy. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

“We’ve only known each other thirty-six hours.”

“Details, details. You have to learn to look at the big picture, Veevie.” His lips brush mine again, his blue eyes searching my gray ones. Kisses get longer, deeper. We both know where this could go- and where it won’t. Not now, not here.

I sigh and rest my head on Taylor’s chest; his hands play with my hair. Val sticks her head in and stares at us, obviously surprised. “Is everything, um, okay in here?”

I smirk. “Great, thanks, Val.”

Taylor wraps his arms around me as Val flees. “You are so jealous, Veevie.”

Not anymore.