Apologies
I slogged to school the next day feeling like I had an ally, which made it easier to face the day. I was starting to think that maybe I really could trust her to help me fix me. We were going to do a session a week, but if I had some sort of emergency there was always to possibility of more. After she'd identified my issues, I'd gone online to double-check her work and what I'd found out made more sense than I'd wanted it to. So I took the medicine and told her some things. Her first goal for me was to work on my trust. It didn't have to be instant or absolute or anything, but I needed to consider whether Imogen and everybody were tactless and rude but essentially harmless. I said I'd think about it.
AI Tony had tried to engage me, but I'd shut it down, telling it that I knew he'd just rat me out to my parents and I wasn't going to play that game. It turned itself off hastily and I rode into the city listening to a playlist. I did trig lab with Archer, and for the first time I had the feeling that I might just understand this eventually. Or I'd run out of semester, but whatever. It wasn't as horrible as it had been.
In chemistry, our teacher had some sort of food poisoning (I sympathized) and our sub gave us a worksheet in atomic theory, so easy. I whipped through it and turned it in. "Look, I know we screwed up," Imogen said quietly after she'd turned hers in too. "If you'd done it to us, we'd have been furious. So I understand why you were so mad, once I thought about it. I'm really sorry." I thought about her apology; she seemed sincere.
"So what did you do this weekend?" I asked. She smiled a little.
"Not much," she said. "I did homework, went to work, hung out some." She worked at the Home Depot. "What about you?"
"Got a shrink," I said. She blinked. "I'm depressed and need some behavioral therapy."
"Wow," she said after a moment. "Um...good for you?" I burst out laughing, earning a glare from the teacher.
At lunch, the others' apologies seemed sincere too, so I accepted them. "We know that we screwed up and it's going to take time for our friendship to recover," Nix said. "We appreciate the opportunity to try." Our conversation was mostly about school and the weekend.
After school, I went to the first aid class, where everybody'd been set up with tables so I didn't stand out. "Glad you could come, Anna," Rob said peppily, coming up as I chose a seat. Another boy thumped into the other seat at the table. Where Rob was handsome with olive skin, a Classical profile, and dark hair, this new boy was cute in a cheek-pinching sort of way with wavy dark blond hair. "This is Rain Nelson," Rob said. "Rain, this is Anna Wayne."
"Nice to meet you, Anna," Rain said, beaming. "Where'd you go to school before here?"
"Highgate Prep."
"Why'd you switch?" he wanted to know. Rob leaned on the table, also interested.
"The kids are a bunch of snotty assholes," I shrugged, and Rain chortled. Rob smiled, then he was off to greet other students.
"Do you like HKHS better?" Rain asked.
"Oh, yeah. No uniforms, what's not to like?" I quipped. "But it is a lot nicer, there are electives in a wider range of subjects, and I like being in the heart of the city. It's also closer to my job."
"Oh yeah? Where do you work?"
"Well, I'm not working right now because I'm not mobile enough," I confessed, and told him about the fabric store.
"Huh," he said. "Well, I gotta confess that I'm not much into soft furnishings," he said, and I grinned.
"Mostly it's just regular customers, but this summer a TV show revival used it as the source for fabrics, it was a fashion design competition. That was crazy. Sometimes the designer Steve Rogers stops in, he used to work there when he was at FIT and he still gets fabrics there. And a customer I helped out gave me concert tickets once. So you never know who's going to come through the doors," I said. I couldn't wait to be able to go back.
"Oh, yeah? That sounds more interesting than I'd expect," Rain said, and was about to say something else when Rob clapped his hands, drawing our attention. He and one of the other club officers came to each table where we paid the fee and signed in. After Rob introduced the instructor, he scurried to his place at the table next to mine and we settled in for the lecture.
"First aid has come a long way from simply controlling blood loss, immobilizing broken bones, and generally patching up people," the jovial man, who'd been introduced as Craig, said. "We have tools that were unthinkable even a century ago, and prompt bystander intervention can save lives and highly mitigate damage. In this class, you'll be learning some basic physiology and and anatomy, how to diagnose problems, and what to do about it. If you're serious about preparedness, or perhaps you participate in activities that might lead to injuries, you might want to consider investing in a full first aid kit, but we'll also be learning how to improvise treatments. I can guarantee that you will never always have your kit to hand unless it accompanies you absolutely everywhere. Sometimes there's not much you should do, as in the case of suspected spinal injuries, sometimes there's not much you can do, as with broken bones, but more common situations include burns, scrapes, cuts, dislocations, and problems like anaphylactic shock and hypoglycemia, and you'll be able to treat these things very effectively." And we started out with the promised anatomy and physiology lecture. By the end of the first class, we'd passed a short test on those subjects and learned how to fix dislocations and best immobilize fractures for expert treatment.
After class, I went out to my usual spot in the garage for pickup by my pod. I hated to admit it, but knowing that Uncle Tony had been using the AI to funnel information about me to my parents took away some of my enjoyment in the wonderful pod. I was surprised, then immediately thought that I shouldn't have been, all things considered, when Uncle Tony appeared, walking alongside the pod. I stabilized a crutch and rubbed my face.
"OK, Lys, I wanted to apologize for that little feature of the AI," he said immediately. "I realize that you don't appreciate it and Ann explained why you'd think it was a betrayal of trust." I wanted to roll my eyes at the reminder that Aunt Ann was frequently an interpreter of humanity for Uncle Tony. When I was younger, I used to wonder if there was something wrong with him, but Grandma Alex said it was just a function of his genius. "So I was wrong not to tell you about it, but I'm not sorry I programmed that, and let me tell you why." I resisted the urge to rub my face again; I'd pressed too hard on my broken cheekbone and it was throbbing gently.
"So why did you do it?" I asked, more plaintively than I'd intended. "I mean, everybody knows you're kind of devious, but I don't see why you had to trick me like that. I'm not a little kid who needs a nanny."
"You're not a baby anymore," he agreed. "But Lys, I was really worried about you. You took a hell of a hit after that party and I wanted to make sure that you were going to be ok. You dealt with that better than I'd expected, actually. I didn't want to hover, and it's not exactly a secret that while your parents are good people, they aren't the most observant. Then after the kidnapping attempt, I was a lot more worried. You were really affected by it in ways that you might still be processing, and honestly, I thought you could use some help. Somebody to help you deal with it all and figure out your next steps." He sighed. "So I told your folks. I should have told you myself, but frankly, I didn't want this kind of confrontation. You're my favorite of my nieces and nephews, and I didn't want to mess that up."
"Huh?" I asked, taken aback by that last.
"I see something of myself in you," he explained. "Granted, your dad isn't a complete asshole like mine is, but I know what it's like to have distant parents. You're not a genius, but you have other abilities that far exceed mine, like empathy, and I think your life is going to very interesting. I certainly can't predict what you'll do next, and that's kind of new to me. I like your determination to make your own way in the world, and frankly, your lack of flexibility is familiar to me." I snorted before I could stop myself, and he smiled. "So it was a way to keep an eye out for you when I couldn't be there." I stood there, thinking about what he said, absorbing it, poking at it, then I smiled a little.
"Like a slippery guardian angel," I suggested, and he beamed at me. That was surprising too. He smiled, he smirked, but a full-on beam was rare.
"Exactly. So can a repentant uncle get a hug?" He held out his arms and I crutched over for the hug, then we established a few ground rules for the AI that suited us both, and with a final hug, he held my crutches as I got into the pod and handed them in, stepping back so the door could close and I could get moving.
The next day we learned about the symptoms of shock and how to treat them, blood loss, how to control it with pressure and elevation, the use of tourniquets, how to patch up scrapes, cuts, burns, and when to send somebody to the doctor. Rain was back at my table and we joked around; he had a wry sense of humor and wasn't the most deft partner for practice situations, but we both managed well enough. The day after was what to do if somebody showed signs of heart attack stroke, asthma, seizures, or hypoglycemia and how to administer medication. Over-the-counter medications were specifically formulated not to have drug interactions or to cause an allergic reaction, so we were not to hesitate in their use. And there were additional medications that you could by with the valid first aid certification, such as the injection to help bones that are just cracked heal a little faster. Medications for minor problems. The following day, we learned CPR and the use of the little defibrillators that were found in all municipal buildings and many commercial establishments. On the last day, we learned how to assist trained professionals in the event of a mass casualty crisis and took the final test. I was a little bemused when I took my ID up to have the certification noted on the chip for an official record. It was a demonstration of competency, my only one.
We finished early, so I didn't have to hurry to get to my doctor's appointment. I had the frustrating news that my bones weren't healing as fast as I'd hoped, but the doctor pointed out that there was a lot to do, even with the stimulant medication, and that the healing (he called it modeling and remodeling) was progressing well with no complications, so I guessed that was something, at least, but dammit.
I was kind of down in the dumps when I updated my manager at work. I missed the activity, my co-workers, and the fabrics. "Well, I've been thinking," she said. "If you'd like to put in some time, I could have you doing some things that would enable you to mostly sit down, paperwork, cashiering. It wouldn't be as many hours, but it would be something to do. And it would be great to have you back. We miss you, and some of the customers have asked about you." That perked me up, and we settled on ten hours a week, two three-hour shifts during the week, and a four hour shift on the weekend. In this case, availability of hours at work dovetailed nicely with what I realistically thought I could do. I still got tired sometimes, but I also needed to build up my stamina.