Secret Admirer (6 page)

Somehow Carlie managed to slide down to the bottom of the half-pipe on her side, cradling her injured arm with her right hand. But as her friends gathered around her, hot tears were stinging in her eyes.

“Oh, Carlie!” cried Morgan.

“Are you okay?” asked Emily.

Carlie bit her lip and tried to answer them, but the pain was too intense.

Amy put her hand on Carlie’s shoulder. “It’s okay to cry,” she said quietly.

Just then Chelsea came over. “I
told
you not to jump,” she said, reaching down to pull her up.

“No!” cried Carlie. “Don’t help me. Please, don’t touch me. I hurt my arm. I think it’s broken.”

Chelsea looked skeptical. “I doubt that you could have broken it just like that, Carlie. You barely even fell.” She reached out her hand again, and Carlie cringed, drawing away from her.

“Don’t move her,” said Morgan.

“I’ll go get help,” said Emily, taking off in a run toward the lodge.

Before long a crowd gathered around Carlie, making her feel sillier than ever. But soon the ski patrol arrived, and she was gently loaded into a basket sort of thing and transported toward the lodge. If she hadn’t been in so much pain, she would’ve been really embarrassed by all the fuss. As it was, she felt pretty stupid for falling like that, and it didn’t help matters to overhear Chelsea acting like she was faking a broken bone just to get everyone’s attention. Carlie was relieved that only Morgan and Emily came down to the lodge clinic with her.

“Emily, you stay here with Carlie,” instructed Morgan. “And I’ll go find Cory or Janna.”

After an examination by a tall, blond lodge paramedic named And re, it was decided that Carlie should be taken to the nearby town. “I’ll wrap it in a brace for now,” he told her with a bright smile. “But the doc in town will probably do an x-ray, set it, and then put a real cast on.” He winked at her. “And then you can get all your boyfriends to sign it for you.”

“Yeah … right …” Carlie rolled her eyes then took in a deep breath as Andre continued to wrap her arm. It hurt each time he moved it, but Carlie didn’t want to show it. She wanted to be brave.

“Hey, a pretty girl like you must have lots of boyfriends,” he teased.

“There’s one boy who really likes her,” said Emily
quietly. She smiled at Carlie as she held onto her good hand. She’d been with Carlie throughout the examination, calmly standing by. Carlie was thankful Emily was there.

“I’ll bet there’s more than just one,” said Andre.

“Hey, Carlie,” called Morgan from out in the office area. “I’ve got Janna here.”

“Come in if you want,” said Andre. “We’re almost done.”

“Oh, poor Carlie,” said Janna as she came in and gently put an arm around her shoulders. “Does it hurt much?”

“A little,” Carlie admitted.

Andre turned to Janna. “I’m afraid it’s broken,” he said. “But she’ll need to go to Arrowhead to see a doctor. We already called ahead. Can you drive her there?”

“No problem.” Janna frowned slightly. “You don’t think she needs to go to a hospital?”

“That’s an option,” he said. “But the closest one is an hour away, and I’ve heard of people waiting in the emergency room for up to three hours. Dr. Ferris is good, and her clinic is fully equipped. We usually send all our less serious injuries her way.”

“Sounds good,” said Janna. “I just tried to call your mom, Carlie, but no one seems to be home.”

Carlie nodded. “She’s probably out getting groceries or something.” Actually, Carlie felt relieved. She wasn’t eager for Mom to hear about this. “But she’ll probably
be home for sure around two since that’s when my little brothers take their naps.”

“Well, are you ready to go?” asked Janna.

“I guess.” Carlie looked down at her neatly wrapped arm then up at Morgan and Emily. “But you guys don’t need to go.”

“We want to,” said Emily.

Carlie considered this. “That’s really sweet, but I already feel bad for spoiling your day. I don’t want to spoil the whole ski trip. Why don’t you guys just stay here and do a few more runs — do it for me.”

“But Carlie, we —”

“Seriously,” insisted Carlie. “I’ll feel better if I know you guys are back here having fun.” Finally they agreed, and then Janna drove Carlie the ten-minute drive to Arrowhead. They went to Dr. Ferris’s clinic, and Andre’s suspicion was confirmed. Carlie’s arm was broken. She tried not to cry as the doctor set the arm back into place, but that actually hurt as badly as when she’d broken it. By the time the doctor finished, there were silent tears slipping down both of Carlie’s cheeks.

“It’s okay,” said Janna softly as she dabbed Carlie’s face with a tissue. “Go ahead and cry.”

“It hurts,” muttered Carlie.

“I know,” said Janna. “I broke my arm once too.” Then, as the doctor and nurse wrapped the cast material
around Carlie’s arm, Janna told Carlie about how she’d fallen from a horse when she was eleven. “My arm was just hanging,” said Janna. “But I was about a mile from the house. So I just had to hold the broken arm with my good hand and walk all the way back home.”

“Wow, that must’ve really hurt.”

“It did. I walked into the kitchen and saw my mom and
bam
— it was like the lights went out. They told me later that I fainted. At first my mom had no idea what was wrong. But when I came to I told her I’d broken my arm. And she didn’t believe me! She thought I was saying I broke my arm when I fainted, and she didn’t think that was possible. Then I explained about falling off the horse, and she took me to the doctor.”

Carlie nodded. “Chelsea didn’t believe me either.”

“When you broke your arm?”

“She thought I was faking …” Carlie sniffed. “Just because I was embarrassed that I fell on the half-pipe.”

“Girls can be mean,” said Janna.

“It’s true,” said Carlie. “I was embarrassed, but I wasn’t faking.”

Janna patted her back. “We know …”

“How does that feel?” asked Dr. Ferris.

“It’s okay,” she told her, although tears were still coming down her cheeks, and her arm still hurt — but not as much. Now she knew she was crying because she was
getting worried about how much this medical treatment was going to cost. She knew that doctors were expensive, and she knew just as well that her family didn’t have health insurance. It was a point that her mother often made. So now, not only would Mom freak over a broken bone, she would be worried about money too. And it was all Carlie’s fault. She shouldn’t have taken that jump. And all because she wanted to compete with Chelsea. How stupid!

Carlie wondered how much this broken arm was going to cost her family. She wondered if she should’ve done something differently. But it wasn’t like she could’ve asked the doctor for the “cheap” bone-setting plan, and she doubted that they would’ve let her pass on the cast. What was done was done.

“How’s that?” asked Dr. Ferris as she adjusted a sling around the cast.

Carlie looked down at the strange-looking arm and sighed. “Fine.”

Then Janna went out to the waiting room to speak to the receptionist, and the nurse checked some other things like Carlie’s temperature and blood pressure. Then she had Carlie take a couple of nonprescription pain pills and gave her samples for more. “Take these every four to six hours if you need to,” she told her. “And Dr. Ferris will give you one pill for tonight to help you sleep. But you should probably make an appointment with your family doctor when you get home.”

“Thanks.” Even as Carlie said this she wondered how much more it would cost to go to the doctor again. Just getting her school physical had been expensive. She remembered Mom complaining about not having insurance then.

“How are you doing?” asked Janna when Carlie came back out to the waiting area.

Carlie forced a smile. “I’ve had better days.”

“I just tried to call your mom again,” Janna told her. “But she still wasn’t home, and I hated to leave a message and get her all worried.”

“Thanks for not doing that — she probably would’ve freaked.” She hated to imagine her mom’s reaction to hearing a message that Carlie had broken her arm. Hadn’t Mom made her promise not to break anything? But how do you keep a promise like that?

“Are you sure there’s no one else I can call?” asked Janna as she put Carlie’s parka over her shoulders.

Carlie considered Tia Maria, but for the moment she didn’t want anyone in her family to know what had happened. “No …”

Janna frowned. “I’m not sure what we should do. I could drive you back to town and —”

“No,” said Carlie suddenly. “I don’t want to go back.”

“But, aren’t you in pain?”

“It’s not that bad,” said Carlie as she forced a smile. “Can’t I stay for the rest of the snow trip?”

“You don’t want to go home?”

“Not yet,” said Carlie. Now she started to cry again. She wasn’t even sure why, but it was probably a combination of everything — the sadness that she wouldn’t get to snowboard anymore, the fear of how Mom would react to the news, and the concern over the medical expenses. It was all too much.

“What do you want to do, Carlie?” asked Janna kindly.

“Can’t I just stay until the end of the trip?”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Janna. “We really need to talk to your parents and get their permission.”

“Can’t I call Mom later? I mean, from the lodge?”

“I guess so. Do you want your parents to come pick you up there?” asked Janna.

Carlie frowned, still thinking about everything. “Well, Mom would have to bring my little brothers with her, and it is their nap time. And Dad’s out on the fishing boat. It might be kind of inconvenient.”

“You don’t really want to stick around until the end of the ski trip, do you?”

Carlie smiled hopefully. “Would it be okay if I did?”

“I guess so,” said Janna. “I mean, of course, it’s okay with me. Just as long as your parents are okay with it. And as long as you feel okay.”

Carlie looked down at her cast and sighed. “I obviously won’t be able to snowboard.”

“No …” Janna shook her head. “But you can hang out in the lodge and sit by the fireplace and drink cocoa.” She grinned. “Like the girls in those old movies — you know the ones who really don’t want to ski anyway.”

“Yeah …” Carlie frowned. “Except that I really do want to … snowboard I mean.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.” Janna firmly shook her head.

“But at least I could see my friends.”

“And you could read books,” suggested Janna. “I saw a bookshelf in the lodge.”

“And I could attend the meetings and stuff,” said Carlie hopefully. “I mean, it would be better than just sitting at home.”

“As long as you’re not in pain.”

“That way I can get my money’s worth for the trip,” said Carlie. “I mean, since I paid for the whole thing … shouldn’t I get to stay?”

Janna laughed. “Good point, Carlie.”

“So, it’s okay?”

“As long as your parents agree, I see no reason you can’t stay until tomorrow,” said Janna.

“Okay.” Carlie sighed.

“So are we ready to go then?” asked Janna.

Carlie glanced uneasily at the receptionist area now. “Do I need to give them some information or something …”

“I already gave them your medical form,” said Janna. “Now I see why it was important to have that along — like if you had any allergies to medications or anything.”

“I meant about the bill and how we pay for it,” said Carlie quietly. “I mean, we don’t have any insurance, but I know that —”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s all taken care of already,” said Janna.

“Huh?”

“The insurance part I mean.”

“Insurance?” Carlie looked curiously at Janna.

“It was part of the ski-trip package. The church insisted on it. No way were we taking a bunch of novice skiers up here without an insurance package. You’re totally covered, Carlie.”

Carlie smiled. “Cool.”

As they drove back to the lodge, Carlie admitted to Janna that she’d been pretty much freaking over the insurance thing. “I thought for sure my parents would be stuck with some humungous bill.”

“I wish I’d known you were so worried. I would’ve told you sooner.” Janna turned and smiled at Carlie as she waited for the traffic light to change. “I’m sorry you broke your arm, but I have to admit it’s been fun getting to know you better, Carlie. You’re a really cool girl.”

“Thanks.”

“I already know Morgan and Emily pretty well from youth group. They are cool girls too.”

“Yeah,” agreed Carlie. “They’re good friends.”

“And I’ve heard about your club. I think that’s great. And it’s great that Morgan and Emily encouraged you girls to come on the ski trip. I haven’t really gotten to know Chelsea and Amy too well, but they seem nice.”

“They’re nice … but they’ve gotten a little boy crazy lately.”

Janna laughed. “That’s a funny thing about these trips. A lot of girls your age do get a little boy crazy. Then they go back home and kind of go back to their normal-selves.”

“Really?” Carlie felt hopeful.

“Yeah. I’ve seen it a lot.”

Then Carlie told Janna about how Chelsea had been kind of competitive with her. And how she thought it was because Chelsea liked Enrico … and how Enrico seemed to like Carlie better.

“That makes perfect sense,” said Janna.

“And I think Enrico is okay, for a boy anyway, but I don’t want him for a boyfriend.”

Janna chuckled. “Well, it sounds like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Carlie. I happen to think that all you girls are way too young for boyfriends. In fact, that is exactly what I planned to talk about in cabin time tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Cool. I hope I get to stay for it.”

“Well, get the okay from your parents, and you can.”

Morgan and Emily were in the parking lot when Janna and Carlie pulled up. They waved and ran over to meet them.

“How are you?” asked Morgan as she carefully hugged Carlie.

“Better,” said Carlie with a real smile.

Then Emily hugged her. “We were praying for you.”

“Thanks. It went really well.”

“Do you have to go home?” asked Morgan with a frown.

“She’s got to call her parents,” said Janna as she handed Carlie her cell phone. “If they give her permission, she can stay until tomorrow.”

Morgan and Emily cheered, and Carlie cautiously dialed her home number. It was after two, and chances were her mom was home by now. Unless she was at Tia Maria’s, and in that case, Carlie would have to try there. But Mom answered on the second ring, and Carlie quickly told her about her little accident, going straight to the insurance situation and how there were no money worries.

“But your arm,” said Mom. “Doesn’t it hurt a lot?”

“No, it’s feeling okay now. I’m fine, really.”

“Oh, poor mija. Don’t you want to come home?”

“I don’t see why,” said Carlie. “It’s a long trip for you to come up here, and I’ll bet the boys are having nap time.”

“Not yet, but I was just about to make them.”

“So, why don’t I just stay here, Mom? Really, I promise you, I’m fine.”

“But aren’t you in pain?”

“No,” said Carlie firmly. And that was mostly true. “The doctor gave me some Advil, and it’s really helping. I just want to stay here, Mom. I mean, I paid for the trip, and it’s a bummer that I hurt my arm, but it’s not really that bad. Can’t I please stay and come home tomorrow?”

Now Carlie’s little brothers were starting to scream in the background — a sure sign they both needed a nap. “Are you sure?” asked Mom above the noise.

“I’m sure, Mom.” Carlie laughed now. “Besides, I’ll bet it’s a lot quieter up here than at home.”

“Yes,” she said loudly above the howling. “I’m sure that’s true.”

“So, I’ll be home tomorrow then, okay?”

“Okay,” said Mom. “If you’re certain, mija. I just don’t want you to be in pain or anything.”

“The doctor gave me a pill to help me sleep tonight,” Carlie told her. “And I’m fine, really, just fine.”

So it was settled. Janna talked briefly to Mom too. But when she hung up, it was clear that Carlie was going to stay.

“Yay!” cried Emily and Morgan happily.

“Now,” said Carlie, “I’m starving!”

So the three of them went to the café for a late lunch, and then Carlie encouraged her friends to get in some more runs before the lifts closed.

“I can sit by the window and watch,” said Carlie. So Morgan and Emily, acting like a couple of mother hens, helped make Carlie comfortable in a big chair in the corner between the picture window and the huge rock fireplace. Then Morgan found a couple of magazines, and Emily brought her a cup of hot cocoa.

“Thanks,” said Carlie. “Now you guys go do some snowboarding, okay?”

Morgan shook her head. “No, I’d rather stay here.”

“Me too,” said Emily.

“Really,” insisted Carlie. “You guys need to go have some fun.”

“We don’t want to leave you.”

“Please,” begged Carlie. “Can’t you see that it’s torturous knowing that my good friends are missing out on fun because of me?” Carlie looked at the clock over the fireplace. “You don’t even have two hours of riding time left.”

“And you’ll be okay?” asked Morgan.

“I’m fine.”

Of course, Carlie felt mixed emotions after they left. She tried to distract herself with her magazines and cocoa and, really, she was glad that her friends could at least have some fun now. But she did feel lonely too — and left out. She also felt embarrassed for her stupid accident. It was even more humiliating to know that it was partly because of Chelsea that she’d been hurt. Chelsea hadn’t exactly dared her. In fact, she’d told her
not
to jump. But she’d done it in a way that had made Carlie feel like she’d be a loser if she didn’t. Even before she did it, Carlie had known it was a mistake to jump … and yet she’d gone ahead. She looked down at her injured arm. It was a hard way to learn a tough lesson.

But even more troubling than knowing she’d been stupid was that she felt betrayed by Chelsea now. Betrayed and hurt. Oh, she knew it wasn’t really Chelsea’s fault that she’d broken her arm. But at the same time she knew she wouldn’t have attempted such a daring stunt if Chelsea had kept her big mouth shut.

“Hey, Carlie.”

She looked up to see Enrico approaching. His ski hat was in his hands, his hair was all ruffled and sweaty looking, and he had two bright red spots on his cheeks, probably from the cold. But what really got her attention was that he seemed uneasy — like he was almost afraid of her, which was ridiculous.

“Hi, Enrico.”

“How are you doing?”

She nodded down to her blue cast and the sling. “Great.”

He sat down across from her. “Sorry about that.”

She shrugged. “It was my own stupid fault.”

“Well, Chelsea kind of egged you on.” He shook his head. “I heard her going on about it … before your run. I could tell that she was kind of challenging you. Then, after you fell, I saw her acting like you were just faking it to get attention. She’s such an idiot.”

“No, she’s just Chelsea. She doesn’t always think before she speaks.”

“So, you’re not mad at her?”

Carlie considered this. “Yeah, I guess I am. But she’s in our club … so I probably shouldn’t be mad. I’m pretty sure Morgan would tell me to forgive her. But I guess I don’t totally know how to do that.”

He nodded. “Me too. I mean, I heard the stuff that Cory said last night about forgiving people, but what if you can’t forgive someone? Like what if someone did something so wrong you didn’t want to forgive him?”

“I know … I wondered the same thing.”

“So, are you a Christian, Carlie?”

“Yeah, I think I am,” she admitted in a way that didn’t sound very convincing.

“But you’re not sure?”

“No,” she said firmly. “I
am
a Christian. I invited Jesus into my heart last summer. But my family, well, we’re Catholic, and although we pretty much believe the same things … I guess I still have some questions. Like I see Morgan and Emily and sometimes it seems like they have something that’s different … like they take their faith really seriously. I guess I kind of want to be like that too.”

Enrico studied her closely. “I know what you mean.”

“But I’m just not sure what to do about it.”

“Cory was telling us some more stuff last night, before we went to bed. Some of the things he said really made me think.”

“Like what?”

“Like he said you can pray to God, and he will really hear you. And he’ll answer you. Cory makes it sound like God wants to be your best friend … not just some old dude with a long white beard who lives up in the clouds, you know?”

Carlie nodded. “That’s what Morgan and Emily say too.”

“But you don’t believe it?”

Carlie considered this. “Well, I actually do sort of believe it.” Then she told him about some of the things they had prayed about in their club. Like most recently when Emily’s family was in trouble, and then the time
when she and Chelsea almost drowned. “And it really did seem like our prayers were answered — miraculously.”

They talked some more about God and faith and being a Christian, and as they were talking, Carlie almost forgot that Enrico was a boy. It’s like their conversation was natural … and interesting … it just didn’t matter. Then Carlie looked up and noticed that Chelsea, Amy, and Whitney were walking through the lodge now. Chelsea looked in Carlie’s direction then quickly turned away as if she was trying to act like she hadn’t seen her, although Carlie knew that she had. Still, Carlie wasn’t sure why Chelsea would do that. Carlie was also pretty sure that she didn’t care. In fact, if she never spoke to Chelsea again, it would be too soon.

Before long, Morgan and Emily showed up. “How’s it going?” asked Morgan as she flopped into a chair across from Carlie.

“Good,” said Carlie.

Then Jeff came over and joined them, sitting next to Enrico and warming his hands by the fire.

“How was snowboarding?” asked Carlie.

“Pretty good,” said Jeff. “The snow was perfect.”

“Yeah,” said Morgan. “You should’ve seen my last ride, Carlie. It was awesome.”

“She’s really getting the hang of it,” said Emily.

“Who knows,” said Morgan, “by this time tomorrow, I might even try the half-pipe.”

“Just make sure you’re careful,” warned Carlie.

“I’m not going to try to jump,” said Morgan quickly.

“Don’t let anyone talk you into doing something you don’t want to do,” said Enrico in a serious tone.

“Well, unless you’re a guy,” said Jeff. Then he held up his hands when the girls all glared at him. “Just kidding!”

Emily sort of laughed. “Hey, I think we all learned a good lesson today, Carlie.”

“Just sorry that it was at your expense,” added Enrico.

“And,” said Emily, “if it makes you feel any better, Chelsea is feeling a little foolish now. She seemed pretty shocked that your arm was broken.”

“Hopefully she’s feeling sorry too,” said Morgan.

“She should be sorry,” said Enrico. “She’s partly to blame, you know.”

“It’s not totally her fault,” said Carlie, although to be honest, she still thought Chelsea was sort of responsible. “I mean, it’s not like she
made
me do it. It was my dumb choice to jump.”

“Even so, Chelsea didn’t help much,” said Jeff.

The group talked a while longer, and finally the guys noticed what time it was and said they needed to go to their cabin to clean up for dinner.

Carlie blinked in surprise. “You guys actually clean up for dinner?”

Jeff laughed and tugged on the T-shirt beneath his
jacket. “If you smelled me right now you wouldn’t even ask that question.”

“See ya,” called Enrico as they walked away.

Emily chuckled as she poked Carlie in her good arm. “See, even guys have to clean up sometimes.”

Carlie looked down at her cast. “Well, even if I wanted to clean up, it would be a challenge now. I don’t know how I’m going to take a shower with this thing on. The nurse said not to get it wet.”

“We can help you,” said Morgan.

“Okay.” Carlie slowly stood up then grinned at her friends. “I guess I don’t really want to be known as Pigpen after all.”

“Not with the way that Enrico was looking at you,” said Emily slyly.

“Not because of that,” snapped Carlie. “And, besides, we’re
just
friends. I am not about to become boy crazy like some other people I won’t mention.”

“I wasn’t saying that you were boy crazy,” said Emily.

“Good,” said Carlie. “Because I am not.”

“Speaking of boy crazy,” said Emily, nodding toward the back entrance to the lodge. “There goes Chelsea, Whitney, and Amy right now.”

Carlie glanced over in time to see their friends walking toward the game room. All three of them looked like they were on their way to a party or maybe a fashion show,
and Carlie could just imagine the smell of perfume floating around them. Well, that was their choice.

“So you’re really not mad at Chelsea?” asked Morgan as they went outside into the crisp, cold air.

Carlie took in a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds then slowly letting it go. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess I’m still sort of mad. I’m trying not to blame her, but she still hurt my feelings when she said I was faking it. I wasn’t!”

“Obviously,” said Emily.

“And that was wrong of her do that,” said Morgan. “She broke the rule of our club.” She fumbled with the sleeve of her jacket until she could get the bracelet out, holding it up as a reminder.

“It sure wasn’t very loving,” said Emily.

“To be honest, I don’t feel very much like I love Chelsea right now,” said Carlie. The truth was she felt more like she hated the girl. She wished that Chelsea wasn’t in their club. It seemed like they had all been a lot happier before Chelsea came along. And yet she knew that was unfair. Not to mention partially her own fault since it had been Carlie who had actually introduced Chelsea to the others in the first place.

“I don’t feel very loving toward Chelsea either,” admitted Emily.

Morgan sighed. “I hate to say it, but I feel the same
way. I know it’s not what Jesus would do either, but I really don’t like how Chelsea and Amy are acting all boy crazy and sort of snotty. I’m kind of embarrassed to think that I’m the one who invited them on the ski trip.”

“Is there anything we can do about it?” asked Carlie eagerly. She suddenly imagined the three of them standing up to Chelsea and Amy — giving them both a great big piece of their minds and telling them to straighten up or be kicked out of the club. So there!

“I guess we can pray for them,” said Morgan.

“That’s right,” agreed Emily. “We can.”

Carlie wanted to shout, “No way!” She wanted to question why they should pray for someone who was acting the way Chelsea had been. And Amy too, for that matter. But instead she just nodded like she agreed. And, right then and there, on the trail halfway between the cabin and the lodge, Emily and Morgan stopped and bowed their heads and prayed. Carlie didn’t actually pray, but she pretended to. And when they said “amen” she said “amen” too. But she didn’t mean it.