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It took forever for the two of theed from the hospital Pretty much every doctor in the place seemed to want to come and talk to them one last time To ask them more questions Finally one doctor caive them some answers "Except," he said, "I&039;m not sure we have any Not any that mean much, anyway You both check out fine, physically Better than fine, really Um, Brent - your chart says you broke your ar board into a pool and I hit the bottom with my wrist It was in a cast for six weeks"
The doctor consulted so on a clipboard "You see, normally that would show up on an x-ray, even after it healed But I don&039;t see so much as a hairline or a shadow here" He looked up and smiled at them "Whatever happened to you in that ravine - you came back healthier than when you left Noe&039;d love to do some more tests - "
"Not on my dime," Grand lot, where Brent got a surprise A hundred and five pounds of teenaged girl ca balloons
"Oh ht," Lucy said Lucy Benez had been Brent&039;s best friend since they started high school together and lad to see her and he actually kissed her on the cheek, so he&039;d never done before
She stepped back and looked at him She was so excited her face was flushed She wore her hair in two pony-tails sticking out at angles from the top of her head and she had braces Not just on her teeth, either - she had braces on her legs as well, s o inches longer than the other The doctors were slowly but surely trying to fix that by stretching out the shorter leg She said it hurt a lot but she didn&039;t let it get to her "When I heard I just about died," she told him "But I knew you would be okay You&039;ve been out in that desert a million times And oh my God Oh reat Oh, Brent Brent! Here! These are for you!" She handed him the balloons They all said GET WELL SOON on them
Lucy could only walk at a sort of fast hobble, but she easily co twice as fast as everybody else He&039;d asked her why, once, and she said that she had twice as much to say as anybody, and anyway half of what most people said was just du taller when you really weren&039;t, and she figured she would get that half of every conversation over with in the first couple minutes and by the tiotten to the really important stuff, the stuff people actually wanted to hear
Listening to Lucy talk made Brent out of breath Still There was no one he wanted to see more He was scared, to be honest, and really worried, and he was still screwed up about losing his dad He needed her friendship more than ever
"I am totally here for you You can count on me, whatever you need, whether that&039;s someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, or who knows, o to the s are still noro and, say, see a movie If you want that, I aive Lucy a ride?"
"I&039; the driver&039;s side door of her station wagon
In the back seat, on the ride ho to Lucy He knew he could trust her He started s with the two of theie and Grandh to drown out anything he said "They argue all the ti on for years now, but before, at least they didn&039;t live in the saet in a fight and Grandie because she used a curse word or because she said she was a democrat or an atheist or whatever Most of the tiet a rise out of Grandet hit"
"But why?" Lucy asked "Why would anyone want that? Other than a masochist, I mean, and from my experience masochists are pretty rare I s that hurt them, but - "
"Because," Brent said, because he knew Lucy didn&039;tinterrupted, "then Mom and Dad would have to take us hoo if there&039;s a proble in on her"
"Your sister is really pretty," Lucy said "And very smart, which is a rare combination Only a very few of us - I roup here, not for my own self - can say that much It&039;s a sha else" He had been thinking about how to put this He had failed to coh, the words that would make it sound real Whenever he said it out loud it h he kneas true "Whatever happened to us, it changed us"
She nodded solee soine what I would do if ically I don&039;t ed me physically Lucy - I think I have superpowers"