Read 18 Things for Free Online Page A

of course, I couldn’t find one anywhere. I knew there was one in the ER lobby through the double doors up ahead, but there was not a chance in Hell I was going there. Too many haunting memories. Loria on her knees, Robert holding his arms around her shaking frame. Conner lying still on a table. I shook my head, trying to shake my thoughts away. Grief had become my smug companion. Maybe rushing into the ER and screaming at the walls would prove therapeutic.
Are you happy with yourself? Do you know what you’ve done? You took a seventeen-year-old kid away from his parents, from his friends, from a girl who loved him more than life itself!
Instead, I altered my course and backtracked. When I bore right, I spotted two nurses talking animatedly while Toe-touch Tammy stepped out of the elevator.
    What is she doing here?
Panicking again, I slinked into a supply room.
    “What happened?” asked Tammy, her muffled voice filtering through the door.
    With my ear pressed against the cold metal, I listened as a nurse explained. “Your father suddenly vomited up blood after drinking several beers at the bar up the street. The owner called for an ambulance right away, and the paramedics brought your dad to the ER. He had internal bleeding, part of liver failure. The blood vessels in his gut burst. Our liver specialist stopped the bleeding, using an endoscope—a flexible tube with a tv camera at the end. Then the doctor used a balloon to press on the vessels.”
    The elevator doors dinged, and I heard Tammy speak in an exasperated voice. “Thank you so much for coming.”
    The sound of heavy sobs followed, and my eyes glistened with sudden tears for my archenemy.
    “I’m the Fitzgerald’s neighbor,” said a woman with a quavering voice, whom I assumed must have stepped out of the elevator since I heard the doors ding. “Tammy called me on her way over. What happened?”
    “Alcoholic hepatitis,” the nurse announced. “I’ve just finished telling her about it. We’re treating him with a blood transfusion now, but he’ll need to stay with us for the next three weeks to recover. Tammy, how much does your father drink in a typical day?”
    “Six to eight beers.” She sniffled.
    “That’ll do it,” stated the nurse. “And how long has this gone on?”
    “Since the day I was born,” Tammy responded in a weepy voice. “I’m his only child. Mom died during childbirth, and he took up drinking afterward to deal with the grief.”
    Staggering backwards, I drew a hand to my heart and remembered the afternoon Conner died.
    The school parking lot was nearly deserted while I waited for him by his Hybrid. My gaze flitted in search of Conner and then to the
Lord of the Flies
book I was reading for English class, never able to focus on either task for long. One of the vehicles, a Lexus, belonged to Toe-touch Tammy. As if summoned, she paraded like a peacock around the side of the building, with two other cheerleaders. I debated fleeing for a second, but then…
    “Hey, Olga!” Tammy put out her cigarette on the asphalt and blew smoke in my face.
    I coughed but managed to fight off potential asthma attack number two for the day. Waving a geekazoid prop like an inhaler in front of Tammy would be worse than pulling Star Wars figurines out of my pocket and playing with them.
    “So, um, like, how was your day?” Tammy asked, as if she cared. Lately, she kept messing with me, as if making me miserable was high on her priority list.
    I had no idea why, because honestly, I wasn’t that important.
    “You look so cute waiting here for Conner, like a lost puppy.” One of her cronies scoffed. Oh yeah, there was her reason. She was in love with Conner, too. Half of the school loved him.
    “I don’t really speak cheerleader, but let me see if I can put this in terms you’ll understand. O-M-G, my day was like
sooo
totally fabulous, girlfriend! Eww, I think I just broke a nail! Gotta go!”
    As I bolted past her, figuring I’d head