Read Blooming for Free Online Page A

me, it
doesn’t really explain it all, but it’s the best I can do.
    When I was in
8 th grade I was hit by a car and very badly injured. I was thrown
over the hood with enough force to send me a few feet into the air, and when I
landed on the other side my chest was impaled on a metal fence railing.”
    She heard
Todd’s sharp exhale on the other side of the door, and continued while she
still could.
    I had to stay
in hospital for a long time, I’d cracked my sternum, and I also broke my collar
bone and fractured my hip.”
    “Christ Jen,
I’m so sorry.”
    “Anyway all
the injuries were just the start, I lost a lot of school-time and I suffered
from a kind of post traumatic stress. When I did try to go back to school, the
few friends I’d made had drifted away and formed new friendships. I spent a lot
of recesses alone, and because of the injuries I’d suffered I walked with a
limp for a while. Eventually I just found myself spending more and more time
alone.
    Todd became
aware that she was talking as if he weren’t there anymore, like it was a bedtime
story that she had told over and over until the words came unbidden. She spoke
like someone hypnotised so he just waited for her to finish.
    “After a
while I couldn’t control the panic attacks that came on during school time, and
people forgot about the accident and started to see me as a figure of fun. I
was bullied quite badly almost every day.
    In the end
mom couldn’t take it anymore, I was in danger of doing something to harm
myself, so she pulled me from school and took on extra work so she could pay
for me to be tutored privately.”
    Todd was
trying to work out the correct response but nothing was coming to mind so he
said simply, “God I’m sorry, I can’t imagine..?”
    Jen cut him
off abruptly, the shuffling noise letting him know she’d risen to her feet,
“Your hour is over,” she was sobbing softly, trying not to let him hear it.
    “I want to
come back tomorrow. We can do this just the same and I’ll sit outside your door
for as long as you’ll talk to me, even though I’m pretty stiff out here, and
not the good kind of stiff.” He caught himself in the dumb joke and swore; now
why could he not have just reined that last bit in?
    “Sorry just
forget I said that, cheap joke.”                                   
    “Todd, if you
really must, then come back in two days. I just can’t cope with doing this
every day, and please don’t tell anyone, even Lily. I don’t want anybodies
pity.”
    “Jennifer,
the last thing I do is pity you and you’re right, pity is the last thing you
need.”
    Jen choked
back a sob, pulling herself together with difficulty.
    Todd got to
his feet, and then remembered something, “I still need that promise from you
not to run.”
    “I promise
not to run without telling you, that’s the best I can do right now. Leave your
glass and I’ll get it later.”
    “Goodnight
Jen.”
    “Goodnight
Todd.”
    Todd waited
for ten or fifteen minutes, he lost track of it really, he couldn’t hear
anything on the other side of the door and didn’t know if that was bad or good,
he was hoping she’d open the door to get the glass. He wanted to see her little
face, touch her - maybe even kiss her, no matter how brief, just to confirm his
intent to not let her run off. But the door stayed resolutely shut and
eventually he went back downstairs deep in thought.
    Jen had no
intention of collecting the glass from the hall until the next day, she
wouldn’t risk him still sitting there all green eyed and gorgeous, instead she
went into the bathroom and washed her face. She looked up into the mirror and
saw that her face looked drawn and pale. In truth she felt absolutely
shattered.
    Even though
it was just past 8, she got into bed and drew the covers up tight. Exhaustion
swept over her and she slept fitfully until she woke herself with a shout at
3am, and realised she’d once again been