The Heart Between Us

“Kyle, can you hear me?” a strange voice said. The sound of a siren made it difficult to hear. “If you can hear me,” they continued slowly, increasing their volume. “Please squeeze my hand,” the stranger said. Kyle felt a soft, warm hand touching his own. It felt soothing. He gave it a weak squeeze. “That’s good, Kyle. My name is Clara, and I’m a paramedic. I’m going to get you to the hospital soon. 

There was some confusion about what was going on. Kyle wanted to say something, do something, but he couldn’t move. It felt like he was being swaddled. It was oddly comforting, but filled with pain every time the ambulance hit a bump on the road. All Kyle could do was push out a weak moan.

“Kyle, we need you to remain still. You’ve been in an accident, and you are badly injured,” she said. “We are almost there. Stay with us.”

Kyle’s mind became hazy again as he passed out.

*****

“Mr. Jones, how many times have I told you not to sleep in my class?” A loud strike hit Kyle’s desk. He jumped. Immediately, there was soft laughter from his classmates. As his eyes focused, he saw his teacher with a disgruntled expression.

“Sorry, Mr. Peters. I didn’t get enough sleep last night,” Kyle said, embarrassed.

“You need to get more sleep. You can’t keep dozing off in my class if you want to pass,” Mr. Peters said. Several of the students behind Kyle oo’d. “Okay, where was I? Oh, yes. The imaginary number is depicted as the letter i,” he continued.

Kyle turned around and looked beside him. He whispered to the kid next to him. “Dude, why didn’t you wake me?”

“I tried, but you were dead to the world,” he said.

“Craig, Kyle. Please pay attention, or you can go to the principal’s office,” Mr. Peters said.

“Sorry, Mr. Peters,” they said in unison.

Kyle decided to text Craig instead.

Kyle: Dude, this class is so boring.

Craig: I know, dude, but you need to focus.

Craig: I can only do so much to help.

Craig: Now stop texting me and focus on Mr. Peters.

Kyle: Fine.

“Mr. Jones, is that your phone?” Mr. Peters asked. He extended his hand, and Kyle reluctantly handed over his phone. Kyle looked towards the window past Craig. When their eye met, Craig pointed to the whiteboard. Kyle sighed in defeat and tried to focus.

After school, Kyle and Craig met up with the girls,Stacey and Kelly. The four sat in the school yard and chatted about their plans for the weekend. “Stacey and I are thinking about going to the mall on Saturday,” Kelly said.

“That sounds like fun,” Craig said.

“Okay, so Craig is in,” Kelly said.

“Kyle, what about? What are your plans?” Stacey asked.

“We got so much going on,” Kyle said, gesturing at both Craig and himself.

“We do?” Craig replied.

“Yes, we do,” Kyle said through wide eyes. “Don’t you remember?” He hoped that his best friend would get the hint.

“Right… we have that thing on Saturday,” Craig said, trying to be convincing. “Yeah, we are going to be very busy Saturday.”

“Okay…” Stacey said with suspicion. “Well, if you find yourselves free. Call us, and we’ll have an adventure at the mall.”

“Absolutely, we will,” Kyle said, pushing Craig away from the girls.

“What are you doing?” Craig asked. “We are late for that other thing I told you about.”

“Sure… I forgot…” Craig said without hesitation. “We’ll chat later.” The boys continued to walk to the parking lot. “Dude, what was that?”

“What was what?” Kyle asked.

“That thing you said about Saturday. We’ve got nothing going on this Saturday. In fact, I was going to suggest we all hang out at the mall.”

“We can’t do that.”

“Why not? We’ve gone to the mall every Saturday this month with them,” Craig said.

“Exactly, the mall is old news. I’m sure we can find something better to do.”

“And what, exactly, are we going to be doing?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”

“Is this because your crush on Stacey has verged on desperation?” Craig said.

“I’m not desperate,” Kyle defended himself.

“Then why the ‘I’m busy’ nonsense?”

“Because…”

“Because what? Is it because it has to do with Stacey?” Craig said with conviction.

“Yes, yes! It has to do with Stacey.” Kyle confessed.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Fine. I made a promise to myself: the next time I hang out with Stacey, I would… ask her… on… a… date.”

“It’s about time!” Craig nearly shouted. “Dude, she knows you like her.”

“She does?”

“Everybody does. Even my barber knows.”

“How does your barber know that a girl likes me?” Kyle asked.

“I told him.”

“And why did you do that?”

“I had nothing else to talk about,” Craig said. “So, can you just ask her out already? I really want to go to the mall this weekend,” he complained.

“No, the timing has to be right.”

“Maybe that time is right now because Stacey is running towards us.”

“What!” Kyle turned, trying to hide his shocked face.

“Kyle, Craig, I’m glad I caught you,” Stacey said.

“What’s going on?” Craig asked.

“Do either of you have dates to Prom?”

Kyle’s face began to blush. “Uh, not yet.”

“Nope,” Craig said nonchalantly.

“Good, I have a couple of cousins who are moving into town in a couple of weeks. Would you be interested in taking them to Prom?” Stacey asked.

“I’m not sure; I’ll think about it. I have someone in mind,” Craig said.

“Ooo, spill!” Stacey squeaked.

“Nope, it will be a surprise, that it… if they say yes.”

“Fine. What about you, Kyle?”

“Um, I don’t know yet. I should meet them first. Make sure our personalities flow with each other.”

“Flow with each other?” Stacey asked.

“Yes…?” Kyle replied.

“Was that a question or an answer?” Craig chimed in. Kyle looked over to his best friend and gave him a death glare. “Yeah, it is important to make sure they are compatible with each other,” Craig said.

“Well, okay. I will set up a date for all of us to get together.”

“Sure…” Kyle’s words trailed off. He lost his balance and collapsed.

“Kyle!” Craiged and Stacey said, almost in unison. They knelt down to make sure he was okay. Craig held him up, and Stacey tried to wake him up. “Kyle, are you okay?”

“Kyle, wake up, man. You’re scaring me,” Craig said. Kyle groaned, and he began to move.

“Thank God, you’re okay,” Craig said in relief.

*****