Luca's Story Ch. 5
Chapter V--Discoveries
_Hands touch, eyes meet
Sudden silence, sudden heat
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl
He could be that boy
But I'm not that girl:_
_Don't dream too far
Don't lose sight of who you are
Don't remember that rush of joy
He could be that boy
I'm not that girl_
-Idina Menzel, "I'm Not That Girl"
It was early afternoon on the second day Luca spent at the hospital before Rebeccah arrived. She came bearing a small gift in hand and two cards in the other. Luca gave a weak little wave to her. She still felt exhausted, partly because of what had happened, partly because of the long, mostly uncomfortable conversation that she and her father had for what seemed like an eternity. But uncomfortable was an improvement, she had to admit. "Hey there," Luca said with a half-whisper as Rebeccah sat at her bedside.
"Hey yourself," she said warmly, a light smile on her face. She placed the gifts aside a moment and took Luca's hand. "How you doin' girl?"
Luca shrugged slightly. "Been better. Feel like I went three rounds with a MAC truck."
Rebeccah nodded slowly. "Yeah, nearly bleeding yourself dry'll do that, hun."
Luca stiffened, trying to sit up. She does it too quickly, however, and dizziness overwhelms her, putting her right back into her bed. "Who--"
Rebeccah held up a hand, silencing Luca. "Shhh. Don't worry, hun. Nobody knows. Your mom kinda broke down when I was coming up to visit. She met me in the waiting room and just started cryin' about it after I told her I was a friend of yours. Told me everything."
"You know?!" Luca said in a loud but hoarse voice.
"Chill, Luca. Your secret's safe with me. As far as I'm concerned, you're more a girl than most of the plastic bitches that rule that school."
Luca took a deep breath, trying to relax. "So nobody knows anything?"
Rebeccah patted her hand. "Not a thing. Your dangly bits, you attempting suicide, nothing."
"Was almost a successful attempt."
The white lapine nodded. "I know, your mother said you flat-lined three times before you stabilized enough to keep the blood pumping. You're lucky as hell."
Luca squeezed her friend's hand. "Yeah, I am..."
"So no more of this shit? I don't want to have to put a really good friend of mine on suicide watch here."
Luca interlocked her pinky with Beccah's. "Pinky swear. I realized a lot of things through this ordeal."
"Oh? Like what?"
Luca shook her head. "Too much to go through right now. I'm so tired I'd pass out long before I was halfway done." Luca nodded towards the gifts. "Those for me?"
Rebeccah turned to the stuff she set aside. "Yeah, here you go." She handed Luca a card that had been signed by most of her classmates.
"I don't even know these people. They care I'm actually ok?" Luca said with sarcasm.
"You'd be surprised. The boys seemed quite enthusiastic about wishing you their best." The fact the card barely accommodated all the well-wishers, Luca believed her friend. "You got a particularly nice comment from your little boyfriend, too." Rebeccah pointed to a large, scrawling signature and what was written above it.
Praying you feel better soon. The world seems a little darker without you around.
-Zee
"He wrote that?" Luca said, looking to Rebeccah. She nodded solemnly.
"I swear on my grandmother. I guess you weren't just imagining things."
Luca smiled wide, looking at the card. While she was staring at it, Beccah handed her a package with another get well card. This one was from Beccah exclusively. "Figured I would get you something just from me. I don't like sharing get well cards with a bunch of people. At least, not when it's for a friend."
Luca smiled faintly, looking at the card. It was a cheesy little number, with an illustration of monkeys in a bug-picking chain, but one wasn't there in the chain, and the one behind the spot was going hungry while the one ahead of the spot was scratching his back. Luca giggled. It was definitely something she would have picked out. Opening the gift that came with it, she found herself staring at a small, leather-bound Torah. "It's beautiful. But I can't accept this, it's too much," she said, trying to hand it to Rebeccah. Rebeccah pushed the book back into Luca's lap.
"If you knew the money my family had, you wouldn't say that."
Luca sighed, keeping the book on her lap. "Fine, then," she said with a thankful smile, then hugged Rebeccah close. "Thank you so much. It means a lot having a friend here for me."
For a little while, they talked about things. Some of them relevant, some of them superficial, all of it only furthering their bond. It had only been 48 hours since they met, and already Luca felt she could trust this girl with her life. She knew they would be very close for a long time.
It wasn't too long before Luca found herself drifting in and out. At that, Rebeccah took her cue, giving her friend's hand a squeeze and a soft goodbye before leaving Luca to sleep. And sleep she did. Hours and hours passed, and by the time Luca finally opened her eyes again, it was nine in the morning.
It wouldn't be until the following Monday that Luca would return to school. She was smiling brightly in her beige Capri pants, blue baby t, and blue sneakers as she sauntered up to the school. Furres she didn't even know were welcoming back. Boys were giving her looks from all around. Her wrists were covered by a multitude of silly bandz. She thought they looked stupid, but everyone was wearing them, and they kept the scars on her wrists hidden. The doctor said it would be a couple weeks before they healed properly. In the meantime, thank God for these little fads.
It wasn't long before Luca was joined by Rebeccah in the hallway. They met up with an excited little embrace. They had spent nearly every day but Saturday together since the day Beccah visited. Ostensibly, it was for Beccah to help her friend with the homework she was missing. In reality, it ended up that Luca was helping her friend for ten minutes before it all degraded to gossip and girl talk for several hours.
By the time Luca had her second day at the high school, you would have thought the pair had been together forever. They giggled and played around as they walked down the hallway to their first class. Luca was surprised that she hadn't even noticed Beccah was in three of her four classes. Upon her return to first period English, Luca was welcomed back by several of the students. As Beccah had asserted, the welcomes were mostly from the boys in the classroom. They had all been told there was a serious accident where Luca had taken a fall. They knew she was knocking on death's door, but other than that the details had been largely filled in by rumor and hearsay. Some said she was fighting with her parents when she got pushed down the stairs. Some said she was secretly into extreme sports and got herself hurt. A few even claimed she had been in a serious car accident that happened to have occurred that same night. Luca let everyone believe what they wanted to believe.
At lunch, Hyata and Ellie joined Rebeccah and Luca, and the four of them spoke about whatever their hearts desired, and plans were once again made to go watch the track team that afternoon. After the bell rang, they all parted to their respective classes.
Once in their chem class, Luca and Beccah shared glances when Zee walked in. He walked up to his desk, giving a light smile to Luca before sitting down and facing the front. Luca pouted at Beccah, who immediately mouthed to her, "Tell him 'thank you.' Ice breaker," and winked with a smirk.
Luca nodded, then reached out and tapped Zee on the shoulder with her pen. When he turned around, she almost lost the words she was going to say. "Hey Zee, I just wanted to thank you. For what you wrote in the card, I mean."
"Oh... ah... it's no problem," Zee said with a nervous smile. "You're welcome, Luca." With that, he turned away, hunching over his chemistry homework.
Luca sighed quietly, holding her arms up in exasperation and letting them drop. "What is his deal?" she said in frustration to Beccah, mouthing the words.
Rebeccah looked just as frustrated and flummoxed. There was far less confusion when she just wrote Zee of as gay, but this wasn't quite right. The entire class involved Luca absently doing their experiment while they wrote notes to each other on a piece of paper for each of them to read. The subject was debated furiously, or as furiously as a topic can be debated over a piece of paper. Finally the bell rang, and Zee was gone in a flash. The two of them looked at each other, sighing audibly. Slowly, Luca got her things together, and so did Beccah. They stood, making their way out of the classroom. Rebeccah was turning towards the track. "You coming, Luca?"
Luca was turning the other way, and turned with a smile to her friend. "Yeah, go on ahead. I gotta hit the little girl's room."
For a moment, Rebeccah looked confused. That is until Luca held up the nurse's restroom key. Rebeccah then understood, as if she'd completely forgotten that Luca is, biologically, at least, not completely female. As funny as it was, Luca couldn't help but love Rebeccah more for it. She was the only person that knew Luca's secret and actually saw the fact Luca was originally a boy as so non-important that she passed it off as some minor fact about someone. "Gotcha, hun, see you at the track."
The girls parted ways. Luca made her way into the central office of the school and past the front desk. The attendant there simply nodded her through. Going down one of the halls of the H-shaped office area, she was just about to reach the unisex bathroom when the handle turned. Out stepped Zee, and the two of them were suddenly staring each other down.
"What the hell are you doing here?" They both asked simultaneously. Realization flashed in both their minds, and they both gasped at the same time.