by Imogen Rose
Olivia’s cell phone rang; it was Maria. How strange.
“Hello, Maria. What can I do for you?”
“Dr. Darley, Arizona’s been in an accident. We’re on our way to the hospital with her now.”
Olivia’s heart skipped a beat, “What happened, Maria? Did she fall on the ice?”
“No, I’m not sure exactly what happened. We found her on the floor in the restroom. Harry’s is driving her to the hospital in Ali’s car right now. I’m with Ali and Ariele in Arizona’s Jeep heading to the hospital, as well.”
“Thanks for calling and letting me know, Maria. I’ll call Rupert and meet you over at the hospital.”
She hung up, called Rupert and relayed the news.
“Ollie, I’ll meet you over there. I’ll have to bring Ella.”
Olivia rushed out of her office, down to the H2 and floored her way to the hospital. An accident in the restroom, had she slipped? What kind of injury did she have that she needed to go to hospital for? It must be more than a scratch. She was over come with worry. She pulled into the hospital parking lot just as Rupert arrived on his bike with Ella. Rupert picked Ella up in his arms and they ran together into the hospital.
“We’re Arizona Darley’s parents. She has just been admitted?”
The nurse behind the desk sat up in attention as she recognized Dr. Darley.
“They are taking her up to x-ray in a moment. I’ll take you to her.” She got up and signaled another nurse to take over for her and then led them along the corridor. They spotted Harry first and ran up to find out what was going on.
“She is being taken up to x-ray now. She said that she’s absolutely fine, but I guess they want to make sure. She is right there on the gurney.”
It was hard to see the gurney through the crowd. Olivia recognized Ali, Maria and Ariele. She could vaguely see Kellan bending over the gurney as it started to move towards the elevator.
“Is that Kellan?”
“Yes, she’s not let go of him since we found her.”
The elevator doors opened and the gurney was pushed in, with Kellan attached to it. The nurse got in and signaled for everyone else to take the next one. Olivia was about to protest, but felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.
It was the police, two of them, a man and a woman.
“Are you Arizona Darley’s parents?” The man asked.
“Yes, we are,” said Rupert.
“We need your permission to ask Arizona a few questions about the incident this afternoon.”
Rupert said, “Incident? I had assumed that this was an accident. She slipped and fell in a puddle? What’s going on?”
The policeman said that they had received an anonymous call to let them know that there had been an altercation in the girl’s restroom. A girl had been hurt. They were duty bound to investigate.
“Of course you are,” said Olivia. “An altercation? I want to know what happened too. You can question her, but in our presence only and I don’t want her upset. Wait here until she comes out from x-ray and gets an all clear from the doctor. I’ll try to find out what’s going on.”
The elevator arrived and Rupert and Olivia joined Ella, Ariele, Ali, Harry and Maria as the door closed. Rupert looked around at the teens in the elevator wondering what they knew and how much they would share.
“So, tell us what happened. The cops downstairs seem to think this is due to an altercation in the girl’s restroom?” Rupert asked, looking at Harry.
“How would they know that?” Ali demanded.
“An anonymous tip apparently,” replied Olivia. “Is it true?”
Harry, Ali, Maria and Ariele shot each other quizzical glances and shrugged.
Harry shook his head at his father, “We don’t know, Dad. Arizona says that she can’t remember. We found her in the restroom, on the floor with her hands around her neck gasping in pain. There was no one else in the bathroom with her.”
The elevator doors opened and they rushed over to Arizona. Olivia looked down at her, so pale and frightened, her hand clutching on to Kellan’s.
“What happened, Arizona?”
Ella tried to get a look at Arizona, but couldn’t see so Harry picked her up. However, one look at Arizona and Ella burst into a flood of tears. Harry hugged her close. Rupert took Arizona’s free hand and said, “Arizona, you have to tell us. The cops are waiting outside to speak with you once we are done here, but we would like to know as well.”
Olivia noticed Arizona flinch at the mention of cops. Something was definitely going on here. However, all the questioning could wait. Her daughter looked worn out, best to give her some time to rest. She stood back as the gurney was pushed into the x-ray suite with Kellan still attached to it.
Rupert looked around at the remaining teens.
“So, while Arizona is in the suite, can any of you shed light on why she would have been in an altercation with anyone? Was it Justin’s group?”
Harry looked uncomfortable, but knew that he couldn’t keep this from his parents, even though Arizona would want him to.
“There was an altercation between Arizona and Justin at the ice rink car park last night as we told you earlier.”
“You didn’t tell us exactly what happened. What kind of altercation? Surely Justin didn’t get physical?”
“I think he might have, had I not stopped him.”
“What was it about?”
“It started before I got there. Kellan was there with Arizona. We’ll have to ask him exactly how it got started. All I know is that Justin is after revenge and he can be an ass, so we’ve been looking out for her as much as we could today. She insisted on going to the restroom on her own and I am sorry we didn’t get there on time. We doubt it was Justin though; he was spotted in the cafeteria at the same time. Arizona did say that it wasn’t him. However, she does have severe bruising to her neck, so someone definitely had a go at her.”
Ariele made an uncomfortable sound.
“Ariele, do you know something?” Olivia asked.
“I’ll be breaking a confidence but I feel I have to. Lily texted me on the way to the hospital letting me know that she had called the cops. She saw Simla come out of the bathroom just before she saw us running up the corridor. Lily then heard what happened, but does not want to get involved. Her dad works for Simla’s dad. She called the cops using the school phone, but did not give them her name, just told them that an altercation had occurred in the bathroom and a student was hurt. Rupert and Olivia shot each other a worried glance. Could it be Simla? It seemed unlikely.
The door to the x-ray unit opened and Arizona, now in a wheelchair, was wheeled out holding on to Kellan’s hand.
“Is she ok?” Rupert inquired.
“Nothing broken, she is fine and can head home. She will need plenty of rest and the doctor is writing out a prescription for pain medication. Her throat will be sore for a few days.”
“Arizona, could you talk to the policeman waiting downstairs and tell them what you told us?” Rupert asked.
She nodded at Rupert, looking exhausted. Olivia wanted to take her home as soon as possible. A good rest is what she needed now.
“I want to push the wheelchair, Mom!” Ella demanded enthusiastically.
Olivia nodded and Ella took the handlebars and with Kellan’s help pushed the wheelchair toward the elevator where they managed to squeeze in with Olivia. Rupert waited and took the next elevator down with Harry and the girls. Once they got to the car, Olivia looked on helplessly and slightly amused at the state of Kellan trying to get Arizona into the car. There was no way she was letting him go so they finally got in together.
Rupert drove. It gave Olivia some time to mull things over. There was definitely something up with Arizona just as Glenda had warned. Her passion for hockey and her aggressive behavior was worrying. It was like she was a Stevens again, but that was surely impossible? She must be having a hard time dealing with this change in herself. Her friends must wonder what wa
s happening, too. There had also been a significant change in the relationship between Arizona and Kellan. She seemed totally attached to him, which was unusual for both her Arizonas. Neither had exhibited a strong attachment to anyone before. Neither had ever shown an interest in boys. She wondered what Kellan made of all this. She would need to get him on his own and talk to him later. Why had she picked on Justin? Or perhaps it was Justin who picked on her? She would have to get to the bottom of this puzzle and deal with it before things got really out of hand again, as it had today.
As they pulled into the driveway Kellan asked, “Is it ok if I bring her up to her room and get her to her bed?”
“Thanks, Kellan, that’s nice of you. We appreciate all your help today,” said Rupert as Kellan let himself out with Arizona still in his arms and carried her upstairs.
“She’s like a baby!” Ella laughed.
“Ella, would you like a snack and then you can play Guitar Hero with Harry for a while?” Olivia suggested trying to distract her young daughter.
“Yes, please,” said Ella excitedly, “Here’s Harry now.”
They went to the kitchen together and sat down.
“Is Kellan upstairs with Arizona?” Harry asked.
“Yes, he carried her up the stairs like a baby,” giggled Ella.
“I should give him a break. Come on, Ella. Bring your snack with you. Let’s go up and read the big baby a bed time story.”
Ella got up and followed Harry up the stairs.
Olivia looked at Rupert with worry, “I guess we should try to find out as much as we can from Kellan?”
Rupert nodded as they heard Kellan come down the stairs and walk into the kitchen. He sat down, looking exhausted.
“What happened to your hand, Kellan?” Rupert asked, pointing to his right hand. It was scratched up with dried blood around numerous cut marks. Kellan looked down examining his hand and smiled, “Your daughter is strong.”
“Arizona did that?” Olivia asked in surprise.
“She didn’t mean to. It’s been a difficult day for her. She used me as a security blanket, I don’t mind.”
“Let me clean the cuts for you and put some bandages on,” said Olivia as she rummaged in the medicine cabinet for the first aid kit. She found it, came back and took Kellan’s hand in hers. It was worse than it had looked from a distance. There was still a nail attached to one of the cuts. She took a pair of tweezers and gently pried it out. She held it up for Rupert and Kellan to see and shrugged her shoulders. Then she cleaned out each cut, applied Neosporin and put bandages on the bigger cuts.
“My apologies, Kellan. Arizona really did some damage here.”
“I should go back up to her. She was asleep when Harry came up. She’ll freak out if I’m not there when she wakes up. It’s probably best if I hang out in her room tonight.”
“I guess that’s ok. Keep the door open so we can hear you if she or you need anything. Kellan, thank you again, for being so thoughtful. I’ll call your Dad and let him know what’s going on.”
Olivia continued, “It would be useful for us to know what happened in the parking lot to cause the row with Justin. Harry was able to fill us in with the part from when he arrived at the scene, but could you tell us what happened before that? What started it?”
“I should really head back up, the details aren’t important. Sufficient to say that Justin was being, well Justin and was winding Arizona up. She got so angry that she grabbed her stick to go and hit him. Harry arrived in time to help me deal with the situation. I held her back while Harry dealt with Justin.”
Kellan got up to leave. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his kissing their daughter with them, especially since they had just given him permission to watch over her. That would be voided instantaneously.
“I’ll bring you up something to eat, Kellan,” said Olivia as he was leaving the room.
“Thanks,” said Kellan and left.
Harry came back to the kitchen with Ella.
“Well, that was boring, wasn’t it, Harry! She’s sleeping. We had to just sit there quietly and watch her. I want some more to drink.”
Harry laughed and got her some water.
“Here, drink this and then get Guitar Hero set up. I’ll be through in a minute.”
Ella purposefully marched off to the family room.
“Harry, what’s going on between Kellan and Arizona? They seem inseparable,” Rupert remarked as Harry rummaged around.
“You noticed?” he laughed. “Yes, I’ve noticed a change this week, mainly from Arizona. Not sure what Kellan makes of it, but he does not seem averse to it. He hasn’t said anything to me, but then this has been a busy week. I’ll try to pin him down for a chat later.”
“I said that he could hang out in Arizona’s room. I hope that was ok,” Olivia wondered.
“It’ll be fine. Kellan adores Arizona, always has. He’ll look after her.”
“Well, I need to pop into work and I was hoping to take Dad with me. Will you be ok with the munchkin? We’ll be on our cells. Call us if Arizona wakes or if there’s any change in her condition and we’ll head right back.”
“Sure, no problem. It’s almost bedtime for Ella anyway. We’ll play a couple of games and then I’ll put her to bed.”
“Great, thank you. I’ll go and say goodbye and then we’ll head off.”
They took Rupert’s bike. Olivia didn’t really need to head into work but she decided that she really did need to talk to Ariele. She had to try to figure out what was going on. Glenda had said that Arizona and Ariele had a conversation earlier this week and that she had a feeling that something was up. As she clung on to Rupert’s leather jacket, Olivia’s thoughts wandered back to their ride to the airport after their first night in their cozy London flat.
It had been a rainy, cold drive to Heathrow that October afternoon. She had clung on to Rupert wondering if this was going to be the last time that they would be with one another. When they reached Heathrow she had hung on to Rupert’s hand with the same desperation her daughter had shown today. She wouldn’t let go and Rupert had tried to persuade her to stay. But she had to go back for her two daughters. She had crumpled into a heap at the thought of leaving Rupert behind.
“Ollie, let me come with you,” Rupert had pleaded.
“Come with me?” Ollie mused, surprised. It was an option that she had strangely not considered.
“Yes, there is no reason I can’t get a ticket and we do this together.”
It had never occurred to her to take him back with her. What would be the harm? She wanted to share all of her with him, all her various aspects.
“Rupert, can you really come with me? I don’t want to leave you here.”
He nodded relieved that she was not parting from him again. They purchased another ticket and Olivia found herself happily sitting next to Rupert on the long flight back to California, holding on to him tightly.
As they pulled into the Moreaus’ driveway they saw Glenda waiting on the porch, Olivia had called her before they set off.
“Hi, Olivia, Rupert! Ariele is upstairs. Do you want to come in for a coffee with me first? You look like you need it.”
“A beer for me, Glenda, would be even better,” said Rupert with a chuckle.
“A beer it is! Wine for you, Olivia?”
“Yes, please, that sounds perfect,” she replied thankfully.
They congregated in Glenda’s small but cozy kitchen, perching themselves on the barstools.
“You guys look beat,” Glenda remarked as she handed out the drinks. Olivia sighed and nodded in agreement as Rupert put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
“You were right, Glenda, something has changed with Arizona. I think she has had some recall or perhaps it’s intuition that’s responsible for the changes we are noticing. I am hoping its intuition rather than recall. I couldn’t even begin to explain recall, but what you said at the office seems to point to recall though.”
&nb
sp; Rupert looked over at Glenda and asked, “Has Ariele mentioned anything?”
“No, she’s been very secretive about her conversations with Arizona. They seem to have become close lately. She has now been included in Arizona’s circle of friends and seems more happy and settled.”
“Do you think she’ll share anything with us?” Rupert wondered.
“Not willingly. You’re welcome to talk to her though,” said Glenda taking a sip of her coffee.
“That would be great. I promise not to upset her in any way. I’ll keep it as casual as I can.”
Glenda nodded at Olivia appreciatively, thankful that she understood that interrogating Ariele would just have the same effect, as it always did when Olivia tried it on her own teens.
“I’ll go and get her,” said Glenda and went up the stairs.
Olivia looked at Rupert and said, “Hon, perhaps you should do most of the talking? Teens tend to freeze up on me.”
Rupert chuckled, “The girls maybe, but I know the boys are more relaxed around you.”
Glenda came back to the kitchen with Ariele who looked withdrawn and suspicious.
“Hi, Dr. Sssss… Darley.”
“This is Arizona’s dad, Rupert.” Glenda interrupted. Everyone noticed Ariele rolling her eyes at this.
“Why the attitude, Ariele?” Glenda asked.
Ariele took a deep breath, “Mom, you know as well as I do that this is not Arizona’s dad, not her real one.”
“Ariele, this is complicated and not something we have time to discuss with you right now. Did you say anything to Arizona about Rupert not being her real dad?”
“No, of course not,” said Ariele defiantly shaking her head.
Olivia sighed in relief and Rupert added, “Ariele, this is a complex situation. We need to know what you know about what’s happened over the last few days. It will help us help Arizona. She is very distraught at the moment.”
“I don’t know anything more than I already told you at the hospital. It would probably help Arizona if you two explained to all of us what’s going on,” said Ariele with a challenge.
