Page 15 of Chase
She starts to sway.
Arden stops her from falling but searches for me. I wipe my hands on a rag as quick as I can while I make my way over to them. My pace picks up when I see her sway again, I reach her just in time to engulf her in my arms and hold her close.
Arden looks worried. I don’t know what to do. I shake her lightly while still holding her up right. Her eyes flutter open briefly.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. I can’t hide the worry in my voice. Her eyes drift shut again. “Yasmin. I need to know what to do? Do I take you to the hospital? The nurse’s office? Help me out here, please,” I beg, letting my voice break on the last word. Her eyes open again. “No hospital. Need food. Low blood sugar. Glucose monitor in my pencil case” she mumbles.
Arden must hear because he grabs her pencil case quickly, removing the monitor from its case. He inserts a test strip and gently holds her finger while he pricks it and gathers the blood on the strip. I hold my breath while I wait for the result.
By this stage Mr Williams has come over to us.
2.1
“Shit.” Arden says, he reacts quickly. He knows this stuff. His sister has diabetes. 2.1 must be bad.
He lean’s in close. “Yasmin, do you have a glucose pen?”
She softly shakes her head.
“We have to go,” he says to Mr Williams and nods towards the door.
“Okay. Keep me updated.” Mr Williams responds. He knows that Arden knows what he is doing.
I let Yasmin slide down the front of my body to see if she can stand, loving the way she feels against me. The minute I ease back she stumbles; I turn her around and pick her up. Carrying her out of the workshop.
Arden takes off across the grass between the buildings leading the way to his locker. I follow him but he turns around, throws his keys at me, and tells me to meet him at his car. I manage to catch the keys without dropping Yasmin and change my direction for the car park.
Once at Arden’s car I unlock the back door and slide in with her, thankful for his choice of vehicle as it provides plenty of room. I try to keep her talking.
“Yasmin, can you open your eyes please? I need to see you.”
She groans a little. Her body starts shaking. I pull my phone out ready to call mum. Just before I hit dial Arden appears, his arms loaded. “Sorry,” he pants a little.
Arden is in shape but judging by the contents in his arms, he has just run halfway around the school. He hands me a can of lemonade and a straw. “Sit her up a little and get her to sip the lemonade. I need to give her a glucose injection and then we need to get her to eat something. I don’t know what she likes so I grabbed whatever I could.” He throws bags of lollies, a juice, some biscuits, and a banana on the floor. Right now, I’m thankful for my best friend.
I feel useless.
I don’t know what to do.
I watch as she shakes in my hold, her face pale and her skin clammy.
I follow his instructions and sit her up a little. “Yasmin, I need you to open your mouth and drink please.” I hold most of her weight and guide the straw to her mouth. She starts to sip the lemonade but not for long. Her head falls back again and her tongue darts out and swipes across her lips.
She’s still shaking. Arden notices. “Shorty, I’m going to give you an injection.” His voice is cool calm and collected. He’s in control.
Unlike me, I’m barely holding it together. A girl I met less than a week ago has me all fucked up, confused and worried.
Arden leans over and inserts the injection pen in the top of her leg through her coveralls. Almost immediately she stops shaking. Five minutes later her eyes open and she gazes up at me.
“Hi.” She whispers.
I pull her closer to me, finally letting out the breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Fuck Yasmin, you scared the shit out me.” I pull her back slightly so I can look at her face. She’s still pale but the colour is coming back.
“I’m sorry. I forgot to eat this morning and I don’t have my red frogs with me.” Her voice weak and full of apology. She sits up a little bit further but nestles into my side a little more. I lean down and breathe her in.
“Thank you,” she says to Arden who is still standing at the door looking at us both but focusing mainly on her. He just nods.
“How did you know what to do?” she asks him. I don’t know if he’ll tell her. His sister is a sore subject but Arden surprises me yet again.
