The first three weeks seemed to fly by. Sonya anticipated it to be the worst and longest three weeks of her life. It probably would have seemed longer had Jaclyn not made frequent "visits."

" I can’t believe it’s been three weeks already." George stated while concentrating on driving.

" You’re telling me. You’re not the one who’s been trapped in this thing the whole time." Sonya lifted her leg for effect.

" Looks like the whole school signed it." George glanced down at Sonya’s leg.

" Pretty much. I let all my classes, and some faculty sign it. We almost ran out of room." Sonya pulled up the inside of her khaki shorts a little to reread the sweet note Jaclyn wrote on the inside of her thigh.

" So did Mr. Dunbar ever apologize?" It was the first day of spring break and he still hadn’t apologized.

" Nope. He’s avoided me ever since the accident. His secretary claims he’s been really broken up over this whole thing." Sonya was still baffled as to why he would be avoiding her, its not like she was going to cause him physical harm or anything. Although, when she got that unscratchable itch on her shin she often considered hiring the mafia to break his legs.

" What a jerk." George’s eyes never left the road; he was a very focused driver.

" I’m sure he has a good reason." Sonya defended him unsure as to why.

" Yeah sure." George knew there was no good reason. Mr. Dunbar was just being a spineless coward.

"Like my nails?" Sonya wiggled her fingers at George trying to keep him from getting bent out of shape.

" Smooth change of subject, sis," George said sarcastically, " Yes, I like your nails. Very nice color." He admired the dark purple nail polish on his sister’s nails.

" Thanks. Jaclyn did them for me." Sonya had been upfront with George about her feelings for Jaclyn, which was the only way he would have agreed to partake in Eric’s surprise for that night. It was too bad Eric was the only one that didn’t know about the surprise or about Jaclyn’s affair with Sonya.

" I figured. I know you don’t own that color, and I don’t think Kacey would ever stray from her beloved shades of red.

" Everything still on for tonight?" Sonya asked as she gathered her crutches

" Of course. I’m going to pick up the supplies while they fix you up. Go on in, I’ll meet you inside."

Sonya had just gotten herself situated in a waiting room chair when George returned from parking the car.

" They said it would be a couple minutes." Sonya informed George as he gave the waiting room a once over glance.

" It doesn’t look too busy." George glanced around the waiting room, spotting only two other people, a mother and her teenage daughter. The mother didn’t appear to be too pleased. Both of her arms were in semi-worn white casts from her knuckles to her shoulders, including her thumbs as well. She also wore a soft neck brace. Very few signatures graced the exterior of either cast. Sonya didn’t blame the woman for looking so mad, if she was trapped in two full leg casts she wouldn’t be too pleased either.

" Oh my god Sonya what happened?" A familiar female voice interrupted her staring. She quickly turned her heard to see Leigh, the girl she met in the waiting room while Jaclyn got her cast removed.

" Hey Leigh," Sonya was already growing tired of telling this story, " Well I was at a party, and someone thought it would be a good idea to push me into the pool. It was funny until my shin hit the edge of the pool. Both the bones in my lower leg were broken." Sonya always felt so sorry for herself after telling her story.

" Wow, I’m sorry," Leigh seemed empathetic, " So you’re here getting your cast changed?" She admired the shear number of signatures that consumed every inch of her cast.

"Yep, what are you doing here?" Sonya knew the answer but she figured the more conversation she made the less time she would have to wait.

" I got my cast off." Leigh extended a sandaled foot and wiggled her toes at Sonya.

" Congratulations," Sonya smiled, " I still have quite a bit more time in this thing."

" Thanks. Well I need to get going before I’m late for class. I hope you feel better soon. It was great seeing you again." Leigh shook Sonya’s hand.

" Nice seeing you too." Leigh quickly left.

" Is she always in such a hurry like that?" George joked.

Before Sonya could answer a very young nurse, with short black hair and a cute face emerged from the hall with a wheelchair in tow and read Sonya’s name off her chart, " Sonya Baran?"

Sonya raised her hand. George whispered something in her ear, " That is Clarice’s replacement, she’s fresh out of college and driving Maria mad."

" Hello Ms. Baran. I’m Violet; I’ll be your nurse today. If you’d please hop in we’ll take a ride down to x-ray." Violet seemed like she was trying hard to remember some sort of script.

X-ray had gone a lot faster than Sonya expected. But unfortunately for her Violet spent the entire process reciting her entire life story. George was right, she was fresh out of nursing school. She only decided to become a nurse because her acting career failed. Apparently she had a lot of trouble remembering her lines.

Sonya now found herself sitting on an exam table next to a beautiful blond crying her eyes out. Sonya found she couldn’t keep her eyes off of her. The woman was about 5’9". Her face was angelic, her long whitish blond hair appeared to have the texture of silk, her eyes were a shade of blue that made the seas envious, her body was well defined, and her beautiful legs never seemed to stop. Judging by the way she was dressed men must stop her all the time to flirt, ask her out, or propose. She wore a tight white shirt that left her flat stomach for exposed for the whole world to envy, an ankle length black skirt with long slits up both sides, and an expensive black open toed platform on her left foot. Her toes were well-manicured, unblemished, polish free, and appeared softer than any fabric she had ever seen; she was perfect. Sonya would have killed to look like that woman, even though she got the same looks she was giving from other people.

" Are you okay?" Sonya found it impossible to mind her own business any longer.

The woman wiped the tears from her face, her soft voice whispered, " Yes."

" Then why are you crying?" Sonya wanted to hold her in her arms and comfort her like a mother would her newborn child.

" Well I’m pretty sure my leg is broken." A few more tears rolled down her cheeks as her unsure voice spoke words of confidence.

" That’s all you’re upset about?" Sonya knew she was the only person on earth who didn’t mind breaking a bone.

" Well, the other day my sister convinced me to go skydiving with her, I went even though my husband asked me not to," Sonya was taken back at the mention of a husband, the woman seemed very young, " I didn’t land so smoothly. My leg hurt when I got up but I could walk on it so I figured it wasn’t anything serious, just a sprain or a pulled muscle or something. But today when I was out shopping with my husband my leg just gave out. So now I’m going to have to tell him the truth.

" I see your point. I’m sure your husband won’t be that mad. I bet when he sees your beautiful leg in a cast he’ll forgive you and spoil you rotten." Sonya hoped she would be fortunate enough to watch her new friend find her way into some sort of cast.

" Oh no not a cast. I heard they hurt a lot. What is my son going to think when he sees me in a cast?" Sonya was shocked yet again, this time at the mention of the young woman’s son.

" Your son? Just out of curiosity how old are you?" Sonya couldn’t help but be nosey now; she barely looked old enough to be married, but a mother as well? Plus her body was far too perfect to have had a child at some point.

" I’m 20, I had my son when I was 16. I know that’s young but I wanted to be responsible and raise him myself instead of giving him up." The woman seemed to be calm down talking about her son.

" Good for you. There’s really nothing to worry about. The cast is the easy part about breaking your leg. The setting of the broken bone hurts a little." The woman looked at Sonya’s leg as if to judge the authenticity of her reassuring statements.

" What happened to your leg?" the woman never took her eyes off of Sonya’s cast.

" Someone pushed me into a pool and I hit my leg on the edge of the pool." Sonya strategically left out all the parts about how much in hurt, and how painful the reduction of the broken bones was.

" Well Sarah it looks like you’ve met my friend Sonya." Dr. Rose returned with Violet by her side. Violet put the x-rays into what she thought were the proper viewers. A puzzled look graced Dr. Rose’s pretty face as she looked at Sonya’s x-rays.

" Everything okay?" the look on Dr. Rose’s face worried Sonya.

" Yes. Violet come here." Violet stopped her assembly of the two cast carts and stood next to Dr. Rose looking at the x-ray with her, " What is wrong with this picture?"

" Well, it looks like Ms. Baran’s fibula has healed completely, but her tibia appears to be slightly displaced." Violet was proud of her assessment of Sonya’s x-rays.

" Wrong," Violet frowned at Dr. Rose’s harsh reply," You got everything right except that this is Mrs. Ryder’s x-ray."

" Oops. Silly me must have left Ms. Baran’s x-rays in the developing room." Violet thought her cute reply would make everyone forget about her mistake.

" God I hate her. Usually the fresh ones mess up a couple times, but this one is five beers short of a six-pack. The other day one of the Colorado University cheerleaders was in here with a broken ankle. Violet promised me she could do the cast by herself. Instead of putting the girl’s broken right ankle into a short leg cast, I found Violet applying a full leg cast to the girl’s left leg. The poor cheerleader was scared out of her mind. And the other day I met Violet’s boyfriend, he’s even dumber than she is." All three women had a good laugh at Violet’s expense.

"Time to get down to business," Dr. Rose gave Sarah’s x-ray one more long look, " Sarah you should have come in after your initial accident. It looks like the tibia might have been cleanly fractured, but the weight you put on it caused it to displace slightly." Dr. Rose patted Sarah’s foot.

" Oh." Sarah’s face dropped.

" Don’t worry. We’ll set the bone here, and get you into a cast," Sonya’s ears perked up at the mention of a cast, " It’ll be a maximum of 8 weeks in the cast though." Dr. Rose picked the stockinet off the cart.

" Can I watch you do Sonya’s leg first?" Sarah tried to buy herself more time.

" That’s completely up to Sonya." Dr. Rose turned to Sonya ignoring Violet’s entrance.

" Sure no problem." Sonya was thrilled at the prospect of watching Sarah get casted.

" Any specific color you want?" Dr. Rose asked as Violet finished cleaning the dead skin off of Sonya’s left leg.

" Purple please." Violet fetched the purple fiberglass without Dr. Rose having to ask for it. She knew Dr. Rose didn’t like her and she didn’t want to further her hatred.

" Sarah this is what’s called stockinet; it helps your skin breathe while in the cast." Dr. Rose rolled the stockinet up Sonya’s leg.

" And next we apply the padding to the leg." Violet took the words out of Dr. Rose’s mouth trying to impress her.

" Have you heard from Clarice lately?" Sonya tried to get Dr. Rose’s mind off of how she was going to murder Violet.

" She came in earlier today to invite me and George to dinner later this week. She’s not enjoying her cast at all." Sonya knew that was code for how much Clarice was actually enjoying her big plaster cast.

" Poor thing. How’s your foot doing?" Sonya noticed both of Dr. Rose’s feet were castless for once.

" Good. It feels great to walk on two healthy feet again." Dr. Rose had begun applying the first roll of fiberglass to Sonya’s foot.

" What made you want to be an orthopedic nurse, Violet?" Sarah interrupted with a question both Sonya and Dr. Rose were wondering themselves.

" I had always wanted to be an actress since day one. But my senior year in high school I was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Well the night before our last dress rehearsal I had gone out drinking with some friends. I showed up to rehearsal very hung over. Just before we were to begin the balcony scene I accidentally tripped on my dress and fell off the stage balcony. I broke my leg pretty bad. I spent a couple months in a plaster full leg cast. I was so depressed I never got to play Juliet in front of an audience." Violet explained as she held Sonya’s leg off the table.

" So why did that make you want to be a nurse?" Sarah again asked the question on everyone’s mind.

" Oh yeah," Violet giggled, " Well the nurse who put my leg in a cast was really nice. I figured I could be that nice nurse to other people in the same predicament." Violet seemed to remind everyone of one of the Miss America finalists. Everyone was expecting the fight for world peace to be thrown in there somewhere.

" All done." Sonya had been so consumed with imagining Violet playing Juliet that she hadn’t even paid attention to the casting of her own leg.

" It looks great." Sonya complimented without even noticing that the shape of her leg had not been lost inside the cast. Dr. Rose’s casting technique was more of an art form. Sonya’s leg was in the same position as her previous cast. It stretched from the base of her toes to the middle of her thigh.

" I love your nails. Do you do them yourself?" Violet held Sonya’s toes in her hand, obviously not remembering how hard it is to touch your own toes while in a cast.

" No, my friend did them for me." Sonya couldn’t wait to surprise Jaclyn with her new cast.

To Sonya’s dismay Sarah handled the setting of her tibia very well. She only winced, no crying or moaning. Next to child birth the setting of a broken leg must have been a walk in the park.

" Are you sure you don’t want a colored cast?" Dr Rose asked just before dropping a roll of regular fiberglass into the water.

" White is fine." Sarah appeared to be in a much lighter mood now that the worst was over.

" Your son is so cute." Violet returned from explaining to Sarah’s husband what happened.

" Thank you." Sarah blushed as Dr. Rose began her art form.

" What’s his name?" Sonya asked not even really caring, she was now in her own little fantasy world.

" Andrew." Sarah said proudly not paying attention to the wet fiberglass rolls being wrapped around her broken limb.

For the next several minutes Sonya withdrew herself from the small talk and just admired Dr. Rose’s work. Her hands moved so smoothly, one could easily mistake her swiftness with a hurried carelessness, but the end result proved otherwise. Sonya was somewhat disappointed Dr. Rose had already finished Sarah’s cast. It was an exact replica of Sonya’s cast only it was white.

" It looks nice." Sarah spread and clenched her long toes testing her new piece of medical fashion.

" Thank you. I aim to please." Dr. Rose removed her gloves.

" Ready to go sis?" George’s warm voice brought Sonya back to reality and out of her fantasyland.

" Of course." Sonya lied, what she wouldn’t have given to stare at Sarah the rest of the day.

" Hey George, guess who stopped by earlier?" Dr. Rose helped Violet clean up while Sarah’s cast was drying on a cast stand.

" Sweet Clarice." George did his best impression of Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.

" Damn your good," Dr. Rose said sarcastically, she continued doing her mediocre impression of Hannibal Lecter, " Well our sweet Clarice has invited us to a night of fine dining at her house Friday."

" Marvelous. I will see you later darling." Nurse Lecter wheeled his freshly casted sister out of the cast room.

" Yes I got the supplies." George took the words right out of his sister’s mouth. Sonya felt so fortunate to have such a wonderful brother like George.