Page 71 of Okay, Cupid

Huy leads the team to an early advantage.

They’re ten points ahead when it happens. I barely even have the time to realize that something has gone wrong before Huy’s on the ground, crying out in pain. Another player tried to kick the ball out from underneath him and missed. He tripped over something, and he was just close enough to Huy that when he fell forward, he fell right onto Huy, both of them taken to the ground.

The other boy gets up.

Huy doesn’t.

He screams.

Someone blows a whistle, and the entire game comes to a halt. I’m on my feet first, Alice and Neve not far behind me. Already, both teams are gathered around him, Noah kneeling down to keep his head elevated. Noah asks Huy if he feels like he can move.

Huy can’t get an answer out, though; it’s like the air has been punched out of him, his face twisted in a permanent grimace. He’s not bleeding, which seems like a good sign, but I’m not a doctor.

“Shit, dude,” I hear another player whisper. I think it’s the guy who tripped him.

“Huy?” I fall to the grass next to him.

“Fuck, my arm.” He winces, pulling it close to him. I think he’s finally catching up with himself.

“Everyone back up.” Noah commands the situation effortlessly. “Jude, keep his head up.”

I do exactly what I’m told, putting my hands to the back of Huy’s neck and keeping it softly elevated as Noah takes Huy’s wounded arm, holding it gently.

“I think it’s my wrist.” Huy winces again.

“I’m going to apply a little pressure, okay?” Noah says.

Huy nods hastily. All it takes is Noah grazing his wrist for Huy to grunt in pain.

“Fuck me!” He grits his teeth.

“Okay, yeah. It’s likely broken. We need to get you to a hospital.”

“Should we call an ambulance?” I ask.

“It’d be faster to drive him to the Kaiser ER on Geary.” Noah turns to Huy. “Okay. Do you think you can stand up?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He hesitates, and another boy from the team grabs his hand to help him up, careful of where he touches Huy’s body, as if he’s afraid that Huy will fall apart. Once he’s on his feet, though, Huy’s steady. Neve races back with the ice pack she had with her in her cooler.

“Here, use this.”

“I’ll pull my car around,” Noah tells him, handing Huy off to another teammate, rushing off toward the exit.

“Can someone call my parents?” Huy asks.

“I’ll do it,” Alice tells him, phone already in hand. “I’ll ride with you.”

“Okay.” Huy sighs. “Thanks.”

She puts a hand on the small of his back and begins speaking in Vietnamese once one of Huy’s parents answers the phone. It feels like I’m caught in the eye of a tornado, standing around in the calm as everything around me spins completely out of control. The entire accident seems to have sped right past me, and I’m struggling to catch up as most of us follow Huy and the teammates who are helping him toward Noah’s car just as he pulls around, letting Alice into the back seat first before he carefully helps Huy buckle his seat belt.

Alice rolls down her window, calling over to me and Neve. “I’ll text you guys with updates.”

“Please,” Neve pleads.

“Jude.” Huy calls me over. “Can you get my stuff?”

“Yeah, of course.”