Dedicated to my lovely Naana for the cover above and below❤ naanaofficial-

This chapter is so short but bare with me next chapter will make up for it I swear on the poutine and ice cream I ate two days in a row (I'm mentally throwing up at how unhealthy it was).

Chapter Forty Six: "Injury."

"AND YOU CAN'T move it at all?" If i ever thought Caleb would stop asking the dumbest questions every once in a while I should've told myself that day would never come. Just by the way my knee was looking should give him the hint that it hurt. And if it hurt why the heck would I move it?

But I held myself from snapping at him. He was only asking me questions to keep me occupied and distracted. He had a sympathetic look on his face and he struggled not to look at the injury itself. All I could say was that usually things look worse then they feel but in this case it was the exact opposite.  

"No Caleb, I can't move it unless you want me to scream in pain."

"I don't want that." He said quickly. 

I winced again, shifting my phone to rest between my ear and shoulder. "You and me both."

"I don't want to think about what it could be." Andrew said into the phone. He had called me instantly after Caleb texted him and I could tell that this was stressing him out from the other side of the world. I almost laughed. I couldn't have asked anyone for a better best friend than him. 

"Neither do I." I said. Three letters were going through my brain but I just wanted the doctor to confirm it. I really wanted someone to confirm my thoughts.

A beep sounded from my phone and I glanced at it to see my dad's contact name popped up. 

"Andrew, I'll call you back, okay? My dad is calling."

"Okay. Tell me everything after, alright?"

"I will." I switched the call.

"Mace." My dad's voice got to me. I sucked in a deep breath, remembering that he wasn't here with me. After every injury I've faced since I was a kid he was always there and it was weird because I was certain that this was bigger than anything we've ever faced.  

"Yeah?"

There was some background noise and I got the impression that he was moving around to find a quiet spot. "What's happening?"

"The doctor is going to tell us what happened."

"What did he say before?"

"He told coach that there is a chance I may have to go into surgery today-"

"Today?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah. I don't know why but he says that there is a high risk that if what he thinks happened actually happened then I would have to be placed into surgery as soon as possible."

"I'm getting on a flight right now."

"Dad, dad, dad, it's okay." I didn't want him to spend any extra money just to see me when I was coming home in a couple of weeks. If I could go home in a couple of weeks to say actually.

I could imagine him rolling his eyes seeing where I take on the role as the parent, reassuring him. "Macy, something could be seriously wrong."

"Can we just wait for what the doctor says first?" My dad let out a grunt at that clearly getting annoyed. "Does Justin know?"

"Yeah, I texted him. He's still at school."

"Okay. And dad? I'm going to be fine." 

The action of Sam tapping his thumb against the palm of my hand, made me look over at him. He was sitting in the chair next to the bed I was propped up on. Everything about him was restless, awaiting for information. He went from staring at my face to the phone to my knee, to Caleb, to the door then back at my face. His knee was bouncing up and down and he had run a hand through his hair a million times.

His eyes right now were stuck on my face at the last word of my sentence.  I stared right back at him. "What?"

He didn't say anything. He removed his eyes from my own and held his gaze back to my knee that felt like hell but I tired not to show it. I just wanted the doctor to come back.

Maddy and Matteo were on the other side of me while Anmol was at the end of the bed and Derek was leaning by the door. They had been right behind Sam, and followed on theit way to the hospital in Derek's car. I felt a bit better with them here, these people I haven't even known for a long amount of time.

The door opened and everyone's eyes except for Sam shifted to the doctor as he entered the room. Caleb rushed over. "What's wrong? Is she okay? Is she good?"

"Caleb, obviously she isn't good. Look at her knee." Maddy muttered.

"Excuse me for trying to look on the bright side of this. I'm trying to be optimistic."

"Caleb," He turned his head to look at me. "I know you're trying to be optimistic but what I really need is for all us to forget about that for a second and just be realists, okay?"

Caleb nodded, his voice quiet. "Got it."   

"What is it?" My dad broke the silence. There was a sound in the background that he had closed a door and was in a silent room.

The doctor didn't even worm his way into telling me the problem. Je just said it. "You have a partially torn MCL."

Wait, what? That's what happened?

It wasn't just me that looked confused as well. Derek and Matteo exchanged a glance and I saw the way Sam's facial expression was puzzled.

"What's an MCL?" Caleb asked and every athlete in the room look at one another. We had to know about these things. There is always going to be a risk at playing a sport whether one was professional or not. As a soccer player knee injuries happened and many are resilient with them. So the athletes in the room knew I needed surgery and I wasn't really surprised with Caleb's questions.

The doctor turned to him. "It means medial collateral ligament."

"It's ligament that keeps your knee from bending inward." Matteo expanded.

"It's only partial. It could have been worse." Caleb said trying to lighten the mood but I looked at the doctor faces and suspected something else.

"There's more isn't there?" The MCL was the one thing I knew didn't happen. That surprised me. But the doctor's face and the way he was glancing at the papers in his hands?  I needed the doctor to confirm what was going through not only me but Sam's head as well.

"It seems you have also torn your ACL as well."

"ACL?" Caleb asked, confused.

"Anterior Cruciate Ligament. It's considered to be a common knee injury." 

"So she'll have to have surgery on her knee to get full function of your knee again?" Maddy asked.

"Wait. So if it's common that means it'll be easy to repair and she can recover fully, right?" Caleb asked with wide eyes.

"On it's own? Yes. The chance of a torn ACL recovery after surgery is very high."

There was silence in the room but I had to ask the next question. It was probably the most important question I could ask.

"Is there any chance I'll still be able to play soccer after everything that is going to happen?"

"There are athletes that have a high percentage of returning to the spot after a torn ACL or MCL."

"ACL is 96 to 98 percent chance." Derek said.

"How do you know?" Maddy asked.

"I tore mine when I was sixteen but there are some that don't even return to the sport after that injury."

"Wait," I heard my dad ask and I almost forgot he was listening. "What about for the combined injury?"

"It really depends on the timing. We'll be taking you into surgery very soon for the MCL then you will have an additional surgery for your ACL later on but not definitely not today."

"Okay." I said quietly.

"And your coach explained to be what had happened," the doctor continued. "It was going to happen anyway. Football is a sport that involves cutting and you bending your knee multiple times. At that game it would have happened anytime whether you had the ball or not."

"Macy, hand the phone to the doctor please." My dad said and I took it off speaker, doing as he asked. 

Sam finally tore his eyes away from my knee, looking up at the doctor. "She may never be able to play football again?"

"There is a possibility yes. But at this rate all we need to focus on is the surgery and after that her recovery process." The doctor gave me a reassuring smile, leaving the room. 

Maddy grabbed my hand. "This sucks but I'm sure the surgery is going to go well."

I felt my stomach twist at slight nervousness. I've gone into surgery for stuff like dental related and my appendix but just the word surgery left me feeling more anxious then I would ever admit out loud.

But Sam wasn't having it. It was as if he had taken everything I was and was supposed to be feeling inside me and expressed them right then and there. I watched him shoot up, angry. He opened the door, walking out.

I flinched, hissing at my movement when I heard the sound of a chair being kicked before retreating footsteps.

I wasn't surprised at that. Things that affect me affect him in an odd way and vice versa.

Caleb's eyes grew wide and I couldn't help but sigh, rubbing my eyes. "Caleb, can you-"

"I'm on it. We'll be back before you go in. I promise." Caleb hurried out of the room, moving past someone who was on their way in.     

Tanya Nesmith slowly walked in. Her head was still turned towards the hallway obviously watching Caleb chase after Sam before she looked at the crowd in the room. Her eyes went wide when she spotted me, a hand flying up to her mouth. "Oh my-"

Maddy was already moving towards Tanya with anger that I have never seen come from her. "You fucking-"

"Maddy." I said, stopping her actions. I cleared my throat, wincing as I shifted. "Can you guys give me and Tanya a moment please?"

It took Maddy a moment for Matteo to drag her out of the room without trying to mentally harm Tanya in what was probably the worst way possible.

I sighed when I heard that door lock, leaving just me and Tanya in the same room. Before I could even tell her to take a seat, she already was sitting down in the chair Sam had been in and I could see the desperation on her face.

"Macy, I'm so sorry."

"Tanya." She didn't let me talk. Instead she continued when I didn't want her to explain what she thought had happened. 

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen-"

I let out a long groan, not helping myself but I slapped my  hand over her mouth without thinking. "Shut up."

Letting my hand go slowly, Tanya finally stayed mute. I could feel my thoughts shift to one spot before I told her the truth that she didn't know. "It wasn't your fault."

"What?" She sounded so surprised. She must have had guilt weighing her down since the incident that occurred not even hours ago.

"It wasn't your fault," I repeated. "I just want to know why you were fighting with a girl from the other team."

I had had the ball and it was the cut I had made trying not to get tangled in the full out fight Tanya had gotten engaged in with the forward on the other team. How she had moved all the way from defense right into my area of field so quickly astounded me.

"She said things and I said things and when I had gotten the ball off her and made a pass she had shoved me and walked ahead."

"So you thought that you should go ahead and fight her back?" I deadpanned.

"I wouldn't have but if you say the way she was looking at me it was like she was asking me to hit her." Tanya defended herself, leaning back and crossing her arms like a kid. 

Despite everything I let out a laugh. "Yeah, I saw you land a kick. No offense but I thought you would be the type of girl that was all bark and no bite."

Tanya licked her lips. "I used to get into fights back when I was younger but I was smart not to have them on school property or anything. I don't get into them anymore but when someone like that triggers me then..."

"You got angry quickly." I mentioned.

Tanya sighed. "That doesn't matter. I just don't understand how this isn't my fault. If I hadn't got into a fight with her you wouldn't here."

"The doctor said that this was bound to happen. It didn't mater if you were just the obstacle that caused my ACL and MCL to get torn-"

"ACL and MCL?" Tanya's eyes went wide again as she glanced at my covered knee.

"It would've been caused by something else. It isn't your fault, Tanya. It was inevitable."

Tanya and I both fell silent, our eyes still on my knee. I wasn't even sure what to think anymore.

Tanya looked at me, tearing her eyes off my knee. "ACL itself is a pretty bad injury but the success rate of returning back to the sport is pretty high up right?"

"Um...Yeah. For ACL, yeah. But the combined injuries question a lot of things and I'm due to surgery soon to repair the MCL first. I-I think I just want to be to walk and get passed everything before getting back to the sport."

"Macy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you look like that?"

I turned to Tanya confused. "Like what?"

"Like you've just accepted that you're not getting back into football."

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face."

"Look, Tanya, I'm going to be honest with you. We weren't close. We weren't even friends. The only thing we had in common was this. Soccer or football whatever you want to call it. And now that-for me may be ruined. There is a possibility of it being ruined."

"But that doesn't mean that you just give up-"

"I'M NOT GIVING UP, My voice cracked and my vision blurred with tears. "I-I just want to think about this. I haven't had time to think about it. All I've been told is that I have these injuries and my boyfriend just stormed out of that room angry like he had taken everything I was supposed to be feeling and put it inside him. I don't get it. I'm confused. I'm feeling a lot of things but right now I just want to know one thing."

"What?"

"Did we win?"

Tanya bit her lip, blinking back quickly. Her eyes glanced at my knee again before getting up. "Yeah, yeah, we won."

"That's all I wanted to know." I gave her a shaky smile. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry for this year and for this."

I repeated what Toby had said weeks back. Because this was so relatable and just when I thought things had been slightly picking up-especially for Sam-something had just managed to pull us down again. "Shit happens."