Bella's POV

TW: Anxiety, needles

 "Bella?" Barrett calls standing in my doorway. "Or should I call you Campbell now?" She teases.

  "I'm sleeping." I groan. 

 Barrett smiles. "Okay, madame lead actress."  She turns on my lights.

 "Ow!" The bright light stings my eyes, which still haven't adjusted. Well, I may as well get up. I'm dreading school today, but I try to hide my fear. I don't want to upset Barrett. Wait- why does the clock say 6:00am? School doesn't start for over 2 hours! "Barrett, what?!" I yell. "School isn't for 2 hours!" She gives me a sad smile, and suddenly I remember. "My joint injection." I've been dreading this for what feels like forever, but its here.

 "Pack up your hospital bag, ok?"

 "Okay." I sigh. I pick up the ombre blue bag I got when I went shopping with Taylor one day, and toss in my bunny, a book, my phone, a charger, and my earbuds. I'm not allowed to eat or drink before my injection because of the anesthetic. I put on some clothes, cute but casual, brush my teeth and hair, and make my bed. "Ready!" I call. Together, me and Barrett walk out to the car and drive to the hospital. 

 "Wanna listen to something?" She asks. "Maybe it'll take your mind off of it."

 "Sure." I agree. I hate to admit it, but I'm terrified. Why am I afraid of everything? God, I'm such a wimp. We pull into the all familiar parking lot and walk in. "Cat!" I exclaim, running towards my sister. She pulls me into a hug. 

 "Hey Bella! Are you ready?" She asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I respond. Cat laughs.

 "It'll be fine, don't worry. I've gone through this hundreds of times. It always turns out fine." 

"Ok." I say, feeling a little better. A man in a white lab coat walks towards me.

"Hi, Bella! I'm Doctor Bray. Are you ready for your injection?" He asks, cheerfully.

"I guess." I respond.

 "Then lets get to it! Who are these folks joining you today?" He wonders.

 I introduce them on the way to his office. "This is my mom, Barrett, my sister, Catlynn, and her mom, Elle." 

 "Nice to meet you!" Doctor Bray exclaims. He hands Barrett some paper work. "Could you sign this, please?" 

 "Of course!" Barrett reads over it and signs it. 
 

 "Okay, Bella!" Doctor Bray says. "Can you sit down for me please?" I hop up onto the medical table and sit down. He pulls something out of a drawer and I flinch. What if its a needle? Or something... worse?! 

 Barrett places her hand on my shoulder. "Its okay, Honey. Its just a thermometer." She turns to the doctor. "Bella can get a bit anxious around new people. She's had some... bad experiences with them. She came here a little while ago, and, well, you probably saw it in the news. With the 'nurse'?
  

"Oh." Doctor Bray says. He seems to understand. "I've had some hard things happen to me too, so I know how scary it feels. I promise I'll never do anything to hurt you, ok?" I look up at him. He seems sincere.

 "Okay." I agree.  He takes my temperature and checks my heartbeat. Then its time to put on the numbing cream. 

 "So I'm gonna put this on your knee. Its gonna have to sit for 45 minutes, got it?" He asks.

 "Got it." I say, nodding. He puts a patch on my knee. It feels cold, but it doesn't hurt. 

 "And now, we wait." Cat says, dramatically. "Wanna play hangman?"

 "Sure!" I tell her. "Can I go first?" Cat guesses "Heathers" then I guess "corn nuts" then she guesses "Lydia" then I guess "Plastics". I've got her stumped with Reginald George when Dr Bray comes back. 

 "Bella?" He calls. "Its time." I sigh and get up. We walk into a room with a small bed for me to lie on, and a couple nurses. He takes out a mask. 

 "This is laughing gas." He explains. "It will help you keep calm during the procedure." 

 "Alright." I respond. A nurse gets the mask set up while he gets the needle ready. Then I see it. Its huge! Even with the numbing and laughing gas, its gonna hurt so much! I feel my breathing get quicker. "I can't!" I yell running out of the room.

 "Bella!" Barrett calls after me. 

 "I'll handle this." Elle tells her. "I've gotten pretty good at dealing with hospital anxiety over the years." I don't know where to go, just that I can't go back. As I run, everything starts to blur. I haven't eaten anything all day and I'm really dizzy. I see Elle looking down at me, and everything goes black. 

AN: Here's part 1 of your joint injection, Em! Sorry for making you wait so long. I was going to do in all in 1 chapter, but I realized that I had already reached more than 800 words and I wasn't even close to done and also, ✨cliffhangers✨