I heard the wail of sirens outside.

Mom stood at the front door. "The ambulance is here, but they can only transport two family members."

"Great." Camron had a devious grin. "I'm getting my shoes on."

My body ached in places I never knew it could. I didn't want to speak or move, but Camron's face was my motivation to do something before he could get to me. "No, Mom." I had better milk this injury for all it was worth. "It's my dying wish that you and Abby go with me."

"Oh, God..." Mom dramatically put her hands to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Of course, honey. Your brother can stay here."

"Damn it! I never catch a break," Camron whispered, crouching down beside me. "Oh, look at me," he said trying to mock my deep voice, "somebody call the whaaaaam-bulance. I hurt my baby toe."

"Stop," I said, too weak to pin him to the floor like I normally did.

He switched back to his normal voice, narrowing his eyes. "Just wait. When you get back home... I'll have gone through your entire room and put your stuff out in the trash so the garbage men can haul it away tomorrow morning." He put out his fingers and counted them as he said, "It's payback time for all the wedgies, nuggies, stealing my french fries when I wasn't looking, and the public embarrassment of having you for a brother."

I started to cry.

"Jayden!" Abby came inside and kneeled at my side. "It's going to be ok. I will still be there for you... even if you don't have a toe."

Wait... I might lose a toe? "Is it that bad?" I tried to look down.

"They'll definitely have to amputate!" Camron grimaced.

I cried harder.

"Baby! It'll be ok." Abby ran her fingers through my hair.

Wait... she called me baby? That's a first. This gave me an idea... "I want everything I own to be donated to orphans," I whimpered, "and all the money in my bank account can go to the retards-"

"-special needs," Abby corrected, but she didn't seem upset that I messed up by saying the R word.

"Spread the word to end the word, Jayden." Camron scrunched his nose at me.

"Right... special needs... and I have a confession," I said.

"What?"

I tried to cup her face in my hand. "I've had a crush on you for ages. I just never acted on my feelings because of Dylan."

Her mouth dropped open slightly. She ignored Camron who was beside her. "I've always liked you, but I thought you only saw me as Dylan's little sister. But you're so hot."

Camron looked at Abby, disgusted. "You are sick and twisted!" He spat the words out like they were sour to the taste. "Anyone who would willingly procreate with this egotistical dick weed is severely bipolar and- or- suffering from a traumatic brain injury."

They stared at each other for a moment until Abby said, "You have really bad breath."

Camron shut his mouth and backed away. The tips of his ears turned pink.

Abby smirked, raising an eyebrow. "What did you eat?"

"Nothing! Just an after school snack." He cupped his hands over his mouth trying to smell his own breath.

"Don't lie," she narrowed her eyes. "You had shit for dinner, didn't you?" She stared him down

"No!" He shouted. I hadn't seen him this offended since he was mooned by grandma last summer.

"Camron! Shit for dinner again?" I teased.

He ran out of the room and went upstairs.

Abby and I laughed hard.

"You're so mean!" I smiled, pulled her towards me, and whispered, "I love you."

She pecked me on the cheek. "I have an annoying brother too."

Just then the EMTs dashed into the living room with a stretcher. One grabbed me under the arms while the other grabbed my ankles and transferred me to the bed. They wrapped a bandage around my forehead to secure it. Next thing I know I'm being run outside and hoisted into the ambulance.

Mom was beside me rubbing my arm. "Honey, it's going to be ok."

Abby was on the other side squeezing my hand.

I felt the vehicle roll into motion. I closed my eyes, feeling tired.

"Stay avake!" The lady EMT said with a European accent.

I felt so weak and tired but I didn't feel like arguing. "Ok," I said as I started to doze off. "I'm just going to close my eyes, though..."

"Sit him up," she demanded.

The other EMT's who were both men grabbed under each of my arms and pulled me up.

The lady EMT slapped my cheeks, then pinched them, hard. I flinched. She stared me down, like dogs do when they show dominance to another dog. "Jew falls asleep... maybe jew don't vake up."

My mom had tears streaming down her face.  She quietly wiped them away.

The weed was making me excessively tired, and my head was pounding. I could hear my blood pumping. It was going to be torture staying awake. I sighed and Abby laid her head on my chest until the ambulance rolled to a stop.

We were at the hospital, and they transferred me to a rolling bed. Abby and Mom stayed in the ambulance as I was rolled into the hospital under the bright LED ceiling lights. A nurse walked up beside me and started firing questions.

"Are you on any medications?" The lady in the white coat asked.

"No," I replied.

I was pushed into a room with white walls and a curtain.

A male nurse followed us in.  He pushed a bag of fluid hanging from a pole on wheels.  Without saying a word he grabbed my arm, and pulled out a needle. I let out a whimper from the nervous jolt in my gut, and he stuck me with it.

"Ow!" I said, but he ignored me, prodding my arm like it was a thermometer in a Thanksgiving turkey.

"Any drugs?" The lady asked.

Pftt... my shoulders started shaking as I stifled a laugh. I don't know why, but I found it a little humorous admitting to this lady that I was fucked up at the moment, but I regretted laughing as my head throbbed harder. "Yep." I let out a long breath.

She gave me a stern look. "What kind?"

"Hippie lettuce."

She furrowed her brow behind her black rimmed glasses. "... Hippie... lettuce?"

I let out an exasperated breath. "Reefer."

"Reefer?" She turned her head to the side.

"Yeah, you know, Mary Jane..."

She shook her head.

"Really? Weed?" She had to know that one.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Oh, marijuana." She nodded and wrote it down.

I worried they might tell the authorities about my illegal consumption but I hurt too badly to give it too much thought. "Am I in trouble?"

She glanced at me and shook her head. "How much did you take?"

"I don't know, like... three brownies I think."

She raised her eyebrows, then she pulled the sheet off of my feet, and her eyes became wide. She folded it up and for the first time I saw my baby toe, severed and hanging by a flap of skin like a chopped up hot dog.

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed, and tried to scoot up, as if I could get away from it, but it just flapped around.

"Calm down." She said. "We might be able to reattach it."

"What if you can't?" I wailed.  I'd always felt squeamish around missing limbs.

"Then we will amputate." She flipped her chart and turned on her heel.

"Oh nooooo!" I cried, lifting my fingers to my face.

She turned around to face me. "Relax. Geez. With all the marijuana you should be mellow." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, lady, I'm sure you see this kind of thing every day—"

"-No," she cut in, "we don't. This is rare, but it could be worse.  It could have been your whole foot... or leg. This is just your baby toe."

I whined remembering when my mom used to play with them. "That's the one that cries wee wee wee all the way home."

She covered it back up. "Nobody will notice."

"They will if I wear flip flops," I countered. "I probably won't be able to run as fast either."

"Oh really?' She arched an eyebrow. "You think the baby toe is what made you run fast?"

I sheltered my eyes from the glaring light. "I don't know... maybe?"

"Mr. Whitmore, I'm sure the doctors will do all they can." She gave a nod and walked out of the room and I closed my heavy eyelids...