Page 21 of Until Nalia

“Some kid pushed Zuri, and she fell. She hit her head, and it’s bleeding pretty bad. I think she needs to go to the hospital.”

“Where is she?”

“Down by the food trucks.”

“Thanks, honey.” I take off running down the dirt path. When I reach the area where the vendors are, I see a crowd gathered and push my way through it. I find Zuri on the ground holding a towel to her face, Heather right next to her. Nausea crawls up my throat. There is a lot of blood, so much that the once white towel is stained red.

Falling to my knees next to Zuri, I rest my hand on her back, and she turns her head to look at me through her eye that isn’t covered.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers with her eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t apologize.”

“Someone pushed her,” Heather tells me, and I lift my gaze to her, with my muscles tight. “There was a boy from school being a jerk, and she told him that he was being a jerk, and I think him or one of his friends pushed her when we were walking away.”

I have so many questions but now is not the time to ask them, right now I need to figure out how to get her to the hospital since I didn’t drive, and I doubt that Logan even knows what is going on.

“We’ll sort all that out later,” I tell her gently when I notice that her hands are shaking. “Do you want to go find your mom and dad?”

“Yeah,” she whispers.

“Go do that, honey. Zuri will call you when she can,” I tell her, and she looks at Zuri with tears brimming her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Zuri tells her as Heather’s dad suddenly appears behind her, the moment he places his hand on her shoulder, and she turns to see it’s him she gets to her feet and falls against him crying.

“Let’s get you up,” I tell Zuri, but before I get to my feet, Logan is there, having just run from the field, with Harlen helping me and her off the ground.

“I dropped Ava and Lillian’s ice creams,” she tells Harlen, sounding devastated as she curls against my side.

“That’s okay, sweetheart,” he assures her while looking at me. “Did you check the wound?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s going to need stitches,” a woman says, and I look over at her. “I gave her the towel; the cut looked pretty deep.”

“Thanks,” I whisper to her, and she nods, wringing her hands together.

“Let’s get her to my Jeep,” Logan says, and Harlen lifts Zuri off the ground and carries her towards the parking lot. After he gets Zuri in the back, I get in with her and make sure she’s buckled in then pull her against my side.

“My head hurts.”

“They’ll give you something to help with the pain at the hospital,” I promise, then look out the side window as Billie comes running up with my bag.

“Thank you, honey,” I tell her when she places it over the door and onto the front seat.

“Is she okay?” she asks, worried.

“She will be.” I hold her gaze. “Thank you for coming to get me so quickly.”

“You’re welcome.” Her attention goes to her dad.

“I have Coop, and we’ll get a ride with Mom or Gigi.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he tells her, getting in behind the wheel.

“Harmony will call you,” Harlen says, and I nod at him, then wrap my arm tighter around Zuri’s shoulders as Logan backs out of his parking space.