Diana Hanson shook her head at her oldest son. "Clarke Isaac, I am very disappointed in you. I raised you better than that."
Ike sighed as he watched the clock tick by. He had been getting lectured for a half hour now and it was the same thing over and over. It was all his fault that Mia had tried to kill herself.
"Mother, I didn't tell her to go and kill herself," he said. "She made that decision herself. I'm sorry if I hurt her feelings, okay? But I didn't hand her the pills."
"Yes, but you weren't sensitive to her feelings. And for that I am very disappointed," said Diana.
"Okay, okay! Sheesh! I'm sorry! But there's really nothing I can do about it now, is there?"
Diana sighed and stared out the window. "No, there's not. All we can do is wait."
As if on cue, the phone rang and Diana grabbed it. "Hello?"
Ike watched his mother's face go from worried, to relieved. "Okay, thank you, bye," she said as she hung up the phone. "Well, they got her in stable condition. She'll have to stay at the hospital for a coulple of days, but she'll be all right."
Ike breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good news."
"I want you to go visit her today, Ike," said Diana.
"Aw, Mom. Do I have to? She hates me..." he whined.
"You most definitley have to visit her," she replied. "And I don't want that attidude from you, young man."
"Okay, sheesh," Ike said as he got up and went out to the car. It was still fairly warm outside on this late September afternoon and Ike rolled the window's of his 1982 orange El Camino all the way down. He turned on the radio and found a station that he liked and worked out his speech that he would say to Mia at the hospital. The hospital was downtown and it took him about 15 minutes before he reached the building. He parked his beautiful car in a parking space 10 spaces away from everyone else to make sure no one would hit it and began trudging towards the door. He couldn't help feel a little bitterness in his heart as he took the elevator to the Intensive Care Unit. I mean, who does Mia think she is? he thought. She has no right to make me feel bad for something that isn't my fault. He stopped at a information counter and asked the nurse where Mia's room was. He walked down the hall and sat in a small waiting room, waiting until the nurse would tell him when it was okay to go in and see her. Bored, he picked up a Parent's Today magazine and began reading the proper way to diaper a baby. While he was waiting, a small girl about 7 years old and her father came and sat down on the couch across from Ike.
"Daddy, is Kristen going to be alright?" the little girl asked, her face stained with tears.
"I don't know, honey," the father replied, his face filled with stress. "We'll just have to wait and see."
"Why did she cut herself like that?" the girl inquired. "I'm not sure, sweetie. We just have to be real nice to her when she gets better," he said.
"Why?"
"Well, because we don't want her to hurt herself again like that. We should always be nice to everyone because we don't know when we hurt someone."
"Those kids at school were mean to Kristen?" she asked.
"Yes, they were very mean. But they didn't force her to do what she did. Just be nice."
Just be nice. The words rang in Ike's ears. He wasn't very nice to Mia. And she had tried to kill herself, just like that Kristen girl did. He suddenly felt very cruel and selfish. He remembered when he was younger, some kids had made fun of his hair. And it seemed like someone was always bashing Hanson, calling them gay or girls or saying they sucked. He didn't care what they said about him, but when they started to pick on Taylor or especially Zac, he felt so angry and hurt that he would do anything to protect his brothers.
The nurse came and said that Mia was ready to see him. He got up and walked to her room. She was lying on the bed with her pillow propped up behind her. Her skin was pale and she had a IV in her arm. She was staring out the window when he entered the room and he stood there silently for a few seconds.
"Hi," he finally said. She said nothing and slowly turned to look at him.
"Oh."
"Look, I...I'm really sorry about everything. I should have been more sensitive to your feelings. I didn't know how you felt about me and I guess I played with your emotions. I didn't think you would go and do something like this. I just want you to know that, even though you'll probably never forgive me, I'm really truly sorry and I hope we can still be friends and put all this behind us. So, do you accept my apology?"
Mia sighed and turned to the window again. "I loved you, Isaac. I really did."
Ike stammered and didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too. I'm sorry it had to end like this."
"Well, it doesn't have to "end". We can still hang out and stuff. I think you're a cool person, you know," Ike said.
"You do? You think I'm cool?" she said, looking at him.
"Yeah, of course! I mean, we've known each other a while. Our families are friends. We were born near each other. We've always been friends."
"My parents are sending me to this group therapy/ rehab place in Arizona. They think I have mental problems. I guess I probably do," she said sadly. "But I guess it'll do me good to get away from here, get some fresh air."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'll miss Phoebe, but that's about it. Maybe I'll meet someone out there, who knows?" she laughed a little.
"Yeah, maybe," Ike said. "Well, I should get going. Um, I hope you feel better soon, Mia."
"Thanks for coming. It means a lot."
Ike gave her an awkward hug and gave a little wave goodbye. The girl definitley had problems, but it made him feel better to know that she forgave him. He walked back out into the lobby, where the little girl and her dad were hugging and crying joyfully.
"She's gonna be okay!" said the dad.
"Yea!"
Ike gave a little smile at them and walked out to his car, standing all alone.