All of the original situations in this story are mine, the rest is the intellectual property of Maddy. Cat is a fictional character, any similarities to anyone living or dead is purely my warped mind in action.

Winter Catalyst

Part 15

So my friend has HIV, what does that change? Apart from being a little bit cautious when she cuts herself it doesn't change much. It's not like the sword of Damocles has suddenly appeared over her head.

Who am I trying to fool? This changes everything, for the last few years it's been me with the biggest secret. Now all of a sudden someone I know has a secret bigger than mine. It really put things into perspective.

I can be there for her too; not in a clingy 'not let you live your own life' way but a 'if you need to talk about it I'm here' way.

When you're told something like that everything else seems pretty mundane. I spent most of my weekend wondering about things; that was until Sunday evening. Sports personality of the year was on. Now usually we only watch bits of the show to try and catch the interesting bits (like the cycling or the Olympics) and avoid the boring bits (like the premiership).

In one of the first shots of the studio audience clapping I saw a familiar face. It was Drew and he was there supporting his mum!

At first I thought I was going mad so every time they did a shot of the audience I studied the faces and eventually they showed the same part of the audience and it was definitely him. I was tempted to call his mobile but thought they wouldn't have allowed them to stay turned on.

Of course I was even more shocked to find out that Jenny was up for the main award. I didn't know whether to root for her or not.

In the end it came down to two things, Drew supporting her and her being a cyclist rather than a footballer or something.

In between the boring football and the other stuff there were a few interesting bits, one of them was when they showed just how light a race bike can be. I'm sure to Drew it was old news, but I'd never seen anything that light. People say “my bike only weighs this much” but it doesn't mean much until you see it and how little effort it takes to lift it. Compared to this even my new bike looked like a heavyweight.

When it was time to announce the top three people (in reverse order of course) my heart was saying Jenny had to win, while my head was saying they would never give it to a cyclist.

The envelope was opened and time seemed to go in slow motion. If I felt like that, then how would Drew be feeling?

I couldn't believe it when Jenny was proclaimed as the winner and I started celebrating. Then a thought crossed my mind, she was still in my bad books so what was I doing? Obviously I was celebrating for Drew and for cycling.

When I got to school for the last few days of term I wanted everyone to share my delight.

"Did you see sports personality of the year last night?" I asked."

"Yeah, some poxy cyclist won it," someone replied.

"Poxy cyclist? Jenny and her team dominated this season." I was almost shouting at them.

"Ooooh who pulled your tail? Anyone would think she's your mum or something."

I replied in a quieter tone of voice, "Well not my mum but she is a friend's mum."

"I still think it should have gone to Thierry Henry," said one of the boys.

"What about Stevie Gerrard," said another and from there it descended into an argument about which footballer they thought should have won it.

I gave up.

At morning break I kept a lookout for Eve, there was a pretty good chance I would have seen her on my way to the computer room, but she wasn't around. I hoped the new drugs weren't making her sick again.

It took me until lunchtime to track her down; she was in the library. I know it sounds a bit like I was stalking her, but I wasn't.

"You found me then," she said.

I began to wonder on the whole stalker thing because I wasn't sure if she wanted to see me or not.

"Indiana Birch and the quest for the lost friend," I joked.

She smiled, which was a good sign.

"Doing some homework?" I asked.

"Well, it started that way, then I found this history book and I got sidetracked."

She showed it to me, a full page of colour illustrations of renaissance dresses. I could see how she had got sidetracked; what's more, I could imagine myself wearing one.

"Were you looking for me for a reason?" Eve asked.

Somehow I got the impression she knew what I was going to say, or at least she thought she did.

"It's almost the end of term, I was wondering what you wear doing in the holidays," I asked.

"Oh. We're going skiing for Christmas," she replied. "I can talk to mum if you like, I'm sure you could come too."

As tempting as that offer was, Christmas was always a family time and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Thank you for the offer but we're already booked for Christmas Day and Boxing Day," I replied. "Will you be away the whole time?"

"Pretty much."

I had hoped we could have done our Christmas shopping together, 'oh well, I guess I'll be going solo and it's so much more fun with friends' I thought. I'm glad I had already got her present; I found that on the Internet.

We half chatted and half read until the end of lunch, then went our separate ways for the start of afternoon lessons.

Every time I looked out of the window it was raining, I knew that I should still have been planning to go for a ride when I got home, but getting quite cold and very wet didn't feature in my plan for today.

The weather was still lousy when school was finished so I got the bus home and made a start on my homework.

The last couple of days went very quickly, in some lessons we even got to play some games, which was just weird. We still got homework too, essays to write, projects to do and books to read. So much for a school holiday.

I did catch up with Eve a couple more times. She had just as much homework as me, so it looked like her Après ski would be studying. I also remembered to give her the present I had got her, which made her feel guilty for not getting me anything.

"You've had a lot on your mind," I said. "With your skiing trip and stuff."

She looked like she wanted to say something but had thought better of it.

I gave her a little hug and then we parted, school was finished; the holidays were here.

In the days off before Christmas I managed to finish the last bits of my shopping and get everything wrapped. I even managed to fit some of my homework in!

Before I knew it we had made it to Christmas Eve; that meant dropping all the presents off to family and friends in the area. It also meant trying not to look bored when aunts and uncles retold stories we had heard every year.

I was very glad when we got to Gran's place, that meant one visit left, the carol service.

I was never the best singer in the world but I had always enjoyed this service. The only person missing was my other Gran, but we would be seeing her in a few days' time.

I liked singing Silent Night, I always start in the original German, I just wish I could remember it all. It's a lot easier when you have the words in front of you, like we do in our German class.

At the end of the service we waited for Gran to have her mince pie, then we took her back to our place. We played a couple of board games and then it was time for bed.

Christmas morning didn't hold the same excitement that it did when I was younger, but it was still a fun time. I still had a stocking at the end of my bed, filled with lots of little gifts and treats.

When I got downstairs I tried to help mum in the kitchen. I say 'tried' because our kitchen is big enough for four people, but not when all of them are trying to help. Usually it's me that gets sent out to find something else useful to do, but this time it was Dad! Maybe it had something to do with the mistletoe he had hung everywhere.

We were just about ready to open our presents when the phone rang. It was Eve, telling me how much she loved the anime art book I had given her. I knew it was her kind of thing, but I was glad she liked it as much as that.

In case you're wondering what I got, I had a couple of Dvd's, the latest Pratchett book, some smellies from my aunts and uncles (shower gel, body spray, perfumes - that kind of thing). I was expecting more bike bits, but I was happy enough with a new pair of cycle shoes.

The rest of the day followed a familiar pattern, ate too much roast dinner, watched the Queen's Christmas message (mostly for Gran's benefit), Dad got to watch his classic film that came on after it. Later on, when the family film came on, we all watched it together. It may have been predictable, but I liked it that way.

Boxing day gave me a chance to burn off some of the Christmas dinner. The day was quite cold but it stayed dry enough for me to get a long ride in. I thought about Drew and his mum, Eve and her HIV, then there's me being allowed to race this year. I got serious after that!

The day after was when we headed northwards to Warsop, we dropped one Gran off at her house, then picked up the motorway that would take us to the other one.

Traffic was pretty light, so we made it up there without even having to stop. Gran was very pleased to see us again; she helped Mum with the bags while Dad helped me with the bike. (You knew I would bring a bike.)

I thought about calling Drew, but decided to give it a day or two. In the end I saw him before I talked to him, we were both out riding and our paths crossed on the Creswell road, he waved when he realised it was me, I waved back.

“Ring you later Drew?” I suggested as we passed.

“Okay, you've got my mobile,” he replied.

“Later!”

I turned to go through the village while Drew pressed on towards Cuckney. I almost ran straight into a couple of kids on BMXs who were messing about in the middle of the road and thought they would take me on. I let them keep up with me for a hundred yards or so, then just powered away from them.

After I got back to Gran's, I helped her in the kitchen for a while, then joined Mum and Dad to vegetate in front of the telly for an hour, I quickly got bored and went to my room.

When I emerged sometime later I remembered what Drew had said and went to use the phone.

“Bugger! Hello?”

Not the response I had been expecting.

“Er Drew?”

“Yes, who is it?”

“Catrina, you remember this morning?”

I wondered if the ride had all been a dream.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I almost dropped a tray of sausage rolls,” he said.

“S'all right, thought I'd give you a call tonight, I'm going to my friend Karla's in Lincoln for a couple of days so I might not catch up with you otherwise. We're going home on Sunday”

“Pity. We could have all gone for a ride. You have a good ride this morning?”

“Apart from getting lost? And getting chased by some BMX bandits just after I saw you? Yeah it was okay. You?”

There was a pause like he was distracted.

“Er yeah, I went up to Worksop, then Half Moon, I was on my way back when I saw you. Hey have you seen the zoo in Cuckney?”

“Zoo?” I questioned. I'd not seen any evidence; then again I'd not been past that many times.

“Yeah by the bottom crossroads,” he said.

“No!”

“There's a whole collection of Llamas and stuff in that first field, I saw them this morning.”

“Sounds cool. I'll try and go for a look when I get back from Lincoln. Aren't you guys off to America soon?”

“Yeah, a week on Saturday.”

“Cool, I've never been anywhere like that, well we went to Disney Paris a couple of years ago but that doesn't count.”

“You thought any more about going to Dunstable with us?” he asked.

“Not really, although it sounds fun.”

“I'll get Mad to email the details.”

“Okay.”

“Oh I forgot to say, my Mum's coming on Saturday.”

“God they work her hard, not even home for Christmas. Damn, I'll miss her again. One of these days,” I lamented.

The following day, just like I had told Drew, I went over to see Karla. It was pretty kewl to be here again. We showed each other some of the things we got for Christmas and then we got a reprise of their Christmas dinner – what a spread. I lost count of all the veg on the table, then there was the cauliflower cheese, the bacon wrapped sausages and the stuffing. I was full just looking at it.

The first thing we did when we had finished eating was sit down and sigh with fullness, all of us.

I've no idea how long we just sat there but it was long enough. Karla's mum got us to move when she suggested that we played a game or two.

We started off with a game of Monopoly, or should that be a trouncing of Monopoly? The way Karla's dad played the game was nothing short of mercenary. I sold up early and watched the massacre from the sidelines.

When my parents gave up we knew the writing was on the wall and just surrendered.

“He always does that,” Karla's mum said, with a sigh.

The end of the game was also the signal for my parents to go back to Gran's, leaving me here for the night. We played a few more games (anything but Monopoly) and then spent the rest of the evening chatting, I ended up falling asleep on the sofa.

They let me sleep in on the morning, no mean feat considering I was taking up the entire sofa.

“Morning.”

“Is it?” I replied.

When the curtains were pulled back and light flooded in, my question was answered.

“Fancy a little breakfast?”

“Do I?” I said.

After the Christmas meal I should have known better, a little breakfast turned out to be a full plate of fry up with sausage, bacon, egg, mushrooms, beans and hash browns. With hospitality like this they should open a hotel.

When we were finished eating I helped clear up, then got ready for a trip into the city centre.

Our goal was to hunt out the best sale bargains. I had a few successes with tops and things but Karla seemed to do better, particularly finding skirts that actually fit. I did manage to get a pair of nice trainers though.

By the time we were finished it was early afternoon, so we grabbed a snack and took our purchases back to the house where we had a mini fashion show.

“We better get you back to Warsop,” Karla's dad said, when he saw what the time was.

We were all coming, it would be my folk's turn to play host tonight. The journey didn't take too long and I got a chance to show them what I had bought before we ordered in Chinese food. I know what you're thinking; takeaway wasn't really a comparison to the food Karla's parents had prepared. All I can say is the stuff we got was pretty darn good.

With the time that was left we decided to play some more games.

“What about Monopoly?” Gran suggested.

“NO,” we all replied.

“Good job we brought some UNO cards,” Mum said.

So we played a few games of that and then a couple of board games before Karla and her kin had to go back home. I was sad to see them go, it had been a great couple of days, I hoped we could do something like this again soon.

The following day I had planned a long ride, but things didn't work out for me. I started okay, but I didn't remember getting back home and here I was sleeping in my bed.

Then I heard Mum, "She's waking up, Cat honey are you okay?" and worked out through the fog in my brain that I was in hospital.

"What happened," I asked.

Dad replied, "Some lunatic forced you off the road, at least that's what the guy who called the ambulance said."

"Is my bike ok?"

"I'm not worried about the bike, only about you," Dad said.

I suppose I was due an accident, but why did it have to be now? When the doctor told me I had a fracture it only made things worse. I was supposed to be getting ready for the race season, not lying back and taking it easy. He tried to be sympathetic with my dilemma, he'd had a similar injury when he was a teenager playing cricket; however, he said there wasn't a way to make the break heal any quicker.

So a short time later I found myself being wheeled into the plaster room, although, if you had seen the look on my face you would have thought it was far more serious than it was. I didn't want to be stuck like that for a few days, let alone a few weeks.

Because I had lost consciousness they were keeping me in overnight, so once I was plastered they transferred me to a ward and I still wasn't happy. Oh, and did I mention, that to add insult to injury they had put me on a kids' ward?

I think there was only one other person there around my age, all the rest were little kids. Most of them were playing; there were just a few staying in their beds.

I tried to keep sulking after my parents had left but I really didn't have the energy to stay that way. I could have read my new book but I wasn't in the mood for it, so I just sat and thought and watched.

Some of the kids were playing a board game, two had hand held consoles, the rest were either reading, listening to music, or watching TV. All except one girl, who was in the bed next to me. I wasn't sure of her age but I guessed she was in middle school. She was doing her best to block out the world, and it looked like she had been crying.

"Don't you want to join their game," I asked her.

"Leave me alone," she replied.

"Or watch TV?"

"Just go away," she replied.

"I'd love to," I countered. "But I've got this big white heavy thing on my leg."

"At least you still have both," she said sadly.

"What?" I was being a little bit slow; I blame it on the accident.

She pulled the covers off and dangled her legs over the bed. Lets just say that one of them ended with a foot and the other ended just below her knee.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"Everybody is sorry, that doesn't bring my leg back," she said.

She really was on a downer, so I tried to snap her out of it. "Would you have preferred me to be glad you lost it?"

She didn't know what to say.

"Have you tried playing with the other kids?" I asked.

"They would just point and call me a cripple, or a freak," she replied.

"But have you tried?"

"No."

"Well lets get you over there and if anyone says anything unkind, then I might accidentally step on them, with a cast on you can never be sure of what you are standing on," I said and winked.

She smiled for the first time.

"So what's your name?"

"Parmjit."

"I'm Catrina, but call me Cat," I replied.

I lead her across the room to where the others were playing.

"Room for one more?" I said.

"We've almost finished this game, you're welcome to join the next one."

"It's not me, it's my friend here. Guys say hello to Parmjit," I said.

I hung around for a few minutes, I didn't think anyone would say anything about her missing leg but I wanted to make sure and I wanted her to feel reassured.

I hobbled back to my bed and put my mp3 player on. I could still see them playing and knew that there was nothing more for me to do.

Parmjit stayed with her new friends until the staff called for bedtime. They tried to get me to settle down at the same time, so I politely reminded them that I was 13, not three, but I wouldn't disturb the younger ones if all I did was read.

I was woken up by a nurse the next day, so I must have been tired. I got to have breakfast before the doc gave me the okay to leave and the food wasn't at all bad.

My parents turned up around the same time so they got to have a chat with him. I think they wanted to get my plaster removed at a hospital back near home. It didn't really bother me if I had to come back here; it gave me an excuse to visit friends and relatives.

I waved at Parmjit before I left; I hoped she would be ok, now she had a little bit of confidence.

When we got back to Gran's she started fussing over me, it was nice to know that she cared but I wasn't a total invalid, I wanted to do things for myself.

I took the opportunity to call Karla and tell her what had happened, although from the way she answered the phone she already knew something.

"How's the patient?" she said.

"You knew!" I replied.

"Your mum called last night , " she said. "Now tell me all the gory details."

I couldn't remember much about the accident itself so I told her the stuff that happened at the hospital. I made sure to ask her to sign my plaster, now that we were staying a few more days I'd make sure she got the chance to do it somehow.

After finishing the call I had a bite to eat and discovered that I was tired, even after all the rest I'd had.

I tried to make my own way to bed, then I found out that stairs and crutches don't mix. In the end Dad had to carry me upstairs, which was something he hadn't needed to do for a few years.

When I was in the bedroom I discovered something else. There was no way my PJ bottoms would pull over my plaster, so Mum had to lend me one of her nighties. Although nothing stopped me from falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Normally Mum and Dad would make sure I got up, but they let me sleep in. I hoped I hadn't lost any days due to the accident because Sunday was the only time that happened regularly.

My watch confirmed it wasn't, so I got dressed and carefully manoeuvred my way to the top of the stairs. Using crutches to go down the stairs would have been silly, so I lowered myself onto the top step and sort of slid down. Doing something by myself for the first time since leaving the hospital felt good.

I grabbed breakfast, then spent most of the morning watching TV, there wasn't anything on, but it kept me in one spot and seemed a better plan than doing nothing.

After lunch Mum and Gran went shopping and I looked for something else to do, I'd had enough of daytime TV. I thought about going to Drew's and hopefully meeting his mum, but I wasn't sure I wanted to walk there or interrupt Dad to drive me. Anyway, he got to see so little of her recently it wouldn't be fair.

I decided to walk round the corner to the newsagent; the doc did say I should keep active. I put my coat on and went outside. As I went past the front of the house I could tell that Dad was checking I was moving ok.

When I got to the newsagent the first thing I checked for was cycle magazines. It was only a small local shop but there were usually two or three titles there.

I flipped through the Comic but didn't find anything to make me buy it and there was nothing else on the racks that inspired me.

I got back as Mum and Gran were unloading the car so I followed them through the garage with one of the grocery bags around the handle of the crutch. Over in the corner my bike caught my eye, it was in a bit of a state. The forks were bent, the front wheel was mashed and there were scrapes all over it. My beautiful bike was a shadow of it's former self. I took the bag into the kitchen where Gran saw the glum look on my face.

“What's up chuck,” she said.

"My bike," I replied.

"It can't be as bad as it looks," she said, desperately trying to reassure me.

"At least you're safe," Mum interjected.

I thought to myself it could have been worse, I could have left my good wheels on it and then I couldn't help smirking. I was more worried about my wheels than what had happened to me.

Dad was convinced that it was fixable; I hoped he was right but I knew I would need an expert opinion when we returned home. I suppose I could have got Mr. Bond to give it the once over, it would have given me a chance to meet Jenny too but I managed to talk myself out of it.

The one person I did manage to see was Karla so I made sure she signed my plaster, in fact she was the first name on it.

The journey back was different; I had my leg across the back seat. I was glad to be able to put it down again when we got home. My first day back at school proved interesting too. It was winter so normally I'd wear tights but have you ever tried wearing them with one leg in plaster?

I thought not.

I ended up wearing one black knee sock (on my good leg of course).

When I got to morning registration I got everybody's attention. I'm sure I can't be the only person to ever break something but I felt like it the way most of my class was treating me. Some even wanted to sign my plaster, including my teacher!

Missing the start of the term had left me with a couple of day's work to catch up on but I was sure that I could handle it. I decided to spend my lunchtime doing that and I was on my way to the library when I bumped into Eve.

"Well they said you'd had an accident but I wasn't expecting this," she said.

"Neither was I." I replied.

"You do know its skiers that are supposed come back with broken legs," she continued.

"I can help you with that if you want," I chuckled. "Just stay riiight there." I lifted my leg like I was going to tread on hers.

"No that's ok," she said with a smile. "So, what happened?"

"They tell me it was something like - me on bike, car hits bike, me on ground, ambulance comes, off to hospital, leg in plaster," I summarised .

"You don't remember anything?"

"Nothing until I woke up in hospital," I replied.

"I suppose it's better that way," she said.

"I'm not complaining," I stated.

"So how was the rest of your Christmas?" she asked.

We chatted about what we had done for our holidays as we made our way to the library. When we found an empty table she helped me with my bag, which felt weird. I mean it was my plan to look out for her, not the other way around.

I did a bit of catching up with my work as we talked, but not as much as I had hoped to. Still I would have plenty of time later; it wasn't like I would be going out on my bike after school.

After lunch I was subjected to double Math's that I just about got and then a science lesson that made no sense at all, so I was more than ready to go home. I had just about made it out of the gate when I heard a familiar voice; it was Eve's mum.

"Over here... Let me give you a lift," she said.

I was a little surprised, but not enough to stop me taking up her offer.

She helped me ease myself into the back seat. She got back into the driver's seat and pulled straight off, I only just had time to do up my seatbelt.

"I didn't think cycling was that dangerous," she said.

Eve giggled.

"What's funny?" she asked.

"I said almost the same thing," Eve replied.

"It's not dangerous normally," I countered. "It's only morons who can't drive that make it that way."

"I suppose this means an end to your racing career before it has begun," said Eve's mum.

I didn't answer straight away, I had been expecting to hear those words from my mother ever since I regained consciousness, but she hadn't said anything about that yet.

"I guess I'll see how things go when the plaster comes off," I replied.

They dropped me off right outside my house. I let myself in, which is no mean feat when you're carrying a schoolbag, crutches and keys. I flopped down on the sofa and did a bit more catching up with my schoolwork.

When mum got in the first thing she wanted to do was find out how my first day back had been. There wasn't much for me to report, so she took herself off into the kitchen while I finished what I was working on.