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but not really understanding anything, she heard her name being called from below her. Again, and again.
    Numbly, not really thinking about what she was doing, Jayne started to reach down again. But her seat belt didn’t have any give to it and kept her immobile.
    â€œMy cell phone.” She forced herself to form the words. Had talking always been this hard? “Could you get it for me? It’s under my feet.”
    Once Mr. Diamondbacks found the phone, he handed it to her.
    â€œJayne! Jaynie, are you okay? Please, Jaynie, please talk to me!”
    â€œI’m here, Ellie.” Jayne closed her eyes, every single pore in her body aching.
    â€œWhat happened? It sounded like you crashed.” Ellie was sobbing through the words. “Did you crash?”
    Annoyance washed over Jayne. She usually felt this way when someone asked a dumb question in class. And Ellie’s question definitely qualified as a dumb one. Jayne reached for the words she needed to say. It was time to come out of this waking coma. “I’ve been in a car accident. I need you to call Mom and Dad. Use their cell numbers.”
    Jayne continued to list what needed to be done. Feed her dog, Britney. Call Coach to tell him she wasn’t going to make practice. Call Brendan with Key Club to tell him she couldn’t make the meeting tonight. She turned the phone away from her mouth. “Sir, what’s the closest hospital around here?”
    â€œCamelback Regional.”
    Jayne put the phone in front of her mouth again. “Tell Mom they’ll probably be taking me to Camelback Regional.”
    Ellie was sniffling and didn’t answer.
    â€œEllie, are you listening?” Her sister was never good in a crisis. Just like the time Ellie misplaced her freshman lit take-home midterm and she dissolved into a puddle on the kitchen floor. It was Jayne who found it ten minutes later in the middle of a stack of Vogue s in Ellie’s room. “Camelback. Regional. Write this down before you forget.”
    Jayne heard a snot-filled sniff and then, “Camelback Regional. Got it.” Another sniff. “God, Jayne, what happened?”
    For an instant, another flash of annoyance streaked through Jayne. She didn’t have time to hold Ellie’s hand. “I need to go now. Remember, feed Britney. Call Coach. Call Brendan. And tell Mom and Dad Camelback Regional.”
    She hung up before Ellie could ask anything else. For a second, she felt like her mom.
    She hadn’t wasted time saying good-bye.
    Jayne dropped the phone onto the passenger seat. Stupid friggin’ phone. I would’ve seen the light if I hadn’t answered it .
    Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.
    â€œHey, you still with me here?” The guy in the baseball hat was leaning into the car again. For the first time, she realized he smelled like BO.
    â€œThe people that are in the other cars. Are they okay?” Please. Please.
    Please.
    â€œMy wife’s checking on them.” The guy pulled up the hem of his T-shirt. “You have some blood coming out of your nose. I’m going to wipe it away, okay?”
    She nodded and leaned back in the seat.
    He hesitated. “You don’t have AIDS or anything, right?”
    She shook her head and looked in the rearview mirror. Her nose seemed different. And not just bloody. “Do you think I broke it?”
    Did anyone else break anything? The thought shot through her brain.
    â€œYeah. Looks that way.”
    Jayne took the news in. She grabbed onto the idea of a broken nose. It seemed a lot less scary than the other thoughts scrambling through her brain. “Do they always hurt so much? Broken noses, I mean.”
    â€œAfraid so.” He pointed to his own nose. It hooked to the right. “I’ve had three breaks myself.”
    â€œTim! I need you over here!”
    Jayne looked over the inflated air bag in front of her and saw a thirtyish mom-type waving