#braced

starter for @thelordoftheair

Reyson couldn’t tear his eyes from the notice board. He kept scanning the same announcement, again and again, like if he read it a few hundred more times, it would change.

Tibarn was here.

Reyson wasn’t unhappy he was here, far from it. He desperately missed him, after all. Reyson was excited to see him, save for, well...

His shoulder throbbed again. He glanced down at himself, his eyes traveling over the brace that held his shoulder together and kept his arm still. It circled his wing, pulling it against the shattered bones. Tibarn would be furious. He’d promised Tibarn that he’d be safe, that he’d stay out of trouble.

Someone else was trying to look at the board. He slinked away, debating with himself. He couldn’t hide from Tibarn, and even that would raise his suspicions. He felt himself starting to walk, towards the training grounds. He walked out of the hall and into the sun, pausing in the doorway.

Tibarn was standing there, scanning the field. The flutter of excitement in Reyson's chest was only dampened by his aching shoulder. If he walked any closer, he’d want to throw himself at Tibarn and that, he guessed, wouldn’t improve his shoulder. He settled for a wave with his uninjured arm, and a quiet greeting.

Who here has had the scoliosis test at school. *shudder* I know.

Rachel, who is only twelve years old, gets bad news. Her scoliosis has gotten worse and that means that she’ll need to wear a back brace to keep her spine straight (because her Mom does not want her to have to have the spinal fusion surgery that she herself had). Rachel had been so excited for the new school year, playing soccer as a forward, her best friends. She has to wear the back brace 23 hours a day, and it goes from her shoulder blades to her hips. It changes everything in her life.

There was an interesting push and pull in the book between Rachel being terrified of the changes, and being so stubborn that she could hurt herself because she wants to do exactly what she was doing before in the same way come hell or high water (or her brace rubbing against her hip in a very bad way).

A really awesome novel about a subject you really don’t hear about in books, even teen books, that much.

You may like this book If you Liked: Balancing Act by Dominique Moceanu, Deenie by Judy Blume, or Booked by Kwame Alexander