Michael Betcherman - The Justice Project

Its showtime.

Matt pasted a fake smile on his face, slipped his crutches under his arms and hopped from the bus toward the front door of the school. His right shin ached where the surgeon had inserted a six-inch-long titanium rod.

Students clustered outside, waiting for the bell. A few wore shorts and T-shirts, even though it felt more like March than the first week of June. Matt said hi to his friends, but nobody asked about his leg. After all, it had been four months since he injured it. Ancient history to them.

But not to Matt. The moment his life changed forever was permanently etched in his mind.

The rock was hidden under a layer of fresh snow. Matt had been accelerating off a turn when the tip of his snowboard jammed into it. It felt like his leg had been torn from his body. By the time the ski patrol strapped him onto the stretcher, he knew he wouldnt be playing football for months. It even crossed his mind that he might never play again. But nothing prepared him for the devastating news the surgeon delivered after the operationthat he would be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Cripple wasnt the word the surgeon had used. Youll have reduced mobility was the way hed put it, but there was no point in sugarcoating it. Matt was a cripple. What else would you call someone who was going to limp until the day he died?

Matt knew that in the grand scheme of things, his situation wasnt a tragedy. He hadnt lost an arm or a leg. He wasnt blind. He wasnt a paraplegic in a wheelchair like Eddie Wilkins down the street, whod been injured in the Iraq war. But knowing that others were worse off than him was no consolation.

The hallway was packed with students, but Matts gaze was drawn to Emma. There was no mistaking the spiky red hair. She was talking to her best friend, Rona, an outgoing girl with a perpetual smile on her face. Emma turned, as if she sensed his presence. She caught his eye and gave him a smile that tore his heart in two.

He and Emma had been together since they were sophomores, but theyd broken up in January, after Matt got a football scholarship to the University of Southern California. Emma would be going to a local arts college in Snowden to study drama, and as much as they loved each other, they both knew the relationship couldnt survive with her on one side of the country and him on the other.

At first they had decided to stay together until July, when Matt would be leaving for Los Angeles to work out with the football team for the summer. But every time they saw each other, all they talked about was how much they were going to miss each other. We cant keep doing this, Emma had said after another emotionally heart-wrenching evening as Matt dropped her off at her house. She leaned over and kissed him. Ill always love you, she said softly, a tear trickling down her cheek. He watched her walk up the path. When she got to the front door, she turned and waved, then disappeared into the house. It was a long time before he was able to drive away.

Ten days later he lay in a hospital bed with his leg up in traction and his life up in smoke. Emma spent a couple of hours with him every day, binge-watching Game of Thrones. She gave him three weeks to get used to his new reality before she brought up their relationship. Now that youre staying in Snowden, she said, we should start seeing each other again.

He wanted that more than anything, but he couldnt believe she did too. I dont want your pity, he said. What other reason could she have? He pictured a hideous creature lurching at Emmas side. Like the characters in Beauty and the Beast, only in this version the Beast would never turn back into a prince.

Its not pity, she said, taking his hand in hers. I love you.

Something else he wanted to hear but couldnt believe. Only in Disneyland does Beauty love the Beast.

A few weeks later Emma got late acceptance to one of the best drama programs in the country, at a small school just outside Los Angeles. You couldnt make this shit up. After everything that had happened, they were still going to be on opposite sides of the countryonly she was the one who would be in California.

Thats when Matt decided that as soon as school was over, he would go live with his mom in Florida. She had moved there two years earlier, after she remarried. There was nothing left for Matt in Snowden. A fresh start. Thats what he needed. He knew that running away to Floridapoor choice of wordswasnt going to solve his problems. Hed still be a gimp, but at least hed be a gimp in a town where nobody knew who he was or what had happened to him.