Curveballs (Chapters 1 to 199)

4.8 Strike Three - Same Boat

I left the restroom and noticed the next lesson must have already started because the hallways were empty. I hadn't noticed the bell at all. I first had to get my backpack from the previous room. Once I got closer to it I could feel my legs getting a bit weak. I got flashbacks of Mr. Rottenburger on the ground and hesitated in front of the door. Then I took a deep breath and went in. The room was empty and tidied. It looked like nothing had happened, but then the smell hit me. Even though someone had ventilated the room there were still scents of disinfectants and vomit in the air. The nurse had been right, that someone had puked. My bag was nowhere to be found. Somebody must have taken it to the next lesson I guessed. The other room was only down the hallway, but it still felt like a very long walk. With every step I took I got more nervous. I imagined how they would point and laugh at me, but then tried to remember how I used to shake off such reactions with a bright smile when I had accidents as a little child. So I tried to be positive, took my courage in both hands and entered the door after knocking. For the first few seconds I thought I had mixed up the room. Then just when I wanted to turn around and leave, I recognized Belinda who looked at me with a bright smile.

"Hey, it's Lyz!", she shouted.

"I'm glad to see you", Alex said. Then I realized what happened. I was confused because they all sat somewhere else. There were also some classmates absent. And on top of that Mrs. Henry was there even though we normally would have Math with Mr. Kota. The girl next to Belinda got up and came towards me. It took me a second to realize that it was indeed Paula. The black makeup was missing and her purple hair was in a ponytail.

"Here, I brought your bag", she said with a somewhat fatigue face and handed me my backpack.

"Thanks, Paula", I smiled at her.

"Good to see you're okay", she smiled back.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay I guess. But Trish got sick and left after she threw up..."

"Paula, get back to your table. Lyza, please take a seat. We should continue to discuss the things together", Mrs. Henry interfered our little chat.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Henry", I replied and took a look around. No one sat in his usual place. Normally everyone sat rather away from the teacher next to their best friend and the middle seats in the front rows were vacant. But now the whole class was sitting in the front rows together. But well this wasn't a normal situation. There was a vacant table next to Alex so I finally took a seat there.

"Lyza, we will finish early. We're not doing Math and this will be the final lesson of the day. So if you need to give someone notice, feel free to do so. Do you need to make a call?", Mrs. offered.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you"

"Okay. Then let's continue to talk about Mr. Rottenburger. He was stable when the ambulance took him to the hospital. Lyza, how do you feel?", she asked me. I got hit by that question.

"I...I don't know...sorry", I stammered and felt that I immediately wanted to cry again, but held my tears back.

"Don't worry. It's not like this is a test or something. You all have been in a scary situation. And that needs to be dealt with. The sooner the better. The others already gave it a shot. If there's something you want to express about the incident, feel free to share it with us", Mrs. Henry tried to comfort me.

"I...I don't know...it's just...it...it happened so fast...everyone was freaking out...the panic scared me even more than the actual collapse I think", I said.

"Yes, this is quite normal for such situations I'm afraid. No one expects something like that to happen", Mrs. Henry told us.

"It was the same, when you fainted, Lyz", Belinda added.