The Cascading Waves of Caden Lee

13

SCARLETT PARKER

Today is the day Me and Caden will begin to share a locker. I don't know how to feel about it, and if I were being honest, I had completely forgotten about it up to this point.

The schools entrance comes into view the longer I walk, the same doors I've seen every school day for the past 3 years.

The hallway almost flickers as I make my way down it, and a wave of nausea speckles cold sweat across the surface of my skin. I press my knuckles to my mouth in hopes that the blunt force will provide a miracle. The miracle being me not vomiting across the tiled hallway floor.

I last a few more seconds, but voices fade in and out and my knees buckle, and the next thing I know I'm kneeled over, retching right onto the crowded hallway tile.

It burns, and my retches don't stop until I'm dry heaving and the crowd has cleared around me. And only then do I allow myself to glance up and come face-to-face with the man whom I was supposed to see in only just a few minutes. Caden.

I don't register him leading me to the nurses office, nor am I conscious to see him pull the thin blanket across my mindless form.

And I'm sure if I were Jake, I would be calling up every contact on my cellphone looking for a quick fix. But I'm not. So I spend my time muffling my sobs into the plastic-coated pillow instead.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I wake up to a loud, screeching ringing in my ear. It causes a groan to erupt from me and I shakily press my clammy hands against my ears to try to get it to stop. It doesn't, only leaves the allusion that I'm underwater. But I'm not, I'm in a blindingly white clinical room, it's empty, pale blue curtains whisked slightly shut around me, only letting the cracks in the curtain let me see the room.

I blink, confused, why am I here? It's cliche, but I don't remember anything but waking up with a piercing headache. Did I faint? I didn't think it was that bad.

The door clicks open, my head twisting around. The nurse stands in the doorway, walking in and doing a double take when she sees me awake. She clearly didn't expect me to wake up, so I raise my eyebrows in what I hope comes off in a questioning way. I don't know why I'm here, and quite frankly, i just wanna go home.

"Hey, hun. Do you know why you're here?" She asks. Her voice is sweet, with a twinge of concern seeping through her words. It leaves a hollow ache in my chest. Reminding me what it must be like to have some sort of motherly figure in your life. I wouldn't know.

I shake my head, glancing down towards my calloused fingers and picking at my nails. I fidget. A lot. I don't know if it's some sort of anxiety or ADHD thing, but after what happened to Jake i know there not a chance my mom will take me to some shrink to try and fix it. She'd probably scream at me for trying to scare her.

She nods, sitting down in her chair and whirling around to face me. She hands me a mini water bottle, and I reach my shaky fingers around the cap and twist. It pops off with ease, the water flowing back into my open mouth as i tilt the bottle slightly.

After a few minutes of silence she sighs and clears her throat, "you threw up, your friend brought you here and was sent back to class. How long have you felt sick? Any nausea this morning?"

My friend? She didn't specify so I have no way of knowing who it was and I don't plan on asking, so I muster up the words that are running through my head. My voice comes out scratchy and weak. "Uhm, no nausea, i just woke up with a headache. That's all"

My words do nothing to ease the wave of shame trickling down my spine. How many people saw? Surely enough for someone to record it. And she said a friend brought me here. It had to of been somewhat packed if someone I knew saw it happen and helped. I clench my jaw, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. This is my worst nightmare come true. So embarrassing.