The Track Team

A day in the Nurse's Office

Another crappy day at school. I sat staring up at my maths teacher as he tried his very hardest to make maths sound interesting. I stopped to wonder if he'd actually tried maths before.

I felt a small paper aeroplane hit my foot and picked it up cautiously.

'I know you've been thinking about me.'

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. I hadn't particularly been thinking about anyone, But not that I was thinking about the note, I started to think of every possible person.

Another aeroplane hit my foot.

'You may be a size 2 now but I still see you as a 16'

I could feel my breaths becoming heavier. How did this person know about my weight loss? The only person in the school that knew was Callum.

Then it struck me.

Mason Reynolds.

"Cheyenne? What's the answer?"

"Huh?" I questioned, looking up through blurry eyes at my teacher.

"Um, I don't know."

"You look quite flushed, are you alright?"

"Can I...can I...see the n-nurse?" I felt myself stutter, and could feel my head becoming heavy.

"Of course of course um, Dakota, could you please take Cheyenne-"

"Yeah yeah, got it." I heard Kota's delicate voice coming closer.

"Kota? I-I-"

I was pulled to my feet, with an arm at my back to steady me. I could hear the faint sound of a door shut behind me.

"When did it...become...night time?"

And then everything went black.

______

I woke up with a mad pain in my back...and on the nurses bed. I sat up immediately but found that my head only hurt more once I did this. I yelped in pain and laid back once again.

"Now now, don't go rushing yourself. You might need to stay here a little while longer."

"What time is it?" I questioned, looking up with eyes only slightly parted.

"Lunch has just finished, we're now going into last lesson."

"Last lesson?! But that means I've skipped like three lessons..and lunch!"

"And that bothers you?" The nurse asked, an amused smile on her lips.

"Well, the lunch part definitely."

"Here, have a cookie so you don't feel too faint."

"Um, no thankyou." I pushed her hand away - as kindly as possible.

"You need some sugar."

"Do you not have an apple? Apples have tons of sugar, natural sugar."

The nurse frowned and leant against the counter.

"Suit yourself." Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back to the computer.

I watched the clock, hoping I'd feel better by the end of class so I could go to practice.

There were five minutes left and I still felt pretty dizzy and weird. The nurse had gone to speak to some other teacher somewhere which left me alone in here.

"Orange juice?"

I turned my head to see a boy sat on the bed next to me, pouring a glass of juice. I still felt quite dizzy, so his features were hard to distinguish, but I got the overall picture.

"Why are you following me?" I asked.

He stood and made his way over to me, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear with his fingers. I flinched and pulled back.

"Hey, relax. It's not like I'm really here."

"W-what do you mean?"

He crouched down, coming face to face with me.

"I'm just in your mind, Cheyenne. And that seems like quite a good thing - look at you now."

"You bullied me. So badly. Why?"

He smiled, in a sympathetic kind of way.

"You reminded me of my sister. I was angry."

"But Mason why your-"

"She had long ginger hair like yours, pretty eyes like yours, tons of freckles like you do. And she was always so full of life, and confident. It was my fault. I should have seen the bus."

"Mason-"

"She died just before I met you. I hated seeing you in school. I hated being reminded of her all the time. So I teased you for your weight, among other things. You weren't even fat! I'm sorry, Cheyenne."

I could feel tears building in my eyes. Only a few had seen this side of Mason.

"I get it. It's okay."

My sight was blurring by the second. I felt so dizzy.

"I'll try not to bother you anymore. But it's really you that has the control over it - I'm in your mind. Leave me in the past."

"Okay. Oh and by the way-"

The door opened and the nurse re-entered.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

I turned to where Mason was sat. Nothing remained but his glass of orange juice. I smiled and turned back to the nurse.

"I feel quite refreshed actually. But I think I might try again with that cookie."

She handed me the cookie, giving me a weird sort of glance. But I just smiled and ignored her and the amount of calories that I was currently digesting.