Chapter 2
School Issues
My alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. so I woke up. I was still a little groggy, everything was a bit blurry, and I had a headache from last night. I got ready and went out to eat something. Dad was out already making breakfast.
- "Bud, I don't think you should go to school." Dad said. "You've just had an injury and I work today, so if something happens, I won't be there."
- "But dad, what if something happens here? At least at school, there are people." I argued.
- "Alright, you got me on that one. But if you feel unwell or something happens, call me, and I'll do something."
- "Fine, I will. Now I have to go to school. Bye" And then I got on the bus. I brought Tylenol just in case, but I seemed fine.
************************************************************************ I arrived at school a while later, about 5 minutes before class with Mr. Butterfield. I was glad no one asked about my stitches. I did not want to explain. I walked into class and sat down.
- "Hello class, welcome back Calvin."
- "Hi" I whispered and slinked into my chair.
- "Oh, what happened to your forehead?" he asked.
Great, the one thing I didn't want anyone to ask. I was wondering, would I tell the truth, or would I lie for my own good?
- "Umm, nothing, I just fell and hit it on something, that's all" It wasn't a complete lie, I did fall and it on something, I just left out the part where I was having a complete panic meltdown because of a girl.
- "Oh, is that why you left on Friday?"
I shook my head yes; I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. I had a couple more classes with my math and home economics teachers. Then it was lunchtime again. This time I chose a table that only had one chair so no one could talk to me. I didn't pack lunch. I didn't feel like it, so I just sat there on my phone. The brightness hurt my eyes, so I turned it down. I normally know people with concussions shouldn't be on any devices, but I didn't really care. I looked up when I heard a voice and a chair scraping. Why didn't I think that someone could've just dragged a chair over.
- "Hi, how are you?"
That was definitively Rose's voice. I've only heard it a couple times but who can forget that sweet but serious voice?
Since I still didn't want to talk, I gave her a thumbs up.
- "What's up?" she asked.
I shrugged my shoulders.
- "Why aren't you talking?" she asked, her sweet voice turning more serious but with a little bit of sweetness still.
- "Because I don't want to!" I yelled, but immediately regretted it. Everyone started staring at me. Rose backed up. "I'm sorry, I'm tired, I have this stupid headache and my stomach feels like it's about to release all food."
- "That's probably because you haven't eaten anything." Her voice returned to the normal sweet. "Here, a bit of my lunch," she said, handing me her tray of food.
- "No thanks, I'm not hungry. I'll throw it up anyway."
We kept talking for another minute or so and I was fine until I started shaking and having a tough time breathing again.
- "Can... Can you leave please?"
- "Umm, sure, I'll be over there if you need me." And then she left. Hopefully, it wasn't that obvious it was happening again.
It doesn't usually happen at school because no one tries to talk to me. I eventually calmed myself down by the time lunch was over.
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We went to Mr. Carson's class after. He was our history teacher; he was also the only other teacher who cared aside from Mr. Butterfield.
- "Ok, class, today we are going to watch a video about pre-modern civilizations from the earliest times to around 1500 CE." He said then went ahead to turn on the TV.
The brightness hurt my eyes and gave me the worst headache. Eventually, the pain got the best of me, and I asked to be excused and got a hall pass. I ran to my locker and grabbed the Tylenol and then ran to the bathroom. I felt the need to throw up, so I ran faster. I called my dad. He picked it up right away.
- "Hey dad, could you come pick me up, I'm not feeling well."
- "Umm, I cannot right now. But in 20 minutes or so, can you go to the nurse's office until then?"
- "Ya, I think so," I replied.
- "Ok, I'll come pick you up as soon as I can, what happened?"
- "We were watching a video in Mr. Carson's class and the brightness made my headache worse, so I went to the bathroom, and I feel like I'm going to throw up."
- "Ok, I'll be there as soon as possible. Just go to the nurse's office until then and rest."
- "Ok, bye" Then I hung up.
I started to get up but felt dizzy, so I sat back down until I felt better. Then I started walking towards the nurse's office and he told me to go lay down. Eventually, he came back to check on me and asked me a couple questions. I told him everything, from the panic attack to now.
- "Hi, I'm looking for Calvin Lewis. I'm his dad" I heard in the distance. Dad must've gotten here.
Then I heard footsteps walking down the hallway and dad entered the room.
- "Hey Cal, how're you feeling? Still sick?"
- "It's a bit better. The nurse kept the lights off to help and I don't have that bad of a headache anymore."
- "That's good." There was an awkward long pause, and then Dad broke the silence. "Do you want to go home or go back to class?"
- "I'd rather go home, school's over soon anyway." I said as I started to get up.
The next few days I stayed home because I didn't feel well, but eventually returned to school on Monday, only for it to happen all over again. Marco and Millie brought my schoolwork and spent some time over. I knew them enough that I didn't have a panic attack around them, and if I did, they knew how to help.
