I'm free

Chapter 7

Three days have passed and my flu is still alive and kicking. The sound of my alarm clock blares off and I my headache forbids me from opening my eyes. Today, I decide to head to school because I'm sure I've missed out on a lot.

Besides my headache and my body protesting as I stand, I do anyway. I walk towards the bathroom but, I don't take a shower. I get a face towel, wet it with water, and started wiping my face and then my body. I don't want to spread the virus around but I'm pretty sure they got their flu vaccine shots.

I walk out of the bathroom once I was finished and head over to my closet. I got my plain black sweatshirt and my black leggings. I completed my all black attire with my black high-cut converse. I got my undergarments and wear them all on.

I prepare my backpack for school and I made sure to do all the assignments I had to do for the three days that I was away. I did some advanced reading so that I could catch up with all the lessons.

I open the door of my room and head to my brother's room. I see it slightly agape and I knock to make sure that I can come in. I hear a faint voice saying, "come in", and I walk inside the room to see him on his bed. He was working on something on his laptop and I walk to sit beside him.

He looks at me with a confused expression and eyes me from my head to my toes.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"School," I shrug.

"Has your flu gone away?"

I was hesitant to answer, but I did anyway, "No..."

"Why will you go to school then?"

"Because I'm already so far behind."

"Your health is more important," he looks at me with a scolding look on his face. The hardness on his face makes me flinch unintentionally and I sigh.

"I don't care about myself, right now," I sigh, "I just need to pull through this school year and actually get it done."

He heaves a sigh, "I still think you really should rest."

He places a hand on my forehead and looks at me with saddened eyes, "Your temperature has gone up. Why is this happening? It should have been gone a day ago."

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion and got my thermometer to check my temperature. I wait for five minutes, until I check my temperature.

104 F.

What the hell? It's gone up?

Suddenly, my breathing started growing heavy. I try and keep it at a minimum so that my brother doesn't see nor hear it. I got up from his bed and ask, "Can you drive me to school?"

He whines, "Why are you so stubborn?"

I smile, "I got it from you."

He heaves a sigh, yet again, and agrees.

I jump around, no matter how much my body aches. I stop and head out of the room. I head down the stairs and went in the kitchen. I got my medicines out and my water bottle, as well. I ate some of the toast prepared by our house maid and drink the medicine afterwards. I wait for Beck to come down and once he does, he starts eating his breakfast. I brush my teeth in the bathroom near the kitchen and once I got out, my brother is done eating his breakfast. He brushes his teeth fast and we head out of the house. We head towards the direction of the car and he unlocks the doors. I open it, slide in the car seat, and close the door.

He does the same and starts the ignition of the car. A minute later, we are off to school.

We arrive at our school within a matter of fifteen to twenty minutes. My brother parks his car on the parking space that was provided. Since he is a basketball player - the captain, I might add -, he's got a reserved parking space, which was a very good thing. Once the car was turned off, we got out and headed to the entrance of the school.

Once inside, we went on our separate ways. I head to my locker and he went over to see his friends. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side today. I bump into someone, which made the person's stuff all over the floor. I felt lightheaded when I suddenly plopped on the floor to help the person to get his/her stuff. I looked up to see that he was a guy. And, this guy looks familiar. I finally recognized him as the guy that bumped into me three days ago, the new guy.

I feel faint but I don't show it, though, I just kept gathering up his stuff. Once finished, I stand up and give him his stuff. I force a smile and get my hand out to shake, "Uh, here you go."

He gives me one of those breathtaking smile, "Thanks. I'm, uh, Adam."

"I'm Ash," I smile and give him my hand to shake. He takes it and shakes it a little, before letting go.

"Ash?" He asks, "Why Ash?"

"Short for Latasha," I answer.

"Ah," he says, nodding his head.

Pain shoots through my head and the world spin. He places his arm out for me to be caught in if ever I fall. I catch my head in my hands and my knees wobble. He caught me in his arms.

"Whoa, are you okay?" He asks, with a concerned face.

I force a smile and nod my head, "I'm all good."

He looks at my face, trying to analyze it before he lets me go, "Are you sure? You looked like you were about to faint, just then."

"I'm..." I pause, "fine."

He looks unsure for a minute before he just shrugs it off.

"I'll see you around then." He nods at me and I smile, nodding back.

He walks off to where I assume where his classes are. I walk to my locker and place the combination in. I got my books out, placed it in my bag, and shut the locker door. I walk towards the classroom for my first period. I head inside the room, hand my teacher the assignment, and went towards the back of the room, where my seat is.

The bell rings and people start piling inside the classroom. Our teacher starts her lecture and I sit there, listening while taking my notes.

I guess I will do this for the whole hour, not that we do any other activities besides quiz and taking notes.

An hour of pain. My body aches, my head aches, and everything aches.

God, help me get through this day.