Strain 7

Chapter Two

Janie’s POV

         Nick kissed me on the cheek as I jumped out of his car and walked up the sidewalk to my house. I grabbed my keys from my purse and unlocked the door. I turned around and waved at Nick before walking inside. He always makes sure I can get in even though, every day, I have my key. It’s a bit over protective but that’s not a bad thing. I like feeling safe and protected.

          As I walked inside, I noticed that no one else was home, as usual. I climbed up the stairs to my room, throwing my book bag on the floor and my purse next to it before falling backwards onto my bed. It felt so good just to lie there. I’m so tired of the stress of school.

          I pulled out my books and binders from my book bag. I have tons of homework. I quickly sorted it all out and began. I put my iPod on the speakers and put it on shuffle. ‘Hey Jude’ from Across the Universe began playing.

          Two hours later, I was done with all my homework. I put it all away before collapsing on my bed, once again. Five minutes later I went down stairs to make myself some dinner. Just then, Haven walked in. 

          “Hey!” I said.

          “Hey!” She replied before following me into the kitchen.

          “How was practice?” I pulled out some pizza rolls form the freezer.

          “Boring as usual. But we got a lot done. You know we have a concert in a couple of weeks so Biegler is going crazy.” She sat down at the island and sighed.

          “I bet. Want some?” I asked, holding up the bag. She shook her head and I poured some onto a plate. I counted them to make sure there were twelve before putting the plate in the microwave.

          “Well, I just finished my homework and I’m exhausted. Once I finish dinner I’m going to bed” I told her. She just nodded in agreement. She had the same homework as I did.

          “If you have trouble on the homework, you can wake me up and I’ll help you. I had problems with it so it’s pretty hard.” I explained.

          “Oh yeah because we know you are so smart” She replied sarcastically before bursting into laughter. I joined her. We didn’t stop laughing until the microwave went off and I was grabbing my pizza rolls.

          “Well, I’ll talk to you later, Goodnight” I said as I climbed to my room.

          “Goodnight” I heard her yell after me. Once I was in my room, I sat at my desk and logged on to my computer. I checked my Facebook and such as I ate my pizza rolls. Once I was finished, I dumped the plate in my trash can and crashed on my bed, falling asleep in seconds.

Nick’s POV

          Once I got home, I grabbed myself a Diet Coke and ran up stairs to start my homework. I finished it in an hour. I had a lot but it was easy stuff.

          Once I had finished, I walked back downstairs and grabbed myself some dinner, pizza! I turned on the TV and turned it to the news. I didn’t really pay much attention. I was thinking about what classes I had tomorrow with Janie. We have computer tomorrow. Theatre also, but we always have that together.

          Then something caught my attention. I focused on the TV: “Breaking News shows that there is a new disease in the air. We haven’t got a name yet. All we know is that is seems like a common cold at first. Just some coughing and a fever. A couple of hours later, people start coughing up blood. Just a few hours later people can’t move more than an inch. It is very painful and has collected several casualties” The lady reading this telecom stops, “God that’s brutal” She says astonished. She obviously wasn’t ready to read something like that. I know I wasn’t ready to hear it.

          “It’s only in certain areas at the moment. Researchers are trying to find out what is causing it and whether it’s contagious. We will keep you updated.” She finished. It switched to weather, but I wasn’t paying attention. All I could think about was this disease. It’s horrible.

          I went to bed that night thinking about the virus.

Janie’s POV

         I woke up the next morning to my alarm. I hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep. I was too exhausted to get up at the moment.

          The next thing I know, its ten minutes until I should be leaving. Nick will be here soon. I sit up only to lie back down. I am way too exhausted. I told my mom I wasn’t feeling well. She told me she would call Nick and tell him not to pick me up.

          “Nick?” I heard her say. “Yeah, hey this is Julia’s mom. She’s not going to need a ride today.” Pause. “Yes, thanks Nick. Bye” She hung up and smiled at me, “Get better sweetie”

          I soon drifted back to sleep.

Nick’s POV

          I drove to school and got to homeroom. I put my stuff down and decided to go grab some breakfast since I was early. I guess Janie’s mom gave her a ride today. Or maybe she rode with Haven’s friend. I hope she’s not mad at me or something.

          I looked for her in the cafeteria as I grabbed some breakfast. I couldn’t find her. Only Haven. I put my food down at a table before walking over to where Haven was. “Hey Haven” I said.

          “Hey Nick!” She said.

          “Where’s Janie?” I asked her.

          “Oh, she’s not feeling good.” She replied simply. My eyes grew wide and I ran out of the cafeteria as fast as I can. I ran to my car and jumped in. I started heading to Janie’s house. I started praying to the Lord that she hadn’t gotten that disease.

          Five minutes later, I was at her house. I rushed inside; using my key she gave me, and ran up the stairs. I was out of breath once I made it to her room. I bolted through the door and over to her bed. She woke up from the noise. “Nick! What’s wrong? What are you doing here?” She asked me confused.

          “Are you ok!? What’s wrong? How do you feel?” I asked her in a rush.

          “I’m…fine. Why?” She asked.

          “You’re sister said you don’t feel well” I replied. She started laughing. I looked at her like she was crazy.

          “I’m fine Nick. I’m just exhausted from all the school. You know, stress and all. You know how that wears me out. So I decided to skip school today and sleep.” She explained. I started breathing easier.

          “So…you’re not sick? At all? Not even a cough?” I asked. I just had to double check.

          “I’m perfectly healthy” She stated happily before laughing again.

          “Oh…ok” I said, looking down embarrassed.

          “Nick, what’s wrong? Why were you so worried?” She asked. I looked up to see her looking at me worried.

          “It’s just…there’s a new disease out in the air now. It’s bad…real bad. I heard about it on the news and when I heard you didn’t feel well, it scared me.” I explained. I also told her all the symptoms and everything else the news told me. She stared at me in shock.

          “That’s horrible” She whispered.

          “Yeah…you scared me to death” I said.

          “I’m so sorry. If I had known I would have called you myself and told you I wasn’t sick” She said.

          “It’s ok. Get some rest. I got to get back to school” We both laughed and I gave her a quick kiss before walking back through her house and to my car. Once my car and I were out of sight of her window I blew a sigh of relief and closed my eyes for a second. I was just so happy she was okay.