The Child Within

Chapter 5

"Can't blame this one on my younger self," Max admits. Coming to the realization that he's pretty unlikely to pass the test, Max decides he must find a way out of taking it. "Hey, I'm a grown adult, surely I can formulate a cunning plan to get myself excused from the test. I'll let my wits save me." Max raises his hand to get the teachers attention.

"Yes Max?"

"I don't feel good, I need to go home."

"You looked okay just a minute ago, I think you'll be just fine"

"Well that plan sucked, thanks a lot wits." With plan A getting swatted back in his face, Max ponders a plan B. When nothing remotely feasible comes to mind, he resorts to drastic measures. After taking a moment to prepare, Max gives himself a good shake, loudly exhales and proceeds to stick his finger down his throat. After a quiet gag, vomit comes gushing out like a geyser. The acidic substance has a light brown hue, and contains several bits and chunks of morning breakfast. Luckily, there are no desks to his left so Max is able to spew the vile substance away from his fellow students. A collective "eww" resonates throughout the classroom, and the majority of the students in the vicinity quickly evacuate. With his head slung off to the side and vomit still dripping from the corner of his mouth, Max again raises his hand. "Now can I go home now?"

"No," Mrs. Michaels responds with a disgusted look on her face. "You can, however, go to the office and see the nurse."

Max quickly snatches up his belongings and readies to head out. The entire class is gawking at him, most with a repulsed look of disgust on their face. He takes a quick look at Martin, who's clearly impressed, gives a slight wink, and then heads out with a hand on his stomach to play it up. As Max walks through the door he can hear the teacher on the phone asking for the janitor "ASAP!"

Heading down the hallway toward the office, Max is sure to keep a sickly look on his face in order to keep up the facade. He takes a quick detour to the bathroom to relieve his pipes, then grabs a drink from the fountain just outside, which contains piss cold water at best. Max recalls that there is one particular fountain in the school that has icy cold water, but isn't quite sure of the location. Not wanting to press his luck, Max nixes that adventure for now and continues to the office.

A few seconds later Max approaches the office and enters with both hands on his stomach, accompanied with an agonizing look on his face. "I'm not feeling well, Mrs. Michaels sent me here to see the nurse."

"Alright no problem, have a seat please."

Max plops down on the hard, orange, plastic chair and waits for the nurse to see him. Noticing a stack of papers sitting on the desk in front of him, Max hops up to take a peek. It turns out to be the lunch schedule for the month, so he decides to snatch a sheet for a bit of light reading while he patiently waits. Scanning over the menu Max sees some of his old favorites such as chicken nuggets, nachos, hamburger and pizza. The pizza. Ah yes, the pizza. Max remembers this being his meal of choice throughout middle school. Those perfect little rectangular portions were so yummy, and even though he would later realize just how disgusting those pieces of pie actually were, it was a literal slice of heaven for him back in the day. Each slice came with two pepperonis, but on occasion the jackpot would be hit, and the mythical third pepperoni would present itself on the slice. The orange grease would flow down his hand as he mowed the delicious blend of ingredients down, and a minimum of three napkins were required for a proper cleanup. With a tiny carton of chocolate milk to wash it down, few things could stack up to this mouthwatering meal from Max's childhood.

"Come on back young man," a voice rings out, interrupting Max's thoughts.

Looking up, Max sees who he assumes is the nurse and acknowledges her request. He puts the lunch menu back in its stack as he follows her to the back. The two arrive at a small room with a brown counter, a few cabinets and a light blue, well-used, sofa.