My Second kiss

Chapter 6

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Chapter Six

My alarm clock went off at six thirty a.m. I hit the snooze button and rolled over into my pillows. But I didn't fall asleep again like I usually did.

The hard reality of Jess starting high school without me sent a pain through my body. I decided that I was too sick to go to school.

Maybe Mom would call the school nurse again and tell her that I was going to be late. I lay in bed motionless until my alarm flipped back on again.

An old country western song that I had never heard before was playing-which only hindered my progress of rolling out of bed. I heard Mom flip on the hall light and knew that as soon as she realized I was still in bed, she would be knocking on my door.

"Gem?" She tapped her first two knuckles against my door as I had expected. I moaned. "Are you okay?" 

She peeked her head into my room.

"I don't think I can go to school today," I murmured, taking advantage of my groggy morning voice. "I'm too sick."

Mom stepped gracefully around the door and sat down on the edge of my bed. She put the back of her hand to my forehead. "Hmmm." She furrowed her brow while closely examining my face in the dim light shining in from my window. "Oh yeah, I know what the problem is."

"You do?" I asked, puzzled. Did I actually have a fever?

"Yep. It looks like you have Missing-Jess-itis." She tugged on each of my ears. "It's very common this time 

of year. Found most commonly in girls named Gemma who have to walk to school alone."

I sneered at my mom then pulled my comforter up over my head. My words were muffled as I spoke, "I'm really sick, Mom! I need you to call the school nurse and tell her I'm not going to be able to go to school this 

year."

Mom breathed a tired laugh as she stood up and yanked my warm blankets off me. "Come on, kiddo. I'll 

drive you to school today."

She dropped me off in front of the school, and I dragged myself toward the front doors. When I entered the 

school, there were still a few students hustling through the halls, peering at their class schedules. I flipped my bag around to find my own class schedule, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Panic swept through my entire body, and I prayed silently that I would wake up from this nightmare. I wished that I had looked more carefully at my schedule. I was so concerned with Jess leaving me that I hadn't taken the time to memorize it. I tore my backpack off my shoulder and rummaged through it with the hope that I might be wrong.

Being the first day of school, my backpack was basically empty except for one binder with blank paper, a calculator, and a couple of pencils. It didn't take me long to realize that my schedule was still sitting on my desk in my room a half a mile away.

I ran back to the main doors and peered through the clear glass, searching for Mom's car. She was long gone. I squeezed my eyes shut, and I tried to bring back the words that I had read a week before when I received my schedule.

My mind was blank. I was desperate. I walked as smoothly as I could down the hall until I came to a class with familiar faces. I entered the already open door naturally and sat down in an empty chair on the back row.

Luckily the teacher was still talking with a couple students at the front of the class and hadn't noticed me come in. I looked around the class for Nina or Clarissa. Neither one of them was there.