A Piece of Gum

Chapter 4

"Did you just say you gave me gum to read my thoughts?" Alissa asked, astonished. She reached over and put her hand on my head.

I rolled my eyes, pushing her hand away.

"You feel a bit warm," she said uncertainly. "Do you feel dizzy? Is your vision blurred?" Well, my vision was starting to get back a bit blurred, but I think that's because I never wear my glasses.

"I'm fine," I insisted. I racked my brain for an explanation. "I was just... joking. Yeah, joking." Alissa squinted at me.

"Joking," she repeated. "Okay." Thankfully, she dropped the matter, and soon we were chatting about our weekends.

"...so he comes up to me in the store and says, 'Hey.' The he walked away. Is hey a good thing?" She gasped. "What if hey is a bad thing?" She was telling me about seeing her crush, Rick, at Target. I thought for a moment before responding.

"Um, did he say anything else? Or just 'Hey' and then he walked away?"

Alissa said, "That's all he said. And then he winked."

"Sounds like he likes you," I said thoughtfully. "Ooh, there he is!" I exclaimed as I saw Rick approaching. 

Alissa freaked out and started doing a million things at once. She combed through her hair with her fingers, while at the same time she applied lip gloss with the other hand. Thankfully, Rick was walking slowly and too absorbed in his conversations with his friends to realize.

"What do I say?" she screeched quietly.

I myself had no clue, so I just smiled and turned away. Hopefully it came off that I turned around to leave them alone, but I honestly didn't know what to do. I shifted over and pulled a book out of my bag, pretending to flip through the pages while I secretly peered at them.

"...funny running into you the..."

"Slam dunk!" some random jerk screamed when he had tossed a tissue into the garbage. I glared at him and subtly scooted closer so I could hear what they were saying.

"...definitely..."

"Awesome job, dude!" The jerk's friend chimed in with a scream of his own. I sighed, exasperated, scooting even closer to them. I nearly fell off the bench, grabbing at the nearest thing, which, in my luck, was a person.

"Oh, um, hi, Anna. Are you okay?" Rick's eyes peeked out from under his shaggy mop. I had always thought he needed a haircut, but that could just be my opinion.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, my face turning strawberry red. I buried my face in the book and once again tried to listen.

"..see you then..."

"Hey, Anna, I was looking all over-"

"Shut up!" I screamed, cutting off the poor person in front of me. It took a few seconds before it dawned on me that it was Delilah.

Now both Rick and Alissa were staring at me, along with the jerk and his friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, my face turning a deeper red although I hadn't thought that to be possible. "Please continue." I winced, turning back to Delilah.

"I'm so sorry-"

Delilah cut me off. "No, I get it. You didn't want to give your best friend of six years a tissue, and now you scream at me in the middle of the cafeteria, drawing attention." She sniffled. "Some friend you are."

"Well, at least I had valued our friendship and don't rethink our friendship in my head!" I screamed, and instantly my hands flew to my mouth.

Now I had the attention of everyone sitting at the tables surrounding this one.

"What are you talking about?" asked Delilah, staring. "When did I ever say that I don't value our friendship?" she asked, choking on the last few words.

"Oh please. Don't act like you want to be my friend now to save whatever this is. I know you like Lila better, so just be her best friend instead!"

Delilah just kept staring. "Are you okay? You seem delusional, but I think you're the bad friend." She gathered her stuff and hurried away in the opposite direction.

My head dropped into my hands. I didn't want to look at anyone, or talk to anyone. I just wanted to go home and cuddle up on the couch in a blanket eating a tub of ice cream while watching Dancing With the Stars reruns.

"Alright, bye," I heard Rick say, then I heard feet shuffling away. Soon, a gentle hand appeared on my shoulder.

"Anna, are you okay? I think the cold might have gotten to your head. I'll take you to the nurse."

"No, I'm fine," I said sharply, pushing her hand away. At that point, any normal friend would have left me alone, but Alissa was too sweet and caring. 

"Anna, let's go," she said, softly but firmly. I sniffled, letting her lead me to the nurse's office.

The nurse looked at me sympathetically as we walked in.

"Okay, honey, what's the matter? School didn't even start yet."

I just sniffled in response. The nurse sighed and turned to Alissa for help.

"She's not feeling well. She feels warm, has a cold, and-" She cut herself off. "Yeah, she just feels warm and has a cold."

The nurse eyed us, sighed, and said, "Come, let me check your temperature." I sat down and allowed the nurse to stick the thermometer under my tongue.

I sat there as the plastic kept brushing against my tongue as I bobbed my head to the soft music that the nurse had playing on the radio. Alissa shifted uncomfortably. I felt really bad. I'd interrupted her conversation. When the nurse wasn't looking, I walked with two fingers and then made the call me sign. Alissa nodded, having received the message.

"Um, Nurse Murron, I'm going to go now. I have a big test first period. She already has her stuff, so..." Alissa trailed off, leaning towards the door.

"Okay sweetie. Thanks for bringing her here." Alissa left the room and I continued to bob my head, wishing that the thing would hurry up already.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Hmm, looks like you do have a temperature," said Nurse Murron as she pulled the thermometer from my mouth. "Didn't your mom check your temperature, knowing that you had a cold?" she asked, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

She did last night, and I didn't have a fever.

"Yes, and I didn't have a fever, otherwise I wouldn't be in school," I said annoyed. Who was this lady to talk about my mother like that?

She glared at me. "Well, young lady, no need for your tone of voice."

I rolled my eyes, blowing out a puff of air.

"What happened to you? You used to be such a sweet little kid." She sighed. "Teenagers," she grumbled under her breath.

"I don't know. What's my temperature? Aren't you, like, required by law to tell me?" I sat up straighter, glaring at her. Two could play at this game.

"104.2 is your temperature. Yes, I am required by law to tell you," she said, glaring back at me with equal force. "And I am afraid that the law also requires me to call an ambulance for any minor with a temperature over 104 degrees."