The Unknown Hand

009

Margaret

Margaret's eyes blinked open, trying to get rid of the blurriness in her vision. Her hands reached up to her face, rubbing her burning eyes. Her eyes slid closed again, but her eyebrows came together soon after. Why hadn't she woken up to an alarm? Eyes flying open, she jumped out of bed. Silently pleading she had woken up early instead of late, she picked her phone up off of her desk. Her heart began to race. Not only was it over three hours into the school day, she had several texts from Lance. Her stomach suddenly felt queasy. Sick queasy. Not the realization she had missed half the school day and her only friend was worried about her queasy, but the 'I'm going to throw up' queasy.

Running, she barely made it to the toilet in time to empty her stomach's contents into it. So maybe she wasn't fine. She was reminded of the previous day, Lance's warm hands around hers. She was still embarrassed about how she had reacted, embarrassed he had done that, embarrassed he had told her to take it easy. Yesterday was pretty bad, and she was surprised she had been able to go at all. Her throat hurt so bad that she couldn't answer any teacher's questions for the whole day. She had just been glad Lance couldn't hear her.

Once she was done brushing her teeth after the incident, she slowly walked back to her room. Picking up her phone again, she read through her messages.

Lance 8:15 a.m.
 

   Mar where are you? At least tell me if you're okay.

Lance 9:00 a.m.
 

   Are you taking a break?

Lance 10:30 a.m.
 

   Drink plently and stay warm please. Be safe.

Margaret couldn't help but laugh at the last one. She learned just how bad an idea that was after doing so. Sharp pains surrounded her head, her stomach still unhappy. She slowly walked back to her bed, burrowing back under her blanket. After finding a comfortable position, she texted him back.

Margaret 11:05 a.m.
 

   Sorry Lance. I didn't wake up to my alarms. I'm afraid I won't be able to come to school today. Tell Miss Jane hi for me?

She closed her eyes, but her phone vibrated a few moments later.

Lance 11:06
 

   Of course. You okay?

Margaret 11:06
     Yeah. I'm just a little more sick today. That's all.

Lance 11:07
 

   I'm sorry. Do you need anything? Company?

Margaret 11:08
     Don't skip school for me. If you want to come by after, you can. Please don't feel like you have to do anything for me.

Lance 11:09
     I have the perfect idea for you. Please don't feel like I do things for you I don't want to.

Margaret couldn't help but smile at this last part. She couldn't stand how cute he was sometimes. This realization made her cheeks warm, even though there was no one around. Her eyes closed again. Somehow, she fell asleep again in no time.

__________________

Chapter Summary: Margaret is sick and stays home from school. Lance texts and says he has 'the perfect idea'.

Any ideas as to what that perfect idea could be? Definitely not as perfect as you, my friend. ;-) Have a wonderful day!