Window

5.

A dull headache throbbed in her head, a burning exhaustion stinging her eyes. The loud chatter that filled the crowded hallway felt amplified, each shoulder colliding with her like a punch. 

It felt like a heavy blanket of darkness was draped over her; making the simplest tasks feel impossible; making the best of situations dreadful. It was a bad day, and having to come to school was only making it worse. 

Emma pulled the dark grey sweatshirt tighter around her before stuffing her hands in the pockets. Long strands of whispy blonde hairs fell from her bun, blocking her vision which only induced a scowl.

But soon enough the door to her next class came into sight, a sigh escaping her which caused the loose hairs to fly into the air before fluttering back down.

Her sneakers slid across the floor as she shuffled through the crowd of people blocking her way, her hands colliding with the door as she pushed it open before slipping into the safety of the classroom. 

As soon as the noise had been shut out, a sigh of relief escaped her. Emma paused for a moment, leaning her back against the wall while pressing her cool hand against her burning forehead. For some reason, whenever she cried, the sensation of having a fever would always wash over her. 

Deciding that the few moments had been enough to compose herself, Emma waded further into the classroom where she spotted a familiar set of shoulders at the desk adjacent to hers. Without a word, she sat down softly in her seat. 

Dean's head snapped to the side, his eyes growing wide at the sight of her before a smile pulled at his lips. "Hey" he greeted happily, sitting up a bit. "You weren't in physics, I didn't think you'd be here." 

"Well" Emma sighed, shrugging softly. "Here I am." 

"I see that" Dean said slowly, studying the purple bags that hung under her eyes, the disheveled hair and the faint puffiness of her cheeks. "Why'd you miss class? You never miss class" Dean pointed out the obvious, which only made Emma more frustrated with the situation. 

Gnawing her lip, Emma took a deep breath. "Medical thing." she answered shortly, keeping her guarded eyes on the floor to avoid giving anything else away. "What did I miss in physics?" she asked, praying that she hadn't missed anything that would set her back. 

Blinking himself out of his thoughts, Dean responded with, "Just a packet. It's kind of the same thing we've been doing. I actually- um- got you one...". Dean had a faint blush on his cheeks as he grabbed the slightly wrinkled paper from his bag, handing it to her. 

Emma couldn't help but let a small smile break through her glum demeanor at the kind gesture. "Thanks" Emma said sweetly, taking the piece of paper into her hands while running her thumb over her name that Dean had scrawled on the top. "Thank you."

"It's no problem, I figured I'd just grab one" Dean shrugged embarrassedly, his eyes casted on the far wall. Emma grinned at him before laying the piece of paper on the desk, her eyes running over the problems that lay there.

As she thought, Dean let his gaze return to her tired face. She had never missed class, not once. And it seemed rather uncharacteristic of her, if he should say so, to do that. There was something off about her too; perhaps it was the paleness of her skin, like she had seen a ghost, or the red tint in the whites of her eyes. 

"Are you okay?" Dean asked suddenly, watching Emma's brown eyes jump to his with eyebrows drawn together. "Well, I mean, you said you had a medical thing. Are you okay?" he clarified quietly, worrying that he had over stepped his boundaries. 

Emma studied him for a moment, deciding whether she wanted to answer truthfully or not. After thinking it over, she decided to go with the latter. "Yeah, I'm okay." she lied, offering a kind smile to show the appreciation for the question itself. "I'll manage" she added, alluding to the fact that things were far from perfect.