A Day of Freedom

Chapter 5

            A sudden itching feeling made its way up my throat. My stomach convulsed and my back arched. Violent coughs escape my lips, the pained feeling slightly returned to my ribs. I felt the feeling of ice cling to my veins.

            “No!” I whispered. “Not yet, please, not yet.”

            “Hey! Are you okay?!” I vaguely heard a worried voice shout from the road. My head snapped up and I saw the boy with the raven hair, the one that had noticed me, the one that had waved.

            “I’m alright,” I said dropping my gaze in sudden and unknown embarrassment.

            My voice seemed to mute. It was a strange feeling, to be so shy all of a sudden. He rushed over with some of his friends and exchanged worried glances as I began to cough again. A girl leaned down, resting a hand on my shoulder. They asked if I should be brought to a doctor. I told them no.

            “I’ve just been a little sick, I’m okay, but thank you,” I said smiling.

            “Sick?” the boy asked.

            I felt my cheeks heat again. “I’ve been down for a while, but yesterday I took some medicine that made me feel normal for today!” I said excitedly. When I saw none of them smiled my grin faded too. “I’ve been waiting for my mother to come back and maybe I just over did it a little bit. I’m sure you have things that you were doing, it’s fine if you go. I’ll be alright,” I said trying to make my awkward goodbye brief.

            “Oh, we’ve got plenty of time!” Another girl smiled and they all seemed to agree with her.

            With loud thunks they dropped their bags in a pile and gathered around me under the cool shadow of the tree. My heart skipped a beat in excitement and nervousness. This was surreal and I felt my hands shake. I folded them in my lap to ease their shaking. A small smile stayed glued on my lips.

            “So how did you get sick? Is that why we’ve never seen you before?”

            “Yeah, I’ve been sick for a long time and it’s kept me home a lot. I haven’t been able to make many friends because of it,” I said sadly.

            “That’s awful,” a taller girl said. “Hey, you mentioned something about a medicine? Is that why you seem so healthy?”

            I nodded. “Wow! Where’d you get a medicine like that?” the tall boy asked me.

            “Well actually my father’s a scientist and he travels around trying to find cures for untreatable illnesses!”

            “That’s amazing!” The boy paused. “I’m Drew, by the way,” he said smiling and reached his hand towards mine.

            I smiled and took it, shaking lightly. “Wisteria.”                            

            “You’re not French, are you?” Drew asked.

            I shook my head. “Non, I actually moved here a few years back from America. My parents helped me learn French and it seems many here can speak English so I’m able to get by.”

            They went around the circle and introduced themselves. Some of their names were hard to pronounce and I was teased when I tried. We all laughed together. I started to feel more comfortable and soon began asking questions of my own.

            “So what is school like?” I asked enthusiastically.

            “Well it’s a lot like school in the states I’m sure. Except with the history of Paris most of our field trips consist of going to the Louvre,” a girl named Charlotte answered.

            “Sounds interesting!” I smiled.

            “Yeah, but sometimes it can get kind of boring.” Drew sighed.

            “How so?”

            “Well we have tests, which can be hard, or, like today, when it’s a nice outside you just want to jump out of the window and have an adventure!” he exclaimed throwing his arms in the air and we all laughed.