By The Book

Five

      I woke up, feeling tired and my head felt like it was spinning, and it ached. I looked around, Where am I? I thought to myself. Then I realized it looked familiar. I was in the nurse's office. The nurse didn't see me awake, she was typing away on her computer not paying attention to me.

I was trying to remember what had happened. I thought back to early in the morning. I remembered Mom telling me my schedule. I remembered going to orchestra, and second hour. And I dropped some things out of my locker, I remembered that. Then I thought back to the last place I was in. It was... the cafeteria! I went in there, and sat down and... I couldn't remember anything else. My mind went blank after recalling that moment.

Suddenly the nurse looked over.
"Oh! Miss Clarita! You're awake!" she said, moving her roller chair over to the bed I was laying on.
"How are you feeling?" she asked. I blinked my eyes a few times.
"I- what happened?" I said.
"Well you fainted darling. At lunch time. Do you know why you might have fainted?" I shook my head. She pushed her chair with the wheels on the bottom back a little bit to grab a clip board off her desk, and pushed the chair back to beside the bed. She clicked a little blue pen, and jotted something down on a piece of paper on the clip board.

I noticed how dark it was in the room. It was lit up in the area of where the nurse's desk was, and some cabinets and drawers with medical things inside of them. But the area with the beds were dark, and peaceful, and the perfect place to rest. Just thinking about it made me want to drift off to sleep. But before I could the nurse gave me a little paper cup filled with cold water.

"You'll need to drink up. After you pass out, you need to stay hydrated." she said. I just nodded, and took the cup from her. I drank the water. And it did feel refreshing, and already made me feel a little bit better. The icy cold liquid rushed down my throat, and made me feel so much more awake. I slurped it all down, and let out a big breath after the cup was empty.

The nurses looked up at me.
"Finished?" she asked. I nodded.
"I'll get you some more." she said, taking the cup out of my hands. She went over to a little water tank, and held down a little button to get some water in there. Then she slid back over to the side of the bed with her rolling chair. She gave me the cup, saying,
"There you go." and I managed to let out a
"Thank you."
"You are so welcome." she replied. She then moved her rolling chair with her feet back over to her desk, and went back to typing on her computer.

At our school, the nurse's office was connected with the main office. Where the principle works, and you get signed in if you're late. Or if you need to talk to someone like the counselor. Stuff like that. I heard a noise come from the main office. The door to the room opened, and closed behind.
"Hello!" said the secretary.
"Good afternoon." said a familiar voice.
"Just sign out right here." said the secretary. And then it was a little bit of silence. Until whoever was out there was done signing, and the secretary said,
"Right back in there."
"Thank you." said the other voice.

Then someone stepped in the door of the nurse's office. I looked in the doorway. It was my mom. She looked over at the bed I was laying in. She tapped her heels on the floor, walking up to the bed. And the nurse stood up. It was actually the first time I saw her stand up all day.
"Ms. Peyton! Good afternoon. Uh- Clarita is okay to leave if you are ready to take her." the nurse said to my mom.
"Thank you." my mom replied with. She looked over at me. Her face was kind of blank. There was no smile, but not an angry or sad face either. Just a plain resting face, that I didn't know how to feel about.

"Are you ready to go?" she said, looking at me. I nodded, with a worried kind of look. I didn't really know what was going to happen. I slowly sat up, my head still pounding, and grabbed my backpack from what I noticed was at the end of my bed, and shifted my body to the edge of the bed, with my feet on the floor, and stood up slowly, trying not to fall backwards. I looked up at her, in the back of my mind, seeking for assistance. But she didn't help me. I just had to move my legs on my own, to walk out the door, into the main office.
"Thank you again." said Mom to the nurse before we walked out the door. And then I think she whispered, or mouthed something to her, but I wasn't sure of what she said.

We walked through the main office, my mom said thank you to the secretary again, and walked out the door. Then we walked out of the main doors from where you enter, and out to our car. Mom walked pretty heavily, her heels slamming down on the concrete. Then I looked down at my own shoes. My feet barely keeping up with my mom, because I felt so dizzy, I couldn't walk that fast. Mom pressed the unlock button on her keys when we were a few feet away from the car, and she walked over to the driver's side, and opened the door, ducking her head to sit in the chair. She started up the car before I had even opened my door of the front seat. I opened it, put my back pack in front of the seat, underneath where the glove box was, and swung my feet in, while shutting the door. Mom already had her seat belt on, and I got mine clicked on, and she shifted the gear to reverse, and then to drive once we were out of the parking space.

The whole car ride was silent. Mom didn't speak a word to me. I still felt dizzy, and my head still hurt a lot. So I rested my head up against the door, and looked out the window at all the passing tress and houses and people walking on the side walk. Even though it was making me more dizzy.