The Perks of Being a Freak (Editing)

60. I Think Being A Freak Should Make Me Exempt From Sickness

During school, all I could think about was the coming weekend. I felt shaky and nervous and my palms were constantly damp. By second period on Monday, the end of my braid was straw-like with saliva.

Even Simon avoided pulling on my hair, seeing how gross and crusted it was.

After science, however, I avoided him like the plague. I remembered my birthday. I remembered a few nights ago, when we discovered Tony’s pyromancer-y-ness. I remembered him vowing revenge.

So, naturally, I steered clear.

I happened to like having my head attached to my shoulders.

I didn’t go up on the roof again. In fact, I hardly went anywhere alone. I practically glued myself to my friends, human and freakish.

I saw Rajeev a few times, but he made it clear that we were not on speaking terms. Hell, we weren’t even on eye-contact terms.

That made me kind of pissed.

Because he was blaming me, or blaming us, even though it wasn’t our fault. It wasn’t my fault that he hadn’t developed freakish powers. It wasn’t my fault that we had gotten kidnapped.

By Wednesday, I hadn’t spoken to either Simon or Jaeb, and we hadn’t seen them outside of school. Our days were filled with school and homework and sports, while our nights were spent planning and plotting to sneak into the lab.

And then Friday came, and we were all sick.

No, I mean all of us. Not just me, or Emily. Nearly half the school came down with the flu. It was practically an epidemic.

And it meant that instead of storming the lab, as we had planned, I was tossing chunks in my bathroom.

Normally I have a pretty good immune system. I get sick a couple times a year, and thats all. But when I do get sick, I get really sick.

I was the only Davis to get sick as well, which sucked. If any of my brothers or my little sister got sick, my mother would coddle them and make them soup or tuck them in. Not me. I get sick, and they quarantine me in the attic. Literally. She locked the door so I couldn’t get down and infect them all.

It made me wonder why she had a key.

But then I was vomiting again, wracked with shakes. My throat was sore from my near-constant, violent bouts of nausea, and my mouth tasted horrible.

I curled up on the floor of my bathroom in a pair of shorts and a sports bra, trying to press as much of my burning skin against the cool tile as possible. When the chills started, I would wrap myself in the blankets I had thrown nearby until the shivering passed and the heat came back. I wanted to wait until my stomach was empty before moving to the shower, and judging by how much I had thrown up in the last seven hours, I wouldn’t have to wait long.

So I’m guessing that we’re not going to the lab? Emily was the only one of us who wasn’t sick. Instead of replying, I puked again.

That answers that, Benny sounded miserable.

Be safe at school, Em, Tony warned, thoughts of Jaeb and Simon cornering her filled his brain.

Jaeb is sick, Emily said. And Simon is avoiding me. He doesn’t seem to hate me as much as he hates you, Lia.

Wonderful, I groaned.

And then we were all quiet.

And by quiet, I mean puking.

When, finally, the only thing to come out of my stomach was acidic fluid, I turned on the shower and stripped. Whenever the chills came, I turned the water up until my skin flushed brightly. Whenever I felt hot, I turned the temperature down drastically.

And there I stayed for the next hour, curled up in a corner of my small shower, trying to fight off illness.

And when I felt that I had wasted enough water, I threw on a robe (too tired and sick to change), brushed my teeth, and then snuggled into bed and fell asleep.

I had a nightmare about the lab.

But by the time I woke up I had already forgotten it.