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12

The next day I wake up feeling horrible. My nose runs, my throat aches, my whole body feels heavy when I try to get up.

"Fuck", I whisper and stare at the clock. There's not much time left to decide whether I stay at home or not. I carefully get up and walk to the bathroom where I blow my nose and then wash my face to wake up completely.

I stare at my reflection in the mirror and think to myself that I look horrible. Also, my head starts aching now. I sigh.

My mum already calls from downstairs to see if I'm awake. I try to shout back but soon realise that my voice won't do that.

So I walk downstairs. As soon as my mum sees me she gives me a concerned look.

"I'll call the school before I leave for work", she says before I can say anything.

"Okay", I mumble, my voice hoarse.

"Do you have a fever or is it just a cold with runny nose and all that?", she asks.

I shrug. "Don't know."

"You need to check that." She opens up the drawer with the medication and proceeds to give me some pills. "Take one each half an hour until it gets better. Then one hour."

I nod. "Thanks."

"Drink some tea for the throat", she tells me. "And now go back to bed."

"Okay", I reply and I slowly walk back. When I'm in bed again I get my phone out and send Blake a quick text to let him know where I am. And after that I text Reece that I'm sick and won't go to school so I also won't come to his.

When that is done I let myself sink back into the pillow. I soon fall asleep again, however, I dream some weird shit and don't wake up feeling any better.

I check the time. My mum must have left hours ago. I wander to the toilet and back to bed. I rarely feel so unwell, I usually don't get ill easily.

I decide to check my messages and see a quick text back from Blake that makes me smile a little.

After that I still feel tired to I take one of the pills and turn around to try and sleep some more.

However, I couldn't. After lying in bed for about an hour I got up. My body was exhausted from the cold so I moved slowly. When I manage to get into the kitchen I make myself a cup of tea.

I go back upstairs and turn on my TV to watch a show or something. After a while I get bored and check my phone and see that Reece read my text. However, he didn't text back. I roll my eyes. Couldn't expect any niceness from him.

I must've fallen asleep again, because when I wake up this time I feel much better than before. My nose is still running, but neither my throat nor my head ache as much anymore. I sigh happily and take another one of the pills my mum gave me.

I notice that the TV is still on, so I turn it off.

It's quite silent now and I close my eyes. I get lost in my thoughts until I hear noises downstairs and I assume that my mum is home. I remember that my dad comes home from his work trip soon too.

I sit up when I hear her come up the stairs. She knocks on my door before she comes in and seems relieved when she sees me.

"Are you feeling better?", she asks.

"Yeah", I say and nod.

She smiles. "Okay. I bet you slept all day", she mocks me. "I'll go and cook now so relax a bit more."

I grab my phone when she leaves my room. And I almost drop it when I see that by now Reece had texted me. This boy was a mystery.

The text only says 'get well soon.' and I roll my eyes at that. First he doesn't reply at all and after a few more hours that's all he's got? He could've at least thought of some comment.