10/17

Episode 9, Chapter 36

October 16th, 2017

Clint groaned through the third dizzy spell of the day, forcing himself to focus on the teacher. His stomach churned, the little breakfast he could scrape together and inhaled only an hour ago already forgotten. He had taken as much as his free meal plan would allow. It never did more than take the edge off his hunger, but he had learned to ignore the gnawing in his gut. This morning had been different, though. From the moment his eyes opened, his stomach had felt as though it were chewing through his body to attack someone, like a junkyard dog off its leash.

"Mr. Locklear, are you still with me?" Startled out of his fuzzy stupor, Clint blinked up in sleepy astonishment at Mr. Holder, standing right by his desk. His brain pushed him to respond, but he could not seem to focus on the man. By now the whole class was focused on him, waiting to see how, Clint, the unchallenged king of the class clowns, was going to get himself out of this one. Not that this wasn't exactly what he wanted them to think. He had worked hard to earn that title. None of them really understood him. It was either star in his own comedy or accept that he was the main attraction in the freak show that was his life. No, it was far better to control what everyone saw. He needed to say something. He needed to smile and laugh it off, entertain the masses with his classic misdirection.

"Mr. Locklear? Clint?" came Mr. Holder's voice again. "Are you okay?" Clint focused on his teacher as he realized his eyes had closed. Yeah, this was not good.

"Um, yeah, you know it, Mr. Holder," he said, forcing himself to grin. It must not have come across well, because his teacher's frown deepened.

"I think you need to go to the nurse's office," Mr. Holder said, his face a stony mask of displeasure. Rather than argue or cause a scene, Clint only nodded. He pushed from his desk and dragged himself toward the door. "Mr. Locklear." Clint turned back to see his teacher holding his ratty backpack out with distaste. Clint took it, sagging at the weight and left.

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say you show all the symptoms of low blood sugar. When's the last time you ate anything, Clint?" Nurse Uley asked as she stepped back from shining a light in his eyes.

"I ate breakfast in the cafeteria this morning."

"And before that?" When he didn't answer right away, her eyes narrowed. "Clint," she said, with a warning edge in her voice he recognized. With any other person, he might have ignored that tone and made a joke, but not with her. She knew him too well. One of the few who did. She had dated his Aunt Mindy back when she was still in college and he was still in diapers. That had been before Aunt Mindy had gotten enough of their small minded, midwest city and her drug addicted big sister's abusive family and moved to Seattle. She and Donna had remained friends after their break, and he was pretty sure Donna Uley kept tabs on him and his brother and reported back to his aunt whenever she could. He could lie to her, but he wouldn't.

"I ate Ramen noodles last night," he said, just managing to shrug his shoulders like it was no big deal.

"Ramen with what in it? What kind of protein? And how much?" He just looked at her. She knew the answers, no need to say it all out loud. She sighed, shaking her head. "You didn't work last night, I take it. Are you supposed to work tonight?"

"Nah, they don't need me 'till tomorrow."

"Working on your birthday, huh?" Clint nodded. Birthdays were just another day in their world. He was pretty certain his dad had no clue what day either of his sons was born on. It's not like he 

was there, either time. "And Josh?" she asked.

"He's covered. Held back enough to get him a burger and fries last night and a pizza tonight."