Steady On My Knees //BOY MEETS WORLD//

Whats a "Chicken Pox"? (Part 1)

Snapshot: An image of Shawn Hunter, lying on the couch in Jon's apartment, swaddled under at least fifty blankets. His nose is red and his cheeks flushed- and little red spots cover every inch of his skin. He looks positively pitiful.

The picture is captioned;
"Shawn gets the chickenpox- and Jon gets a world class headache"

It started out with Shawn feeling a little under the weather that morning- sore stomach, not very hungry. Etc.

He brushed it off, and went to school- hoping by the time he got there it'll have passed.

He was wrong, of course.

His stomach pains only worsened in history class, and by the time English rolled around he couldn't stop sweating, and it felt as if his brain had been set on fire, he was that warm.

He kept his head down for most of the lesson, letting the sound of Mr Turners voice drone on into the background and fade away entirely. He received many odd looks from his peers, and a few from his teacher- who after fifteen minutes of the boy still not paying attention to the lesson, spoke up.

"Hunter, you still with us?"

He watched as the boys head shot up from the desk,  cheeks slightly flushed and brow slick with perspiration. This alone would've set alarm bells off in any other parents mind, but Jon was new to this- and so the slightly feverish look in the boys eyes went sailing over his head.

"Huh?" He said, looking up at him, lost. A few people giggled.

Mr Turner frowned, unamused. "Pay attention, would ya?" He said shortly, before resuming the lesson.

And so Shawn tried his best to stay alert for the remainder of the lesson.

Tried.

———————————————————————

It was Lunchtime now and Shawn was feeling no better than he had this morning. In fact, he felt as if he was getting worse.

He didn't bother touching his food, and the mere sight of it made his stomach roll uncomfortably. He excused himself at one point to rush to the bathroom, worried he was about to throw up. He didn't, but that didn't stop his stomach from making painful lurches.

He splashed some water over his face to cool himself down, and leant his head against the restroom mirror, arms resting on the sink. The cool glass did nothing, however, and he still felt incredibly warm.

He only had two more lessons before this dreadful day was over. He could do this.

Returning to the cafeteria, he brushed off the concerned questions from Cory and Topanga. "I'm fine guys" he said, giving them a winning smile. But something in his mind kept screaming 'Turner. go to Turner.' But, being Shawn, he elected to ignore it.

He couldn't stop scratching himself in his maths class. It started with a prickly sensation on the back of his neck, and by the end of the hour Shawn felt as though he were itching all over.

Cory stopped him on the way to his last lesson, giving him a horrific look, "Shawn!"

"What?" The boy asked, still scratching away at his neck.

"Shawn, your face"

"What about my-?" But before he could finish he was being dragged by the sleeve of his jacket towards the nearest boys bathroom. Swiftly pushing aside a younger kid, Cory placed him in-front of the closest mirror, and pointed.

Shawn's eyes widened.

Spots. Big, red spots, covered the whole of his face. Some were an angry red, others beginning to blister- but all of them were absolutely horrifying.

"Oh my god" Shawn cried, voice cracking. "I thought my teenage years would be kinder to me. But look at me cor- I'm ugly"

Cory frowned, "What?- no, Shawn. You're sick"

Cory sighed dramatically when his friend gave him a hurt look, before grabbing him by the arm once more and marching him out of the bathroom and towards a very familiar classroom.

"Mr Turner" Cory called, pulling his spot-infested friend along behind him. "We got a problem"

Their teacher, who'd just began his lesson, looked up at the younger Matthews boy with a scowl, annoyed at his lesson having been interrupted. His frown fell however, when he spotted Shawn.

"Oh dear god" he murmured, before turning apologetically to the class of first years, and excusing himself. He shut the door behind him, and turned on Cory.

"What the hell happened to him?!" He hissed, watching Shawn sink tiredly down the side of the wall, his feet no longer able to hold him up.

Cory scoffed, offended, "I dunno, Mr Turner, You ask me. I'm not the one who lives with him"

Jon bit his lip, chewing it nervously as he gazed at the flushed and disorientated boy crouched beside them.

Cory went on, enraged, "You didn't check up on him this morning at all?!"

The English teacher peeled his eyes away from his ward, looking guiltily down at the other boy. He was embarrassed, not to mention angry with himself. Because now that Cory mentioned it, the boy had seemed off this morning, but Jon has been too busy running back and forth looking for his lesson plans to notice Shawn's slower, more lethargic behaviour getting ready this morning.

He was supposed to be looking out for stuff like this. He wasn't just a teacher anymore, he was a guardian. He was Shawn's guardian. And Shawn was his job now too.

He felt awful.

He sighed.

"Thank you, Matthews" he whispered, and Cory's gaze softened slightly. The boy nodded, understanding.

And then, Jon was grabbing Shawn under the arm and heaving him to his feet. The teen stumbled, but with his teachers support he managed to stay upright.

"I'm taking him home" he said to the boy, "I need you to send a message to Mr Feeny, and ask him to find me a sub to take over my lesson"

Cory nodded, ready to hop to it. He faltered however, and cast a nervous glance to his friend. "Is he gonna be alright?"

Turner smiled, grateful for the unconditional love the boy had towards his ward. Shawn desperately needed a friend like Cory.

"He'll be fine, Matthews. A little chicken pox never hurt no one"

They heard Shawn pipe up in a small voice, "what's a "chicken pox"?"

———————————————————————

Another chapter down! Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be coming soon.