the farther they continued, the more pain jess felt. her side was now throbbing with a sharp pain rather than the dull ache of this morning. they were on mile six, so they had one more to go until they reached the view they were hiking toward. she could do this, she kept repeating to herself with her right arm now permanently resting on her side. nick questioned if she was okay several times, but she brushed him off every time. he was so kind to cary her backpack for her, but she felt like such a burden to him for making him come on a hike in the first place.
when they finally reached the view, jess felt like she was going to throw up. actually she was sure she would. cece wanted to take picture of the view with her so she smiled while schmidt snapped a few shots. nick could see it all over her face though— something was very wrong. as soon as schmidt said he got it— he watched tears well up in jess's eyes. it was winston and aly's turn, so jess retreated behind cece who was taking the picture. nick moved towards her "jessica" he whispered harshly "you are not okay" "i just don't feel that great" she whispered back blinking the tears out of her eyes. "it's not a big deal" "you look awful" nick countered "thanks..." she mumbled looking hurt— and not because of the pain in her side. "no, jess, that's not that i meant, i mean.. ugh!" he became flustered "i mean you look like you're in pain and you're scaring me" she smiled softly at his panic "it's okay" she assured him for the hundredth time that day.
while the group was still taking pictures, jess snuck— or thought she did— off into some small bushes. she was so dizzy she collapsed to her knees and closed her eyes. then she threw up and just knelt there trying to breathe for a few moments. she heard rustling of leaves, but she didn't have the energy to move or hide at all. "jess!" she heard a familiar voice "oh god— oh no" nick said when he saw the vomit. "i knew you weren't okay" he muttered "i'm sorry" jess looked up at him with a few tears threatening to leak out— finally admitting that she was not okay. "that's okay, jess, we are heading back now" she nodded her head but did not say anything in response because she was worried she would throw up again if she did. "here jessica..." he knelt down and pulled out a water from her bag that he was still carrying. "here, try some of this" she nodded while reaching for it with a shaky arm. he grabbed her hand and placed the bottle in it. she sloppily took a few sips and then coughed. he took the bottle back out of her still shaking hand "come on, jess, let's go back" he urged her. she nodded not looking up at him and let him pull her up. "we will be back soon" he assured her while leading her out of the shrubs "...in seven miles" he said in his head only and scolded himself for not being more insistent that something was wrong.
jess stumbled after him when they met back up with the whole group. "what's wrong?" "are you okay?" cece asked as the whole group gathered around them. "my side..." jess admitted while still clutched the arm nick wasn't holding onto to her middle. "what's going on?" schmidt asked "jess doesn't feel good" nick explained. "still?" aly looked worried. "i thought it was cramps, but that can't be it" she added. nick turned to look at jess slightly bent forward curling into herself. "where?" coach asked stepping forward jess began to point to her lower right part of her stomach. "here?" coach asked gently touching the area she was motioning to. "AH" she yelped and cringed back. nick quickly stepped behind her to steady her so she wouldn't fall "that's your appendix, honey" coach looked up worried. "has this been bothering you all day?" jess was furiously wiping tears slipping from her eyes and nodded. "we need to get back quickly, then" coach nodded at the group. "can you walk, jess?" "o-of course" she sniffed and tried to compose herself. "we need to go now, then" he ordered everyone.
they all quickly started walking back— nick was barely a step behind jess as she walked and had his arms out in a flash if she wobbled even slightly. this was going to be a long trip back.
