Drink Your Medicine (Jalex)

<5>

"You signed me up for what?!" I shouted at my parents, appalled. Who'd have thought that lying forever would backfire so hard? 

"You always talk about having all of these friends, but you never have the chance to hang out with them. Baseball is the perfect opportunity for that. You can enjoy a great sport and be with all of your great friends," My mother explained excitedly.

I tried to control my breathing but failed miserably. I ran up to the bathroom before taking a dose of medicine. Not doing that would make this so much worse. Jack came flying forwards. "What's the matter, Lex?" He asked, sounding concern. 

"Parents.....baseball....." I gasped, feeling everything begin to spin faster and faster. I shut my eyes so that I wouldn't have to see it. 

"Hey, hey. Breathe. Put your hand against the mirror, okay?" His tone sounded calm and assuring. What did he mean when he said that he couldn't help people? 

I listened to him, putting my hand against the cool glass of the mirror. I suddenly felt a warmth against my hand. I looked up and Jack had his hand against mine through the mirror. I couldn't feel him, but he was there. He's real. And in that moment, everything just stopped. My breathing became normal and nothing was spinning any longer. 

"I'll be your anchor. Just try to relax and then you can tell me all about it later," Jack said, assuring me with the tone of his voice alone. He just sounded so calm and welcoming. It's no wonder I've never had a friend, no one could ever measure up to how great Jack his. Maybe I have my standards set up a little bit too high. 

Then again, having one great friend is so much better than having many okay friends. 

I nodded along with him, feeling okay for a moment. "My parents signed me up for baseball without me knowing about it. It was a very unpleasant surprise. They think that I have a lot of friends."

"Why would they think that?"

"That's what I told them to think," I confessed.

"So basically, you've been lying and it suddenly backfired? What is this, shit hitting the fan?"

"Pretty much," I admitted pathetically. 

Jack sighed. "Okay then. What are you going to do to fix it?"

"Fake an injury?"

"No."

"Actually get an injury?"

"You're not getting hurt on purpose."

"Okay.....What if I go and play it, and end up not liking it? Do you think that they'd pull me then?"

He rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment before responding. "They might, but then you'd have to deal with practice and at least two games. You could tell them that your grades are suffering and that you'd rather focus on that."

 I snapped my fingers. "That's a really good point. My grades are really suffering anyways, and if I could pull them up a little bit, then they'd see that focusing is helping me."

"Now you're talking. Go out there and try to reason with them. I have faith in you." He pointed to the closed bathroom door and I walked out. I quickly went into my bedroom and took a dose of medicine before walking back to go and reason with my parents. 

 I swallowed hard as I approached them. "I'm sorry that I overreacted about that. I just really wasn't expecting it, and you know that surprises, even good ones, make me really uneasy. But I've come to a conclusion and I'm ready to speak to you rationally about it."

"You sound so formal," My father pointed out. "But go on. If you want to talk, then we're willing to listen." My mother nodded along with him. 

"I'm worried about my grades. I think that I should try to bring them up before I go out for something so time-consuming."

"I see. You really would rather study than play a sport?" My mum asked, sounding surprised.

"Absolutely. I do want to be successful, don't I?" I inhaled deeply, ready to take a crazy leap. I'd left this part out when I was talking to Jack. "If I can bring my Ds up to Cs, will you get me a guitar?"

"You'd rather-"

"Absolutely. And if it all boils down to it, I can get friends together and we can start a band or something. Please?" I clasped my hands together, knowing that this was definitely what I wanted. 

"If you can keep your grades up high enough, then we'll get you a guitar," My dad answered for her. She shot him a look and he gave her one right back. Instead of arguing, she nodded slowly. "But only if you can keep your grades up for the rest of the school year."

"So I'll have to wait until summer to get it?"

"That's correct. Is that a problem?"

I swallowed hard. He was using the tone that he used whenever he didn't want to argue about it despite what protests were thrown at him. "No. There's no problem there. I promise to keep them up until then." I turned on my heel to walk out before they got any other ideas. I hated knowing that I'd disappointed them, but at least I can continue to avoid social interaction. And I was so proud of myself for dealing with this so professionally. It just made me feel so happy to know that I'd impressed them. I never could have been able to to it without Jack. If not for his rational thinking, I would have had to confess the truth. Maybe it's not so good to have a friend who helps you keep up a lie, but at least he didn't try to make me rat out the truth. 

And the best part is that I didn't have to hurt myself in the process.