Life of A High School Student

Chapter 45: Day of the Fundraiser

May 3rd, 2019...

Today, is United Relay...

I prepared everything we needed the day before, I packed our tent. Maria had our team shirts, and we were scheduled to head there at 7:00am. We had been getting ready for this for months now.

So what could be the problem?

One of our team members caught a high fever...

And which person had gotten that a day right before the event? Me.

Remember how I had said I was the least likely in my family to get sick? Well, there may have been a reason for this.

In our country it is mandatory for all high schoolers to obtain a minimum of 40 volunteer hours before they graduate, and wanting to get a head start on it, I volunteered at a local senior centre nearby. Now despite how well the elderly were given, I had heard after my volunteering was done that there had been a virus spreading within the buildings. I must have caught it while helping.

"Ugh...why of all days. I feel horrible." I muttered to myself grumpily as I slowly made my way towards the washroom feeling like puking.

Slouching, I stand leaning my hands on the sink and I stare at the mirror — looking back at myself.

My eyes bag were evident and my face was pale. I closed my eyes for a moment to think over the situation I'm in.

"Okay...what physical signs am I showing of sickness? Oh, who am I kidding. It's too obvious." I sigh going outside the washroom only to meet my mom who's exiting her bedroom dressed to go to work.

"M-M-Mom!" I exclaimed worriedly.

She looks at my appearance and immediately notices something wrong.

"Are you okay? You're looking really pal-you're sick!" She yelled once feeling my head and my eyes widened.

"I know how this looks, but I f-feel Fine!" I stutter out and wobble as I try to make my way towards the stairs.

Just as I'm about to take a step I start to lose my vision and start falling.

"AH!"

I must have tripped over my own foot losing balance, falling down at least 5 steps. Thankfully my stairs has a platform a quarter up — so I didn't fall that far.

"Kiara!" My mom rushed to help me up and I winched as I felt pain course through my left foot.

I stumbled and she brought me back to my bed as I laid down feeling myself getting warmer.

She looks at me pitifully and sighs. "You know I can't let you go to school in your condition. That event will have so much physical activities for you to do. You are in no condition.

At this point when I get sick, I usually try to counter back saying I was well enough to go. But in reality I knew this time I would have to face the facts.

I have a fever, I can't even walk by myself without stumbling and the whole world is spinning. How on Earth am I supposed to participate in United Relay like this.

A pit forms in my stomach realizing that I'm leaving my team to go on without me.

A pang of guilt hits me, but I shake it off and get my phone to quickly call Irene to tell her the news.

Ugh...sickness you have such terrible timing!

"Ki, are you up yet? We have to sign in at 7:30 am and it's already 7..." She said, probably already there preparing.

"I-I'm Sorry I cant make it." I told her truthfully.

I explained everything that happened this morning and immediately started to become concerned for my own well-being and the team's. I assure her she'll be fine but I ask her to tell the others on my behalf I won't be able to make it. She agrees and hangs up.

I take in a deep breath before laying my head down and covering my whole body with a blanket.

"I can't even walk...might as well go back to sleep after I drink my medicine." I mutter to myself before shutting my eyes.

Although I didn't show it too much, I was heartbroken and disappointed that this happened.

I have been looking forward to this even for months! And that chance to experience it was taken away because of this dumb sickness. I just hope they still do well without me with raising money and participating. Without me I'm sure they'll do fine.

I stayed home for the rest of the day by myself since Chris was at school and my parents both went to work. I had turned off my phone for the entire day since my mom stated blue light is bad for my health, so if she needed anything from my I would have to use the home phone to answer her.

Later in the afternoon after I awoke from my 6 hour sleep, I heard the doorbell ring.

"DING! DONG! DING! DONG!"

I try to drown the sound out, but I realize I have to go answer it because I'm the only one here.

Slowly, I sit down on the stairs and slide down slowly making sure not to fall.

Five minutes later, with the door bell still ringing, I finally make my way to it and open the door slowly.

To my astonishment, I see Dante, Jake and Irene in front of me.

Their eyes widened seeing that I opened the door. Dante immediately Picks me up over his shoulder and drags me to my living room.

"H-Hey! What are you doing?" I yell at him hitting his shoulder, but in my weak state I don't think I'm doing too much.

He had just gotten his cast off two days ago, of course he was supposed to take it easy. But apparently "I'm light as a feather" because he can lift me up with ease.

"Why did you answer the door Kiara?! You're sick! Where's your parents." Irene questioned crossing her arms.

"They had work, it's not like they could take leave from work if I was sick." I shrugged my shoulders.

"No! Not okay." Jake said.

"I was asleep the whole time anyway..." I stated, assuring them I was fine.

Dante looked concerned seeing me, I could tell that I probably wasn't in the best state of mind.

"You haven't been resting enough. You have to let us know if you ever start feeling unwell. Got it?" Dante said sternly.

I nodded, cuddling into the blanket I was holding.

Eventually we were able to sit down peacefully in the living room (with a good Amount distance) to talk about what had happened.

The Relay Event was a success! We actually did manage to get 1st place with the money we raised, so we all received free movie tickets to go to a film in the cinema of our choice. There were so many activities that I missed out on, but I'm glad everything worked out.

Hopefully I get to do this next year...the flu season is just way too unpredictable. Even the healthiest person is prone to it. I should try to be careful from now on.

Thank goodness it's a Friday