AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Kota Lee,” Ms. Johnson called in a stern voice. “What are you doing?”
Kota ignored her and put a cool palm across my neck. “Sang,” he said in a soft tone, and then urged me to stand up, supporting me under my elbow. “Why didn’t you tell anyone you were feeling sick?”
Sick? Oh. I’d thought I was just hot and nervous and overtired. Did I have a fever? And how had he known from that distance? I wanted to ask him to check and make sure.
It took a lot of effort to get my muscles to move to allow me to stand up. I wanted to sink to the floor and take a nap.
“What’s wrong?” Ms. Johnson asked.
Kota turned to her with a soft smile and reassurance in his voice. “It’s no problem, Ms. Johnson. Looks like she’s sick. I may have to take her home; I’m her ride.”
Ms. Johnson frowned. “Do you need to take her to the office to call her parents?”
“Her dad’s out of town on business,” Kota said. “And her mom’s in the hospital.” He tightened his hand on my arm. “I’ll come back to school. Just let me drop her off at home. She probably has the flu. It’s been going around.”
Ms. Johnson conceded, asking him to check in with the nurse before leaving school. Some of the kids moved away as I moved past, making comments about not wanting to get sick.
Kota grabbed my jacket and assisted me toward the door, leaving behind our bags. “Don’t worry about them,” he said. “Gabriel will get them. I’ve got my keys. Let’s go.”
Out in the cold air, I felt better, at least not as hot. I didn’t even need the jacket. When he tried to put it around my shoulders, I waved it off. “I don’t want it,” I said.
“I’d say you should,” he said, “but it is probably better you cool your body off a little.” He kept a hand on my back, walking me toward the school. “Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell anyone you weren’t feeling well?”
“I didn’t know,” I said quietly. “I just thought I was hot. And nervous about the new schedule. And tired...” I moaned, stumbling a bit but catching myself. “I really shouldn’t leave. She said if I was absent one more day...”
“You can’t be at school with a fever,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s the flu and not something worse.”
I didn’t even want to know what he thought worse was. I should have been more concerned with staying, but then I started shivering, my body suddenly too cold.
Kota stopped just before we reached the doors to go inside the school. He held me by my upper arms for a minute, looking me over. “You okay?” he asked. “Are you going to make it?”
It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. I couldn’t just sit down on the concrete sidewalk, as tempting as it was. For a second, I wondered if Ms. Wright would allow me to sit in suspension again. At least there I might get away with a nap and my body would be in a seat like she wanted.
Maybe I’d spend forever in suspension. That seemed reasonable at that moment.
Kota held open the door for us to get through, but the moment we were inside, he let the door go and swiftly picked me up.
My head spun at the movement and I held on tighter to him. “Kota...”
“You looked like you were going to fall over,” he said. “Let me take you to the car.”
“We should go to the nurse.” I tried to release my grip, hoping it would worry him less. “I can let her take my temperature and write a note. Ms. Wright will call the school board if I don’t do things right.”
He sighed and changed direction. Would he have really just left school without letting anyone know?
It seemed like Kota took forever to get to the nurse’s office. I wanted to suggest I could walk, as it was a short distance from where we were, but I was so tired...
He did let me go right outside the office’s front door, although he held on around my waist. “Maybe I’ll leave you with her,” he said. “And bring the car around closer. I’ll get someone to come stand by close while I’m gone.”
I couldn’t imagine who might do that, except for maybe Dr. Green or Mr. Blackbourne. Everyone else was still in class.
The nurse was busy checking the temperature of another student when we walked in. She took one look at me and then nodded curtly before returning to the other student. “You see that?” she said to her. “That’s a sick girl. I can tell already without taking her temperature. You’ll have to come in looking like that to fool me into thinking you’re sick.”
“I didn’t say I had a temperature,” the girl said, frowning as she looked at me, her hands pressed to her belly. “I...my stomach hurts. Cramping.”
“Then I’ve got Midol and a cot for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes only, you understand?” She shook a finger at the girl. “Your face is way too familiar to me for me to fall for this again and again. And don’t think you can fuss at your male teachers like last time. Periods are not your vagina ripping out of your body. And believe me, if you had endometriosis, you wouldn’t be standing, let alone sitting around, able to complain about it. The other thousand girl students at this school manage to get to school without incident.” The nurse turned to us.
I gritted my teeth, ready to get yelled at.
“Does she need a cot or does she need to go home?” she said kindly.
“Home,” Kota said. “But I’m her ride. She wanted to stop by and make sure to get your sign-off.”
“Good girl,” the nurse said. She pointed to a cot. “I’ll just take a quick temperature. It’s good I keep a record in case the administrators ask questions. Does anything hurt?”
My whole body felt like one big aching mess. I nodded, but didn’t say anything. Kota guided me to a cot, easing me down on it.
“I’m going to be right back,” he said. “I’m going to bring the car around closer. I shouldn’t be longer than a couple of minutes.”
“I should call her mother,” she said. “Or parents of some sort.”
“They aren’t home,” Kota said quickly. “I’ll make sure she’s safe.” He walked off in a hurry. I could hear his footsteps in the hall as he picked up his pace.
“Kids these days. Some of them parent themselves. Are you and him close friends?” She pressed her lips together and pointed an electronic thermometer in my direction, like she didn’t really expect me to answer.
I opened my mouth, letting her position it, though she put it a little too close to the base of my throat under my tongue, and I coughed, nearly spitting it out.
“Easy there, kiddo,” she said, holding the thermometer in place until I settled. “Your throat is looking a little red. This might be strep.”
I wished Kota didn’t have to leave, but there were only three of us in the nurse’s office. If he had gone to get Mr. Blackbourne to babysit, it would have been wasted time. The nurse seemed okay.
I slumped, sitting on the cot. It was tempting to lay down, but I worried if I did, I’d pass out and wouldn’t be able to get back up. I thought of Nathan’s bed and how I should take the couch so I wouldn’t get Nathan sick. I worried about the others, too, since they were always in close proximity. I hope none of them caught it.
Kota might.
The room got quiet as the nurse waited for the thermometer to beep. It did after a couple of minutes and she was just pulling it out when the door opened suddenly, sticking open as it wedged under a door stopper by the wall.
Ms. Wright appeared in the door, first sending death-ray glares at the girl sitting waiting for her Midol. Ms. Wright turned from her to the nurse, and then focused on me.
“I heard you were in here,” she said. “Do you think you can fake sick and avoid going to class?”
“She’s not faking it,” the nurse said, reading the thermometer. “A hundred and three fever. You’re lucky she’s even upright.”
“If she can sit upright, she can go to class,” Ms. Wright said. She sliced her hand through the air. “She was in suspension all last week. I can’t believe she’d be sick. I want her butt back in her chair right no
w.”
