"When the body is sick, a fever often develops." said Professor Zackery during science club, walking around the classroom as he talked. "Although fevers are the body's defense against invading bacteria and viruses, if a fever gets too high, homeostasis kicks in. It prevents the internal body temperature from getting too high."
"What happens if homeostasis doesn't work?" asked Corrine.
"Well, that rarely happens, but if it did, the body's systems would start to shut down. Bodily systems only work in a certain temperature, so the higher the fever got, the more damage would be done to the body," replied Professor Z.
Josie suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room.
"Josie...?" said Lucas as he watched her run out. He looked around the room to see that the rest were equally confused.
"I'll go see where she went," said Corinne, rushing after her.
"Josie?" shouted Corrine as she arrived in their room. She heard retching sounds coming from the bathroom in response. She waited for the retching to subside, then entered the bathroom. Josie was slumped on the floor next to the toliet, her face very pale. "Are you okay, Josie?" asked Corrine as she sat on the rim of the bathtub.
"Does it look like I'm okay?" asked Josie weakly. "I'm just glad I didn't eat much for breakfast." She got up and washed out her mouth. "Tell Z that I'm going to stay up here, okay?"
Corrine nodded then put her hand on Josie's forehead. "Fever. You probably have the stomach flu. Go lay down and keep hydrated, okay? I'll check on you later."
Josie nodded, then covered her mouth and ran back into the bathroom. Corrine headed back to the science room, where the others were goofing off. They looked up as she returned.
"Is Josie okay?" asked Marshall.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she has the stomach flu," replied Corrine.
"I think that this is a great opportunity to see homeostasis in action," said Z. "Since the stomach flu symptoms only last about two days, we should be able to see Josie's body using homeostasis to rid her body of the fever. Okay, that's it for today guys."
Corrine woke up the next morning to the sounds of retching. She sighed and got up to find Josie bent over the toilet, vomiting. She rubbed Josie's back until she was done.
"Not better, huh?" asked Corrine as Josie regained her composure.
"I hate being sick," said Josie as she headed back for bed and pulled the covers up tight. "Can you turn up the heat? Its freezing!"
Corrine reached rummaged through her closet until she pulled out a thermometer. "I'm glad my mom made me bring this." She stuck the thermometer in Josie's mouth and sat next to her on the bed. "I don't understand how you can keep vomiting. You haven't eaten anything, have you?"
"Mmike myd mant mo," Josie replied, with her mouth closed over the thermometer. She shook her head and laid back in her bed. She closed her eyes and started to nod off.
Corrine took the thermometer out her mouth, not waking her up. She gasped. She quickly got dressed and hurried down to Professor Z's office. He was grading papers, and looked up startled when Corrine burst through his door.
"Corrine, what's wrong?" he asked as he saw the look on her face.
Corrine held out the thermometer. "Josie's temperature."
"This can't be correct, she's only been sick for about 12 hours," said Z as he inspected the device.
"But it is. 106 degrees is a dangerous fever