The next update won't be so quick, sorry.
Zoe and Frank watched Dan walking up to his front door.
"Is he going to be OK ?" asked Zoe.
"I hope so. I'll speak to him on Monday," promised Frank.
On Monday, everyone rolled into school as normal. Frank hung out in the corridor, hoping to catch his team as they came in. Zoe arrived first as usual. Even after all these months at school she still bounced in full of life and happy to be there. Tom and Aneisha followed not long afterwards, with Tom staring at his hand as usual. Aneisha smiled at Frank.
"Aneisha, how are you feeling now ?" asked Frank.
"Oh, I'm fine," said Aneisha breezily. "The others here ?"
"Erm, well Zoe's here. I'm still waiting for Dan," said Frank.
Aneisha immediately picked up on his anxiety. "What's the matter with Dan ?" she asked.
"Well, he took your being hurt rather badly. He feels guilty about it," said Frank.
"Why ? It wasn't his fault," said Aneisha, sounding baffled. "Why on earth would he think it's his fault ?" she asked.
"Erm, well, that might be, kind of, my fault," admitted Tom, looking guilty.
"What ?" asked Aneisha, staring at him in disbelief.
"I kind of went mad at him because you got hurt and I sort of said it was his fault," said Tom, his voice getting quieter and quieter. "I said I was sorry, but, well, I think it was too late. He was already feeling bad and I made it worse," he admitted, wincing.
"Since when is Dan responsible for everyone else on this team ?" demanded Aneisha, with her hands on her hips.
"Er, guys ?" said Tom quietly, nodding towards the gates. They all turned to look and saw Dan shambling slowly across the school yard towards them. He was staring at the ground in front of him and looked like he hadn't slept all weekend.
"Dan !" called Aneisha. Dan looked up and his face brightened a little when he saw Aneisha. She walked up to him and gave him a massive hug. "Hey, I've got something to say to you !" she said. Dan looked baffled and a little worried. "First of all, thankyou for coming to find me. I could still be lying in a KORPS base if it wasn't for you. Secondly, when did we make you responsible for everyone in the team ? The last I remember was that we were all equal members of a team and we were all to look out for each other. That means that I'm supposed to watch your back the same as Zoe. As far as I'm concerned, you had my back last week and I've got no complaints. Do you understand me ?"
Dan looked a little shell-shocked, but he slowly nodded. Frank realised he was holding his breath, waiting to see if Aneisha's little pep-talk had worked on Dan's mood. He breathed out in relief when he saw the tension draining out of Dan's shoulders. So did Aneisha and she reached out and gave him another, softer hug. "Hey, you're plenty good enough for us OK ?" she said.
Dan hugged her back. "Thanks 'Neish," he whispered.
"No probs !" said Aneisha. The bell rang. "I think we'd better get to class or Mr. McNab will do his nut. You going to be OK ?" she asked him.
"Bit tired," admitted Dan, rubbing his eyes.
Tom put his arm round Dan's shoulders. "Come on. I'll find you some matchsticks," he said. The three of them walked into school shoulder to shoulder. Frank watched them going in and smiled. They always managed to make him proud.
Zoe greeted them cheerfully from her desk when they entered the classroom. After registration, they had maths. Tom and Zoe were in a different maths stream from the other two. Dan found himself struggling to concentrate on simultaneous equations. He had managed to get so little sleep over the weekend that he was finding it difficult even to focus his eyes properly. The lesson ended and he breathed a sigh of relief. Dan stood from his chair, stuffed his books back in his bag and tried to remember where he was supposed to go next. Aneisha spotted him staring into the distance, but someone else had been watching too.
"Oh, hi Dan," said Melissa. Dan turned and looked at her, as if he'd never seen her before in his life. "Are you doing anything tonight ?' she asked, flicking her hair away from her face.
"Yeah, sleeping as much as possible," said Dan, turning and leaving the room. Melissa watched him go, a mixture of confusion and annoyance on her face.
Aneisha caught up with Dan in the corridor. She took his arm, turned him around and walked him in the opposite direction. "History. McNab," she said.
"Oh yeah. Thanks," said Dan, vaguely.
"Come on. You've got to stay awake through Mr. McNab's class or you'll be in detention," warned Aneisha.
Dan made it almost half way through the lesson. He even managed to come up with a reasonably intelligent answer to a question thrown at him by Mr. McNab. The trouble started when the class were asked to write down a list of reasons for the outbreak of the First World War. Dan remembered making a list of two things. The next thing he remembered was waking up to a furious shouting at him and stabbing his finger at Dan's list. Dan was so confused, he thought at first that he was having a bad dream. He glanced across at Aneisha who was looking worried and shaking her head at him. Mr. McNab had gone silent and was staring at him. He had obviously just asked him a question. Dan wondered what to do. Aneisha had been shaking her head. "No Sir," he said, hoping that this was the appropriate response.
"Finally, thankyou Mr. Morgan. My office, 3:30," barked Mr. McNab. Dan breathed a sigh of relief. He struggled through the rest of the lesson and managed to feign interest in the next. The bell rang for lunch.
"Dan ! Come on ! You need something with caffeine in it," said Aneisha, taking his arm again. They were joined by Tom and Zoe who both looked concerned at Dan's exhaustion. They all helped him to get some food and some Diet Cola. Tom had gone through all the labels and assured him that this one would have the most caffeine in it.
The food and drink did a lot to help Dan gain some energy, but he was now getting a headache and ended up sitting leaning his head on one hand. "What have we got this afternoon ?" he asked groggily.
"French, some sort of special assembly and PE," said Zoe.
Dan slumped his head on to the table. Tom glanced at his watch. "There's 40 minutes until French. Frank might let you have a nap down in the basement," he suggested. This sounded like a good idea. Tom called Frank on his communicator and Frank said Dan was welcome to use the medical room for a sleep. Dan said goodbye to the others and headed for the janitor's cupboard. Down in the base he pulled off his shoes and laid down on the medical bed. He managed to set his mobile phone to wake him at the right time and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Dan woke up, startled, with no idea where he was. Then he remembered coming down to the base for a nap. He glanced at his watch. No way ! It was 3 pm ! would kill him. He'd missed the whole afternoon's lessons. Frantically he grabbed his shoes and pulled them on. Grabbing his bag he ran into the lift and headed up to the school level. He ran out of the janitor's cupboard and ran through the deserted corridors to Mr. McNab's office.
He knocked on the door and his knock pushed it open slightly. It hadn't been closed properly. He pushed the door open. "Mr. McNab, I'm really sorry ! I fell asleep and I just woke up !" he said as the door opened on to an empty room. He looked around for any sign of the Deputy Headmaster. No, the room was definitely empty. He wondered if he should wait. Dan stuck his head out of the office door and looked up and down the corridor. It was empty. It suddenly struck him, how quiet everything was. There were no voices, no footsteps and no sound of Frank using the floor polisher.
This was weird. It was near the end of the day, but there were always a few people hanging around, in the corridors. There was always someone around. Curiously he left Mr. McNab's office and walked down a few corridors. There was nobody. Mr. Flatley's office door was also ajar. He pushed it open and found another empty office. Maybe they'd had a fire alarm. He could have slept through it.
Hefting his school bag back up his shoulder Dan walked out to the fire assembly area. It was also deserted, as was the school yard. He was completely on his own.