4:

Rhonda lay on the nurse's bed with a thermometer sticking out of her mouth. Nurse Shelly pulled it out from between her lips. "No fever. Are you positive that you need to go home?"

"Absolutely. I need to go home and rest for the next twenty-four hours."

"Well dear, the rules say I can't let you leave unless you're throwing up, have a fever, or have broken something. I'm sorry, but maybe you can just lay down here until you feel better."

Rhonda sat up. "I'm not going to feel better! Don't you understand? My life is hanging by a thread which could snap at any given second! Call the morgue! Call the funeral parlor! Just let me go home and die in peace!"

"Rhonda?" The curtain opened and Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd stepped in. "Rhonda, darling what happened?"

Rhonda looked surprised. "Mommy? Daddy? What are you doing here?"

"Your friend, Nadine called." Said Mr. Lloyd. Nadine peeked out from behind the curtain and gave a little wave. "She said you were ill, but she wouldn't say with what."

"She says she's dying." Said Nurse Shelly.

"Dying?" The Lloyds looked at their daughter. "What do you mean?"

Rhonda curled her knees to her face. "I can't tell you."

Mr. Lloyd looked stern. "Young lady, if you want any sympathy at all from us, you'd better tell us what's going on now!"

"Just tell them, Rhonda." Whispered Nadine.

"I…I…" Rhonda began to sob. "I swallowed my contacts!"

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

Rhonda began to babble. "I dropped the case under my bed and I couldn't reach it so I put my contacts in my glass of water but I guess I got thirsty during the night because when I woke up all the water was gone and so were my contacts! Please, please don't…" She stopped short. What was that look on her mother's face? Was she…was she laughing?

Mrs. Lloyd tried to hide her giggling behind her hands, but it was useless. Before Rhonda knew it, Mrs. Lloyd was laughing out loud, and so were her father and Nurse Shelly. Even Nadine was snickering.

"What's so funny?" Rhonda cried. "These contacts could kill me!"

Still laughing, Rhonda's mother sat next to her on the bed. "Rhonda Darling, no one ever died from swallowing their contacts."

Rhonda fiddled with the paper under her. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Said Mrs. Lloyd. "But I think we should wait a while before we replace your lenses. Say two months?" She looked at her husband.

He nodded. "Two months, maybe one and a half if you can prove yourself responsible. Until then, you'll just have to make do with your glasses."

"Yes Daddy." Relieved, Rhonda slid off the table. She looked at Nadine. "See? And you were worried!" Nadine just rolled her eyes as she followed Rhonda out.

Rhonda was still talking as they entered the hall. "I knew it would be all right the whole time. Maybe when I get my new contacts, I can get the Amethyst Blue…" She walked straight into Helga. "Oof! Watch out!"

"You watch where you're going, Princess!" Helga snapped back. "Maybe if you were wearing your glasses, Four-Eyes, you wouldn't be crashing into people!"

Nurse Shelly stuck her head out of the office. "Helga? I thought that was you! I've been meaning to ask, have you gotten your reading glasses yet?"

Rhonda did a double take. Helga paled.

"Me? Reading glasses? I don't know what you're talking about!" She turned and waved her off. "You must have me confused with someone else!"

Nurse Shelly stepped out into the hallway. "Now Dear, we talked about this! You have a slight astigmatism! You need corrective lens!"

Rhonda was grinning from ear to ear. "Need me to recommend some designer brands, Helga?"

Helga just let out a frustrated scream and stomped to the bathroom.

"Anyway," Rhonda continued. "Maybe Mommy and Daddy will let me get two pairs this time. I'm think Onyx Black for my second pair…"