HAIII GUYS! -shot- Okay, I know I deserve lots of people bitching to me how I didn't update in like a... month? I dunno, but I feel reallllly bad therefore I'm going to... MAKE EXCUSES xD! (and they're true too!) I had an internetless vacation for 10 days, Summer Camp for 2 weeks, a summer job, and volunteer hours to do. And a life (kinda). Well anyway, here's the long awaited next chapter! Enjoy...

Chapter 10
Imperfect Attendance

Have you ever woken up one morning and just decided, hey, I don't feel like going to school today? And maybe you had parents that were cool enough to let you stay home, no questions asked… or maybe you had to fake sick. You know, lots of fake coughs and sniffles? And let's not forget putting the thermometer under hot water! I haven't done any of these things since the fifth grade, but today was an exception. This morning I decided to attempt to fake illness — and it sure wasn't because of some chemistry test.

My body clock woke me up around 6:00 in the morning. This was normal for me because I had thrown out my alarm clock. It went completely nuts and started making gurgling, choking cat-like screeching sounds (did I mention it hit that wall really hard?).

But what was different this morning was that I awoke to the sight of dried blood all over my neck and pajama top. Immediately my stomach flip-flopped and a wave of dizziness went over me.

Horrifyingly, I still remembered everything that happened last night. The voice. The pain. The threats. As soon as the dizziness passed over I shakily got out of bed.

As I went over to my dresser to change into a new pajama top my mind reeled with thoughts.

Could this voice see the things I see?

I took out an over-sized tee shirt that had Mr. Smoothies logo on it.

Could it hear everything I hear?

I removed my crusty, no longer blue pajama top.

Could it watch me wherever I go?

At this thought I quickly put on my new pajama top — I didn't need some alien getting a free show! Plus, if this was true, it's going to make going to the bathroom a lot more awkward.

Oh boy… what am I going to do? I can't go to school… what if I start having palpitations in the middle of class? I bet Mr. Azure and the principal would like that.

I sighed and sunk down onto one of my plush chairs. Last night, in the outlet next to the chair, I had plugged in my cell phone. I grabbed it and scrolled down my contacts list. I found two weird contact names that were suspiciously Ben's and Kevin's. I decided to text the first one, "GOD AKA BEN".

emergency sick day!! do w/e it takes to stay home frm school 2day! then meet my house. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!

I clicked the Send button. Then I scrolled down to the next suspicious contact name, "SEXIEST BEAST". I prayed it was Kevin's number as I forwarded the text message to him — not one of Ben's friends or someone else. Mental note: Make new rule: No one screws with Gwen's phone anymore. Penalty? Death.

I closed my lime green phone and decided it was time to coax my parents to let me stay home today. I couldn't make it too serious or else one of them would stay home to watch me. And I'd have to use my big green eyed puppy dog look too.

I wobbly walked downstairs and I shuffled into the kitchen, where I knew Mom would be. Sitting down in the closest chair and slumping onto the table I let out a loud moan. This got Mom's attention.

"Gwen, what are you doing down here? Breakfast isn't done yet…" she said while stirring pancake mix. I did my best to look exhausted (and it wasn't too hard).

"I know… it gust tat I don fell twu good… I tink I half a cold…" I tried to sound like my nose was stuffed up. I think I sounded more like a two year old.

"Uh oh… here let me check your forehead," mom said doing the usual mommy-like thing — putting their hand on you like they can totally tell your temperature. "You feel hot actually. Let me get the thermometer."

When she left the kitchen I panicked. Not the thermometer! I would definitely have normal body temperature and then she'd know I—

"Okay, keep this under your tongue for two minutes," mom said handing me the evil-plot-destroying-device. I hesitantly listened to her and stuck in the thermometer.

Think warm thoughts. Think hot thoughts, I told myself. I knew it seemed pathetic but I was willing to give it a try.

The sun. Nothing.

Fire. Zero.

Muffins from the oven. Zilch.

Laundry from the dryer. Nada.

Global Warming? Nope.

Nothing was working! I began to curse myself but then stopped. I began to think of a different kind of warmth.

Kevin. Warm.

His embrace. Warmer.

His dark eyes. Getting warmer.

His worn out Levi's. Hot.

His six-pack? Hotter (I couldn't help myself).

His kisses. Getting hotter!

I wanted my last thought to be the thing I loved about Kevin the most. The thing I couldn't live without…

Us…together.

"Okay honey, take out the thermometer now. It's been two minutes," mom said breaking me out of my warmth trance. I looked down at the numbers the device displayed — 101.5 degrees!

"Um… maum… I tink I half a fevaur twu…" I said fake sniffeling.

Mom snatched the thermometer, checked it, then finally said, "Go straight back upstairs and go back to sleep. I'll call the school nurse and tell them you won't be going to school today."

"Uhkay… buye maum…" I said while pretend wobbling up the stairs again.

"Wait honey… let me fix you some soup and then I'll take off from work—"

"NO! You really don't have — I meam, you weally don hav twu. I'm fwine by muyself. Weally," I said, almost forgetting my… accent.

"Um… well, okay. But you have to call me if your fever gets worse."

"I pwomise. Buye maum!" I ran all the way to my room and shut the door. After fixing my hair into a neat ponytail I plopped down on my bed. As I was snuggling up to my fluffy pillow only one thought crossed my mind.

Well, there goes my perfect attendance award.

---

Zzzzzt. Zzzzzzt.

I clamped my hand over my cell phone, not even bothering to open my eyes.

Zzzzzt. Zzzzzt.

I propped myself up on my pillow. Flipping my phone open I read my missed alerts. 1 missed alert from SEXIEST BEAST. I opened up the text Kevin apparently sent me.

tap tap.

Okay… that was interesting? I slid my built-in phone keyboard out and began to text back.

what?

I sent the message and began to get out of bed. I re-fixed my hair and sat down on my chair. My cell phone vibrated only seconds later.

i'm throwin' rocks your window. through texts. tap tap. open up.

Oh. Well that's… original. I got off the chair and pushed back my curtains to reveal the "sexiest beast" sitting outside my window on the roof.

"Tap tap," he said with a smirk on his handsome face. I pushed my window up and he slipped into my room. I loved how I didn't have to hold back my smile whenever I saw him now.

"Hi," I said planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"Was that the emergency you were talkin 'bout?" he leaned his forehead against mine and laughed a little.

"No," I laughed, but then became serious, "There's something seriously wrong with me…" I buried my face into Kevin's chest. He stayed silent waiting for me to gather myself.

"Well, duh." I jumped when I heard a voice coming from my doorway. It was Ben of course. "We all knew that already, Gwen."

"Shut it, Tennyson… how'd you get in anyway?" Kevin said defensively for me.

"I used the front door. The key's right under the mat. Anyone could have figured that out," Ben said leaning against my wall with his arms crossed. I bet he felt sooo smart when he discovered where the key was, even though we gave him a key to the house ages ago.

I looked at my cousin trying to understand him. I called him to here on an emergency yet he's still wearing his pajamas (complete with the pants that say "EPIC FAIL" all over them) and making jokes. I needed him to understand that this was important.

"Ben, I swear to god, if you even make another joke while you're here I'll kick you out. Do you understand? This is an emergency. Can you handle being serious for once in your life?" I said with my all-business face on. I think this took him by surprise because I usually don't fight with him anymore.

His mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to reply. "Well, I mean, if it's only for once in my life…" he said in a mock tone. Yep, that qualified as a joke.

I threw a flaming pink ball of manna at Ben — purposely aiming to be off by just an inch of his face. It successfully hit the wall behind him, but I think it got the message through.

"…fine. I'll stop," he mumbled in defeat. What is it with boys needing explosions to get the message?

"Are you ready to tell us 'the emergency' yet?" Kevin asked kindly, but with a tinge of impatience mixed with worry in his voice.

I sat down on my bed and took a deep, shaky breath. I tried to think of ways to say what was happening without a) freaking out b) making it sound like I was going to drop dead any second (err, unless I am…) and c) bleeding or shaking in anyway, shape, or form.

"O-okay, well… l-last night I was trying to go to sleep. Everything was okay u-until this… this… this voice popped into my head!" I said trembling a little (whelp, there goes bullet point c!).

Both the boys were listening so intensely, I felt like I was telling a ghost story or something. I tried to focus my thoughts but my eyes were stinging a little and my head began to throb.

"Come'on, Gwen. It's okay… tell us the rest of the story," Kevin gently said. He sat down next to me and grabbed my forearm lightly. Ben lied down vertically, belly down next to my other side. Despite their attempts to comfort me I still shivered a bit.

"T-the voice wasn't mine. I knew it wasn't mine. I-it hurt me really bad. The pain a-a-and the trembling was too much. T-then it started talking to me. It knew m-my full name a-and that I was half anodite! It threatened me t-too… it said that i-i-if I didn't cooperate… the seizures would keep h-happening!" By the end of my story I was practically gasping and holding back sobs. Did I mention I was a fail at my bullet points a, b, and c?

I looked at Ben and Kevin to see their faces. Ben's eyebrows were knit together and he was looking down intensely at my rug. Kevin was staring strait ahead at the wall, his head moving in a slow nod.

Kevin decided to break the silence first.

"Gwen, before I say anythin' else I wanna ask you somethin'… are you absolutely sure that all this happened?" he asked slowly, looking directly into my wide emerald green eyes.

"Y-yes… yes! It wasn't my voice, I swear to god."

"Okay… so that rules out insanity, cancer, drugs, mental issues, turrets, pregnancy—" Ben began to say, checking off his fingers for each reason.

"We got it Ben. Thanks," I cut him off.

"Just trying to help!" he said rolling onto his back contently.

"Can you tell us exactly what this voice said to you?" Kevin asked me.

I explained to them what the voice had said to me the best I could. I also tried to describe what the voice's, well, voice sounded like — but, strangely I couldn't. It didn't sound male or female. It didn't sound human (obviously), alien, or robotic. It was just… a voice. A very calm, evil, demeaning-sounding voice!

"Stupid voice. Didn't even say what it wanted from you," Ben said using his 'i-are-confused' face.

"Stupid, stupid voice," Kevin said nodding his head in agreement.

They looked so heavily in thought I couldn't help but to say something stupid.

"…Indubitably," I said in a mock tone, stroking my chin.

Both Kevin and Ben exploded with the laughter I bet they were dying to get off their chest. Nobody — especially us — likes it when it's too serious. Or when one of us has a life threatening condition.

Catching my breath I managed to say, "You know what? Who cares about this… this voice! Let's not think about it!"

"Yeah!" both Kevin and Ben chanted. I giggled and stood up on top of my bed.

"And, and, instead of freaking out — let's have some fun!" I declared still chuckling.

"Yeahhh! Whoo! Party!" the guys hooted. Kevin was laughing so much he fell off the bed, causing a loud thumping sound when he hit the floor.

We laughed even harder now.

"Bwhahahaaa—wait, wait... Let's go out tonight!" I said choking with laughter.

"Mr. Smoothies! Mr. Smoothies! Mr. Smo—" Ben began to chant.

"Not Mr. Smoothies," Kevin yelled from the floor, "Don't feed the addiction, Gwen. Just don't."

"The Pier! To the carnival!" I declared, now bouncing on my bed, "Ben bring Julie! Kevin bring me!"

"Aw, man. Do I have toooo?" Kevin mockingly whined in attempt to annoy me. I pounced off my bed and landed on his back. I pinned him down to the floor by sitting on his lower back and holding his hands to his upper back.

"Yes," I said with fake stubbornness.

"Woah, how much do you weight? Like 80 pounds?" Kevin asked in amazement. Before I could protest he flipped me off his back and onto my rug with, like, literally no effort.

"Heyy!" I giggled/whined. I could hear Ben snickering from behind us. I pathetically re-tried to pin Kevin down, but he, once again, successfully countered. I guess it was pretty funny because Ben laughed his ass off. Off my bed that is. More specifically, onto me and Kevin.

"Haha—Ow—hahaha… oh yeah. That hurt," Ben said rolling off of us.

"Ya think?" Kevin gasped in a tone that was an octave higher than normal.

"Ten points for the crotch shot on Kevin. Really, good job Ben," I laughed as Kevin curled up in a ball, mumbling.

I felt like we were all on a sugar rush. We were so giddy that even on my floor we were still laughing so hard our sides hurt.

But eventually all must come to an end. When we caught our breath the room became silent. Staring at my ceiling I wondered if this is how it felt after someone was done being high.

"So you're really not worried about what's happening to you?" Kevin asked me finally.

"Oh, I'm freaking terrified."