Callie woke up one morning with a start. She turned over in her twin bed to reach for her cellphone on the nightstand. The time read 6:37
She groaned and let her hand roam around on the table until it found her water bottle, which she lazily brought to her lips for a drink. Only when the cool liquid came into contact with her throat did she realize how badly it hurt.
Callie nearly gagged from the pain, and could now feel the chills and stuffy nose coming on. She fell back down onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling, contemplating what she should do. She didn't want to wake anyone just yet, and knew that if Jude heard that she felt sick that he would go into complete panic mode. In their old foster homes, no one ever took care of the siblings if either of them fell ill, but now that they were adopted, they hoped it would be different.
Just as Callie was thinking, she heard a soft moan from the opposite side of her bedroom.
"Callie?" grunted a small voice.
"Yes, Mariana?" Callie replied in an irritated tone that came from the searing pain in her throat.
"I feel so sick," her sister said.
"Me too," Callie said. "Sore throat?"
"Yup."
"I think I'll have to go tell Moms then," sighed Callie as she slowly rose from bed, which only exacerbated her symptoms.
She walked out their door quietly so as not to wake the boys, and came to a halt at her mothers' room. She took a deep breath and hoped they would not be angry at her for waking them up, and knocked softly at their door.