Naia's POV

The next morning, I ended up going to the firehouse with Gabby and Matt since I was suspended from school.

"You might be suspended from school but we still expect you to get some work done," Matt told me on our walk there.

I nodded, "Aye aye, Captain,"

I had a drawstring bag filled with my overnight things along with my homework and my pencil case on my back. Cautiously, I slipped my hand into Gabby's and let a sigh of relief when she didn't let go.

When we got to the firehouse, I could see that some people were already there. Taking a deep breath, I followed Matt into the building and to the common room.

"Hey!" Herrmann greeted me, "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, but I got suspended yesterday and when you're suspended, you don't go to school."

"Suspended!" Shay exclaimed. "For what?"

"I punched someone at lunch," I bit the inside of my cheek. Everyone in the room erupted into laughter, thinking that I was joking. When they saw the grimace on my face, the laughter immediately stopped.

"You punched someone?" Sylvie asked and I nodded.

Stella was looking at me as if I just turned into a giant hamster. "Why?" She finally spluttered.

I sighed, "It's a long story."

Herrmann nodded, "Take a seat, we have time."

Realizing that there was no way out of this, I took a seat next to Shay on the couch before recounting what happened yesterday.

"So, there's this girl in my grade. She likes to pick on me, and yesterday at lunch, she just kept blabbering on about 'the Freak' and how I'm stupid and yada yada this and yada yada that, you know, stupid stuff like how I had no parents," I said. "It wasn't until she mentioned..." My voice trailed off and I cleared my throat before continuing.

"It wasn't until she mentioned Jane when I had enough and socked her," I sighed. "It was a stupid thing to do."

"You actually punched her?" Sylvie asked, clearly shocked.

I nodded, "Yeah, in the face. I got off easy. Two-day suspension and no record."

Shay laughed, "Nice, in the face too. Was she crying?"

I couldn't help the small grin that crept onto my face. "You should have seen her," I said and fist-bumped Shay.

"Shay!" Gabby scolded but I could tell that both she and Matt were amused. Shay just shrugged but winked at me when Matt and Gabby went to get something to eat before the first call came in. I giggled and winked back at Shay before leaving to start my homework at the table.

Part of me felt like my teachers gave me extra homework just because I punched Olivia in the face but I knew logically that they wouldn't do that and it was probably all in my head. Probably.

Pouting, I pulled out all the homework that needed to be done for today and started to organize how much I should get done before lunch. If I got all my math and history done before lunch, I would only have to do science and french after. The other subjects could wait until tomorrow.

"What do you want to eat?" Jimmy asked me and I looked up from my math worksheet, confused.

"Eat?" I asked. "Oh, no thank you. I'm not hungry."

"You didn't have anything for breakfast this morning, you have to eat something," Gabby interjected, a concerned look on her face. I turned my focus back to my math homework and shrugged.

"I guess I'm not hungry. Maybe later," I replied. I then looked up and Jimmy and flashed a smile. "Thanks though Jimmy. I appreciate the offer."

"No problem kid," Jimmy said and smiled back.

I was telling the truth when I said I wasn't hungry. I hadn't eaten lunch at school since I went back. My sandwiches always either ended up in the trash or I'd give it to Nate, who was always hungry. I knew this wasn't healthy but I just wasn't hungry anymore.

Truck 81, Engine 51, Squad 3, Ambo 61, Ambo 23, storage building fire at 3748 Pine Street

"You better eat something before we get back," Gabby said, pointing a finger at me before hurrying off. I chuckled and nodded. I'd get something to eat once I finished my math homework.

Sighing, I looked back down at my math and lost all motivation to do any homework today. It wasn't that the math was hard. I knew what to do and knew that it wouldn't take too long. However, it was extremely boring and I had better things to do. Reluctantly, I picked up the pencil and forced myself to do the work.

As I said, it didn't take long for me to finish my math homework. Even though I said that I would get something to eat after I finished my math, it couldn't hurt to start science. If it was even possible, science was even more boring than math. In my opinion anyways. I had just finished the first question when I heard the trucks pull back into the apparatus floor.

"Did you get something to eat?" Gabby asked as soon as she walked in through the door.

My guilty expression answered her question before I even spoke. "No, I forgot," I lied.

Gabby shook her head. "Well, it doesn't matter now. You're eating something, what do you want?"

I stood up quickly, "No, I'll get something. It's fine."

The room started to spin a little and my head hurt but I shook it off. I probably stood up too fast.

Making my way to the kitchen, I started becoming a little bit worried when the dizziness didn't pass.

"You okay?" Stella asked. She was pouring herself some coffee.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied even though my vision was blurring and I felt even dizzier than before. I went to open the cupboard when the room suddenly started to spin again.

The last thing I heard before I crumpled to the ground was Stella calling my name.