Val dragged her eyelids open. Uuuugh. She couldn't
remember ever feeling this miserable. Blearily, she fumbled for her alarm
clock. The block numbers cheerily declared that it was 10:27. 10:27! Val
panicked, trying in vain to get up, but ending up on the floor instead.
"Val, honey," her mom called as she rushed into her room
and helped her back onto her bed. "It's okay. I called Mrs. Stevenson in the
attendance office and she said she'd get Tyler to bring your homework over for
you. Brooke has a note for Alex, too. Everything's all taken care of."
"I can't…miss…" Val began sleepily.
"Yes, you can. It won't hurt you to take one day off. Now
all I want you to do is rest and concentrate on getting better, okay?"
"Mmph," Val answered fuzzily. Mrs. Lanier smoothed a lock
of hair from her daughter's brow before leaving her to sleep off the nasty bug.