Chapter 6
Everyone stood in shock outside room 203. Instead of finding Anna sitting up in bed, what they saw was a body, that didn't really look like Anna, with tubes coming out of every hole, and doctors surrounding her. She had been fine about an hour ago, but then she suddenly felt dizzy and had to lie down. Soon after she was hallucinating and unconscious.
"I hope she's alright…" Ashley practically whispered as she watched everything happen in slow-motion. Everyone nodded in agreement, no one really believing this was happening. The doctors had claimed they didn't understand how she could recover so much to get worse than she was before. Liz flipped through the pamphlets on meningitis trying to find answers to the many questions that were silently going through their heads.
"I can't find anything that says whether she could die from this…" She sighed closing the booklet.
"Is it contagious?" Ace asked. Everyone was silent as they waited for Liz to flip through the booklet.
"It says it is. But only in the viral form."
"What form does she have?" Max asked.
"I'm not sure." Everyone hoped that it wasn't viral, that they didn't have it as well.
******
The door bell rang and Tasha ran to get it. Opening the door she found Jon standing on the doorstep with a single red rose. Since the party had ended, Jon and Tasha had gotten closer, much to Chelsea's dismay. Now all Tasha wanted to do was hang with Jon, not her.
"Hey hon!" Jon kissed Tasha and she let him into the house.
"Whats with the rose?" She accepted it from him eyeing the beautiful flower.
"I just thought that I should give it to you. I didn't have a real reason." Tasha smiled at him and lead the way into the kitchen.
"You want anything to eat?"
"Sure! Got anything sweet?" He opened up the fridge searching for something to eat. He pulled out a rootbeer instead.
"Um we have some cookies in the cookie jar." Tasha suggested pulling out the jar and opening it up.
"I'll have one of those…" Jon reached in and pulled one out. After a few bites and some sips he started talking. "Ok so I lied. I did come here for a reason with that flower. I was hoping you'd go with me to junior prom?"
"Sure!!" And while they were at it, "Would you like to go to senior prom with me?"
Jon laughed. "Of course! Well now that that's done with." Tasha smiled. "I guess I'll have to get a tux now."
"I guess I need a dress!" Tasha laughed. "I'll just wear last years prom dress for junior prom and buy a new one for senior."
"I'm hoping I don't have to wear 2 tuxes for both proms…"
"No…it's a tux…they look the same. You gotta have different dresses though." Tasha gave a huge sigh to herself. Thank God that had gone smoothly. She had wanted to ask him to prom but had delayed it for weeks because of nervousness. And now she was going to his junior prom too! She was definitely psyched.
******
A couple of hours later, for what seemed like years, the doctor emerged telling them that Anna was better, and could receive visitors, even though it would be wisest if she rested.
They decided that Ashley and Rachel, the 2 closest to Anna, would go in and see her and then they would go in later.
Ashley and Rachel walked into the room, and were greeted by their smiling friend, a good sight to see.
"Hey hon, how are ya?" Ashley said sitting on the chair next to the bed.
"Alright. I have a headache. I've missed you guys!" Anna said rubbing her forehead.
"Oh! We brought you these!" Rachel produced the flowers from behind her back. Anna smiled.
"They're so pretty!" She placed the jar of flowers next to her bed. "Whats going on in the real world? Are Jess and Dave still together? Whats the gossip?"
"Wow for someone who was unconscious alittle while ago…you sure are talkative!" Anna laughed at Ashley. "Well, Jess and Dave are STILL together…they're actually outside waiting for us to come out and tell them everything."
"Oh good! They're so cute."
"And gossip…everyone's starting to get into college. I haven't heard anything yet but Su got rejected into Keene State, and Caroline got into St. Andrews."
"She did? Where is she?"
"She had to go in for extra help with her math. But she said she'd come as soon as she was done." Anna nodded.
"We've missed you so much Anna!! You have to get better quick!" Rachel said smiling.
"I'm trying! I want to come back, sad as this may seem, but I'm missing school!"
"Yea, I'd miss the social part…I don't know if you'd REALLY miss Almond"
"Amend?!" Anna laughed "No I definitely have not missed him!"
The 3 laughed and continued to talk for 15 more minutes until the doctor told them it was time to leave, Anna had some examinations to go through.
*****
Stephanie sat in the passenger seat on the way back from the hospital with Max at the wheel. "Man, what a night."
"Tell me about it. And I have a huge paper due tomorrow." Max said turning off the freeway. "You OK if I just drop you off?"
"I guess…I mean its not like Anna died or anything. But I would like to spend time with my baby." Steph smiled, she had been with him in Arizona the past week but that wasn't enough.
Max looked over at her. "I know. This paper means my grade though."
"I know…how bout we do something this weekend?" Steph suggested seeing that it was Thursday. One more day till the weekend!
"Sure. What?"
"I don't know." Steph shrugged. They were driving along her road now, and Steph didn't want to go home.
"Look, I'll think about it and I'll call you when I'm done with my paper." Max said pulling into Steph's driveway.
"Alright." Steph leaned over and accepted the kiss from Max and ran to her front porch. She waved and headed into the depths of her home.
*****
(this section is dedicated to Song…*sigh* shes holding me at gun point and making me say this…but she did come up with the idea for this *g* thanks Songie!)
Blake pushed the little button on her answering machine and started listening to the 5 messages. "Hey Blake…" The high-pitched voice could only be Ace. "Guess I'll have to call her back." She said to herself deleting the message. Message 2 rolled in and revealed it was Ace again. "Damn you girl, I'll get back to you when I want to!" She popped the delete key with more enthusiasm. Message numero 3 sounded like Ace but ended up being some person selling stuff. "That will be a definite delete."
This is an announcement from the emergency broadcasting station. WEST! Dude you don't even get Race in your OWN ff!! That is the end of the emergency. Back to regularily scheduled program with Key and her answering machine
She almost missed what Message number 4 was, but something caught her ear. What was this person talking about? She hit the replay key. "Blake, I saw you at Starbucks the other night. Why didn't you say hi? Bitch." She listened to it again, trying to figure out who it was, considering no one said hi to her at Starbucks over the past few nights. Everyone was at the hospital, and even then, she was only at Starbucks for a few minutes. She shook her head. "Strange." She continued with the 5th message, which was from Gabe. "Oh boy, Gabe and Liz got in a fight again." She picked up the phone and dailed up Gabe.
"Y'ello." Came the infamous Gabe greeting.
"Hey Gabe, it's Blake. Whats up?"
"Me and Ashley got in a fight." Was all he offered.
"You and ASHLEY?" Blake couldn't believe it. It wasn't Liz.
"Yea."
"About what?"
"I don't even remember. Something stupid I guess." Blake just shrugged, then forgot he couldn't see her.
"That sucks. Dude, I got the strangest phone call. It was some guy I don't know and he said that he saw me in starbucks but I didn't say hi and he called me a bitch!"
She heard Gabe sigh on the other end. "I don't know who it was, it wasn't me!"
"I know that. But who could it be?"
"Don't worry about it. It's probably a wrong number." Gabe always managed to push things like this aside, but never fights with Liz or Ashley. Don't you love how men are like that?
"He knew MY NAME."
"Yea, its on your machines little line thingy."
"Whatever…I'll just forget about it, and you go talk to Ashley. Don't worry about THAT." With that she hung up and opened the fridge for a much needed snack.