Luke Girardi awoke to what was becoming a familiar sound in his household. He glanced over at the clock. 7am. His father, Will, would be downstairs reading the paper, his brother, Kevin would be dead to the world for half an hour yet, and his mother, Helen would be preparing the breakfast. His sister, one year older than him, would be in the bathroom, throwing up. She had the flu.

He yawned, and got up, stretching and then putting on his glasses. He left his room and went downstairs to get a drink for Joan. His Dad looked up from the paper, but his mom was too busy to notice him.

He arrived back upstairs to find Joan coming out of the bathroom. "Morning," she said, not unbrightly, which surprised him, and headed for her bedroom.

"Joan, here, drink this," he instructed her, handing her the glass. "You need to drink plenty."

"Okay," she nodded. "I'm feeling better every day, Luke. You don't need to keep taking care of me, although I have to say it's kind of nice."

"I'm going to get dressed. Take it easy. I wouldn't go to school if I were you," he frowned. "You should have been off all this week."

"Nah," she shrugged. "Lots of important stuff going on this week and next. I can't miss out."

"Okay," he said. "You should tell mom you're still sick."

"No," Joan replied, her voice raised slightly. "I mean, no, thank you Luke. I'm getting better, and I don't want to worry them. They have enough going on as it is. Same goes for Kevin."

"Joan, thoughtful as ever," He smiled, although he was getting more and more worried about her by the minute. "Alright. You'd better get dressed...I'd better get dressed. We do not want to be late."

Luke was sat at the table, chomping on a piece of toast when Joan finally appeared downstairs. She took a banana from the fruit bowl then went in to the lounge to wait for her brother.

When he'd finished, they started the walk to school. "Joan, you should try and eat that banana."

"I will."

"Now, please. For me, or I'll worry about you passing out for the rest of the day," He said.

"Fine," she shook her head, and unpeeled the banana. She ate it all, and then threw the skin into the bin. "There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," he nodded. "You have to keep your strength up."

"You keep telling me that," she said. "Okay, so there is a new episode of The Simpsons on tonight. We must remember to watch it."

-

The day seemed to go on forever for Joan, and Luke too. He was really worried about his sister, so much so that he couldn't concentrate.

All through AP Chem, he kept looking back at her, making sure she was all right.

He made it a point to sit with her, Rove and Grace and lunch. He sat, bored, as she babbled away about something extremely unimportant, nodding every minute or so, to give the impression he was listening.

When the group disbanded, she glanced at him, smiling sadly, and then walked off.

-

Glynis hummed to herself as she entered the bathroom. She pulled a hairbrush out of her bag and stood infront of the mirror.

She could hear someone being sick in the middle stall, and was tempted to ask if they were okay. She did nothing, and continued to brush her hair.

A few minutes later, there was a flush and Joan walked out of the stall, and took a sip from her bottle of water. She was about to chew some gum when she noticed Glynis.

"Joan," Glynis began, wondering what to say. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Joan nodded, putting the bottle away and washing her hands. "Well, not fine. Getting over the flu."

"Luke is worried about you," Glynis told her. "And so am I."

"You're worried about me?" Joan laughed. "That's sweet, but I'm okay. I don't need Luke telling all his friends I'm sick."

"Listen to me, I know we're not great friends or anything, but I do care when someone else is ill, or making themselves ill," The taller girl told her, moving closer. "Maybe you should talk to someone."

"I have the flu," Joan repeated, shaking her head. "It's none of your business, Glynis. But I really do have the flu."

"Right," Glynis nodded, smiling. "Okay, well, I believe you then." And with that, she walked off, leaving Joan to freshen up.

-

He was sat under a tree, reading a book when he noticed he wasn't alone. He looked up to see Glynis standing infront of him – looking very, very attractive, as she did, now. She looked deadly serious, and paler than usual. "Luke."

"Glynis," Luke nodded, with a small smile. Things were kind of strained at the moment.

"Can we talk?" She asked, sitting down beside him.

"Sure..." he said. "I guess. What's up?"

"You're worried about Joan, aren't you?" Glynis asked. "I saw you, you couldn't concentrate in class which means you are extremely worried."

"Yeah, my sister has the flu, and I'm just worried about her," he replied, closing his book. "Why?"

"I'm kind of worried too," she admitted. "Are you sure it's the flu?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.

"I was just in the bathroom, brushing my hair because I managed to get gum in it," she began, fiddling with her hair. "And Joan was in there, being sick."

"Again? I told her she should stay home," he sighed. "Thanks for telling me. I'll chain her to the couch if I need to, tomorrow."

"But...I've been around people with illnesses," Glynis told him. "My cousin was bulimic. And the last few days, I've seen it in Joan. I think she has a problem."

"Joan is really smart..."

"I don't think it has anything to do with how smart you are, Luke. I think you know that too. Maybe you've been thinking the same, and you just don't want to admit it," she shrugged.

"Joan is not bulimic. That's crazy," Luke said, laughing, but angrily. "She's perfect and she's always been fairly happy with herself. Never insecure."

"I'm just saying," she paused. "I'm just saying, be careful. Watch out. Because if she is, she needs help."

"I appreciate the warnings, Glynis, I know you mean well," he said, standing up. "But I think I know my sister better than you do."

And he left her there, sitting under the tree, thinking, and hoping that he was right.