Chapter 6

The next few days at school went by in a haze for Jessie. Not because she was enjoying her education, but because she was sick for the entire week after Districts. In contrast to the strength and grace she felt during the race, Jessie now felt heavy and foggy from the morning when her alarm went off until night when she reset it before bed. Everyone felt bad for Jessie, but not as sorry as she felt for herself.

I hate being sick…I can't even stay home because of all the work I'd have to make up. And to top it all off, the first person whom I've ever been unable to stop thinking about is a girl I don't even know who doesn't even go to my school. She silently corrected herself, not just a girl…Katie, but still I don't even know her last name. How pathetic am I?

Cranky, hazy, and generally annoyed, Jessie plodded down the hallway to her next class, U.S. history with Mrs. Abbett. Knowing that she was already five minutes late and not caring, she made no effort to hurry her pace the last few meters to the door. As she opened it, she allowed herself a small smirk; no teacher had so much as scolded her for being late so far today. She must look sicker than usual. Mrs. Abbett was no exception,

"Good afternoon, Miss Sammler. I do hope you're feeling better soon. Now feel free to take your seat." The gray-haired woman nodded towards Jessie's seat on the far left side of the classroom and resumed outlining the Temperance Act on the chalkboard. Jessie shrugged at a grinning Tad, who was sitting in the center of the room, and made her way to her desk. Tad had texted her earlier, something about having some hot news. Jessie had retorted that he gossiped more efficiently than most of her girl friends, and his threat to keep his "big" news a secret had a minimal effect on her. Although her curiosity had been slightly aroused by his devilish grin, she was quickly losing focus on everything around her as Abbett's voice droned on about something involving alcoholic Puritans.

The bell jolted her out of her dreamlike state and she was surprised to see little runners drawn all over her notebook where her history notes should have been. She found where her pen had gone astray in the middle of her second line. What had originally been on the board as "…one of their many skills were sewing and crop gathering" had somehow morphed into "one of their many skatie katie katie" where her pen had met the notebook. She gasped and slammed it shut, quickly looking around to see if anyone had seen it. Fortunately for her, the only person looking at her was Tad, and he was waiting rather impatiently by the door.

"Good-bye Miss Sammler. Perhaps if you are still having symptoms tomorrow, you should consider spending the day at home resting in bed. Believe it or not, I think your schoolwork will fare better this way," Mrs. Abbett raised her eyebrow on the last statement, and Jessie blushed slightly before bee-lining it for the door. It was the fever messing with her head, and Jessie was becoming concerned about how this illness was apparently frying her brains. She smiled weakly at Tad before brushing past him to head to the cafeteria. He caught up a moment later,

"Jessie, get a load of this!" when she didn't slow down or turn around he tried to grab her shoulder, "really, have you heard-". He was cut off by Jessie angrily pushing his hand away,

"Tad, I am sick and I'm tired. I don't want lunch or gossip, I just want to find a dark hole to fall into so that I can put my head down for the next thirty minutes. If you get in the way of this dream, I swear I will not hesitate to cough on you." Tad looked stunned and hurt at the same time, his eyebrows furrowed together to compliment his shocked expression. Finally he closed his mouth,

"Fine…I guess we'll talk later." Then he swiveled around and walked away. Jessie felt momentarily sorry for her outburst, but reminded herself that he would be over it by next period and probably didn't have anything too important to say anyway. Maybe they had changed the cafeteria menu from chicken fingers to burritos for next Tuesday. Losing sight of Tad, Jessie continued on her search of a dark, unoccupied space to steal away in.

Jessie lifted her head from her folded arms a minute before her watch beeped to announce the end of lunch. It had been impossible to sleep, but she was thankful for the peace and quiet of the pool room. She had stretched out along one of the cleaner bleachers in the second row and closed her eyes. The heavy pool room doors had muffled the constant high school noises outside and she was comforted by the quiet sounds of the pool and the smell of chlorine in the air.

Annoyed that she still had one more class left, she dragged herself upright and decided against pulling the bag over her shoulder. Dragging it along the floor by one strap felt a little childish, but frankly, so did she. Satisfied as it thumped down the steps behind her, her mood was slightly more chipper as she pulled open the doors to the bright hallway. Her ounce of chipperness disappeared with the silence of the pool room and her headache returned full force, as if she was its long lost twin.

All I have to do is survive Psychology. And then I can go home and sleep until tomorrow. And sleep. And sleep.

She tried to comfort herself with these thoughts, all the while knowing nothing would be better until the last school bell rang. She turned to go down the last hallway to reach room 501 and saw Tad talking to a girl that appeared to be halfway in her locker and losing the fight for her books. She was puzzled because usually Tad was in the other building for fourth block, she was almost positive he had pre-calc this period. Before her mind could work it out, the girl battling her locker showed a surge of power and flew out of the locker, book in hand.

"Ha," she exclaimed, "victory at last!" She raised her chemistry book in celebration, and Jessie's voice caught in her throat. When her heart jumped up to meet it, a small squeak escaped from her mouth.

"Oh hey Jessie," Tad started, "This is who I wanted to tell you about."

Jessie had already taken a step backwards and started to shake her head. Tad looked slightly confused by continued on,

"This is Katie, she's new… " Katie, book still hoisted in the air, turned around to see Jessie. But Jessie was already gone. Suddenly Psychology class was no longer an option. If she didn't get home now, some poor janitor would be cleaning up vomit from the sparkling floors of Upton Sinclair. She just hoped she could make it to the nurse before passing out.