Chapter 5: Sick

Nessie's POV

"Suspended?!" I gasped in disbelief. "But sir I didn't-"

"Renesmee I'm sorry but my decision is final. You know our school's policy about fighting on school grounds,"

"But I didn't even-"

"Renesmee I said enough!" he shouted. "I've seen everything I have needed to see,"

Before I could get another word in the door burst open. Bella walked in with a determined look on her face. "Sir Renesmee did not-"

"Bella as I was just telling Renesmee I have seen-"

"With all due respect sir you only know part of the story. Renesmee did not start that fight. I saw Stacy hit her first. Renesmee was just defending herself,"

"Stacy is an upstanding member of this school. She would never do such a thing,"

Bella looked angry now. "If you truly believe that then you don't know your students very at well. Review the security footage. You might actually be shocked by what you see,"

The principal turned to look at me. "My decision is final Renesmee. You are suspended tomorrow. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," I said in as sarcastic a tone as I could.

"You may leave,"

I stood up fast and gathered my backpack. I couldn't get out of that office fast enough.

Bella caught up to me quickly. "I'm sorry that happened to you. You should not be suspended. Those girls should be the ones in trouble. Not you,"

I sighed. "Thanks for trying to help me. He always sides with them though. Stacy's father is a huge benefactor for this school so she and her friends get away with murder,"

Bella was fuming. "It doesn't matter whose father is a benefactor for this school. No one has the right to treat you like that,"

"Thanks Bella,"

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

"I'll be fine. Guess I'll see you in two days. I better get out of here before I get in even more trouble,"

I went and waited for my sister in the car. I wasn't allowed to even go to my remaining classes for the day. I spent the next hour and forty minutes waiting for her in the car.

"What happened?" Lucy asked as soon as she closed the door.

"I got suspended,"

"But why? You didn't even start that fight!"

"It doesn't matter. You know he always believes whatever crap they say. My word is meaningless,"

"But it's not fair,"

"Life's not fair. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Let's go pick up David and go home already,"

I was still mad when we got home. It wasn't fair that I got in trouble for fighting and the rest of them didn't. The only good thing was that I didn't have to go to school. I never really understood suspension. You do something bad and your punishment is that you don't have to go to school?

Tomorrow I was free to do whatever I wanted. Maybe I'd go into town and get some shopping done. Well whatever plans I had for the following morning were squashed in the middle of the night.

I woke up in the middle of the night the sound of my little brother crying. I went to his room and saw him shivering in his bed.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel so cold and hot all at the same time,"

His forehead was burning hot to the touch.

"What's going on here?" Lucy asked.

"Go get a thermometer," I said. "I think David's sick,"

"I don't have COVID-19 again, do I?" he asked fearfully.

A shiver went down my spine. Went the pandemic hit our town a year ago it spread like wildfire. Everyone in my family got sick. We all ended up in the hospital and I nearly died from it. My system was already severely weakened from battling cancer.

My brother looked at me fearfully. "I'm sure it's not that," I tried to reassure him. Just then my sister came back with the thermometer. I gasped when it read 104 degrees Fahrenheit. I gave my brother some Tylenol hoping to bring down his temperature.

"It's high. We better go to the hospital,"

It was just past two in the morning as we were driving to the hospital. Thankfully the emergency room wasn't very busy when we arrived and they took my brother in right away.

Being here brought back a lot of memories. I'd been admitted to this very hospital in April 2020 and I had stayed here for three months battling COVID-19 and cancer at the exact same time. I had to be put on a ventilator because I'd stopped breathing on my own. I was far from being the only patient here that was severely sick from the virus. A lot of people died. There were days that I was so sick I thought I'd die. It was scary to say the least.

The nurse took my brother's temperature and gasped when she saw 103.

"It was 104 earlier but I gave him Tylenol,"

The nurse called for the doctor and told us to wait. A few minutes later a breathtakingly hot doctor that I'd never seen before strolled through the doors. Judging by his gold eyes and pale skin I guessed that he was related to the Cullens.

My suspicions were confirmed when he introduced himself. "Hi I'm Dr. Cullen,"

"Hi Dr. Cullen I'm Renesmee and this is my sister Lucy. This is our brother David he has a really high fever. We don't know why,"

My brother looked scared and unwell. "Don't worry young man I'm going to try my best to help you feel better," my little brother calmed down at his words.

"I think he's just worried that it's COVID-19 all over again," Lucy said.

"He caught the virus?" Dr. Cullen asked as he continued to examine my brother.

"We all did," I said. "I ended up in the hospital for three months because of it. I almost died," I shuddered at the memory.

"Your brother has bacterial pneumonia," Dr. Cullen said.

"Bacterial what?"

"Bacterial pneumonia. We caught it just in time to treat it. He'll have to spend a few days in the hospital but he should recover without any problems,"

"I can't go home?" my brother asked.

"I'm afraid not yet,"

"Kids I have to ask you something. Where are your parents?"

Uh oh.

"They're dead,"

"Where is your legal guardian then?"

"Our older brother is in Florida," Lucy said without thinking.

"So who is taking care of you three kids then?"

"I, uh, well, I," I was sweating bullets now. If I told him I we were living alone he'd report us and then we would all be separated and end up in foster care.

"Kids what is going on? What are you not saying?" Dr. Cullen asked us directly.

"The three of us live alone," I aadmitted. "Please don't say anything. Please don't report that to the authorities. We don't want to get separated,"

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