Chloe stood in the bathroom looked at the thermometer. Her temperature was normal. She sighed. A while back, Beca had gotten sick and Chloe had taken care of her. Grateful for the help, Beca had promised to take care of Chloe if she ever got sick. Thus, Chloe had been spending the last couple of days trying to get sick. She had been licking doorknobs, trying to get sneezed on, and didn't wash her hands. Yet despite this, she hadn't gotten so much as a sniffle.
Chloe was about to walk out of the bathroom, when she got an idea. Chloe got on her knees and lowered her face to the floor. She was about to lick the floor when the door opened. It was Stacie. "Um Chloe, why are you licking the floor? Are you trying to get sick"
"Yes actually," said Chloe. Stacie raised an eyebrow. "I could really use a day off."
"Okay," said Stacie. "If that's the case, I think they're a lot of easier ways of going about it."
"Like what?" said Chloe.
"Well, you could go to the hospital," said Stacie. "There should be some diseases laying around there."
"Good idea." Chloe got up from the floor.
"Is it?" said Stacie. "'Cause I was kinda joking."
"Still a good idea. Thanks for suggesting it." Chloe walked out of the bathroom.
"Hope she doesn't catch anything too bad," said Stacie.
Chloe got into the hospital by pretending to be a nursing student, who had to log a certain number of volunteer hours to graduate. She had stopped by the nursing department to get a pair of scrubs in order to sell the effect. Chloe was so convincing, that the receptionist seemed to recognize her for some reason. "Chloe! So how are classes treating you? I thought you were done with your volunteer hours?"
"No," said Chloe. "I still got four hours left."
She walked around waiting room, looking for people who looked especially sick. She had zeroed in on a group of kids who seemed to have a problem with covering up when they sneezed. Chloe approached them with the widest smile she could force on her face. "Hey kids. Where are your parents?"
The kids all pointed to the waiting room, where their parents were all preoccupied with other things. "Good. So how are you feeling?"
"Yucky," said a kid in a red shirt.
"How bad?" said Chloe.
The kid put his finger up his left nostril. "This hole is plugged up."
"Oh that's too bad." Chloe extended her hand. "Hey, my name's Chloe. What's yours?"
"Trevor." Trevor went to shake Chloe's hand.
"Other hand," said Chloe. "Shake with your other hand."
"This one?" said Trevor.
"Yes." Chloe shook his hand. "That's right."
A girl sneezed on some blocks she was playing with. Chloe went over to take the blocks from her. "Bless you."
"Hey! I'm playing with those," said the girl.
"Yeah, but they're covered in germs now," said Chloe.
"I don't care." The girl ran off and got her dad. "See daddy, I was trying to play with the blocks and she tried to take them from me."
"They're covered in germs," said Chloe.
"I understand." The dad turned to his daughter. "Look, there's some blocks over there you can play with."
"Fine." The girl stormed off.
"I'm so sorry about that," said the dad.
"It's alright," said Chloe. "I'm sure she's just a bundle of joy for you and the Mrs."
"Actually I'm single," said the dad.
"Really?" said Chloe.
"Yeah," said the dad. "Hey, when does your shift end?"
"Uh, not anytime soon." Chloe quickly excused herself and went over to her bag, where she put the blocks. She noticed the dad following her for a bit, but soon he had to take his daughter back to the examination rooms. When no one was looking, Chloe snuck into the bathroom and rubbed her tongue on the blocks. She then decided to check out the examination rooms. There should be something contagious there.
The first room had a young boy with his mother. Chloe had a clipboard with her and pretended to be consulting it. "So what seems to be the problem here."
"My son's been having a stomachache for the past few days," said the mother. "But um, didn't we already tell this to the other nurse."
"That's true," said Chloe. "But I was brought in for a second opinion."
"Aren't you just a nurse?" said the mother.
"Excuse me?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.
"I'm so sorry," said the mother. "I just thought that...well I don't think you can give medical advice?"
"It's nice to know that all those years I spent studying at college doesn't mean I get judged by people like you," said Chloe. "What was your major anyways? Gender studies? Communications? Marxist literary theory?"
"I don't think that matters," said the mother. "But for the record, it was communications."
"I see. Well, I guess your fancy communications degree means you know more about medicine then me." Chloe stormed out of the examination room.
The next examination room had a skinny guy, who was wearing only rags and was rocking back and forth. "So what seems to be the problem?"
"God wanted me to tell him where the magnetic bomb was hidden," said the skinny guy.
"Right." Chloe headed for the examination room next door. This room had a girl who was roughly Chloe's age. "So what's wrong with you?"
"Um...I think I have herpes," said the girl.
"Okay, I think I'll pass on that," said Chloe as she left the room.
The next day, Stacie approached Chloe after practice. "So how'd things go at the hospital? Are you getting your sick day?"
"No," said Chloe. "I thought I was coming down with something last night, but turns out my throat was just dry."
"Well that's too bad," said Stacie. "I think."
"Maybe it's all for the best," said Chloe. "I mean, I could have caught something really nasty like a flesh eating bug of hemorrhagic fever. Hell, I almost got herpes."
"Oh, you definitely don't want that," said Stacie.
"You know," said Chloe. "If you think about it, what I did was kinda stupid."
"Well at least you admit it," said Stacie.
Just then, Beca walked by. "Hey Chloe. Why do you look so glum?"
"Oh it's nothing," said Chloe.
"She just really wanted a day off," said Stacie. "So she went to the-"
Chloe cut her off. "It's not really important."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better," said Beca. "We could get together tonight. You know, order a pizza, watch a movie, hang out."
"Really?" said Chloe.
"Yeah," said Beca. "If you want to."
"I don't want you going out of your way for me," said Chloe.
"I insist," said Beca. "I like spending time with you."
"Okay," said Chloe. "If that's the case then yeah. Let's do it."
"Well see you tonight then," said Beca.