"Go! Fight! Win!" the cheerleaders shouted as the football players performed on the field.
"Sydney! Your sister's cheering and you can't even watch!" Janine Hathaway scolded her younger daughter.
"Rose is only performing for Adrian," sneered a jealous Sydney.
The game over, Adrian and Rose exited the stadium with their arms around one another.
"Remember you're still in training!" Dimitri shouted to Adrian.
"Yes sir, Coach Belikov! No milk shakes for me, only ice water!" Adrian replied. "I didn't say anything about a banana split, did I?" he added softly to Rose as he led her into the ice cream parlor.
Everyone was talking excitedly about the game in school Monday morning. Lissa knew that it would be a challenge to get the students focused on their classwork.
"Wasn't it awesome?" chirped Rose, as soon as she saw Joanie.
"It sure was! Adrian and the rest of the team played a great game. I know you're so proud of him," Lissa replied.
"I sure am," Rose said with a huge grin.
The class went well, and Lissa watched as Rose and the others left.
A couple of minutes later, Lissa heard a commotion in the hallway and went to investigate. A group of students surrounded Dimitri Belikov, who was holding Rose's limp body.
"She fainted," Dimitri explained. "Rose, are you all right? Rose?"
There was no response.
"Oh my God, she's unconscious." In a panic, Dimitri dashed for the school clinic, the silent students making room for him to pass. The school nurse met them at the clinic's entrance.
"She's completely unresponsive," Dimitri told her, unable to hide the urgency in his voice.
"She's breathing, and her pulse is regular," the nurse said, after checking Rose briefly. "You two stay with her while I call for an ambulance."
Dimitri gently lay Rose's body on a cot in the clinic, and he and Lissa kept a vigil at her side for the few minutes it took the ambulance to reach the school. Dimitri gently brushed her hair back from her forehead, a look of grave concern on his face.
The ambulance arrived, and Rose was rushed to the hospital. The school nurse called Janine Hathaway and told her what had happened to her daughter.
The halls and classrooms were eerily silent for the rest of that day. Everyone discussed what had happened in shocked whispers. None of the students were able to concentrate on their classwork, and Lissa was relieved when the final bell rang at the end of the day.
Lissa didn't sleep well at all that night. She hoped that there would be encouraging news about Rose's condition the next day.
The next day, Lissa and Dimitri went to visit Rose in the hospital. She lay in bed unconscious with an IV in her arm. Janine Hathaway sat beside her daughter's bed, her face wearing an expression of profound grief. Her daughter Sydney sat beside her looking sullen, and Adrian sat on Sydney's other side with a bewildered expression in his eyes. Lissa noticed that Adrian and Sydney were sitting very close together.
"My name is Lissa Dragomir, and this is Dimitri Belikov," Lissa said by way of introduction. "Both of us are Rose's teachers."
"The doctors told me she has some type of rare encephalitis," Janine said mournfully. "They don't know whether or not she'll pull through, or the amount of brain damage she might sustain if she does make it. They say that she may just be like this indefinitely. They told us it's too early yet to know what the final outcome will be."
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Hathaway," Lissa said. "If there's anything at all that I can do to help, please let me know."
"I just can't believe it," Adrian said. "At the game Friday night, she was just so...alive. When I scored that last touchdown, she was happier than I've ever seen her. Yesterday morning she was her normal lively, talkative self. And now..." His voice trailed off as he stared glumly at Rose's still form lying there. Sydney laid one of her hands over one of his in a gesture of comfort.
"The last time I talked with Rose," Dimitri told Lissa as they headed for the car after their visit, "She asked me to help her with a cheer that she said she just couldn't get right. I told her that I was busy and to ask one of the other cheerleaders for help. If only I had known..." He looked absolutely despondent. Lissa felt so sorry for him.
Rose's condition remained unchanged for a number of days. The hospital did all that they could for her, but in the end she was sent home to be cared for primarily by her mother.