Tyler woke to a thud and a low groan coming from the floor. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, noticing the blankets were halfway off the bed. "Reid?"
He seemed to be talking to no one, until a hand raised over the edge of the bed and gripped the remaining blankets. Tyler would have laughed at his friend falling out of bed, but remembering the night before, his humor turned into concern. "Reid, you okay?" he asked.
Reid turned his head on the floor and sighed. God, he was tired of that question. Instead of answering, he gave Tyler the 'okay' sign with his hand on the bed. He slowly got up, again ignoring the lightheaded feeling. Gathering his clothes, he noticed he started swaying. Tyler saw this too, but ignored it as well, and Reid headed out to the showers.
Making sure no one else was with him, Reid stepped under the hot water. It felt good on his still freezing skin and it flowed off him pink and dirty. He knew he was sick. It could be anything from a cold to pneumonia, but he didn't care. Skipping school today would just raise more suspicion from his friends and he didn't need more questions.
When he was done, he threw on his uniform and headed back to his room. Tyler had already left. Reid found his bag from last night empty, on his bed. Shuffling through his drawers, he found everything the bag had contained, and his cell phone was on the bed with it. Tyler had taken care of it all. Guilt swept through him, along with nausea, and he grabbed his stuff for school.
He made it through first period without hardly any sneezing or sniffling. But he could hardly concentrate on whatever the lesson was, because he was a little preoccupied with not getting sick in the middle of class.
He walked with his brothers down the hall, trying to focus on what they were laughing about. They kept walking, as Reid stopped, leaning against a wall still swaying.
"Reid?" He heard Pogue's voice, but he couldn't zone in on it. "Hey Reid-" but Reid was already headed to the bathroom. There was no avoiding it this time.
His dizziness caught up with him and he gripped the sides of the stall. He heard footsteps behind him. Reid leaned, his stomach quaking, and dry heaved over the bowl. He tried breathing normal to get his stomach under control, but then everything came up. Having not eaten much in the past few days, it was mostly stomach acid.
"What is- oh, gross." Pogue turned away after watching Reid begin to throw up. Tyler was right behind Reid, in the stall, and Caleb was behind him.
"Reid, its okay," Tyler whispered. He didn't know what to say to someone puking, but there was nothing else to do.
Reid knew it was not okay, and he continued to empty his stomach. The sounds of his retching rang through the stall and he felt Caleb's hand rubbing his back. Reid wouldn't have been surprised if he had thrown up his whole stomach before he actually stopped, and he fell to the floor panting.
"Reid?" He barely hear Caleb's voice calling to him as he let himself drift into the darkness.