Please excuse my laziness.
I picked my head up off the desk when I felt myself being stared at. Even though Howard was on the complete opposite side of the room, due to us talking so much last week, he still managed to be able to watch me. I scrunched my eyes together and gave him a look that clearly said "bug off", and he turned back around, but not without shaking his head.
I knew he was secretly worried about me, and I was too. I don't understand why I feel so icky today. I got more sleep last night that I've gotten any other night this year. Maybe I was catching a fever.
"Tengu? You got your ears on?"
"Yes."
I looked around the room unconsciously. It was still taking some time to get used to the fact that no one else can hear the Tengu. It almost feels as though I'm wearing a pair of headphones. It feels loud to me, but yet no one else could hear it.
"You'll get used to it... what is it you need?"
I wanted to figure out how to ask this without being accusing. "Why do I feel like I'm gonna hurl?"
"I do not know. Why don't you ask Howard? He seems really eager to talk to you." I looked up and saw that Howard was staring me down. He seemed relieved when I finally noticed him. He held up a wadded ball of paper for me to see. Glancing over at the teacher and seeing his back turned as he wrote on the board, I nodded to him to throw the paper.
As soon as he threw it, he turned his head back to the front, not bothering to see if I caught it because ever since I got the Ninja mask, it's started to give me pretty good reflexes, inside or out of the suit.
When I caught it, I slipped it into my pocket just as the teacher turned back around. Carefully unwrapping the paper ball with one hand in my pocket, I slowly slipped it onto my desk. I read it and then looked back to the front to make it seem like I was listening as I pondered the question and what my answer would be.
You okay? You seem like you're going to dart out of class.
I picked up my pencil and pretended to take notes. When I finished answering, I wadded it back up fast to make the sound pass quick. After waiting a few seconds and making eye contact with Howard, I threw it back to him.
It hit me in the head less than a minute later.
I don't believe you. How could you be tired if you were asleep when I texted you around midnight? How do you sleep at night, on a log?
I managed a silent snort before replying. He didn't throw the note back after he read it, even though he wrote on it. What does he not want to tell me? Why do I feel so tired? I slept fine... then I began to wonder.
...
I opened up a new tab on the library computer before I even took off my backpack. I had an epiphany in class last period and still don't know where that word even popped up. I figured I may need to do this fast before the Tengu has time to question; and so I'm not late to next period.
How do birds sleep?
I quickly clicked on one of the first few links and scanned through the three paragraphs. 'Eye movement... different than mammals... sleep with half their brain awake?'
"Great," I sighed and clicked out of the tab.
"Are you trying to elude me?"
I bit my lip. Slowly, it's starting to seem as though the Tengu were in the room with me. It no longer sounded like it was in my head.
"No..."
"Yes you were," the Tengu chided. "It seems you are trying to figure out if you can talk to that pigeon without me knowing."
I rolled my eyes. "He's not a pigeon. He's my best friend."
"He's annoying like a pigeon."
The one-minute warning bell rang and I quickly jumped up and ran out of the library, ignoring the librarian insisting that I sign out. I didn't make it to class before a wall of lockers were thrown into the school and a McFist robot barged in. All the slow kids in the hallways scattered as it growled.
"Oh great." Looking back, I ducked behind a corner and pulled out the Ninja mask. Putting it on was all I could remember.
...
When I open my eyes, a woman is standing over me. Once my vision clears up, I realize it's the school nurse. She smiles. "Oh good, you're awake!"
She turns back to her desk and fumbles through all of her medical supplies as I try to sit up, despite her telling me to lay back down. What happened? The last thing I remember is putting on the mask...
"Hold still, alright?" She puts the tubes of a stethoscope in her ears and pushes back the flaps of my jacket to put the chestpiece of my left side. She sat there for a few seconds and told me to breathe in and breathe out. She nodded and removed the stethoscope.
Pulling out a blood pressure cuff, she wrapped it tight around my left arm. Squeezing the bulb, she watched the data that came up. She nodded, deflated the cuff, and took it off.
She then sat there and stared at me. I was about to ask her what she was staring at when she put a hand on my forehead. "Are you alright? You feel warm."
"I feel fine. I frankly don't even know why I'm here..." She had stood up and grabbed a thermometer. After putting a piece of plastic on it, she told me to open my mouth and stuck it under my tongue. She waited for a few moments before taking it out when it beeped. Her eyes widened. "Oh my word..."
I asked her what was wrong and all she did was turn the thermometer so I could read it.
105.3 degrees.
...
This chapter excited me because I had a fight scene without having to make a fight scene! Yes! (I suck at fight scenes) Ideas give me joy. More than you can imagine. The only reason I don't write often is because I burn through ideas too quickly and need more. Help?