The left over excitement from the trip still carried into the classroom the following day and it proved to be a challenge to get inside the room for some people. Not for Kim, as she always seem to be able to make herself smaller and invisible. She was able to slip pass the group of teens hanging outside the room unnoticed and with out trouble.

She settled into her chair and opened her notebook to doodle more hearts until the teacher arrived but a tap on her shoulder caused her to turn in her seat.

"Good-morning." Michelle smiled brightly at her. "I totally forgot to talk to you after what happen, you know with the wolf and getting lost in the woods."

Kim was not at all surprised that Michelle had been forgotten her, even though she probably had caused the most exciting thing that day. "I-I wasn't lost. I know my way around the forest really well. My father use to take me camping all the time when I was little."

Now days, he did not have time to camp with Kim. Not with work being so demanding and Kim could not bare to make him feel guilty as he worked so hard to support her, her little sister and mother.

"Oh, I thought that was why you were alone in the woods." Michelle shook her head, "Anyways, I was wondering if I could get a brief interview with you for the Killer Whale after school. Of course, it wouldn't be in this week's article with the beach trip because of my slip up but I might have room for it in the following newsletter."

"I-I don't know." Kim brought her hand up to her hair, twisting it around nervously. She was not use to being in the spot light and for that, she was not sure she wanted it. The whole idea made her uncomfortable.

"Pretty please." Michelle begged. "I'm dying here. We do not have any good news for the next news piece yet and if we do not get one; we will need to fall back on a previous article. Though I doubt anyone would remember it but still, there is the principal behind it."

Kim sighed and closed her eyes briefly, hating the approval word on her lips that were already forming. What could she do? She had a problem of saying no when it could help someone else out. "Okay." She spoke softly, secretly hoping that Michelle did not hear her.

Michelle squealed in delight as she placed a hand on Kim's shoulder. "Thank you! You are a life saver!"

"But there isn't much to tell, it all happened quite fast." Kim opened her eyes but Michelle had already turned her back on Kim in order to speak to someone else.

Quietly and unnoticeably, Kim turned around in her seat while the feeling of being alone once more crept up on her. She was about to place her head down on the desk with her chin upon her hand when the teacher walked in, handing out a stack of papers as he walked passed the first row of students.

"Quiz." He spoke to them as he found a standing spot in the middle of the classroom. "On yesterday's trip. All the answers were things that you could visually see at the beach. Good luck." He turned to his desk as the students passed the quizzes to the person behind them. "Remember no talking. This is not a group quiz."

"Do we ever get a group quiz?" Brad asked from the window side of the room.

"I will consider it." Mr. Sanders smiled at him.

"Is that a maybe?" Brad asked hopefully. Kim smiled slightly for she knew, as much as everyone else, Brad could use a good mark.

"It will probably be a no, Brad. Try studying more often." Mr. Sanders gave a joking wink at the boy.

"Oh man this isn't even a multiple choice!" Someone cried from the back of the room and Brad gave out a loud groan of doom.

"It's easy Bradley." Mr. Sanders rubbed his temples. "You were there, just use your head."

Brad clunked his head against the desktop causing Mr. Sanders to shake his own head. "I hope that works for you buddy but it isn't exactly the brain usage that I was referring."

Kim glanced over the students as small giggles broke through the room. Her eyes paused at Jared and with a sigh, she started to turn away but before she could, she noticed his hands were shaking. Not a little but so much that he could not even hold onto his pencil. She glanced up at his face but he was so absorbed in trying to steady his hands, he did not notice. Quickly Kim glanced over at other students who all seem engrossed in their quiz that no one else seemed to notice. Her eyes darted back to Jared, who now had clasped his hands in a tight fist under the desk. He kept his eyes glued to the paper on top of his desk and his pencil laid broken in half.

His broad shoulders seemed stiffen and she could see his jawbone pop every time he clenched his teeth together. Kim forced herself to look over her quiz and even print her name on top of her paper but she could not keep her eyes off Jared. Through her long lashes, she swept her eyes unnoticed under his desk once more. She could see that Jared hands were barely trembling now. Quickly, so quickly it startled Kim, Jared sat back in his chair, seeming more relaxed that he somewhat back in control of his hands. He stood up and walked to the front of the class to Mr. Sanders. They spoke softly to each other with the desk between them. Whatever it was that Jared had asked of Mr. Sanders, their teacher replied with a nod of his head. Then Jared walked out of the room, leaving his stuff behind.

Kim managed to finish her paper though she was one of the last to hand it to the teacher as Brad was still working on his own.

"Brad." Mr. Sanders' booming voice broke the silence. "Is that a cell phone under your desk?"

Kim, like the other students, glanced over at Brad and notice that in his hands, hidden under the desk, was a black device.

"Uh, no sir." Brad shook his head.

"Then what is it?" Mr. Sanders tilted his head while he held out his hand for the machine.

Brad groaned but walked up to Mr. Sanders and placed the object in the teacher's hand.

Mr. Sanders pressed his lips tightly together as he looked at the black box. "A game boy?" He lifted his eyebrows at Brad who stood with his head down. "You were playing a game while you were supposed to be taking a quiz?"

"Nah." Brad shook his head with a grin, "It's a Nintendo DS."

Mr. Sanders sighed, "Go sit back down Brad."

"Um, will I be getting that back?" Brad asked, "It cost a lot and…"

"Your parents will be getting it back." Mr. Sanders nodded his head towards Brad's seat.

"Oh man, don't do that." Brad almost stomped his foot. "Come on, you're an awesome teacher, give me a break here. They'll go berserk!"

"I am giving you a break. I could do much worse, now go seat down." Mr. Sanders pointed to Brad's chair. "Or…"

"I'm going." Brad shuffled to his desk and class went on but Jared never came back.

Kim waited after school by her locker for Michelle's interview. The dismissal bell rang and the hall filled up with students all going in the same direction like a large wave of water. Kim over heard Jared's name being mention and atomically zeroed in using her obsession radar skills that blocked out all other conversations.

"I had heard that he got ill." Someone said as they walked passed her.

"He probably just wanted to skip out of the pop quiz in Sanders' class. I've have done that a few times." A different voice spoke out.

"He's been pretty off lately." Another student whispered.

"He is looking good to me." Kim felt her eye twitched on hearing Becky's voice.

"One hell of a growth spurt." A female voice chimed.

"Not normal." Another said.

"I bet his height isn't the only thing that got larger." Becky sang sweetly and Kim suddenly felt the urge to beat her with a bat but instead turned to her wristwatch. She would be missing her bus but Kim was sure Michelle would drive her home. After all this was for her and her newspaper. Kim leaned agaisnst her locker as she waited, her mind drifting back to Jared.

Something wasn't right, he must be ill. Maybe food posion, she had heard that boys would consume anything no matter what molding stage it was in. Maybe Jared was like that. Kim shook her head at the thought. Her Jared was smart enough to know moldy meat or thick milk from fresh food. At the moment, the flu was not upon the them and even if it were, it did not explain the shaking hands. Kim knew Jared was not into any drugs and currently, he was not on any prescription drugs.

It was pouring down rain when Kim walked out of the school building twenty minutes later. Not a single students' car was visible in the parking lot. Michelle had once again forgotten about Kim and the interview.

"I knew I should have said no." Kim muttered hugging her arms to her body to keep some warmth as she stomped across the wet grass. "Look what being nice got me into. I'm wet and cold and talking to myself."

She walked passed the tribe store on her way home and spotted Emily putting groceries in the trunk of her car. Most of the tribe pitied the girl with the large bear claw scars down her face. It ruined her good looks, they had said. Kim did not pity the girl at all. Emily had always been well like by everyone and people adored her and her second cousin, Leah.

Kim never thought Emily deserved the bear attack, she would never wish that on anyone. The fact was that Kim envied Emily. Even though she was marked with scars, she found someone who loved her and was devoted to her no matter what she looked like. Therefore, even though the tribe pitied the girl, Kim could not help wish that she had some of what Emily had. Of course, that did not mean that Emily had no problems. After all' Sam had been Leah's lover before Emily had attracted his attention. Yet, Leah was one of the most beautiful girls Kim ever seen. Getting a new person to fall in love with her should not be a problem. People, especially guys noticed Leah. They noticed everything about the girl.

Kim put her head down once again as she finished walking pass the little store and onward to her home. As a habit, she took a moment to stop and stare at Jared's home. She saw a warm light glowing from his window and knew he was home, probably tucked away in bed. She had once snuck into his room while he and his parents were on a vacation. She knew that always had three covers on his bed of various blue shades. She knew that there were four pillows on his bed and he never made his bed after he woke up. From the posters on his wall, Kim knew that he was into football, cars and girls that seemed very happy and comfortable in barely wearing anything at all. She knew that his room smelled like pine that was freshly stired from a forest breeze. Kim also knew that she should probably get help before she gets arrested for stalking him. Then again, someone would have to notice her for that.

Jared laid sprawled on his back with his bed covers haning somewhere below his feet. He given up on trying to ignore the joint aches so instead, he concentrated on what part of his body hurt the most. It was extremely difficult to do this, as there were places on him that he never knew could hurt before today. He also knew he was running a fever, a high fever. Not a high fever that he should be rushed to the emergency room type but the type that should had made him a permitted resident in the local cemetery. His home thermometer read one-hundred and six the last time he check, which was forty minutes ago. He was sure that one-hundred and four was suppose to be the limit.

"The thermometer is junk." He muttered to himself as he carefully pushed his legs off the bed and onto the floor. It took another five minutes to raise his upper half of his body to a sitting position. His room was dark all except for the lantern beside his window. His mother must have let that one when she had checked up on him.

Jared barely remembered his mother slipping into the room. She had wanted to take his temperature but could not find the thermometer to do it and he kept swatting her hand away from his face. When even your skin seems to feel pain, you don't want other people touching you. Of course, his mother could not find the thermometer when he kept it hidden under his pillow. If he was dying, he wanted to die in his own home. Not with needles sticking in him and hovering white smock hospital staff with funny mask that hid their faces.

He slowly rose towards the window and giving it an easy yank upwards with one arm. He had expected the window to give him a slight problem as it always seemed to stick half way going up but today it slid smoothly. Effortlessly.

Jared glanced out the window, letting the cold rain hit his face. It actually felt nice, cooling. If he knew he wasn't dying, he would had slipped onto the roof to enjoy it better but his mother's voice downstairs, which he thought it was odd that she was speaking so loudly, prevented that idea. Finding him outside in the cold while sick would give her a heart attack.

He was about close the curtain when he saw a figure standing on the pathway leading across his home. It was a girl, he was sure of that. Though her clothing was baggy and soggy, she was hugging her arms tightly against herself that he could make out some of her female curves. She looked somewhat familiar but he could not place where he had seen her. Then, as if she knew he had spotted her, she started walking on.

"If I live to see nightfall, I am so out of here and in that rain." Jared spoke to himself as he closed his curtain to shield his eyes from some of the bright, cloudy daylight. If he could just get rid of the headache and the feeling that he was about to explode, Jared was sure he would feel ten percent better, if he was lucky, maybe even fifteen percent.

Kim quickly jiggled her key into the locked door of her home's kitchen. She pushed the door open, cursing at the key that was sticking in the lock. Once she finally was able to yank the key free, she quickly closed the door so the rainwater would not soak the floor anymore then it already had done.

Kim threw her books off to the side and shed her coat near the door before inspecting the kitchen. There was a note attached the refrigerator but Kim ignored it, knowing that it would say that her father was working late and being Friday, her mother was shopping for groceries.

In the kitchen, Kim started to skim out of her wet clothing and on passing the washroom door; she gave them a toss inside the room towards the washing machine.

From there she landed herself in the shower, allowing the hot water to flow over her. It not only relaxed her from the long power walk home but it melted the cold away as well. She was delighted to find her favourite towel freshly washed by her mother. It was as if her mom knew today was going to be a bad day for her daughter. Kim smiled to herself, quietly thanking her mother as she sat on the chair at her computer in her room. Still wrapped in a towel, Kim typed in body trembles in the search bar.