Chapter Twenty-Two

After seven more rounds of 'I Never' Adrian was out of the game as he was the first to eat all his sweets. Despite this he stole the remaining sweets from the bag and ate one whenever he admitted to the statement as well as offering his services to his friends by giving them some evil ideas for statements. By eleven o'clock the game 'I Never' turned into a session of telling each other secrets and playing 'Truths' when they ran out of sweets.

At twelve they decided to go to bed. Adrian and Sydney shared a tender kiss at the door making Jill squeal to herself, Eddie and Christian smile at each other and Mason grin to himself. Dimitri leant against the wall, happy that his best friend was able to take a step further into his relationship with Sydney. She was confident enough to kiss him on the lips in front of their friends. In front of students and teacher would have to wait until the morning.

When Adrian walked into his room his mind was filled with the familiar scent of paint that filled his room. He glanced at the easel that stood next to the window, smiling to himself as he had a portrait of his girlfriend sitting on it just waiting to be painted. He hadn't shown anyone the drawing yet but wanted to bring Sydney in and get her to sit down so he could get the right shade of her hair and eyes, just to make the painting perfect.

Adrian stripped down to his boxers, grabbed the pair of pyjama trousers that sat on his bed to slip them on along with an old t-shirt, then threw himself on the bed to land with his face on the pillow. Normally he would end up staying up for a couple more hours sketching or reading a book. But for some odd reason he wasn't feeling too good, which was weird as he only noticed it now. His body seemed to be very hot so he kicked the duvet off his bed, his eyes were very heavy and he just felt sick. The darkness of the room finally took over though, dragging him into a dreamless sleep.

"Is he okay?" A voice echoed through Adrian's mind, bringing him back to the world. But, for some reason, he couldn't open his eyes. They were very heavy, a lot heavier than last night.

"I don't think so." Something very cold yet soothing rested on top of Adrian's forehead causing the artist to stir a bit. "He has a fever."

"I better go tell the guys, they're a bit worried." The sound of footsteps headed away from Adrian.

"I'll go get Doctor Olendzki." More footsteps walked away.

"Good idea Rose, Lissa." A Russian accent rang through Adrian's ears. "Will you be alright staying here until Lissa comes back with the doctor? I'll go to the Student Office and tell them that Adrian's not coming into school today."

"Sure, can you get them to mark me absent for this lesson? I don't really want to leave his side until the doctor comes here." That sweet voice made Adrian open his eyes.

Dimitri was looking down at Sydney, nodding his head and also hand his hand on her shoulder. When he looked back down at Adrian, he spotted his friend's eyes were slightly open. He removed his hand from the artist's girlfriend to move closer to Adrian, causing Sydney to also look down and reach for her boyfriend's hand.

"Hey, how you feeling?"

"Urgh." Adrian tried to sit up, but his body refused to listen to him. He felt cold, very cold, yet when he brought his hand to his forehead his skin was all sticky and sweaty. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry. His muscles were aching a bit. "I feel terrible." His voice was croaky.

"We think you have a fever." Sydney's grip tightened around his hand. "Lissa has gone to get the school doctor and Dimitri is going to get you signed you off as absent today." She looked at Dimitri and nodded her head making him stand up and walk off. "I'll stay here for now."

"Thanks Sage." Adrian smiled at his girlfriend, before turning his head to look at the clock.

It was half eight. He was suppose to be at school by now. Sydney explained that when it got to eight o'clock they went downstairs to get some breakfast, but realised that he hadn't come down. So Christian and Eddie went to see where he was, to only see he was still in bed. They came back down several minutes later saying that something was wrong, causing Rose, Lissa, Dimitri and Sydney to go upstairs. They just walked in to discover that he was sick.

When Lissa turned up with Doctor Olendzki she stayed next to Sydney. Both girls observed the doctor examine Adrian by getting him to sit up from the bed. It was only when Adrian sat up the girls saw how tired he looked with black bags under his eyes and red cheeks that really stood out due to his skin being incredibly pale today. Doctor Olendzki placed a thermometer into Adrian's mouth and slipped the diaphragm underneath his top to listen to his heartbeat. The sudden feeling of the cold metal against his chest made the boy shudder.

"38.5oC." After a minute Doctor Olendzki took the thermometer out of Adrian's mouth. "It's a fever alright. You need to stay in bed all day, rest up. I would also prefer it if one of you girls stayed with him, make sure his temperature goes down in a couple of hours."

"I'll stay." Sydney smiled at Lissa. "You better get going. I bet Mr Atlo would prefer it if you were around to control Rose and Mason."

"I'll come by at lunch to see how you are Adrian."

The three woman walked to the door. Doctor Olendzki gave Sydney some antibiotics to give to Adrian if his temperature rose along with some instructions on how to take care of him. He had to have a lot of water and rest. The doctor also said she would get the dorm's chef to make him some porridge to eat at lunch time.

"You don't have to stay here." Sydney closed the door and walked back over to Adrian, who was staring at her. "It would be better for you to go to school."

"I know. But I would prefer to be here with you." She slipped her hand into his' and leant in to kiss him on the forehead, ignoring the fact he was slightly sweaty. "Get some sleep. I'll stay here and wake you up in a couple of hours."

Adrian settled down back in his bed, on his side so that he was facing Sydney. She had her school bag with her so she pulled out an exercise book and pen, crossed her legs and started writing in her book. The sound of her working was strangely relaxing for Adrian, who closed his eyes. A few minutes later Sydney looked up from her work to see Adrian peacefully sleep. He looked very cute when he was asleep making her smile to herself before continuing her work.