Hi everyone. I wanted to leave a quick message here on this chapter. On Wednesday 27th June I will be leaving my home town to go on a Duke of Edinburgh Exploration trip. I will not be returning until Tuesday 3rd July, so I am going to upload a chapter of 'St Vladimir Academy' now along with 'My Personal Trainer', then continue writing the chapters when I return. I wanted you reader to know this so you wouldn't be wondering why I wasn't uploading them. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Three

The fever wasn't going down, so when Lissa dropped by with Rose and Jill at lunch time Sydney asked them to tell Doctor Olendzki that the fever wasn't going down when the left. Half an hour after they left Jill returned, saying that Doctor Olendzki was busy right now but would try to find some time in the next hour or so to come and check on him. For now though, Sydney was given some forehead cooling pads to give Adrian as well as the advice to give him the antibiotics. As he was still asleep Sydney had no choice but to wake him up.

"Adrian?" When he opened his eyes his vision was blurry but clear up after he rubbed his eyes. Sydney helped him sit up. "Your fever isn't going down, so I need to give you some antibiotics. How are you feeling?" He was hot, very hot now. And sweaty.

"Hot." She could tell that he was hot. His breathing was hard and he had sweat dripping down his face. She got up to grab a clean hand towel from his desk that Lissa had kindly brought her, then sat back down to wipe the sweat off his head.

"Do you want me to wipe the sweat off your back to?" The t-shirt was sticking to his back slightly, so Adrian nodded and slowly took his top off. Sydney held her breath, noticing how finely tones his chest and muscles were. For someone who wasn't into sport or exercised a lot he had a fit body.

Her hands trembled a bit as she wiped the sweat off Adrian's back. This was the first time she had properly seen a guy's chest. There were times when she saw Dimitri, Mason or Eddie lift their tops up to wipe the sweat off their faces, revealing their strong stomach muscles they gained from their martial arts and kickboxing. Not only that, but the guy in front of her was her boyfriend. Even his back muscles looked strong. Something caught her eye on his back; a scar.

"Why is there a scar on his back?" She didn't touch the scar, just stared at it. It was quite a small scar but it looked painful, resting just above his left shoulder blade. The longer she stared at it the more it started to look like a stab wound. Adrian did say he got himself into a bit of trouble at previous school, so maybe the scar was a result of a fight. She managed to control her trembling and cleared Adrian's top of sweat, pushing the scar to the back of her mind.

She gave Adrian yet another glass of water to drink while she looked through his wardrobe to find another top he could wear. When she found one she took it back to the bed, watching him finish off the glass and take the tablets on the side. Sydney handed Adrian the t-shirt and while he slipped it on she pulled out a cooling pad from the bag.

"I'm going to put a cooling pad on." Adrian watched her take the pad out of the packet then reach up to his forehead to lift some of his hair up. Slowly the pad was stuck on across his forehead. Instantly the headache that never seemed to disappear went, and his face cooled down. "There." Even though she was finished putting it on, Sydney's hand stayed where it was.

The two stared at each other for a long time. Adrian admired his girlfriend, thinking how unbelievably lucky he was to have someone like her in his life. Sydney looked down at him, really seeing the cute side of him as he sat there in some scruffy clothes and, despite being sick, with an innocent look on his face. His hand slowly reached up to her cheek, grazing it lightly with his warm fingers.

"...Sydney..." His voice was low and also quite sexy for someone who was sick. It drew her in. At that moment she forgot that her boyfriend was sick. She just wanted to keep staring into those beautiful green eyes forever. The two leant in to share a tender kiss.

However, a rush of shock ran through Sydney's body when she felt Adrian's tongue run against her lower lip. It felt nice. Good in fact. She brought the chair in closer to him, bringing herself closer to him, opening her mouth and inviting the artist into it as they both closed their eyes and deepened the kiss. Their tongues grazed together for the first time ever.

Adrian slipped his hand behind her neck, pulling her down closer to him so he could kiss her a lot better. Sydney moved her hand onto the bed so she could support herself while moving her other hand onto his waist. Her body was aching for this kiss, she wanted more of him. But soon the kiss ended for the two to just stare into each other's eyes again. Adrian saw the gold in her eyes that he adored.

"Sydney..." He repeated her name again in the same voice as before, causing her to go red in the cheeks. "You're so beautiful."

A knock on the door ended their passionate moment. Doctor Olendzki walked in and smiled at the two.

"Good to see you're taking care of him." The doctor noticed the open packet of antibiotics, the cooling pad on his forehead and the t-shirt he was wearing last time she saw him. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit better now that Sydney's taken care of me." He had started feeling better after he took the tablets and had the cooling pad put on his forehead. But the kiss just made him feel a whole lot better both emotionally and physically. This made Sydney blush violently and look away while Doctor Olendzki took some time to check him out.

"You still have a high temperature. Get some more rest. Are you okay looking after him still?"

"Yeah, it's only a couple more hours until the others get here. Jill will probably want to look after him and so will Dimitri."

Doctor Olendzki left the room, leaving Adrian and Sydney alone. He decided to take up on the doctor's suggestion and fell asleep a few minutes later leaving the scientist there to continue on her work. But her mind was too focused on the kiss they had.

It was the first time Sydney had ever kissed a guy like that. It was quite shocking and scary now that she thought about it. She could still taste the clove cigarettes Adrian smoked frequently and the touch of his soft lips lingered on her own too. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that even though it was just scary to kiss like that, she loved it. A part of her wanted to kiss him again, but not in the condition he was in. Maybe when he got better and were alone next time they could do that again.

Just like Sydney predicted, Jill and Dimitri walked into the room shortly after school ended to see how Adrian was. By then his temperature had gone down a lot and he was no longer sweating or feeling too hot. The cooling pad was still stuck to his forehead but that was because it was the cause of getting rid of the headache, which he didn't want returning.

"You feeling a lot better?"

"Yeah, except." Adrian held his forehead. "I feel kinda sluggish. Today has been a bit of a blur, I can't remember much." He glanced at Sydney. "Did I do something weird or disturbing?" He forgot the kiss. Only she remembered. This caused her to violently blush. "What did I do?"

"Um...you kissed me..."

"Yeah?"

"Passionately. Very. As in..." She cleared her throat, avoiding all eye contact with her friends and lover. "Our-tongues-were-touching passionate." Adrian went red in the face.

"Oh god." He was trying so hard not to do something like that to Sydney. "Sydney I'm so sorry, I didn't realise I had done it. You're not upset or anything, are you?"

"Actually...I enjoyed it." She smiled at him with her entire face going red. "It felt nice." Jill and Dimitri glanced at each other smiling, happy that their best friends were taking new steps into their relationship. Slowly and gradually.