Here's the next chapter. I wrote it today. It's defiantly not the best, but I hope to get a few more chapters done over break. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Please give me ideas any letter you can think of.

E is for exhausted:

It was the week before finals at HA. However, it was also the week of final dress rehearsal for the end of semester musical. Everyone was spending hours rehearsing and getting ready, not really caring about their grades. Jade, however, knew she needed to study because she wanted to ace every one of her finals. She spent every free moment with her eyes glued to her books, trying to memorize dates for Theater History or lines for her Dramatic Acting final. She was not the lead in the musical, but she did have a good amount of lines and two solo songs as well as four dance numbers she was in.

At the end of every night, she would go home, drink a few cups of coffee and stay up until 4:30 am. She would then sleep for thirty minutes before getting up and starting the da over again.

Normally, she was able to handle staying up for most of the night, but with the dance rehearsals, she found herself becoming more and more tired. It didn't help that the rest of the people in her third dance number kept messing up so they had to run it over and over again.

Friday morning, she got a call just after 4 am from the jail, informing her that her mom was drunk and needed to be picked up by an adult over 18. Jade knew the drill when this happened. She called her mom's sister, Katherine.

"Aunt Katie," Jade started.

"Again?" Katie said, sighing.

"Yeah," Jade said, "I'll be over in ten minutes to stay with the kids."

"I'll be ready," Katie said.

"Thank you so much," Jade said, pulling on her jacket and grabbing her keys. Her aunt only lived down the street so Jade got there quickly.

When she arrived, her aunt was waiting. She pulled Jade into a warm embrace, looking over the teen after she released the hug.

"Jade," her aunt said, "You look exhausted. You can sleep in Jordan's extra bed if you want."

"No thanks, Aunt Katie," Jade said, holding up her text book she had brought, "I need to study."

"Alright," Katie said, "I'll be back soon. If I'm not back by the time the kids get up, just give them some cereal."

"Thank you Aunt Katie," Jade said as her aunt ran out the door. Jade sat down and started working on her lines, running them over and over again. Her aunt got back just before 6, meaning Jade got no sleep.

"Your mom is at home," her aunt said, "I grabbed you some clothes so you can just shower here and go to school."

"Thanks," Jade said, taking the clothes, texting Beck before she got in the shower. By the time she got out, her head was pounding and she felt dead on her feet. She thanked her aunt as she ran out the door to Beck's truck.

"Hey," he said as she climbed in.

"Hey," she said, taking her coffee from the consul and downing half of the hot liquid in one drink.

"Jade," he said, "You look exhausted."

"I have barely slept all week," she said, yawning, "I had to study for finals and get ready for the musical."

"Jade," he said, "You need sleep. Jade?" She didn't answer, she was sound asleep. He reached over and touched her head, she was warm. He knew when she over worked herself, she generally got a fever.

He turned the car around and went back to his RV. He carried her inside and put her on the bed. She stayed sound asleep the entire time. He grabbed the forehead thermometer, running it across her forehead. 101.2. He sighed as he got a wet cloth and wiped her head with it.

He knew she had been working hard to study this week and with the musical, he should have seen this coming. He climbed into bed next to her and held her as she slept, vowing to never let her get so exhausted again.

Hope you liked it. Please Review. Thanks.