I planned to donate blood since my school was having a day for that (and I thought what a coincidence in spirit of this chapter), but all the appointments were booked … so when the opportunity arose again, I snatched one.

(And here we are in Jun 2024 — six months later than when I drafted this chapter!)

Scarlet Fever: Part Seven

"Afternoon, fellow students," Kai starts a little too chipper for before noon.

He immediately regrets saying that cringey greeting to his classmates and peers at school. They stare at him blankly, probably not even listening to him but Kai knows those three words will haunt him for at least the rest of the day. Why did he, the school president, have to give some welcoming commencement speech for the school's blood drive event?

And he's making it so much worse by not continuing talking.

"Thank you all for coming out to Lunar Academy's blood drive for Commonwealth's General Hospital," Kai continues. "You are all doing an amazing part in helping save lives and giving back to our community. Remember to read all the warnings and instructions before proceeding. The student government and I have greatly provided refreshments and snacks for those who choose to participate. In case of any emergencies, please flag down a nurse or someone with the hospital. Have a great day!"

Again, so chipper at the end. Kai steps away from the microphone set-up and scurries through the crowd of students to find his friends. They join the groups of students waiting in lines at booths of hospital officials and nurses preparing them for donations. They stand to the side, reading the directives on how this process goes and looking at the donating do's and don't and the questionnaire on the wall.

"You know," Thorne starts, pointing at one of the bullet points on the poster. He circles the part about having a recent illness, especially certain ones. "I think we all had scarlet fever. Can't donate."

Scarlet shoves him as the others laugh. "Shut your spades, it wasn't scarlet fever!"

"Shut up, Ginger-vitus."

Scarlet grins for a moment before shoving him again. She can appreciate a good roast, but a roast is a roast, especially from Thorne.

"Anyone donating?" Cress asks.

"I will," Kai responds.

Wolf scoffs. "Looks like you kinda have to now after welcoming us."

Kai looks at him pointedly. "I would've anyways."

"Sure."

"Do you even know your blood type?"

"Mine's red," Thorne chimes in.

Kai stares at him, blinking. He waits for Thorne to laugh, play along with the joke, but his friend doesn't react more than just saying his words with his full chest.

"I can't tell if you're being serious," Kai states.

Thorne shrugs. "Me neither."

Scarlet shudders. "I don't want to be stabbed by some stranger and have my blood taken."

"That's a little dramatic," Cinder mutters, especially since Scarlet has a tattoo of a tomato cluster on her rib cage. Last Cinder checked, the tattoo process consisted of being stabbed by a stranger, but change the blood being taken for ink being given. Wolf wouldn't like that she described the process that way, but who is she to judge?

"Look they have free snacks for after!" Thorne exclaims.

His friends follow his pointing gesture to a table full of granola bars, juice boxes, pop cans, and chip bags. There was even a pile of stickers they could take afterwards.

"Yeah maybe it's not worth it…" Thorne mutters.

"Forget dramatic. You two are selfish," Cinder states.

"Stranger poking me and drawing blood," Scarlet restates.

"A stranger tattooed you," Wolf mentions.

Scarlet glares at him. "You knew him!"

Cinder laughs, covering it with a cough when Scarlet looks her way. She gives her friend a toothy grin.

"If it helps," Kai mutters, "the nurse in the third booth is my cousin."

They all turn to see a young nurse in teal scrubs. She's disinfecting the crook in a student's elbow with an alcohol wipe to prepare the site for the blood donation.

"Seriously?" Winter asks.

"No, but you trusted her for a second when I said she did."

"Well, now I don't trust you."

Kai groans. "Come on."

Winter shrugs a bit. "I can't give blood. I'm on antipsychotics."

Cress perks a little. "Actually, you still can-"

"No," Winter interrupts. She giggles a bit through closed lips and a plastered smile. "I texted Jacin and asked."

Cinder snorts a laugh. "I read that message and he said you technically still could since they'll remove it with some process I can't be bothered to remember. And if you donate and they find your blood to be unusable, they won't use it."

Winter turns to face her cousin so fast that her curls whip around her head. "You went on my phone?"

"We know each other's passwords."

The others gasp and Cinder rolls her eyes.

"Dramatic! Anyways, I'll be donating alongside Kai," Cinder says proudly. "My blood type is O aka the universal blood donor. I'm practically immune to any disease."

Cress' brows furrow. "That's not how medicine works."

Cinder mimics Winter's plastered smile. "Shut up, Jacin."

"It's my type as well."

"Mine as well!" Winter exclaims.

Wolf nods slowly. "I think it's the same for me."

Thorne throws Kai behind him and jumps in front of Scarlet. He makes an X with his arms and hisses at the rest of his friends.

"Lunars," he murmurs.

-o-

After waiting in line, the group each got a clipboard with a questionnaire. They sit beside each other, hunched over as pens run through the page and hover over questions. Cinder, Scarlet, and Wolf zip through the questions, even comparing answers as if it was homework. Kai and Cress read through everything before answering each question, even helping Thorne if he needed clarification on some parts. Winter doodled some flowers in the margins.

"If my mother was pregnant with me in Luna during the Leutomisis pandemic in Artemisia, does that count?" Cinder asks, looking at her fellow Lunar-born friends since their mothers were pregnant at the same time.

"Just select yes," Cress responds. "I did. They'll ask you everything again in person in a bit."

"Spades, really?" Thorne whispers urgently. "I didn't know this was a test!"

As they continue, a nurse approaches them with a basket of snacks and drinks.

"We encourage all donors to have some to stay, well, alert," she explains, "especially first-time donors. We have seen some faint on-site, but don't worry cause we will take good care of you if that happens."

"Well, don't mind if I do," Wolf says, snagging a bag of chips. "Thank you."

"Don't have to tell me twice to eat salty snacks," Cinder adds, grabbing a baggie of crackers.

Thorne chews on a granola bar as he continues looking at the questionnaire on his clipboard. He flicks his pen against it while playing with a stress ball he got from the sign-in desk all in the same hand.

"Winter," Thorne says, "I don't know if I visited the African Union 25 years ago."

"Thorne," Winter responds, "you weren't born."

Thorne slowly nods. "So, no, gotcha. You're so smart."

Winter smiles proudly as if her and Cinder didn't hesitate on what to write for the ethnicity question. Neither did Wolf. It's a whole discussion on if they put their umbrella term of "Lunar" or the specifics of where their parents originally came from before Luna. Or all of them.

But at the end of the day, they all wounded up sitting with a nurse in a booth, having their blood drawn, and then meeting back at a resting point with some more free snacks.

"That was fun," Winter states.

"This granola bar sucks," Wolf grumbles as Scarlet snatches it from him.

"Worth it," Cress says as Thorne puts a sticker on her uniform shirt. Now they're rocking matching "donor" stickers.

"Told you so," Kai says.