I shuddered and felt the piercing cold rushing over my body, even under my blanket. I rubbed my eyes with the knuckles of my fingers balled-up into fists and then groggily reached for the shaking, shrieking alarm clock. It vibrated and shook my nightstand and flashed its red lettering into my squinting eyes with a blinding glow. Something wasn't sitting right with me, but I didn't immediately realize what it was. One thing was for certain; I was awake and still just as tired as last night. I was able to quiet the room down again by sucker-punching the snooze button. My head darted around my dark room. The moon always had cast such a nice array of shadows and light formations against my bed at night. It was slowly making way for the sun. I sighed and did an "everything stretch" and started to sit up in bed.

That's when it hit me.

I sniffled, and my nose was completely stuffed. I massaged it to see if anything would change, but it didn't. I could feel the ache of my throat now that I was sitting vertically. I think I would know if I were a mouth-breather, right? Usually, those guys are insane psychos or really fat guys. I am a superhero's sidekick, I am in peak physical form, I-

"Fuck, I'm sick."

My illness weighed me down the rest of the morning. I gripped my bed and flopped back into the comfort of my plush sheets. I wasn't going to be back here for another six to twelve hours, so I had better take in what was available to me then. I laid there for a few more moments, consistently and unsuccessfully coughing, making the dull pain in my throat more and more annoying.

*Ding!*

My PearPhone chirped and rhythmically vibrated on the nightstand. I reached blindly for it, not wanting to lift all of my body weight again. Once I found it, I brought it to my face. The hue-shifted orange tinting truly saved my eyes from another nuclear explosion of light. It unlocked at the blink of my eyes, revealing who was pestering me at such early hours of the morning.

Jasper.

I smiled, realizing he had sent me another ridiculous TokTok video about Swellview's latest news: Kid Danger and Captain Man rescued a Wall Dog from the top of the Nakatomi Tower just the night before. It was pretty scary being that high up in only a harness. I found out that Wall Dog's street name was D-Dog, but his real name was Dennis. He also told me this fascinating story about the proper way to cook omelets on the way down the rappel.

Jasper didn't know that, though.

Nobody knew. Except Charlotte. I could go on and on about her. The way sh—

I stopped myself. Nothing could ever come of something like that without it destroying us. But it destroyed me. I got myself up from my bed, liked Jasper's TokTok repost, and went to start taking my morning shower.

I turned the water faucet to the off position and the shower head slowly dribbled to a stop. I tore back to the curtains of my mom's bathtub and stepped out, walking from the shower room to the sink vanity. I started drying myself off, following my routine; shower, hair, teeth, clothes, scent. In that order, I almost never missed something. After feeling satisfied with being completely dry, I placed the towel aside and grabbed the hair dryer hanging from the hook it usually was. I grasped it within my hand, flipped the switch, and—

Nothing happened.

I sighed pensively, realizing that my little sister had failed to plug it back in from the day prior. As if she would remember anything other than herself. Just as I was about to place the prongs back inside the wall outlet, I was again interrupted by my phone.

*Ding!* *Ding!* *Ding!*

Three in a row? If only I knew I was that popular at school. I carefully sat the dryer down, wiped my hands down on the towel, and then quickly realized from looking down that I was still letting all of my package swing to and fro. It's a shame someone wasn't around to walk in on me like this. I unfolded my white Hanes and stepped into them one unacrobatic and unbalanced, wobbling leg at a time, and then snapped the waistband around me. I then picked up my phone once again to read.

"hey hen, u got those notes from first block?"

"I really need them to get this worksheet from yesterday turned in today"

"i promise ill pay you back somehow."

My eyes locked on the screen. I used my thumb to swipe up and open Charlotte's text conversation with me. The last time she had texted me before this was a couple days ago. Texting me? For notes? This was usually the girl that I looked up to for how intelligent and punctual she was. I didn't know why she was falling behind, but something was definitely not right. I aimlessly flicked my thumb around through the texts, until I came to a stop over a collage of photos. I opened them. It was her. I didn't know if it was a combination of little things, or one big thing, but I knew that one day, she would see what I saw in her.

All seven of those selfies from the Swellview Smashers game just two weeks ago. She took me and Jasp all expenses paid. She wanted me to take these photos for her social media. How she stood proud in a crowd always escaped me. I understood why, though. The way her curls sagged down and rolled off her gentle frame. The way her lips were, full and always glossed, I'm fairly convinced that she never once has been chapped. She was only just shorter than me and yet; it always felt like I was looking down upon something I had to protect. She was the only one for me, and the only one who ever helped me through what I was going through with other girls or with my self-confidence. I escaped my phone and realized throughout my daze that I was "adjusting myself" through my boxers. I was getting hopelessly side-tracked. Autocorrect be damned, I typed my reply and sent.

"for sure char! meet me outside the back doors right before school and we can sit and copy,"

My outfit choice of the day? White shirt, some basketball sweats, my murdered-out all black Man Pack backpack, and a black hoodie to compliment. The hoodie was actually a gift from Jasper for my birthday earlier in the year. Walking to school in this freezing cold weather after getting out of a freezing cold bedroom only made me shiver even more. I could see my breath cascading through the air with each rise and fall of my chest. Trying to push through the cold sniffling and coughing made me walk even slower. I looked in the windows of cars as I passed by; my face and nose were cherry red, and I was breaking out into a cold sweat.

"Ugh… this day is going to blow. I shouldn't have to be going to school with this cold. Mom didn't even notice when I brought it up to her."

I came to an intersection and rested my hooded head against the metal traffic light. I closed my eyes for a moment and reached down to press the button. The arrow on it was metallic as well, and it was freezing. I couldn't bother to even lift my head again; the head cold was so unbearable. I sat there in a coughing fit, trying desperately to produce something from my chest. That familiar robotic man told me to walk across, and I did so with my head down. I was only a block away from the school now. I felt, heard and smelled a typical run-of-the-mill school bus whoosh by me down the road with yet another terrific gust of chilly wind overcoming me. I wanted to fall to my knees and shiver out of my clothes right there. I was already behind enough, missing another day wouldn't make much of a difference.

I sighed and picked my head up after seeing the all-familiar paint-tattered cones; Swellview High School, in all of its never seen a playoff game, horribly managed glory. What was unbecoming of the school was the well-known overpopulation, but that wasn't the case entering from the rear doors, like I had told Charlotte to do. There was almost nobody back here, especially coming in early before anyone else. The school bus I heard pass me by earlier was already parked in the back, with the headlights still on and jackknife door open. I followed along the pickup line path to the back entrance doors, past the student rosary garden. The pollen was able to infiltrate my hood and spiral me into yet another sneezing and coughing fit; this time, a disgusting trail of snot blemished my hoodie.

"Aw!"

I attempted to wipe it away to no success whatsoever. I searched through my pockets as I strolled along hoping to stumble open anything: a box of tissues, an old sock, a napkin, my gumball tube, ANYTHING? And it got even worse still.

I stood there. She had gotten here before me.

Charlotte was reposed against the maroon-colored vanity-glass rear doors. That was unusual for her. She and her friends usually hung out inside of the doors in the vestibule. She had her backpack open, her PearPad resting against the walk, and was going through packets upon packets of work that was neatly stuffed into colored folders. And there I was: frizzy hair, unkempt clothes, cold, sick, red in the face, in front of Charlotte? I mean, I've definitely looked worse for wear in the past, but not now. Especially not now. Then she called out to me.

"Henry!"

She motioned me with a sweep of her arm in her direction. I walked more slowly than normal. Why was I nervous? I knew that I looked rough, I knew that I was sick, why did I all of a sudden have this strange stomach feeling? I knew exactly how I felt about Charlotte then and even more so later on... maybe this was just the one time I thought I could really impress her with my book smarts. Even though she probably knew I wasn't. I started doing it again, her voice, that sweet swan song of a voice that melted me into equanimity whenever she would speak to me during her hugs, even that one time she was head-to-toe in mud. I swallowed that thick lump in my throat and tried my best to suppress those jitters, and carefully plopped down on the cold ground next to her.

"How goes it, Char?"

"Augh... look at all of this work, Hen. I have to be more disciplined with myself. I'm never going to get this done by the end of the week."

She looked over at me and was going to continue speaking.

She turned her body in my direction, and looked at me with the gentlest of eyes I had ever seen.

"Cha—", she interrupted. She grabbed the drawstrings of my pullover hoodie and untied them. Then she placed her hands inside of the tightened, ruffled hem of my hood and loosened it, and brought it down around my neck. My heart was starting to beat a marathon a minute. I kept my hands down at my sides knowing very well what would happen if I intervened – she would stop. I didn't want anything of what was going on to stop. ANYTHING. Thank god I was wearing my Swellview Smashers basketball sweats. From that game. Gah, it just made me think about her even more in the moment.

She placed her hand on my cheek, caressing with her thumb, and then across my forehead with the back of her hand. It felt like this lasted a lot longer than it actually did.

"Feels like you're running a little warm, dude. You look really rough in the face. And hair. And everywhere."

She formed a claw with her hand and did her sassy wrist spin, encompassing my entire appearance with just one look and a judgmental hand move. Did she really mean that? I sniffled and just rolled my eyes at her. She gave me an affectionate pat on the shoulder as I was reaching for my backpack to my left side.

"No, don't roll your eyes, Henry. I'm serious. There could've been something you picked up during that rescue last night."

"Relax, Char. It's nothing I haven't done before. I still have to come to class to pass."

She relented and sat back against the doors, aimlessly fidgeting with her blue mechanical pencil. I unzipped my Man Pack, which was now sitting in my lap, and attempted to search through my unorganized horde of, well, you could hardly call it "work". It was something alright.

"Henry, have you ever even once considered folders? I see you at the end of class, mashing those papers into your backpack. I don't know how you read them, and I'm starting to believe I might not be able to."

Whatever. Her quip didn't mean anything to me.

"Welp. They don't give us a lot of time to put things away,"

I used my fingertips to comb through my assignments, looking for the first block notes sheet that she needed. I carefully prodded on until I found it smashed at the bottom of my Man Pack underneath all the rest of those damned papers.

"...so I sacrifice organized papers for being to class on-time."

"Uh-huh... you know, I'm one to think that knowing where you're going to put your work ahead of time might actuallyyyyy… get you to class just as fast?"

She sarcastically squinted at me while her last words rolled off her tongue, and then pricked the paper I was holding outstretched from my hands. I rolled my eyes again and precariously took all of my assignments back out of my Man Pack and shoved it aside. Holy fucking shit was this a lot of work. I placed my head in my hands in defeat, and then had another damned coughing fit. We made small talk as I started to tackle some of the work before the main bell, and whilst she copied off of my notes sheet for class that day.

"Anyways, going back to what you said earlier. Seeing as its only Tuesday, you should be good to make up your work, too."

"Yeah, I guess so. It's just really stressing the heck out of me. Thank you-thank you-thank you for these notes, Hen."

I coyly smiled. It made me happy to see her so relieved, even though it was such a small weight off of her shoulders. It was definitely something to me.

"How was the rescue going down that rappel?"

I looked over at her after she had asked the question. She was no longer writing down her notes. She grasped her phone in her hand texting someone. I tilted my head in curiosity. She wasn't one to text or doom scroll until her missing work was done. Here she was, about ankle-deep in accumulating schoolwork, including those missing notes. Her lips were unusually tight. Her right hand was softly caressing her own thigh as she pricked away at the screen with her right thumb.

*Whoosh!*

Her PearPhone played its successful message sound, and she placed it back inside of her pocket, albeit with some struggle. My observant gaze was unexpectedly caught by her, as she looked up from her phone and her copied sheet of notes, practically burning a hole through my head.

"Curious, aren't we? You never answered my question!"

"You were the one over there texting someone reeeeallly important."

I replied through a forced cough. I massaged my throat, hoping to soothe some of the pain. I really should have taken some cough medicine before I left.

"Relax, boy. That's none of your concern."

"Oh yeah? You knew where I was last night, dangling from a giant building."

I mimed a skyscraper with my hands, demonstrating the intent of my inquisition. I teased her a bit with my tone of voice as I finished probing her for an answer.

"Come onnnn... I didn't see you at work all night last night. Where were you?"

"Me being out late is exactly how I got myself into this mess of having more late work than I know what to do with!"

"Right, but why were you out late? Who where you hangin' withhhh?"

Really desperate, Henry. Not as smooth as I thought it was.

Just as she was going to assumably tear my head off for stepping over her boundaries, even if it was just metaphorically so, we both were startled by the slam of a nearby car door. I turned my head to the left, towards the parking lot, to observe. A lithe man, probably no older than 30, was neatly dressed and sauntering up to the rear doors of the school. He was extremely well dressed. Upon him getting closer to us, I noticed that it was Mr. Balfour, the honors world politics teacher. He was also apparently a fidgeter, twirling the handle of his tennis racket in his right hand during his approach.

"Whoa, guys! A little early, huh? Burning the midnight oil?"

He called out to us before he was even halfway to us. He stopped just in front of us and stood tall, taking ginger sips of his hot beverage. Cocoa? Coffee? I wasn't very sure to be honest, but it didn't smell very good rolling off of his breath. It practically singed my already frizzled hair completely off my head. Charlotte replied to him,

"Not really. We're just here catching up on some class stuff together. My ears are freezing. I'm freezing."

Mr. Balfour sucked on his teeth, and then brought his bottom lip into his mouth upon some inner contemplation. He unsheathed his unwieldy keyring and grasped two fingers around an RFID card. As he swiped the card against the door's reader, he ushered us inside to the warmth of the school, using his body to prop the door open.

"Why don't you two grab your things? Come inside and I'll let you guys work in the library if you promise to keep it down. Teachers are planning."

A word salad ensued as me and Charlotte both spoke over each other, hurriedly putting our things back. We both walked underneath his arm and through the vestibule, immediately feeling the warm embrace of a climate-controlled building around us. I let out a soft sigh and sniffled again, wiping my nose clean of my runny snot. I was still extremely stuffed. I hoped that the heat would help alleviate some of the head cold.

"Thanks for letting us inside, Mr. Balfour. True solid."

I gave him a fist-bump as he walked towards the office. I turned in Charlotte's direction, but she was no longer there. My head darted around like a lost calf, and I looked around the corner towards the library. She was already walking towards it, looking back at me smugly with her head over her shoulder. Her long, curly locks draped across her back, just above her ass. Which looked amazing by the way.

"You need to get a move-on! We've got work to do!"

She patronized me by calling out to me from down the hallway. I knew what I was doing. I just didn't know how to do it all looking at her at the same time. I was moving way too fast. We were still just friends, right? I couldn't get my feet to move in her direction even. What was going on with me?

I placed my hand against the wall and dragged it down the entire length of my walk to the library in toe of Charlotte. Even the fragrance she chose to wear that day was so inviting. I knew that whoever she was texting was probably in my way, though.

Maybe nothing would ever come of her and I. But she was still my friend.

I wanted to keep my friend.

I took a seat next to her, and just like that, she was sending another text. But I saw who it was to this time.