Emery [bxb]

6

The teacher is doing a Christmas countdown for the entire month of December, and we all get chocolate from a big advent calendar. Then we cut out snowflakes to paste on the windows.

Emery keeps trying to eat my glue, and gets teary-eyed when I tell him no. I figure he must be hungry so I ask him and he just shrugs. So I give him some of my lunch when the teacher's not looking - a cheese stick and some crackers.

"You can have the rest at lunch," I whisper conspiratorially. "I had a big breakfast today."

Emery completely ignores me in favour of burning through the food like a starving mouse.

We go outside to play at recess and it's very chilly. Even though I give Emery my mittens and hat, he still catches a cold.

The next day, he doesn't come to school. So I get my parents to pick him up and take him to my house.

Emery is wrapped in a burrito blanket on the living room couch, sniffling. I ask if I can take him up to my room because he can't sleep on the couch - that's no way to treat a guest. My mom hesitates and says that if I stay too close to Emery then I'll get sick too. So I pin him down on my bed and lick all over his face, even around his runny nose. I'm sick within a day.