Soft lips, Pale face.

Walk away.

The next morning I awoke to the coldness of my moms hand laying on my forehead. I lazily blinked my eyes open wondering what she was doing.

"Emma, Hunny, you're burning up. You should stay home."

I rolled over to look at the clock and it was 9:02am I was thirty-two minutes late. That was thirty two minutes I could've been in the same building as you, just a bit closer. I needed to see you. It was crazy, even if you didn't see me; I wanted to be near you.

My mom was right though, I didn't feel well. I had cold sweats yet I was burning up, and my whole body ached all over. I really didn't care though. I just wanted to be near you. I shook my head no, but she wouldn't take it as an answer.

"I'll run to the store and get some soup and hot cocoa. You rest up. I'll have David check on you in a bit."

Mary Margaret left the room, and I almost instantly fell back asleep. I didn't mean to, I really didn't. I was going to try to fight her on it; maybe she would let me go, but I didn't have the energy. I was just so tired. I didn't know what had gotten into me, or why I felt so ill but I did. I should've just gotten up and left while she was gone; I was almost seventeen anyways I didn't need her overlooking me.

I ended up missing the next three days. I thought about you a lot, too much, probably. The second day that I missed I went to the doctor and got medication, turns out I had the flu. I was kinda glad I didn't go after all. I didn't want to take the chance of getting you sick, even if I didn't get to see you. I Mean I knew I probably wouldn't have gotten close enough to you to give it to you in the first place, but I'd rather you be okay then take the chance.

Those three days consisted of sleep, soup, and my wondering thoughts. I felt crazy, I had only seen you once yet i felt the need to see you again. I just wanted to be able to watch you, as mundane as it sounds. The way you did things was probably the most amazing thing to watch, but I wouldn't know because I wasn't there. I mentally cursed myself a few times for not being able to get well sooner, but I knew it wasn't my fault- I was just impatient.

When I went back no one really noticed I was gone, that didn't really bother me any. I didn't expect anyone to. For the exception of Mr.Gold, he gave me so much math work I already had a headache and I hadn't even started it yet. One positive though, was he gave me 3 days, not including the weekend to work on my project, and math work before I had to turn it in. So, that wasn't too bad. My geography teacher hadn't been too hard on me, she just gave me a make up assignment, because they had done a short project in class. I could get that done in an hour tops.

By the end of the day when it was time for your class I was sure that I looked a mess. I had been sneezing all day, my nose was probably red, and my lips chapped from licking them As a nervous habit. Luckily I had time during passing periods to dip into the bathroom to check my appearance quickly. I was right, my nose was red, and my lips were chapped. I just put on some Chapstick, ran my fingers through my wavy blonder hair, and adjusted my oversized sweatshirt. I was nervous that I looked too generic, I was just wearing a big grey and black sweatshirt, leggings, and combat boots. I still wasn't really up to putting any effort into my outfit.

I sighed and reminded myself that it was just a class and that you were just a a teacher. I knew that wasn't true though. If you were just a teacher you wouldn't have caught my attention the way you did, and I wouldn't feel the incessant need to see or be near you. You were far from the average teacher.

I walked into class just as the bell rang. I hadn't thought of anything to say to you, I guess I figured I would just ask for makeup work at the end of class, I wasn't expecting to to talk to me. More importantly I wasn't expecting you to notice that I was gone, but you had. Just as I was about to go to my seat you placed your hand on my shoulder softly.