Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWO - CONFUSED

BRADY'S POV

I was confused.

The nurse was a blunt asian woman who usually didn't care about anyone. On a normal day, she would take one look at them and send them straight back to class. So, that was what I was expecting when I walked Aria down there. I sure hoped she wasn't contagious. Her skin burned on mine as we climbed down the two flights of stairs and down the hall to the nurse's office. I was afraid that she would pass out at any moment.

I never knew Aria too well but we had been in Bombarno's class together for three years now. I knew her well enough to know that she was a good person. She was always nice to pretty much everyone, and I admit that I had copied her work a few times myself. Whatever she had now, it didn't seem good. Poor girl.

When we walked into the nurse's office, what happened was far from what I expected. The nurse looked up at us with a glare when we first came in the door, but once she saw Aria slumped around my shoulders she actually seemed to care. She dropped what she was doing and flew over to us.

"Aria? Can you hear me?" she asked, flustered. Aria grumbled in response. The nurse looked at me. "What happened to her?" She demanded. Her eyes pierced right into me. This woman was straight up scary.

"She, uh, she got a fever...and a headache..." I started, but the nurse cut me off. She took Aria and laid her on one of the beds. She rushed over to a counter, grabbed a thermometer, and shoved it in Aria's mouth. 

She pursed her lips together anxiously when she took it out and looked at the temperature. "Oh no, no, no. 106 degrees. This isn't good." She looked up at me.  "You, stay here. Make sure she stays conscious. I have few calls to make." She hurried into the other room and picked up the phone.

I looked down at Aria. Her face was drained of color and beads of sweat began appearing on her face. She was breathing heavily and trembling like crazy. Being completely honest, she looked like she was dying. I had never seen her anything less than perfectly healthy, so this was a little astonishing. Her eyes were open, but barely. She stared straight up at the ceiling.

After a few minutes, the nurse came back out and waved me away. "You, go now. I don't need you anymore. The period is just about over anyway. Thank you for bringing her here."

I got up and headed towards the door, then glanced back at the nurse and Aria. The nurse's usually stern face was now filled with worry. The old woman actually seemed human. I wondered what made her worry so much. Did she know something that the rest of us didn't?

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Hey there! I hope you liked this chapter! I imagined the nurse as Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls, if that means anything to any of you. It makes her funnier in my mind. Anyway, feel free to leave me comments and share this with whoever you want! Thanks guys!

Brady's to the right!

-V. E.