Cursed To Hold My Breath

The Party

"Hello?" I said groggily as I answered my phone.

"Hey, I was just checking up on you." Replied a voice on the other line. "I know with you missing school today and all but...are you feeling any better?"

"Well, I'm still tired." I said as I rubbed my eyes, still practically half asleep. The week had gone by pretty quickly, but after staying home sick on Friday, everything felt slow to me. Then it hit me, today was Friday, and Haley's birthday party was tonight, I can't bail out on her now.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" She asked, a little uncertainty in her voice. She was probably worried about whether or not I'd show up tonight.

"Yeah, you kinda did." I admitted, yawning as I said it. "I've practically been in bed all day."

"You know, Levi said you probably got sick from getting hit with that dodgeball, must've been covered in bacteria." She half chuckled.

"Pfft." I chuckled too, "It wasn't at all from the ball, besides that was monday, I can't just get sick from it now. I just wasn't feeling good last night and thought I could sleep on it, but I didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning."

"Oh, so it was your laziness that kept you home?"

"No." I laughed. "My stomach hurt, and for once my mom actually cared and let me skip school, since it was Friday."

"Yeah, ok. I believe you." She said with obvious sarcasm. "But...you're still coming tonight, right?" Haley asked with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

I hesitated, "Uh - of course I am." I stammered, screaming at myself inside that I should've declined.

"Are you sure? Because if you don't feel good you can stay home." Haley said, sounding a little disappointed. This was my last chance to say 'no'.

I sighed, I knew I couldn't do this to Haley, she'd probably hate me forever, but I'm just scared for her. I swallowed hard, "No, I'm coming, for sure." I reassured her.

"R - really?" She exclaimed. "That's great! Um, so you'll be coming over later then?"

I checked my clock, 5:48 p.m. Man, how long have I been sleeping? "Crap, I didn't notice time the time." I smacked my forehead. "Yeah, I'll be over in a bit." Haley had expected me to be over at an earlier time for her party so we could hang out before others arrived.

"Ok, see you then." She hung up.

I groaned as I covered my face with my hand. "Ugh, what am I doing?" I said aloud to myself as I slowly climbed out of bed. I cringed as I saw my disheveled hair in the mirror and began painfully brushing out all the knots, wincing after each stroke. After I got most of the knots out, I put my hair into a messy bun, then proceeded to my dresser in search for a swim suit.

I pulled out a navy blue bikini with silver anchor on each piece, it still looked pretty good from over the summer. I looked at myself in the mirror once I changed and admired my still slender figure, though I thought I looked a little too skinny. Not only did my freckles cover my entire face, but they were dotted all over my body too, and I normally didn't want to wear such a revealing swimsuit. Then again, a bikini is a two - piece, and the only swimsuit I had.

Since I didn't have a cover up, rummaged through my dresser drawers again and pulled out an old, oversized, somewhat-see-through long sleeve shirt. I shrugged as I pulled it on over my head. It was supposed to be white, but after owning it for a few years, it had faded into a dull gray color, along with stretching out a bit. The shirt reached down to my mid-thigh and one of the sleeves fell over my shoulder because the neck hole was so stretched out. Either way, I still looked decent.