Closeted

Sugar (yes please)

...won't you come and put it down on me. Okay, on with the chapter.

'Harry. What are you doing with my mascara?'

'Brushing my hair,' Naomi's little brother shrugged, as if it was obvious. His hair usually blond hair was sticking up in all directions, and Naomi knew that if anything in the house touched the black sticky mess on top of his head, he'd be in some deep shit.

'First off, it's not for your hair, and second off, you're going to use it all up.'

'Eyelashes are hair,' Harry crossed his arms, daring Naomi to argue. Oh no. She wasn't going to fall into that trap again.

'You're impossible. Come on, let's wash it out before mum finds out,' Naomi tried to herd Harry into the bathroom, flapping her arms about.

'What are you doing?' Harry squinted at his older sister.

'Get in the bathroom. Now.'

'Harry!'

Naomi and Harry both turned their heads to the direction of the stairs.

'What did you do?' Naomi hissed at him.

'Beauty is expensive,' Harry glared at Naomi, as if, once again, he was stating the obvious.

'Did you use Mum's mascara?'

'Maybe...' Harry faltered, his confidence shattering.

'You're on your own.'

Naomi listened to her mum's footsteps coming up the stairs, as Harry stood frozen on her bed.

'Harry Parker, did you use my mascara to brush your hair again?'

'...yes...'

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

'Have you seen the new girl?' Amy asked Naomi as they walked through the school gates.

'Ottilie?'

'Is that her name?'

'Yeah. She sits next to me in Art,' Naomi shrugged, trying to hide the smile that forced it's way to the surface whenever she thought of Ottilie. For some reason she was ashamed of the way she made her feel.

'Oh.'

The first bell rang and they both made their way to their separate form rooms. When Naomi got there, there was a large group of people crowding around the door. Naomi could see somebody slumped on the floor.

'What happened?'

Naomi turned around to see Ottilie leaning over her shoulder.

'I think somebody fainted,' Naomi tried very hard not to smell Ottilie's glossy hair.

Ottilie pushed her way through the crowd, trying to get to the fainter.

'Move. Somebody go and find a teacher and, for God's sake, give him some space,' Ottilie instructed in an authoritative tone that Naomi would never have imagined coming out of her mouth. The crowd moved back a couple of steps, and murmurs accompanied the group of people like buzzing accompanies bees. Whilst two or three people ran to find a teacher, Naomi watched Ottilie place the boy - who Naomi now recognised as Jack Holcombe - in the recovery position. Naomi pushed her way forward, hoping that Ottilie needed help with something.

'What's his name?' Ottilie asked Naomi as Jack started to come back round.

'Jack. Jack Holcombe,' Naomi had to remind herself not to stare at Ottilie for too long. Forcing her eyes to look somewhere, anywhere else, her gaze landed on Jack.

'Jack, try not to move. You're outside Miss Mills' classroom. You fainted. Do you mind if I take your coat off, Jack?' Ottilie spoke reassuringly, somehow still maintaining some of her authoritative tone.

Jack nodded his head, and Ottilie took his rucksack off, carefully removing his arms from his sleeves and taking the coat from his back.

'Do you have any water, Jack?' Ottilie asked him.

'In my bag.'

'Okay, Naomi is going to get it for you, and I'm we're going to move you on your back and get your feet up against your wall so we can get some blood back to your head,' Ottilie handed Naomi the bag, and easing Jack around so her was facing the wall. Naomi unzipped the bag, and found Jack's blood testing kit. She took it out, handing it to Ottilie, who nodded, and then retrieved a blue sports bottle filled with water.

'Jack, do you have any sugary foods or glucagon in your bag?' Ottilie questioned, knowing now that he was diabetic, and manoeuvered him so that he was sitting up.

Jack shook his head. 'I ate the emergency food yesterday and forgot to replace it. This is my first hypo - I'm assuming that's what it was - they didn't think I was at risk so I don't have glucagon.'

'It's okay, I have some Ribena with me. Is that okay for you to have?'

Jack nods, and Ottilie pulls her discarded bag towards her. Just then Miss Mills arrived, pushing through a dispersing crowd.

'Jack! What happened?' Miss Mills glanced at Ottilie and Naomi, then to the Ribena in Ottilie's hands and the blood testing kit. 'I thought they said you weren't at risk?'

'They did,' Jack muttered, taking a swig of the Ribena given to him.

'Are you feeling better, or do you need some more sugar? I have a chocolate bar in my desk drawers.'

'I'll wait a bit and test my blood first, but thank you for the offer.'

Ottilie pushed the blood testing kit towards him, opening the bag up. She saw Jack's hands shaking as he went to pick it up.

'I can do it if you want?' She offered, reaching towards it. Jack only nodded in agreement, sipping some more Ribena and screwing the lid on.

Naomi watched Ottilie wipe Jack's finger clean with an antibiotic wipe she found in the small bag. Then she took a small packet from what looked like a pill box, and opened it up to reveal a lancet. Naomi turned away as Ottilie pricked the boys finger, whilst holding his shaky hand ready. Ottilie disposed of the lancet using a small sharps box, and held the blood that bulged out of the small incision to what looked like a strip of paper, and the machine it was attached to beeped.

'3 mmol. When did you last eat?'

'Half sixish,' Naomi saw the colour returning to Jack's face.

'Yeah, you're low.'

'Are you diabetic?' Naomi asked, allowing herself a glance at Ottilie.

'My youngest brother is. He has Hypos a lot, but it's only been severe a couple of times. It's bad luck Jack's first was.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

'I guess I'll see you in Art. See you around, Jack.'

A/N HEY! Sorry about not uploading. I was going to do it on Monday but I kinda forgot...

Also if you notice any errors about the diabetes thing, don't hesitate to tell me so I can correct myself!

As always, don't forget to vote and comment, and I'll see you for the next chapter!