The Emo School (A Fanfic)

Chapter 19

Max

"Max?" I hear faintly as I sit on a bench, exhausted. I haven't even been doing much.

"Max!" I watch a hand wave in front of my face, and I snap out of my daze. Andy's kneeling in front of me, giving me a concerned look. "Do you feel alright?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I exhale. "Just tired."

"Maxie, you haven't been doing very much, you shouldn't be tired."

I should probably mention Andy hasn't left my side since I got discharged from the hospital. He's just been too worried about me.

"Max, I think we need to take you back to Patrick." he says softly. "I don't want to offend you or anything but I think something's very seriously wrong with you." he says, helping me to my feet. He leads me to the office.

"Back already?" Ryan, the secretary asks jokingly. He's always teasing, and that's what makes the office not so bad. Ryan's always trying to cheer us up, because the only reason anyone ends up down here is if we're sick, hurt, or sad. Ryan Ross is the coolest.

"I think she needs to get downstairs again under Patrick's care, at least until he can figure out what's wrong with her."

"Will do, if you both'll follow me..." Ryan says, standing up from behind his desk and leading us to a small room.

"I'm just going to rule a few things out, okay, Max? I promise I won't hurt you. I just wanna take your temperature and stuff." Ryan says, taking my temperature. "You have a bit of a fever, I think we'll get you downstairs. Patrick's already there working on another girl. Come with me." He leads us to an elevator and takes us down to the basement and into an area that looks very much like a hospital - plenty of beds lined up against a wall. Ryan leads me through to a bed next to the only other patient in this hospital.

Oddly enough, I recognize her from a few of my classes. Her name is Ferrah, I believe. I for sure have music class with Brendon with her.

Speaking of Brendon, he's kneeling next to her, stroking her hair. I wonder if she has feelings for him like I do for Andy.

Brendon stands up.

"Hi, Max, what're you doing here?" he asks.

Now that I can see him a little better, he looks awful. He's got dark circles under his eyes and overall just looks tired.

"Poor girl's got a fever, Andy brought her in suspecting she was sick. I brought her down here hoping Patrick could take a look at her and rule a few things out."

"Oh... Ferrah just got out of surgery a little while ago, she's just recovering, I'm waiting for her to wake up."

"Oh no, what happened?" I ask.

"She collapsed. We brought her down here and put her in surgery. I was scared for her, I really was. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a condition like hers..."

Just then, a husky trots over to me.

"Hello." Brendon says, petting it and kneeling down beside it. "What's your name?" he asks, looking through the tags. "Wolf. Fitting." he remarks.

Wolf whimpers a little.

"I know, I want her to wake up, too." Brendon sighs.

Wolf hops up on the bed I'm now laying in. Ryan's gone to find Patrick. Wolf nuzzles my face with his snout and cuddles me, trying to comfort me. He can sense that I'm nervous.

Ryan strides back in, shaking his head.

"I don't see him around, he must've gone somewhere. I know he mentioned the new girl, Cassie being sick, maybe he went to check on her or something. Maybe deliver her anxiety meds. In the meantime, though, Max, I can get you on some fluids, maybe that'll take down the fever at least a little. And then when he gets back, he can run the tests on you." he says, pulling on a pair of latex gloves and pulling out an IV bag. "This won't hurt, I promise." he says, poking the needle into my arm, then hanging the bag above my head. I flinch a little when the needle penetrates the skin, but aside from that, it's fine.

"Good girl." Andy says, smiling at me. "You just lie back and rest now so you can get better." he says, running his fingers through my hair.

"The medicine might make you a little drowsy, so don't fight the urge to fall asleep if your eyelids start feeling heavy." Ryan informs me, pulling off the gloves.

It's no wonder he's always wearing scrubs; he probably deals with injuries and illnesses all the time.

I just nod in response, and sure enough, I begin to feel tired. I yawn, my eyelids slowly drooping shut.

"There's my girl. Get some sleep and get better now, okay? I'll be right here the whole time."

My eyelids drop closed, and Wolf licks my face one last time before trotting over to Ferrah.

Darkness.