TLC the Musical

CAUSE IT'S 9:00 IN THE AFTERNOON!!!

Kai rammed the door with his side four times before it finally gave way and let him pass. When he got inside the room, what he saw was a little more than confusing.

He saw Cinder, twirling around on the room by herself, humming a melody Kai recognized. Her eyes were sparkling and dazed, her footwork was sloppy and teetering at best, he hair a mess upon her shoulders.

At her wrist was the size of an apple.

It was blotched with red and purple bruises and cracked skin, like an extreme rash. A bottle of pills lay on the floor, some of the contents strew out of its container. Her purse layed there too, abandoned and with fault.

Fault .... The word echoed in Kai's mind. This was all Levana's fault. Whatever was happening to Cinder right now, it was Levana's fault. She'd done this to her the moment Kai-

He strained to hold back his anger. Just as he held back the words he'd said to Cinder minutes ago. He knew Cinder hadn't heard him. Stars, he barely heard himself. But Levana was close enough to him to catch the words he spoke, and every last one of them was true.

"Cinder," he'd said. "I think I'm in love with you."

Those impossible words, the ones that took weeks of practice and over-thinking to form, finally made themselves known tonight. And Cinder hadn't even heard him.

Now, she was spinning around the room like a rouge tornado. Her dress spun with her, giving off a Katniss Everdeen vibe. A smile the size of Jupiter was plaster to her face, her pupils larger than life. A beautiful laugh snuck out of her mouth every once in a while. A laugh that melted Kai to his core.

Still, the world was crashing down around him. Cinder was in hysterics and parading around the classroom like Kai didn't exist. She was crazed and nearly delusional, as Kai saw her murmuring things under her breath to people that weren't there, fictional, and/or dead.

He approached her cautiously and placed a hand on her shoulder. A gesture Cinder immediately flinched away from. "Ow!" she protested. Her hand reached up to cover the spot Kai touched. "That hurt." She peeled her hand away, just enough for Kai to see the mark he wouldn't have believed was there.

A rash in the shape of his hand was left on her arm. Cinder put pressure on it for a while before sighing hopelessly and letting it go. Soon, her prick of pain was consumed by delirium once again. Carelessly, she danced the perimeter of the room once more, colliding with desks and chairs and cabinets of all sorts.

Kai examined his hand. Nothing was on it. He'd eaten nothing since his arrival tonight, so food allergies was out. He was certain he'd refrained from touching any poisonous gases tonight, as they would have burned his skin too. An idea got into his head that what was happening to Cinder could be linked to her pills. He went back to them at the door and raised it to eye level, a few of the pills escaping onto the floor.

He read the name of the medication, Methylprednisolone, and what did on the back was it helped reduce skin irritations and swelling.

What it didn't tell Kai was what she needed it. She seemed healthy enough not to need medication, except for the rashes and bruises now forming on her arm. Not to mention her change in personality was certainly a cause for worry.

Kai wanted to call 911 and get Cinder out of here before anything else could happen to her. But he had no idea what he would tell them. What could he tell them? That he girl he had a crazy crush on was going insane and dancing and talking to people who weren't there?

Okay, he'd probably leave out the part about her being his crush, but still. She was growing more delirious by the minute and was beginning to scare Kai. Not because she was weirding him out, but she was actually having a conversation with Benjamin Franklin right now.