My Final Sunrise

My Final Sunrise, Ch.2

I delicately picked at the pancakes my mother had laid in front of me. Despite missing dinner last night, I wasn't hungry. I looked up at my mother, who was watching me intently again, a concerned look on her face. Catching her eye, she looked way embarrassed.

"I've got to run Lissa to play school this morning, would you like a lift to school?" She asked. I smiled, nodding.

***

"Hey girly." Tara flung her arms round me. I winced, her arm heavy on my tired body.

"Hey Tara." I gently removed her arm, linking my arm through hers as we walked down the corridor.

"So what's going on Daryl? I mean no offence, babe, but you look like shit." She looked down at me in concern. This was really getting old today, Way to build a girl's confidence.

"I'm fine, just a bug I think." She smiled, satisfied.

"So where is the boyfriend?" She asked. It struck me that I hadn't seen Daniel today. He had said he would phone me last night too. Maybe I had missed the call. Pulling it out of my pocket, I flipped open my phone and scrolled through the history. Nope, no missed call. Odd.

"Dunno." I responded. We took our seats in our registration class, as the warning bell began to ring.

Opening my phone under the desk, I sent of a quick text to Daniel. "R U at school? Have not seen U. xxDxx"

I waited a minute, watching the miniature screen. The phone buzzed. I quickly opened the message.

"Not yet. Felt odd. Be in @ lunch x". I slid my phone back into my bag, satisfied at the answer. Perhaps we had caught the same bug.

***

The morning seemed to last years. During the lessons I could barely hold my head up, and walking through the hallways was slow torture. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I collapsed onto a seat next to Tara. She chattered away to the others on our table, as I kept a watch on the door, waiting for Daniel to appear. As if I had conjured him, he paused in the doorway. I expected to feel relief, but a stab of worry pierced my heart.

He looked about as well as I felt. His usually tanned skin had taken on a pallor. His expression seemed different, an odd haunted look. He perched beside me, landing a cool kiss on my cheek.

"Are you okay?" I asked, scrutinising his face.

"Yeah, Just a bug." He smiled, the movement looking strange on his face, the emotion not reaching his eyes. His eyes raked over me once more. "You're not okay." He squeezed my hand, Concern twisting his lovely face. "You feel tired, heavy, exhausted." He looked deeply at me.

"How did you know?" I asked. A look passed over his face too quickly for me to identify it. He shrugged.

"I know you." The bell rang, interrupting Daniel's intense look.

***

"I think we'll just get it checked." My mum said, patting my knee encouragingly. "You might be anaemic."

We were in my mother's car, driving towards my appointment at the doctors surgery.

My mother cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Daryl?" I looked up at her. "This is awkward, but, um, Is there any possibility you could be pregnant? Maybe that's why you're feeling odd?" She went red, not meeting my eyes.

My cheeks burned. "No Mum." I muttered awkwardly.

I didn't want to have this conversation. I didn't want to have to explain I was a sixteen year old virgin. Daniel and I had talked about it, but decided we would wait a while.