Red Hoodie //BoyFriends

Chapter 18

Jeremy's POV:

Michaels alarm wakes me up. I'm surprised he isn't already awake. He's curled up in a ball with his hoodie covering the majority of his face.
I gently pull his hood off his face and go to wake him, but I stop myself.
He's so pale.
I describe Michaels skin colour as looking like the most perfect tan in the world. But it's obvious how pale he is. I gently put my hand on his forehead and he's boiling.
That explains why he was shivering so much last night. The first signs of illness.
He's gotten ill overnight.
I pull the duvet off him and try to get his hoodie off without waking him.
He's got a T-shirt underneath so I'll do what I can to cool him down.
It takes me a while but I manage to get his hoodie off without waking him.
I take the risk of taking his headphones off, it works out well and I put them on floor along with his phone.
I quickly go into the bathroom and wet a cloth with cold water.
I go back to Michaels room and gently lay it on his forehead.
I wait for about 5 minutes before checking to see if he's any cooler.
It's a small change but he's not as burning hot as he was before.
He's still pale. Scarily pale.
I take another risk. Leaving him and going to talk to his moms.
I pull my jeans from yesterday on and head downstairs.

"Good morning Jeremy. You okay?"
"Hey uh- Michael. He looks really ill"

She turns to face me properly.

"What do you mean?"
"He's like really pale and his head is burning. I put a cold cloth on it but he's still really hot. He was shivering a ton last night as well"
"Okay. Is he awake?"
"No. I didn't want to wake him"
"Right so go back up and wake him up. Get him into the bathroom and tell him to put his wrists under cold water. It will cool him down. I'll call the school and then I'll be up"
"Okay. Thank you"
"No problem Jeremy"

I quickly run back upstairs. Michael is still asleep.
He's not the deepest sleeper in the world and he hasn't got his headphones on so at least waking him will be easy.
I gently shake his shoulder.

"Michael"

He doesn't move

"Michael?"

Still nothing.
My heart starts pounding.
I shake more

"Michael!"

Then finally. I feel him move.
All I get from him is a groan.
And then I hear him mumble

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck"
"You're scarily pale Micha"

He hasn't even opened his eyes. But he puts his hand up to his head.

"What's that"
"Oh I was trying to cool you down"

He opens his eyes

"Where's my hoodie? Why is the du-"
"I didn't want to wake you. I took the duvet off you and took your hoodie off. And your headphones"

He gives me the tiniest smile

"Thanks"
"I spoke to your mom. She told me I need to get you to run cold water over your wrists. It cools you down"
"I know. Every time I'm sick she makes me do that"

He's still barely managing to mumble to me. I make the choice to help him get up.
He's basically relying on me to keep him upright.
It takes us about ten minutes but I finally get him standing at the sink with his wrists under the water