Recap:
With one last kiss he was out the door and down the street to his house. I closed to door with the chain around my neck.
I played with the ring on the end of it and smiled to myself. I had to resist the giggle that was threatening to escape me.
Even with everything going on, Andrew could always somehow help me forget and make everything feel perfect.
As far as I was concerned, everything was perfect.
The next day, I woke up with a fresh new sore throat. I squinted my eyes open and sat up on my bed. It was Saturday and the clock on my bedside table told me that it was 9:54. Even though I had gone to sleep early the night before, I felt like I could sleep for the rest of the day.
I rubbed my throat, which felt unbelievably irritated. I stood up and changed into a pair of black spanks and a tank top before brushing my teeth.
I looked at myself in the mirror and winced before tying my hair into a messy bun. I had bags under my eyes and my face looked pale. I opened my mouth in a weak attempt to see if there was anything visibly wrong with my throat.
When I found nothing I hopped down the stairs and went into the kitchen. I had almost forgotten that my parents were gone until I saw the empty kitchen. My mom always left a mess of crumbs and plates everywhere and right now, everything was spotless.
I poured myself a glass of water and downed it before clearing my throat. To my utter disappointment, my throat still felt raw. My phone vibrated on the counter and I walked over to answer it.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey hottie, how are you feeling today?" Zander's voice asked me.
"I'm good. My throats a little scratchy but I feel fine." I told him with a smile.
"Good, because Chrissy is making us all try yoga and Robyn said she won't do it unless you did it too. I think she was secretly hoping you'd be too sick." He laughed lightly.
"Well, too bad for her then. Yoga might help me wake up a little." I rubbed my eyes, still feeling tired.
"Kay good. Are you ready now? We'll come pick you up."
I looked down at my outfit and decided that spanks and a tank top were suitable clothing for yoga.
"Yeah I'm ready now." I said with a nod.
"See you in like five minutes then."
"Okay, bye." I hung up the phone and walked to the cupboard.
I ended up closing it because the thought of eating anything made my stomach turn.
I didn't bother putting on makeup because I didn't need to impress anyone. I thought back to Andrew and my hand went up to grab the ring that hung around my neck. A small smile came onto my lips right as the doorbell rang.
I grabbed my phone and locked my front door before I made my way outside to Robyn's car. My friends greeted me and we drove over to Chrissy's house.
"Nat, are you sure you're okay? You look kinda pale." Katelyn commented from the passenger seat.
"Yeah, I'm good. Really." I reassured them.
We got back to Chrissy's house and went inside.
"My parents are gone for the day. They went to the country club to try and impress some rich people." Chrissy said with an eye roll.
We followed her into the living room and she turned on the tv before popping a DVD into the player.
"My aunt gave me this Pilates video. It helps to strengthen your core." Chrissy explained.
"Pilates? I thought we were doing yoga." Robyn said in confusion.
Chrissy waved her off. "Same difference."
She started up the video and we spread out in her spacious living room. A woman in a sports bra and workout leggings came onto the screen and she started us off with various stretches.
I'm so out of shape. I thought as my breathing picked up during the stretches.
About 15 minutes in, the women dove in to what seemed like a workout routine. I noticed my breaths getting shallower and my chest felt slightly constricted. I let out a small cough but kept going. Hopefully it would pass.
"This is not yoga." Robyn complained.
"It's not even that bad, hush up." Chrissy replied, though she was slightly out of breath.
We were currently on our backs doing some type of leg maneuver, probably invented by some psycho body-builder. A weird feeling started in the back of my throat. Almost like a tickle, but worse.
The exercise ended and the women on screen stood up. My friends all stood to their feet and I followed suit. For some reason I couldn't regulate my breathing. My shallow breaths were coming out in pants and I hunched over with my hands on my knees.
"Nat, are you okay?" Robyn asked me. I didn't look at her but I could hear the concern in her voice.
I mustered up all of my strength and stood up straight. I was about to tell her I was fine but when I took a breath the air caught in my throat and I started coughing.
It was like one of those scenes in comedy movies that are always the funniest. Maybe someone swallowed their drink wrong or a fly flew into their windpipe. They would gasp and choke and it was hilarious from where you were sitting on the couch.
It wasn't very funny from where I was standing right then.
In the back of my mind there was still some confusion. I didn't know why I was choking, since there was nothing for me to choke on. Just air. But it was happening.
I tried to keep my panic from rising as my windpipe closed up, to stop coughing and breathe normally but I couldn't, and suddenly I was gasping.
My friends rushed towards me as I collapsed onto my knees.
I heard them talking to me but, for the life of me, I could not figure out what they were saying. After a few decades passed my coughing subsided and I was just wheezing now.
It may not seem like a step up, but it was definitely better.
I was sat on the floor with my back pressed against the couch. Katelyn kneeled in front of me, trying to calm me down.
"Do you have asthma, Nat?" Kate asked me and I shook my head slightly.
"What should we do? She's having an asthma attack or something-" I looked up at Robyn to find her on the phone. She stood with a fearful look on her face as she listened to the person on the other end of the line.
My wheezing was the only sound that filled the room. Chrissy and Zander were on either side of me.
"Okay, see you soon." Robyn hung up and walked towards us.
"What happened?" Katelyn said with urgency.
"Let's go, they're going to meet us at the hospital." She and Zander lifted me up onto my feet and put their arms under me for support.
When I heard the word hospital I tried to protest but the only thing I could manage was a small, choked sound.
They practically carried me to Robyn's car before buckling me into the back seat. I sat in the middle of Zander and Chrissy, while Robyn drove and Katelyn took the passenger seat.
The hospital wasn't far from where Chrissy lived, but when you were struggling to breathe, the distances seem to double.
We pulled up outside of the ER and Chrissy immediately jumped out and started getting me from the car.
"You get her inside, I'm going to park." Robyn said.
I made the stupid mistake of trying to take a deep breath, causing a whole new wave of coughs.
Nice one Natalia. I scolded myself.
I was wheezing again by the time we made it inside. I took a seat as my friends tried waving over a nurse. They spoke frantically to the nurse, who looked at me before giving them a nod and walking off.
It was a couple of minutes before I was taken back to sit on a small hospital bed. A man in maybe his early forties came passed the curtain to examine me.
He took in the fact that I was still wheezing and had trouble speaking and allowed two of my friends back. Robyn and Chrissy rushed to my side just as he was examining my throat with a small light.
"Alright, I'm seeing a slight swelling in your throat. That's why you can't breathe too well right now. We're gonna help you, but it'll be easier if we know how this happened." He spoke to me in a calming voice and I nodded at him.
He beckoned a nurse over and they exchanged words before she set up an oxygen mask and placed it over my face.
"How long has her breathing been like this?" The doctor questioned.
"Almost an hour, I think." Robyn answered him.
"And she doesn't have a history of asthma?"
"I don't think so, no."
"Has she been exposed to any dangerous chemicals in the past 36 hours or so?"
"I don't- uh, maybe."
"Do cleaning supplies count?" Chrissy spoke up.
"They very well could, what was she exposed to?" The doctor asked her.
"I'm not sure, but yesterday she got locked in the janitors closet for a couple of hours. She had a soar throat but she was fine today. Until we started doing Pilates, then this happened." Chrissy explained.
I looked at the doctor to see him nod like he new all of the world's secrets.
"You are showing symptoms of ammonia inhalation. It doesn't seem to have caused any lasting damage, though, so consider yourself lucky." He spoke to me with confidence.
I breathed heavily in my oxygen mask, causing it to fog up slightly. I felt like Darth Vader. The doctor walked away and I was left alone with Robyn and Chrissy.
A male nurse came over a few minutes later and removed my oxygen mask. He had some weird plastic tube-thing that had a clear cord connected to it. My eyes widened.
"Don't worry, this is just a bronchodilator. It'll help widen your respiratory airways." He explained while he finished getting the machine ready though I had no idea what he was saying.
He must have seen my confused expression because he laughed.
"It's sort of like an inhaler. It'll help you breathe regularly."
I nodded, since speaking was still apparently not an option.
He started the treatment and the machine buzzed to life. I had to put the nozzle end of the contraption in my mouth so that the medication would have a direct passage to my respiratory tract.
That's what the nurse said anyway.
Robyn and Chrissy were sent back to the waiting room and I spent a few more minutes continuing the treatment. My breathing was becoming easier and easier and I thanked the heavens when my lungs finally felt stable.
"Okay, that's all of it." The nurse, who's name turned out to be Harvey, took the machine and tube away from me and set it on a small table. "How does it feel?"
I took a few small breaths and smiled widely when nothing happened.
"It feels great." I answered.
He returned my grin. "So she speaks! Amazing. I'm going to go do something about this," he motioned to the small machine, "but sit tight, I'll be back in a minute."
I sat waiting on the bed silently. Looking around I noticed that it didn't seem to busy back here. They must have had a different section for the really serious emergencies.
"Natalia, thank God." Arms suddenly wrapped around me and I gasped. I couldn't help but feel happy when my gasp didn't end in a coughing fit.
"What are you doing back here?" I relaxed into his arms and he tightened his hold on me before pulling back.
His grey eyes were filled with worry as he looked me over.
"What did the doctor say? Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"Andrew, calm down. Breathe. Look at me, I'm fine okay?" I placed my hands on his face.
"Trent called me and said you were having an asthma attack and you couldn't breathe. Tally, you've never had asthma, what happened?" He rested his forehead against mine and my arms wound around his neck.
"The doctor said that I probably inhaled some cleaning supply with ammonia in it when I was in the janitors closet." I explained.
"I can't believe Rebecca and Brianna would do something this low." His voice was venomous.
"I doubt they knew I was going to inhale some toxic gas."
"Okay, Miss Natalia. Looks like you're all set." Harvey said as he walked back over to me.
I quickly untangled myself from Andrew but he kept his arm firmly around my waist.
"Is she going to be okay?" Andrew asked.
Harvey looked at Andrew in surprise. I knew he must have snuck back here.
"Hello there. Yes, Natalia is going to be just fine." He turned to me. "You don't need any additional medication, but I highly advise you not to do anything active for the next couple of days. Working your respiratory system will just bring back the symptoms."
"Okay." I nodded.
"Other than that, you're free to go. If your breathing becomes a problem again come right back, alright?" He told me sternly.
"I will. Thanks Harvey." I hopped off of the bed and Andrew grabbed my hand as we walked out.
"Anytime Natalia." He walked off somewhere, probably to help someone else since, you know, this was a hospital.
"Come on, I'll take you home." Andrew said as we made our way to the waiting room.
"Hey, Nat. You look so much better." Robyn came over and hugged me tightly.
I looked at her then to Zander, Chrissy, and Katelyn.
"Thank you guys. I don't know what I would have done without you." I said sincerely.
"I'm glad you're okay." Chrissy said with a small smile.
They all hugged me before I was almost squeezed to death by Trent and Andrew finally pulled me away from them.
"Alright, that's enough. We'll see you guys later." He grabbed my hand again and pulled me towards the door.
I grinned as we walked to his car.
"Didn't Trent ride with you?" I asked as I got in. My stomach did a flip when Andrew opened my door for me. He got in and started the car.
He shrugged as we exited the parking lot. "He can get a ride with Robyn."
I laughed and his eyes widened as he looked at me.
"Don't laugh too hard, I don't want you over-working your lungs."
"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well, I don't know how much is too much, and I don't want to find out. Let's just not risk it." He said calmly.
"So you don't want me to laugh." I stated.
"It'd be safer if you didn't." He shrugged.
My mouth dropped open. "Well, then I might as well stop breathing too then, right?"
"Tally, that's not what I'm saying."
"Oh, I know what you're saying. And you're overreacting."
"I'm not overreacting. Your airways closed up. You could have died." His voice raised slightly and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?" He glanced at me in confusion before focusing on the road again.
"You always make everything seem so much worse than it actually was. You treat me like a glass doll and I hate it. I know things haven't been going my way lately, but you overreacting about everything isn't helping. I'm sick of feeling like the helpless victim." I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I'm sorry." He said after a pause. "I just want you to take it easy."
"And I will. But if I want to laugh, I'm going to laugh."
The weekend passed and it was Monday again. After I lectured Andrew on his over-protectiveness he let loose a little bit.
And that lasted all if two minutes because when I got out of the car, he wouldn't even let me walk up the steps to my porch.
Since I got back from the hospital I had been feeling more and more suffocated by him. He said he needed to keep better watch of me since my parents weren't home. I was going to tell my parents about the incident but I didn't want to worry them since they were on vacation.
"Hey Nat. Why do you look so pissed off?" Katelyn asked when I saw them Monday morning.
"Andrew is driving me crazy. He wouldn't let Cole give me a ride this morning and when we got here, he tried to carry me up the school steps." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration.
"Awe trouble in paradise?" Zander teased.
"Did you let him carry?" Robyn asked in amusement.
"No way! That's so embarrassing." I said.
"He just cares about you." Chrissy told me.
"I know but it's too much! I'm perfectly fine now." I complained.
"Just wait it out, babe. He'll loosen the reigns." Zander said.
"I hope so." I said.
Robyn and I walked into class and found pieces of paper on each desk. We both groaned since this meant that we had a test.
"Take out something to write with and you may begin." Mrs. Brasdon said to the class.
Forty five minutes later the class was over and Robyn and I walked out.
"That test actually seemed easy." She said.
"Yeah, I was surprised. Usually her tests are horrible." I agreed.
The day went on like any other school day. Brianna and Rebecca were still missing, which was always a plus.
At lunch I got a piece of pizza and a water bottle and sat down with everyone. Andrew was sat next to me with a chicken sandwich.
I picked up my pizza and opened my mouth for a bite.
"Um-"
I turned to Andrew who interrupted my eating.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Nothing, nothing." He shrugged and turned to his food.
I lifted my pizza back up.
"Well, actually-"
"What is it, Andrew?" I asked impatiently.
"It's just that, you're eating pizza." He said.
I nodded slowly. "Yes I am. So?"
"Well, I read somewhere that it's not good to eat dairy when you're sick. It could build phlegm in your airways, and since you-"
"Andrew." I interrupted him.
"Yeah?"
"I want you to listen to me very carefully."
He nodded. "Okay."
"I am going to eat this whole piece of pizza and I'm going to enjoy it, without interruptions. And you are going to sit quietly while I do it." I said slowly.
He sighed but nodded again.
"Good."
I was almost done with my pizza when I noticed that Robyn wasn't at the table.
"Where's Robyn?" I asked.
"She went to talk to her teacher." Calvin told me.
"Oh. What did-"
"You guys." Robyn bounded up to the lunch table, looking like she was ready to cry.
"What happened?" Trent was by her side immediately. She sat down next to him and we all waited for an explanation.
"I don't know. Three of my teachers called me in. They said that I have missing assignments and tests. Like I never turned any of it in. I went online to check my grades and it happened to everything except PE." She looked like she was about to burst into tears.
"Okay, don't freak out. We can figure this out." Trent tried to calm her.
She shook her head. "I just went to talk to Mrs. Brasdon and she said that the last three tests we took are not in her filing cabinet, including the one we took today. She said I never turned it in. So I checked through my entire backpack and it's nowhere." Her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh no, final semester grades are going up soon, and progress reports are going to be sent out." Calvin said with a look of worry on his face.
I knew grades were important to Robyn. She worked harder than any of us and she had a 4.2 GPA. She was in the top ten ranking to be valedictorian for senior year.
"I know, Cal! And my grades are plummeting. I have three D's right now!" She let the tears start to fall.
"Maybe you left them in your locker and forgot." Calvin suggested.
"Yeah, let's go check your locker." I said in agreement.
Robyn, Chrissy, Zander, Katelyn, and I stood up and walked out into the hallway. The guys stayed at the table.
We all made our way to to Robyn's locker and she dialed in her combo.
The door swung open and her perfectly organized shelves came into view. She only had two folders and a text book in it. Katelyn took one of the folders and I took the other one. We flipped through the pages, looking for the missing tests.
"I can't find anything." I said as I flipped past the last page.
"Oh God." Robyn said weakly.
I looked at her but she was staring at something in the back of her locker. She reached in and pulled out a bright pink sticky note.
"No way." Katelyn said, sounding angry. She took the sticky note from Robyn and her eyes narrowed as she read it.
I stood next to her to read it and I gasped. It read:
Stay in school kids!
Xoxo <3
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Hi guys! So here's an update.
So I am going to be updating a bunch this week because next week I will have no internet connection at all! :(
But be expecting lots of Back To You updates.
So I'm trying to pick things up a little and make things happen. I know it might not make sense at all but I swear I'm not just making this up as I go. I have this book completely planned out.
Sorry if updates take a while sometimes but at least I'm not taking six months to a year in between each chapter :)
If you've actually read this far, thank you. I really don't like to complain because I'm so grateful for your support, but the last few chapters haven't gotten a very good response. It is really encouraging to update faster when the readers seem interested.
To the side is Chrissy played by Candice Accola!
I would love it if you could COMMENT and VOTE!
Thanks for reading!
Until Next Time....
~Lori~