Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.
He was just so sick.
So sick that he'd have to miss school tomorrow, and consequently his terrifying history test too. He was just too sick, he wouldn't be able to make it.
Jake groaned in frustration as he came to the conclusion that his inward chanting wasn't working at all. His body wasn't falling for it.
The annoying thing was that he was generally a smart kid, a logical thinker who'd aced just about every test he'd every sat. Nevertheless, the history test the next day made him want to simply jump into a bottomless pit and just fall forever. He wasn't used to the fear or failing an it was driving him crazy.
History was his worst subject by a mile. There were no ways to work things out, like maths, and it was all just memory which Jake had a tough time with sometimes. Sure, he could remember all the major stuff, but some of the little things just went in one ear and out the other.
His notes were a scribbly mess that he could barely decipher and he'd accidentally left his textbook on the bus months ago so he didn't even have anything to help him study.
If he took the test with the muddled mess or random facts he had stored in his brain in that moment, he'd be lucky to scrape through with a B. But as the A+ kid he was under a lot of pressure and B wouldn't suffice.
So there he was, sitting on the edge of the bed trying to trick his body into getting sick so that he would be able to hide from the test for one more day.
Jake sucked at faking sick, he never laid it on thick enough because if he went too far he would get all flushed and guilty and end up backing out.
By the looks of it though, he was going to have to give the whole faking thing another try because it seemed no matter how many times he told himself that he was sick nothing happened and he felt as healthy as ever.
A shadow cast through the light coming from the crack in the door and Jake looked up to see his papa peeping his head through the doorway.
"Jakey, it's almost midnight, you should be asleep by now," he said with an accusing tone, rubbing the sleep out of his blue eyes.
Jake shrugged, "I can't get to sleep."
It was the truth, the pressure and stress was lingering like a suffocating cloud, he had tried to sleep but it felt like there was a pillow being held over his face. He was just too anxious.
A playful look shone in Louis' eyes, "why not? Would you like to come into our bedroom and cuddle?"
"I'm not three year old,Papa," Jake said, rolling his eyes and chuckling quietly.
"I know." His papa sighed, " I miss when you were little."
Jake raised an eyebrow, "because the girls weren't around?"
"No, of course not! You were just cuter before, and I guess it was a little. . .quieter."
He pulled a guilty face but Jake couldn't blame him for missing the quiet. There was never any of that any more.
Jake had five younger sisters. A set of twins, and a set of triplets.
While adopting the twins, his parents had known they were adopting two babies, that was all fine. However, with the triplets, by the time they realised there were actually three babies the papers were already signed.
Being the people they are though, neither of them made a fuss over it and instead simply brought the three baby girls home. It was hectic at first but after an adjusting period everything settled down and it had become the normal. Jake didn't mind the full house, he was never lonely.
So in Jake's house there was him, then the twins, Harper and Sienna who were eight and then the triplets, Sera, Thea and Isla who were three.
Luckily there was enough money in the family from the ex careers of Jake's parents, so the house had rooms for the lot of them to live comfortably.
Eight people in one house was no easy task though.
"Well, you need your rest for school tomorrow. Would you like some of that sleep stuff? " Louis asked.
"Rescue remedy?"
"Yeah, that stuff."
"Lou Hun, hurry up! Come to bed with meeeee!" Jake's Dad called from the bedroom, a slight whine in his deep voice.
Jake sighed and shook his head in response to the rescue remedy, "nah, it's okay, Papa. It sounds like Dad wants you anyway."
"Are you sure?"
Jake nodded.
"Alright then, but if you're still not asleep in an hour go get yourself some." Louis smiled toothily, "goodnight."
"Night," Jake murmured as the door closed and he was left alone in the dim light from his lamp and the ever present issue of his stupid history test.
He couldn't do the test tomorrow, he would fail and disappoint everyone.
So he was going to have to try fake his way out of it. It was probably his fourth or fifth time trying to fake sickness to get out of school and none of his priors had been successful. He was gonna have to just push through the guilt. There was no way he was sitting that test.
By the time morning came Jake still hadn't gotten any sleep because he was so on edge about the act he was going to pull when the sun came up. And if he couldn't do it, he'd have to face his test. There was just a lot on his mind.
He didn't feel that tired, but he figured it would probably come on in a few hours.
The whole sleepless look would probably help with his little act anyway.
He looked at his clock. His Dad was set to come in to wake him up in-
The door opened. Well, now.
"Wakey, wakey, Jakey," Harry whispered as he stepped into the room. Jake still had his eyes shut but could tell one of the triplets had followed his Dad into the room by the sound of sweet giggling.
His dad swept open the curtains and Jake hissed as the harsh morning light washed over him. During his night time planning, he'd decided on a headache-stomachache combination.
"Come on, Jake, open those pretty little eyes of yours."
His Dad tickled his eyelids and then there was a weight on top of Jake's abdomen and a loud giggle.
"Look, even Thea's here to say good morning!" Harry said as Thea's cold little fingers tried to pry Jake's eyes open.
He grunted in pain when she poked him right in the eyeball and opened his eyes quickly, not wanting another jab to the pupil. Thea was sat on top of him, straddling her legs around him with an adorable gappy smile on her face. She had fallen over a a couple of weeks ago and knocked a tooth right out. There had been many tears.
Jake winced.
"Can you hop off of me Thea, my stomach hurts" he muttered quietly. His Dad's worried gaze immediately locked on him.
See, this was why he always failed. The worry and the comfort, the care, it made him feel twitchy and guilty.
"Sick?"
Thea slid off his middle with her pale eyebrows pulled together.
"Louis told me you were struggling to sleep last night, did your stomach hurt then too? Is that why you couldn't sleep?" Harry asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"It wasn't that bad then."
Jake shook his head slowly and then grimaced as if it hurt. It wasn't the acting part he couldn't pull off, he was really quite good. The problem was elsewhere.
"Headache?"
Jake grunted in reply.
"Maybe last night's dinner isn't agreeing. How about you go to the bathroom and then come out for some brekkie. Having something different in your tummy might help."
His dad held out a hand and Jake gingerly took it and allowed himself to be pulled onto his feet.
Jake took a trip to the bathroom where he sat on the closed lid of the toilet and read one of the girly magazines the twins had left in there. Then he made his way out to the kitchen. It was chaos as always, shrill shrieks and yelling echoing of the walls.
"Woah, kiddo, you get any sleep after I left you?"
"No. . ."
Jake took the plate of toast his papa was holding out for him.
"You feeling any better after using the bathroom?" Harry called from the other side of the room where he had Isla and Thea bouncy on his knees as they at their toast. Sera couldn't join in because her cereal would go everywhere.
"No. . ." Jake repeated, slouching against the counter top with his head in his hands. As he said, he really wasn't bad at this whole acting thing.
"You know what? I'll call work, it's not fair to send you to school like this."
His papa was already reaching for his mobile when Jake's dad butted in, "no, no, you're doing that project at the moment Lou, let me stay home with him."
"But you had some days of last week H, you need to go. Let me."
"No Lou, it's okay, they need you at the moment."
"But-"
Jake peered at his papa through his fingers as his face reddened and his guilt levels skyrocketed. Both of his dad's had important stuff to do and now one of them was going to have to sacrifice a days work and he wasn't even ill.
"It's okay, I'll just go to school" Jake blurted, like he always did. He felt like slapping himself. Why did he have to have such a weak willpower?
"You can't Jakey, you're sick."
At the word sick all of his sisters rushed over to cling to him, except Sienna, who was the only germaphobe in the group. She just watched with her nose turned up.
Harper was a bit taller than the triplets so her warm hug was really the only one Jake even felt, with her face buried in his stomach and her arms wrapped around his waist.
"I just texted my boss, I'm staying home today, " Jake's papa said. His Dad looked a little betrayed but he nodded too.
"That's settled then, you're okay to go back to bed, Jake."
His Papa gently turned him around and pushed him in the direction of his bedroom.
Jake was still red in the face and shaking a little but he managed to get to his room without turning back and telling everyone he was fine to go to school. The anxious cloud had finally lifted and the weight on his chest was gone.
He had another day to try and decipher his notes and he could take the test tomorrow. Finally he could sleep.
So he did.
The day passed quite quickly.
Jake spent the most of it catching up on sleep and nothing else really happened, apart from the couple of times his papa came in to check his temperature, which was normal as expected, and see how he was doing. The triplets came and napped with him when they got back from daycare and by dinner time, he was sick of sleeping.
Roast lamb was served for dinner, one of Jake's all time favourites but for some reason other than just acting sick still, he didn't feel like eating it. Instead he just stared at it and moved it around with his cutlery, like Isla did. She was a very picky eater though, so she usually just plays with it until one of his dad's feeds it to her like an aeroplane or something.
Jake knew he should be hungry, he hadn't eaten all day. It was weird.
His dad nudged his shoulder softly, "not hungry, Jake?"
Jake shrugged in response and rested his elbows on the table top.
"You should really try to eat something, plus, you love a good roast lamb," his papa encouraged.
Jake sighed. His papa had sacrificed his day to him so he supposed the least he could do was eat the dinner he'd slaved away making in the kitchen for three hours.
He stabbed a slither of meat and put it into his mouth slowly. He let his head hang as he chewed and then swallowed, before putting a forkful of sweet peas into his mouth as well. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first time and he realised as he kept eating the weird feeling was slowly fading.
He ate until his plate was practically empty, although still unable to get rid of the odd feeling.
"I take it you're feeling a fair bit better then?"
Jake hummed in reply.
After dinner finished, he headed back to his room and had another look at his notes. He already had the first page rewritten out in his neatest hand writing, he just had to do the other seven.
He sat crunched over his desk for the next few hours, trying to make sense of the distraught scribbles until he finally had eight pages of neat, history notes. Now he had to memorise them.
There funny tasted of dinner was lingering in his mouth but he forced himself to ignore it and continued rereading the notes until he could say them out loud word for word without hesitation.
He sighed in relief when he was finally done and looked at the clock. It had just gone nine, which explained the bizarre silence.
All the girls were in bed.
Jake realised he was exhausted, which was strange because all he'd done all day was sleep. He threw himself off his chair and onto his bed, not even bothering to flip onto his back. The light was still on, the curtains were open but he couldn't help but fall asleep.
***
He woke up early the next morning, thanks to the broad sunlight streaming in through the windows, and holy hell, it might have been a little late but his chanting had definitely worked.
He felt like he had been run over by an eighteen wheeler and infected with the plague.
His stomach was rolling, he could literally feel his dinner churning around inside him and it wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling. Coincidently he had a mega headache too, meaning he had been given the honour of hosting the same two symptoms he'd been faking yesterday.
Great.
He pulled his duvet over his head to block out the light, wrapping his arms around his tender tummy.
Some time later his dad was there, shaking at his shoulder and telling him it was time to get up. The small movement was making him feel nauseated so he squirmed away with a low groan.
Harry yanked the duvet down, "come on Jake, we're not going to let you do this two days in a row."
Jake was confused, let him do what?
"I still don't feel well," he moaned, trying weakly to pull the duvet back. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly.
"Look, your papa and I have discussed this, we know you weren't really sick yesterday but we know you wouldn't do it for no reason so we decided to give you a day. One day. You should have pulled yourself together yesterday and you're going back to school today, no buts."
They had known all along?
And now he really was sick. Karma had chosen a great time to bite him in the arse and now nobody was going to believe him. How fantastic.
And he had to sit his history test today.
"Come on Jake, up you get."
His dad flicked him on the forehead and left the room.
When he stood up he almost passed out and threw up at the same time. Thankfully he didn't but still, it was scary enough. Whatever sickness he'd summoned, it wasn't a good one.
He got changed into his uniform, moving as if he was sixty years old or very hung over. He was so hot, it felt like there was fire licking at his face but for some stupid reason he was shivering and he couldn't stop. It didn't make any sense to him and he bit down on his lip to keep it from shaking.
Isla latched onto Jake's leg out in the hallway, laughing as he tried to walk with her extra weight. She barely weighed anything. Usually he could take her all the way round the house, up the stairs and all, but today he had no energy and he could barely lift her a single step.
Her high pitched giggle made him want to gauge his eyes out as it bounced around in his skull.
Isla soon realised that her brother wasn't doing so well and detached herself from his leg.
"Still sicky, Jakey?"
She looked up at him with her massive brown eyes.
"Just a little bit Isla, I'm okay," Jake replied, letting her follow him to the kitchen.
Everybody was just as loud as always but the insistent noise was particularly painful today and Jake quickly became dizzy, swaying hazardously and trying to blink away the blackness creeping in.
Nobody noticed, they were all too caught up in their own stuff.
He decided to skip out of breakfast and instead backed out of the kitchen to go brush his teeth, wanting to get the horrid taste out of his mouth. His reflection in the mirror was a bit pale, and his eyes were more than a little bloodshot. He looked ill, but unfortunately his parents hadn't thought so.
A dull wave of nausea flickered through him and although it wasn't too bad he still found himself glancing over at the toilet in the corner of the room, praying to the heavens that he wouldn't have to use it. Thankfully it passed and he popped down a few pills to calm his head before it escalated into migraine territory. It was already bloody close.
Some knocked on the door, "Jake, you in there?"
"Yeah," he replied, gulping down a mouthful of water.
"We're leaving in a few, the heater's already on in the car." the voice from the other side of the door told him.
Jake splashed some water on his face in an attempt to wake himself up a little more.
It didn't work.
He opened the door and stood in front of his papa, slouching a bit against the door frame, " I really feel sick. . ."
" Come on kid, you know the story. Please go get in the car."
Louis pointed a finger sternly.
Jake blinked slowly and did as he was asked, realising that it didn't matter what he said. It was going to take a puke session to make them believe him and he wasn't up for that.
Like his papa had told him, the heating in the car was already going which stifled the shivering a little but make him feel any better. Harper and Sienna were already in the car, waiting for their Dad.
Louis took the triplets because their daycare was on his way.
Sienna took one look at Jake and moved to the front seat.
"Sorry, Jake," she said, "I don't like germs."
"Neither," Jake replied.
"Why are you going to school if you're still sick?" Harper questioned curiously.
"Dad and Papa think I'm not really sick."
Jake sighed, closing his eyes and letting his head rest back. A cool hand pressed against his forehead and he opened one eye to shoot his sister an incredulous look.
"I've seen papa do it." She shrugged, "you're very warm, by the way."
Their dad got into the car then, pulling the door closed with a bang that made Jake's brain bounce around in his skull.
Harper leaned forward through the gap in the seats, "you should let Jake go back inside Dad, he's sick still."
"He's fine now, sweetie" Harry said, glancing back at Jake in the rear-view mirror.
Jake had his eyes closed, but he could still feel him looking.
"He looks sick," Sienna said.
"He's fine."
The twins were dropped off first since their school was closer and then the car fell completely silent.
Jake was almost asleep in the backseat and his dad wouldn't take his eyes off the road.
His sickness was accelerating quickly. The movement of the car was jolting his upset stomach a little too much for comfort and even behind his eyelids the light was bugging him. He tucked his knees into his chest with a whimper.
He swallowed as his body suddenly heated all the way up, making him twitch and whimper. He couldn't breathe.
Another wave of nausea, this time much stronger than it had been earlier, flooded through him and his eyes snapped open in pure urgency.
"Dad, pull over," he strained out, hand already on the door handle.
"Stop being dramatic Jake, you have to go to school. Is there a problem? Are you being bullied? Is someone-"
"Pull over!"
His dad jerked the wheel to the left and Jake immediately flung the door open. He pretty much collapsed onto the footpath, his knees only catching him in the last second. It hurt, they were probably bleeding but he barely noticed as his vision flickered between blurry and dark and his roast lamb tried to fight its way up his throat.
He could feel his dad standing somewhere behind him.
"This is stupid, I'm going to be late! I'm disappointed in you Jake, I didn't think you'd ever go this f-"
Jake cut him off by gagging once and then heaving all over the pavement. It burned his throat raw forced him onto his hands and knees.
"Jesus Christ," he heard his dad muttering to himself quickly, every second word something he would get his mouth washed out for. There was a hand on his back and when he stopped retching his dad pulled him into his arms. A jogger coming up the path switched to the other side of the road.
Jake went limp in his grip.
He woke up on the couch at home with both his beloved parents sitting in front of him with apologetic looks on their faces. He smiled to let them know they were forgiven, neither of them had really done anything wrong in the first place, and the promptly vomited on the floor.
I'm incredibly sorry this is so long, I got carried away :)