Chapter 6 Not Weak
1348 Words
Chapter 6
Not Weak
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Louise
Maybe Mum had been right. Going to school today was not my best choice. I couldn’t concentrate on any of the work. We were already in our second lesson, and I was ready to go home. The encounter with Joseph had topped it all off. And now I had two bruises to deal with – one on my butt and the healing claw marks on my shoulder. Both were starting to ache. After I had told them everything, Raine and Jo refused to leave my side. They watched me carefully, glancing my way when I coughed or sighed or shifted in my seat.
They’re just worried about me! I exhaled as I leaned back against my seat. At least the teachers haven’t called on me all day.
“Will you still train?” Jo whispered from the seat to my right. She had been in the middle of drawing a picture of a detailed tree with multi-coloured leaves on the cover of her notebook. “I know you don’t want to discuss it, but I’m curious… Can you still train? One of Mama’s medical books states that you should do gentle exercises… But don’t strain yourself. Training isn’t light. And you haven’t trained for a while now…”
“I may be sick, but I’m not weak,” I said softly, repeating Mum’s comforting words. I closed my eyes slowly and then opened them again, attempting to settle the returning nausea. “I refuse to give up training. I want to do it.”
“But you should be resting,” Raine added under her breath. “For the surgery, you know.”
A long shadow appeared over my face as I closed and opened my eyes again. Startled, I sat forward to see Mrs Nightingale, our aging science teacher and human, standing before us, her bottle-top glass perched at the end of her round nose. She was in her late seventies, with wispy slate-grey hair. Her face was sharp and severe, but her eyes were gentle. I liked her, and the majority of students at the school wanted her.
“Sorry, Mrs Nightingale...” I said as I straightened in my chair. “We were just–”
“I get it...” she interrupted hoarsely, gesturing at Jo’s artwork. “Science isn’t as exciting as art class.”
“No, it’s not that...” I tried to say.
She held her hand up to silence me. She observed something in my appearance, and her eyes softened. She leaned down and whispered so only we could hear. “I understand something is going on in your life, Louise. Dear, you are as pale as a ghost. I think you might be coming down with a bug...”
As far as all the teachers knew, I had been battling the flu on and off for a while. None of them knew about my illness, even the humans. That had been Mum’s one stipulation if I was to return to school after my diagnosis. It was a way to keep it secret so it didn’t return to the Alpha and possibly put my family in danger.
But that may have gone out the window after my confrontation with Alpha Joseph. The thought made my blood run cold. I shivered.
Mrs Nightingale saw it and cleared her throat. “I think I’ll send you out to get some fresh air and have an early lunch.”
“Thank you, Mrs Nightingale.” The three of us replied in unison.
“Not you two,” she corrected, glancing from Jo to Raine. She pushed her glasses up and eyed them closely. “I will allow Louise to have an early lunch… I hope that will get some colour back into her... But you two will stay in and catch up on the last few minutes of the lesson you missed.”
Both of them groaned and pouted in protest.
“Sorry, guys,” I whispered as I gathered my belongings and stood out from the chair.
“I expect you to catch up on this assignment for homework tonight.” Mrs Nightingale insisted gently. “And have it on my desk by morning.”
I nodded back. “Yes, Mrs Nightingale… Thank you.”
The weight of everyone’s curious eyes fell on me as I hurried out of the room. The hallway was empty and a little creepy. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was a supernatural being, but I liked creepy and spooky things. Maybe it came from living in a mythical world, but I always wondered—if werewolves existed, was it possible that vampires, ghosts, and other things existed too? These thoughts distracted me from my troubles, and I enjoyed them.
Once I had stored everything away in my locker, I grabbed some money from the side pocket of my bag and headed outside to the student-run kiosk in the back common area. The idea of eating one of their giant salted pretzels made me smile. Their giant pretzels were the best out of everything they served, and the salt settled my nausea.
Since lunch was still half a lesson away, the area was eerily empty. This meant the line for the kiosk was empty, which never happened. I strode past the empty wooden benches, across an open stone path that encircled a round section of fake grass and stopped at the front of a small rectangle caravan shaded beneath a swaying faded-grey canopy. Around me were a few small off-white round tables and a dozen or so fold-out chairs. The kiosk caravan itself was grey and had no wheels. Instead, it sat on a stack of bricks that I could tell had been here for years. ‘Our Lady of Souls Kiosk’ was written in large cursive writing across the front. A scent of hot pasty and rich chocolate reached my nose, making my nausea return. I breathed in slowly, hoping to drive the sensation away.
“What’ll you have today?” a young woman called as she continued dusting down the counter with a cloth.
She tossed the cloth over her shoulder and then faced me. I could tell she had been doing this for a while. That motion had become second nature. I met her kind gaze. Her big brown eyes were too big for her round head, and her head was too big for her short, wide-shouldered figure. I envisioned her as one of the bobblehead dolls you see on the dash of a car.
“We have a special on chocolate-coated pretzels today…” She continued, waving a hand at the chalk-written sign above her. “It’s two for the price of one… And let me say, they will melt in your mouth.”
As tempting as that offer was, my mind was made up. I could already taste the salt on the pretzels in the air, and focusing on that drove my nausea away. “I’ll have one of your giant savoury pretzels, please...” My stomach growled in agreement. Maybe hunger was half of my problem… “With extra salt…”
“Great choice,” the woman nodded. I laughed. Bobblehead doll… “They are one of our most popular… And I have been told they can cure headaches, and hunger pains, and mood swings, and they have many other medicinal properties.” She winked at me. “Having one of those will bring colour back into your cheeks…”
“That sounds good…” I smiled back at her. “I’ll take one…”
“Great,” She typed the order into the tiny cash register screen perched on the counter before her. The steam of the coffee machine filled the air around her. “That comes to three dollars, thanks…” She met my gaze. “Will that be cash or card?”
I dug into the pocket on the side of my dress. “Oh, that’s with–”
“Cash,” replied a deep voice from behind me.
- Writer
