After queuing up in the lunch line and buying another 'odd' array of random foods from the menu, I met Jacob and Thalia in our usual spot at the back of the hall.
"Hi, how was geography?" Jacob asked cheerfully as I sat down next to him.
"Dismal." I answer shortly, staring at the food I'd brought and realising my stomach turned at the thought.
"That bad?" he asked while digging into his burger. The meat grease oozed out of the bun, and soaked into the bread causing it to start falling apart. Before he'd fully swallowed the first bite, he was shoving more into his mouth like a starving dog.
"Hungry?" I asked.
He nodded rigorously. "Don't get him started, he's been complaining all day. The poor thing missed breakfast." Thalia rolled her eyes.
I picked at the chicken on my plate, and took three smallish bites, but found that I couldn't stomach any more. I sighed, "anyone fancy doing my geography homework?" I asked absent-mindedly, wiping grease onto a tissue on the table.
When I look up again, Jacob had stopped shovelling in food in his mouth and they were both staring at me.
"Who are you and what have you done with Shion?" he asked, amazed.
"It's your fault Jacob. You've turned him into a rebel with you little adventure yesterday." She complained.
"Have not!" he protested. "But seriously man, what's up? You don't look so good."
I pushed the plate of food away, feeling the small bites of chicken ferment in my stomach, "I'm alright. You can have that if you want, I'm going to toilet." I declare. But I barely made it. I shoved a boy out of the doorway as I stumbled into the cubicle.
"What's your deal?" he yelled after me, picking himself off the floor.
But I'm bent over the toilet, retching and coughing up chewed up food before I could yell back an answer. Even when I'd got rid of everything I'd eaten; my stomach still convulses in painful somersaults. In between heaving up mouthfuls of bile and bad smelling liquid, I gasp for breath, forcing in air before another episode hits me.
"Hey Shion? You in here?"
I swallowed hard and breathed in deeply, "yeah, I'll be there in a minuet." I call back, clutching my stomach.
"Gym starts in five. I'll meet you there!" he calls back, and I curse at the reminder. I put the lid down, and lowered onto it, resting my head in my arms. Should I just say I'm sick? But they might send me to a human nurse- surely, she'll be able to tell I'm not human. It's not that bad, just grin and bear it before we can get home. I swallowed the bile rising up in my throat and took three deep breaths to calm my stomach before following Jacob out of the toilets.
I hurried off to the changing rooms but the time I got there, most of them were already on the field. I was just pulling my polo shirt over my head, when Jackson bundled in, gasping for breath, "I made it!" he exclaimed.
He was already ripping off his shirt and flinging it on the bench when he answered, "I was gonna bunk like I usually do, but then I get a message from my mum saying if I bunked again she wouldn't give me any money for lunch for the next week. She was gonna starve me man!" he pulls up a pair of running shorts, and shoves on his trainers, while leaving his school clothes half hanging off the bench and his shoes scattered across the path. "We're gonna be late. Come on!" he beckons me out of the room, but as we enter the sunlight I'm hit with another wave of nausea. Dark spots dance across my eyes, and my head fills with a fuzz. I seal my lips firmly shut, and bite down on my tongue forcing the rising bile back down. I can't vomit here.
"Hurry up!" he pulls me along, and I'm forced to match his pace with a spinning head. We reach the centre field just as the lesson starts and the teacher calls the register. I flop onto the floor at the back of the group and rest my head on my hands in attempt to stop the spinning, but the nausea worsens, so that I almost miss my name being called.
"Shion!" I'm nudged from behind by a foot, and I look up and half the class is looking at me,
"Here sir!" I answer, but opening my mouth was a mistake, and I almost gag on my words. Warm saliva fills up my mouth, and I bite harder on my tongue- its all I can do to stop myself being sick right there. The pain clears my mind, but with the sun beating down on us, it doesn't last long.
The class is moving, I notice their shadows shifting from their position, and I rise and follow their mass. By observing their movements, I realise we were instructed to go for a lap around the field as warm up. I curse my luck- anything but that would have been preferable.
Begrudgingly, I take my place at the back of the group, and fought to keep up with the slower human runners. I just have to make it through this lesson. That's all, I reminded myself.
I stumbled forward, roughly putting one foot in front of the other. The sun was hot, it made my skin sweat uncomfortably, and my feet chafe in my trainers, but I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, jogging on at the back of the pack. The sun got to me, my muscles were burning, cooking me from the inside out, the dust kicked up from our shoes irritated my eyes, and every movement was like I was lifting three tones of concrete. But still, I heaved in breath, and used my momentum to keep moving.
I watched the bouncing heads of those jogging, concentrating on the swinging ponytail of the girl in front. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… my head throbbed with dreariness. I blinked away dust and winced against the sun brightness. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… my feet went numb. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… that ponytail gets further and further away. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… numbness spreads up my legs and down my sweaty palms. My limbs feel so heavy… Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…
Suddenly, that ponytail flies upwards in my line of vision, and the ground swings up to hit me in the face. Something hard and hot presses against my cheeks, rubbing grit in my sweaty skin; I see sandy dirt before darkness claws its way into my vision, blocking everything else out.