Ms.Crane just had to go on for ten minutes. I was late for lunch because I had to stay behind to ask my teacher some questions. I rounded a corner of the hallway and stopped in my tracks. Not him again. A boy was cowering at someone who was almost twice his size. Fear was obvious on the boy’s face. “Hey! What are you doing!” I shouted with obvious anger. 

Jack flicked his head down towards me and away from the boy. He cracked a grin once he saw it was me. “Oh, Valentina, how nice to see you.” 

My voice filled with disgust at his reply. “What are you doing to him?”

He let go of the boy that he had a tight grip on and the boy scurried away. He had his hands out as if questioning what I was doing. “What? I was just playing around with him. He needed help.” 

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. Did he really expect me to believe that? “Does your head need to have a meeting with the floor again? Cause I can arrange that appointment right now.”

He chuckled. “You? A shrimp?” 

I stood there staring at him. Was his brain a pool of jello? He might be tall but that didn’t mean he was strong. Or smart either. “I did it last time. I’m not afraid to do it again.”

He still had that stupid grin on his face. “The teacher stopped that. If he didn’t, I would have sent you to the hospital.”

I shook my head with an unhappy chuckle. “It’s a pity that you are suffering from memory loss and delusion. Turns out you need that appointment with the floor as soon as possible.” 

I cracked my knuckles. Time to wipe that stupid grin off of his face. I was going to love this. Before I could even charge at him, a voice cut me off.

“Val! You are late for lunch! Come on!” A girl came running up to me at full speed across the hallway. She seemed to completely ignore the situation. 

“Bliss?” I uttered her name in surprise.

“Come on!” She tugged and tried to drag me.

“Woah… wait… Bliss, stop. I have someone to…”

Bliss cut me off. “Let’s go.”

Holding me by the hand, she led me away. I looked back at that stupid grin on Jack’s face. He was nodding his head as if he was mocking me.

I walked towards the exit of my school building. A lot of other people were rushing around me. It was Friday and I was totally ready for the weekend. This entire week had felt tiring since I had multiple tests and quizzes.

I caught up with Suzie. Her eyes were stuck onto the book that she was holding while walking. It was probably something medical-related. She suddenly spoke to me without looking up from her book. Her voice had an accusatory and somewhat exasperated tone. I was pretty sure I knew why. “I heard you nearly got into a fight with Jack again.”

I smiled somewhat shyly. “Did you hear it from Bliss?” 

She slowly nodded as if she was accusing me of something.

I shrugged. “He was being a bully. I had to do something.”

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She sighed and looked towards me with a serious expression. “You do know he’s twice your size.”

I smiled. Sometimes hearing that felt like I was being praised. Even when it was scolding. “Yeah, so what? It doesn’t mean I can’t beat him. Last time we had a fight, I almost planted his face into the ground.”

She fired back. “And you nearly got yourself expelled. Thank God, Bliss was there to save you this time. Jack probably knew he could report this to the teachers and get you expelled. You are just too reckless sometimes, Val. Think before you do something.” 

I chuckled and rubbed my neck. “Well… I will um try not to get into trouble. Anyways, how did you do on the Calculus test?”

She shook her head as she saw through my obvious attempt to steer the conversation away. By that point, she didn’t continue and seemingly gave up. She probably knew that I was not going to heed her advice. I definitely didn’t last time. With her eyes stuck back onto the book, she responded. “Wasn’t that hard.” 

As usual.

Suddenly, someone slammed onto my back. “Ow!”

A cheerful and hyper voice came from the person hugging my back. “VALENTINA! Want to go to the mall this afternoon? I know your parents aren’t home!”

There was only one person in the world who would slam into my back like that while saying that. I did not even bother looking back at her. “Bliss, I’m not feeling that well today, you can ask Suzie if you want.” Going to the mall wasn’t really my thing. It felt like quite a stereotypical thing for girls to do but I had no interest in it. I can’t stand looking at clothes for hours. I was also not exactly lying when I said I wasn’t feeling that well. My stomach had been doing what felt like backflips throughout the afternoon.

“Aw, but Suzie never agrees.” I felt Bliss’s puppy eyes behind me. Oh boy.

In a surprise move, Suzie looked up from her book towards us. “I can go today.”

“Hm? You can!?” Bliss perked up.

“I have already finished my college applications and my parents are satisfied so I now have actual free time over the weekend.”

Bliss detached from my back and skipped over to hug Suzie. Suzie shook her head as if she was disappointed in something. “We can go if you get off of me first.” 

I clicked the button to close the garage door and exited my sedan. It was a bit old but it was tough. Just the way I liked it. It probably needed to be refueled soon but it had enough gas in it for a couple of more trips to and back from school so I didn’t bother. 

Mom and Dad were on a business trip to California so I was the only one home. They didn’t really like going on business trips that much but according to them, this was of great urgency. I shut the door to my room and set my backpack next to my desk. 

Plopping down onto my chair, my eyes wandered up to my poster of an M1A2 Abrams tank before looking down onto my desk. Suzie’s comment had reminded me of something. I tapped the mouse that was connected to the laptop and the screen lit up. The Common App website was open on it and I combed through the list of colleges I was applying to. I sighed. None of them were places that I really wanted to go to.

I groaned. I felt a pang of pain in my stomach. It was definitely getting worse. Did I get the cold or something? Was it the hamburger I ate during lunch? The smartphone in my pocket made a ‘ding’. Who was texting me at this time? I pulled it out and looked at the message that showed up.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to go with us?’ It was Bliss. I smiled despite the pain in my stomach. She was still clingy as ever.

‘I’m really actually not feeling well today.’

‘Oh…is it bad?’

‘Just some stomach pains. Nothing too serious but I want to stay home.’

‘I understand! Get better soon!’ That was followed by a bunch of emojis that I didn’t really bother to respond to.

I looked at my clock. It was only around 4 o’clock but I was thinking of sleeping the stomach pain off. I did have homework but there was a whole weekend ahead for me to finish. I placed my smartphone on top of the drawers next to my bed and plugged the charger in. I closed the curtains and got ready for bed.

As I closed my eyes and fell into sweet darkness with my stomach still trying to kill itself, sirens blared past my house.

I stretched my arms and yawned. It felt like I had just been reborn. Never had I ever slept so well. The sun shined through the curtains of my window. It was a good sunny day. I peered at the clock on the drawers to my right. ‘10:22’. I was surprised at the fact that I had slept for more than 18 hours. It was probably because I wasn’t feeling well or something. I slipped out of my bed and decided to do my usual morning exercises. 

Many push-ups, sit-ups, and various other things later, I threw the curtain open and let the sun’s light burst into my room. My body felt warm and fuzzy as I soaked it up. My eyes wandered to the street below my house. I froze.

“...”