“Okay. Then I’ll wait in my car and watch to make sure she comes.”

“Really, you don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to. I want to make sure you’re safe. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

I nodded, knowing he wouldn’t give up.

After flashing me a quick smile, he stood and headed out to the parking lot.

A car pulled alongside the sidewalk and someone ran from the building to the passenger side door. I glanced over, searching in the direction Mr. Taylor had headed, and I realized I needed to use this opportunity to my advantage. I couldn’t risk him being there when my mom came, not trusting that he wouldn’t say anything to her. So as the car door closed, I ran to hide behind a pillar near the front of the building.

The car drove off, and a minute later, a red Jeep slowed by the curb. It appeared to be the same one I’d seen Mr. Taylor driving a few times when he’d arrived at or left school. I crouched down, hiding behind the brick pillar until he pulled away. I waited, making sure he was gone before slinking back to the bench to wait for my mom.

Five minutes came and went, and then the library closed down. Someone exited, locked the doors, took one look at me, and then left without a word. Another five minutes alone without my mom coming. Then ten minutes.

It quickly turned into half an hour.

The library had closed at six, and by seven, I gave up hope that she’d come. I hadn’t thought to bring any change with me for the bus, so that left me with the only option of walking home. I lived just a few miles away, and had walked it before, but never at this time of day. The sun had long since left the sky, and the temperature had dropped dramatically.

It didn’t take long before I regretted hiding from Mr. Taylor.

I wrapped my jacket around my body tighter and shoved the book into one of the pockets, bundling up as best as I could to protect myself from the cold. But no matter how tight I crossed my arms over my chest, or how deep I buried my hands into my pockets, nothing kept the chill in the air from seeping into my skin. My teeth chattered violently with every step.

I only had about a half a mile to go when it started to rain. It sprinkled to begin with, but not long after the first drop landed, the sky opened up, pelting me with ice-cold drops that felt like glass slicing at my face. It didn’t take long before I became completely soaked and numb. My fingertips tingled, my toes burned from the cold, and my insides convulsed with the shivers that racked my body. Everything hurt.

The weather made my hour-and-a-half walk turn into two hours, yet it seemed more like four. By the time I made it to my front door, I was exhausted and I could swear I was on the verge of freezing to death. I didn’t think anything could get worse…but it did.

Things got a lot worse.

By Sunday night, I’d found myself praying for death just to ease the pain and suffering. Come Monday morning, I was miserable. The shakes and shivers hadn’t left me all weekend, and they eventually took over my whole body, leaving me in a constant freezing state. I couldn’t get warm no matter how many layers of clothing I wore, or how many blankets I bundled on top of me when I slept. I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, and my raw throat made it impossible to swallow.

But when my alarm sounded early Monday morning for school, I knew I had to get up. I couldn’t miss any classes. I wore a knitted undershirt beneath a long-sleeved sweater, and then topped it off with a pullover hoodie. I even kept on my knitted long johns I’d slept in beneath my jeans and added an extra pair of socks to my feet. I also made sure to bring an entire box of tissues with me in my backpack, knowing I’d need them throughout the day.

“Morning, Bree,” Mr. Taylor said as soon as I made it to my seat. He took one look at me before I could respond, and frowned. “You sick?”

“I’ll be okay. Just a cold.” I sounded nasally from the heavy amount of blockage in my sinus cavities. “I blame it on the weather.”

“Yeah, this cold front has been pretty awful. Why didn’t you stay home today?” he asked with concern, his head tilted as his eyes glazed over with sympathy.

I shrugged and pulled my notebook out of my backpack. “I’ll survive. It would take a lot more than a cold to keep me down.” I injected as much nonchalance into my voice as I could muster, hoping to give him the impression that I was a lot stronger than I felt.

He nodded at me, but his eyes said something else. They focused on mine with a furrowed brow, studying me as if he could see inside my head and know how sick I truly was. Mr. Taylor had a way of reading me, and as he analyzed me with his steady eyes, I’d hoped he wouldn’t be able to see what I’d been trying to hide from him. I didn’t want him to ask me any questions, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer them with enough conviction to make him leave me alone.

Thankfully, he didn’t say or ask anything else. Class began and he moved to the podium up front, preparing to teach the day’s lesson. Everyone settled into their seats and opened their books, ready to learn, but then Mr. Taylor switched things up. I could tell by his expression that it was an unprepared and last-minute decision. He glanced over at me and squinted his eyes before scanning the rest of the class.

“We are going to have a test on Friday, so I’ve decided to let you all use this time to review what we’ve already learned from last week. You can discuss things amongst yourselves, as long as it’s quiet and you stay on topic. No talking about what you did this weekend. If you can’t do this, I won’t offer this option again. So use this time to your advantage—share notes, read the chapter, do whatever you have to do to study. Whatever you do, don’t make me regret it.” He then moved away from his podium and walked back to his desk, keeping his focus on me the entire time.

Everyone silently looked around, wondering what’d just happened. There were notes on the chalkboard for the new chapter, yet we wouldn’t get into those today. It seemed odd that our teacher would randomly give us the class off, but no one complained. They all seemed excited to be given free time, yet I wasn’t. Sure, I didn’t feel good, and the thought of a timeout from schoolwork seemed like a good idea, but there was something in the way he looked at me that made me wonder about his motive.

Once Mr. Taylor sat in his seat, he began to write something down on a piece of paper. I turned away, not wanting to give him a reason to say something to me. Then he slid the paper across his desk. I glanced up, wondering what he’d passed to me, and noticed the handwritten note. I scanned the room quickly, hoping no one had paid any attention to this exchange. Yet everyone seemed to be in their own worlds. Rebecca and Jill were shoulder to shoulder, carrying on some conversation about Ricky, the school’s quarterback. Andy, the kid that sat next to me, had his head down and eyes closed, as if this was nap time instead of study time. I turned my attention back to Mr. Taylor, wondering if he had any intention of disciplining the other students for not following directions, but his eyes were laser-focused on me.

He nudged the paper a little more in my direction until I grabbed it to read it.

You really don’t seem okay. Do you have a fever?

Without taking my eyes off his words, I snatched up my pen to respond.

I have no idea. But I’ll be okay. I have to study.

I pushed the note back to him, glancing around to make sure no one saw. My heart hammered viciously inside my chest at the mere thought of getting caught passing notes back and forth with the teacher, but Mr. Taylor seemed unfazed by it as he shoved the paper in my direction.