Toughen Up
Breakfast
“And I really thought David had lost it for sure, until James shot through at finished it off beautifully, right into the corner of the net, and with his left foot too, right James?” beamed my friend Ryan, and he explained all the glorious bits of Saturday’s match against the Falcons to a small group of kids who crowded around eagerly, ‘oo-ing’ and ‘ahh-ing’.
But my mind was far away from football this morning, too nervous about running into Alex, to talk goal-scoring.
“Um, yeah”, I said, nodding, and catching myself half-hoping that I’d agreed at the right pause.
Monday morning wasn’t off to a wonderful start when I pulled out my timetable to see that we had PE first up. Not that I didn’t like PE, I mean, I was pretty good at sports, and I’d won a lot of the running events in the school athletics last term, but this term we had shared PE with Mr. Bolton’s class, which meant that we had PE with Alex Ridgen and all his friends, as well as the rest of 9BN.
I felt my stomach drop, and I suddenly felt extremely sick and dizzy.
“Whoa, James, you alright man? You look like death warmed up!” joked Ryan, who threw me a very concerned glance, and followed me across the courtyard to a bench in the cool shade.
“I just… just don’t feel… too great…” I stammered through my nausea, while sitting down and burying my head in my hands.
I could feel the sick rising up from my stomach and making its way dangerously up into my throat. My head began to spin, and before I’d thought twice about it, I was behind the tree, throwing up my breakfast of cornflakes and marmite on toast.
Then everything went dark, and I felt myself falling into space.
But my mind was far away from football this morning, too nervous about running into Alex, to talk goal-scoring.
“Um, yeah”, I said, nodding, and catching myself half-hoping that I’d agreed at the right pause.
Monday morning wasn’t off to a wonderful start when I pulled out my timetable to see that we had PE first up. Not that I didn’t like PE, I mean, I was pretty good at sports, and I’d won a lot of the running events in the school athletics last term, but this term we had shared PE with Mr. Bolton’s class, which meant that we had PE with Alex Ridgen and all his friends, as well as the rest of 9BN.
I felt my stomach drop, and I suddenly felt extremely sick and dizzy.
“Whoa, James, you alright man? You look like death warmed up!” joked Ryan, who threw me a very concerned glance, and followed me across the courtyard to a bench in the cool shade.
“I just… just don’t feel… too great…” I stammered through my nausea, while sitting down and burying my head in my hands.
I could feel the sick rising up from my stomach and making its way dangerously up into my throat. My head began to spin, and before I’d thought twice about it, I was behind the tree, throwing up my breakfast of cornflakes and marmite on toast.
Then everything went dark, and I felt myself falling into space.