Status: Updates Every Three Days
My Medical Romance
Eight
I didn’t go to school for almost a week after that. We were messing around, playing at the park before most kids were even awake and something triggered my asthma. It may have been a smoker just beyond the fence, or some sort of pollen, eager to start the allergy season before Mikey or I had a chance to prepare for it. Whatever it was, it sent my lung function down to almost 40%.
This meant I was nebulizing four times a day and too fatigued by its side effects to get to school. This also meant I didn’t go to the allergist that Tuesday, but Mikey called that night and asked me how I was doing. He’d taken charge and gotten Bob to agree to join the group.
I finally got back to school that Friday. The day the plan was to be executed. My mom didn’t want to let me go, but I gave the excuse of having to get the work I had to make up so I could get it done over the break and she finally gave in.
“Mikey!” I was still a little breathless, but my rescue inhaler was safely tucked into the pocket of my skirt. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah. Try and hold out until after lunch. Frank found a girl’s combination from watching her turn the lock so he’s going to hide in there, and I think Ray’s organizing a croquet game on the football field.”
“And the mix tape?”
“Just make sure you spend study hall in the library. I don’t think the two of us could get into the principal’s office without getting caught.”
Things started off decently. I was luckily across the hall at my own locker when out of nowhere Frank jumped out of the locker of the same cheerleader who’d pushed me into the pool. She immediately screamed and ran, much to the amusement of everyone in the immediate area. Frank just brushed himself off and walked away, but when it came to the croquet game, Gerard picked a fight with the school mascot and it took him, Ray, Frank, and finally Mikey to finally take him down. I was expressly forbidden from joining in on this, though I was positive that I might be able to kick him in the shin or something.
Instead, I strung up black and red streamers all across the girls’ locker room. This was for two reasons. One was that those were the colors nearly all the outcasts wore, and the second was that they were also coincidentally the school colors of our arch nemesis. The Bellville public school. I don’t know why the two teams resented each other so much, but if it got the private school kids angry, it didn’t matter.
“Let’s go,” Ray whispered to me, bringing me back into the research section of the library. “Mikey should be at the office by now.” Unfamiliar music blasted over the loudspeaker, causing an uproar from the librarians and a good majority of the students.
I tried imagining it like Mikey had described. It was definitely Gerard’s voice, which meant Frank and Ray were on guitar, Mikey on bass, and probably a synthetic drum beat because they hadn’t talked to Bob yet when it was made.
I couldn’t help but smile. No one but the five of us knew what was going on. The popular people, the ones with the most power, were at a loss for words. Gerard sat calmly in one of the library’s chairs, smirking at his own plan in action.
“Uh oh,” Ray said suddenly. “Iris, we need to leave. Let us handle this.”
I followed his eyes. A group of lacrosse players had locked onto Gerard. They knew. Their leader signaled the captain of the hockey team.
I watched the four of them, my first friends, armed with nothing but croquet mallets march down the hallway. No one had bothered to tell any of the teachers or the principal who was responsible because a lot of classes had been interrupted and no one was complaining. Upsetting the status quo, though, was something that couldn’t go unpunished.
“I’ll see you Tuesday, Iris!” Mikey called right as they turned the corner, leaving my line of sight.
It seemed to me, in that moment, like they were soldiers departing for a war against bigger, better prepared enemies. I tried not to let that get to me as I walked home.
This meant I was nebulizing four times a day and too fatigued by its side effects to get to school. This also meant I didn’t go to the allergist that Tuesday, but Mikey called that night and asked me how I was doing. He’d taken charge and gotten Bob to agree to join the group.
I finally got back to school that Friday. The day the plan was to be executed. My mom didn’t want to let me go, but I gave the excuse of having to get the work I had to make up so I could get it done over the break and she finally gave in.
“Mikey!” I was still a little breathless, but my rescue inhaler was safely tucked into the pocket of my skirt. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah. Try and hold out until after lunch. Frank found a girl’s combination from watching her turn the lock so he’s going to hide in there, and I think Ray’s organizing a croquet game on the football field.”
“And the mix tape?”
“Just make sure you spend study hall in the library. I don’t think the two of us could get into the principal’s office without getting caught.”
Things started off decently. I was luckily across the hall at my own locker when out of nowhere Frank jumped out of the locker of the same cheerleader who’d pushed me into the pool. She immediately screamed and ran, much to the amusement of everyone in the immediate area. Frank just brushed himself off and walked away, but when it came to the croquet game, Gerard picked a fight with the school mascot and it took him, Ray, Frank, and finally Mikey to finally take him down. I was expressly forbidden from joining in on this, though I was positive that I might be able to kick him in the shin or something.
Instead, I strung up black and red streamers all across the girls’ locker room. This was for two reasons. One was that those were the colors nearly all the outcasts wore, and the second was that they were also coincidentally the school colors of our arch nemesis. The Bellville public school. I don’t know why the two teams resented each other so much, but if it got the private school kids angry, it didn’t matter.
“Let’s go,” Ray whispered to me, bringing me back into the research section of the library. “Mikey should be at the office by now.” Unfamiliar music blasted over the loudspeaker, causing an uproar from the librarians and a good majority of the students.
I tried imagining it like Mikey had described. It was definitely Gerard’s voice, which meant Frank and Ray were on guitar, Mikey on bass, and probably a synthetic drum beat because they hadn’t talked to Bob yet when it was made.
I couldn’t help but smile. No one but the five of us knew what was going on. The popular people, the ones with the most power, were at a loss for words. Gerard sat calmly in one of the library’s chairs, smirking at his own plan in action.
“Uh oh,” Ray said suddenly. “Iris, we need to leave. Let us handle this.”
I followed his eyes. A group of lacrosse players had locked onto Gerard. They knew. Their leader signaled the captain of the hockey team.
I watched the four of them, my first friends, armed with nothing but croquet mallets march down the hallway. No one had bothered to tell any of the teachers or the principal who was responsible because a lot of classes had been interrupted and no one was complaining. Upsetting the status quo, though, was something that couldn’t go unpunished.
“I’ll see you Tuesday, Iris!” Mikey called right as they turned the corner, leaving my line of sight.
It seemed to me, in that moment, like they were soldiers departing for a war against bigger, better prepared enemies. I tried not to let that get to me as I walked home.