Swept Under: Chapter 3: (looking for feedback) 20/04/26

 

  “We’ve been trying for half an hour to get hold of her mother.”

  “Well keep trying.”

  Karina’s ears woke up first, then her skin, which started to tingle. The tingling grew into a light burning sensation which spread down her right arm, over her elbow, and across the side of her hand. She felt the rough bandage as she brought the fingers of her other hand to the afflicted area, and pushed into it.

  Her eyes shot open as the stinging pain shot all over her arm. She screamed and sat up on the bed of her school's medical ward. The blurry silhouette of the school’s nurse popped into view. Karina wiped away the tears so that she could clearly see the nurse's face.

  “Don’t touch it!” the nurse, Molly, said to Karina. “How are you feeling?”

  “My arm hurts,” said Karina.

  “Is that all?” asked Molly, as she sat on the edge of the bed and leaned in towards Karina.

  She supported the back of Karina’s head with her left hand and reached for Karina’s face with her right. The fingers found their place above and below her right eye. They were uncomfortably close. Suddenly they jolted, pulling her eyelids apart. Molly stared into them.

  “I’m still waiting for an answer,” Molly said, letting go of Karina’s head and sitting up.

  “Oh, other than the arm I feel fine,” Karina said.

  “It’s only grazed, thankfully. It doesn’t seem to be broken. We’ll send you home today if the office can get a hold of your mother.”

  “Don’t! Tell them to stop trying to call her. I want to go to class.” 

  “You’ve fainted. I’d recommend that you take the day off.”

  “I told you, I’m fine. I fainted because I ran all the way over here so I wouldn’t be late. Now you want me to go home? That would mean that I fainted for nothing.”

  The reception lady stood in the doorway with a mobile phone in her hand. “No one’s picking up. Do you know your father’s number?” she asked Karina. “It’s not on the system.”

  Before Karina could say anything, Molly stepped in for her. “No. That'd be no use,” she said.

  Karina grabbed Molly's hand with her own. My mum's at work. Please stop trying to call her. 

  Molly sighed “fine,” she said. She turned to the receptionist. “She’s fine. We’ll send her back to class.”

  “Thanks.”

  Molly put her free hand over Karina’s. “But if you start to feel even slightly off, come right back here.”

 Karina released Molly's hand. “I promise I will,” she said 

 Karina sprung out of bed, collected her bag from the seat in front of the door and ran for the eating area, Just as the clock struck twelve and the bell rang for lunch.

 

***

 

  Karina found her friends sitting at a table under the shade of a tree. They were so loud that she could hear them as if they were talking in her ear, though they were all talking over each other at the same time, so she couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying. 

  Lilly was the first to spot her approaching, and by the time Karina had reached them, they’d all finished shushing each other. 

  “Hey Karina,” said Pauline.

  “Hi,” Karina responded. 

  Everyone gave Karina their own greeting. Karina took a seat. And before she even had time to ask about their odd silence, one of the girls, Lilly, asked her. “So, where were you all morning?”

  Karina didn’t know where to start. “I uh-”

  “Lilly said she saw you faint when you came in. Is it true?” Pauline blurted.

  “You can’t just ask that!” Rose said.

  “Says who?” Pauline said. “She’s our friend, this is the easiest way to get to the bottom of it.”

  “I did faint,” said Karina. “But I'm fine.”

  “How bad is it under that bandage?” Pauline asked, pointing to Karina’s broken arm.

  “I Haven't seen it yet, but it hurts so much.”

  “Have you seen Cameron over there, with Trevor?” Lilly said. “He’s actually playing a sport.”

  “Ugh! Are we still going on about Cameron?” Karina asked.

  “He does look like he’s.. Just.. better, than he was before y’know,” said Rose.

  “What? At handball?” Pauline asked.

  “Well yes, but not just that. He’s more energetic and social too.” 

  Lilly started giggling. “What if he’s swapping places with Maxis. Look at him. He’s sitting on the side and watching them just like Cameron used to.”

  “What do you mean used to?” Karina said. “He was doing it just yesterday before his whole heroic moment.”

  “Who knew Cameron would end up being the most courageous out of all of us?” said Pauline.

  ‘And we're back to that,’ Karina thought. “Ok, whatever,” Karina said. “I’ve gotta run. I’ve got things to do.”

 

***

 

  It didn’t take long for Karina to convince Maxis to help her. He must’ve hated their situation almost as much as she did. Even so, they were still short on time. A single, hour long period at the end of the school day was all they had to get the book. It was the one class they all shared, visual art. 

  In class they were all given time to work on their projects. The teacher was at his desk, watching a movie on the school computer. A couple of boys sat behind him, staring over his shoulder. He didn't care what the students were doing as long as they were quiet. 

  Karina pretended to work on her sketch of a deep canyon, but that wasn’t her current priority. She had her eyes on Cameron who was sitting at the table in the back corner, writing in his note book. Trevor was talking to him from the other side of their desk while doing his project. 

  The way Cameron stared into his book, eyes wide, mouth open as he breathed, disturbed Karina. As if he sensed her, Cameron shot Karina a look. Their eyes locked for a long, uncomfortable moment. He closed his mouth and swallowed. The sound didn’t need to reach Karina for her to hear the saliva going down his throat. She tore her gaze away.

  Karina focused on her sketch for a bit. She pretended to draw while repeatedly glancing at Cameron from the corner of her eye. When he looked away she relaxed and collected herself before getting ready to make a move.

  Karina approached Maxis. He was working on his sketch of an alleyway which looked like it stretched endlessly into a pitch black shadow.

  “I don’t want to look at them right now, and I don’t want to think about them right now,” said Maxis. “He’s barely talked to me the whole day.”

  “You’re going to have to, so we can get that book,” said Karina.

  Maxis glanced up at Cameron and Trevor. “What do you suggest we do?” he said. “He has the thing in his hands. There’s no way we’ll get it.”

  “We’ve got to get him to pick up something else, like Pauline does. She has this thing where she can’t stick to a single hobby she’s had hundreds, and she's always picking up some new interest.”

  “How does she keep up with all of her hobbies?” Maxis asked.

  “She doesn’t,” Karina replied. “When she picks up new hobbies, she always has to let the old ones go.” Kairna started to chuckle. “Like once, she was interested in poetry. She was so bad at it as well. It only lasted three days because she got addicted to dot painting right after. But she’s still so embarrassed about it, so don’t tell her I told you that.”

  “Isn’t Pauline your friend?” asked Maxis.

  “Yes.”

  “I’d hate to be friends with you.”

  Karina let in a short, sharp gasp as she tensed her shoulders and clenched her fists. The bandage on her right arm rubbed against her graze, shocking her with unexpected pain. She instantly relaxed her hand and held it in her left.

   “Just do your job!” She growled, tears collecting in her eyes. “I want you to take your art work over to Cameron and ask him to take a look at it. Get him to pick it up, and I will grab the notebook.”

  Maxis didn’t say another word to Karina. He just picked up his art book and walked over to Trevor and Cameron. He stood next to Cameron and after some talking, Cameron put his notebook down on the table and took Maxis’ book out of his hands.

  Keeping her head below desk level, Karina made her way towards the side of Cameron’s desk, opposite Maxis. Cameron was distracted, talking to Maxis about his art and Trevor was too busy trying to neaten a part of his sketch. 

  Karina reached for the notebook and gripped it with her non-bandaged hand. No one noticed, but as she pulled her arm back, Cameron dropped Maxis’ art and grabbed Karina’s wrist. His grip was tighter than she expected and again, he was staring at her, not saying a word, just pulling at her arm. 

  Karina dropped the notebook and pulled her wrist free. She stepped back, holding her wrist to her chest as she yelled at Cameron. 

  “What is wrong with you! Freak!”

  The teacher stood from his desk and commanded Karina to get out of the class. She ran out, sobbing.