13 The Morning After (1/2)

Ash woke up the next morning chilled to the bone and with a splitting headache. Her night had been heavy with mixed up dreams that made no sense: the dreams just seemed to jump from one to the other, each one more fantastical than the last. She didn't remember leaving the room to eat, but for some reason, she wasn't hungry.

She remembered falling into her bed right after school the day before, and between then and now, she did not remember ever having taken her clothes off. So she was definitely surprised at waking up naked under her thick blanket.

”Aaaah!” Ash suddenly shrieked.

”Well, look who's awake.”

Celia had been standing over her friend for the last 15 minutes, just waiting for her to open her eyes. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring menacingly into the bottom bunk where Ash was sleeping.

”Are you gonna tell me where you were last night or do I have to torture it out of you? I'm in a very torturing mood this morning, so you better not encourage me,” Celia threatened, leering at Ash for effect.

” . . . I don't feel so good.” Ash managed to say.

”Oh, don't start with that, princess! You're gonna tell me where you were and what you were doing, or I will suffocate you with your own pillow.”

”Dude, you can't kill me. That's murder,” Ash responded lamely.

”Only if the cops find out. I could make it look like a suicide,” Celia responded, a little too quickly.

”Ugh, you're making my head hurt, Celia! No one's going to believe that I choked myself to death under my own pillow!”

Celia wasn't always great at quick arguments, and her dumb wit, which Ash usually found endearing, was not helping with her headache that morning. She took her arms out from under her blanket and put her fingers to her temples, massaging them.

”Well, I was gonna do something else, not just the pillow. I was gonna . . . uh . . . push you out the window,” Celia retorted, backpedaling unconvincingly. She squared her shoulders as if she were trying to prove a point.

[We're on the second floor, dummy. Unless you dangle me by my feet and drop me on my head, I won't really die. And even then the school will get me to the hospital so quick there's almost no chance of me dying. You're terrible at this, Celia] Ash thought to herself.

Celia noticed Ash's bare shoulders coming out of her blanket and immediately asked, ”Hey, are you naked under there?!”

Ash's head started throbbing even harder.

”Yes, yes I am, Celia. I am wearing nothing under this blanket, and it's actually kind of cold,” she answered sarcastically.

”Dude, obviously! Come on! You'll catch a cold sleeping naked, what's wrong with you?!”

”That's not how colds work---”

Celia quickly leaned over and placed her hand on Ash's forehead. Her skin was hot to the touch: she was burning with a fever.

”Ashy, you're burning up . . .” Celia's demeanor quickly shifted from annoyed to concerned. She sat next to Ash on her bed. Ash screwed her eyes shut and burrowed into the blanket.

”I'll get you some clothes, okay? Put them on while I go get Ms. Hennie.” Celia went through Ash's closet and put some clothes on her bed. As she went to get the Dorm Supervisor, Ms. Hennie, she left a voice message for Isabelle.

”Hey, Izzy. Ash is sick. I'm going to get Ms. Hennie to look in on her right now. I'll see you later.”

Ash had a fever, so the Dorm Supervisor told her to stay at the dorm and rest for the day. Since it wasn't too serious, Celia left to go to class, leaving Ash alone in the room. She stayed in bed the entire morning, falling in and out of sleep. She was only vaguely aware of Ms. Hennie dropping off her lunch. For some reason, she hoped that Ms. Hennie would be the pizza delivery guy, even though she knew boys weren't allowed inside the Girls' Dorm.

When class ended in the afternoon, Celia and Isabelle walked back to the dorm to check on Ash. While they were walking, Isabelle noticed that someone was following them.

”Celia,” she began, ”why is Hunter Guzman following us?”

Celia shrugged. ”Maybe he's just going the same way?”

Isabelle glanced back at the boy who was walking not so far behind them.

”Darling, unless he's also headed to the Girls' Dorm, then he's definitely following us.”

Celia raised her eyebrow at Izzy. ”What would he want with us?”

”Hey!”

Hunter came running up to the girls just outside the Girls' Dorm. At least a few female students turned toward his voice and several girls inside the building practically pressed their faces to the window.

”Hello, Hunter,” Isabelle answered, coolly.

”Can I talk to you guys for a second?” he asked with a friendly smile.