The others are already working on their projects when I step into the art room. I sit down between Gerard and Jenna in my usual spot. "Hey, you," Gerard says, glancing up at me with a small smile.

"Hey," I reply. Cody is mixing his paints and Lynn is painting blue on his arm. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"There's too much blue here," Lynn says. "I'd have to add a lot of yellow in order to get the right amount of green and I don't feel like throwing out the paint."

"She's giving me a tattoo," Cody says without looking up.

"Nice," I reply. I look at Jenna and see her sitting in her spot barely moving. I nudge her leg with my foot but she winces. "You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," her voice breaks, really hoarse. "I just think I'm sick." She turns her head away and clears her throat. "I don't feel well, I hurt."

Lynn looks up at her. "You hurt?" she asks concerned.

"Your skin?" Cody asks. "My mom said you could have stayed home."

"I know but it's Friday and I just didn't want to miss another day."

"I understand but where does it hurt?" She shakes her head. Gerard looks up at her.

"My throat," she answers. She rests her head in her hand.

Cody takes his arm back from Lynn, walking over to her side. "Your throat? Not your skin?"

"Well, my skin, it itches, too," she says. "Nothing more than last night, though. My throat hurts now."

Lynn and Gerard look at Cody but he doesn't move. "Do you want to go to the nurse?"

"I don't know, I think I'll be fine," she mumbles. "I just don't want to do anything."

"I mean, what else is new-" Jenna glares at him, rolling her eyes. "Kidding, sorry, but your throat shouldn't hurt."

"Maybe I'm getting sick, Gerard got sick like a week ago, it's common." Gerard looks up at her, not saying anything. "It's fine, just got to make it through the day."

In history, we take notes half the period, talking about the Great Compromise. Honestly, white men in history are so full of themselves. They call some meager arrangement on how to happily continue being racist a Great Compromise. Well, they also thought WWI was the "war to end all wars". Psych because the sequel followed like 20 years later. But after we take notes, we are given a worksheet and can talk with our peers.

"Hey, you still want to come over tonight and have a movie marathon, right?" Gerard asks. He twirls his pen around in his hand.

"Yep," I say, finishing up the last question. "What are we watching again?"

"Now You See Me," he says.

"Oh, right, right," I say. I flip over the back and realize there is no back, which is one of the nicest feelings in school. We have 10 minutes left so I have time to chill out before going to gym. We're playing volleyball today.

"Hey, weird question," Gerard asks, setting his pen down.

"What's up?"

"So I'm almost finished with one of my other art projects, I'm wondering if you'd be okay if my next one, I did of you?"

I look at him confused. "Wait, you want to do me?" I flinch as I realize I couldn't have worded that more terribly.

Gerard chuckles under his breath. "Well, if you're offering, at least let me buy you dinner, first." I take my folder off my desk and smack him in the face. He bursts out laughing, putting his arms up in front of him. "Ah! Hey, you said it, not me."

"That's not what I meant though," I sigh, "and you know it."

Gerard laughs, leaning back in his seat. "Well, backtracking, yeah, I have an idea but I just want to make sure I can."

"Yeah, I don't mind," I say.

"Rad," he replies.

I smile awkwardly. "What do you have in mind?" I ask.

Gerard gives a sigh, reaching into his bag for what I assume is his sketchbook. "Well, I'm thinking of an ebony sketch of you and then watercolors in the background, haven't worked it out yet. But it'll take me a few weeks, well," he pauses, thinking about the time. "Break is coming up so maybe not that long. I don't know but we'll see." He smiles at me brightly. He flips through the sketchbook and stops at one of the pages. There are color swatches of blues and purples. "I was thinking of something with these colors, I don't know yet."

We hand our worksheets in and then continue talking until class ends. Gerard heads back to art and I go to gym. Cody is already in the boy's locker room by the time I walk over. We change and then head out to the gymnasium, waiting in line f attendance. Cody, Jenna, and I stand together. Our last names aren't relatively close so we wait near Cody until our teacher comes out. "You don't look too good, Jen," Cody says.

She didn't take off her leggings, wearing them underneath her gym shorts. But her short sleeve gym shirt reveals her arms, blistering and scabbing. "It's worse on my legs," she says, her voice is still hoarse. She looks very discolored in her face, fatigue and pale. Her eyes are glazed over and droopy.

"Do you usually lose your voice?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Huh, maybe you have a cold or something as well."

"Maybe," she says. "I don't know, it's worse on my legs though, the back of my knees are bleeding."

"Oh my god," I wince. "Does it get this bad?"

"Usually, it's worse, I'm not sore, it just burns and itches," she says.

"Don't scratch it, when you get home, you know your dad's going to check and he'll know if you were scratching."

"I know, I know."

"Line up!" our teacher calls out. Jenna and I head further down the line. Nobody has the last name starting with I so I stand between H and J in attendance. There are a lot of kids with M names so Jenna's in a large mix. We're playing volleyball today and my team consists of Cody, Jenna, and then a girl named Ashley who is really nice and one of Jenna's acquaintances named Tay. There are two other guys on our team who are kind of assholes but they are pretty athletic so at least they don't suck.

The first round is really boring, it's against the freshman boys who think they're all that and with the girls who don't want to touch the ball. The whole time, it's one of the guys on my team serving the ball, none of them hitting it, one of the freshman boys running to get it, throwing it toward us but completely missing it and then one of us having to do the walk of shame to retrieve it. But the second game is much better. It's the senior girls and they are really good. There's one guy on their team but he knows how to spike it and it gets intense. I actually have fun and the other team isn't a douches about it, which makes it a million times better. Jenna doesn't really play, but I don't blame her. She will set it if it comes her way but bumping it would hurt her arms.

We go back and forth, having spent 3 minutes without either team letting the ball hit the floor. Jenna sets it and then Tay passes it to me. I manage to swat it over the net. One of the girls on the other team dives on the ground, hitting it back up in the air and a ginger girl punches it, making it over the net. Both Cody and one of the guys both go for it, crashing into each other. Ashley ends up bumping it back over to the other side but the guy spikes it.

The volleyball smacks Jenna in the face, her hair flinging in the air. Before she falls down, she manages to set it in the air. Tay slaps it over the net and the other team misses it. Everyone starts screaming in hysteria, the other team frustrated they didn't get it. One of the girls starts shouting "Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!"

The guy looks over the net. "Hey, I'm really sorry!" he calls out. I glance behind me and realize Jenna is still lying on the ground, Tay and Cody kneeling down next to her. "Is she okay?" he asks, walking underneath the net.

"Jenna?" I call out. Her eyes are open but she's not responding. Her skin is very pale, her eyes look sunken in. "Jenna?" The guy approaches near me and we both go over to her. "Hey, is she okay?" I ask.

"I am really sorry, Jen, I wasn't meaning to hit you," the guy says.

"Something's wrong," Cody says, shaking her. She winces, closing her eyes. "No, stop," he tells her, shaking her until she opens them again. "Get the coach." The guy and Ashley both run over to get one of the gym teachers. "Jenna?"

Tay looks at him, he's not freaking out but he's very serious. "Does she have a concussion?" Tay asks.

Cody gives a small shake. "I don't think she got hit that hard but maybe when she fell." Cody places his hands on the side of her face. "She's burning, something's wrong."

"Cody..." she mumbles, slowly blinking. "I'm dizzy."

"Hey, you're okay," he says very direct. "Look at me, you're okay."

"What happened?" One of the gym teachers comes jogging over, the female one. "She got hit in the head?" I step back to let her by. "Jenna? Are you okay?" Jenna turns in her direction, mumbling something. "Can you sit up?" She tries raising herself, slowly propping herself on her elbows. "Take her to the nurse, both of you, don't let her go."

Cody helps Jenna up and Tay holds her hand on the other side. I see Jenna's face, wincing when they touch her arms but they don't have another choice. They walk her out of gym and head to the nurse. The others look at me, the guy who hit her looks really upset. "I feel god awful," he says, glancing back at his team. The other girls look at him sympathetically.

"It's okay, you weren't trying hurt her," I tell him, "and I don't think you did that. She wasn't feeling well this morning, said she was dizzy."

"Oh, okay, but still. She was standing up before I hit her."

I get to lunch and Gerard and Amelia are already there. "Hey, where're the others?" Amelia asks.

"Uh, Jenna got hit in the head with a volleyball and Cody took her to the nurse," I explain.

"Oh, I hope she's okay, she need an ice?"

I glance down. "Well, when she got hit, she fell on the ground and she was dazed, she couldn't really respond." The others stop messing with their lunch and look up. "She wasn't unconscious, her eyes were open but she wasn't talking well."

"How hard did she get hit?" Gerard asks.

I think back, it was a spike but couldn't have been that bad, could it? "It was pretty hard, it would have knocked like Cody over too if he got hit in the face but I don't think it would have given her a concussion."

Gerard shakes his water bottle, mixing up the flavor packet. "Well, she wasn't feeling too good this morning, it might have to do with that."

"That's what I'm thinking."

"Hey, there's Cody," Amelia says. I glance behind me and see him heading back. He's dressed in his street clothes and he has his backpack with him. "Hey, is Jenna okay?"

He sits down next to me and I slide down a bit. "Uh, her dad had to come but he wasn't answering his phone so they called my mom to get her. She left a few minutes ago. She has a high fever."

"What does she have?" I ask. "Is it from the eczema?"

Cody shakes his head. "No, that wouldn't affect her head. Maybe her skin that's irritated would have a fever if it's swollen from her scratching at it but not her head." He rests his arms on top of the table. "I hope she's okay," he finally says.

"I'm sure she will be, she's a tough girl," Amelia says, digging through her lunchbox.

Amelia and I continue talking in math. She and Jenna were supposed to hang out after school but things have changed. Granted, her stuff is already at their house. I tell her Gerard and I were planning on hanging out and then we might be heading over afterward. Hopefully, Jenna would be okay. I'm worried about her but at the same time, I feel like she's going to be okay. Last time this happened, she was fine. However, it wasn't this bad last time. I don't really know how I feel but one thing's for sure, trigonometry is the last of my concerns.

When I head outside with Amelia, it's a bit colder outside now, the wind chilling and blowing around out hair. Cody and Gerard meet us in the drops us off at Gerard's house and then offers us to hang out later if everything's okay. He promises to text us when he finds out what's going on.

Gerard unlocks his front door and the two of us head in. "I do hope she's okay," Gerard says, taking off his shoes.

"Same. She didn't look right last time I saw her."

"She didn't look right in art," Gerard notes. "Is Amelia heading over to their place now?" he asks.

"I think so, she said she was going over there and her stuff is at their place." Gerard nods along. He takes my hand and we head over to his family room. The two of us drop our bags behind the sofa and then we sit down. "We still going to watch the movie?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'll set it up." Gerard grabs the remote and starts flipping through the settings. "You can grab a blanket if you want."

I turn around and see a large, fuzzy blanket draped over the back of the couch. It's the really nice fuzzy kind that is incredibly soft. I pull it over and it falls on top of me. I feel the static running through my hair. Gerard looks at me in his peripheral vision, smiling to himself. "So I got a blanket, now where's my pillow?" I joke around.

"I can be your pillow if you want," he says, still messing with the TV. I don't say anything, trying to tell if he's joking or not. He keeps flipping through the categories. "Ah, here it is," he says, clicking on the movie. He sets the remote down on the coffee table and lies back. The company credits start playing on screen with the soft music building up. He faces me and smiles. "What?"

"Nothing," I say.

Gerard smiles. "Do you want a pillow? I can get you one. Or would you prefer me?" His stupid grin is back on his face as he raises his eyebrows.

"You're all I need," I say nonchalantly. Gerard laughs along with me but he lies back on the couch, holding open his arms.

"Come in close," the speakers projects. The screen plays with someone shuffling cards in a very extra manner.

"Yeah, Frankie," Gerard says, "come in close." I think he's serious. But he also might be joking. Well, he did offer so even if it is a joke, I'll just go along with it and act cool whenever he calls it off. I lean forward and lie on top of him, resting my head on his chest. Gerard pulls the blanket up and then lets his arms fall to the side but they fall off the couch. I laugh to myself and I can sense him rolling his eyes at me.

The two of us don't move for the duration of the movie. It's a really good storyline because I manage to pay attention to what's happening while freaking out about lying with Gerard. The two of us both laugh but Gerard stay silent whenever I ask a question about the plot. Sometimes I do predict what happens but most of the time, I'm completely wrong. When it finishes, the second one automatically plays after 15 seconds and we continue watching it.

My leg starts going numb so I turn and adjust. Gerard sits up a bit and I lie back down, resting my head in the crook of his neck. He places his hand on top of my head, playing with my hair. Eventually, he runs his hand down my back, dragging his fingers back and forth. Toward the end, he stops doing it and I hear the shift in his breathing. He's fallen asleep.

I hug Gerard close after it finishes. I almost started crying because I thought everyone died. But I refrained from making noise, not wanting to wake up Gee. It seems weird in his living room with him asleep. It's the early evening but it's already dark thanks to winter. The settings display glows brightly, illuminating his face. He looks so pretty in his sleep, like all his worries and his stress have faded away and he's relaxed and peaceful. He's adorable, his messy black hair isn't in his eyes but it's flipped back out of his face and I can actually see his face. I lie back down on his chest. Due to inactivity, the TV automatically shuts itself off and it's completely dark. Between listening to Gerard's rhythmic heartbeat and breathing, the warmth, and the darkness, I can't help but fall asleep myself.

Gerard snaps awake and I open my eyes groggily. The front door opens and he sits up. "Sorry," he mutters, sliding me off of him and sitting upright on the couch. I yawn, adjusting the blanket over my shoulders. Gerard rubs his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," he sighs, wiping away the tears. "My body is just confused. I'm not that sad."

"Hi, Gerard," his mother sings stepping into the house.

"Hey, Frank," his dad says. His parents step into the house, they are dressed rather nicely.

Gerard turns around, looking at them confuzzled. "Hi, you're home?" he asks.

"Yes, dear, you look sleepy," his mother says, tussling his hair as she walks by. "Did you eat anything?"

"Huh?" Gerard looks around. "Oh my god, it's like 11:30," he says glancing at his watch. "We fell asleep just now." Gerard looks up at me, his eyes still watering. "Did Cody text you?"

"I fell asleep too," I say, looking around for my phone. Good thing my parents are out of town or they might have been freaking out. Well, maybe not. I find it on the floor and turn it on. "Oh, Cody did text us at like 4:15 saying we can come over." Gerard winces guiltily. "And then he texted again at like 6:00 and 8."

Gerard pulls his phone out of his jean pocket. "I'm going to give him a call," he says, walking into the other room.

I lay back on the sofa and fix the blanket over the back. "How was your day, Frank?" his dad asks.

I turn around. His mother is organizing several documents and his dad is starting to make dinner. "Um, it was good. Gerard invited me over to watch Now You See Me," I say.

"Those are good movies," his mother notes. "Did you two eat anything?"

I shake my head. "No, we, uh, we just binged watched TV and then we just passed out."

They nod along. "He's probably going to Ella's tonight to hang out with Cody and Jenna," his mother says. "He'll say he's going to eat over there."

"Call her if he does to make sure he isn't lying," his dad says. I sit back on the couch awkwardly. "So Frank, what classes do you have with Gerard?"

I look over at them. "Oh, uh, we have history together, we're working on the project and we also see each other at lunch and we both have an early release." His dad nods along, listening to me. "Yeah, I have my free period first hour so I go down to art to hang out with him and the others."

"That's nice, you are the one who moved down the street a few months ago?"

"Yeah, that's me," I say. I hear Gerard talking from the other room, his voice is low.

"Where'd you move from?" his mom asks.