
Chapter 19
Olivia Beckham
There's one week before spring break and I'm so ready to not be at school. We've been reviewing for tests and exams all week and this week we're actually taking them. I'm currently sitting in math ready to throw my math textbook at the teacher's head and the only thing stopping me is Charlie telling me not to throw the book at the teacher. So I'd say that this is going grand. We still have 40 minutes of class and I'm ready to rage at the teacher and never come back. Instead of causing physical damage to anyone else, I bang my head against the desk a few times before Charlie slides his hand under my forehead to stop me from hurting myself more.
"I'm gonna go crazy and then I'll go to a mental hospital then I'll have to repeat junior year Charlie" I groan out with my head still on the desk
"You're not going to go crazy. You'll be just fine. I promise." he says and I can hear the smile on his face. I put my head into my arms on the desk and I slump into Charlie's sweatshirt covered shoulder. Today is a work day for math which means that we're just working on the review packet from last week. I've only finished half of it but I'm so sick of working on quadratic equations. I absolutely hate doing anything math related. I pull out my phone and start doing absolutely nothing on it because what the heck else am I supposed to do? Charlie takes my phone from my hands and puts it in his sweatshirt pocket before saying, "You need to finish your packet." He didn't even look at me because he's so focused on his work but I knew he was paying attention because he always is. When I make no move to do my work, Charlie looks over at me with his own version of a 'really?' look, "C'mon get your work done Ol."
"Leave me alooooone" I whine to Charlie and he responds with a noncommittal fine. I decide I will take a nap because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I'm already tired. By the time class ends I've officially done no work in my packet and Charlie still has my phone. I stand up and put all my stuff in my backpack while Charlie does the same. We have different classes this hour so we go our separate ways with him going to science and me going to history. I sit down in history, ready to tune out the world and scroll on my phone that Charlie almost forgot to give back to me. The bell rings and the teacher walks up to the front and starts droning on about the French and Indian war. I set my phone down and somewhat pay attention because he's covering actually new material that I'll probably need to know for a test in the near future. Class is halfway over when I start to feel my stomach gurgle and automatically feel nauseous. I feel like I'm going to puke and I don't know why. The last time I ate was dinner last night so there isn't even anything to puke. My head starts to pound and I can feel sweat starting to form on my forehead. I lay my head down on the cool desk which relieves the sudden warmth I feel only for a second. I start to feel faint like I'm going to pass out and I really don't want to do that in the middle of class. I feel the panic start to rise in my stomach and the only audible thought that forms in my head is that I need Charlie. Pulling out my phone, I send him a text since I'm in the middle of class but I barely lift my head and I start to feel faint again. Somehow I am able to send Charlie a quick message:
Olivia: I don't feel good I'm gonna pass out any pointers?
I put my phone down and rest my head back on my desk, willing my body to go back to normal and rid itself of whatever's happening. I lay in the same position for who knows how long when I hear the door open and a familiar voice speaking to the teacher from across the room. Charlie's saying something about me and I try my best to pull my head above my arms I'm resting on so I can see what's happening. The teacher answers him then goes back to whatever he's lecturing about and I feel Charlie's hand clamp down on my knee. "Ols what's going on" he says quietly. "Talk to me. Tell me what's wrong"
"I can't" I whisper back because my voice feels nonexistent right now.
"C'mere. I've already talked to the teacher for you. Can you sit up and look at me Ol?" he says softly
"I just want to leave" I whisper
"Ok let me help you" I feel the heat of his hand leave my knee but a minute later it's back around my back and under my arm. I feel him lift me up and I close my eyes as a wave of nausea comes from standing up again. He guides me out of the room and once the door shuts behind us, I lean into him fully and try to take deep breaths to control my urge to puke.
"Ol what's going on?" he asks again while guiding me to a bench on the side of the hallway. He kneels in front of me, holding my hands in his, trying to get a read on my expression and what's going on inside my head.
"I don't know. I just don't feel good at all and I don't know where it came from." I can feel the sweat forming on my forehead and I can feel the urge to puke getting stronger by the second. Feeling puke coming up my throat, I bolt for the trash can, making it there just before puking up the water that was in my stomach. A moment later I feel Charlie's hands come around my stomach and he slowly turns me around, leaning my head against his chest. I focus on the steady rhythm of his heart which calms me a little bit. I stay in his embrace for a little bit until I feel myself about to puke again and rush back to the trash can but all I can do is dry heave. I go back to Charlie and hug him again and I can feel the nausea easing up. He walks me back to his car and sits me in the passenger before walking over to the driver's side and throwing our backpacks in the back seat. "How are you feeling, Ollie?" he asks me.
"Better now. I'm just a little dizzy." I answer him, closing my eyes.
We get home and he parks his car in his driveway. I just want to get to my bed and sleep because if I don't, I'm afraid that I'll actually pass out somewhere other than a bed. Charlie gets out and comes over to my side and opens the door, kneeling down to get level with me. He unbuckles my seatbelt and wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me out of the car. We walk slowly towards his house through the garage when I feel myself start to stumble and my head to spin. A second later I'm running to the side of his house and into the bushes to puke again. Charlie walks over to me when I'm finished and guides me back inside his house with his hand on my back.
"Go lay on the couch. I'll be right back." he tells me before walking away, leaving me in the doorway of his living room. I start to walk into their living room when I feel myself break out into a cold sweat so I lean against the door frame, trying to feel normal again. I stay there for a few minutes until I hear footsteps and a feminine voice say, "Oh you poor child! Come here, let's get you situated." and suddenly I feel an arm wrap around my waist and pull me off the door frame. She sits me on the couch and moves around some pillows before laying me down and covering me up with a blanket.
"I'll be right back love" she says before walking back out. I close my eyes again and repress the shiver that runs down my spine. Suddenly I feel someone next to me so I slowly open my eyes to see Charlie standing awkwardly in front of me. "I ah, didn't know what to do and my mom was home from work sooo um yeah" he says awkwardly. He sits on the side of the couch, resting his hand on my leg staring into space silently. I close my eyes again trying to avoid this unpleasant interaction while also not wanting to puke again. A few minutes later his mom comes back carrying water, medicine, and a thermometer. She puts the thermometer to my head, taking it away when it beeps at her. "When do your parents get off work Olivia?" she asks me.
"Ummmm my dad gets off at midnight and my mom gets off at eight tomorrow morning. But I can go back to my house. I just need sleep" I assure her.
"Nonsense love. You can stay here." she replies before walking out of the room and leaving me here with Charlie. He pulls out his phone and starts to rub small circles on my leg and soon I fall asleep.
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Charlie Williams
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My girl falls asleep almost immediately after my mom leaves the room which leaves me to my thoughts. I feigned being busy earlier because I wanted her to sleep but now that she's actually sleeping, I have no idea what to do. I have to stay in here because I don't want her to puke again and choke to death but at the same time, I feel awkward just sitting here doing nothing like a creep. I decide now's a good time to get my homework done, so I run and grab my bag before coming back to join Ols. I am in the middle of doing my English paper when Ollie stirs again. It's been only 15 minutes. She should still be asleep. She groans before sitting up and running out of the room and a minute later I hear her puking. I hurry over to the bathroom where she is and see her resting her head on the bowl of the toilet, just finishing her upheaval. After I'm sure she's done, I slowly help her up from the toilet and back to the couch where she quickly falls asleep again. Deciding that I don't want to sit here and do nothing, I grab Ollie's phone from her bag and text her mom's number:
Olivia: Hello Mrs. Beckhams this is Charlie. Olivia has been puking all afternoon so I brought her over to my house where my mom and I have been taking care of her.
She doesn't reply right away, but then again I didn't expect her to because she's probably in the middle of a shift. Still, I wanted to make sure she knew nevertheless. My mom walks in a minute later, "Did she puke again?" she asks. I nod my head, preoccupied with my paper once again and she sits down on the opposite couch but not before putting a bowl on the floor next to Ollie. We sit like this for a while before I put my stuff away and head back to school for basketball practice. Once I pull into the parking lot, I quickly change into my gym clothes and head to the gym. I see my whole group of friends with no one else from the team in the gym and they're all huddled together on the bleachers talking to each other. When Aaron sees me, he jutts his head towards the direction of the group signaling for me to join them. I walk over and sit down while tuning into their conversation.
"I'm just saying, if men could fly it would solve all our problems." Jordan was telling the group. Noah was sketching a picture of what we would look like if we could fly and Elijah was helping him, giving pointers here and there. Aaron was trying to convince them that it's better if they could teleport instead of flying. And Levi is downright ignoring them playing snake runner on his phone. They all fall silent and look at me with brooding eyes. I sigh before saying, " I would rather be able to teleport. You wouldn't need to fly if you could teleport everywhere" I hear a collective "that makes sense" and "that's right" as they all agree in unison. We continue talking for a few more minutes as everyone else on the team trickles in slowly. The coaches come in a minute later and we get started practicing.
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The next day Ollie still isn't feeling very well but luckily her dad will be able to stay with her so that she's not alone all day. I pick up her homework for her and before I go home, I decide to go by our local cafe and pick her up some of my favorite soup. My mom would always buy a special soup for whenever we were sick and even though we don't live in Illinois anymore, I found this soup a few weeks ago and I've been buying it nonstop for a snack whenever I'm near this cafe. After I get her some soup, I drive back to my house and walk over to her house, knocking on the door. Her dad opens the door a second later and I say, "Hello sir, I brought over some stuff for Olivia. May I see her?" "She's asleep. I can give it to her and you can see her later." he informs me. Before accepting her homework and soup and closing the door. I walk back to my house utterly confused. I go up onto my roof and pull out my phone and shoot Ols a text:
Charlie: Hey Ollie girl how are you feeling?
Hedgehog: I'm feeling a little bit better still puking and can't hold anything down but besides that, I'm doing better.
Charlie: That's good Ols! I brought you your homework and soup. I gave it to your dad
Hedgehog: thanks boyfriend
I shut off my phone and lay back on the roof, mystified as to why her parents dislike me so much. All I want to do right now is run into my girl's house and wrap her up in my arms so that she never has to feel the hurt and pain of the world.
I go back downstairs when the sun starts to set and it starts to get cold out and because I'm hungry, I decide to make dinner tonight because I'm in the mood for some honey garlic chicken and my parents insist that I'm the best at making it and I honestly don't mind it because it's so satisfying to actually cook something that's made from random materials. I put some music on our kitchen speakers and get to work breading the chicken. About halfway through making dinner, my dad comes home from his office and sits at the island while talking about his day and asking about mine. We talk for a little while until I start to fry the chicken and my dad gets up and helps me with making the sauce. My mom walks into the house right as I'm frying the last of the chicken and joins in our conversation. She sets the table for us and I finish making the chicken and pour the sauce into a serving bowl. We all sit down and start eating with our conversation steered towards trivial topics.
It's almost eleven thirty when I finally go to bed. I text Ollie a good night and a promise to stop by tomorrow if she's still not feeling good. I don't get a response but I didn't think I would either. I plug in my phone and get into bed and fall asleep almost immediately.
The next day I'm starting my car when I see Ollie walk out with all of her stuff on her back. Mystified, I walk over to her and say, "Hey Ols! Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah." she continues, "See you at school huh?" before she promptly turns around and tries to get in her car. Tries being the keyword, because I grab onto her upper arm before she can take two steps away from me. I turn her back around to face me and corral her in my arms for a big bear hug. I notice how warm she feels in my arms. I look at her face and realize how flushed she looks too.
"Are you actually Ok? You still feel a little warm." I ask and she pulls out of my grasp.
"I haven't thrown up since yesterday and I don't want to have to make up any more work so I'm going back." She says trying to leave again.
"Why don't you ride with me?"
"I have stuff I gotta do after school. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I promise." she says before successfully escaping. I let her go this time and watch as she pulls away before walking back to my car and doing the same.
True to her word, Ollie does indeed perk up throughout the day which eases my worries a little bit. I can't tell if she's being genuine about how she feels or not though. I just hope that for her sake, she would tell me if something was actually going on and wouldn't try and hide it from me.
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