Scorpio, Libra and Aquarius stood around Gemini's bed.

Libra sighed as she put her hands on her hips. "It's impossible to tell if he actually has a bad fever, or if it's that stupid curse."

Scorpio's ponytail swung as she shook her head. "He got sick before, remember? When Leon poisoned him. The curse made Aries go into a coma after she's already been in one. It makes sense that he'd get sick again after already being sick."

"If he just has a fever isn't that good?" asked Aquarius. "At least it's not worst."

"That's assuming the fever stays like it is," frowned Scorpio.

"The curse could make him worst at any moment," nodded Libra.

"Aries also got worst all of the sudden a few days ago." Aquarius glanced at his watch. "We should go to school soon."

"Who's going to stay and watch over Gemini?" asked Libra.

"You guys go to school. I can handle myself." Gemini cracked his eyes open and weakly smiled at the others. His palms were sweaty from his high body temperature.

"I think you'll soon have to go to the hospital." Libra stuck a thermometer in his mouth. "I'd watch you but I have a test before lunch. Afterwards, I'll come back home to look over you."

"He'll get worst if I stay." Scorpio kept her face expressionless despite everything she was feeling. "That's how it works. Everything happens when I'm around."

"But he got sick before you came to his room," added Aquarius.

Scorpio almost felt relief, until she remembered what happened yesterday. "He started coughing and he said he wasn't feeling well during our study session with Virgo and Taurus yesterday."

"How are they feeling?" Aquarius pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Let's see if they're sick too. If they are, it's not the curse."

"But them not being sick wouldn't prove that he has the curse either," sighed Libra.

"Virgo says he's alright." Aquarius frowned as he checked the message he just received on his phone. "Taurus says her legs feel funny, as if she can't move them. Other that that she's alright."

Scorpio rolled her eyes. "She's using jokes to cope with her paralysis. That doesn't really surprise me."

"I'll see who wants to watch over this big dummy," smirked Aquarius as he texted the group chat.

Gemini threw a pillow at Aquarius. "You're the dummy."

Aquarius: Guys who wants to watch Gemini? He's really sick from the curse

Capricorn: Is he okay?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I'll be there in a few seconds

Aquarius: he's alright, we just need someone to watch him and take care of him

Capricorn: I can

Pisces: he probably doesn't want to go to school lol

Taurus: Pisces, there's a time and a place to joke around

Sagittarius: Taurus has a point

Pisces: i am deeply sorry for being inconsiderate. For now on, I'll make sure I don't joke about serious matters

Pisces: that was a sincere apology. I'm not being sarcastic

Gem: 🤔

Pisces: ask cancer. I'm being sincere

Cancer: he's actually being sincere

Pisces: thanks Cancer

Leo: I heard the group chats were crazier than this

Sagittarius: wait a few minutes

Libra: so Capricorn will watch Gemini?

Capricorn: yes

Scorpio: then there's no reason for anyone to reply further under this group chat

Sagittarius: but I want to keep talking

Gem: they're trying to tell us to stop replying before the chat gets crazy. How rude

Gemini: my phone keeps going off and I don't feel well

Gem: okay we'll stop replying this one time

Virgo: did I wake up in a parallel universe?

Taurus: ikr. Aquarius starts a conversation, Pisces apologizes, and then Gem agrees to stop texting before the group chat starts spamming everyone

Leo: then what are the conversations usually like

Cancer: crazy

Pisces: what? No they're perfectly normal. It's like this all the time Leo

Virgo: she knows better than to believe you

Libra put her phone away to get Gemini some more cold cloths. When she returned, someone knocked at the door.

Capricorn walked in the room, and sat on the foot of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Gemini smirked at the sound of Capricorn's voice. "Better now that you're here."

Libra sighed. "Such a flirt."

"Alright. Now that he's here, let's get ready for school." Aquarius walked towards the door. "If anything happens, call us."

"If his temperature spikes, take him straight to the hospital," informed Libra before her, Scorpio and Aquarius left.

***

During lunch, everyone except Aries, Gemini, Libra, and Capricorn sat on the grassy field outside the school.

"It's almost may." Gem stole a strawberry from Sagittarius. "We have around two months."

"Everyone's gotten so much stronger." Virgo looked around. "I believe we could defeat them."

"Change of topic, let's play truth or dare," suggested Pisces.

"Then we'll start with you," smirked Taurus. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to start doing to chicken dance."

Pisces stood up and did the chicken dance as Taurus played the song from her phone. People stopped to watch and wonder what the fuck Pisces was doing.

Pisces sat down. "Aquarius. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to give Leo a hug."

"Is it because he's awkward and shy?" asked Leo.

Ignoring Leo's question, Aquarius awkwardly hugged Leo. "Virgo. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Did you actually copy Libra's art project last week like she said you did?"

Virgo chuckled. "I didn't copy her. I didn't have any ideas, so I looked at her project for inspiration."

"That's copying!" shouted Cancer.

Virgo sighed. "Taurus, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"What's something you don't like about everyone here?"

Taurus smirked before using sign language to explain.

"She just signed the word annoying!" blurted out Pisces.

"How do you know that?" asked Taurus.

Pisces smirked. "I started learning sign language to eavesdrop on your conversations with Libra."

"Then what does this mean?" Taurus signed for fish.

"Uh...." Pisces shrugged. "Hello?"

"Fish."

"WAIT A MINUTE! You made that sign before you did the sign language for annoying!"

"Leo, truth or dare," chuckled Taurus as she ignored Pisces' statement.

"Truth."

Taurus frowned. "She doesn't have her memories. What can I ask her?"

Leo grinned. "I'm invincible."

"Did you take the last piece of chocolate cheesecake?" Scorpio tilted her head after asking the question.

"Answer that one," agreed Taurus.

Leo's expression dropped. "Uh... uh..."

Scorpio scooted closer to Leo.

Leo backed up. "I... uh..." Leo got up and sprinted away.

"Since she's gone, I'll ask someone. Virgo, truth or dare?" asked Scorpio.

Virgo looked at her dead in the eyes without blinking, as if to say bring it on. "Dare."

"I dare you to give Pisces your phone and let him text Libra."

Virgo signed as Pisces snatched the phone out of his hands. "Here." He entered the password.

Pisces put the phone in down so everyone could see.

Virgo: I'm in love with you! Just letting you know! I obsess over you every day

Libra: oh really? 😊

Virgo: yeah

Libra: I didn't know you liked me...

Libra: Pisces

Virgo: what? No, it's Virgo

Libra: Virgo doesn't talk like that. I'm guessing Pisces has his phone

Virgo: wtf are you psychic

Libra: I get my psychic powers from peeling orange peels 😏 isn't that why you peel oranges?

Pisces' face turned red at the mention of him peeling the orange a few days ago.

"What is she talking about with the oranges?" asked Cancer.

"Ask the BLUSHING zodiac!" smirked Sagittarius.

Gem elbowed Pisces. "What does she mean by peeling oranges?"

Pisces dropped Virgo's phone and sprinted away.

"Instead of kicking people out of the group chat, we're chasing people away," sighed Taurus.

"I really want to know why she was teasing him about peeling oranges." Aquarius furrowed his brow. "What could that possibly mean?"

"Who hasn't gone yet?" asked Virgo. "Gem. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to read something over the school speakers after class starts, after lunch."

"Give me something to read then."

Virgo smirked. "I'll have something prepared for later."

Gem looked at Sagittarius who sat next to her. "Dare or dare?"

"That's not how it goes."

"Dare or dare?"

"Dare," replied Sagittarius.

"I dare you to read whatever Virgo's going to make me say over the speakers with me."

Sagittarius frowned. "That's not fair."

"I approve," smirked Virgo.

Sagittarius crossed her arms. "I'll read it much better than you will. Scorpio, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you know what the whole orange peeling thing was about?"

"I actually don't. Cancer, truth or dare?"

Cancer frowned. "I was hoping you'd forget me and ask someone else. Dare."

"I dare you to give me ten dollars."

Cancer crossed his arms. "Wait, you can't do that!"

"Pay up." Scorpio smirked as she held open her empty hands.

"Bye!" Cancer ran away.

Suddenly, the lunch bell rang. Everyone groaned as they got up and headed for class.

"Everything's so boring without everyone," groaned Gem. "Our truth or are games are usually more fun."

"It's not the same without everyone." Aquarius sighed. "I hope we get everyone back soon."

***

After her test, Libra headed for Gemini's room. When she got there, the room was empty. Libra looked around.

Where's Gemini and Capricorn?

Libra pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called Capricorn. It went to voice mail.

With her pulse soaring, she went to send Capricorn a text, when she remembered she turned the notifications off her phone before her test.

Capricorn sent her a few messages.

Libra sighed in relief as she read them. That relief was short lived. Gemini's temperature got higher so Capricorn took him to the hospital. According to Capricorn, Gemini wasn't doing very well.

Libra immediately went downstairs and fetched the keys before driving to the hospital.

***

Capricorn sat in the waiting room of the hospital. The doctors wanted to run some tests to make sure Gemini didn't have some kind of infection or illness causing him to have such a bad fever. The doctors made him leave the room so they could work without distractions.

Capricorn told himself repeatedly that Gemini would be alright. He told himself that the curse wouldn't actually try to kill him. It just made him sick like he was before, except much worst.

Capricorn was still lost in thought when he felt someone sitting next to him.

"How's Gemini?"

Capricorn sighed and looked at Libra with a worried expression. "They're doing some tests on him now."

"Did you eat yet?"

Capricorn leaned on Libra's shoulder. "Of course."

"Are you lying?"

"No."

"I can tell when you're lying. First of all, your voice sounds hesitant."

"I didn't have time to eat. I brought Gemini here, and now I'm waiting to see what's going to happen."

"I'll get you something." Libra gently removed Capricorn's head from her shoulder before standing up and heading towards the vending machines.

Fifteen minutes later, she returned with two bottles of water, and a small cup of ice cream from a gift shop.

Capricorn happily took the ice cream, then reached for the spoon Libra handed to him. "Thanks."

Libra sat back down so that Capricorn could lean on her again. "Were you just going to starve until the doctors updated you on what's going on?"

"I don't care about eating in times like this. I only care about Gemini."

Libra ruffled Capricorn's hair. "You guys always make me worry about you."

Capricorn paused his eating to furrow his brow. "What does that mean?"

"I worry about you guys a lot. I'm worried something will happen during the trials, and I won't be there to look over you guys and keep you all in line."

"You're literally the mother of this friend group."

"If I don't care for you guys, who will? You won't even care for yourselves."

"I was too worried to eat. It's not that deep."

"So you guys would be fine on your own if I wasn't there to step in every so often?"

Capricorn paused to think. "In retrospect, you wouldn't let us outside in winter without all the proper winter clothes. You don't let us eat cookie dough because the raw egg may contain salmonella, even if we don't even know if that's true or not. You don't let us ride bikes without our helmets. You really have acted like a mother to all of us. Even Virgo relies on you sometimes."

"That's why I'm worried if something happens to me."

"If it comes down to it, I'll look over the others. But I have no idea how the hell I'll do that, so you're not allowed to die."

"Thats the only reason?" smirked Libra.

"Everyone would be devastated. That's why nobody is allowed to die. I won't let them."

"I don't think it can be helped. Death isn't within our control. Judging by the fact that they feel so threatened, it's not within the alternates' control either."

Capricorn put his empty tub of ice cream on the table next to him. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a few seconds."

Libra sighed, knowing Capricorn was about to fall asleep on her shoulder. She really should have been the official leader of the group, but somehow being the unofficial leader was good enough for her.

***

Cancer was talking to Virgo in art class, when suddenly the school speakers turned on. The substitute teacher shushed the class for what he thought was an important announcement.

"It is I, the annoying Gem."

"And I, the even more annoying Sagittarius."

"Let's see if they follow the rest of the script," whispered Virgo.

"We prepared a poem for you all today," announced Gem.

"We made it while thinking about the awesome handsome genius Virgo." Sagittarius barely got the words out.

"Roses are red."

"So is Virgo's face."

"When we crush him at Mario kart."

"And every other following race."

Virgo frowned. This was not the poem he gave them to read.

"Virgo is actually really weak at video games," announced Gem. "Like, one time we played with our eyes closed and still beat him at Just Dance."

Virgo stood up and walked out of class.

Cancer sighed. He tried not to think about what was about to happen, and instead waited patiently.

"Did you know that Virgo plays a lot of love songs on Just Dance?" asked Sagittarius. "Like all the songs where you dance with a partner."

"He does well in school. But it's not because he wants to do well. We think it's because there's someone he wants to-"

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?"

"HELP! THERE'S A HIDEOUS TROLL IN THE OFFICE!" screamed Gem.

"We weren't actually going to say her name."

"I don't care. You guys didn't read the script I gave you, so now you'll suffer the consequences."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Gem and Sagittarius as they ran out of the office.

"They made everything up. None of it is true."

Cancer sat quietly as the class fell silent, waiting to hear what was going to come next.

The principal spoke in a calm voice. "From now on, students are not allowed to make their own announcements over the school speakers."

The art room door flew open. Sagittarius hid under the sink while Gem opened a window and climbed out.

"Shhh! You didn't see us!" whispered Sagittarius.

The substitute teacher looked at the class with wide eyes. "Is this how students from this school normally act?"

"We're usually fairly behaved," replied Cancer. "You get a few crazies here and there."

Virgo ran through the open door. "Did anyone see Gem or Sagittarius?"

Cancer debated weather to rat Sagittarius out or not. Deciding against it, he pointed to the open window where Gem was long gone.

Virgo nodded in gratitude as he looked out the window.

Sagittarius tried to escape while Virgo was busy, but the doors under the sink squealed as she tried to slowly open them. Jumping up, Sagittarius and Virgo made eye contact for five seconds before Sagittarius ran out through the door. Virgo followed her.

"Does this happen everyday?" asked the substitute.

"The teachers just kind of let everyone do what they want at this point," sighed Cancer.

***

Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius walked into Aries' hospital room. Not caring if they were allowed to or not.

"She looks so pale." Leo sat next to the bed. Aquarius stayed near Taurus in case she needed help to get around.

"LEO!" Ghost Aries ran over to the bed and sat down. "Taurus and Aquarius too!"

"When I look at her, I feel like I'm missing something important." Leo looked at Aquarius.

"That's because you guys were so close. You're missing your best friend, that is something important," explained Aquarius.

"We came to visit you, Aries," smiled Taurus. "I overheard Leo and Aquarius planning to go, so I followed them to the hospital."

"I have a message from Sagittarius." Aquarius pulled his phone out of his pocket and read the message out loud. "Wake up soon or else I'll kick your ass and visit you in the hospital and sing to you, so you'll have to endure my terrible singing and not be able to do anything about it."

"She's threatening to sing to Aries if she doesn't wake up?" Leo tried to hide her laugh.

"She doesn't sing well." Taurus cringed. "And Gem doesn't play instruments well. That's why they sometimes play instruments and sing to wake us up in the morning."

Aries kicked her feet up on the bed. "There's no point talking if nobody can hear me anyway. Actually, now I can confess my deepest secrets. I am in love with you, Leo. I have been for a while now. Scorpio, Sagittarius, Gemini and Aquarius are the only ones that know. I was going to confess until I got put in a coma."

Leo's eyes widened. "Really?"

Aries froze for a second. Her face would have paled if she wasn't a ghost.

"Do they really do that to wake everyone up?" added Leo.

Aquarius nodded. "Why else would we keep a pair of earplugs on our night stands?"

Taurus looked out the window. "I hope Gemini is alright."

"We didn't see him, Capricorn or Libra here. That's a good sign," sighed Aquarius.

Aries' brow furrowed. "What happened to Gemini?"

Leo nodded. "He's probably still in bed at home."

"WHAT HAPPENED TO GEMINI?"

"Let's hope his curse is just a fever." Taurus glanced at her immobile legs. "It could have been something much worst."

Aries pouted. Something happened to Gemini and there was no way for her to ask what happened. She heard the word fever, but she still didn't know what was going on.

She was about to start worrying, until she realized her condition couldn't get much worst before it got bad enough that she wouldn't ever wake up.

"Let's give her some rest." Leo stood up. "We probably shouldn't stay here too long in case she likes it when it's quiet."

Taurus and Aquarius exchanged a look.

Leo turned around. "What?"

"When Aries was first put in a coma, you refused to leave her," explained Aquarius.

Taurus nodded. "You spent all your time after school at the hospital with her."

"I don't really know what to say. I don't know too much about her. I came here to see how she's doing, but I can't really talk to her because I don't know what to say."

"We'll leave then." Aquarius grabbed Taurus' wheelchair. "She'll wake up. Aries is way too stubborn to let a curse kill her."

After everyone said goodbye to Aries, they walked through the hospital hallways. They stopped when they saw Libra in the waiting room with a sleeping Capricorn leaning on her.

"What are you doing here?" asked a worried Taurus.

Libra smiled. "Gemini is alright. The doctors did some tests. He's got a fever, but that's it. He just needs to rest for a bit."

"Then why are you still here?" asked Leo.

"I'm waiting for Capricorn to wake up. He's tired." Libra stroked his hair gently.

Aquarius picked Capricorn up carefully. "I'll bring him out to the car."

Libra stood up. "Why are you guys here?"

"Visiting Aries," replied Taurus.

"He's starting to feel heavy." Aquarius followed Libra out to the car.

"Come on, let's get a ride home with them." Leo pushed Taurus' wheelchair through the hospital.

***

Scorpio sat down on a couch in the secret lair, across from Pisces. "What's the top secret information that you want to tell me, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone else under any circumstance?"

Pisces pulled a new shipping chart out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Who do you like?"

Scorpio stared blankly at him.

"So I've figured out that the only people left on my shipping chart are you, Gem, and Aries."

Scorpio looked at the chart. "How did you rule the others out? Okay you assumed Leo and Aquarius will start dating, along with you and Sagittarius."

Pisces looked at Scorpio with a red face. "You already saw my old shopping chart anyway. So, I don't think there will be any couples between you, Aries and Gem. That means you guys will probably date someone that's not in the friend group."

"There. Shipping chart completed."

"There's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about." Pisces folded his shipping chart and put it back in his pocket.

"Are you asking me advice about Sagittarius?"

"Do you know if she has a type?"

Scorpio nodded. "Tall, muscular, nerdy boys with dark hair. She wants a guy who's serious."

Pisces frowned. "That's the polar opposite of me."

"Exactly!"

"She didn't actually say that, did she?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Then how do I make her like me?"

Scorpio sighed. "Just ask her out. You guys keep playing games, trying to make the other person fall for you."

"Who else asked you for dating advice?" Pisces smirked. "You said you guys."

"I'm not telling you."

"Aquarius probably."

"Tell her you like her. Problem solved."

"It's not that easy."

"It's not that hard either."

"If you had a crush you'd understand."

"I don't really give enough fucks to worry about if someone likes me back."

"I wonder if you actually mean that, or if you like pretending you don't have emotions."

"..."

"Don't tell anyone I like Sagittarius!"

"Chat sessions with Scorpio are always confidential."

Pisces headed for the stairs. "If you find out what kind of things she likes, let me know."

Scorpio nodded. Sometimes it's really fun being the secretive friend that everyone confides in because they know she can keep a secret.