Chapter 4 – Sickened But Curious

They were both shorter than me or Sophia, Salvador especially. When he hiked them up as far as they would go, his jeans looked more like overalls lacking straps than anything else. His face had gone through a massive change but still seemed recognizable. The edges of his gaunt, lean features had been padded out. He undid his ponytail with Sophia’s help. A midnight stream of locks covered his shoulders. He brushed it backwards and forwards until it seemed he could tolerate how long it was.

Ramirez’s hair couldn’t match that length, not yet. I marveled at how much smaller he was. No longer the bulky linebacker. His jersey draped over his body like an adult poncho placed on a child.

In the weeks I’d known the two of them, I’d seen expressions on their faces which ranged from sly to angry and bitter to ecstatic. The expression they shared right then felt like defeat. They had no jokes to tell and were running out of curses.

Salvador tried to smother his high, chirpy accented voice with the remaining depths of his throat, but he just sounded like Sophia when she tried to mock him. Ramirez tried to swallow his voice as he tightened the towel around his waist. He whispered quietly to Sophia but still loud enough for me to hear, “I might…need to pee…”

The biology teacher went through the rote task of taking roll as we stood in our twin narrow lines. He puffed a long breath when Sophia told him, “They need to go to the restroom.”

He looked between the transformed boys with his normal squinting eyes, as though he still held onto some frail hope this was the most elaborate trick he’d ever witnessed. Before he could give the word, I chimed in that I also needed to go.

My legs quivered as he directed all of his attention on me. He looked at my hair, which hadn’t actually changed, and curled his lip into a harsh frown. His facial hair seemed a little sparser than when class started but it wasn’t far enough along for him to notice. With a snort, he went back inside and retrieved a single, red restroom pass for us to share.

It didn’t take more than a few feet and a turn for Sophia to ask, “Why did you come, Kenzie?” Her face was clenched but didn’t look angry. I brushed my elbow and told her, genuinely, “Because this is nuts. And I dunno…I can watch the door and you can help them.”

Her eyes lingered on mine till Salvador jerked his head and said, “We got better when we were away from you.”

Like a nail poking in my stomach and dragging across the side of my brain. I could only answer, “I dunno. Try it. Maybe I have cooties.”

“Not funny, girl”, was all Sophia answered.

The campus was desolate aside from the occasional golf cart cutting across the blacktop.

Sophia led us on a long route and spoke softly to the guys in Spanish. I caught a few words. Stuff about family and their moms? I knew the three of them lived in the same area where all the new apartment complexes were being built.

I dragged my sneakers across the black circles on the pavement. The eternal remains of a thousand gum wads after every other trace of them had been blasted away by the wind and a million, grinding footsteps. I pondered that as we made our way to the only girl’s restroom worth using.

All others were confined to their own circles of Hell. Those with mysterious brown goo, crusty tampons stacked behind toilets, slimy tiles, vomit artwork, and little watery pools which weren’t water.

I hung around the doorway and watched the others enter. Since the door always stayed open during school hours, I could hear their high voices echoing against the looming walls and through the half-cracked, frosted rectangular windows along the side.

Leaning around the corner, I prodded a trash can with my foot and listened to the wafting sounds of an old nature documentary through the open door of the nearest classroom. In my head, I had a clear sense of what was going to happen next as the seconds ticked by and I was away from the three of them.

First, they would probably try to use the toilets. Freaking out, cursing, and yelling would follow depending on how much had changed under their clothes. Each guy would go into a different stall and check themselves. After that, I had no idea. Would they begin returning to how they normally looked? Would it take longer? Would they come rushing out with their suspicions confirmed and bodies restored? I edged over to the side of the building closest to the stalls.

Everything was still really quiet, even for the tail-end of a class period. I saw just one person walking through a distant, open area with trees and metal tables. I bent the laminated bathroom pass back and forth and bumped my head against the wall. Cringing, I pushed my glasses up and tried to make out what the others were saying.

There were words but, even if I could put together the traces of them clearly, they were still speaking in Spanish. No calls for me. No screaming. I wasn’t sure if that was something to be worried about or relieved.

I scratched my hand and sighed. It couldn’t be long before the bell for third period. I didn’t want to just abandon them but, at the same time, I had stuff due I’d worked on over the short break. If only I’d remembered to wear my watch or magically-owned a cell phone back when not everyone had one.

Instead, all I had to go by was when classes were released early with milling crowds leaking out before the explosions came. By that measure, we still had plenty of…

*GRRRRRNNNNNNZZZZ*

Shit.

The period bell. Only it wasn’t a bell. It was like a broken alarm held on a single note for so long it made you wish for the sweet release of deafness by the time it finally finished. This time was made worse by the fact I didn’t realize I was standing in the blast zone of a speaker hidden by the covered path in front of me.

I shielded myself with my backpack until my wrists started to ache.

Then came the flood. Doors thrashed open with squeaks and slams of wood. They ripped back and forth as each person pushed them out of the way. It didn’t take long before I was swarmed on all sides. Fortunately, no one entered the bathroom I stood next to…for at least twenty seconds.

I had no idea what to say. I blurted out, “It’s broken” to a broad-shouldered blond girl in a letterman jacket. She gave a little turn of her head but continued without missing a step. Anything said within was lost in the growing din all around me. I waited and leaned my head through the opening. Dammit. I could’ve just gone inside.

But I took only a few steps through the threshold and set the bathroom pass on the nearest sink.

I was about to call out and explain but I held my words back and just started walking away.

I cursed to myself over and over and kept looking back even though the bathroom was soon just a flicker between the throngs of passing, yelling, laughing people. I shook my head and merged with the main river.

By the time I left the quad, I convinced myself that I’d done more than enough. I’d stayed around even when they questioned why I came. Whatever happened wasn’t really my business. Still, I felt sick to my stomach with each step.

As consolation and restitution, I went back to biology class as the remnants of the last class were filtering away. No one stopped to talk to me, and I didn’t see my friend among those left behind.

My whole chest quivering, I approached the teacher as he held the wall phone to his ear. He glanced over at me but didn’t interrupt his call. After a few nods, he finally hung up and fixed his eyes on mine.

Clenching my hands, I swallowed and told him, “The others should be back soon. I left the pass with them. I need to go to my next class.” At least that was how I should’ve put it and how I assembled a coherent statement in my head after-the-fact.

What I actually said was more like, “They…they’re were…They went. But will be back. They’ll be back. Back soon. They-they have…they took the pass. Kept the pass. At the restroom still. I think. Still there. I have my next. My next class.” Only imagine several automatic ‘umm’s and ‘uh’s scattered amidst all that. It was embarrassing, especially several minutes afterward.

The teacher waited until the verbal devastation was complete before asking, “Is there anything else, Miss Waller?”

If there was a chance of me telling him more, it sublimated out of my mouth with his tense expression. Probably just his version of a look of concern. But it made me want to crawl up inside a non-existent shell and vanish from sight. I shook my head.

With a sigh, he nodded and asked, “Who do you have for your next class?” I stood close to him, but I couldn’t see any changes. I didn’t want to linger. I quickly said the room number and clenched my lips. He still looked like he was inspecting me for deception.

But he dismissed me without any further questions.

I hustled through the threshold and around other students coming and going. I took a long breath of moist air kicked up from the long patch of grass in front of the room. I did my best not to look in the direction of the restroom as I darted towards my English class.

I gripped both straps of my heavy backpack and marveled I was still less than halfway through the day.

The day that would change my life.