Drop the Egg (Part 3)

I stared at the ceiling of the nurse’s office, the phantom scent of adhesive still plaguing me. It wasn’t like I could actually smell it, more like my nose remembered what inhaling the odor at such close proximity had done to my stomach. My delicious egg salad sandwich had long departed from my body, leaving me hungry and yet not especially eager to fill the space it had vacated.

Beyond the bed next to the one where I lay, an open window welcomed in the comforting sounds of the late spring afternoon and a pleasant, sweet-smelling breeze. I inhaled deeply, hoping the fresh air would clear my sinuses. Although the nurse’s office was on the opposite side of the building from the sun this time of day, I still could see trees’ shadows beginning to lengthen across the schoolyard when I propped myself up on my elbows.

It was rather peaceful, enough so that part of me had the gall to feel a bit thankful for my present circumstances.

On the other side of the curtain that separated the beds from the nurse’s station, I heard the door from the hall opening. A few seconds later, the fabric drew back, and a familiar face appeared.

“You look pretty healthy for someone who was supposedly barfing all over the floor of the physics lab.”

I scowled at Elliso.

“Sorry for not being in agony.”

“Heh.” He grabbed the chair near the head of my bed and spun it toward himself, sitting down backwards and crossing his arms over the chair back. “Glad you’re feeling well enough to give me attitude. Where’s the princess?”

“Nelle?”

The last time I’d seen the person responsible for me losing my lunch, she’d been thanking the school nurse before vanishing behind the curtain to go complete the egg drop experiment. Although I’d finished puking well before that, my stomach had still been turning over wildly enough that I hadn’t been able to speak. Which meant I hadn’t been able to say anything to counteract the tight expression on Nelle’s face before the nurse swept her out of the room.

“She went back to class,” I finally said. “We were doing the egg drop today.”

“You missed it, huh? Were you going to be the one loading the container into the launcher or the one observing?”

“Observing?”

“Yeah. Our class did it yesterday. One partner went up to the roof, and the other went to the observation station they set up to take notes from the ground.”

“From the ground?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“From the ground.”

“Yup.”

I stared at Elliso. Then, even though it hurt my stomach, I started to laugh. It started with a single snicker, but before I could try to reel it in I was in the throes of a full-on laughing fit. 

“Slap happy much?” Elliso said, eying me like I might be dangerous. “Or is it like, dehydration or something? From all the puking?”

“It’s… nothing,” I choked out between laughs. “Just…”

Elliso, to his credit, waited patiently as I regained my self-control.

“Are you going to explain yourself now?”

I shook my head, wiping away a tear that had beaded in the corner of my eye near my nose.

“It’s nothing. Just something stupid.”

“If you say so.”

A silence descended between us, the sound of the wall clock’s ticks beating out the time until the end of the school day. Elliso drummed his fingers on top of his arms. After a moment, a slow smile spread across his face, one of the devilish ones that he sometimes used when he was flirting his hardest with an underclassmen.

“I bet Nelle was bummed.”

“Hmm?”

“Think about it. Our poor princess, suddenly left alone when she was expecting you at her side. It’s basically like you stood her up on a date.”

“A da–!?”

I knew Elliso was just goading me, but the unexpected turn caught me off guard. The same imagination that made me see energy reactors in eggs now conspired against me to generate an image of Nelle. A certain, very specific image from a day not too long ago when she’d been waiting for me after school to go study at a nearby cafe, and the shining smile I’d witnessed as I approached.

“Or maybe, with that reaction, you’ve already been on one.”

“Leave me alone, man.” I looked away, casting my gaze out the window. “There’s nothing happening there.”

“Isn’t there? Disappointing.” He clicked his tongue.

“What do you mean? I’m still technically her ambassador.”

When I looked back at him, Elliso wiggled his eyebrows meaningfully, a move I’d seen him deploy enough times in the past to make me completely immune to its effects.

“Don’t use your flirting tricks on me. I’m not interested.”

“Because there’s someone else you’re interested in, right?”

“I never said anything about being interested in anyone—don’t wink at me like that.”

“You’re so boring, Annin,” he said, pushing up from the chair. “Who cares if you’re still technically ambassador or not? None of that means anything anymore. Live a little. Like me.”

If only it was that easy.

“I don’t have it in me to flirt with everything that moves. I have standards.”

“Royal standards, eh?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You don’t have to, my boy.” He put a hand on my shoulder, patting twice. “But I’ll leave you to recover. See ya tomorrow, am~ba~sa~dor~!”

With another wink, he vanished behind the curtain. I heard the door to the hallway open just as the bell marking the end of the day chimed.

Despite my earlier laughing fit, talking with Elliso seemed to have left me in better shape, my stomach no longer feeling like it was floating around in zero gravity. I even maybe thought I could stand to eat something. Through the open window, I could hear the post-school buzz of my fellow students beginning. The more time went by, the more I felt my mind easing into silence.

I sat on the bed for a minute or two—or maybe it was longer than that—just staring outside as a trickle, then a steady flow of people made its way through the yard. Another breeze wafted in, rustling the curtain. Somehow, I felt as if I were waiting for someone.

I wasn’t sure who, though.

The door opened again. The school nurse appeared, asked me a few questions, and then shuffled me out the door.

Outside the office, I stood still for a moment, then slowly began making my way toward my locker to retrieve my things. Something about having been taken out of the normal flow of the day, of having run out the final hours of classes in that quiet office, had made everything feel far away.

In an unreachable part of my subconscious, something stirred, but no matter how I grasped, it eluded me.

I passed by people in the hall, wandering through splotches of amber sunlight pooling on the reflective waxed floor. Rooms with half-closed doors filtered sounds of clubs starting up, a distant trumpet blaring alone somewhere, stopping, restarting, stopping, restarting again. Every once in a while, I felt my shirt flutter against my skin as passing forms stirred the fabric.

Where was she?

My locker stood in front of me. I lifted a hand to open the door, but from my side fingers, with nails painted ivory appeared and closed around my wrist.

“You okay?”

When I looked up, green eyes greeted me.

“You okay?” Nelle repeated. “You look like you’re in a daze.”

The trumpet started up again, closer this time. Just a few notes in, another joined it, calling out in harmony.

I blinked, looking from her face to my hand and back. Chatter sharpened around me into gossip and jokes, indistinct shapes becoming people laughing and milling about, the feeling of Nelle’s hand on my skin firm and real.

We were shoulder to shoulder.

“Hey,” I said, my voice feeling as if I hadn’t used it in days.

“Hello? Answer the question.”

I dropped my hand and she let go, an almost apprehensive expression on her face.

“Apparently,” I said. “There were observers on the ground for the egg drop.”

“Yeah.”

We looked at each other, silent until her lips pressed together and cheeks puffed out, trying and failing to fight against the rising corners of her mouth. The pfft came out before I could catch it, and then we were laughing.

Just laughing together.