𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟔 | 𝐎𝐅𝐅-𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑

"𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒."
—𝐷𝑜𝑢𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑

𝒩.

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 eyes and immediately sneezed, and that was followed by a series of coughs and sniffles.

Great, she thought as she closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. She was sick.

It was her fault though. They had gone to Griddy's the night before, and, with nothing to protect them from the harsh December weather, they had trudged the whole ten minutes there and back in only light pyjamas. She could only hope that the rest of her siblings were okay.

Rubbing her nose and somehow feeling both hot and cold, Natalia sat up and used her other hand to pull her blanket off of her. And then, feeling the wave of nausea wash over her, she pulled the blanket back over her lap and laid back down.

She shut her eyes, wondering how she could get someone to come in. She knew that Diego was going to come in sooner or later, but that would be right before breakfast, and there were still ten minutes until then—far too long.

So what could she do?

Her eyes caught sight of a textbook that was on her nightstand—she had been studying the night before for the history test that they had in a couple of days—and an idea came to her head.

Praying that the pages wouldn't get ruined and a hole wouldn't be made in the wall, Natalia used her telekinesis to lift the book up, and chucked it against the wall, feeling a sense of satisfaction as a large thump sounded; that was bound to get someone's attention.

And it sure did—Diego, followed by Ben, burst inside, their eyes wide.

"What was that?" Diego asked frantically, his head swinging around to look for the source of noise. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she quickly reassured both of them before giving a small cough. "Actually, I'm dying—but the noise, that's 'cause I threw a book at the wall."

Diego and Ben responded simultaneously:

"What do you mean you're dying?"

"Why did you throw a book at the wall?!"

"Because I needed someone's attention," she sighed, clutching her stomach as another wave of nausea washed over her. "And I'm dying because I think I'm sick." Another cough and sneeze. "No, I know I am."

Ben nodded. "Kinda despicable that you threw a book, though."

"It was a textbook," she reassured him as she rubbed her nose. "History."

"In that case, it's fine." Ben grinned before ruffling his hair. "I'm gonna go get Mom."

"Thanks," she muttered as he dashed out, leaving the door open behind him.

Diego, whose eyebrows were furrowed in concern, quickly came over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on her shoulder, lightly caressing it with his thumb as he murmured, "What kind of sick?"

"The kind of sick where I'm maybe-probably-definitely gonna throw up," she groaned.

"Aw, man." Diego sighed, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown.