DAKOTA LAHOTE - e.c

10. mono

monday morning, paul said he felt too sick to go to school. he dropped dakota off and left. dakota noticed how he didn't sound sick at all, but she really didn't care. the only thing on her mind was embry and why he hadn't called her all weekend.

she walked into math class and noticed the empty seat next to her. ten seconds before the bell rings, quil rushed in, taking his normal spot a few desks ahead, waving hi to the girl.

dakota paid attention to the lesson the entire first 40 minutes of the period. she wasn't about to let his absence affect her education. the last few minutes, quil used his homework time to talk to dakota.

"psst." he whispered. dakota stared at him from the side, still focused on her homework. "have you heard from embry?"

this got her attention. "not since friday. have you?"

"no. i'm starting to get really worried." he slants his eyebrows and gives his best worried face. dakota isn't amused by it.

"just stop by his house and check on him." she offered.

"i'll probably do it after school."

"um, do you have his number?" she asks. "you know, so i can call and check up on him."

he giggles before tearing a piece off his homework and writing on it. he hands it to her with a smirk. "that's his home phone."

"thanks." the bell rang, saving her from embarrassment. she rushed out of the room onto the next.

during lunch, it felt weird without embry there. dakota felt out of place with the other boys.

"oh, hey, jake, have you heard from embry?" quil asks. "we haven't heard from him in a few days."

jacob puts on a sad face, looking up at dakota as he starts to confess something. "we were supposed to hang out yesterday. he didn't show up, so i called him. his mom said he has . . . mono."

quil's face looks horrified. he looks to dakota, who's still processing this. she then looks over at the table where her brother usually sits. it was just kim and her friend there. no jared, no paul. "oh my god."

"oh my god is right." quil shudders. "he's turned to the dark side. there's nothing we can do."

"we-well we don't know that for sure. come on, would embry really do that?" jacob stutters.

"there's no denying it, jacob. best to not get our hopes up. he's gone." quil says. he then looks to dakota. "you okay, girl?"

to be honest, she didn't really feel like it. she wanted to go home. she felt sick. "i'm fine. this is all so crazy."

"why would he do something like this?" quil adds. after a moment of silence, he decides not to give up. "i'm gonna go by his house after school. who's with me?"

jacob raises his hand with a smile on his face. they wait for dakota to join them, but she doesn't. "i'm not coming."

"oh."

***

the next day, quil and jacob reported back to the curious girl. they told her that supposedly embry had mono and that his mom was very worried about him. dakota was worried at first that she'd get mono also, but then she remembered about the mono rumor and how it was a bunch of bullshit.

the rest of the week, embry didn't show up to school. he missed five calls from dakota. she hated herself for caving in, but the truth was, she was so so worried about him. she hated to think he was hanging with her brother and his idiot friend. they didn't deserve him.