SIDELINES; liam dunbar {ON HOLD}

45. {mr douglas' coughing fit}

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

now in physics class, everyone was sitting in their pairs while their teacher, mr douglas was holding up a metal rod as he stood before all of the students.

"power. the ability, to control things. this metal, has no power. it's small. weak. insignificant." he told them. "is there anything we can do to change that?"

corey, sat next to mason raised his hand in confidence. mason, who was reading his book, looked up in surprise at corey's sudden volunteering. moonee smiled at the boy, liam told her how they had put aside their differences and how corey was acting an okay guy.

mr douglas pointed at him. "corey, whatchu got?"

"we can add electricity." corey suggested.

"exactly." mr douglas smiled at him with pride. "we turn this metal rod." he placed the rod on the table before he turned his attention to a bowl next to him and held up another metal rod wrapped in copper coil. "into a magnet. now, it has power. now, it has influence... over others."

moonee observed intently as her teacher placed a metal ball inside the bowl. he switched on the battery attached to the magnet and began to move the magnet around the bowl, making the ball spin around the bowl and the ball's speed increase.

suddenly, mr douglas began suffering a coughing fit. his junior students' face's dropped, wondering if he was okay. he paused for a moment but started coughing again.

hayden sat up straighter in her chair, a frown of concern on her face. "are you okay mr douglas?"

his wheezing seized. "just a little cough."

"would you like some water?" moonee suggested, her eyes unknowingly turning a faint blue at the mention of the element. liam caught this and so placed his hand on her thigh. she glanced over at him in confusion, but it had already faded before he could point it out.

"thank you, moonee." the man nodded. "i have some with me. where were we? um... right, now we have electricity, and a little bit of power. let's add a little more. after all, greater the power... greater the control."

his struggle to breathe triggered again, this time more forceful. he violently slammed his palm onto the table, attempting to stabilise himself. moonee and liam looked over at each other, both looking frightened and confused.

"what the fuck?" moonee mouthed to him.

"language." he mouthed back.

"really?"

mr douglas grabbed his bottle of water and sipped some of it to ease his coughing. he took a steadying breath and decided to keep revealing more about the metal rod.

"mr douglas, it's okay." franchie spoke up. "you don't have to continue, i think we understand what you're trying to teach us."

"yeah." the class agreed with her statement. no one wanted to see him suffer.

"no worries, francesca, i'm okay." he brushed her off. "imagine how powerful this rod could become with unbalanced electricity. say... from a lightning bolt? what else could we control?"

the metal ball spun around the bowl at great speed again but mr douglas started spluttering once again. moonee almost rolled her eyes. why was he pretending like he wanted to suffer? they wouldn't even mind if he had to leave the class.

turns out she was right, the man finally acknowledged how severe his coughing was becoming so he made his way over to the storage room and locked himself inside. he continued to cough in there, even more loudky than it was when he was teaching them.

liam stood up and despite moonee's warning look, he approached the storage room door. "mr douglas?" he called out.

there was a pause.

"class dismissed." he wheezed out.

without hesitation, the students stood up from their seats and packed their bags. immediately they began filing out of the room, not wanting to acquire whatever mr douglas had. once they were out of the room, the six friends gathered together at the nearest locker.

"i wonder what that was about." franchie frowned.

"i've got a bad feeling about this." liam told them, quietly.

"he's probably sick. at least a sixty one percent chance he'll be okay." moonee informed them. "we just tell mrs martin he's suffering in there and we can enjoy the rest of our free period."

"you sound so concerned for him." liam joked.

moonee smiled. "really? i tried to put on my best worried voice but i wasn't sure if you guys would buy it."

"oh definitely." liam reassured her. "it sounded like your heart truly ached for him."

mason rolled his eyes at how the two could make such a serious situation a joke. though, they were funny. he had to admit.

"thanks, baby."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i'm really worried about mr douglas." franchie told her girlfriend as the two made their way to the library.

mrs martin went to check on him and the others went on about their day. franchie wanted to get some books for her upcoming geography test and hayden agreed to accompany her.

"i'm worried about gwen." hayden blurted out without thinking.

franchie stopped in her tracks, giving the girl a look of bewilderment. "gwen knowlsey?"

hayden paused. "yeah." she nodded.

"why?"

"well, in the locker rooms she was saying that her sister's gone missing." hayden explained. "and that no one believes her when she talks about her. it's like she's disappeared."

"have you told liam?" franchie questioned.

"no, not yet." hayden shook her head. "i was hoping to talk to her again before i tell the others." she skimmed over the shelves of the library and spotted the curly-haired girl in one of the aisles. "look, she's over there."

franchie frowned. "is this why you came with me?" she asked, softly.

"no." hayden said. "no. it's just a coincidence that she's here. do you mind if we go talk to her?"

"yeah, sure." franchie muttered.

the two walked over to gwen to find her scanning through their school's yearbooks. "what are you looking for?" hayden asked the girl.