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"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually starting to miss school!"
"Wow, you really are sick!"
For the first time that day, Claudia laughed. When she'd picked up her phone that evening, she'd expected to remind another parent that the club wasn't meeting that day before giving them the numbers to contact the handful of the club's remaining working sitters. It's what she'd been doing for most of the past half hour - at least when she wasn't answering calls wherein tired sounding parents hastily cancelled previously scheduled jobs because their own kids were ill. More often than not, the parents calling weren't any healthier. Earlier, when Claudia had answered her current call, it had seemed like a coin flip of which of the two she'd be dealing with. Instead, she had gotten Kristy!
"I know, I know." Claudia's cheeks flushed, but not from her low fever.
Missing school had seemed great at first. She'd missed a history quiz and now had extra time to work on a paper analyzing the use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter. But now the weekend loomed before her. Normally, she counted down the days until Saturday and Sunday. Sleeping late, babysitting, drawing, hanging out with friends - whatever she did, Claudia always made the most of it. Now, though, all Claudia could see before her was another two days spent curled up over a toilet bowl or plastic bucket. The faint aroma of soup wafted into her room through the vents. She couldn't imagine forcing a spoonful down, let alone a whole bowl.
"I know what you mean, though. Just about everyone at my house is sick. It's bad enough fighting for a bathroom when I'm healthy!"
"Oh no!" Claudia hadn't even considered that. She and Janine had followed an unspoken system for most of the day. Janine used the upstairs bathroom and Claudia used the one downstairs. Besides that, the two had spent most of their time sleeping in their rooms. Claudia had also spent a lot of time on the living room couch. When she hadn't been sleeping, making up for all the snoozing she'd missed when she'd been busy vomiting her guts out the night before, she'd been watching P.S. 162 reruns.
"Janine's sick too."
"Does she miss school?"
Claudia rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"
Kristy giggled. For a moment, Claudia bit her lip, and then joined in with her. Even if laughter wasn't really the best medicine, it certainly felt nice after a day spent swallowing what felt like a medicine cabinet's worth of over-the-counter pills.
"I'm glad to hear that you're okay." Kristy said. "Well, as okay as you can be. I've been calling and checking up on everyone."
"Is anyone else sick now?" She'd already heard that Mallory, Jessi, and Mary Anne had caught the bug going around Stoneybrook. News spread like a virus all its own.
"Dawn thinks she might be getting it, too. You can guess how well Mary Anne's dad is taking it!"
"Oh no!" Mr. Spier had probably quarantined the entire house and made enough chicken soup to feed a small country.
"Stacey says she still feels fine. Logan finally got to go back to school today and told me he felt a lot better when I called him. And Shannon's not sick, but both of her sisters are."
"Oh boy." Claudia couldn't imagine a worse way to start the weekend! "But hey, we can't be sick forever, right?" Her mom had assured her as much before she'd left for work that morning.
"I hope so," Kristy replied. "I'm starting to miss school, too! Even if-"
The sound suddenly cut off. For a few moments, all Claudia could hear was her own echoing heartbeat mixed with static.
"Kristy?"
"Sorry, Claud, I'm not feeling so good. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Okay."
All Claudia got for a response was a slam as Kristy's phone hit the receiver.