Chapter 8: Back and Forth

Michelle felt like she was on autopilot as she walked into the school. Her head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and she couldn't breathe through her nose. Opening her locker she heard someone call her name. "Oh hey Lynne," She muttered.

"Hey, whoa, you look like death warmed over. You ok?" Lynne asked.

"No, I babysat Ari last night while she was sick and I think I caught what she had." Michelle explained.

"Dang, well why are you here?"

"Cause my mom seems to think you can only stay home from school if you're dying." She grumbled grabbing her first period books. "I might bail at lunch though."

"I don't blame you." Lynne cringed.

Michelle shut her locker. "I'll see you later, I'm gonna go pass out in Current Events." She muttered walking down the hallway.

Lynne sighed as she began walking to her own class. She stopped in her tracks seeing Tristan walk into the school. Turning on her heel she decided to take the long way to her class. She didn't even stop when she heard him call her name.

Jake and Connor walked into their class just before the bell rang. "Cutting it a little close there, didn't you boys?" Coach Mosley grumbled standing at his podium.

"Yes sir," Connor smiled as they walked to their seats.

Jake walked to his seat behind a sleeping Michelle. Just looking at her he could tell she wasn't feeling well. "Jake, wake her up," Mosley sighed.

Jake nodded gently rubbing the girl's back. Michelle snapped awake but immediately regretted it, it just made her head hurt worse. "Are you all right?" She heard Jake whisper.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," She muttered leaning her head on her hand. She had a feeling this was going to be a long morning.

Taylor walked into her Literature class right on time but didn't see Nathan in his seat. Turning to look at Lucas she whispered. "Hey, where's Nate?"

He shrugged. "Some kind of official swim team business."

Taylor was about to say something else when Ms. Anthony started talking. She didn't even seem to notice Nathan was gone. Taylor figured Coach Nelson must have talked to her. After fifteen minutes the class heard the door open. "Oh hello there, nice of you to join us." Ms. Anthony smiled.

"Sorry ma'am," Nathan whispered walking over to his seat.

Taylor watched as he sat down, wondering what he had been doing but decided to think nothing of it. She saw him send her a small smile as he opened his book. Turning her attention back to the front of the room she saw Ms. Anthony start to write their vocabulary words on the board. As Taylor wrote them down she heard Lucas whispering something to Nathan. She couldn't make out what he was saying but she heard frustration in his voice. Before she had the chance to turn around she heard Ms. Anthony pass out a worksheet. Taylor would just have to find out what was going on later.

Michelle slept all throughout her first period. Jake kept an eye on her just in case there was a chance she could get in trouble but Mosley seemed to be in a good mood. When the bell rang her head shot up. "How long have I been asleep?" She muttered rubbing her eyes.

"The whole class," Connor answered grabbing his books.

Jake chuckled as she collected her things. "Are you feeling all right?"

Michelle put on a brave face. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." But her voice said otherwise. He could tell she wasn't going to make the whole school day.

"No you're not," He muttered as she walked away.

As the day passed Michelle still wasn't feeling any better. When gym rolled around she decided it would be best to just lay on the bleachers away from the rest of the class. Taylor sat down beside her. "You gonna leave after this?" She asked as Michelle laid her head on her friend's lap.

"Probably," She grumbled. "This sucks."

"I know," Taylor murmured patting Michelle's head.

Looking up they saw Nathan, Tristan, and Jake walking towards them. "Whoa, is she still alive?" Tristan asked.

"Barely," Michelle answered.

Taylor shook her head. "Whenever she gets sick, she gets really sick. Even a cold can make her feel like she has pneumonia."

Jake cringed. "Maybe you should head home." He said placing a hand on her back.

Michelle didn't say anything, just nodded her head. Taylor helped Jake sit her up. "Tell coach I had to do something and I'll make up for it at the meet tonight." He said looking at his friends.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and helped her down the bleachers. Michelle leaned on him as they walked out of the gym towards the parking lot. "What about our date tonight?" She whispered.

"Don't even worry about that right now," He smiled leading her to his car.

"But my car..."

"There's no way I'm letting you drive right now, don't worry we'll get your car to you somehow. Just remember to leave me the keys."

Michelle nodded her head as he opened the passenger door for her. As she sat down inside his car he heard her mutter a quiet, 'Thank you, Superman' making him smile. "You're welcome." He said helping her put her seatbelt on.

Lynne sat down at her and her friend's usual table inside the cafeteria. As she opened her bottle of apple juice she saw Taylor and Nathan approaching her. "Hey, where's Michelle?"

"She's sick, Jake's taking her home," Taylor explained placing her bag down.

Lynne nodded her head taking a bite out of her sandwich. As she listened to Nathan and Taylor talk she couldn't help but spot a head of curly hair walking towards them. Grabbing her tray she sighed, "You know, I'm not that hungry. I'll see you later, Tay."

Taylor frowned seeing her best friend practically run away from the table. "Hey, where's Lynne going?" Tristan asked as he sat down.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "You have any idea?" He asked the blonde girl.

Taylor shook her head. "I'm gonna go talk to her, I'll let you know." She said before grabbing her bag and rising from her seat.

Nathan felt her small hand brush against his shoulder as she walked away. When she was gone he turned to his brother. "I followed a lead this morning."

"What lead?"

"I felt like something was watching me this morning and I'm really getting tired of watching my back all the time."

"Well did you find anything or anyone?"

"No, just a lot of dead ends. That's why I was late this morning. I just know if something is here, and its after us, then its watching from afar for reasons I'm not sure yet."

Tristan nodded. "Waiting for us to put our guard down it sounds like."

"Which is why we can't do that, I don't care what goes on. We need to tell the others about this later." Nathan muttered taking a sip of his water.

Jake wrapped his arms around Michelle as they walked up the small path towards her house. She had fallen asleep on the the car ride over, she looked so peaceful so he felt horrible having to wake her up. "Michelle, where are your keys?" He whispered in her ear.

"Front pocket...of my purse." She muttered rubbing her eyes.

After digging around in her purse he finally found them. Wrapping an arm around her waist and his other under her knees he lifted her into his arms to carry her inside. "Sorry about our date," He heard her mumble into his neck.

"Don't worry, we'll get another chance soon, I promise. You just need to get better first." He smiled as he opened the door to her bedroom.

Michelle was back to sleep before her head hit the pillow. After covering her up with the fluffy comforter he closed her curtains and gently kissed her forehead. "Sleep good, I'll see you soon." Jake whispered as he padded out of the room.

Taylor found Lynne sitting in the computer lab. "Hey, you busy?" She asked.

"No, just faking it," Lynne murmured placing the lens back on her camera. "What's up?"

"Well with the way you ran out of the cafeteria I just wanted to check on you." Taylor sighed taking a seat on one of the blue plastic chairs.

"I didn't run out of the cafeteria."

"You fast-walked." She saw her friend smirk.

"Fine! Ok I just don't want to be around Tristan right now, you happy?"

"I would be if you told me why, I mean, didn't you like him here a while back?" Taylor asked as Lynne sat down across from her.

"Yeah but...its not gonna happen." She sighed running a hand through her dark hair. "I saw Kendall update her status to 'Can't wait to see him swim.' or something like that."

"How do you know she meant Tristan?"

"Because she was hanging all over him in the hallway! I just know I was going to go to the swim meet but now I'm just gonna hang out at home and watch 'Sex and the City.'"

"Well still come to the swim meet, I need someone to sit with." Taylor frowned.

Lynne shook her head. "I was going to take pictures for the yearbook but I already got someone else to handle it so nope, not going and the pout is not gonna work."

"Fine, but at least consider going and actually having a social life for one night of your high school career."

Lynne was about to say something else when they heard the bell ring. "Fine! Fine, I'll think about it. Only because I've already seen all the episodes of 'Sex and the City' on Demand."

"Good, I'll see you later." Taylor smiled as she walked out of the computer lab.

Lynne grumbled as she grabbed her bag off the floor. "Stupid high school social life."

The rest of the school day passed slowly. By the end of her last period Lynne decided she wasn't going to the swim meet, no matter how much Taylor begged her. On her way home she decided to stop by the cafe. As she walked in she couldn't help but notice Eli sitting at the same table he was the previous day. He seemed to notice her at the same time because she saw him smile slightly. After she ordered she decided to say hi. "Hey, what's up?" She asked.

"Nothing, you want to sit?" He asked closing his laptop.

Nodding her head Lynne pulled out the other seat. Placing her bag down she looked up to meet his green eyes. "So...what are you doing tonight?" Eli asked.

Lynne sighed. "Nothing, I'm sitting my happy butt at home."

"You don't have any plans?"

"I was gonna go to this swim meet but decided not to at the last minute."

Eli smirked. "Why's that?"

Shrugging her shoulders she looked down at the table. "Just...didn't feel like going by myself. I mean, my friend's going but she'll mainly be concentrating on this guy she likes."

"Well do you need someone to go with you?"

"Are you offering?" She asked, her hazel eyes meeting his green ones.

"Maybe I am," He smirked.

Lynne felt herself blush. "All right."

"All right, its a date." Eli smiled leaning his arms on the table. Lynne couldn't do anything but nod her head in agreement.

Taylor grabbed ran her hands through her curled hair. She decided to wear her black sweater over a hot pink tank top, her favorite pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of Vans. "Where are you going?" She heard someone ask from behind her.

Turning around she smiled seeing her mom. "Going to the swim meet then going out to dinner with Nathan." She explained pinning her bangs back.

"Oh, that sounds fun...you like him?" Her mom asked sitting on her bed.

Taylor bit her bottom lip before smiling. "Yeah, yeah I really do."

"I've seen you sitting outside on the patio with him sometimes, he seems like a nice boy."

"He really is, he's not like other guys in this town." She sighed grabbing her lip gloss. "Is this ok to wear to a swim meet? I've never been to one before."

"You look fine, honey. Now you better hurry up or you're going to be late."

Taylor glanced at her phone. "Oh crap! I'm already late! Bye mom, love you!" She exclaimed grabbing her bag as she ran out the door.

Really short but the next chapter will be longer, I promise. Sorry for the late update, had a lot of stuff going on the past few days.