Picking the Wallflower

Silence. It surrounded me. My eyes opened. Why was I looking at the ceiling outside my bedroom? Memory flooded back, and I attempted to sit up. My head spun, and a familiar grumbling from further down had me pausing. Clearly, I needed food. What I also needed were a few headache pills. But how much time had passed since passing out? There were no available clocks where I was, and so I pushed to my feet. There was a clock in my room.

My heart stopped when I saw the time. Three in the morning? I had been out for close to nine hours. My head felt fuzzy, like it was filled with cotton wool. My cell phone lay where I had dumped it next to my bed, but there was something odd about it. That was when I realised it. There was an unread message.

Who would be messaging me now? I plopped down onto the bed, and picked the phone up. It was a generalised message, apparently sent to everybody in the school.

Where is Em? She missed her update deadline. She never misses!!

It took me a second, and then I frowned. Of course Em would have missed her deadline. I had been unconscious at the time.

Shrugging, I pulled out my laptop. What the hell? I might as well keep the masses from beating down the door. I rubbed my face, and then stood up. Those painkillers were calling to me.

A few minutes later, I was settled.