Page 142 of Drama Queen

“Is he kidding? That girl’s faking a seizure for attention and he’s falling for it?” I grumble under my breath.

“Faking?” Drew whispers near my ear.

“Look at the way her eyes seek out the faces of the crowd, the way her hands are relaxed and open, not grasping at air or spasming.” I point to her chest, “Her breathing is relaxed and steady. There’s no way this is real. Whatever she’s trying to pretend to have wrong with her, those symptoms don’t add up to anything other than fake.”

Drew cocks his head to the side but Jamie cuts over him when he opens his mouth to speak, “Nah, she’s got a nervous disorder where her body goes into fits after she uses too much power.”

“That’s a thing?” I ask, suddenly unsure if what I’m seeing is right. I don’t know much about these powers they all supposedly have, so maybe I’m wrong. I keep watching the girl’s face as Parker scoops her up into his arms. A small twinge of jealousy slices through my heart but I ignore it, watching her reaction carefully. “If it’s such a bad thing, why is she smiling like a Cheshire cat now that no one’s looking at her?”

“What the fuck?” They both hiss together. “We need to tell Parker.”

“No, I have a better idea. Where’s he taking her?”

“Probably to the nurses station.”

“Perfect, Let’s follow. I’m in the mood to fuss over a sick new friend.”

The moment we all file through the doors of the nurse’s station, my nose is assaulted by the smell of cleaning chemicals. I rub it but it still wrinkles up. I flick the lock on the door once I see the room is empty of everyone except us. Parker lays the girl down on a bed behind a sheer curtain while I slip the white coat off the hanger on the back of the door and push my arms through the sleeves. I pull my hair back into a strict bun, crinkle my eyes to give the appearance of wrinkles and then in my best authoritative voice ask, “What seems to be the trouble young lady?”

“Are you new?” The girl moans, writhing on the hospital like bed as though she’s in pain.

“You’re my first patient of the year, I started a few days ago, straight out of med school.” I add a slight whine to my voice as though I don’t want to be explaining myself to a spoiled kid.

“I suffer from power seizures. I’ll be okay after a nap.” She snaps as though she’s in charge here.

“Well, my dear that’s not good at all, let’s see what we can do to help you.” I pull the closest drawer open and grab out a syringe and a bottle of saline, glancing back at the twins when they make a strangled noise. I’ve helped my aunt enough to know that injecting her with saline won’t do her any harm. Humming the tune of Korn’s It’s all in the Family under my breath, I load ten CC’s of saline into the needle, watching as her eyes scrunch up and her body starts to shake. “Not afraid of needles are you dear?” I click my tongue, “Kids these days, happily jump off a cliff into a pool of water fifty feet beneath them, but show them a tiny little needle…” I flick the tip for good measure, “and they go crying for their mumma’s.” Shaking my head, I step closer to the bed, a wicked gleam in my eye as she sits up and backs away from me. “Now don’t be scared my dear, this won’t hurt a bit and it’s the best cure in the world. Easily gets rid of pompusititis of this seriousness.”

She’s off the bed and fumbling with the door before I can even blink. The second she slams it behind her, Drew, Jamie and I burst out laughing. “Stupid girl, how will she ever get over her illness now?” I ask as another wave of giggles threatens to steal my breath.

“Someone want to explain?” Parker asks, staring wide eyed at me as I remove the coat and pull my hair out of the bun.

“She was faking and you fell for it.” I huff at him, “And here I thought I was hanging with the cool crowd.” My lips twitch as he just stands there blinking those sexy eyes at me.

“There’s no way you could know it was fake.” He snaps just as the real nurse opens the door.

With a smirk, I step towards her, “Hi Aunty April. Watch out for a red head who fakes having Power seizures, she ran away from the placebo injection I tried to give her.”

My adopted parental figure laughs. “That the girl who was screaming for help as she ran down the hallway?”

“Probably.”

I laugh as she turns to the guys and shoos them away, “You lot had better get out of here, I need to speak to myniecealone.”

The second they’re gone April turns to me and hisses, “Is this school for real? Magic? I swear when the judge assigned me to be your carer, they never once mentioned that magic was real, nor did they even mention that you’re supposedly one of them. Have you done anything magical yet? Are we still pretending to go along with all this craziness?”

“Whoa April, slow your roll, one question at a time.” I perch on the end of the bed and lift my hand, “First off, I’m fairly sure we’re in the twilight zone here, or maybe we’re both dreaming. No wait we can’t both have the same weird ass dream. They do seem to have powers; I saw the whole class click their fucking fingers and their books appeared out of nowhere. The fucking principal shouted and made lightning appear in the sky for fucks sake…” I trail off, taking a deep calming breath before continuing, “Then somehow I blinked and found myself on the other side of a classroom.” I rake my hands through my long dark hair, “There’s no way this is real but I can’t explain it away, these freaks really do have magic.”

“You realise we’re the freaks here if what you’re saying is true.” She holds her hands up, warding off my argument, “I believe you, after everything you’ve been through, I know you’d never lie. My guess is someone made you ‘blink’ from one side of the room to another. I mean if there really is magic that would explain that. The question now is, do we keep going along with this and see if you somehow also have powers or do we hightail it out of here and hope no one cares enough to come looking for us?”

“I say we stay. You’ve got an easy gig that’s paying triple what you were making at the diner and I get to attend a school with those three hotties.” I wriggle my brows up and down while smirking.

“Fine but what the fuck am I supposed to do if someone comes in who’s actually sick from something magical? There’s no way I can bluff my way through something like that.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about that, according to the textbook I was reading in magical history, most magical issues are dealt with by their healers, not the school nurse. If you get a patient with an issue that seems magical, just call the healers, there must be a phone number around here somewhere for that.”

“I can do that.” She sighs, “Well if we’re going to bullshit our way through an entire year, I guess you better get your ass into the cafeteria and try to fit in.”

I wander over to the door and glance back, “I’ll let you know if I suddenly start shooting fire from my hands.” I poke my tongue out at her and she laughs, “Be good or I’ll ground your ass.”

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