Adversity Read Free

how to respond.
Was I supposed to pretend to be a normal teenage girl or was I
supposed to follow Perdita’s lead and push everyone away? I didn’t
know how I was supposed to deal with anything anymore, and I didn’t
have Mémère to guide me.
    “ You should hang out with us sometime,” Ger said as she walked
with me to our next class.
    I mumbled
something in response, and she seemed to take the hint, because she
played with her hair for a couple of seconds before saying goodbye
and walking ahead of me. Awkward.
    The
headache worsened as I passed by the gym; the stench of sweat and
socks and who knew what else completely overwhelmed me. I retched
right there before running straight to the bathroom to throw up the
little that was in my stomach.
    I sank to
the floor of the bathroom while sweat trickled down my temples. The
bell had rung while I heaved; I would be late. There wasn’t much
point going to class when I couldn’t concentrate on anything aside
from the thumping of my headache. Or so I told myself. I scrunched
up a piece of tissue in my hand, and rubbed my knuckles against my
eyes, hoping to push away the pain. The feelings of nausea had all
but vanished, but the headache was worsening. A drumbeat in my
skull. A hammer behind my eyes.
    The door
swung open, and Ger strolled in, grinning at me. “You look like
shit.”
    “ Thanks,” I said weakly.
    “ Is it Ana or Mia?” she asked in a curious tone of
voice.
    “ What?” It took me a few seconds to understand she thought I
had an eating disorder. “Oh. Neither. I’m coming down with a bug or
something. I’ve had a headache all morning.”
    “ Well, your clothes are hanging off you.”
    I stood and stared at myself in the mirror. I was looking pretty thin.
My cheeks had hollowed out, and my collarbone was a little…
dramatic.
    “ I swear,” I said, “I eat.”
    Ger
checked out her lip gloss in the mirror and apparently decided it
needed topping up. “I believe you. I was just wondering. The
headache thing, though. My aunt gets migraines. She throws up every
single time. Says the pain’s worse than childbirth. And you looked
like you were in serious pain earlier. Plus the lights in the lab
are pretty killer. That’s why I thought I should check if you were
okay when you disappeared in the hallway.”
    “ Yeah.” I shrugged and tried to smile, my reflection scaring me
now that I really paid attention. “It’s probably a
migraine.”
    “ Wanna get to class? Or go to the office to see if you can
wrangle a painkiller?”
    “ Tried that the other day. No go. No pills for the kiddies.” I
smiled, which felt weird, as if the skin on my face was pulled too
tight.
    “ Yeah, they suck.” She made a face before turning to look at
me, slipping her lip gloss back into her shirt pocket. “Hey, sorry
about your grandmother, by the way. I heard she died abroad. That
really sucks.” Her voice softened.
    My breath
hitched in my throat. “Thanks. I should probably go to the office
anyway. Just in case. Hope you don’t get in trouble for being late
to class.”
    She
grinned, her face lighting up. “I’ll take you. Say I couldn’t leave
you vomiting in the hallways. Come on.”
    She
linked arms with me and pulled me after her, pointing out students
in the photographs that adorned the walls so she could tell me bits
of information about them. By the time we reached the office at the
other side of the school, the headache had eased, the nausea had
completely dissipated, and I was feeling a lot better.
     
    ***
     
    Kali
     
    A kick in
her back from her father’s booted foot woke her. Wishing she could
swear at him, she held her tongue until he told her what he
wanted.
    “ Go and prove yourself,” was all he said.
    “ We’ve barely settled in here. I don’t even know where to go,”
she protested.
    “ I’ll take her,” Drina said, approaching her father warily. She
might be married, but he could still be heavy with his hands if no
one watched.