Nerd was shaking me awake. I focused my eyes on his shape. A faint cyan glow clung to his body.
"Oh my God, Claire! Are you okay?" he asked.
"My head hurts," I mumbled. "And everything looks weird."
Mason, who stood next to Nerd, had an orange shimmer. Luke, who stood behind him, had a green outline, and Jason had a yellow one. Robert, standing off to the side, had his purple one. I frowned, wincing as my forehead spiked in pain. I didn't remember the range of the flashlight being that wide, though.
"Is the light on?" I asked hesitantly.
They all shook their heads. Jason handed it to me and I immediately saw that the bulb had shattered. I touched my hand to my face and my hand came away bloody.
"WTF?" I whispered.
"It's probably not that bad," Mason said, worry creeping into his voice. "Head wounds always bleed a lot."
"Where's Nathan?" I asked, sitting up. Blood ran down my nose, hot and sticky.
"Gone," Robert said. He was standing apart from the group, pretending he didn't care, but the fact that he was still there meant he did.
I looked around, taking count. Everyone was still there, except for Nathan. Strangely, I could still see everyone's auras.
"I still see them," I said. "The colors."
Jason frowned. "But it's broken. And I don't see anything."
"You wear glasses, stupid," Robert joked. "But no, I don't either."
The bell for the end of lunch came, but no one got up to leave. "Should I go to the office?" I asked after a beat.
"What would you say?" Jason asked. "'My friend actually doesn't have a soul, and he got mad when I found out, so he smashed a flashlight into my face.' How smooth."
"I still need to get patched up," I said. "I'll make up something."
"I'll walk you," Mason offered, helping me up.
"Thanks," I said, steading my feet. "You guys, get to class. I got this."
"You sure you don't need any help?" Nerd asked.
"I'm good," I said. "I've got Mason to help me."
"Okay then. Hope you feel better." Nerd gave me a pat on the shoulder before leaving with the others.
"Can you walk?" Mason asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. Taking a deep breath, I forced my way down the stairs with him. People stared as we walked across the courtyard, but I never cared about what they thought.
As we walked by, though, everything living shimmered. I knew the light wasn't on, but a fuzzy glow was attached to every person, plant, or otherwise living thing. I blinked long and hard, but it wouldn't go away. It was really distracting, especially with a headache coming on.
"Are you feeling okay?" Mason asked as we reached the main office.
I put on a brave face. "Sure am." I hoped I sounded convincing enough.
When we walked into the office, the office assistants were pretty worried about my face, brave words or not.
"How did this happen?" one asked. She glowed fuchsia.
"Does it hurt?" the other one asked. She was orange.
Before the third gray assistant could ask an equally dumb question, I asked, "Is the nurse in today?"
It took them a second to respond. "Um, no, the district nurse is not in, but you can go in the back room and I'll have someone help you."
Mason and I started to head back when the gray assistant stopped us. "No, you can either wait here or go to class," she said to Mason. "I'll write you a pass."
"I'll be fine on my own," I said. "You shouldn't be missing class." Mason nodded and I headed into the back room. I walked, in, closed the door, and set my backpack down. Sighing, I lay down on the cot and waited.
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