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School had started again after summer and a cacophony of colds and viruses were spreading throughout Truham like wildfire.
It hadn’t been a good day, first of all he’d woken up late which led to a panic attack, then he’d forgotten his homework and the material of his clothes was scratching against his skin which made him even more uncomfortable. And on top of everything he had a really bad headache, and his body was so heavy.
As the group huddled at lunch on their usual table chatting and giggling as usual the noise grated into Tao’s ears, rattling his eardrums with every word, worsening his headache and leaving Tao even more uncomfortable than before.
Tao was leaning against Charlie his eyelids weighed down making it difficult for him to keep his watering eyes open, he barely made it through the morning.
“You okay Tao?” Charlie asked the concern growing in his face as he saw the paleness of his friend’s face.
“yeah, just tired.” He mumbled, his voice hoarse and quiet.
“you sure, you don’t look so good?” Nick added mirroring the concern of his boyfriend.
“yes I’m…” he was interrupted by a harsh coughing fit.
His hair was sticking uncomfortably to his forehead.
“you should go home, come on I’ll take you to the nurse.”
“I’m fine, there’s only half a day left I’ll be fine.” Tao replied stubbornly.
They spent the rest of lunch chatting about homework and their weekends while Tao leaned against Charlie, grunting occasionally when they got too loud.
The bell pierced through Tao’s ears waking him abruptly from his short nap. He somehow looked even worse now, he was concerningly pale, his eyes were red and his nose was dripping.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go home?”
“yes, I’ll be fine.” He didn’t sound at all convincing.
“I’ll meet you at the front after school, Nick’s mum is picking us up- no I’m not letting you walk home. Don’t look at me like that.”
“Nick, can you come over here with your strong rugby arms and carry me to class.” Tao joked although there was a hint of seriousness in his voice.
“you sure you don’t want to go home now because we don’t have any important lessons or I could call your mum?”
“I’ll be fine Charlie.”
He was definitely not fine. Everything was too bright, too loud, too crowded. His headache had grown, spreading across his whole head. He wished he could just curl up and sleep. Everything was too much. Tao’s breathing sped up as tears gathered in the corner of his eyes- he needed to leave. His skin was too tight, he needed to get out. He couldn’t breathe. He stood up to leave but was immediately struck down by a wave of dizziness.
He got as far away as he could, which was not very far before breaking down. He tugged at his hair. Tears flowed down his face. He felt so dizzy. he wished everything would stop, it was all too much.
He grabbed his phone and texted Charlie.
Five minutes later Charlie was there, he immediately sat next to Tao, worry filled his face.
“Is touch okay?”
Tao nodded.
Charlie leant into Tao and Tao leaned on Charlie’s head. They sat there for a while, before Charlie texted Nick.
Nick came running down the hall.
“shit, is, is he okay?” Nick asked breathlessly gesturing to Tao who had fallen asleep on Charlie.
“yeah, he just gets a bit overwhelmed when he’s sick.”
“my mum’s waiting in the car, should we wake him up?”
“yeah”
Charlie gently shook Tao awake.
“we’re taking you home- don’t worry Isaac’s explaining the situation, you’re not in trouble.”
They proceeded to try and get Tao up, after many unsuccessful attempts and dizzy spells they managed to get Tao standing. They’d got about halfway.
“I don’t feel so good.” his skin was extremely pale and clammy and his limbs were quivering under the weight of his body.
“do you need to stop.”
Tao nodded leaning heavily on Charlie. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, looking up at Nick and Charlie’s concerned faces. Luckily Nick had been able to grab him before he hit his head.
“what happened?”
“you fainted.”
Tao tried to get up, but was stopped by Charlie.
“hey, hey slow down.”
They did eventually get to the car, although slowly.
Nicks mum looked anxiously at Tao who’d fallen asleep in the backseat.
“is his mum home?”
“yeah, I’ll message her now.” Charlie replied anxiously
Yan Xu greeted them at the door before escorting Tao off the bed.
“do you want to come in? I just put some tea on.”
“we should get going but thank you.”
“thank you for bringing him home.”
“it’s really no problem, here’s my number call me if you need anything at all.”
“thank you.”