Socially Distanced

Chapter 9

I woke up a little earlier than usual, but I was glad. It gave me some extra time to get ready. I was excited that it was Friday, but I had a feeling that I was going to miss seeing Brett over the weekend. I pushed those thoughts away. What are you doing, Mabel? This isn't like you. I knew that this was dangerous territory, but I couldn't help but feel butterflies in my stomach when I thought of seeing him today.

I rushed to school, once again, arriving before Brett. He walked into class shortly after me.

"I am so tired," I spoke up. There you go again, Mabel. There you go initiating a conversation when you know you shouldn't be.

"I thought you'd be up bright and early, excited to write about your disappearing bees," Brett joked.

"Nope. Not even disappearing bees can keep me energized at 8:00 in the morning," I replied.

"Good morning!" began Professor Willams. "Just out of curiosity," she began. "Is anyone doing a speech on the coronavirus?"

My breath hitched in my throat. There it was again. That word. That virus.

Two boys at the front of the room piped up. "We are! Did you hear the United States has their first confirmed case?"

I winced. No, this was my biggest fear.

"I did!" replied Professor Williams. "It was all over the news this morning!"

Brett nudged my shoulder. "You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I, I'll be right back," I said, getting up from my chair. I bought myself a bottle of water at the nearest vending machine and chugged half of it. I hurried back to class, realizing that I was probably missing today's instructions.

Clearly concerned, Brett looked at me. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing," I mumbled, opening my laptop. Brett and I started putting together our speech, but it didn't take long before I was completely distracted. I opened a new tab and typed "coronavirus" into google and hit the search button.

Several articles popped up, most written within the hour. All of the headlines stated "First Confirmed Covid Case in United States."

Brett looked at my laptop screen. "You worried about that? It's just one confirmed case, besides, that virus can't be much worse than the flu. I mean, I know a lot of people have died from it, but people die every year from the flu too."

That last sentence caught my attention. "A lot of people have died?" This was becoming a real life horror movie. This was becoming my worst nightmare: a deadly virus.

"Yeah, but like I said, it's just one confirmed case."

I was silent. If I knew anything about viruses, it was that if there was one confirmed case, there were several, and those several cases were going to turn into hundreds.

I tried to focus on writing my speech with Brett. Even his usual witty jokes couldn't take my attention off of the fact that I was absolutely terrified. I tried not to let him know. I tried to seem like I was just tired, rather than scared.

It was nearing the end of the class period when Professor Williams finally spoke up again. "How are the speeches coming along, guys? Good?" Everyone nodded.

"Is anyone finished yet?" Several people nodded.

"That's great! You guys are ahead of the rest of my classes. Since it sounds like most of you are pretty much done, I'll give you this weekend to prepare your papers, and we can start presenting on Monday. Sound good?" More people nodded.

I was glad that Brett and I had finished up our paper. No speech homework this weekend, I thought.

"I think our speech turned out great," he said.

I nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay today?" he asked.

Oh no. He's onto me. "I'm fine. I'm just tired," I lied.

Brett shrugged. "If you say so. See you on Monday?"

"Yep," I smiled. "See ya."

I quickly washed my hands before I walked to psychology class. I wasn't able to concentrate on a single thing due to my distracting thoughts. I kept sneaking my phone out to check the news for coronavirus updates. All of this had happened so quickly. It was as if this virus had come out of nowhere. Accepting that I wouldn't be able to focus on anything else, I stayed on my phone throughout the majority of class. Perks of sitting in the back row, I thought wryly.

By the end of class, I was exhausted from worrying. I was very thankful when it was finally time to go home. I raced home, threw my back pack on my floor and whipped out my laptop. I read the latest Covid updates:

Breaking News: United States Discovers More Covid Cases.

I wasn't even surprised. This is what I expected. This is my worst nightmare. Defeated, I shut my laptop and decided that I should take a break from the internet for awhile. I went for a walk to clear my head. It helped a little bit. Soon my thoughts drifted to a very familiar subject: Brett. Thinking about him slightly eased my nerves. By the time I got back home, I was a little more relaxed. I prepared dinner and spent the rest of my Friday night watching Netflix, careful to avoid the news.