I was sprinting as fast as I possibly could, I was confident I would win the monthly race in school this time. The fastest runner was right behind me, slowly speeding up ready to pass me. In that moment, I didn’t think at all, I just ran faster and faster closing my eyes and taking short lifeless breaths. My eyes opened only to see a large metal bike rack. Then, all I saw was black. I had wiped out and now was laying on the ground rolled in a tight ball, with my eyes closed tightly.

“Ruby! are you ok?” Ingrid said gasping for breath.

She kneeled down looking straight at me ill at ease. My eyes opened seeing her face towering over me. She helped me up and I sat down on a wooden bench near us, holding my head in pain.

“Should I call the teacher? Are you ok? Does it hurt?” I heard more and more voices pile on top of each other in the background.
“I’m fine. I really am.” I said hesitantly looking at everyone who participated in the race. Actually, I was anything but fine. I was lying but, they didn’t have to know that.

The bell rang noisily and I got up strenuously trying to shake of the pain and get to class before I’m late. The door of room 26 opened slowly as our 4th grade teacher Mrs. Randall lead everyone to their seats and came up to the front. My head slumped on the desk as my head ached. I think Mrs. Randall said something about perfect squares.

She taught for way too long. She was just talking and talking and talking. I don’t know how much more I can take of this torture. My head felt like it was falling off a cliff or was just stepped on by giant giraffe. The whole class was listening with no trace of tribulation and I was just there and I couldn’t focus at all. Suddenly she glared at me and called me to her desk. Ugh, let me just sit down, stop bugging me please I don’t want to come to your desk. I thought as I dragged myself out of my seat and slumped on her desk.

Then she said something, I think she asked if I was Ok. She might have said something about the office or was it something about oranges?

She then sent me on a journey to the office because she claimed I wasn’t feeling Okay. I looked around trying to recall the location of the office. My feet felt heavy as I walked making a large thump sound everywhere I went. I slammed the door of the classroom shut and looked around trying to recall the office’s location. My hands felt weightless at my side, flopping around at every movement I made. A large sign labeled OFFICE neatly written in permanent marker dangled in front of a large blue building with several windows. I struggled to open the door after my many failed attempts of pushing a door that said PULL in large letters. ‘UGH. I’m so stupid. Did I really just push a door that says pull?’ I told myself as the secretaries stared at me. My head ached and I couldn’t think straight.

The school office was the nicest place in the whole school, It had a tidy front office with a couple secretaries who are focused on their computers 24/7 responding to emails and sometimes playing Bejeweled. It lead into a variety of large rooms, I passed the principal’s office, staff room, and the storage before I reached a small room with a sign on the door labeled NURSE which I went into.

“Hello! Welcome to the School infirmary! Where does it hurt?” A lady dressed in all white said enthusiastically with a smile.

“My h-heeadd..” I said drowsily as I fell onto the bed next to me.

She grabbed a thermometer and checked my temperature for any trace of a fever. I explained that I fell when I was racing my friends and ever since then I’ve been feeling under the weather. She gave me an ice pack and told me to put it on my head as I laid down on the bed. the pain in my head was getting worse and I just couldn’t take it.

“AAAAAAH!” I screamed in pain, gripping my head, with my eyes filled with tears.                                              

My dad arrived at the office in a snap, holding my bag in one hand and the car keys in the other. He dropped both and ran toward me asking if I felt okay.

“Weell, Durr, I do..nt feeeeel.. goood” I said with a frown on my face.

He told me we were going to take a visit to Kaiser (my hospital) and get an xray done. He then bent over, picked up some stuff, and walked toward the car. The nurse helped me up and helped me to the car. I sat down on the old, dilapidated seats of our 1999 Honda Civic and closed my eyes hoping to get at least a bit of rest before the whole checkup thing.

The doctor’s office was here in a breeze and I didn’t get any rest on the drive, but I do feel a lot better for some reason. My dad swung open the car door and pulled me out slowly, then lifted me into his arms and kicked the door shut with the back of his foot and walked toward a the large main building of Kaiser. My eyes were filled with tears and my head ached as we walked toward the building. The doors opened and we were greeted by the children’s room of the hospital. The room was colorful with vibrant butterfly designs painted across the room, traveling all around the walls only to be stopped by a large metal sign with multicolored letters spelling out “CHILDREN’S ROOM” big and bold. I would be blown away by the airy environment, if my head wasn’t hurting this much. My dad, holding me, walked over to a large pink desk with a cheerful lady behind it. My dad explained the problem and we walked over to a room she pointed to. A tall man opened the room with a straight face and signaled us to come into the room.

“Where does it hurt?” He said quietly glancing at his computer from time to time.

I pointed to my head and he told us to put me down on the bed at the corner of the room. The bed was cold and hard, the doctor walked over to the rack next to his computer and grabbed a few tools. He first told me to get up and then he showed me a long piece of paper with rows of letters decreasing in size as it went down. I recited all the letters correctly and then layed back down with my hands on my head and my body crouched up into a tight ball. He then sent me and my dad on an expedition to the x ray room. The wait was short and we went into a room with a lot of machinery and a sign that said you needed doctor supervision to enter. A short girl doctor tapped us on the shoulder and gave us a warm smile. She opened the room and led us into a small room. I then sat down along with my dad on a marked area. The doctor slid a large machine over my head and told me to stay very still.

“I’m just checking if there is anything wrong, anyways I highly doubt there is.” The doctor said, making me feel a lot better about my injury. “I’m doctor Mason by the way.” She said adjusting the machine carefully.

I thanked her, and then started to tell her the problem with my head, and how much it hurt. She said it would be fine and then she walked over into a room where the pictures from the x ray were.

“Good news! Nothing major has happened. You just need rest that is all.”

I sighed in relief, looking over my shoulder at my dad who was also grinning a bit.  My mom ran into the room, out of breath. just then.

“Ruby, are you okay? I came as fast as I could.” she said panting.

I gripped my head and Dr.Mason started to tell her about the injury and show her the X-ray pictures. She took my mom into a room next door with clear walls, so I could see them speaking.

“See it was hurt … , which caused... and also… give her this medicine and blah blah blah”  is what I think she said from what I interpreted from Dr. Mason’s lip movements. Then I think my mom cracked one of her old jokes because they bursted into laughter.

They came into the room still with a smile on their face, from the corny joke that my mom had probably cracked.
“Let’s go. We can go home, you won’t be going to school for a few days, and I have to give you medicine. We’ll make a quick stop to the pharmacy on the way out to pick it up. Can you write down the name of the medicine on a paper, please?” Said my mom, asking Dr. Mason. The doctor nodded and scribbled something down along with the location.

We all went home, and I still had pain in my head. The next few days I couldn’t go to school because of the fear that more pain was yet to come. After two weeks of taking medicine and resting my head was back to normal and ready to race again. Actually, my doctor said it was best if I stopped from the racing for a bit and put my mind on something else.