I opened my eyes. I was in the office, and Edward was striding past the front counter toward the nurse's door. Ms. Cope, the redheaded front office receptionist, ran ahead of him to hold it open. The grandmotherly nurse looked up from a novel, astonished, as Edward swung me into the room and placed me gently on the crackly paper that covered the brown vinyl mattress on the one cot . Then he moved to stand against the wall as far across the narrow room as possible. His eyes were bright, excited.
"She's just a little faint," he reassured the startled nurse. "They're blood typing in Biology."
The nurse nodded sagely. "There's always one." He muffled a snicker.
"Just lie down for a minute, honey; it'll pass."
"I know," I sighed. The nausea was already fading.
"Does this happen a lot?" she asked.
"Sometimes," I admitted. Edward coughed to hide another laugh.
"You can go back to class now," she told him.
"I'm supposed to stay with her." He said this with such assured authority that — even though she pursed her lips — the nurse didn't argue it further.
"I'll go get you some ice for your forehead, dear," she said to me, and then bustled out of the room.
"You were right," I moaned, letting my eyes close.
"I usually am — but about what in particular this time?" "Ditching is healthy." I practiced breathing evenly.
"You scared me for a minute there," he admitted after a pause. His tone made it sound like he was confessing a humiliating weakness. "I thought Newton was dragging your dead body off to bury it in the woods."
"Ha ha." I still had my eyes closed, but I was feeling more normal every minute.
Mattress 床墊
Cot 簡易床
Sagely 賢明地
Snicker 竊笑
Purse 撅嘴
Ditch 逃課
我睜開了眼睛。我正在辦公室裡。愛德華徑直穿過前臺，大步向醫務室的門走去。科普女士——那位紅髮的前臺接待員——奔到他前面，把門打開。那位祖母般慈祥的護士從一本小說裡抬起頭，大吃一驚。愛德華側著身把我抱進房間，輕輕地把我放在那張覆蓋在屋裡唯一一張帆布床的吹塑床墊上的，脆弱的薄紙上。然後他穿過這間狹小的屋子，走到屋子另一頭靠牆站著，儘可能站得離我遠些。他的眼睛興奮得發亮。 他輕笑起來。
“我要帶她去醫務室。”邁克用辯白的口吻說道。“但她走不動了。”
“我會帶她去的”，愛德華說。我能嗅到他語氣裡的堅定。“你可以回去上課了。”“她只是有點頭暈。”他給那位嚇得夠嗆的護士吃了一顆定心丸。“他們在生物課上檢測血型。”
護士英明地點了點頭：“總會有一兩個人這樣的。”
他悶笑了一聲。
“躺一會兒就好，親愛的，很快就會沒事的。”
“我知道。”我嘆息著說。那種噁心感快要消失了。
“你常常這樣嗎？”她問道。
“有時會。”我承認道。愛德華咳嗽了一聲，以掩飾他又一次的輕笑。
“現在你可以回去上課了。”她告訴他。
“我認為我最好還是留在這裡陪她。”他的聲音裡帶著某種令人信服的威嚴。那個護士撅起了嘴，但她沒有再說什麼。
“親愛的，我去拿些冰來，給你敷在前額上。”她對我說著，然後匆匆忙忙地走出了房間。
“你說的很對。”我呻吟著，閉上了眼睛。
“我通常都是對的——但這次有什麼特殊之處嗎？”
“翹課有益健康。”我練習著讓自己更均勻地呼吸。
“在那邊，有那麼一會兒你把我嚇壞了。”他頓了頓，承認道。他的聲音聽起來像是他在坦承某個丟人的弱點。“我還以為牛頓在把你的屍體拖到樹林裡埋掉呢。”
“哈哈。”我還是緊閉著雙眼，但我能感到自己每分每秒都在好起來。
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