The Tribe

by Jon Gerrard

  * * *

  During that same period Magda had chorus and, like the boys, she was waging a losing battle to keep her eyes open.

  “Magda, are you alright?”

  It was Mr. Castle. He had been watching her for the past several minutes as she tried to keep up with the music. Magda lifted her face out of her hands and looked bleary-eyed at the teacher.

  “Not really,” Magda said. “May I go to the nurse?”

  Mr. Castle frowned. Although he never had any problems with Magda, a lot of students had been finding reasons to ditch classes this week and he was reluctant to let anyone out of his room without a good reason.

  “Are you sick?”

  “Kind of,” Magda said. “Actually, I have cramps and—”

  “Never mind!” he said quickly, cutting her off. “Just go.”

  Magda pushed herself to her feet and left the room. When she got to the medical office, the nurse pointed her to the back room where there were a number of cots for students who weren’t feeling well. Two of the cots were already taken, and she wasn’t surprised to see Paige and Amanda stretched out fast asleep. She lay down on an empty cot and closed her eyes. In less than a minute she had joined her friends.