When Chenoa awoke a period later, her fever was gone, and her mind had cleared.  Standing, she thanked the nurse and could not remember why she had felt so ill.  Maybe she had been up too late working.  Sometimes when she didn’t sleep enough, Chenoa got sick from fatigue.  That must have been it. 

Heading to her final class, Chenoa grinned at Gabby.  Her friend studied her with concern; however, Gabby saw that color had returned to Chenoa’s cheeks and her face was calm.

“You feeling better?” Gabby asked.

“A lot.  I must have just needed sleep.  You know how I can get sick when I don’t sleep enough,” Chenoa waved away the question.

“That is true.   You had me worried.  Maybe you should take one of those ibuprofen PMs tonight so you can sleep early.”

“That’s a good idea.  I got my papers all finished so there’s no homework tonight.”

“Good.”

Laughing, they sat down at their desks and prepared for taking notes.  Chris Downy appeared in dry gym clothes, though looking as if he was in a bad mood.  His backpack was nowhere to be seen. People were asking him what had happened and how he was.  He told them grumpily that he was fine.  That they didn’t know what happened.  His stuff had all been destroyed.  Anything that was in his backpack was gone, including his reports and phone.  The teachers all understood, of course, given the circumstance, and he was going to be able to reprint them that night and hand them in tomorrow. 

“You have had the worse luck today,” a guy named Joni Thompson shrugged.  “You must have done something really bad to build up this karmic punishment.”

Chris frowned at Joni then glanced at Chenoa, who had been listening along with Gabby.  Chris’s frown softened when he saw that she did not look smug or anything, but rather relieved and worried.

“I am glad you are alright,” she said kindly to him.  “You all could have gotten seriously hurt by that water pressure or the water fountain if it had hit any of you.”

“Yeah, everyone was safe.  Just wet.  Thanks, Chenoa…you’re being so nice about it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Blushing, Chris looked at his hands.

“Well, ‘cause you may think I have this coming.”

“You do, but that doesn’t mean I want you to get hurt while you get your comeuppance.”

Laughing mockingly, Chris sneered and turned back to face the board as the teacher began speaking.  Chenoa sat diagonally behind Chris, but he could still see her out of the corner of his eye.  Her head was bent, writing down her usual detailed notes.  The tumbles of red, curly hair she had thrown up into her usual messy bun were slipping out and around her face. Her top teeth bit her bottom lip in thought as she worked out the example problem on the board before the teacher even explained it.  Chris couldn’t explain his attraction to Chenoa.  She was very pretty, but so were many girls in school.  There was just something more there and it drove him crazy that he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.  As she closed her eyes in concentration, electric blue designs flashed on her eyelids, causing Chris to jump and fall loudly out of his chair.  The whole class broke into fits of laughter as he turned crimson and stood up, brushing himself off.

Returning to his seat, Chris thought that it really wasn’t his day.  Not in the least.  Yet he could have sworn he had seen something on Chenoa’s eyelids.  However, when he looked back as Chenoa blinked her large eyes, Chris saw there was nothing there, not even makeup. 

The rest of the period and day went by without incident. Chenoa was grateful for the end of the day and to go home.  She was exhausted for some reason.  Chris felt the same way after his day of bad luck.  However, his day seemed a little brighter as Chris exited the bus and Chenoa smiled and waved, wishing him a better day tomorrow.  Chenoa got off the bus a short time later and trudged home.  As she walked away from the bus, Gabby watched her friend.  Just as Gabby was about to turn away from the window, something caught her eye. Blinking, Gabriella was unsure if she saw what she thought she was seeing; the shadows on the ground seemed to be following Chenoa.  They flocked after her as if they were trying to keep up. 

“You see it too, huh?” a voice said next to Gabby.

Turning her head, Gabby saw Nick Lasso watching Chenoa walk away. Gabby had not even heard him sit next to her.

“See what?” Gabby asked.

“The way the shadows follow her,” Nick said seriously.

His eyes stuck on Chenoa as she disappeared.

“You see it too?”

“Yeah.  I noticed it a couple months ago, but I was never sure if it was just my imagination.  But now that I saw your face, I know you see it too.”

“It’s not possible. Shadows don’t follow people.”

“They aren’t supposed to, but they seem to follow her.”

“Maybe we are seeing things.”

“Both of us? Doesn’t seem likely.”

“And shadows following Chenoa is?”

“I don’t know, but it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has seen it.”