Free Natural Selection by Elizabeth Sharp

FITFULLY, tossing and turning
and frequently waking. I felt flushed and feverish. Every time I
tried to stand up, I got dizzy and would wobble. In the wee hours
of the morning, I shuffled to the bathroom and splashed some water
on my face. Seeing the thermometer on the shelf above the sink, I
decided to check, but I thought there must have been something
wrong with it. It said my temperature was a hundred and six. Maybe
Gaia ran a little hotter than humans, but I would have noticed it a
time or two if I was more than a few degrees warmer than my peers.
Feeling too ill to care, I stumbled back to my bedroom and crawled
back into my bed.
    I woke far too early the
next morning, my head feeling stuffed with cotton. Note to self:
Never drink again. Ever ! Staggering to the bathroom, I washed my face and gazed in
the mirror expecting to see bloodshot eyes and dark puffy circles.
Instead, my own face scowled back at me with perhaps some
imperceptible differences. I drained three glasses of water from
the toothpaste tumbler then climbed into the shower. The steam
helped my head a little, and I decided to check the fridge to see
if we had Gatorade or anything like that. My head was still
pounding, and I got nauseous if I moved too quickly. Luckily, no
one was up yet to see my crawl of shame into the
kitchen.
    “ Rough night?” Sariah asked
from behind me, causing me to jump which in turn caused pain to
flare behind my eyes. I put my arms on the counter and dropped my
head onto them with a groan, and my evil sister just chuckled. I
heard her open the fridge and pour something. I felt her nudge a
glass over to me. I picked up the red liquid and eyed it
suspiciously. She wouldn’t deliberately poison me or anything like
that, but I wouldn’t put it past her to try and convince me pickle
juice was a miracle cure. Of course pickle juice isn’t red, so that
logic didn’t really follow. She laughed and gave me a knowing
smile. “Relax, it’s just Pedialyte. Best thing you can do for a
hangover.”
    I gave her a grateful smile and drank
the sweet liquid. It was almost syrupy, designed for kids and all,
but not entirely unpleasant. I slid the empty glass back to Sariah,
and she refilled it. I drained it again. She wasn’t kidding. I
couldn’t believe how fast my headache seemed to fade away. I felt
much better.
    “ So what happened last
night?” Sariah asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one to judge,
but I really didn’t peg you as a sneak-a-flask kind of
girl.”
    “ I’m not. I think somebody
spiked the punch. I had a lot of it. And I just started feeling so
good, so alive” I shrugged, unsure how to describe the sensation of
need I felt last night. She cocked her head for a moment, deciding
if she believed me. She must have because she helped me dodge my
parents through breakfast. I managed to slip out of the house after
only a vague “It was fun” for my folks some kicks aimed at Xander
under the table for almost saying something to contradict me. As I
excused myself from the table, Sariah shot me a meaningful look
that told me Xander was going to get an earful. I hopped on my
ten-speed and started to head out, but I wasn’t sure where I was
really going. Evelyn and I still weren’t really talking, and I
didn’t have many other friends anymore. Definitely none that I
could randomly drop in on a Saturday morning. It wasn’t until I
crossed Union Street that I realized where I was going and almost
smacked myself in the forehead for not realizing sooner. My old
babysitter, Crystal McEntire, lived a couple of blocks from here.
Whenever I was troubled and it was something I couldn’t go to my
parents with, I’d always gone to Crystal. I’d never understood the
deep bond she and I always shared, but even after I was too old for
a babysitter, I still visited her fairly frequently. I swallowed
guilt over the fact I hadn’t even thought of her, let alone seen
her, since school started.
    I arrived at the blue house