I walked up to my classroom to get my Student Monitor sash. As I was walking though the hallway, I saw most of the Student Monitors put on hand sanitizer and gloves. I tried to ignore it as I took my sash off my hook. I saw more students putting hand sanitizer and gloves on. 

“What’s with the gloves?” 

I asked Twist, one of my bestest friend.  

“There is a virus going around.” 

She answered. 

“And, what’s so bad about that?” 

“It’s been putting kids in hospitals.” 

“Hospitals?”

“Yeah. They’ve been throwing up so much that their heart rates increased too much and they’ve been having trouble breathing.” 

“So, it’s going around the whole school?” 

“Yes! The whole elementary school!” 

Wow! A deadly virus that’s going around all of West Avenue, great. I sped walked to my post where the third graders line up. 

“Alright, I need a single file line.” 

I told them. 

“Nah, we’re too old for Student Monitors.” 

A girl said with a snappy attitude. 

“Well you’ll never be too old if you keep up the attitude.” 

“How do I know you’re not infected?” 

I saw the third graders wearing gloves. The girl had a bottle of hand sanitizer peeking out of her pocket. After the third graders went to their classroom, I went back to mine. I was the only kid not wearing gloves. Each student had a role of paper towels and a water bottle near their desk. Every fifteen minutes, they’d wet a paper towel and wipe their desk. Was this virus really that bad? I saw Jacob’s and Jordan’s desk were empty. They must have caught the virus. 

“Hey, Alexandra.” 

Michael whispered to me.

“Where are your gloves?” 

“I don’t need any.”

“Infected.” 

He hissed. 

“Class!” 

Mrs. Violet called. After an hour, the bell rang. It was time for gym. Issac dropped his water bottle at my feet. I picked it up and when I was about to hand it to him, he growled, 

“Infected.” 

then used a paper tower to take it. He immediately threw it out, getting as far away from me on the line as possible. So did everybody else.  As we  walked down to the gym, Twist whispered to me, 

“Are you really infected?” 

“Of course not. I just don’t want to put on hand sanitizer.” 

Twist stepped away from me. 

“I am sorry, I just don’t want to take any chances.” 

During the warm up in gym, the gym teacher, Ms. Howard called, 

“Alright, find a partner everyone!” 

I bet the last person everybody thought of was me. Twist even went to the lengths of being my greatest enemy’s partner. Lisa looked around, trying to find a partner. 

“Lisa and Alex, partner up.” 

She stepped back as I approached her. 

“Today, we will be doing partner slime tag. You have to hold hands with your partner and try to tag other partners. If you get tagged, one partner must hold hands with the partner who tagged you.”

Lisa took off her gloves and put on extra hand sanitizer. I held out my hand and her hand hovered over mine. After we started everybody tagged each other, well, nobody tagged me. They all tagged Lisa and held Lisa’s hand. When gym was over, we were a full blop. Lisa’s hand still hovered over mine, and still nobody held my hand. We all lined up, and nobody was near me. When we got back to class, all the kids washed their hands for a while. I just sat at my desk and stairs at my light blue shoes. The white lases were tangled up. They were like that ever since I attempted to tie my shoe. My parents said they would soon get me velt crow sneakers. 

“Infected.” 

Michal growled as he walked to his seat. The day started to flow by. Of course, the students can’t go five minutes without whispering ‘infected’ to me. Lunch time finally rolled around. I opened my lunch box to be greeted by a turkey and cheese sandwich with a sprinkle of ledice. I was unsurprisingly alone, but at least I won’t have boys screaming in my ear about shoes and sports. At recess, everybody zoomed to the balls and jump ropes and dashed off with them before I could go near them. Now I’m starting to think that this virus thing is a bit silly. Why would I be ‘infected’ because I don’t have gloves or hand sanitizer on! Then, April and May slowly approached me. Those two sisters are the smallest in the grade, but April is the strongest and May is the fastest. 

“Hey Alex.”

May calmly said, in a whispering like tone. 

“It’s okay, we are not here to hurt you.” 

April copied the tone. 

“Guys, I’m still human y’know.” 

I got up, putting my foot in front of me. 

“Oh no she’s on to us!” 

April panicked. May already started running away, and April quickly followed. The virus thing now just got more silly! It’s even more then silly, it’s dumb and irritating! The rest of the day zoomed by quickly. I walked home by myself as my siblings, Nathan and Summer, walked in the other side of the street. 

 When I got to the third grade line with my light blue Student Monitor sash, the snappy girl was missing. When I got to class, Issac and Twist were absent, and Jordan and Jacob were still out. To avoid me being called infected, I put on hand sanitizer and gloves. 

“You’ll always be infected to me.” 

Michal growled as the teacher stepped in the front of the room. 

“Alright 5th grade, today we have a new student.” 

The new boy walked near the front of the class. 

“H-hi, I’m-“

Sadly, the new kid was cut short by Michal’s rudeness. 

“He’s infected just like Alex!” 

Michal shouted, leaning over his smooth oak brown desk, pointing right at the kid’s hands. I threw off my gloves and stood tall. 

“Hey! There is no infected people! The whole thing is just silly! You said I was infected but I’m still here, right?” 

I boomed, yelling at the whole class but slightly tweaked towards Michal. 

“Alex is right, there are no ‘infected’ students! We will all treat each other with respect or else I will have to make phone calls home!” 

That’s what I like about Mrs. Violet. She always looks on the logical side unlike everybody else. I mean, it’s just a virus. People are acting like it’s the end of the world!

“Class, this is Lucus.”

Mrs. Violet announced. 

“Lucus, you can sit next to Alex.” 

She pointed right to me and Lucus sat at the empty desk next to me. He had shaggy brown hair with a few light brown highlights. I’ve heard no student sat in Lucus’s seat for decades because it has a curse! They say that who ever sits at that desk, the person next to them will break their leg and cut their knee open due to the student who sits there’s actions, and the person sitting in the desk will be attacked by a whole hive of wasp the next day. Then, the person sitting in the desk will catch a virus that would put them in a hospital. I don’t believe in stuff like that, but it’s still interesting to hear. 

“Alright class! Today we will learn about the periodic table!” 

Mrs. Violet pulled up a chart of the periodic table. She pointed to hydrogen with her long silver stick with a brown leather grip. 

“Do you know why hydrogen is first in the table?” 

My hand shot up like a bullet. 

“Alex.” 

She called on me while Michal was slightly groaning. 

“Hydrogen is first because it has one atom of it’s element.” 

“Very good, Alex.” 

Michal growled. 

“I could have solved that.” 

Mrs. Violet looked at Michal and pointed her stick at him. 

“Michal, name all the elements of the periodic table in order.” 

She hid the chart and kept her eyes on him. 

“Umm, there is hydrogen, oxygen, iron...” 

The teacher interrupted before Michal could finish his guessing. The only one he got correct was hydrogen, but I bet if he wasn’t paying attention to my answer, he would have guessed unatrium first.

“Now, you will work in partners to create a map of the periodic table.” 

Mrs Violet announced. 

“Michal and Lisa, pair up.” 

She pointed to the two, with her stick still in hand. 

“Lucus, you can work with Alex on the carpet.”

We sat down on the lime carpet. It was a bit hard but not that hard. 

“You’re working with the infected kid with the cursed seat. Good luck.” 

Michal grinned as he walked back to Lisa. 

“Just ignore my greatest enemy. He’s just jealous.” 

We carefully drew out the map, even labeling the colours. After we finished we decided to get to know each other better. 

“I like running in fields, rolling down hills, and,” 

Lucus paused for a moment. 

“I like climbing trees the best.” 

He smiled. After all the groups shared, we moved on to math. The day zoomed by as usual. Lucus and I sat across from each other so we can talk more. Michal slowly walked over, grinning as usual. 

“Well well, look at the two infected kids! They’re sitting near each other because they’re so lonely! Boo hoo!” 

He teased. I got up, and ran up to him, holding his shirt color firmly, bringing him closer. 

“Listen, we aren’t infected. There is no such thing! I am just being a good friend to the new kid.”

I growled, clenching my teeth together. 

“Say another thing, I dare you!” 

“Okay. Lucus and Alex are in L.O.V” 

Before he could finish, I pushed him back to his seat and gave him a taste of his own medicine. 

“At least I remember things from kindergarten! And I have something called friends. Ever hear of them? What friends do you have?” 

Michal growled as he turned around, sitting at an empty table. Recess came, and all the kids took the balls and jump ropes. 

“Look! A big tree!” 

He pointed to the tree next to the small oak bench in the middle of the field. 

“C’mon, let’s go!” 

He ran towards it, stopping to spin around with his arms out. He jumped onto a tree branch. I jumped onto the one next to him. 

“I like this view.” 

I commented. Then, I started to hear a snapping sound. The branch broke, and I fell down to the ground. My knee smooshed into a sharp rock. I could see the other end of the rock poking out of the other side of my knee. The whole leg felt like it was smacked by a club made out of metal and concrete. Lucus gasped and slid down the tree to me. 

“Are you alright?” 

He asked with a shortage of breath. I tried to respond, but I couldn’t say a word. All the teachers came and escorted me to the nurse’s office. When I laid down on the blue leather bed, the nurse made a call home. 

“We can call 9-1-1 from here if you’d like.” 

I over heard the nurse say. My vison became blurry as I looked into my cut. I saw lots of red and my shattered bone. I finally heard sirens. They were booming as doctors came in and put me on a stretcher. There was a puddle of red on the leather bed where my knee was resting. The doctors put me in the ambulance and the sirens grew a bit more quiet when the doors shut. 

“It’s going to be okay. Your parents are already at the hospital waiting for you.” 

A doctor calmly said as my vison became more and more blurry like a cloud. 

 As I walked towards the fifth grade line, I noticed Alex wasn’t at her post. Why did I have to be so mean to her? Alex was right, I was jealous of her and all the friends she has. I thought if I acted the way I did, she would think I was cool. Now, I realized my error and I hope she comes back so I can atone for my actions. Everyone still had gloves and hand sanitizer, and acted like Alex’s accent never happened. Maybe I’m the only one who knew since I witnesses it. I saw Lucus in the back of the line with red dots on his cheeks. 

“What happened?”

I asked as I walked beside him. 

“I got stung by wasp this morning while climbing a tree.” 

He responded, slightly turning his back towards me. 

“I thought I was infected.” 

His back turned closer to me. 

“Listen, I’m sorry for what I said.” 

I looked down at my shoes, kicking a small pebble towards the rock Alex got hurt on. It still had a few red drops dripping down it. 

“It’s alright. People didn’t like me back at my old school because of my love of nature.” 

He looked back at the field and to the red tipped rock. 

“Now, my love of nature hurt my only friend here.”

I took a deep breath. I never thought I’d say this. 

“I’ll be your friend.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I realized how mean I was to you guys, and I’m really sorry.” 

I threw of my gloves and threw away my hand sanitizer. 

“Michal, what are you doing?” 

Lisa asked with her arms crossed and a sour face. 

“There are no infected people! It doesn’t exist!” 

“I heard Alex went to the hospital yesterday!” 

“Because she cut her knee open on that rock!” 

I pointed to the red tipped rock. 

“The branch on the ground broke, and her knee dug into the stone!” 

“I don’t believe you, infected.”

What have I done? I’ve planted a rumor seedling and now it grew to a huge rumor tree! Then, Alex fell off the rumor tree and now she might not even come back. Nathan and Summer weren’t here today, so they couldn’t back me up. The bell rang, and we all walked inside, with  an empty desk separating me from Lucus. After a few minutes in class, we went down to music class. I remember how Alex would always doodle on her folder. Her artwork looked like it should be in a museum. All I can draw is stick figures. 

“Alright, today we will be learning a song called ‘Snow and Sky’” 

Alex said that was her favorite holiday song. 

As the snow falls down

As the horses enter town

As the people put away their hoes

It’s Christmas time y’know

Alex had the most beautiful singing voice in the whole world. After music class, we went back to class for math. Even after I was mean to her, she always helped me with math. She taught me how to pin point ordered pairs on the cordinite plane. I looked at previous homework assignment to help me with my work. If Alex never helped me, I would still be in kindergarten. At lunch, I sat in Alex’s spot near Lucus. 

“So, tell me about your old school.” 

“Well, I had no friends, and all the kids called me ‘Tree Hugger’ or ‘Grass-Lover.’ Every night I prayed for at least one friend, then I found one, and now I lost her.” 

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I started the whole virus rumor. Now everybody thinks we’re infected.” 

I looked down at the crummy floor. The bell rang for recess. The only ball left was the golden football Alex liked to play with. I remember that day when I took the golden football on purpose. Alex politely asked to play with me, yet I rudely rejected. Me and Lucus threw long shots at each other for the whole recess. The way Alex stood up to me yesterday flew though my mind. She was right about me. The bell rang and I planted myself in the back of the line. An hour passed in  history class. It was time to head home. I thought Friday was supposed to be a day of joy.