85- Vomit

When my alarm clock went off this morning at 6am, I awoke feeling as sick as a dog. I felt feverish and nauseated. I forced myself to get out of bed, and briefly considered calling in sick. After several minutes of deliberation, I decided that I would be damned if I were going to waste one of my sick days on being sick. It was a Friday, so I convinced myself that if I could make it though to the end of the day, my vacation time would be safe..
To prepare, I took three Ibuprofen tablets and ate a banana. On my way to work, I cursed myself for being so foolish. Yet, stubbornly, I still found myself in my classroom, greeting students and teaching lessons. I never started to feel better. In fact, I started to feel worse. My head was swimming with fever and my stomach was in knots.
In the middle of giving my students a Vocabulary Test, I felt a sudden urge to vomit. Without any explanation to the kids, I dropped the tests and ran from the classroom. I didn’t make it to the bathroom. I did get all the way to the Teacher’s Lounge before I puked. I burst into the lounge and stuck my head into the nearest trash can. Clinging to the bin, I must have vomited for a full three minutes before I could surface.
Lifting my head from the garbage, I saw Principal standing nearby.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“No,” I moaned, “I’m sick.”
“Well, I can see that. You need to go home.”
Principal arranged for Coach to watch my class until they could find a substitute. She told me never to come to work that sick again and scolded me for putting the students and teachers at risk for illness.
I must have muttered something about not wanting to use up sick days, because I can remember Principal’s southern voice say, “If you go home now, it’ll only be counted as a half-day.”
How embarrassing.
And I never got the chance to give The Intimidator her first Secret Santa gift.