THE GLUCOSE

That Thursday morning was overcast, a cold wind sweeping across the Loxley Hall lawn, signalling the Cotswold winter drawing near.

After the warm-up lap, I sat down to rest in my usual corner of the field, hands trembling as I pulled the glucose gel out of my jacket pocket — the only tube I’d brought with me that day, since Dr. Hartley hadn’t yet managed to issue a new backup due to paperwork delays from the school’s medical office.

Before I could open it, a hand reached out from behind me and knocked the tube hard, sending it flying to the ground.

I turned around.

Rosalind stood there, flanked on both sides by two tall boys from the rugby team who’d been trailing her lately, holding out a red apple with an oddly gentle expression.

“An apple has sugar too,” she said, her voice soft as if doing me a favour.

“You could eat this instead, spare yourself from always having to be more special than everyone else.”

“It’s not the same,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm even as my head began to spin.

“Gel absorbs into the bloodstream much faster than an apple, I need it right now. Let me pick it up.”

I bent down to retrieve the tube, but Rosalind was faster, planting her heel firmly on top of it.

“Do you look down on me that much?” her eyes welled with tears, her voice cracking loud enough for the students warming up nearby to stop and stare.

“I kindly offer you an apple and you trample all over my kindness, what, are you going to fight me over it right here on the field?”

“Rosalind, please,” I heard my own voice start to shake, beyond my control now.

“That’s the last tube I brought today, I genuinely need it.”

“Then eat the apple,” she pushed the fruit toward me again, her voice still hauntingly gentle.

“Why do you always have to make such a big deal out of everything?”

The dizziness hit faster than it ever had before.

My ears rang, the noise around me receding as if from underwater, my knees buckled, and this time, Amelia wasn’t standing close enough to catch me.

My body crumpled to the ground, in front of the horrified stares of nearby students, and Amelia’s scream echoing from a distance, fading into the darkness closing in.