"Oh Shit", Jeff yelled as he looked at the clock, "I've overslept!" He jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed his wallet and ran out the door. Jeff came from a very well off family so he had his own car, which he started up two minutes later. "If the traffic is good I just might make it to school on time," he said out loud. He pulled up to the school with 15 minutes to spare. He parked in his usual spot and made his way to the front door. "Fuck," he said under his breath. He realized that he'd forgotten to take his allergy medication and his allergies were at there worst this time of year. He just hoped that he could make it through the day without any major attacks.

He made it to homeroom early, so he slid down in his seat and relaxed for a few minutes. All too soon he felt that familiar tickle in his nose. He rubbed it and the tickle went away. The tickle came back during announcements and much stronger this time. He looked around the room to see what was causing it and he saw that the window was open. There was a strong breeze and it was blowing in large amounts of pollen from all the fresh spring flowers. Jeff thought about asking his teacher to close the window, but he didn't want to explain and bring attention to himself. The tickle in his nose grew stronger and stronger every second. He didn't know how much longer he could hold the sneeze in. "What an embarrassing moment it would be," he thought," to have a major sneezing attack in front of everyone." He put his finger under his nose and did everything else he could think of to stop the sneeze from coming out. He knew that if one came, then dozens were sure to follow. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore, he just had to sneeze. "Achooo Achoo Ahhhhh-chooo!!! Choo, Ah ah ah hachooo, Hachoo," he started sneezing uncontrollably,"Achoo hachoo hachoo Achoo ahhhhhhhhhhhchooooooo, achoo cachoo, ah hachoo ahhhhchoo," the sneezes came out loud and strong," achoo ahhhhhh ahhhh ahhhhh ahhhhhchooo hachoo hachoo." A girl named Jennifer came up to him," Are you all right, Jeff?" she asked with a concerned look. "Achoo achoo, no it’s just achoo ahhhhhchoo my allergies achoo achoooooooo ahhh ahhhhhhhh ahhhhchooo," he sneezed and pointed to the window. By this time everyone was staring at him. " Oh," she said, "I’ll get you some tissues and tell Mr. Nagie to close the window." He tried to thank her but the sneezes came out so fast that all he could do was nod. Mr. Nagie finally noticed his sneezing, "Is something wrong Mr.Paterson?" he asked with fake concern. Jeff just kept sneezing. "He needs you to close the window Mr. Nagie," Jennifer said and grabbed the box of tissues off his desk. "Ahhhh….," he replied and closed the window. Jennifer brought the tissues back to Jeff’s desk, he grabbed them and started sneezing into them. "Achoo hachoo ahh ah ahhhhhhchoooo," his sneezing diminished after a couple minutes. He blew his nose and turned to face Jennifer, "Hey, thanks a lot." "No prob," she said. "God, I was so embarrassed by that whole scene I just made. See, I forgot to take my meds this morning and I’ve got really bad allergies." "Oh me too, but I get shots every week, I think I’d be worse off than you without them." " Well this is really interesting, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever be having this conversation!" They both laughed. "Hey look the bell is gonna ring soon so, would you like to eat lunch with me? You know, talk about what we’re allergic to?", she meant it as a joke and was surprised when he said, "Sure, I’d love to." And the bell rang.

Jeff had no trouble getting through his next two classes. It was 3rd period when his allergies started to bother him again, it was wood shop. He was making a CD rack. It was all put together, he just had to sand and paint it. He started sanding his project and expected to get another allergy attack, but one never came. All of a sudden this immature guy, Justin, started scooping up sawdust and throwing it in the air. Jeff was so involved in his work that he didn’t notice it until his nose started to tickle. He looked up and saw what was happening. He went over to Justin, "Hey man, stop throwing that stuff around!" he yelled. Justin ignored him and threw some in his face. Jeff didn’t even to try to hold the sneezes back. "Achoo achoo achoo ahhhh ahhh ahchoo," he ran over to the sink and started sneezing into some paper towels, "achoo achoo ahhhhchooooooo achoooooo ahhhhhhchoo achoo achoo achoo achoo achoo ah ah ahhhhhhhahhhhhhchooooooooo ." The shop teacher heard the commotion and ran over to Jeff. He wasn’t that surprised, allergy attacks were very common in the shop rooms. "Jeff why don’t you go out in the hallway and get away from all this dust for awhile?" He was still sneezing but he nodded thanks and went out into the hall. He sat down against the wall and continued to sneeze, " achoo achoo achoo ah ah ahh ahhhhhhhhhhchooooooo ahhhhhhhhhhhchooooooooooo achoooooo," after 10 more minutes of straight sneezing, he was all sneezed out. He looked up after blowing his nose and he saw Jennifer coming down the hall. She ran over to him, it was obvious to her that he had had another allergy attack. "Are you ok, Jeff? It looks like you had another sneezing fit." "I did but I’m feeling better now," he replied. She sat down next to him, "You really should tell your teachers to close the windows as soon as you get to class. Then this wouldn’t happen." "Actually I was in wood shop and all the dust set me off. I’m not just allergic to pollen you know." "Oh ok, well maybe you should go home and rest." " Nah, I don’t think it will be a problem anymore. I’ll just take you’re advice on the window thing and I’ll be fine." " Ok, I just don’t want to see you suffer. I really like you Jeff." " I know, speaking of which why haven’t you said anything earlier? I’ve suspected that you had a crush on me for a few months, but I didn’t want to say anything." "I guess that I…..well I was afraid of rejection," she admitted. "I don’t think you should worry about that anymore, you’re a beautiful girl!" "Really? Thanks!" she exclaimed and started blushing, "Well I really have to get back to class. I’ll see you at lunch ok?" "Sure thing. I’ll wait for you by the vending machines. See you then!" Jeff walked into the cafeteria and went over to the vending machines to wait for Jennifer. To his surprise she was already there! "What are you doing here so early?" he exclaimed. " "Waiting for you silly!" she grabbed his arm and led him to a table. Then he noticed a flowery smell in the air and it was tickling his nose like crazy. He really wanted to have an allergy free lunch with Jennifer and not make a fool of himself. "Are you wearing perfume?" he asked. " Yes, I just came from gym. I always put a lot of perfume on after gym to get rid of the sweat smell. Do you like it?" "It’s very nice but…achoo achoo ahhhhhchooo ahhhchoo ahaaaaahhhhhhhchooooooooooo," he started sneezing. "Oh no, you’re allergic to it. I’m so sorry!" she apoligized. "Achoo achoo that’s ok…..achoo ahhhhhh ahhhhhhchooo achoooooachoo achoooo achoo achoo." "No it’s not, now let me take you to the nurse," she demanded. He couldn’t stop sneezing enough to protest, so he just followed her to the Nurse’s office, sneezing the whole way.

They walked into the nurses office with Jeff still sneezing. "Achoo achoo ahhhhh ahhhhhchooo achooachooachoo aaachoooo achoo achoooo ahhhhachoo ahhhh ah hachoo achoo ahhhhchooooooo achoo ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhchoooooo." The nurse was staring at him, "What’s wrong with you?" she asked. "I...I..............achoo achooachoo ahhhhhhhhchoo achoo ahhhh ahhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhchoo ahhhchoo ahchoo" Jennifer answered for him, "He’s having an allergy attack." "Yes well I guess that’s obvious," the nurse replied, "Do you have any medication here at school?" He shook his head in between sneezes. "You’d better go home then, let me call your parents," she said, "No one’s answering Jeff." "Well can achoo ahhhhhchooooo achoo can Jennifer achoo ahhhchoo ahhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhchoo............" " Take you home?" she filled in. He nodded. " I don’t see why not since you’re in no condition to drive. Would you mind doing that Jennifer?" "No of course not!" she said.

She led him outside to her car, the pollen outside made him sneeze even more. "Gosh, I’m really sorry about this Jeff. I’ll get you home soon." she said as they got into the car. Don’t....achooachooachooachooachoo ahhhhhhchoo, don’t worry about it.....achoo ahhhh ahhhhchoo achoooo ahhhhhhhhhhhchoooooooooooo." "You don’t have to talk, I know you can't stop sneezing. Here's some tissues," she said. "Thaaaaachoooo achooo achoo ahhhhhchooo thanks achoo achoo achoooooo ahhhhhhhhhchooooo." They pulled up in front of his house. He got out of the car and ran up the driveway. Before he got through the door, she called to him, "I'm really sorry about all this, I’ll call you later to see how you're doing." Then he disappeared into the house sneezing.

To be continued...