Liam smacked his hands on the table in front of excitedly, making me jump a little, "We're gonna go round to Taper's(made up place) tonight, right?"
 

 I had been kind of jumpy since I got up, I probably didn't get quite as much sleep as I needed. I could definitely deal with a little jumpiness though, especially since it was Halloween.  We were all staying at Niall's tonight, and with all the lollies and sugar I doubted that I was going to be able to catch up on any sleep until tomorrow night.

 Harry groaned, tugging on one of his curls with his face all scrunched up, "ugh, but that's such a long walk."

"Don't be a baby H, it's not even that far. And it's totally worth it, you know Taper's the best area," Niall said, rolling his eyes.

Taper's was the best area to trick or treat. It was kind of like the rich street, and pretty much everybody went all out on Halloween and gave out proper family sized chocolate bars and bags of sweets to anyone who knocked on the door. It was definitely the best place to be.

"You're keen for Taper's, right Lou?"

 I grinned with a definite nod, "of course I'm up for Taper's."

"Three against one Harry, sorry, you're outnumbered." Liam smiled, "I can't wait for school to finish!"

"I know. Hey Lou, are you gonna eat that?"

I heard my name and glanced over to see Niall pointing at the untouched sandwich in front of me. To be honest I had completely forgotten it was there. I wasn't feeling at all hungry for some reason and the more I thought about eating it, the more I realised that I didn't really want it so I shook me head in reply to Niall's question.

 I pushed it over to him, "nah, you can have it if you want Ni."

"Thanks Louise!"

"Do I look like a girl?"

Niall shrugged as he dug into the sandwich, "sometimes."

 I wished I had kept it, so that I could throw it at him.

"Aren't you hungry Lou?" Harry asked me.

 I smiled in response, feeling kind of uneasy about the whole thing. Usually lunch was a big event for me, I got through my own and then picked on everyone else's until there wasn't anything left, "just saving room for tonight"

 Harry nodded calculatively, taking a big bit of his muffin, "that's pretty smart actually."

After lunch was over we had to go back to class for an hour before we could leave. Our little group wasn't the only one buzzing about going trick or treating and I almost felt bad for Mrs Adrienne while she tried to keep us all under wraps. We weren't making it easy.

My stomach started making weird noises about twenty minutes before the bell was due to ring but I didn't think too much of it until it actually started to hurt a little bit a few minutes later. 

See, this was what happened when I didn't eat my usual lunch.

Finally the bell that let us leave rang out loud and clear and everyone leaped up onto their feet and dashed out of the room, ignoring the teachers cries completely as she tried to get us all to sit back down so that she could finish what she was trying to say.

Niall dragged me through the doorway with a firm grip on my forearm and when he did let go he left red fingerprints in place of his fingers.

"My Mum's waiting guys, let's go!" Niall yelled out over the buzz of noise as everyone rushed around grabbing their bags. I couldn't help but wonder how strange it must've looked to someone over five foot, to me it felt like a rampage, but to an adult I could imagine it all being quite scary. I supposed that was how it was for Nina, the tallest girl in our class and possibly the tallest eleven year old in history.

I grabbed my bag off it's hook and hurriedly pushed through the crowd, muttering apologetic words. I couldn't help but hold my stomach as I jogged after my friends. It was beginning to hurt more and it was kind of flipping around a bit. I wasn't one hundred percent sure what was going on anymore.

One time I accidentally forgot to eat breakfast and I had to wait for morning tea to eat, and I was so hungry but my tummy hadn't felt like this.

Maybe I was sick, like Harry was that time last year. I really hoped not, he coughed and vomited all over our desk and it smelled really bad. He was crying too, so it must've hurt him. I haven't been sick like that before, I'd been told how lucky I was multiple times.

Liam pretty much gave a presentation about the vampire costume in his bag, excited about the fact that his Mum had actually let him wear a scary costume this year instead of Prince Charming or whatever else he had worn over the years. Niall's Mum was waiting in her car like Niall had said she would be, and she smiled and waved, greeting with a happy 'hello, how was school boys?' as we all piled into her car.

 Harry grinned, "long."

Niall's Mum laughed and started the engine, "better get you lot back to the house then so you can start getting ready before you explode from excitement."

The car ride didn't sit very well with me. It was barely ten minutes long, but for some reason my stomach was having a hard time settling as we drove along the road. Every little stone made my insides toss themselves around.

I wondered if I should tell Niall's Mum. My Mum always said that I should tell someone if I wasn't feeling well and to be honest I was starting to not feel very well at all. Along with the spinning around my stomach was doing, I was feeling cold while everyone else was complaining about the heat and for some reason my hands were shaking a little, and I couldn't stop them.

I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it at the last second. If I was sick like Harry then I wouldn't be able to go trick or treating. Harry didn't come to school for the rest of the week after he threw up on our desk.

I couldn't miss out on trick or treating. Everyone would be talking about it for the rest of the month and I'd be left out of all the conversations. Plus, I needed the lollies to get me through the rest of the year until Christmas.

Niall's Mum stopped the car outside the house and I opened the door and got out. Everybody ended up falling out of the same door and I followed them through the front door and straight up to Niall's room. I was glad we didn't stop for food.

It took us half an hour to get all dressed up, and then Niall's Mum took what must've been at least five hundred photos. My spider man costume was kind of tight, considering that it was the same thing I'd worn last year, but now the constricting material was doing nothing to help the constant swirling happening in my stomach and having the fabric on my face made me feel worse for some reason, like I was being suffocated.

But nonetheless, I was still excited.

We headed out after the photos and straight away started the quarter of an hour trek to Taper's. Harry complained the way and Niall and Liam had a good laugh at him. I tried joining in and acting like myself but it was harder than I thought it would be. I was just so exhausted, like I was about to fall asleep on my feet and as much as I hated to admit it, I felt sick.

After spending forty minutes walking up and down Taper's street even Harry had to admit that it had been totally worth it. All of our bags were over flowing, we didn't even really need to go to the other houses. Nobody wanted to stop yet though, and I didn't want to be a buzzkill so we stopped at the majority of the house on the left side of the road on our walk back to Niall's street.

By this point our bags were really overflowing. I had taken the mask off and was using it to carry more.

Half way back it suddenly started pouring with rain, the droplets hitting the ground like bombs. I was already cold despite being in a body tight suit, and the rain just intensified it even more and before I knew it my teeth began to chatter.

"Run!" Somebody screamed over the rain and then we were running in the direction of Niall's house, racing each other to get out of the rain.

Usually I would have a blast, but right then, shivering and feeling sicker than I had ever felt, I wasn't having fun at all. Despite running, it still took us five minutes to get back to Niall's house, and every single one of us were dripping wet and sniffling by the time we got to the front door. 

Niall pounded on the wood until his Mum opened the door, her expression falling into that of amusement as she took in us all. We probably looked like we'd been drowned.

My stomach stirred roughly and I whimpered. Nobody heard over the rain.

Niall's Mum ushered us all inside, wrapping dry towels around our shoulders.

"Wow Lou, you're shivering pretty hard there," she said as I stumbled inside last. "You know what, I'm gonna put you all through the shower for a couple of minutes, just to warm you up," she decided rubbing her hands up and down my arms. I wanted to just collapse into her, or better yet, my own Mum. 

"But Mum, we want to eat!" Niall complained loudly. I put my bag and mask down on the table, almost spilling the lot all over the carpet. My teeth chattered harder. A shower sounded good.

"It's just a few minutes." She shook her head, "you can leave your clothes on and go in two or three and a time if you want it to go faster."

Niall looked straight at Liam, "we're first then!" 

They both disappeared into the bathroom. The door closed and the water switched on.

Harry took his own creepy mask off and dumped his lollies on the couch, "I guess we're next then, Louis."

He didn't even look cold. He was saturated, but not shivering like I was.

I nodded.  I couldn't even stop the shivering for a second at this point, even if I tightened all my muscles. It was like a continuous spasm.

Niall's Mum grabbed me by the shoulders gently and continued rubbing up and down my arms, a sympathetic smile on her face, "you must be freezing. Come on, we'll grab a blanket while we wait. I'm gonna feel awful if we send you home sick." 

She lead me over to the couch and sat be down before tucking the blanket that had been thrown over the back of the couch around me.

It didn't make much difference.

The water switched off and it was Harry and I's turn under the hot water finally. Niall and Liam went into the bedroom to get changed and Harry and I jumped under the shower, still clothed in our costumes. I pulled the suit down to my waist so that it would actually be possible to get it off afterwards.

The water burned it was so hot, but for some reason I was still shivering. Harry was having a laugh, messing about with the soap and the streams of water while I tried to warm up. An uncomfortable feeling rose from my stomach into my chest and all of a sudden my body lurched forward, a loud cough bursting from my throat. It was more than terrifying, and it hurt too.

"You good, Tommo?" Harry asked carefully as I straightened back up, a hand to my lips.

I shrugged in fright and hurriedly shut the water off. The shower had made me cough like Harry had before he was sick at school, I wanted out no matter how good the water felt.

"You're still shivering," Harry pointed out as he got out and grabbed a towel from the pile.

"Everything okay in there?" Niall's Mum called out.

"I think Louis' still cold Mrs Horan," Harry replied, "I'm not though."

"Can I come in?"

Harry looked to me for an answer but I just averted the gaze to the ground. The pukey feeling had died down a little but I could tell that it would be back soon, and I wasn't looking forward too it.

"Yeah, come in," Harry said and the door opened.

So she came in. Her face folded a little when she saw me quaking in the middle of the room, teeth still chattering.

She gently pushed me over to the bath and we sat down on the edge. She reached over and pressed a cool hand against my forehead, frowning at the result.

"You've definitely got a fever Lou, are you feeling okay?"

Trick or treating was more or less over. I'd had a good evening with my friends and I had enough sweets to last me til Christmas. That was the goal. It wouldn't matter if I said I was feeling sick now, I'd done everything I wanted to do.

So I shook my head in response, clutching my towel in my fists.

"Aw sweetie, it's alright. I'm sorry I let you kids go out without a couple of umbrellas. Let's go out to the lounge, you can eat a few of your lollies and have a lay down while you wait for your mum to get here. Does that sound good?"

I nodded this time.

Harry shot me an awkward smile and squeezed past Niall's mum and out into the bedroom so that he could change.

Niall's Mum looked at me and smiled sweetly, "but first we've gotta get you into some dry clothes. I'll bring them in here for you."

Once I was dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a shirt I moved out onto the couch, still shivering. I tucked up in the corner, my arms wrapped around my knees.

 Niall's voice was distorted thanks to the toffee stuck in his teeth, "it sucks you got sick Lou."

 I hummed in response, my stomach twisting nauseatingly. The sick feeling from the shower was coming back and when Niall's Mum came over and told me to eat one of my lollies- that it might make me feel a bit better- it was the last thing I wanted to do.

I was kind of hungry though, since I had skipped lunch, but there was a grim taste in my mouth and something was telling me that adding something to my stomach was not going to help my situation. I did not want to be sick like Harry, at all.

But Niall's Mum was smart, if she said it might help then maybe she's right and I'll feel better afterwards.

"Louis?" She tilted my chin up with her hand, "you okay sweetie?"

"Yeah, uh- thanks," I stuttered, taking the short bar of chocolate from her. My hands shook as I unwrapped it and even more when I lifted it to my mouth hesitantly.

"Your mum should be here in a couple of minutes Lou, try to relax," she said as she sat down in the chair on the other side of the small room.

I bit into the chocolate before I could change my mind and chewed quickly so that I wouldn't get too much of the flavour. I swallowed and took another reluctant bite. That was it, it was a tiny thing, but as the last bit settled in my stomach I knew it was a bad decision.

I stared at the ground listlessly for a minute, trying to ignore the swishing in my gut. It wasn't cold at all anymore, I was still trembling, but it was nowhere near cold. The heat was almost unbearable. Spit gathered in my mouth.

I felt so sick.

I knew that I was supposed to go to the bathroom now, but I felt like if I tried to move I'd just trigger whatever was going to happen and end up embarrassing myself in front of everyone. Some seconds passed, and I realised that I was going to make a mess and embarrass myself if I didn't move as well.

So I quickly stood up and ran off to the bathroom, having to clap a hand over my mouth halfway there to stop the chocolate bar from coming back up to early. The second I got over the toilet the contents of my stomach poured from my mouth and a gross sound I'd never made before echoed off the walls. The force of it sent me to my knees and I gripped on tightly to the toilet as it happened again, vomit like Harry's barrelling up my throat and spilling out of me.

It was the most unpleasant and revolting experience of my life.

It was only when I had finished and got my breath back that I noticed that Niall's Mum was sitting behind me and rubbing my back. It felt nice and I fell back into her hold, still breathing hard.

"You did really well then sweetie, you're okay now," she promised quietly, swiping my sticky hair off my face. I was sweating as if I'd just run a marathon.

There was a knock at the door.

"That'll be your Mum here to take you home love, come on, I can try carrying you if you want?"

I shook my head. I felt terrible, but being carried by my friend's mum? A step too far.

I stood up and I was a lot woozier than I expected to be, resulting in scary swaying and tilting that had Niall's Mum grabbing onto me to try steady me and me wondering if I needed the toilet again.

She lead me out of the room before I could make up my mind properly.

 Niall had let Mum in and she quickly pulled me into a hug when she saw me, "oh, Louis! You look dreadful, come here baby!"

"He's just been sick," Niall's Mum recounted with an apologetic grimace.

"Aw are you feeling better now, Lou?"

I shook my head against her middle. Meanwhile, my middle was still squirming just as angrily as it had been before I'd vomited.

"Come on then, let's get you home. Thank you so much for looking after him."

"Oh, no need to thank me, I hope you feel better soon Louis."

"Bye Lou!"

"See ya tomorrow!"

"He's obviously not going to be at school tomorrow, idiot!"

"See you soon then!"

"Bye!"

 Mum and I went out to the car. I sat in the front seat beside her and watched as she grabbed an empty supermarket bag from the back seat. She put it on my lap.

"No, Mum. . ." I whined croakily, unimpressed. I didn't want to be sick again.

"It's just a precaution love, just in case."

"I'm fine. . ."

I ended up using that stupid bag three times on the way home.

***

Over the next two weeks Liam, Niall and Harry all caught the same sickness that I had. It lasted a whole five days for me, and I absolutely hated every second of it. I felt bad for Liam though, he was sick for even longer than a week!

It all passed over thankfully, we were all in one piece and finally we managed to get together for a sleepover so that we could eat all our Halloween sweets.

Ugh, this isn't very good, I'm really sorry :( Please comment your thoughts if you have the time, if you don't that's cool too, love you all the same!