Third Period

A short story by Daniel Verastiqui

© Daniel Verastiqui. All Rights Reserved.

Diego was seated at his lab table when he felt a warm tremor go through his body.

"Ugh."

"What's the matter?"

"I think I'm getting hot flashes."

"What? Are you going through menopause?"

Diego didn't know what menopause was, but he knew he probably wasn't experiencing it. For some reason, every time he walked into the lab for 3^rd^ period Biology, he got flashes of heat throughout his body. He felt them mostly in his face, like someone was rubbing a warm pot holder over him, running it from the small of his back up to his cheeks. The flashes didn't hurt, but they felt weird enough for Diego to tell his friend Cliff.

"Diego, you cool?"

"I'm cool."

It may have been the fact that Diego had just walked through a snowstorm coming from History in the other building. Diego was in 7th grade and had to attend classes in makeshift buildings that were erected away from the rest of the school. The 7th graders were in a world of their own as far as they were concerned. Most of the kids didn't mind. After all, it kept the bigger kids out of their way and there was never a worry about being late. The tardy rule wasn't even in effect for them, since being tardy usually meant being sent to the tardy room, and that was a couple football fields away in the main building. It just didn't make sense. The snow was coming down especially hard that day and the hot flashes tormented Diego for a good 20 minutes into the class.