When Antoine rang the doorbell that afternoon, it was my mother who opened the door. I could hear their voices from my room on the first floor.

"Hello Antoine! Come in, Marc will be happy to see you. You're really kind to bring him his homework," my mother said warmly.

— That's normal, ma'am. We've been friends since kindergarten!

My boyfriend is coming up the stairs and I can hear him walking in the hallway. He's knocking softly on my door, as if he's afraid of waking me up.

— Come in! I said in a hoarse voice that no longer resembled my usual voice at all.

Antoine pokes his head through the half-open door. He looks at me with a slightly worried smile.

— Hi Marc! So, are you feeling better today?

— A little... I'm still coughing a lot and my throat still hurts when I swallow, but at least the fever has gone down. Last night, it was 39 degrees, it was awful! I was sweating like I'd run a marathon.

Antoine enters my room completely and sits down on the chair next to my bed. He puts his large backpack on the floor and starts rummaging through it.

"I think you look better than yesterday," he said encouragingly. "Yesterday, when your mother sent me a photo to show you I'd been by, you really looked awful!"

— Yeah, yesterday was definitely the worst day. I was in so much pain all over that I couldn't even watch TV or play video games. I was sleeping all the time.

Antoine takes several notebooks and sheets of paper out of his bag.

— Okay, so... I brought you your French, math, and history homework. Mrs. Dupont said not to worry, you can hand it in when you get back to school. She also said she apologized for missing Friday's test.

— Great! At least one piece of good news in all this! And what's the math homework?

— You need to finish the exercises on page 47 about fractions. Mr. Leroux explained a new method for adding fractions with different denominators. Wait, I'll show you...

Antoine takes my rough notebook and gives me a quick demonstration. He's really good at math and explains things very well. After a few minutes, I understood the technique.

— Thanks, you're awesome! Tell me, what important thing have I missed at school these past two days?

Antoine settles more comfortably into the chair and begins to tell me.

— So, in science class, we started a new chapter on the human body and diseases. Isn't that ironic? As a result, everyone was talking about you! Ms. Martin even used your case as an example to explain how the flu virus is transmitted.

— No kidding? I hope you all listened carefully then, so you won't catch him!

— Yes, she told us to wash our hands thoroughly and sneeze into our elbows. Oh, and guess what? Thomas got another note in his planner for talking! That's the third one this week!

— Oh really? What did he do now?

He kept cracking jokes during French class. He imitated Mr. Dubois' voice and everyone burst out laughing. The principal was just walking by in the corridor at that moment...

— Oh no! He's really unlucky!

We continued chatting for a good twenty minutes. Antoine told me about all the little events in the classroom: Sarah getting a perfect score on her spelling test for the first time, Lucas forgetting his homework notebook and having to copy things outlines, the new classroom decoration that the teacher installed...

My mother is coming up to bring us a snack: biscuits and orange juice for Antoine, and a honey herbal tea with some dry cakes for me.

— Thank you, Mom, I said, taking the hot cup in my hands.

— You're welcome, darling. Antoine, would you like to stay and have dinner with us?

— That's kind of you, madam, but my parents are waiting for me at home. I have to go back soon.

After his snack, Antoine puts his things in his bag.

— Okay, I'll let you rest now. How long did the doctor say you need to stay home?

— At least two or three more days. If I no longer have a fever tomorrow, I might be able to come back on Monday.

— Cool! I hope you get better soon. It's weird being at school without you. And we have a football match next Wednesday, you absolutely have to be there!

— Don't worry, I'll be better soon! Thanks for everything Antoine, it was really nice of you to stop by.

— That's normal, we're best friends! Go on, take good care of yourself and get some rest. I'll come back tomorrow if you want, to give you the new homework.

— Yeah, with pleasure! See you tomorrow then!

Antoine waves to me and leaves my room. I hear my mother walk him to the door and say goodbye.

Once I was alone, I looked at all the homework Antoine had brought me. It was a lot of work, but at least I wouldn't fall too far behind. And most importantly, his visit really cheered me up. It's important to have a friend like him who thinks of you even when you're sick.

I take out my French notebook and slowly begin to work, stopping from time to time to drink my honey tea. Tomorrow, I'll surely feel even better, and in a few days, I'll finally be able to see my class and all my friends again!