The third to last day of summer:
It started in his hands.  He fell to the ground in pain as his entire body began to glow.  Flames ignited his clothes and hair.  I could hear the screams from my house across the street of 16 year old Jeremy and the boys walking to the park.  This was the third spontaneous combustion I had seen in my life.  Jeremy was now so charred he was unable to speak and there was no source of the fire.  It seemed to have come from within him. 
His entire body was engulfed in flames by the time the fire department arrived.  They distinguished the fire and the medics put Jeremy’s body into a body bag.  I walked outside to check out the action and motioned for Talia who I saw on her knees in tears on her lawn next door.  She had moved here to Little Rock six months ago, the day the 250th ever spontaneous combustion case was reported.  She must have never seen one before, only heard about them.
Little Rock has been a place of mystery since last year, 3012 when the first spontaneous combustion occurred in a freshman during school hours.  It caused extreme chaos and the school was shut down for a month.  That year there were only 17 cases all occurring in teenagers.  This year there have been over 200, and nobody knows why.
...
Monday:
The school year started 2 weeks ago and the nurses have been coming room to room to administer the yearly ABIV.  ABIV stands for the acuity, brilliance, intelligence vaccine.  The shot has been given to each student at the beginning of the year since two years ago to insure they have reached their peak performance level.  I think it has actually been working.  The overall grades of the school have improved by five percent and students are no longer rowdy in class.  My class isn’t due for the vaccine until Tuesday, it was Talia’s classes turn today, or that’s what she told me that day we saw the spontaneous combustion.  I saw her walking to lunch after she had gotten her shot.  She was in tears.
“Nate! Nate! You’re never going to believe this.” It was hard to understand Talia because the words came out in spurts between her sobs.  “Diasy got her shot and five minutes later spontaneously combusted.”
“What did everybody do?  Like the teachers and nurses,” I asked.
“Not a thing,” Talia replied.  “The nurses just pressed a button on their belt and the janitor came in with a body bag and put Daisy in it.  It’s like they knew it was going to happen.  The nurses even smiled when the janitor arrived”
I looked to the hall outside the lunchroom and saw another janitor with an empty body bag on his way to that same classroom.  That’s two spontaneous combustions in the same day, and the same classroom.
Talia came home with me that day after school.  We had been hanging out since the day Jeremy spontaneously combusted.  She’s actually quite amazing.  Talia knows how to play the guitar and she has an amazing voice.  To make things even better, she understands math which I have a hard time with.  Our hangouts include listening to her sing, attempting to understand math, and of course investigating the spontaneous combustions.
We were on my bed, laying on our stomachs browsing the web for causes of the combustions.  I were using my mom’s computer today since mine had died during last period.  She teaches English at my school.  I typed in “Spontaneous combustions in humans” in the google search bar and hit submit.  Again, millions of sources appeared and all were the same as the previous searches me and Talia had done before.
“Nate click here,” Talia pointed at the corner of the screen where the email icon was.  A new email had arrived from the principal when I hit search.  All I could see of the notification was “APIV project underway.”
I looked at it curiously.  “No, I’m not supposed to look at my mom’s emails,” I said back to her.  My mom had always gotten so defensive when I read her emails before she did.
“Fine.  Then I’ll do it,” Talia snarked back and grabbed the computer out of my hands.  She clicked the link and read the message out loud.

Alas teachers and staff!  The ABIV plan is starting to become a success!  The new change in the makeup of the ABIV is reacting quicker than ever with three spontaneous combustions since the shot was given to today’s class.  Come to the nurse's office next Friday after school to receive the counteracter which will make you live forever.
Sincerely, Principal Sanders.

Talia sat in silence and tears started to roll down her cheeks.  She had been given the ABIV and we had found out that the shot was not to make us smart, but to make all of the students spontaneously combust. 
“So I guess I'm going to spontaneously combust,” Talia said in fear.  I leaned over and gave her a hug. 
“No you aren’t Talia,’’ I reassured her.  “We are going to find that counteractor.”
...
Tuesday:
Today is my day to receive the ABIV.  My day to spontaneously combust.  Talia still hadn’t combusted and I wasn’t going to let her, nor was I going to let myself.  Before my fifth period class, the class to get my shot I pulled Talia aside in the hall.  I told her to meet me by the drinking fountain five minutes after class starts. 
Three minutes after the bell I told the teacher shots give me anxiety so she would let me go to the bathroom.  She surprisingly released me out of the room without a problem.  I reached the drinking fountain right as Talia arrived.  I grabbed her arm and we ran through the halls to the nurse's office.  When we arrived, I peered around the corner to see the on call nurse working on her computer.
“Quick act like you’re dying,” I told Talia.  She fell on her knees and groaned as I ran to the on call nurse.
“NURSE NURSE!  My friend has a problem!” I yelled and pointed out the doorway.  She ran out of her office and started to help Talia.  I rummaged through all of the drawers searching for the counteractor.  It was nowhere to be found in the office and I was starting to give up hope.  The nurse would find out Talia was faking sooner or later.
The only place left to look was the fridge.  I ran to the back of the office and pulled open the door.  There were two labeled coolers sitting on the middle shelf that said “APIV” and “COUNTERACTOR.”  I had found it.  I grabbed the counteractor cooler and tried to pull the lid open.  It wouldn’t budge and I realized there was a lock.  I sighed and ran back to the drawers to look for the key.
Nothing was to be found in the first or second drawers.  In the third, however, I found a key ring with about 30 keys on it.  The only option was to try every single one.  The first seven didn’t even fit in the key slot and the next twelve couldn’t open the lock.  I checked out the door and spotted the on call nurse walking back towards the office.  I scrambled to try more keys as she walked through the door.
“HEY! What are you doing? Stop that!” The on call nurse shouted at me. 
Stopping was the last thing I could do when I realized Talia’s hands were beginning to glow.  She was spontaneously combusting.  Her scream broke my heart and I tried the last few keys.  The on call nurse was creeping closer and closer to me when the third to last key opened the lock.  I pried open the lid and pulled out a counteractor.  Talia’s arms were now glowing and her hands were on fire.  I shoved the on call nurse to the side and sprinted to Talia.  When I got to her, dodging the flames, I stabbed the counteractor into her left thigh.  The flames stopped but she was unconscious.
...
Wednesday
I walked into Talia’s hospital room where the only sound I could hear was the beep of the heart monitor.  Her arms and hands were bandaged where they had been burned.  Her eyes crept open when I sat the vase of flowers I had brought down.  I sat on the edge of her bed and her doctor came into the room.
“Nate,” he said.  “You saved Talia’s life.”