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Loid’s brain seemed to knock around in his head as he gradually came to.
Breathe. Just breathe.
I can’t.
His diaphragm refused to cooperate, refused to contract so that he could let precious oxygen flow from his lungs to his brain.
Am I dying? I’m only fourteen. I can’t…
Firm hands pried his mouth open. Vaguely, he was aware of warm liquid sloshing in his mouth. His bodily instincts finally kicked in, and Loid coughed, swallowing air and blood at the same time.
“Hey, give him some space!” The shadows above Loid cleared, and he blinked as bright sunlight invaded his pupils. He managed to roll over, choking and spitting into the grass.
“ Ew,” said the nearest voice, and Delilah Desmond promptly rescinded her hands from Loid’s body with a tactful swiftness. She discreetly wiped her palms on the ground.
“Wow, what a hit,” Brutus Blackbell whistled, stepping in and helping Loid sit upright. “You feeling okay? How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Ungh,” Loid groaned, which didn’t sound like any particular number. He slowly touched his face with a hand, and when he drew back his fingers were stained red. “Feels like I knocked out my teeth,” he mumbled in a daze.
“This is why we don’t let the nerds play offensive,” Wilhelmina, or Mina Watkins’ large frame towered into Loid’s vision, her arms crossed in disapproval. “Seriously. How the hell did you guys beat each other up so badly?”
“Language, Miss Watkins.”
Loid looked over to see Professor Henderson squatting over the other victim, inching the other boy onto a stretcher. Oh, that’s right. Their P.E. coach was out sick today, so Henderson was subbing in. They’d been playing football, and Loid ran smack into James Glooman, an offensive from the other team. At least, that was as much as he remembered. They had landed in mulch, which somehow didn’t seem to soften the blow of his fall that much.
“I won’t forget this transgression, Forger,” James snarled tearfully, although he didn’t look much better. He was laying on the stretcher facedown, with something sticking up from his backside.
“Let’s spare our feelings for a later time,” Henderson interrupted, making sure that James’ body was fully stable. “You two,” he gestured to Mina and Brutus. “Carry Mr. Glooman up to the infirmary. Miss Desmond, you are to assist Mr. Forger there as well.”
The professor wiped off his knees and stood upright, fixing his clothes elegantly. “The rest of you, carry on if you intend to receive credit for today’s class!”
James spent the entire trip sniffling and cursing, and let out a sharp cry every time Brutus or Mina fell out of step and jostled him. “Shut up, or I’ll actually drop you,” Mina threatened.
James shut up immediately.
Loid leaned on Delilah heavily, being mostly only aware of the gentle plip plip as his nose dripped blood. The cleaning staff would have a field day with this one.
“Jesus, you’re heavy for such a skinny guy,” Delilah grunted, adjusting a little so that they could walk more easily.
“Sorry,” Loid managed to mumble as he attempted to put one jelly leg in front of the other. The infirmary was on the first floor, in the main building. He just had to make it until there.
Delilah threw one of his arms over her shoulders, holding Loid up with her hand placed firmly around his waist. Dimly, Loid was aware that he was getting blood and–was that drool?--all over her P.E. uniform. Why wasn’t she berating him? She hated germs and messy things.
As they entered the injury wing, Brutus and Mina shifted James onto a spare cot. He howled in pain as his body rolled over, digging the foreign object further into his fleshy glute.
“The hell is that?” Mina asked, pointing to the offending item.
“A splinter,” Brutus realized, and the two looked at each other for a moment in blank surprise.
Loid lifted his head and blinked owlishly as raucous laughter rang in his ears. Delilah helped him push his feet up onto the cot across from James, as his legs had apparently just failed him.
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire life!” Mina gasped, clutching her stomach and wiping a tear from her eye.
Brutus sank to the floor on all fours, shaking silently with mirth. Loid stared at him. Normally, nothing ever penetrated Brutus’ constant calm and mild demeanor. Whatever had just happened must’ve been really funny.
Delilah merely scoffed and shook her head, although for her that was the equivalent of a guffaw.
“Sure, laugh at my humiliation!” James seethed, his face turning bright pink. “Get the nurse already, or I’ll have my dad sue you guys for emotional distress!”
“You go ahead and do that, tough guy,” Mina sneered.
The curtains that led into the nurse’s office opened. “I heard some noise. Did you guys need something?” A girl who was definitely not the nurse inquired. A student assistant?
“These idiots decided to knock heads during football,” Delilah jerked a thumb towards Loid, who was still trying to piece together the events of the last thirty seconds.
“I see,” the girl nodded, although her demeanor suggested that she didn’t quite understand what Delilah meant. “Nurse Jenny’s helping someone else right now, but I’ll go tell her that you’re here.” She disappeared with a swiff of her long black hair.
“Who is that girl? I know she’s in a ton of our classes but I swear I’ve never heard her speak before,” Delilah wondered, swatting away Loid’s hands as he reached for his bloodied face again.
“Something Briar. Don’t know her first name, but she sits next to me every year at orientation. Don’t quote me on this, but I think her dad died pretty recently.” Brutus pulled up an available stool and sat down, apparently recovered from his fit of mirth.
Loid was able to connect the fact that Blackbell and Briar were close alphabetically, which would explain Brutus’ knowledge about the mysterious girl. Maybe this was a sign that his head was finally clearing up.
“Damn, that’s sad,” Mina said with the barest drop of sympathy. “She seems kinda… off, though. Like,” Mina mimed a circle motion with her finger pointed at her ear. Cuckoo crazy.
Mina put her hand down quickly as the girl in question returned to the room, holding a first-aid kit. “The nurse needs another few minutes, but I can get started on whoever needs help first,” she said quietly, her ruby eyes trained on the floor.
“Me!” James gasped, clutching the sheets with his hands. The group had forgotten that he was there.
“Okay. What seems to be the problem?” The girl placed the tray down onto the nightstand, opening it to reveal some gauze, a few bandages, and whatnot. She snapped on a pair of latex gloves.
“Poor little Jimmy’s got a stick up his ass,” Mina said quickly before James could explain. She grinned devilishly as Delilah supported her joke with a loud laugh from her and Loid’s side.
“If it’s a foreign body in the rectum, I’d prefer if you just dealt with that yourself,” the Briar girl said, as if the joke flew clean over her head.
Even James was included in the look that the rest of the group shared with each other. Was this girl serious?
“Er, it’s in the muscle, not the… that part.” Brutus stuttered out into the awkward silence. “You can see it here.”
James’ entire body jerked. “Don’t touch my ass, you fucking queer!” His face had gone even redder from the implications of the oblivious girl’s words, and he was projecting.
Brutus smiled benignly, and only Loid could tell that under that smile, he was seething with rage. Loid could almost hear the indignance in his own mind. Seriously? I’m helping this guy out and he’s being difficult as hell!
Brutus scooted dangerously close to James’ face and leaned in, still with that same serene smile. “You better be careful with your words, Jimmy,” he said soothingly. “You never know. One day you might wake up with this queer’s cock in your mouth. Which dorm are you in again?”
James spluttered in fear. “What?! I’ll have you–agh!”
The Briar girl had yanked the splinter out, deciding that it was small enough to not pose a danger to be removed. Ignoring James’ squeals, she pulled down his pants to reveal a pair of pale twin moons, with a small angry crater in one of them. She applied some sort of antiseptic to the area, patting it down with gauze.
Loid snorted, the movement tilting his body towards Delilah. Brutus turned to look at him with an ill-disguised smirk, although it vanished as soon as he saw how close Loid and Delilah were. Mina looked down at James, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Try not to put too much pressure on that for the next few days,” was all the solace the Briar girl had to offer before she picked up her materials and moved over to Loid’s side.
“I think I have a concussion,” Loid said thoughtfully.
“Okay,” responded the girl as if she couldn’t possibly care less. She dabbed at his face with a wet wipe, clearing away the caked up dirt and blood that had begun drying.
“Loidy-Loi being babied by his mommy ,” Mina said in a sing-song voice, sharing a side-grin with Brutus.
Loid snatched the wet wipe, his ears warming from embarrassment. “I can do this myself,” he assured, with a withering glare at his two friends.
“Please. You couldn’t pour water out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel,” Delilah snapped.
“I’m sorry, did I do something to offend you?” Loid pressed down on the bridge of his nose and winced. He hadn’t realized that there was an open wound there, likely the source of all the blood.
“Exist,” Mina and Delilah deadpanned at the same time. Brutus made eye contact with Loid and rolled his eyes. Women. How cruel they could suddenly be at the drop of a hat.
The one exception to this thought process unwrapped a bandage. “Hold still,” she said, applying it over Loid’s nose.
She pressed down a little too hard, which made Loid’s eyes water. She took off her gloves, collecting her things quickly. Perhaps she had figured out by now that her presence was not entirely welcome in this group of close friends, plus an injured James. “Please let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
Delilah gazed curiously as the other girl quickly retreated back to her sanctuary of the office. “You’re right, Mina. That girl is definitely weird. It’s like she’s a robot or something.”
“I am not a robot. That would be entirely incorrect. Please inquire for further information,” Brutus quipped in a passable imitation of the girl’s flat tone, which earned him a laugh from the rest of his friends, save for Loid.
“Come on, you guys. We’re not in middle school anymore,” Loid grumbled, somehow taken by the urge to defend the character of someone he didn’t even speak to. “Don’t look at me like that!” he argued as a few eyebrows knit together. “We’re Imperial Scholars. We’re above needless grade school bullying. These next four years are the most important years of our life for our future careers and we can’t be spending that time thinking of insults–”
“Oh, my God,” Mina droned, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Delilah, do us all a favor and knock him out again. We’ll split the brain cells between the three of us.”
The curtains shifted once more, and this time the real nurse stepped into the wing. She looked between the five students with a small frown on her face. “Yor told me you guys would be here. If no one else is injured, then please return to your class.”
Reluctantly, Loid’s friends went on their way, with Brutus giving him a light friendly rap on the shoulder before heading out.
The nurse questioned both boys on what had happened, and checked over the Briar girl’s work. She also shined a small flashlight into Loid’s eyes, checking for blown pupils. Apparently satisfied, she ordered the two boys to bed rest and left to call Loid’s parents so that he could be taken home for the day.
James stared at Loid for an uncomfortably long time before speaking. “Why are you like that?”
“Like what?” Loid asked tiredly.
“You’re not even of high pedigree but you act so… noble. At least, more so than your little friends. What’s your deal? Why are you even friends with those people?”
Loid closed his eyes and shrugged. “We have every class together, and we’re all Imperial Scholars. It’s not like I could avoid them even if I wanted to. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I’m just a nice person at heart and it isn’t all an act?”
“No one’s ever nice without an ulterior motive,” James muttered darkly. “You know that Briar girl? I heard that she broke her brother’s ribs after he earned his first stella star. Probably jealous that he’s so much smarter than her. So now she has to act all quiet and robot-like, so no one will suspect her of anything.”
That was utterly terrifying, to put it mildly. This girl had been inches from him and his friends, even touched his face. “What you heard is probably a bunch of embellished rumors,” he said impatiently. He crossed his hands over the back of his head, trying to get comfortable. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, his head was now starting to really hurt. “Look. I’m in a lot of pain, so I’m gonna try and nap until I can go home.”
James was quiet for a few moments. “About your friend. Is he actually…?”
“ No, he’s not gay.” Loid was now thoroughly peeved. “But sleep with one eye open. That guy doesn’t make empty threats.”
“Oh, okay. So what exactly did he mean by–”
“Shut up!”