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Rae had no idea what she was expecting when her bedroom door creaked open. But when she weakly rolled over to investigate, her eyes lit up with joy. She was so weak she could only cough up a soft, “Miss Claire...-”
This may have been the first time Claire actually entered Rae's room. She wore a smirk and surprisingly had come alone. “Word has it you’ve caught the flu. No doubt due to some unsavoury act I want nothing to do with.”
“I knew you’d come to nurse me back to health!”
“Wha-? Eek! What are you doing!?”
“How does my forehead feel?” Rae asked, pitifully gazing up at her, nose red and eyes watery.
“W-warm I guess!” She shook her head and forced her wrist from Rae’s grip. She turned away as if to hide her flustered look. “You’re sick alright!” She screamed, blushing. “Sick in the head!”
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“Back to class! Maybe I can finally revel in the tranquillity of not having someone breathing down my back!”
“Why come in the first place then?”
Claire stopped in the doorway. “Pardon?”
“The only explanation I can think of is you came to console me. After all, you’re really thoughtful like that. Or maybe,” Rae grinned. “you walked AAALLL the way here to tease me. In which case I’d have to thank you even more!”
Claire huffed. “You can thank me by staying in that bed! Besides, you need your rest.”
“I’ll be sure to take your advice to heart!”
Claire looked ready to pull her hair out. She stepped into the hallway, ready to close the dorm room door.
“Hey, before you leave, can I ask a question?”
She looked back. “Make it quick.”
“How did you know I was ill?”
“Your roommate said as much.”
Rae grinned once more. “Did you ask her?”
“That’s more than A question! I will be off now!”
She tittered. “Take care, Miss Claire.”
She rolled her eyes and closed the door, but not before screaming, “You as well!” loud enough for the entire dorm to hear.
A pair of hands prodded her shoulders. Had she drifted off again? Slowly she came to but her body seemed to protest when she tried to do anything that wasn't going right back to sleep.
“Rae. Rae. It’s lunch. I brought you something from the cafeteria.” Misha peered down at the bread in her hand while Rae lay half past out. “It's some sort of bread. Mine tasted pretty good. I’ll just leave it until you're feeling up to-”
The door opened. “Commoner!”
Rae sat bolt upright. Misha almost fell out of her chair. Claire swiftly lost her confidence and hid behind Lene. Lene just laughed, continuing to wheel a cart of food into the room. “I heard you got a cold, Rae.” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“Before I was in absolute agony but whenever Miss Claire’s around I feel healthy as a horse.”
“Maybe she ought to keep you company.” Lene said.
“Over my dead body!” Claire said from behind her human shield.
Misha recomposed herself and rubbed her head. “At this rate I’m gonna get a headache too.”
“A headache?” Lene asked. She turned back to Rae. “What symptoms did you say you had?”
“Hm? Oh, just the usual cold stuff. Head pain, chest pain, come to think of it, my entire body’s in pain.”
“I see? Anything else?”
“I do feel a little nauseous now that you mention it.”
Lene stroked her chin. “Perhaps you should drop by the school infirmary. It’s probably nothing but I hear a neighbouring kingdom has been afflicted by a plague. But it's best to be on the safe side.”
“Someone should walk her there.” Misha said. “At this rate I’m already gonna be late to class, so maybe one of you?”
Lene shook her head. “I apologise but I have cleaning to catch up on.”
They looked at Miss Claire. “I do… indeed cross paths with the infirmary on the way to my next period… however…”
“However?” Rae asked, grinning.
“However I don’t believe you HAVE an illness! I think this is all just a trick and somehow I’m the butt of the joke!”
“You really don’t believe me?”
“I don’t!”
“Okay.” To everyone’s surprise, Rae got up. She began towards the door and swiped a hot bowl of soup off the cart. She proudly marched, proclaiming, “The memory of Miss Claire’s kindness will keep me animated.”
Then face-planted on the floor, not ten feet down the hall. Her bowl shattered and she laid there like a corpse surrounded by a growing pool of chicken-noodle. She didn’t get up.
Claire was red as a tomato. Perhaps because she was wheeling around a meal cart for her own maid. Perhaps because she still didn’t actually believe Rae was sick yet was forced to let her use her to balance the entire walk there. Perhaps because she liked being this close to her a little. Rae was just theorising.
“Commoner. Wake up! We’re here!”
Rae gave a slurred, “Thank you, Miss Claire.” and tried to pull herself off her. Claire pushed her away, forcing Rae to use the cart for balance.
“Now go to bed. And eat your food before it gets cold!”
“Of course. The faster I recover the faster I can go back to serving you.”
“Ugh! Just leave already.”
“Miss Claire.”
“What?”
“Can you open the door?”
Doing as asked, but not without a fierce expression, she held it ajar, beckoning for Rae to enter.
“Thank you. I won’t hold you up any longer. Besides, I wouldn’t want to get you sick as well.”
Claire’s expression changed. “Yes. Thank you for finally allowing my reprieve.” The room was silent. Empty except for Rae. Claire's grip remained firmly on the door handle. “Where is the nurse?”
“Must be eating her lunch still.” Rae said, crawling under the covers.
“So they can just galivant rather than take care of my maid?! What if Lene gets sick too? Whose fault will it be then, when I have no one to tend to me? What kind of circus is this school?”
“You can heal me if you want.”
“What are you going on about now?”
Rae scooted closer to the window, away from the door. “That thing about you healing me, it wasn’t a lie.” She took Claire’s silence as hearing her out. “Whenever I’m around you, I feel calm. At the very least I’ll be able to sleep better if your here with me.”
Silence. The door closed.
“But I ought not keep you from class.” She said, expecting no one to hear.
Suddenly the bed jostled. A second person had climbed in. “You’re serious?”
Rae’s eyes widened and she spun around. “Very!”
Claire gave a flustered glare. “And this isn’t simply you trying to sleep with me?”
Rae considered reminding her she was the one who joined her here. She was just talking about Claire sitting on the chair, or standing at the doorway. Watching over her like the guardian angel she was. But then again. “I mean… it isn’t not that…”
Claire surprisingly didn’t get up. If anything she inched slightly closer. “But you will sleep better?”
“Better than ever before in my life.”
She rolled her eyes. “Then do so already. You’ve wasted enough of my day as is.”
“But Miss Claire.” Rae yawned.
“What is it?”
“What if you catch my cold?”
Claire relaxed under the blanket. She probably didn’t understand the levity of her next words but that didn’t matter. Her response was enough to ease Rae’s nerves and send her into a long, refreshing sleep. “Then at least I’ll have a functioning maid to take care of me.”