"Pointless."

Carl's urbane voice is barely a whisper, but I can hear it as clear as day. He leans slightly to the side and my fist misses his face by a hair's breadth.

"Even your voice pisses me off." I growl, quickly pivoting on my feet to regain my balance. Carl's cool, marble like face barely twitches as he drifts away like a ghost from my follow up punch.

"Robbie, stop this!" Sara yells from somewhere in the background. But I couldn't care less. I desperately need to beat Carl up, for some reason I don't fully understand. Though I'm sure it is a good one. It has to be.

"I'm not looking for trouble." Carl's voice cuts through the air like a knife, not missing a beat as he dodges a barrage of my fists.

"Carl's so cool." one of the female students watching the fight sighs. There's a hum of agreement from the crowd, followed by a rash of blushed faces.

I click my tongue in annoyance at all the fawning over the rich pretty boy. Carl's fairly good at fighting. I'm a big enough man to admit it. Except from what I've seen so far, the gulf between us isn't as large as it appears on the surface. Pretty boy's graceful and has strong technique, but I'm definitely faster. I'm gradually hemming Carl in with my attacks, just a few moments more and I'll have him right in the crosshairs.

"Why are you doing this?" Carl's mouth quirks into a barely perceptible frown.

"You wouldn't understand." I snort.

I'm not sure I understand it myself for that matter. This is the first time I've ever met Carl. And somehow I feel so aggravated at the sight of him. Its an almost visceral sensation. And then there's that vision I just experienced. What did it all mean?

I have no idea.

All I know is that I'm in the perfect position to kick that prat's head clean off.

"Its over!" I scream triumphantly as my right leg slashes upward with inexorable force.

"Nooooooo!" Sara wails over the commotion.

There's a meaty thump as something impacts against my shin. I get a sinking feeling as I realize that Carl is still standing after what should have been my finishing attack.

"Like I said, pointless." Carl makes a resigned noise, "Though I suppose you need to play your role at the end of the day."

Pretty boy had blocked my kick with his forearm. The next thing that happens are five fingers closing in on my leg like a vice.

"My role?" I mutter at Carl in confusion, trying to free myself from his grip. Its no good, pretty boy has fingers of iron.

Carl doesn't bother to reply, instead pulling hard on my leg. I'm literally wrenched off the ground and land flat on my back. Carl silently steps over my body to leave and the crowd parts silently before him.

"Strong." the girls start whispering to each other again. Some of them even gaze at Carl's retreating back with hungry looks.

"Were they fighting over her?" girl A whispers to someone I can't see.

All eyes turn to Sara as she stands there dumbfounded.

"The transfer student?" girl B huffs in a dissatisfied tone.

"Uh, Robbie?" Sara leans over me with an embarrassed expression, "Are you doing okay there?"

"Just fine." I groan, "It was only a fall. I've experienced worse in fight club."

"What a sinful woman." girl A hisses like an elderly gossip.

"I'll go ahead and try apologizing to Carl!" Sara suddenly squawks at me and she quickly disappears from the scene, "Take care, Robbie!"

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"Damn, you could at least pretend to be concerned." I grumble, picking myself back up. The crowd now surrounds me, the derision clear on their faces.

"What're you all staring at? Show's over!" I snap at the crowd and make a shooing motion with my hands. That gets the message across and the students disperse and begin making their way into the school building.

Man, that could have really gone better. And I bumped my head hard during the fall just now. The migraine's back and absolutely raging. I can't go to class in this condition. Might as well take a trip to the nurse's office since its on the ground floor of the building.

Shaking my head ruefully, I flow into the building with the rest of the students, breaking off at a turn in the corridor. Everyone marches toward their respective classes while I head down to a cul de sac in the building where the nurse's office is. I rap on the wooden door and a muffled voice tells me to enter.

Great, the nurse is on duty today. Would have hated to make a wasted trip here and get nagged at the teacher for being late in the bargain.

"Hey." I open the door and enter the nurse's office. Its a small, cramped place, dominated by an empty sickbed. A nondescript woman sits in a corner at her desk, going through a scanty layer of paperwork. A medicine cabinet filled to the brim with bottles takes up the room's remaining space.

The nurse blandly looks up at me, her hands still organizing the papers as if on autopilot.

"Need something for my headache." I explain, somewhat disconcerted by this stony reception.

"I have spells that can alleviate pain." the nurse says in a gentle but flat voice.

"Sure. Hit me." I shrug, "Only looking for relief."

The nurse opens a desk drawer and pulls out a heavy grimoire. A bog standard tome used by lower tier medical professionals. She leafs through the text finally stopping at one page.

"Stay still please." the nurse says as her free hand begins moving about in arcane patterns.

"Uh, you sure y'know what you're doing?" I give an uneasy smile as the nurse begins to cast. I wasn't expecting her to need a refresher on magic she's already supposed to know.

The nurse makes a low sonorous grunt, the word of power associated with healing. There's a shimmer of heat haze as the spell is released and I immediately feel one hundred percent better. The pain recedes into nothing more than a bad memory.

"Thanks. Should have realized you knew your stuff all along." I sigh in sheer gratitude.

"Do you need medication as well?" the nurse regards me calmly.

"Oh, hell yes." I nod affirmatively, "This migraine has been bothering me for more than a week. Something to take home would be great."

"Give me a minute." the nurse replies as she turns toward the medicine cabinet. Her knee bumps into a carelessly placed stool and she immediately stops with a blank expression on her face.

"Do you need medication as well?" the nurse turns to face me and repeats her question.

"Uh, yeah?" I nod again.

And once again she bumps her knee on the stool on her way to the cabinet.

"Do you need medication as well?" that same dead voice.

"Are you high right now?" I begin to back off, feeling pretty freaked out.

"Do you need medication as well?"

"Stop saying that." I growl in agitation.

"Do you need medication as well?"

"I'm getting out of here, you take care." I quickly shuffle my way over to the exit.

"Do you need medication as well?"

"Goodbye!" I slam the office door shut and make my way down the corridor as fast as I can.

Wow, that nurse had to be blitzed out of her mind. Either she's got some really good shit in the cabinet, or she's absolutely shit at her job. Wait, scratch that. Our school nurse is probably both types of shit. Her healing magic might have worked as advertised, but no way was I going to stick around with that negligence suit in the making.

Now to make my way back to class. I run up the stairs two at the time and meet my least favorite person in the world.

"You." I mutter as Carl confronts me at the second floor, his arms crossed across that tailored Rutger's blazer he wears.

Without a word, pretty boy hands me a slip of paper and turns around to leave without a word.

"A detention notice?" I grit out, "What's the meaning of this?"

"Exactly what it says." Carl responds in a bored tone, "I got stopped by the Disciplinary Council on my way to class. They took a dim view of our fight, even though I was the wronged party."

"We're to clean all our year's classrooms after school?" I squint at the tiny script on the notice, "What the fuck is this? Do they know how many rooms that is?"

"Almost the entire floor. We would need to work through the evening." Carl shrugs indifferently.

"And you're fine with this?" I glare at Carl, "This punishment is obviously unfair. The Council pulled it out of their asses."

"Robert-" Carl begins but I cut him off.

"How'd you know my name?" I demand.

"Its in the notice. In the very first line." Carl rolls his eyes at me.

"Oh, uh, right. Continue." I waive at him to keep talking.

"Robert, even if this punishment is unfair, it is my place to accept it." Carl patiently says.

"And how is that?" I cross my own arms back at the pretty boy.

"Because I am a superior man." Carl responds as if he's talking about the most obvious thing in the world, "And as a superior man, I must hold myself to a higher standard."

"Uh huh. And what does that make me? We're sharing the same punishment after all." I answer with as much sarcasm as I can muster.

"You're the one complaining about it." Carl coldly sweeps past me, "Think about that."

And with that, he's gone. The corridor is silent. Class is in session.

Leaving me all alone.