Mia found that once she had finally walked out of the classroom that no priests or religious goon squad were waiting to escort her to a post-event interview. Frankly, it made her feel relieved. The school was just full of kids who had finished their academic day and were either hanging out with friends chatting, going to after-school clubs, or making their way back home either by bus or walking.
She did think about taking my headphones out of her bag to listen to some music. It might distract her from the stressful feeling of standing in front of her home class armed with manufactured fake rocks.
Non-existent gods knew that she needed a break after how her day had ended. Explaining the whole thing to her parents was going to be even worse, her Dad might show some understanding, but her Mum was going to lose it, given that she was the more aggressive parent of the two. It wouldn’t help either for her younger sister to see that she had an accident in school. Putting it out of her mind she thought about if it was worth listening to some music and just shutting out the outside world for a while.
‘I heard that the new Believer JaJa Swag album was fairly good. Worth trying before buying. The singer was pretty hot as well.’
Given that one hand was on her arm and the other was holding her backpack Mia decided to leave the headphones in her bag until she got my cut treated and dealt with. No point in making more of a mess.
The school itself held exacting standards and was considered one of the tops in her region. If it was academics, athletics, or religion it produced students who delivered results and took on higher-level positions once they graduated.
It had been a pretty hard school to get into through the merit of having high academic results. Mia had taken quite a few mock tests at the end of elementary school and had a personal tutor to make sure that she passed the test with a decent score. She did have to thank her Mum for all of that though, despite her working full-time she still took the time every evening and weekend to go through past papers with her.
Her Dad had focused on the rest of the household including helping her younger sister with her homework and driving her to her after-school activities. Mia was sure that her parents wanted her little sister to follow her in her footsteps and attend if not the same, then a school that was a similar academic standing.
Not that she knew at the time exactly how much effort she made for her daughter with passing the test. She had just wanted her to form good academic habits. When she was a ten-year-old preparing for the exam, she didn’t think about it so much but felt proud of passing. That had been five years ago.
Why does this cut keep bothering me so much?
The school medical office should have been open, though, seeing as the end of the school day. She hoped it would be emptier with nobody hanging around asking questions that she wasn’t willing to provide answers for.
All she would need was some disinfectant and medical gauze to wrap it up by herself. A cut wasn’t worth involving her parents. She had to deal with her school shirt though, some bleach or just taking a shirt from the lost and found box. If she was lucky though then it would be possible to scrounge up another uniform in her size.
As Mia was walking in the direction of the school medical office, she became lost in her thoughts. Everything else became a distant haze to her mind as she walked without thinking. Her feet follow their set path determined by her unconscious mind.
‘Hey!’ a male voice shouted out. ‘Heeyy!’
‘Yeah, that’s none of my business right now.’ Mia muttered under her breath. She didn’t want to be involved in any further issues, her first issue was getting a change of uniform and fixing herself up.
‘Heya!’ called out a female voice. ‘Heya!’
Mia realized that both voices were in talking in her direction and were getting increasingly closer to her current location. She saw them before they arrived, they were her year group school prefects.
‘My gods, look at the bleeding! Ben, and that arm!’ called out the female voice.
‘Let’s go to the school nurse right now. Do you have a spare shirt?’
‘I agree with you. We need to help our fellow students. I’ve got a spare shirt if needed, I’ve got a spare pair of trousers in my bag.’
The two walked closer to her, and Mia saw that their faces showed genuine concern for her. She wasn’t friends with either of them but neither did she remember being ignored by either during year-group sports events. They were just faces that often led or presented themselves in need when they saw a situation to intervene in. She had seen them lead prayers for school-based religious events on occasion.
Mia was noticed after all. It happened to be two prefects, Ben, and Marie. She remembered that they were super-kind and did think about others especially when they were a fellow student in distress or difficulty. I guess that to reach a position of responsibility in the year group you had to be real about it. She didn’t dislike them but rather preferred not to have any further attention drawn to her at this time.
‘I’m not sure if your clothes are the best fit though’
‘That’s true. It’d be better to just get a new uniform.’
Not something I want right now.
At the end of the day, they would still try and stick to their guiding morals and help her out as a fellow student. Although they were not close friends with her, they were still keen on helping her out as soon as they saw that she had been hurt. Mia considered herself more than capable of giving herself first aid and finding her change of clothing.
‘Hi Marie, so I’ll be fine without any help. Really. And thanks to Ben for the offer, I’ve got some spare clothes that I can change into. This cut? It’s nothing much, haven’t you had worse playing sports?’
She tried to make her tone more relaxed and joking to put the two school prefects at ease. The situation wouldn’t get better if they had gone to the medical office with me. She’d just end up with more questions and records being put on file. Her main aim was to treat the wound, change clothes and get out of the school site before any priests or affiliated helpers turned up to call her in for a quick discussion on the nature of prayer and religion.
‘Are you sure that you don’t need help? Asked Marie.
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She had more than a concerned tone to her voice. Mia was sure that she did care about her fellow students, but she never knew when to back off.
‘I don’t need this. Not right now.’
‘Marie, she doesn’t seem to want assistance. Kindness has been offered but we can’t force our help here. How about we compromise, you wait a moment there and I’ll be right back with a clean shirt and a change of school uniform for you. Then Marie can walk with you to see the school nurse just to make sure that you get there safe. We won’t ask any more questions, but we are here to help our fellow students in the same year as us. Sound good?’
Marie had a strange look on her face, not annoyed or confused but it was hard for Mia to read. She turned towards Ben with crossed arms.
‘Ben, I can make my own opinion as well thanks. I want to make sure that first that she gets treatment for her arm. I think that you get a spare change of uniform for him is a great idea though. Make sure you make a note that you lent a uniform out though and why don’t you just check out a spare instead? I don’t think that he would like to wear a prefect’s uniform with a purple stripe. Just ask in the school office for it, they know our position of responsibility.’
‘Sorry, Marie. I talk too much for myself sometimes, not trying to talk for you. The office sounds like a good bet. Would say the school uniform should be around size nine? I’m not so good at fitting clothes.’
Mia gazed at Ben, lost for a moment in her thoughts.
‘That guy looks pretty built so it was unlikely that his clothes would fit me. That and other reasons. Mainly the fact that he was male. He was sort of good looking though.’
Ben turned to look at her, noticing that she had looked at him without starting. It looked as though he had taken her silence for uncertainly in accepting their help.
‘Hey, are you sure you’re feeling alright? We can find a teacher if you think you need to talk it out with someone or I’m more than happy to escort you to the office. Uh, if you’d like me to. I’m not trying to take control of your choices here.’
Mia decided to agree to their help. Sometimes it was just best to go with the flow. Her little action in the classroom would become better known after today. Best to get it over with so she could make her way back home and pray at the family shrine on time.
‘Hey guys, size nine sounds about right. I appreciate the help. You two are good people you know. Marie, do you want to walk with me to the medical office? Even if the nurse isn’t there, I can still find some gauze and disinfectant and treat myself. Ben, thanks for the spare uniform. You can put it down in my name so I can make sure it’s cleaned and returned next week.’
She smiled at both of them. At least the fact that they were trying their best to help her out without asking lots of questions was one reason for her to be thankful.
‘Great! It’s all worked out then. I’ll walk with you now and Ben can meet us at the nurse’s office once he picks up a spare school uniform. Thanks, Ben, and we’ll see you soon. Firstly though, I have a scarf in my bag here. Just wrap it around the cut and you can keep it. You need to get treated first. I’d imagine that you don’t want it drawing attention.’
‘Thanks, Marie. See you soon Ben, the office should have my size but please don’t make a big deal out of it. I can record my name, so I’ll return the change of uniform later.’
‘I guess. I’ll be seeing you two around. Stay safe now.’
The hallways were gradually emptying as all the other students were beginning to head back home. A few glanced in Mia’s direction and at Ben and Marie but they just gave friendly waves when they saw them. Keeping her hand tight on the wound up had stopped any further blood from getting through. As long as nobody else got too close they wouldn’t notice the injury. It’s not as though anyone was making a big fuss about it, and we were all talking normally.
Neither of them had asked many questions about exactly how she got hurt which made her wonder if they already knew and had been sent by the school council to come and meet her to keep the whole situation low-key. Mia wondered if she was getting paranoid about the whole situation and tried to remind herself to keep an open mind.
Nope, no potential heretics around here.
She considered that it wasn’t an innovative idea even thinking about it. There could always be a rogue ichor user around that could read minds.
Nope, just nope. That way lies madness.
Her thoughts were purely private and standing around thinking to herself would just make others think she was a weirdo.
Seeing the few students hanging around or heading to their after-school clubs Mia turned to look at Marie.
‘Hey Marie, did you have any after-school clubs today? I didn’t want to make you late or anything. It’s kind of you to help me out though. Thanks.’
Mia smiled at her but kept one hand covering up her wound.
Just leave. I don’t need anything else. Please, just go now.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Marie responded. ‘Ben can let the school office know and they’ll tell our clubs directly that we’ll both be delayed for a bit. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough? You had an annoyed look on your face just now.’
Don’t show it. Idiot!
Mia’s face blushed for a moment.
‘Ah, no sorry. I don’t want to be a hassle for anyone. Sorry.’
‘Let’s get to the nurses' office straight away.’
The two girls both started walking together. Mia didn’t realize how pretty Marie was. Not cute, she was a pretty-looking girl and nice enough to walk with a wounded student to the medical office. Realising that she was staring at her and that the other girl hadn’t noticed yet she turned her head to look straight ahead instead.
Focus. Focus.
Mia kept her distance slightly from Marie because the felt that it would be more polite. It wasn’t as though she really knew her that well. She just knew of her and Ben being Head prefects for the year. Ben was handsome as well, but he was also on the school swimming team, so he looked good for that.
‘Cute, handsome, and kind. Popular with the girls then lucky guy.’
‘You don’t talk much you know that?’
‘Ah, sorry?’
‘I haven’t heard you say anything since we started walking.’
After around five minutes, Mia and Marie reached the school medical office. There was no sign of the nurse or Ben yet.
‘Don’t worry about it. He’ll turn up soon.’
‘I can check into the medical office by myself but thanks for the assist, Marie.’
‘No, I think I’ll wait here for Ben to return with that spare uniform. He shouldn’t have taken that long. You can check if the nurse if there is there, I’ll be outside waiting for a bit.’
Mia knocked on the blue wooden door to the medical office. It had a sign on the front that was a mark of one of her country’s gods. There was a snake or a lizard wrapped around a red cross. A reptile but she didn’t want to make a mistake and call it a gecko.
‘I don’t remember that god.’
Finding her memory at a loss she struggled for a few seconds before realising that at least she wasn’t in her class with the record session. Any mistakes here wouldn’t be easily noticed.