Wishborne

Chapter Three

     "It's always you two, isn't it?" The school nurse said, bandaging Tristan and Tann up, while I sat in the corner. I was told to sit in the dark because the nurse didn't have the "expertise" to fix a "most likely" broken nose. Which hurts a lot, by the way. I'm tempted to just smash it back into place. The other two ended up fairly fine. Both would end up with black eyes and bald spots, but past that, their worst injuries were scratches and an unfortunate bite mark on Tristan's forearm. "Why is it that every time I get told that there's a boy and a girl on the way to my office, my mind jumps to you two? And it's always you! And then you end up slinking in just to visit her," she said, gesturing to me with a pair of scissors and then to Tann, "and then you three just sit in here and glare at each other for hours? Haven't you grown out of this? You're all 15-"

     "I'm 16 actually, Ma'am!" Tristan said, pipping up. She glared at him and sank in his seat.

      "You're all 15. These are things children do, for God's sake." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "You have been excused from your next class, and that's it. After that, I expect the two of you to leave. Your mum is going to be on her way soon, isn't she?" The nurse asked me. 

     "Uhm, I'm pretty sure she is. I'm not sure if she can leave work and my Dad's out of town and I-" I started, but I got cut off. 

     "Fine. If you're not picked up by say, 3:00, I'll drive you to the hospital myself. Now, go get some paper towels from the bathroom down the hall. It looks like your nose is still dripping quite a bit. And don't think about snapping it back into place! I've seen far too many a nose be manhandled back to place and ruining a fine gents face!" The nurse said, waving the scissors in the air to emphasize her point. 

   I wiped my nose on the back of my hand again and grimaced. Even just gently tapping my nose was almost excruciating. "Yeah, sure. Tann, I'll be right back." I said and forced a smile. "Tristan, keep being ugly," I said. Tristan rolled his eyes, and I stuck my tongue out at him. He hated me because I was Team Tann and not Team Bigot- Racist- Homophobic- Transphobic- Sexist, as any normal person would be.

     I walked into the hallway, running my hands against the wall like I had done since I started going to school, and keeping my feet inside of the blue tile, careful not to let them slip out and touch the white. I kept my eyes glued to the floor, making sure that I stayed inside of the parameters I had set myself. 

    So, this was how today was going. My crush's first kiss was with her worst enemy. They got into a fistfight. I got into a fistfight. My nose got broken, or fractured, or something of that nature and I was the nurse's lowest priority. My mom probably wouldn't be able to pick me up until 5, and I normally walk to school and back so she wouldn't notice that something was wrong until she drove home anyway. 

      Not as shitty as I thought it would be if I do say so myself.

    I reached for my pocket, trying to grab my phone. It wasn't there. Ugh, it was probably back in the gym. I hope it wasn't stolen. That had been a problem lately. Was it worth it to turn around now? I didn't want to drip blood everywhere, and I didn't want people to see me.  

     Things like this always happen. Tann gets into a fight, and I try to jump in to protect her and end up getting even more hurt than Tann would have if she had just sorted it out herself. She doesn't even like me. Ugh, why am I like this? God, this is so-

      And then, everything got set on fire. Because I was so absorbed in my thoughts, I didn't notice the boy walking towards me. He was muttering to himself the same way I was, but more intensely. He was rubbing his hands together, and his blue eyes seemed to be widening the faster he rubbed his hands together. Both of us were trapped inside our brains, zoning out, and just so tuned out of the world that we each collided into each other.