Replay {Skephalo}

3 | Kindness

"I could take you to the infir-"

"No" Zak cut off quickly. His expression became more sad. "Please, no" he corrected, eyes averted back to the floor. "The dog is comforting, and I bet he can't come to the infirmary with us."

I smiled sadly at the sad little boy clutching the dog in his arms. Something inside me broke, remembering how my dog made me more comfortable when I was younger. I wasn't going to take him away from Rocco.

"In that case, do you mind if I do it myself? I help in the infirmary, so I know what I'm doing. I can patch your face up here quickly, so you can stay with Rocco."

Rocco barked happily at the mention of his name. "Sure" the boy replied. He was clearly taken aback by my offer, but I was silently thankful he accepted.

~~~

-Zak's POV-

Darryl wasn't at all how I expected him to be. He looked exactly how I thought he would, except for his clothes. He wore a black hoodie, with a bright red stripe around the edge of his hood and down each arm. His hands were barely visible due to his long, fingerless gloves. He had plain black jeans to match, and a black pair of converse.

I don't know why I accepted his help, especially after embarrassing myself by jumping out of my chair and screaming. I just thought he'd seen it, and I hoped I was wrong.

Really, really hoped I was wrong.

Darryl shifted a chair around to face mine as I turned mine away from the desk. He reached for the pair of tweezers.

I don't know why his words stung so much.

'Nobody else is helping you.'

But this boy was. This boy who I've done nothing but frustrate and waste the time of, completely ruining our study session. Not only that but I turned up with my face battered from not patching it up earlier, not that I generally did anyway.

The older boy brought the tweezers towards my face. "I'm just going to take out the splinter first" he said kindly. Darryl was kind enough to deal with my problems, despite not having to. That wasn't part of the agreement, but he did it anyway. I admired that in him.

Kindness.

I scrunched my face at the sight of the tweezers inching closer, accidentally squeezing Rocco so hard he moved away with a yelp. I ducked away from Darryl to stroke the dog, making sure to hold my hoodie over my hands as I did.

"Sorry buddy" I whispered to the whimpering dog. Rocco licked my sleeve in return, and moved slightly further away and just out of reach of me before curling into a ball on the floor of the library.

I returned my attention to Darryl, who I hadn't noticed was watching me. He looked flustered and rubbed the back of his neck with his spare hand.

How cute.

The older boy slowly moved his hand away from his neck to cup my uninjured cheek. I flinched at the motion at first, I wasn't used to people touching me. Darryl noticed, moving his hand away, but I stopped it in midair and placed it back on my cheek.

"It's fine." I said calmly, smiling a small smile at him. "I'm just not used to human contact."

I could've sworn pity showed in Darryl's eyes, just for a second. "That's ok. I know how it feels."

Does he? How?

We sat for roughly 20 minutes as Darryl patched up my face. I glanced up at the clock again just as he finished plastering the various other cuts across my face that hadn't healed due to me neglecting them beforehand. 4:57pm.

"What time is our study period meant to end at?" I asked him. The older boy pressed an ice pack against the bruise on my forehead, sending a chill through me from the sudden cold. He pushed up a hoodie sleeve to check the watch over his gloves underneath.

Why does he wear a watch over his gloves?

"Our study session is supposed to finish at 5, so our timing is pretty good." Darryl smiled at me. There was something comforting about the look in his emerald green eyes. They made me feel safer.

I fumbled with my sleeves and averted my eyes to the ground. "I'm really sorry for wasting our study time today" I mumbled, and genuinely meant it. This boy had been nothing but nice to me out of the kindness of his heart.

"Don't mention it muffin. You have no reason to apologise. Making sure you're ok is time well spent." He removed the ice pack from my forehead head and placed it on the table. "Feeling better?" he asked with a sweet smile. "A lot. Thank you" I replied, returning the smile. "You should head home muffin. It'll be getting dark out soon. I'll return the things to the infirmary." Darryl packed up his belongings as I did the same. "What about Rocco?" I asked.

"Rocco is Ms Smith's dog. Her grandson attends this school, he comes to pick up Rocco later."

I swung my bag over my shoulder before walking over to Rocco and hugging him tightly. Dogs made me so much happier. "Bye buddy!" I told the dog. I could feel Darryl watching me still. That's when I remembered. "Oh! Darryl!" I said running over to him. "Can I have your number before I go? My baseball practise fluctuates so I'll probably need it to tell you when I'm around."

Darryl smiled, scribbling a number on a piece of paper and handing it to me. "Here you go muffin. See you tomorrow!" he smiled cheerfully. He waved at me quickly before opening the front door of the library and walking out. I set off out the back door, walking out into the darkening pink and orange sky above me.

I never thought I'd be talking to a nerd, let alone wanting to. But he was just so sweet, and so kind.

So, so kind.