@Sᴛɪʟᴇs-Is-Tʜᴇ-Nɪɢʜᴛ
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playιng: [Fʟᴏʀᴇɴᴄᴇ Nɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢᴀʟᴇ] - [Hᴇɴʀʏ Jᴀᴍɪsᴏɴ]
Xan was so fucking late. It was already ten minutes into the first lunch period, all because she couldn't interrupt Danny and ask him to finish venting to her about Josh later. Then there was Lydia chattering about the new girl, and Jackson making predictions about tryouts. By the time she finally managed to escape from her friends, Xan was shocked to find that her ears hadn't fallen off yet. It was an assault from all sides, noise overwhelming her other senses. The hallway was silent this far after the tardy bell, the peace almost seemed liberating to her, and she gladly drank it in.
Unfortunately, because it was so quiet, Xan had to work hard to keep her platforms from making too much noise. She looked ridiculous and she knew it, and there was nothing she could do about it but hope that no one saw her rushing by. It wasn't against the rules to wander the halls during lunch, just strongly discouraged. Already running behind, Xan didn't want to make her situation any worse by disrupting a nearby class or test.
Mr. Curtis getting after her during first period was already embarrassing enough, being told off in front of a class that she wasn't even in would just be too much.
"Hello?" Xan announced as she entered, unsure of where to go. She'd never gone into the boy's locker room before, she valued her sense of smell too much.
"Over here Pip!" making her way to her brother, she found herself in front of what she assumed was Scott's locker, and sat down on the nearby bench. Xan could barely keep a straight face as she noticed how cold and grimy it felt, wasn't the janitor supposed to wipe these down? Gross.
"Do you have those bandages with you? I have more if you don't." she asked, beckoning Scott to come closer to where she was. The trio of boys stood in a line, making weirdly grim faces, it was freaking her out.
Of course it didn't help that the lights were dim and seemed to have come from a horror movie set, casting sinister shadows across their faces. Xan frowned and glanced at the ceiling, not seeing any burnt out bulbs. That was odd, she'd taken plenty of selfies with the cheer team in the girl's locker room, and they'd never had an issue like this. Maybe she was just stressed and seeing things.
She was certainly stressed at least.
"Oh yeah! Here, they're in my bag somewhere, let me just get them," he said, though it was muffled by him bending over into his bag, rummaging in it for a good minute before finally pulling out a crinkled ziploc bag.
"Jesus buddy, ever heard of organization?" Stiles joked, getting stifled laughter from the Beaumonts, and an eye roll from Scott.
"Whatever man, here Pippa," he said, handing her the baggie, and lifting up the side of his shirt so she could look at his wound. Pulling off the bandage that had bits of blood coming through already, Xan couldn't stop herself from making a noise of shock and concern. "What was that? Is it bad? Am I gonna be okay?" Scott began to panic, almost dropping his shirt. Xan caught it, and leaned her head back to look into the nervous boy's eyes.
"Breathe Scott, it's going to be fine, I just... wasn't expecting that, is all,"
"Wasn't expecting what?" Stiles butted in between them to look at the bite. "What's wrong with him?" Devereaux placed a hand on his face and pushed him back.
"Well... it shouldn't exactly be healed this much. I mean, I know my way around a first aid kit, but I'm not that good," Xan said, exchanging a meaningful glance with her brother over Stiles' shoulder, one that said: 'I am that good, but not this time'. "He could have an infection of some kind, but I'm not sure. From what I can tell, he's completely fine. Which should be a good thing... but without a reasonable explanation, it's concerning,"
Reaching out, Xan traced the edge of the wound, which was significantly smaller than the night before. There was no swelling or inflammation, just a thin pink line surrounding the shallow scrape. It was hardly even identifiable as a bite anymore, if she didn't know any better, she might've written it off as something Scott got after falling from his bike. A small frown cemented itself onto her face as she redressed the injury, placing more antibiotic cream in case there was something wrong with him.
Xan was sure that if something was wrong, there wouldn't be much she could do to help him with her little drugstore first aid kit. Still, gently smearing in the cream helped to ease the nagging worries in her head. Burying them deeper under each layer of gauze, before she finally taped them off completely. This was a mystery that she felt would be better off if she left it alone, unless it became a matter of life or death. The odds of that happening in her mortal life were slim, she wasn't at camp, nothing weird was going on here. She was safe, her brother and her friends were safe.
You know that's not true. You feel it, don't you Xanthippe?
The taunting question came from the bottom of her stomach, its gravelly voice was so realistic she could practically feel it echoing off of her ribcage. Lowering Scott's shirt, Xan stood up on the other side of the bench, she needed to wash her hands. This was all in her head, she was just anxious and tired. Nothing was wrong, and in a few days she would be laughing about how ridiculous she was being over all of this. Xan may as well have been 8 years old all over again, explaining her nightmares to Luke, and having him mock how dumb they were. She was being so childish, but no attempt to laugh at herself managed to ease the way her hands shook as she scrubbed them under the faucet.
You can't lie to yourself about this Xanthippe, you're a Child of Apollo. God of Truth.
"Well, maybe he's just a quick healer," Dev said, trying to ease the tension his sister had left behind her, mostly unaware of the turmoil she in. Scott and Stiles were unsure where the ominous and uncomfortable atmosphere had come from, or what it might've meant. The two boys looked at each other, their eyes belying their discomfort.
"Nobody normal can be that quick of a healer, no offense Scott," Xan said quietly.
"None taken?" Scott said, turning back to his locker. Stiles clapped his friend on the shoulder, mustering up all of his courage before going to talk to Xan.
"Soo, uh, are you going to be watching tryouts this afternoon?" he asked, leaning up against the sink next to hers.
"Well I'll probably catch the first bit. The squad is going to be warming up on the side of the field today, but we're going to be in the gym for the rest of practice, so we can do some conditioning workouts. The routine we're working on for the first big game is pretty intense, so Taylor wants us in top shape to pull it off. She's been riding us like sled dogs, honestly," Xan complained, fixing her hair in the mirror and straightening her skirt, before turning to look at Stiles. He was being an oddly pleasant distraction for once.
"Oh, well, uh... that sounds fun,"
"No Stiles, it doesn't. How are you feeling about tryouts?"
"Um, good I guess, no shame in being on the bench,"
"Yeah, that way you can let me know if I need to cheer louder or something, you know? Give me some critiques about how I could better inspire school spirit," she said, bumping her shoulder with his, and walking to where the other two were cleaning mystery items out of Devereaux's locker.
"Oh yeah! I'll uh- I will totally do that, and uh at practice today, be sure to flip well for me, you know, really nail that cartwheel and stuff," Stiles, responded, face beet red.
"Haha, of course, I wouldn't dream of letting you down," she said, giving him a joking smile, before turning to her brother. "Oh gross! What is that?! How often do you clean this thing out?"
"That, my dear Pip, is a banana peel from sometime last year. It's below final exam papers, but above midterm study guides in the fossil record, so I'd assume I left it here... late April," Dev said smugly, unaffected by the depth of his own mess.
"That's nasty. Seriously, it smells like Cyclop's ass in here." Xan said, barely finishing her sentence before the school's bell rang out, signaling the end of lunch. "Alright, that's my cue to get out of this sewer you call a locker room,"
"Bye,"
"See ya Pip!"
"Thanks for the help!"
The chorus of goodbyes just managed to reach her ears as the heavy door slammed shut behind her, it really stank in there. Stopping off at her locker, Xan picked up everything that she needed for her AP Literature class, dropping off her gym clothes and chemistry book, before crossing the hall to wait for Lydia.
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Another important note: The next chapter will feature a panic attack, vomiting, and hallucinations.
It's going to get pretty intense for Xan. I'll label it with trigger warnings again when I publish it, but just so that every one knows now. I'll also flag where to start and stop reading if you don't want to worry about the content.