Your Heart

Chapter Nine

I concentrate deeply on writing down small details about the room to draw later, and occasionally listen to the lesson. I move my head to the side, looking over to Abel. He's looking out the window, wearing his signature facial expression of a constant absorption in thought. I smile to myself, and look back down, occasionally writing small notes in quick, looping characters.

The bell rings and class ends, so I slam my notebook closed and place my things in my bag, tossing it over my shoulder. I walk out of the ajar classroom door and walk through the hallway, deep in thought. As I start to walk up the stairs to my next class, Abel appears from my shoulder, slowing to walk in pace with me. He turns to me and subtly winks, causing my face to lightly flush as he scampers to the science room.

I stay outside in the hallway, deep in thought. Those girls like Abel, huh? Wait- why should I care? I ponder. I put a hand on my heart, and it quickens. What is happening to me?

I continue walking to the room and walk in the door. The class hasn't started yet, and I sit down a row behind Abel. He is contently writing something but is slightly covering it with his hand. I try looking over the counter to see, asking him "Whatcha doin'?" but my elbow slips over the surface and I fall onto the floor, making a loud bang.

He abruptly stands and runs around the counter, checking to see if I'm hurt. He looks at my leg that is bent strangely and has a gash on the knee. He takes my hand and wraps my arm around his shoulder. "Phoenix?! Mister, I'm going to take her to the nurses' office. Is that okay?"

The teacher nods and waves his arm in the air, signaling to go quickly "Be quick, that looks pretty bad."

Abel nods and we rush out of the room to the nurses' office. We get there and he looks at my ankle. "It looks sprained, and as for your knee, is it okay if I remove your sock?" I nod and he moves his arm up to my thigh and takes my sock off. He examines the gash, and I try not to look. "It's pretty bad."

I take a look at it and I feel nothing. There's so much blood... my vision blurs and I feel my limbs weaken. "Kasumi?" That's all I heard before I blacked out.

One Hour Later

I open my eyes, and my vision is blurry, but It dilates and I see the ceiling of the Nurses' office. I fly up from my resting place, and my head throbs. I feel Abel holding me from falling off the bed. "You just blacked out when you saw your knee. Chill and lay down."

I lay down and look over to him. He looks distressed and I put a hand to my forehead. I glance down to my knee, which is wrapped in bandages. I turn back to him. "You must really like doing first aid, Abel." We both laugh as the nurse walks in and Abel puts a finger to his lips, smirking.

The nurse looks at me, then to Eiji and smiles. "I have a strange feeling I'll see you guys pretty often." We share a laugh and she checks my knee bandages and nods to Eiji. "You did the first aid? You're pretty good at this."

He smirks innocently. "Thank you, I tried my best." The nurse nods again and sits down at her lengthy mahogany desk and fills out a piece of paper.

She hands the paper to Abel, smiling. "Here's a pass so you can wait with her to recover a bit and you can go back whenever you want. I'll give you two some time alone." She winks at Abel, walking out of the area of the bed, closing the curtain.

I peer over to him cautiously, seeing his reaction. He was flustered. I smile to myself and continue to watch him. "What are you looking at?" He asks playfully. I give him a sideways glance.

"Thanks for the first aid, weirdo." I playfully respond. We smile at each other, then he hushes me.

"Time for sleep, Phoenix," He whispers. I try to protest but he takes the blanket and places it over my head. "Sleep good dreams." I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.