White Thorn | On Hold

Classes and Stitches

The first-time Arya Cross went to class was in her second week at Riverdale High. Curious stares met hers as she wandered into her first class. It was actually rather intimidating, but Arya had never been one to turn tail and run. That was why she smiled politely, remembering Flynn's advice as she walked towards a seat at the front of the room, taking a seat next to a petite redhead who was humming under her breath, trying to ignore the stares boring holes into her back. That wasn't the only thing she was trying to ignore either.

"That's her..." Someone mumbled. "The girl that was being carried around by some bigshot on the Disciplinary Committee..."

Arya's eyebrow twitched.

"Who even is she?" Another person asked quietly. "Have you ever seen her before...?"

"She was in my Defense class last week." A girl said. "But I lost sight of her when that alarm went off..."

"I took our classwork to her while she was in the hospital..." A boy said, glancing at his friends. "She seems nice..."

"I wonder what happened."

"Look at those boots..." A second girl spoke. "She's breaking school rules already... Who does she think she is...?"

Arya spun around, her green eyes finding the brown ones that quickly looked away. "The name's Arya Cross, and surprisingly enough I have ears and I can hear every single word you're saying, so if you've got something to say, then say it to my face." She said, meeting every single one of the twenty-nine curious stares.

"Definitely a punk..." A boy at the back of the class muttered. "The way she talks... The knee-high black boots... The long fingerless gloves... There's nothing else she could be..."

Arya scowled. "You do know that I'm sitting right here, don't you, mate?"

"Ignore them." The redhead sitting next to her sighed, resting her head on her hand. "They're idiots."

"I gathered that." She mumbled, turning back around to glance at the girl with short spiked up red hair.

"I'm Lexie Crow." Grey eyes met hers. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Arya nodded, moments before the teacher walked into the room and her first class of the day began.

***

By the time Defense began that afternoon, Arya was exhausted, despite the fact she was sitting on the side-lines. Thanks to the stitches in her shoulder, she hadn't been able to train at all for the last few days, and thanks to her small disappearing act last week, she was now sleeping in the hospital every single night just so Rian could keep a close eye on her.

"Arya!" A familiar blonde called.

"Flynnie." She nodded at him.

His eyebrow twitched. "Only you, Ari-bear..." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Rian asked me to find you." He said. "Your stitches are supposed to be coming out today..."

"He never told me that." Arya said, letting herself be pulled to her feet.

"He meant to tell you when you woke up, but you were in a rush to get to class..." Flynn explained, leading her to the hospital by the route she knew well. "It was kind of a last-minute thing, too..."

"Why?"

"He was originally planning to keep those stitches in a lot longer, but according to him you've healed up ridiculously fast..." He glanced at her curiously as they walked through the empty corridors.

She shrugged. "It's one of my many talents."

"Lucky you, I suppose..."

"What about you?" She turned to him. "Your broken ribs don't seem to be bothering you that much..."

It was Flynn's turn to shrug. "It was only a very minor fracture."

"I was there Flynnie." Arya folded her arms. "I heard the loud crack when Jacob slammed his fist into that nice chest of yours."

Flynn tilted his head. "You think my chest is nice...?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed the topic change." She said. "I'm not that stupid."

"Drop it, Ari-bear." He sighed. "You don't want to know."

"How do you know what I want to know?"

Flynn opened the double doors to the hospital. "Oh, would you look at that? We're here." He said, pushing the reluctant girl towards the grey-eyed man waiting for her. "I've got some work to get back to, so I'll leave her in your capable hands, Rian." Flynn smiled, and then he was gone. Just like that.

Arya scowled. "What is up with this school...?"

"Nothing." Rian said, guiding her to the hospital bed she'd been camped out on for the past few days. "This is a perfectly ordinary school, in a perfectly ordinary forest."

"Do perfectly ordinary schools get attacked in the middle of the day?" She questioned, watching as he started removing the stitches on either side of her shoulder.

"This is a military combat school, known for training some of the best Generals and Commanders on the battlefield up north." Rian said. "It's only natural for our enemies to attack us."

"Who are we even fighting up north?" Arya asked, staring out the window, trying to ignore the uncomfortable tugging sensation. "I've heard Grisha is an inhospitable wasteland where nothing can survive..."

"Some things can survive up there."

"Things?" She mumbled, staring at Rian curiously. "So the people up there aren't even called humans anymore...?"

"Trust me." Rian sighed. "By the time you've graduated from this school, you'll understand what I mean." He stood, putting aside the bloody threads he'd removed. "There. You're all done."

"Can I go back to my other room, then?"

"Just stay here for one more night." Rian said. "When you move back to your original room, you'll want to be at full strength..." He shrugged at the confused stare she was giving him. "The kids here are known to play cruel jokes on certain people... and sometimes they end with someone getting hurt..."

"Certain people?"

"Trust me, Arya."

"I'm not so good with trust." She folded her arms. "But I suppose one more night couldn't hurt..."

"It won't."

She stared up at him. "If you say so." She mumbled, yanking off her boots before she put her feet up on the clean white sheets. "What time's dinner?"

"The same as usual." Rian said.

Arya blinked. "Of course it is..."