Blight Academy

Pained

Thoman sits and pokes at his eggs, turning his head to look around the room again. He does this another four or five times before he just sighs and puts his head in his hands. He's looking for Leo, trying to spot him in the crowd of hungry students but he is nowhere to be seen. Alice and Sapphire slide into the seats in front of him and Thoman immediately gets into it.
"Leo must be avoiding us," He says. "He hasn't come down for breakfast because if he did then he would have had to pass us and if he wants breakfast he's gonna have to come down sometime."
"Aww, you are still angry about how things ended between you two love birds last night," Sapphire says.
"We aren't love birds," Thoman says, blushing.
"Oh please," Sapphire continues. "I've seen the way you two look at each other."
Thoman just shakes his head, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand as a yawn takes over him. He looks tired with faint bags under his eyes and his sluggish posture. He doesn't eat a bite of his breakfast, barely having the stomach for anything. Lets just say that Thoman looked like death.
"You're like a walking zombie this morning," Sapphire says getting a good look at him.
"It looks like you got no sleep," Alice comments, taking a sip of her juice.
"That because I didn't," He admits. "I just kept thinking about how things happened last night. All I did was try to stand up for Leo and he just pushed me away. I don't even understand why he is so angry at me of all people."
"So are we just no longer going to be friends with him?" Sapphire says.
"No, we can't," Alice says softly. "I like Leo, he has such a humble vibe to him."
"He's only been here three days and you look like your ready to sack him," Sapphire continues.
Thoman is quiet, just looking down at his plate in silence, just lost in his own thoughts. Skren walks by and Sapphire quickly flags him down, successfully managing to get him to come over to their table. He stands there awkwardly with his tray of food in hand, a concoction of salad, nuts and exotic fruits.
"Hey Skren, seen Leo recently?" Sapphire asks.
Skren tries to give an odd look to Thoman but the merman doesn't make eye contact. Skren changes weight off one foot and put it onto another, uncomfortable at the mere presence of Alice. She gave him a smile and he tried not to blush.
"I took him to the infirmary last night," Skren says, perking the immediate interest of Thoman as the words left his mouth. "He's still there the last time I checked."
"Is he hurt?" Thoman asks. "What happened?"
"Leonard started getting bad cases of the transitioning symptoms," Skren said, trying not to look Thoman in the eyes. "Like seriously bad. He was buckling down in pain when I left him in the infirmary."
Thoman jumps to his feet, making a beeline for the door with his friends close behind him. Skren is left at their table, smiling at the image of Alice's smile when she greeted him. He almost swooned where he stood. He blushed as he shuffled away to his own table.

~~~

I sat in the surprising comfortable infirmary bed, letting the warm sun stream in as I continued reading my werewolf book. I was just on the last page when the door suddenly burst open and I'm greeted by the sight of Thoman, Sapphire and Alice barging into the room puffed and sweating, looking like they had just run a marathon.
"Wha-What are you all doing here?" I ask but Thoman ignores me, heading straight to the nurse.
"Is he okay?" Thoman asks. "Is he really hurt."
The nurse looks shocked at the sheer amount of worry present in the deep blue of Thoman's eyes, stuttering as she went to look at her charts.
"Mr. Quince is just fine, he was experiencing a severe case of transitioning symptoms and has had a rough night of muscle pains but I've given him some medication," the nurse says. "He's been put on bed rest for the rest of the day, just to make sure the medication is working."
"Honestly guys, I'm fine," I say and Thoman whips his head around to stare straight at me, making me jump.
"Fine?" He says with anger in his voice. "We're meant to be your friends, why didn't you call us the second you were in pain?"
"Seriously, it's no big deal," I say.
"It is a big deal Leo!" Thoman says. "If you are injured, I don't care if I am halfway across the world, I want to know."
I looked up into his eyes, hearing and seeing the pure sincerity emanating from inside him. He seemed to pause and think to himself, backtracking his words. He seemed to become unsure of himself, stumbling over his words.
"I- I mean we!" He says and I can't help but smile.
Sapphire seemed to sense something in the air that we didn't. She reached for Alice, taking her hand in her own. Sapphire looked down at her wrist, at a watch that didn't exist.
"Well, I'm glad you are feeling better, Leo," Sapphire says taking a step towards the door. "But unfortunately Alice and I have to get to class- to... study early- yeah. Right Alice?"
"What?" Alice said in return and Sapphire lightly kicked her, giving her a look. "Yeah- yeah we do, I guess."
I rolled my eyes as they shuffled out into the hallway, Sapphire dragging a confused Alice. They didn't have a class together, Sapphire is just doing this so that Thoman and I would make up already and I'm kinda glad that she did. I do need to mend this friendship with him, it was eating away at me by just having had yelled at him last night.
"Thom," I say. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too," he says in return, sitting by my side.
"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," I say. "it was unfair on you."
"Well, I shouldn't have gotten touchy about you and Jayden. What happened between you and him is your business," Thoman says, pausing as he looked down at his fiddling thumbs. "But apart of me knew that you weren't okay. I guess- I guess I was just being protective."
"I'm wasn't mad at you for getting protective," I say and we stare at one another. "I was just frustrated about Jayden and everything happened before I could calm down."
"You were a bit more than frustrated," Thoman says with a small laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I was," I say, thinking back on every interaction I've had with the vamp. "He's just such a jerk."
"Can I ask what it is that he said to you," Thoman asks. "It must have been bad if it made you so upset."
"Sorry, I just-" I say but I am cut off by Thoman grabbing my hand.
"You don't have too," he says. "Just know that if you ever do want to tell me or wanna talk about anything, I'll be here for you."
I smile. "Thanks Thom."
"No problem," Thoman says, smiling from ear to ear.

~~~

Jayden taps his pen against his notebook repeatedly. His eyes flickering to the clock every couple of seconds, growing more irritated by the minute. He wonders where the gypsy boy is, knowing full well that his threat wasn't enough to actually make the guy drop out of class. Was it? Jayden had to admit he didn't mean for the conversation to end that way but he got angry. No one had challenged him like that in a very long time. Leonard was good, almost too good at Linguistics. He just had to know he wasn't being played. But he had gotten excited about testing the gypsy, to see if he could keep up. He wanted to continue challenging him and to feel that foreign rush that went through his vampire veins. But if his threat was too much, he may have ruined his chance at feeling that rush again. He was like an addict that was after his next high.
"Are you even paying attention Mr. Juniper?" Mr. Porter says
"Where's the gypsy kid?" Jayden asks with fake boredom. "Did he drop out already?"
"No, Mr. Quince has not dropped out," he says. "I received a note from the nurse earlier this evening, the poor boy has gotten very painful transformation symptoms."
"What?" Jayden says with masked concern. "Already?"
"Yes, unfortunately he's been placed on bed rest until he feels better," Mr. Porter says. "It breaks my heart to see you all so upset but shall we get back to the lesson?"
Jayden leans back in his seat, no longer paying attention to Mr. Porter but rather thinking about Leonard. He only arrived three days ago, it's way too soon for him to be getting symptoms. Jayden doesn't know why he is thinking this but he wonders how much pain Leonard must be in and he silently hopes the gypsy will return to class soon. Jayden laughs; just an addict after his drug. Or at least that's what he tells himself...

~~~

Leo shivered in his skin as he slept, sinking deeper into the infirmary bed seeking warmth. The light sheet covering him didn't feel nearly as warm as he wanted them to be. Moonlight streamed in from the open window, cold air flowed into the room, the curtains breathing with the wind. A figure appeared in the light of the moon, yet remained shrouded in darkness. He walked further into the room, closing in on Leo's sleeping form. The figure lifted his hand, letting the back of his long fingers caress the soft skin of Leo's cheek. He couldn't help himself and let his fingers rake through his brown curls. His hand trailing down to his neck, making their way to the collar of his shirt. Slowly pulling it back to reveal pale flesh, the figures eyes gazed at the tattooed skin below Leo's collar bone. Two waning moons, back to back. The figure sighed, letting his hands ghost over Leo one last time. Leo shivered and shifted as he slept, the figure now gone from sight.