The Foreigner & The Pessimist (malexmale)

13. Lane

I awaken to the sharp, sterile scent of hospital assaulting my nose, and the scratch of rough sheets against my cheek. My eyes pop open to stark white walls surrounding me, and my heart begins to hammer in my chest. No, no, no, this isn't right. I'm not supposed to be here. There's been a mistake!

I bolt upright; fingers clawing at the front of my gown. There's been a mistake. There's been a mistake. It has to be a mistake. I'm not supposed to be here. I repeat, feeling like all of the air in the room is being rapidly sucked out; leaving me to slowly suffocate.

No, no, no, no, no...they promised. They promised they wouldn't do this again. They promised!

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my arm. My head instantly jerks in its direction expecting to find someone in a white coat looming over me with some kind of sedative. But it's not, it's Zuuro.

"Hey, hey it's okay. We're at the hospital. You had an accident in gym, remember?" he says, leaning forward in the chair he's sat in beside my bed.

My brows pull together in momentary confusion before it all starts steadily trickling back in. I got hit in the head. I've got a concussion. I'm here for monitoring. That's it. I let out a heavy exhale in relief as I lean forward to rest my now throbbing head against my bent knees. "Sorry, I remember now. Thank you."

Zuuro gives my arm a little squeeze, as he sits back in his chair. "Are you feeling any better?"

I nod, sitting up again. "A little. The dizziness seems to be gone. The headache is still there, but it's calmed down." I tell him, noticing now that he's changed back into his regular clothes and is holding his cell phone – neither of which he had before. "Did you go back to the school?"

It takes him a moment to figure out why I'm asking, but then he follows my gaze to his phone and shakes his head. "No, coach came by on his lunch break to see how you were doing and brought our stuff from the locker room. I put yours over there, but I can get it if you want?"

Figures. He does that with everyone who gets hurt in his class. "Yeah, if you wouldn't mind." I say, waiting as he gets up and goes over to the narrow cabinet in the corner.

"He said because the move Darin pulled on you was against the rules, he's gonna make him sit out on our first few SIM practices as punishment. It might even cost him his spot as captain." Zuuro explains.

I scoff. I'll believe Darin will lose his captain spot when I see it. Mr. Carrera will never do anything too harmful to his golden boy. And considering what Darin did, I think missing a few practices is a pretty mild punishment. "Trust me, Darin will come out of this just fine and on top as usual."

Zuuro frowns; handing me my overstuffed backpack. I hadn't really put anything away when I got undressed for gym, so Mr. Carrera must have just crammed my clothes in on top of everything else and tried to close it the best he could. I'm lucky nothing fell out.

"Thanks." I tell him, unzipping the front pocket and pulling my glasses out. Because I slept in my contacts all night, I only planned on wearing them for the hour of gym, and then I was going to go back to my regular glasses for the rest of the day to give my eyes a break. I guess that didn't work out so well though. Now I've slept in them twice.

Ignoring the horrified look on Zuuro's face as I stick my finger into my eye, I pop out each contact and put them back into the little case in my bag. "Sorry, probably should have warned you about that first." I tell him; slipping my glasses on.

He blinks a few times, I think trying to reconcile what he just saw. "You just...what were those things?"

"My contacts. I have to wear them if I'm not wearing my glasses, or I can't see properly." I explain. I'm assuming maybe corrective eyewear isn't a need for Gav'yxians?