Trapped (egobang trans)

Chapter 7 - Nurse's Office

Danny only made it a short ways down the hallway before he heard hurried footsteps behind him. He whipped around, face red in frustration and the boy skidded to a halt.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? Leave me alone," he hissed with a glare.

The boy's chocolate brown eyes looked at Danny warily. He looked about to say something, but then his eyes darted down and widened in surprise.

"Y-Your hand! Does i-it hurt?" he asked, completely ignoring Danny's words.

Danny looked down. The hand he'd punched the cubicle with was oddly limp, and now that he thought about it there was a throbbing pain in his wrist where the joint was. He tried to move it, but squeezed his eyes shut as a hot electric pain shot up his arm. The boy must've seen his reaction and ran forward, gently lifting his arm to look.

"Hey! Get off me!" Danny cried, but in trying to pull away only caused more pain.

"Oh, s-sorry, did I hurt you?" the boy panicked, looking up at Danny with scared eyes.

Danny flinched at that look. Something about the way he looked at him made him ashamed. Was he really that scary? He gave the boy a weak smile as he let himself relax so he could look at his hand.

"No, it's fine. Sorry," he said in a small voice and actually saw the boy blink in confusion at his sudden change of tone.

"Uh, o-okay. Let's go find the nurse... I g-guess."

Letting go of Danny's arm the boy hurried ahead a little, hiding awkwardly behind his hair. Danny smirked; he sure did that a lot.

Jogging to catch up Danny came up beside him. He looked down, trying to see his face. Noticing his presence the boy turned away more, pulling at his sleeve nervously. Danny felt his heart drop.

"Are you scared of me?" he asked.

The boy stopped, looking up at Danny with an incredulous expression. He blushed, not meeting Danny's eye.

"N-No, it's not you. It's me... Y-You see, I'm not the b-best at talking to people," he said shyly.

"Heh, me neither," Danny admitted with a smile, "Uh, what's your name by the way?"

"Um, A-Arin. It's weird, I know..."

"Not at all dude," Danny assured before another stab of pain shot up his arm, "Hey, how's about we go find that nurse, and talk later?"

"Oh, y-yeah," Arin agreed, starting to walk again.

It took a bit of looking, but eventually they found the nurse's office. After some nervous feet shuffling Arin knocked on the door. A few seconds passed and it opened. The nurse ushered them inside with a warm smile, until she noticed Danny's hand and it dropped.

"Oh, sit down over here, dear," she said, gesturing to a chair.

Danny clenched his jaw to not snap at her as he sat down. Arin stood awkwardly, trying not to get in the way as the nurse hurried about getting things to help Danny's hand.

She came over and picked up his arm, moving it around as she prodded the different joints to see where the damage was. Danny hissed in pain at one point and the nurse stopped, reaching over for a bandage. She started to wrap it around his hand.

"How did this happen?" she asked casually.

"I, uh, I was in a fight," Danny said, deciding not to admit that he'd been punching a toilet cubicle.

"Oh, I patched up that other young man's nose a few minutes ago. You definitely suffered the most, it seems," the nurse mused, adding more seriously, "Though you shouldn't be getting into fights in the first place."

Danny nodded silently, used to this lecturing. He watched in surprise as the nurse revealed an arm sling and started to fit it on him. He didn't expect a school nurse to have things like that, but he was impressed to say the least.

"There doesn't seem to be any broken bones, but I would keep this on to prevent more damage and keep it still. Get your parents to take you to the hospital to get it properly checked out, though," she explained as she finished.

"Okay, thanks," Danny said, standing up.

He and Arin left the office and Danny thought that Arin was about to say something when someone came round the corner.

"Dani, hey!"

Danny sighed as he turned his head. Brian was running towards them down the hallway. Danny raised an eyebrow when he saw that Brian was carrying his bag. He'd left it on his desk, so he must have picked it up for him. The gesture made Danny smile a little.

"Hey, I heard you got in a fight. This the guy?" Brian said, looking over at Arin with an ice cold stare.

Danny watched as Arin started to squirm, cheeks flushing red as words failed him. Brian started to laugh evilly.

"Whoa, I was joking! I saw Jon just a second ago with a bloody tissue held to his nose," he said with a grin.

Danny frowned. He took a glance down at Arin, who looked about ready to die right there from embarrassment and fright.

"Not cool, Brian," he said sternly.

"Oh, sorry man. It was meant to be a joke, I swear," Brian apologized genuinely, eyeing Arin warily.

"N-No, it's okay," Arin replied with a shy smile.

"Okay... Well, anyway, you still wanna go for lunch? We've still got time." Brian diverted his attention to Danny again.

"Uh, sure," Danny agreed, then glancing back at Arin, "You wanna come with, Arin?"

Arin's eyes travelled between Danny and Brian. He looked unsure, and to Danny's surprise he took a timid step back, shaking his head.

"No t-thanks, you go ahead," he refused, and before Danny could try to convince him otherwise he turned away, hurrying down the hallway with his head bowed.

Danny looked after him for a moment, a twinge of sadness in his heart at watching the shy boy leave. He felt slightly responsible for making him feel so awkward. Not to mention Arin had been so nice to him, helping him with his hand, and he'd done nothing in return.

As he and Brian walked the opposite direction Danny had the thought that he really needed to work on his social skills.

A/N: nervous teen Arin is basically me whoops