Don't Walk Away

Part One

It had been a long, long day for the Soul Squad. They had only just dismissed their meeting and all but Chidi Anagonye and Eleanor Shellstrop had left. The blonde "Arizona Trashbag" (as she liked to call herself) was checking her Instagram feed as she struggled to keep a tight grip on her unzipped purse.

Chidi, her quote-on-quote "Good person teacher" was watching her with slight interest. His eyes slid down to her purse, which was slowly slipping out from under her arm, and he found himself debating whether he should help or not.

And deciding things were not his forte. As the bag sank lower to the ground, he made his move. He fast-walked over to Eleanor's side and caught the purse just in time. The bad part, however, was the objects falling out of it. Her wallet, extra cash, and all other personal items fell to his side. But when a large hardback book hit him in the face, he was surprised. His lenses cracked at the impact and he heard a loud snap of his nose. This caught Eleanor's attention instantly, and she gasped down at her teacher in horror when she saw his bruised and bloody nose.

"What the hell?" The blonde asked, helping him up and completely ignoring her possessions that were sprawled all over the ground. She wiped his nose away with her finger and handed him a tissue, telling him to pinch his nose (lightly, since it was obviously broken) and lift his head upward. He did so, watching the woman out of the corner of his eye as she called an ambulance. Eleanor let out a heavy sigh of relief, nodding in understanding before hanging up the phone. She looked up at her teacher and rolled her eyes, "You idiot." The blonde scolded, "You're a fucking idiot."

He lowered his head to look the blonde in the eye, but she just glared at him and ordered Chidi to keep his head upward.

It was impressive how one person could be both frightening and concerned at the same time.

She didn't ask what had happened and gathered up her things instead. Then, much to his surprise, she grabbed his hand and walked him outside. His neck was beginning to hurt for holding it up so long, and he wondered if maybe he should ask Eleanor whether or not he could let go and give his neck a rest. Eyes flickering down to her, he saw a look of certain determination on her face. Her blue eyes flickered up to meet his, and Chidi thought he saw her cheeks gain a bit of redness.

Her phone rang, and she clicked answer without letting go of his hand. Lowering his head for a bit, he smiled when he saw her roll her eyes, making him laugh. He knew exactly who she was talking to.

"Hey, Skyscraper." The girl greeted, "What's up?" The blonde nodded in all the right places, aware that Tahani Al-Jamil (Eleanor's best friend) could not see her. Chidi admired how close the two girls had gotten over the years. The girl beside him had gotten so much better at listening to people, no matter how much she hated what the subject was.

"Me? Well, I'm with Professor Stomachache over here. I'm pretty sure he busted his nose, so I had to call an ambulance. No big."

The girl bit her lip as she listened to Tahani's worried rambles, doing her best to reassure her friend that everything was fine. Chidi was going to be alright... "Because who cares if his nose is a dangerous shade of purple?" The girl shrugged, "N-No, Tahan- you don't need to come over here!" She shouted, getting the attention of everyone around her, "...Oh no! The ambulance is here, w-what's that? Shit, I am getting such bad reception in here. Y-Yeah, talk to you later. Bye, babe!" The blonde hung up her phone and rolled her eyes.

He hadn't heard Eleanor use the bad reception excuse in months. She dragged him along a little quicker and helped him into the ambulance.

Putting one foot forward, she started to climb into the ambulance but one of the nurses (a man) held a hand up to stop her, "I'm sorry Ma'am, but only family members can ride with him."