Bonded by the Blues | A Sander Sides Book

Chapter 34 - Saturday Blues: Part 2

Hi again, loverlee readers!

If you only read Chapter 33 when I first published it on 25th January 2019, please re-read the newer version published on 1st February 2019.

Shout out to WhoIsThisAgain for tips on how to let a scene breathe instead of rushing past, and to Keynbean for finally convincing me that word counts are more limiting than good!

---Virgil---

The fear of being caught gave our legs wings, and soon Hall B was out of sight. We rounded a corner, and leant against the wall panting.

"Oh my gods!" gasped Hiemal. "That was exciting!"

"Exciting? More like me saving your scrawny ass!"

"But we escaped! We should do that again!"

"Are you STARK RAVING MAD? Do you WANT to get into trouble? You were really stupid to give them snooty airs. Next time just shut up and get out of there."

But I knew I had lost him as he was grinning away like an idiot. He suddenly pointed at my face. "Your cheek!"

Shoot. I had cut it open. But I felt no pain, odd. I put a hand up, but felt only smooth skin.

"It's healed!" he gasped. "How did you do that? Also, forgive me for not thanking you for protecting me back there. It was really brave of you and you've mastered the art of escape."

Déjà vu. I had seen this happen before. I knew how my cut had healed: Roman's magic card was with me. My ankle had stopped throbbing, returning to the dull ache I had this morning. Does that mean the wounds I get while I have the card on me heals, but older ones don't? I squeezed my eyes shut. This was so confusing. Why did I get a get-out-of-jail-free card, when Hiemal could have just as easily got hurt. Worse, this was Roman's and if he gets hurt while I selfishly hold on to it I don't know if I would be able to explain my guilt away and lock it in a deep recess of my subconscious. And the little voice in my head reminded me that the purple flower was still in my pocket, the one I refused to take responsibility for. I rubbed my cheek again, and there was no trace of my shame. But why had a scar remained on Roman's palm, but not on my cheek? That didn't make sense. Déjà vu. I had heard these words before. When I look at Hiemal's grovelling subservience, I came to the uncomfortable realisation that I must have appeared the same with Roman... was I this pathetic and weak in Roman's eyes? Did I need him to protect me? But... I don't. I handled myself fine today, and heck, I got the ninny out safe too. it was strange to have the roles reversed, but I can't say that I liked the thrill I got out of that. Maybe having Roman around won't be as bad if I knew I had an equal footing too... but I did need Roman in more ways than swinging on ropes or crawling out of elevator shafts. I remembered what I had thought of in the shower yesterday.

I was saved from responding to Hiemal, as a familiar face walked past.

"Oh hello!" she said. "How are ya'll doing, boys?" It was the Coordinator, the scatter-brained woman hopelessly in over her head at Orientation.

Hiemal immediately launched into a long rant about what had happened. I rolled my eyes and kept out of it, honestly too fed up with him to care anymore.

"I will make a full report of that at once! We can't have this disgusting behaviour on campus! Do ya'll know their names? What are your names? Ya'll are in Hall B, right?"

"The person that attacked us was O'Reily"

I snickered. Some poor guy called O'Reily was gonna get a nasty surprise. "Don't put my name," I said. "They only had beef with Hiemal, and seriously I don't want to complain."