Dark as the Night

70

"So, how were your first couple days of school?" Leila excitedly demanded the moment Odessa walked in the med center's office that evening. Friday nights, for whatever reason, always seemed to be a little slower.

Odessa slid her bag under the desk and reached for her healer robe from the back of the office door, pulling it on. She turned to Leila with an arched brow. "That's what you want to start with? I want to know how your first week of school went! It's hard to believe you're taking night classes now."

"Yeah, well, there's still a lot of training I need to handle all the equipment we need here at camp," the other woman replied. "I chose to get my nurse practitioner license and med tech certifications because it was faster than all the years it would take to become a doctor, but there is still so much training! Stupid technology is always changing. I'm so glad that you're here to help me out so I can take these courses in Helena."

Odessa smiled as her 28-year-old mentor pouted like a teenager. "So, how was it?"

Leila narrowed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh no no no no no no no, young lady. I asked first."

Now it was Odessa's turn to pout. "But yours is way more interesting."

"Ugh. No, it's not. High School drama is by far more fun. I want deets."

Odessa sighed with defeat and slumped in her chair. "Well, it's only been two days so there isn't much to say. We have Historical Literature, Human biology, Language & Culture, Global politics, Physics, Art, Calculus, and Advisory." She ticked the classes off her fingers as she listed them. "The classes seem easy enough, although Calculus is a pain, but James said he'd tutor me again."

Leila interrupted her. "You'd never know he's so brainy if you hadn't known him as a nerdy little kid," she said with a fond, wistful smile.

Odessa giggled just as the front door to the med center opened and closed. They both sat up straight as they waited for the newcomer to appear. Tai rounded the corner into the office, but he stopped short when he saw them together.

"Leila! You're back from Helena already? How was class?"

This time, Leila was the one to slump in her seat. "Boring! The only thing worth mentioning is that the instructor has this really long ear hair that sort of flaps when he moves around. It's like he has bat wings on his head. But enough about hirsute senior citizens. Odessa was telling me about her first two days of school."

It was Odessa's turn to cross her arms over her chest and look at Leila with a deadpan expression. "I finished telling you. Classes are fine, Calculus sucks, etcetera, etcetera. I think you need to elaborate on the bat ears."

"No, not 'etetera, etcetera,'" Leila scolded, sitting upright. "And bat ears can wait. What do you think of your classmates? Did you make any new friends?" She paused briefly then continued in a cajoling tone, "do you like any of the boys?" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Leila then glanced briefly at Tai, noticing a scowl cross his face a second before he lowered his eyes to the floor and a neutral mask dropped into place. He missed as Odessa's eyes shot his way before looking back at Leila, who caught it all with a knowing smirk.

"I haven't really gotten close to any of my classmates yet, but it has only been two days" Odessa replied. "The boys are just boys," she rolled her eyes. "And the girls are... talky. They like to gossip and they're always asking me personal questions, and if I know so-and-so or if I've heard anything juicy working here. To be honest, I don't understand why they care so much, and it's exhausting trying to keep up with them. They're nice enough, but I'm just not used to being in such large groups, or being so social."