Chapter 4: Drop it like it's Hot
Zephyr would be the first person to tell you that she did not want to go to school the next morning, and the last to tell you why. Her right cheekbone was bruised, as was her forehead. It hurt to laugh or breath deeply. But beyond the physical pain was the fear. She had at first literally spooked at her own shadow, and now was extremely wary of anything that moved.
It was going to be a rough day.
As she arrived on campus Zephyr, out of pure habit, began scanning the somewhat crowded courtyard for her friends. She brightened up when she saw them, clustered around their favorite bench. Jeremie, as usual, was sitting on the bench, laptop in place and being used, Aelita looking on to the screen with him. Ulrich was seated on the ground cross-legged and Yumi was still standing, leaning on the bench. Odd was seated on the back of the bench, feet on the seat of the bench next to where Jeremie was stationed.
"Hi, guys," She said, trying not to let her voice sound downtrodden. They looked up and smiled, giving their greetings, but Odd did a double take and studied her face closely as she took a seat next to him. She tried her best to act normal and happy, but it's very hard to accomplish something when your heart's just not in it. Zephyr looked at Odd and smiled. "Yes?"
"What the heck happened to you? Did you get run over by a truck on your way over here or something?" Odd gingerly touched her cheek bruise and she drew back, amazingly keeping her balance.
"No…I…I ran into a door! Yeah, ran into a door!" She had scrambled for an excuse, and now she was kicking herself as even Jeremie raised an eyebrow and looked at her with his skeptical hazel eyes.
"Ran into…a door." He repeated slowly. "How did you manage that, exactly?"
"Well…uh…you see…well…" Zephyr racked her brain for an excuse, and finding none, she, like any cornered animal, looked for a distraction, even though it was rather pitiful. "Aelita, did you get a haircut?" The pink haired girl's eyebrows scrunched up over her cloudy green eyes as she shook her head slightly at her friend.
"Last week I got a haircut. You can't even notice it now." She informed, studying Zephyr's pale eyes once more. But this time they were devoid of any tell-tale emotion, any feeling at all. Odd caught a flicker of something her thought to be pain or fear or panic, but the whole group could've seen this if the red head had no eyes at all.
"Just drop it," Zephyr grumbled, lowering her eyes like she wanted the subject to be lowered.
"Like it's hot?" Ulrich joked meekly from the ground. The whole group collectively stared at him in silence, Jeremie once again raising his blonde eyebrow. Zephyr mentally thanked Ulrich, who was now grinning like a fool.
"Ulrich…" Yumi put a hand on his green sleeved shoulder, "Just…no…never again."
"Never ever again," emphasized Jeremie, going back to his laptop. Odd refocused his attention on Zephyr, refusing to let the subject be forgotten.
"So what really happ-" He began, interrupted by the bell. His friend all too eagerly jumped off the bench, throwing over her shoulder,
"I said drop it." She sounded rather intent on them leaving her alone about it, but Odd still was curious, as he often was. And a person will remain curious until they are educated. It's human nature to want to learn because knowledge is power. As she walked briskly, nonchalantly ahead to class, Odd felt a pang of sorrow when he caught a glimpse of her in obvious pain. Then it finally dawned on the twelve-year-old.
His friend needed help.
He didn't exactly know what kind of help she needed, but he did know that no matter what pain someone suffered from, their wounds, physical or mental, could not be truly healed without help. Help and time. What he decided to give her right now was time.
What Odd didn't know was that sometimes, time can, instead of healing wounds, keep re-opening them over and over and over, infecting them.
Sometimes instead of healing, time makes pain worse.