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Anora wanted to do something different. Nothing drastic, but as it was Good Friday and there were no classes scheduled, she decided to forgo the concrete slab and instead skate the length of Daybreak Drive. Of course she told her mysterious stranger of the detour, even offering that they come watch if they wanted, but she wasn't going to hold her breath on it.

The girl put her skates on before reaching the school's gates- if no one was going to correct her for having them, then why would anyone start now? Anora paused for a moment after crossing the gates. She shifted her feet back and forth, trying to determine how well her wheels were going to work. As long as she didn't run into a rock or something, she should be fine. But something felt a bit off on her skates- something that almost felt like the a wheel was loose. If she had brought her drawstring backpack with her, she might have gone into town to find a hobby store to replace it.

But she didn't, so she couldn't. Instead, Anora made sure everything else seemed right before she started to race down the road.

She had always enjoyed the rush of cool wind hitting her face as she raced. It was one of the reasons why she tried to keep her hair short; if it got too long, then whenever she'd skate backwards, she'd be doing nothing but eating her own hair. Even now she had a headband in to keep some flyaway out of her eyes. Apparently it was time to cut it again, with some flyaways catching in her eyelashes every so often. That simple annoyance was possibly why she didn't see a stone in the middle of the sidewalk, nor did she realize it had caught in her wheel until too late.

Anora almost hit the ground head first. Her body automatically reacted by holding her hands out in front of her, and leading the rest of her into a very clumsy side roll. She managed to avoid smacking her head against the sidewalk, but the rest of her was unceremoniously sprawled on the ground.

In the after moments of her less than flattering fall, a toneless "Ow" came from Anora as she laid on the cold, hard concrete. She laid there for a few minutes more before she bothered to get up. The entirety of Anora's lower body ached. Her shoulder felt the worst- just moving it made her flinch a bit in pain. It probably would have been smart to head to the nurse; she wasn't too far away from campus to do so. If only it didn't smart too much…

Using a hand to gently nurse her shoulder, Anora happened to look up. There, standing at the school gates staring right at her, was another girl. The two only stared at each other; Anora wondered how long the other girl had been standing there and if she had seen her ungraceful fall. But above all, why was the other girl just standing there?

Strelitzia had not seen what caused Anora to fall, but she did see the moment the girl nearly cracked her head against the sidewalk. Now Strelitzia was having a mental battle with herself. Should she get Anora and make sure she was alright, or should she get the nurse? That fall looked pretty rough… At this point, she was pretty much in shock that Anora had actually noticed her, otherwise her fight or flight would have been activated three minutes ago.

Their locked gazes were broken when Anora looked down to look at her skates. Well, if the wheel wasn't loose before, it certainly was now. Anora dully flicked the wheel, watched it swivel for a moment, then sighed as she took the skates off. She should have brought another pair of shoes. It wouldn't have been safe to keep wearing her skates if the wheel was broken, but it wasn't exactly safe to walk around campus without shoes on either. Going without shoes -at least until she got back to her dorm- was the lesser of the two evils unless she wanted to get even more hurt.

Anora looked back up at the school gates, in hope that the girl that had been staring could help her out. But the girl was gone. Anora would have loved to be surprised, but found that she wasn't for some reason. Instead, she picked herself up and started to head back into Daybreak Academy.

. . .

"Well dearie, looks like you've torn your shoulder muscle."

Anora, who had been given a pastel colored peppermint stick once the nurse saw her scratches, only gave a small nod of her head in acknowledgment.

"We might need to give you a little brace." the nurse then went on, her bubbly voice unwavering. "Nothing special, nothing permanent. Just enough to give your shoulder a few weeks to heal back up again."

Anora gave another nod. The nurse didn't seem to notice her, flitting around the room like a fairy godmother instead of a medical professional. A part of Anora secretly wondered if the small, rather round bodied, old lady had been a fairy godmother in a past life. She definitely had the personality to match it.

"You may have to wear the brace during the formal though, dearie." the nurse reminded Anora. "But you're such a natural cutie that it shouldn't really matter, hehe!"

Without meaning to, Anora rolled her eyes. How nice she looked for the formal was the least of her problems. She was honestly trying to figure out how she was going to replace her skate's loose wheel. She was fairly certain she didn't have to tools needed to replace it, but that was hoping that Cable Town's hobby store (if there was one) had the stuff she needed. There was also the school store that she could check out.

"Dearie, are you even listening to me?"

Anora blinked as she looked up at the nurse. Apparently, the nurse had gotten out the shoulder brace and was waiting for Anora to hold her arm out. Embarrassed, Anora gave a small blush as she held her arm out. The nurse offered a smile as she fit the brace onto Anora, then made some adjustments.

"Now," the nurse then instructed, "You can adjust and remove the brace on your own, if you wish. But know that I'll happily help you if you need it. Just remember; don't put too much strain on your shoulder or it'll be far more trouble than its worth!"

A small smile was drawn on Anora's lips as she nodded at the nurse in agreement. With that, she was let go and decided to head on back to her dorm.

. . .

Strelitzia had been waiting for Anora to return back to the girls' dorms. She once more tried to pretend she was reading (it was the story of the steadfast tin soldier) and that she wasn't anxiously looking at the door every so often. Once Strelitzia saw the shoulder brace, a part of her froze and immediately blamed herself for Anora's shortcomings.

What could she have done, really? Arrive a little earlier so she could be a buffer between Anora and the ground? How awful would it have been if Anora had landed on top of Strelitzia while the latter had been trying to be chivalrous? As she thought about it, a faint pink blush appeared on Strelitzia's face. The thought of Anora laying on top of her sounded just so…

Strelitzia was violently ripped out of her reverie when her phone started to buzz. It was Lauriam, requesting that she join him for a walk. Apparently the willows were in full bloom down Route 7-18, and Lauriam wanted to see them in person. If he was asking her, it meant that Elrena had given him a big fat 'no' as an answer. Strelitzia bit her lip in thought. Anora had returned to the dorms, so that meant Strelitzia could go back to her room too. But a walk could help clear her head a bit. Strelitzia gave a small smile as she sent a response to her brother. It wouldn't hurt to do something different every once and awhile.