No, literally. a ball came flying at an impressive sixty miles an hour and slammed into the side of her head. It, she noticed as color bloomed before her eyes, hurt like the male offspring of a female dog. She stumbled. Emo kid - Fang - turned and she saw something that might have even been concern flash across his face.
"Uh, Max?" Iggy had turned toward her something between confusion and concern flashing across his face as well. She mumbled an intelligible quip as she fought to stay on her feet. Fang had stepped closer and was saying something but she could only focus on one person at a time. And boy, wasn't it a lot harder than it usually was?
The world was tilting a little bit, and it had started rocking as well. Did they get earthquakes in Arizona? Was that what this was? Why weren't people freaking out. Although, now that she thought about it she realized there were several worried voices. She may have heard a scream a second ago.
"Max," Iggy stressed and she turned to him, forgetting he had been talking.
"Wud you say?" She was speaking funny and it was funny. Not the funny kind of funny, though. That bad kid of funny that meant something funny was going on. The bad funny.
"Are you okay?" This was Fang and she turned to him this time, getting ready to berate him for interrupting a conversation between two individuals. Talk about rude. But she turned her head to fast and the world positively spun. Next thing she as on the ground wondering how she got there. Looking up it seemed as though Fang and Iggy were positively giant.
She told them so.
"Fang what happened to Max?" Iggy questioned with a peculiar note of panic coloring his voice. How sweet of him, she thought. And what a good question.
"She got hit." Oh, right. That was why her head was pounding. It was also the likely reason she had taken notice that Fang, under those ridiculous layers of blfack – black –, was kind of cute. Maybe that's why he was angry with her. He thought she hadn't noticed.
"I don't care if you don't like me." Max informed Fang imperiously. By the look she received, it hadn't come off that way.
"You should probably take her to the nurse." Iggy ventured when neither of them seemed to be doing as he thought they should. Fang accented and leaned over to hoist Max up. She stumbled to her feet with exclamations of being perfectly capable of picking her own self up, thank you very much. She was fine. She didn't need a nurse. Max told them so.
Somehow she ended up there anyway.
Max sat on the white sheets and she felt sick. Not the 'oh, I just got a concussion' kind of sick but more the 'why the hell am I here? I hate hospitals and dinky school clinics' sort. With perhaps a smidge of the 'I think I'm going to puke' thrown in for good measure. She blinked blearily down at her hand and saw someone else's attached to it.
Following the hand to the arm to the person she saw it was none other than Fang. He wore a rather grim expression.
"Let go of me," she insisted. He actually rose an eyebrow at this.
"You're the one that won't let go, Max." She squinted back down at their conjoined hands and saw that he was right.
"Why am I holding your hand?"
"I'd like to know that myself."
Before Max could figure that particular detail out the nurse came sweeping into the office. "Oh, dear!" The lady had her hair piled on her head with a fancy looking braid and looked positively young for being so old. Maybe it was her bubbly personality, maybe it was the caked on mascara. Then again, Max could scarcely tell a thirty year old from a fifty year old. What did she know?
"'m fine, " Max slurred and then decided she really would have to have a talk with her tongue on proper working condition. This was unacceptable.
"No, my dear," The lady really liked that particular endearment didn't she? "You just sit tight, you hear?" Her hearing was quite good actually. Max had to remind herself rather sternly that mentioning special birdkid skills was a no-go.
The nurse walked into the back room and it sounded as though she were rummaging through quite a bit of junk. Max sighed and flopped back onto the cot she had been forced onto, quickly remembering why it was a poor choice to do so.
"I did notice, you know," she commented after her head stopped beating out a sharp and unforgiving rhythm. She didn't give her comment much thought, unlike the boy who looked as though he had seriously been considering just slipping out the door while the nurse was occupied. He turned his attention from the half open door, though, with a peculiar expression on his face.
"Noticed what, exactly?" She chortled, his tone conveyed that he very well knew what she was talking about. As if she was going to admit it.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she reiterated aloud in a very ungraceful manner. His expression darkened once more into a glower. He said nothing for a moment and stared at her. He was sizing her up, she realized sourly. Rude.
"Rude." Before he could make further reply the nurse brushed aside the door and was once more in the room, this time with a compact plastic jar of something Max was sure she wanted nothing to do with.
"You two are behaving aren't you?" Fang, realizing his opportunity to flee was gone, glared at Max as though it had been her intention to keep him occupied long enough for the lady to return. The nurse tutted as she stepped over to Max and pushed her hair to the side, pressing tenderly against the growing lump on the side of her head. Max kicked her in the shin.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"No worries, my dear," she reassured, "I didn't mean to startle you- but you've done quite a number on yourself. Why, I can scarcely figure out how you made it down here conscious. It looks like the ball hit you square on the temple.
"Poor Jimmy Johnson came through last year when the same happened to him – I keep telling Coach Harvey and Beady they need to move their classes elsewhere but they absolutely won't listen – he was clean out for two hours."
"Mom always said I was hard headed," Max mused.
"Yes, I suppose she's quite right." The nurse mused along with her and pulled back Max's hair again. "Even still, this is going to be a sore spot for quite a while. I imagine you'll have a nasty headache for some time, as well." She turned and began rummaging through a nearby drawer.
"So, does that mean I'm off the hook?" The brunette inquired as she hopped off the table – again remembering harsh movements were currently doing nothing for her. She would stop doing it sooner or later. The pain was starting to get to her. Fang evidently was worried enough (oh, had she started swaying again?) that he grabbed her by the shoulder and moved her into a nearby chair.
"Oh, dear, no," the nurse laughed as she pulled away from the drawer with a couple pills. She drew up beside the sink and snatched a cup of water along with it, handing both of them to Max. The unwilling patient looked at the offered pills with skepticism. "Hurry now, these will ease your head. You've been positively swooning over this poor boy. Hopefully these will help you a bit."
"How are these pills supposed to get rid of the dizziness?" Max questioned, then cursed internally when she realized she'd admitted there was a problem. It was a decent indicator in and of itself that she was admitting her troubles, even if by accident.
"Not quite, sweetie," the lady dumped this pills into Max's hands before picking up a glass off a nearby counter, "it'll take away some of the pain so you can rest. You're in no shape to be going off to gym or any of your other classes like this." Max started to protest but realized this was exactly what she wanted. No class? No annoying teachers? No cute and aggravating Fang? And a nap to boot?
Without further protest Max tossed back the pills and drank the water obediently. Seeing this the nurse nodded her satisfaction and grabbed the empty paper cup from her.
"You'll have to stay awake for another thirty minutes, dear. Alright?" When Max gave her a look between cross and a pout she shook her head fondly and explained, "it's never good to sleep so soon after such a serious head injury. We need to make sure you're alright and sleep doesn't do you any further damage."
"We?" Max rose a skeptical brow. Was this lady speaking to herself ambiguously? Didn't only queens do that?
"Oh, yes, dear." The nurse – Max really needed to figure out this lady's name, why wasn't she wearing a nametag or something? Weren't teachers and school officials supposed to have their names on the door or their desk or something? – smiled as though Max had said something silly. She most certainly did not partake in such foolish pastimes. "I wouldn't make you sit here all by your lonesome with me. I'm sure Fang, that's what the students call you, correct?" Max, and by the look of him, Fang, were surprised that she seemed to have heard this particular piece of news. Taking their surprised expressions as confirmation the nurse nodded and continued, "I'm sure he would be happy to stay and keep you some company."
"Shouldn't I be getting back to class?" Fang asked the lady, his tone approaching pleading. Max scoffed her insult. As if she had any wish for him to be here.
"No need, no need," the nurse waved the idea off as though it, too, were particularly silly. Fang appeared to like the notion of being called silly as little as she. Or perhaps it was the notion of remaining in the room with her which he found so unappealing. Neither suited her either, quite frankly. Before either of them could make further comments to naysay the lady, the nurse cut them off with a stern look of reproach.
"Behave, the both of you. You'll do as I say and that's final. Are we clear?" They both, rather caught off guard by her stern tone, nodded in silent accent. Immediately the nurse's personality brightened, "wonderful. Marvelous. Max, be a dear and lay back on the bed a moment. I need to apply this antibacterial ointment, make sure no nasties getting into your noggin." Max, while not entirely impressed with her terminology, did as she said. After a moment of slimy discomfort all way finished and if she tried hard enough she could pretend a sticky substance was not smeared across the left side of her head.
"How long does he have to stay here?" Max questioned with perhaps a touch more melancholy that was necessary. It wasn't as though she were locked in a room with her arch nemesis – she just didn't really like the guy. He was completely rude.
"Give it another twenty minutes or so and I'll let you lie down. Fang, you'll be able to return to your next class then, alright?" She smiled somewhat cheekily, "I'm sure you'll be happy to know you won't miss any of your academics. I doubt you'll mind too terribly missing the rest of your gym period."
"Oh, is that where we were going?" Max questioned, only having just connected the dots. Her eyes squinted at a sudden realization and she glowered at the black clad boy. "Oi, rude. How about a little heads up next time you decide to walk us straight into a warzone, huh? You had a blind kid walking with you, for Pete's sake!" Fang turned to her and rose a brow.
"As I recall, it wasn't Iggy who ended up being hit in the head by a ball." His snarky comment did little to improve her mood, but the nurse seemed to find their antics positively delightful.
"I'll leave to two of you to your chattering; unfortunately, the start of a new term leaves me with a bit of filing to do." Max watched sadly as the only person that kept her from being alone in the same room with Fang walked into her office and shut the door until only a sliver of light escaped the side. She was on her own. Turning cagily back toward the boy in question she stared at him warily.