"Here." The nurse sprays the disinfecting liquid into the cut and Paige winces as her hands sting. The nurse doesn't respond to that, but insteads grabs the bandage and wraps it around her hand. "You are too clumsy for your own good, it seems."
"Yeah," Paige manages around a wince. "Seems so."
She hadn't expected Friday to be an endurance day. 'Endurance', or run to keep up with everyone so Johnson doesn't yell at you...again. She hadn't been looking at where she was going...what she fully realized next was that she had sprawled on the pavement, and Johnson was standing above. He hadn't said a word at first, merely watching her before he knelt down and pulled her to her feet. He didn't stick around long after taking her to the medic, but his eyes hadn't left her the entire time. She had stolen a glance back once to see him watching her, gaze cold and calculating as the frown deepend.
"You're good to go." The nurse's words bring her out of her spell, and with a nod, she slides off the table, holding back a wince at her protesting joints. The nurse says nothing to that, and instead turns their back to her as she ambles out.
It seems they finished without her; people go their separate ways in small groups. At least she doesn't seem to be the only one affected, she notes as Zed (if she remembers right) pulls on his shoulder. Mara next to him stretches her arms over her head with almost a content grin, and Paige's right eye follows them for a moment as she passes before she averts her gaze again. That's a mess she'd rather not get into. Again.
"What is your problem?!"
It was Wednesday when she snapped at her roommate, who turns to her with a raised brow. Paige is too seething to care.
"You tried to drown me!"
"No." She sounds sincere about that, but adds the next part with a bite. "You should know not to walk into the faster waters without experience, and to watch your surroundings. Besides, I'm the one that stopped you from drowning."
"How do I know that?" Paige spits. "You've hated me ever since I got here! Why? What did I ever do to you?"
Mara simply blinks at her, saying nothing.
"Then it's Johnson, with his high-and-mighty attitude like he's God himself!"
"That's not true!"
"Really? He's closed off, always angry, rather watch and yell at you when you mess up instead of doing anything! In fact, he only compliments you! God, it would seem like the only one in the world he remotely cares about is you_"
"SHUT UP!" Mara snaps, and her yell echoes off the walls, striking Paige into silence. Mara's breathing hard through her nostrils as she tries to regain control before manages in a shaking voice.
"You don't know….a thing about Beck. About me. About any of this! All you are is selfish, arrogant, and lazy. I can't wait until you're gone."
And with that, she storms out, the door slamming behind her.
Paige starts when she runs into the side of her building on the left side of the street. She stops in her footsteps, forcing herself to take a deep breath as she grips her wrist tight. When she exhales, she looks up to the paper near the door, where the schedule is. It seems Saturday and Sunday….are rest? Until the evening, at least.
So close, already?
She feels relief edging in as she takes the stairs up to her room. She softly closes it behind her, barely glancing to Mara's bed before collapsing on her own. Too tired to do much more, she stares up at the ceiling with the argument, and the fact that Mara hasn't returned to the apartment since then take a circular path in her thoughts, switching between the two. Perhaps she is being selfish, acting like this…..
No. She turns on her side. I'm doing this for something other than myself. Mara's just doesn't understand….none of them do…
She clenches her blanket in her fist tight before sighing as her thoughts taper off.
Please let next week be better.