Korra made it to school without passing out on the bus, but when she tried to dismount the vehicle her head started spinning. Clutching the towel to her hand, she made her way inside. Students milled around the front entrance, making it hard to get anywhere and Korra realized she had no idea where the school's health office was, or if they even had one. She reflected on the fact that Asami would've known, but Korra had no idea where to find her either.
"Excuse me," a small voice inquired from her right. "Are you the newcomer known as Korra?"
Korra glanced right, then down and beheld the tiny girl addressing her. She was short and built delicately. It looked like she could be blown away with a gust of wind. "Who're you?" Korra asked tiredly, hand throbbing unpleasantly.
"I'm Jinora, Asami's friend," she replied. "You don't look so good. Would you like me to direct you to the health office?"
"You know Asami?" Korra asked, more alert. "Where is she?"
"Come on, your hand's bleeding through your towel. I'll tell you all about it when we get you some real bandages."
Jinora led the girl into wide dimly lighted hallway that was covered in scholarship applications for college bound seniors.
"How old are you?" Korra asked woozily as she was pulled through a door labeled: health office.
"I'm fourteen," the girl answered, knocking on a second door.
"You seem pretty small to be in high school," Korra mumbled.
"I get that a lot," the girl replied. The door swung open and an old women motioned us in, mouth thinning as she saw the drippy red towel.
"What happened?" she asked calmly. Korra liked her almost immediately, but wasn't really sure why. Maybe she'd know when she wasn't inhibited by blood loss.
"My alarm clock broke and I cut my hand on it," Korra said. "I couldn't get it to stop bleeding before the bus came, so I just hoped someone here could help me out and went to school."
"Lucky for you, the school has a pretty good health system," the woman said. "I'll be right back with some iodine and real bandages." Korra nodded, then noticed Jinora with her phone angled at her.
"What are you-" she started, but Jinora interrupted.
"I'm snap chatting a picture of you to Asami," she answered, not taking her eyes off the phone.
"What?!" the older girl gasped, blue eyes growing wide. "Why…" She stared with a mixture of horror and anticipation at the small girl.
"Because you said I was too little to be in high school, and because Asami will get distracted from whatever important student council things she's doing and my mission will be completed. You're getting blood on your sweater." She smiled sweetly at Korra, whose mind was racing. She didn't know why she cared so much, but maybe that was a product of the blood loss as well. Damn alarm clock.
"Ooo look, Asami snapped me back," Jinora said teasingly. She opened the message and saw her friends face creased in a mix of worry and annoyance. The line of text read: You found her? What happened?
Korra craned her head around, trying to see, and Jinora turned the phone around for the last few seconds of the snap. "She looks pissed."
The woman walked back into the waiting room, giving Jinora an amused glance as she saw the phone. "If you come over to the sink, we can fix up that hand of yours," she said to Korra. "Jinora, you know the rules about phones in the waiting room. Put it away before someone who cares sees it."
"Sorry Mrs. Southwater," the girl said unapologetically. "I'll get rid of the evidence right after I let Asami know Korra isn't bleeding to death."
"You do that," the old woman said, smiling. Just as she was wrapping a final strip around Korra's hand, the door sprung open and a boy limped in. He had dark tousled hair and bright hazel eyes, though one was bruised and swollen partly shut. Korra watched him as he saw Jinora and tried to conceal the limp in his step, the pain in his movements.
"Kai!" she cried out, and ran to him, stopping short of a hug as she saw him brace himself. "What happened to you?" she said.
"I got into an argument with a guy at work," he said, trying to smile. "You should've seen him when we were through." Jinora frowned at him and whispered too low for Korra to hear. He growled something back and Jinora's eyes filled with tears. She hurried out the door leaving Korra, the nurse, and the dark haired boy watching it shut in silence.
When Jinora reappeared, I was surprised not to see Korra there with her. I almost started to tease her, but one look at her face killed that idea.
"What's wrong?" I asked, moving out from behind my desk and hurrying over to her.
"We were just in the health office and Kai came in…" her voice trailed off and she stared off to the side, not making eye contact.
"Is he ok?" I asked, worried.
"No," she said, shoulders starting to shake. "His dad… his face was all swollen up and he was limping," Jinora cut herself off and looked at me, eyes teary. "He looks really hurt."
"Shit," I murmured. Stepping closer, I wrapped the tiny girl up in a hug and pulled her over behind my desk. Jinora let herself slide into the cushioned chair and I plopped down beside her on the floor. I had known Kai's father believed in old style punishments, but nothing had ever gotten this extreme. Then again, he came to the first week of school with an arm cast, claiming he'd injured himself in a snowboarding accident. Who knew what he'd really been going through?
"Why does he put up with it?" Jinora asked miserably. I looked up at her, completely lost for words.
Finally, I settled on a useless, "I don't know."
We sat together in silence until a curious freshman opened the door and abrasively called out, "Anyone here?"
"Not today," I yelled back before Jinora had to say anything. Standing, I glared at the freckled boy standing at our threshold.
"Well, you're obviously here," he said, a slow smirk crossing his face.
"Come back later and I'll help you out," I replied, trying to mask irritation.
"That sounds promising," he said grinning. Screw politeness. I picked up the stapler on the desk and cocked my arm, ready to launch.
"Asami…" Jinora cautioned behind me. "You really don't need to-"
"Counting to three," I said menacingly. "You really don't want to test me. Three."
"You wouldn't," the boy said.
"Two-one," I finished, then hurled the stapler. He turned and threw himself out the door. The stapler hit the wall and skated across the floor. "There. No more idiots."
"Asami, you're going to get in trouble if you keep throwing stuff at people," Jinora said, sounding worried, but also a little happier.
"So be it," I allowed, returning to my spot next to her. I would throw my desk at someone if it would cheer my friend up.
We were silent until the bell rang.
"See you at lunch?" Jinora asked, eyes dull.
"Yeah, do you want to eat in here?"
She glanced at me, then nodded.
"I'll kick everyone out and say I have an important meeting or something," I offered.
"Thanks Asami. You're the best." She smiled a little.
"I know," I agreed. "Do you care if Mako stops by?"
"No, you really don't have to do all this. Mako can eat lunch with us whenever he wants. And Korra too. I just- I just don't know how to react to all the crap going on with Kai."
"Ok," I said carefully, hoping I wasn't reading her wrong. "I'll let Mako and Korra know to come here for lunch."
Jinora smiled weakly, and we headed out the door to class.