Without Me

Infirmary

The class went by smoothly. Almost too smoothly. Jonathan could feel the pages of his book wrinkled slightly in his grip as he tried to keep Viktor's line of sight away from himself. Don't get involved. Stay away. Trouble.

He knew it was for the best but he also did wonder what did the other do to get sent to this school. The same went for everyone. What did they do that brought them here? Were they all really rebellious? Because it sure didn't seem that way to Jonathan.

He was actually quite surprised that Viktor hadn't even done anything unnecessary in class. He was actually studying.

When the bell rang, Jonathan sighed and quickly kept his books. He got up, ready to go but regretted it when his leg got caught in his table and caused him to stagger forward. A strong grip on his arm stopped his fall and he looked up in surprise. Viktor let go of his arm and raised a brow.

"Oh. It's the freshie," he said with a slight menacing grin. If Jonathan was any more aggressive, he might have punched Viktor by now but he kept calm since the other did save him from a small incident and a whole lot of embarrassment.

"Hey," Jonathan replied awkwardly. He straightened himself as Viktor picked up his own bag. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Just cause you don't want to join my gang, doesn't mean you gotta go tripping balls." Jonathan wasn't too sure if he understood that but kept his lips pursed and nodded. Maybe Viktor wasn't so bad after all. Maybe. "It's probably for the best not to be in a gang."

It was a surprise for Jonathan to hear Viktor say that but he didn't have time to reply as the other had already walked away. He let out a sigh, wondering what that was all about. He rubbed his head but shook it after, brushing it off as everyone had their own fair share of thoughts. He quickly headed off for his next class.

He kept note of which classes he had with Chuck, Mark and now, Viktor. So far he hadn't even seen Shou to his surprise. He guessed maybe they just had really different timetables.

When lunch arrived, he met Chuck at the same table. He realised by now that nobody really switched places. Although you wouldn't find Mark once in a while at his table and someone else would occupy it. Jonathan started digging into his lunch while Chuck started talking about class incidents and such. He didn't mind listening but he suddenly recalled something that had been bugging him for a while.

"Yesterday when we were talking. You were telling me about people I needed to avoid. There was one more you didn't get to mention," Jonathan interjected when he found the timing. It made Chuck stop and gained a serious look.

"Okay. So the first is Viktor, second is Mark and the third. I don't know his name but he's of a different race or something. Ethnicity?  I've only heard rumors about him that he's something of a bad egg to be around. Total weirdo too."

"That's it? You're basing that guy off with rumors?" Jonathan was rather baffled by the reasoning. "A weirdo doesn't mean we need to stay away. Unless he's a psychopath. That's more of a reason to avoid someone."

Chuck sighed and shrugged.

"I've heard that people only got hurt getting involved with him. It's not good to get hurt," Chuck replied in a sullen voice. Jonathan sighed and nodded. He guessed Chuck just really wanted to stay out of trouble.

"Yeah but how am I supposed to know who he is if you don't even have a name?"

"I'll point him out to you when I see him. He's barely at the cafeteria and I hear he skips classes a lot."

"There sure are lots of rumors regarding this guy, isn't there?"

Chuck nodded with slight wide eyes. He wondered what that expression mean but didn't feel like asking either, just in case Chuck got offended.

"Alright. Well. Viktor, Mark and some other guy. Sounds easy enough...?" Except that you have an Asian guy for a roommate. Jonathan let out a silenced gasp and swallowed it down as a gulp. Shou wouldn't be too much trouble, right? He didn't seem like it. He rubbed his temples. Again.

Maybe he should just visit the infirmary for some painkillers.

"Do you know where the infirmary is, Chuck?" Jonathan asked the boy who was still eating. Chuck nodded with a fully stuffed mouth and pointed in a direction. He mumbled something inaudible. "Slow, slow. Eat up first."

Chuck choked a little but nodded and managed to swallow his food. He let out a relieved sigh and nodded. "Yeah. It's down the hallway on the right. It shouldn't be too hard to miss."

"Thanks. I'm going to head there for a bit. Eat slowly, man. Don't choke and die on me now," Jonathan remarked, hoping what he said doesn't come off as a bad omen and more of a joke. Chuck didn't seem to take it seriously and just went back to eating. He got his bag and headed down the hallway, away from the cafeteria. He wondered why his head felt like it was splitting apart but guessed it was just stress. That's right. New school, new environment. Not all too good for him.

He definitely found it easily since there was a huge signboard above the door that wrote INFIRMARY. He gave it a light knock before opening the door.

It looked decent. Somewhat. He noticed someone sitting in a chair with some sort of lab coat on. His only guess was that it was the school doctor.

"Um... Excuse me?" He called out as politely as he could. The person stopped whatever they were doing and looked behind, eyes locking onto Jonathan before the chair was turned to face him.

"Hello. May I help you?" The man looking about 40 or so, asked in a slightly deep accented tone. Pretty rough looks but Jonathan won't exactly say he was handsome, not that he knew how handsome was. Jonathan nodded slightly, trying not to move too much.

"Just wanted to know if you have any painkillers? I've been having this headache all day and it's really painful now," he explained his situation in which the other gave him a good look before nodding. He hoped he didn't look too normal to the point he sounded unbelievable.

"I've got a couple strong ones here but you don't look too bad so the regular one should be fine for now," the man said and handed him a pill as well as cup of water. He didn't think he would have to take it on the spot but it was better than nothing.

"Thank you so much," he replied as he took the two items and downed the pill.

"Say, you look new here. Just came in recently?"

"Mmm? Yeah. I'm Jonathan," he introduced himself and gave a thin smile to the older man who nodded.

"Beau. Or you can just call me Mister B," the man replied with a slightly toothy grin as he took the cup from Jonathan and disposed of it. "Hopefully I won't see you too much and even if I do, hopefully it's not on the infirmary bed."

Jonathan just let out a weak laugh at the man's humor. He would prefer that too. The bell rang and he gave Beau a wave before exiting the infirmary, hoping that was the last time he would be in there too.