Damaged Mate

7

It was… a tense half-hour, to say the least.

Laura managed to sit with me for the first five minutes or so, the pair of us staring at the nurse’s door as a number of awful sounds came from within. Trevor had been the only person allowed in the room, leaving the rest of the team to mill about before eventually leaving for the gym. Or home, I guess; I wouldn’t blame them for thinking practice was over. I didn’t see Noah anywhere, but it was entirely possible he was cleaning up the scene of the crime.

Eventually, it was too much for Laura. “H-hey, Aria? The choir’s still—I-I mean, we sort of left without, um…”

I gave her a reassuring nod. “I’ll be fine here, don’t worry. Go let everyone else know what’s up.”

With a thankful nod, Laura stood and scurried down the hallway, visibly relieved not to be near such a hotbed of tension. As soon as she vanished, Vanessa came bounding around the corner, looking just as feral as the guys had earlier.

“What the hell did you do?” she snarled.

Great. Her first words to me and they were a threat. “N-nothing!”

“Bullshit,” Vanessa spat. “Clyde doesn’t attack without justification. That’s not our—” She paused, as if catching herself. “That’s not who he is.”

I couldn’t stop myself from snorting. “Really? Are you serious right now? What about earlier today?”

Vanessa scoffed, arms crossing against her chest. “You got in our way. That wasn’t our fault.”

“Now who’s spouting bullshit?” I snapped back. God, the last thing I needed was another fight on my hands. Vanessa seemed more than willing to give it, eyes glinting with the same strange, eerie light I’d seen in Clyde’s. Thank God the infirmary door swung open at that moment, the sight of Nurse Aurora immediately dispelling whatever aggression Vanessa had toward me.

“You two are welcome to come in, if you would like,” the nurse said sweetly. “I believe Aiden and Clyde have been sufficiently calmed.”

Calmed? I would’ve thought the concern would be their injuries. It was such a weird choice of words, but I barely had time to think about it further. Vanessa was quick to push past me, sliding past the nurse before vanishing in the room.

I opted to wait a bit longer, waving to Nurse Aurora sheepishly. “I’m okay for now. Don’t want too many bodies in there.”

Nurse Aurora nodded slowly, as if that was exactly the answer she wanted to hear. She eased the door shut afterwards, leaving me to my thoughts once more.

At least, until my phone went off.

“Oh, crap.” Grimacing, I slid it out of my bag and checked the ID, not surprised at all to see my dad’s name flashing across. In all the craziness, I had completely forgotten to tell him about my new after-school activity. I’d promised five ways to Sunday that I’d stop by the accounting office on the way home. Which, checking the clock, should have happened about fifteen minutes ago.

“Aria!” Dad’s voice was in immediate panic as soon as I accepted the call. “Sweetheart, are you alright? Where are you; did something happen?”

“N-no, Dad, I’m okay,” I replied softly, slumping down in my chair while shifting my phone. “I’m sorry for not checking in. Someone at school asked me to help with the basketball team, and time sort of flew away, and—”

“Aria, you have to tell me when something changes.” Now the anger was fully present in Dad’s voice, fueled by the affection of an overprotective parent. “You had me worried sick. I was about to call the police.”

“The police? Really, Dad?”

His voice seemed so strained now as he spoke. “Yes, Aria, really. Or did you forget everything I said about the wildlife in this town?”

“I remember you saying it was dangerous at night,” I began, the suspicion heavy and obvious in my voice. “Unless you aren’t telling me something?”

That seemed to trip him up for a second or two. “I—n-no, that’s not…” A heavy sigh came through as he took a moment to breathe.

Man, I really riled him up. In his defense, it’d been years since he had to be a full-time parent.

“I really am sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to freak you out.” Wiping my face, I rolled over to my side, tucking my legs up against my chest as my free arm wrapped around them.

“I appreciate that,” Dad said shakily. “And I’m sorry for snapping. I trust you to make safe choices, I do. I just—I’m just feeling very…”

“Overwhelmed?” I finished.

He gave a weak laugh. “That’s a word for it, yes. I guess I got used to you being home all the time.” He was quiet for a moment, an audible sniffle coming through before he spoke again. “W-well, how’s the basketball team? Do we stack up to them there city slickers at your old school?”

His southern accent was killing me. “I’ll let you know when I actually get to see them play.”

“And your first day? It went alright?”

My mind briefly flashed to my fall to the ground, to the fist fight in the gymnasium. But Laura’s face came through just as strongly, tugging the corners of my lips into a smile. “Y-yeah. Bagged my first friend, actually. You know a Laura Lim?”

“Oh, the librarian’s niece! Yes, I’m familiar,” Dad said excitedly. “She always seemed like such a sweet girl. I’m glad you two hit it off.”

Yeah, he was far more at ease now. Talking about the good that happened today made me feel better, too—enough that I fully sat up and felt a bit of energy fill my chest. This was exactly what I needed right now. Whatever bad things happened today faded to the background as I went over my school schedule with Dad. It was honestly the perfect thing to do while waiting for Aiden.