What's this? O.o (Constantine)

[Emi Hitokata]

"No, it's OK, I'll be fine. Just go to class," Emi told her friend in her accented English.

The two stood in the empty halls, before her classmate-- a blond-haired sophomore-- sighed and turn around.

"I'll tell the teacher that you'll come in late. Just don't forget to have the nurse sign a slip for you," her friend said just as she started walking away.

Emi watched the retreating girl before she let out her own sigh. Having someone feel concerned about your well-being is nice, but she felt bad that her classmate was already late for class. The worst part was that a lot of the teachers here are strict. Actually, all of them are downright crazy, using the smallest mistakes as an excuse to bring out the paddle.

That was one out of many things she hated about Moral Crest, the other being the difference between Japanese high school. She loved America and how people here are so outgoing, but she missed the peacefulness of Japanese society. The only thing that was keeping her from going crazy was her boyfriend, Ryuu, who always seemed to give her a reason to not move back to Japan.

She winced as she took a step down the long hallway. Last period was PE, and she forgot to bring her knee pads. However, a part of her couldn't hold back, so she ended up sliding on her knees to prevent the other team from scoring points in volleyball. It was a fun game, until she realized at the end of class that her knees were bleeding profusely.

Each step caused only cause the wound to aggravate further. The trip to the nurse's office, which only takes one minute, felt like hours. Finally, she reached a familiar door and turned the knob.

"Um... I need a little help here."

Emi shuffled in and closed the door behind her. She was expecting a nurse to be in the room, but instead she saw an unfamiliar dark-haired senior.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick had dared himself to eat the food that they were serving in the cafeteria that day. There had been that little voice in the back of his head saying he shouldn't do it, he should stick to the thermos of tea he brought for lunch almost every day, but everyone else seemed to be fine with eating it. Even though the food looked like something that had been vomited back up...

And that's why Nick was sitting in the nurse's office, waiting for the nurse to return from wherever she was. He was the only one in there, and his stomach was hurting him really bad. Straight to cafeteria food was not a good idea and he made a side note to listen to that voice when it told him not to do something.

Nick sighed and winced from the cramps in his tummy, and then the door to the office opened, but not revealing the nurse to Nick's dismay. It was a small, cute, Asian girl; pretty standard for an Asian girl, but Nick knew that looks didn't determine much. He scanned her quickly, stopping at her bloody knees and looking at them with wide eyes.

"Um... I need a little help here."[/b]

"Uh, well the nurse isn't here right now. I have no idea where she is and when she's getting back."

He would offer his assistance, but he was a bit preoccupied with his own problem.

[Emi Hitokata]

"Oh sorry," she said a little disappointingly. She was expecting to only spend at least a minute here to get her wound cleaned, but she realized that she would have to wait longer. The problem was how long. Class had started at least ten minutes ago, and if she didn't enter the classroom in time, then she would have to walk through the whole school, trying to find her teacher so he could sign the stupid nurse's slip.

And walking a long distance was something that she had no intentions of doing.

She nodded to Nicolas, who didn't seem to be physically injured, but he looked as if he was suffering from cramps judging by the contorted look on his face.

"I guess I'll just have to wait here," Emi sighed. She looked at the row of beds and took the one next to Nicolas's. The mattress was hard and cold, and she sat there shyly with her legs dangling off the edge. Now that she had the chance to see the extent of her wound, she was shocked; a simple band aid would not be able to even cover the whole thing. The nurse will have to use large amounts of bandages and disinfectant, which means even more pain.

[Nicolas Constantine]

The girl sat on the bed next to him and started studying her legs. Nick couldn't help but look over and look at them too.

"Whoa, those are some nasty cuts, how'd you manage to do that?"''

Smooth, Nick, real smooth...

The word choice he used wasn't the greatest, and he didn't even know this girl at all.

"Ugh, sorry, that was rude of me. I'm Nick." he extended his hand towards her.

He smiled as he did so, his eyes sparkling in the nurse's office florescent lighting. Nick had a hunch that after introductions and the discussion of unpleasantries, he would begin to flirt if the nurse hadn't shown up.

[Emi Hitokata]

"Oh it's OK," she said in reply to his apology. She didn't really think of his question as rude, as anyone else would ask the same thing. Well, anyone that was curious enough to actually wonder what would cause such a horrible wound.

She could imagine everyone else in her class asking the same question as soon as next period starts. Silently, she scolded herself for wearing shorts to school that day.

"I didn't wear knee pads during volleyball. I guess that's my punishment for being forgetful."

She nearly missed hearing his name as he introduced himself. His eyes were so mesmerizing and literally took her breath away; she could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat. She had to struggle to tear her eyes away from the sight. Instead, she kept her gaze on his nose as she introduced herself.

"I'm Emi."

She grasped his hand, which felt so warm and big compared to hers, and shook it.

"Doesn't the nurse do her job? I'm kinda worried," she said as she pulled her hand away and lowered her head.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick's hands were smallish, but Emi's were just plain tiny. Nick smiled at this, and shook her hand in a friendly manner.

"Doesn't the nurse her do her job? I'm kinda worried."

"Yeah, I've been in here since lunch dealing with a stomach ache. Perhaps shes absent today..."

Nick thought of what he could do. He could tell she was a nice girl, and he didn't think it was right for her to suffer because the nurse wasn't there at the moment. Nick did know how to tend to little cuts and scrapes, it was just common knowledge he believed, but the wounds on Emi's legs looked a little out of his league. He looked at them again.

"Hm. We'll I'm no doctor, but I can see if I can help if you'd like."

He looked up at her and smiled lightly.

[Emi Hitokata]

No nurse? What kind of school was she going to? Emi had been here long enough to know that fighting was common to Moral Crest, especially since a lot of transfer students from some other school came along. Every day, she saw students get hurt, and to have a nurse leave her room at such a dangerous period is unthinkable.

Her knees were sore, and she still had at least two periods of school and club to attend before going home. She wasn't going to leave early just because of a small wound. That was why she accepted Nick's offer of letting him clean up her wound. What could happen? All he had to do to fix the wound was clean it and apply bandages, and if he had trouble, then she could give him instructions. Plus, there was something about his smile that made it impossible for her to refuse. It was as if saying no would wipe the happy look off his face, which she didn't want to see.

"Well, I guess it's better to clean my knees as early as possible," she told him. "And thanks."

Emi extended her right leg and gripped the edge of the bed with both hands. She was nervous about using disinfectant as the stinging is more painful than the actual injury, but if she had to prevent infection then she had no choice.

[Nicolas Constantine]

"No problem, Emi." Nick smiled down at her as he stood up.

Nick winced when he tried to move towards the cabinet that held the medicine and first aid. How did he not think of this before? He could have try to do it himself, even though he didn't know exactly what was wrong with him. Once he got over to the cabinet, he open it up and reached inside, pulling out some bandages, gauze, disinfectant, etc.

He also opened a second cabinet and looked around at the bottles and found some antacid. He grabbed at the stuff and carried it all over to where Emi was sitting, dumping it all on the bed he had been sitting on.

He took hold of the spray on disinfectant that he took and looked up at Emi with an apologetic look.

"Sorry in advance..."

He sprayed in onto her wound.

[Emi Hitokata]

"Are you OK?"

Emi had noticed the way that Nicolas had struggled when he walked over to one of the cabinets. She had wished that she had thought of that before she agreed to let him do something about her wound.

"Um, I have some stomach medicine in my locker that you can have," she offered, just to make up for having him go through a lot of pain and discomfort just so that she could feel better.

As he came over, she tensed, and her hands gripped the edge of the bed so tightly that her fingernails were digging into the hard mattress. However, she knew that the stinging sensation from the disinfectant is supposed to kill any harmful bacteria that might cause an infection.

"Ahhhh," she grimaced as the liquid hit her right leg. She sucked in her breath and held out her other leg to be cleaned.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick sprayed the other knee and took out some cotton balls.

"This'll hurt."

He very lightly rubbed the first knee with the cotton balls to collect the dirt and clean the wound, then quickly put the bandage on and wrapped gauze tightly around it. He did the same thing to the other knee and then got up, admiring his make-shift work. He looked back up at Emi.

"There you go. I wouldn't walk on those for another 30 minutes or so, though."

He remembered the comment she had made about his stomach.

"Thanks for the offer, but I found some antacid in the cabinet over there. This is what I get for trying the cafeteria food..."

Nick held up the bluish bottle for her to see. He unscrewed the cap and downed a fourth of the pint-sized bottle. He made a face at the taste of the stuff and then sat back down on the bed across from Emi.

[Emi Hitokata]

Having a cotton ball scrape off the dirt and junk in her wound was a different sensation from the disinfectant, but still painful nonetheless. She bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly, as if that would decrease the pain, during the entire process. It was only when he was ready to put on the bandages that she was able to open her eyes to look at his work.

Unlike when he sprayed on the disinfectant, he was gentle as he put on the gauze. He wrapped the cloth around her knee tightly but did nothing to increase her discomfort. In fact, she began to relax as he finished treating her wounds.

"Thanks."

She swung her legs slightly, not even used to the sensation of having bandages wrapped around her knee. Judging by the severity of her scrapes, she would have to take at least three days off from sports. That meant no volleyball matches where she can gain fresh injuries.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that don't bring the health inspector here."

All three of her brothers had experienced American high school, and the first thing that they told her when she came to California was to stay away from school lunches. She also heard of cases of food poisoning among some of her classmates who were stupid enough to experience Tuesday's surprise stew. She had only seen Moral Crest lunch food up close once, and planned to never do so again as the appearance and smell didn't seem very appetizing.

"I hope you be OK."

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, which is a habit she does when she has nothing interesting to talk about.

[Nicolas Constantine]

"I think I'll be just fine."

He sighed and lay down on the hard mattress, propping his head up with his palms, elbows out. He turned to her.

"It'd be best if you skipped your next class, too."

Which was true, but Nick also wanted someone to talk with. He wasn't planning on returning to class, even though the antacid was now starting to do the job. He turned over on his side, facing Emi and propping his head with now just one arm. He looked at her with his dark blue eyes and studied her face and body.

"You're cute, you know that?"

[Emi Hitokata]

"Yeah, I guess it is," she agreed.

She looked down and sighed. At least more than ten minutes had passed since she had arrived here, and there was no nurse yet. She wondered if the lady was busy dealing with some student that fainted elsewhere in the school or was just drinking coffee in the teacher's lounge. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to have the lady sign a slip to have her excused.

Well, that was okay for her. It wasn't as if Emi had bad attendance or anything. Her two skipped classes wouldn't dirty her record or ruin her chances of getting into a bad college.

The Japanese girl blushed madly at the boy's compliment. For a few seconds, she paused, unable to answer. Compared to boys back in Japan, boys here were more direct, and there are times when she can think of no way to deal with it. Excluding girls, she was rarely complimented by anyone, so she wasn't used to be called cute.

"Uh, thanks," she stuttered, her face now deepening to the color of a ripe tomato.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick laughed at her reaction. Obviously she wasn't used to such a compliment, and Nick was very forward when flirting. He blushed.

"Sorry... I-I couldn't help myself. It kind of slipped out."

That was a half-lie. It didn't slip out, but he definitely couldn't help himself. When he wanted something, he would go after it, but he would never push any boundaries himself. He would allow the girl to let her limits be pushed, not push the limits for her.

"So... umm, where are you from?"

Nick was lame...

[Emi Hitokata]

Nick's laugh only heightened her embarrassment. She felt like such a fool.

"No, it's okay."

She touched her hand to her cheek, which felt hot, as if she was running a fever. Actually, she was beginning to feel dizzy and her head throbbed once, putting everything in front of her out of focus. Quickly, she shook her head and the blur before her eyes formed into solid shapes once again.

"Are you talking about country," she asked and paused before continuing,"I came from Japan."

She wondered if he was also a foreigner in this country. Although he was white and spoke fluent English, his accent was different from how the other kids at her school spoke. The first two countries she thought of were Great Britain and Australia, but she wasn't exactly sure which as she had yet to tell the difference between accents spoken outside America.

She decided to take a guess by asking,"Are you from Australia."

The reason she chose Australia was because she had the image that Australians were less uptight and more outgoing than the English.