Once Octavia was finally done, the three girls got out of the locker room. Thirty seconds later, the P.E teacher yelled a deep and loud:
"Time's up kids! Everybody here?"
"..."
"Ok let's take that as a "yes"! Now we're gonna start with a light warm-up: everybody run ten laps!"
"What?!"
"What?!" Lyra exclaimed.
The enormous man suddenly got closer, looking the girl straight into the eyes, while his own pupils were almost glowing red.
For the first time in her life, Vinyl was truly scared for her friend. This guy didn't seem like he liked to joke around.
"You got a problem with that, missie? If you don't feel like it, you can pack your things and go. I don't want any wimps in my class. Of course you'll get an F but hey, your choice..."
Lyra's face went from green to white in an instant. She wasn't easily scared, especially not by other people, but at this very moment, her life was most likely threatened. She swallowed and breathed silently without saying a single word, the teacher's red eyes still fixed on her.
"Nothing? Good." he said, getting back in the middle of the students "Now let's get it started!"
The teenagers weren't sure what to think about what just happened but each and every one of them, including Vinyl, knew that it was no time to wonder. Everyone started running in one big group, with Mr. Sombra leading the charge, moving way faster than most of the class.
After five or six laps, Vinyl stopped thinking about the most likely imminent death that was waiting for her in case she stopped, and looked behind her to see Octavia having the hardest time of her life.
The cellist was panting like it was the first time she had to run in her life (which on a second thought, probably wasn't entirely false), sweating while her eyes were starting to water. Concerning Lyra, she was in better shape, but still concerned about both her friend and the fact that they still had four laps remaining.
Then a miracle happened. Half a miracle at least.
The teacher, still running and watching as his entire class was on the borderline of collapsing, stopped his run and yelled as loud as he could:
"Well well, looks like you kids aren't used to doing any kind of physical activity! How can you expect to meet my standards if you can't achieve a few laps?! Everybody stops!"
He didn't need to repeat himself: almost every single student fell on the ground, sweating and panting from the effort.
"Would you look at this mess! Believe me kids, starting next week, everybody who doesn't want to be excluded from this class will have to do these laps!"
"Did this guy just show a shred of compassion? That was unexpected..."
"Okay now everyone who did less than seven of the ten laps do twenty push-ups, move it!"
Half a miracle.
"What is this guy's fucking problem?! Does he judge the quality of his class by the number of deaths?"
Vinyl saw Lyra opening her mouth to protest, but quickly shutting it after remembering what happened a few minutes ago.
About half of the students in the room got on their hands and feet, starting their push-ups, some faster than others.
And by "others", the DJ meant Octavia. She was looking around her, observing how to perform this strange exercise she had never seen before. When she finally tried, Vinyl saw in her eyes that it was too much.
Octavia collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, her head shaking from the fatigue and her pulse going crazy.
If Vinyl could have screamed, she would have done so while running toward Octavia, still almost unconscious on the concrete floor.
"Shit, shit Tavi! Don't do this to me! All of this because of that motherfucker over there!"
The said motherfucker came near the two girls, as the rest of the class had stopped moving, except for Lyra who was now on Octavia's side as well. He looked at the girl on the ground, then at Vinyl and Lyra, shouting:
"What the hell is up with her? Never done any push-ups before? It takes a certain level of weakness to be that bad!"
Vinyl couldn't take it anymore. She started to furiously sign at the teacher, while refraining from crying.
It took Lyra a few seconds to realise that her friend was expecting her to translate, which she gladly did with all the emotions implied:
"Are you crazy?! Don't you see she's almost unconscious? We need to bring her to the infirmary right now!"
The man's eyes widened, before glowing even more threatening:
"And who the fuck are you to tell me what to do kid?! If she can't do a few laps and push-ups, it's none of my business!!" He then turned to Vinyl "And you! What in the hell are these things you're doing? You think I'm feeling threatened? Don't make me laugh!"
"Asshole..."
"..."
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Answer me kid! Or are you not as tough as you pretend? You both are the kind who don't know when to shut your mouths right?"
Vinyl was almost breaking into tears. Not with sadness, but with rage: how could someone behave like that? How was he a teacher? Octavia needed help! And he was just standing there making fun of her?!
"What, you're not saying anything? Done protecting your friend? Or maybe you're too much of a coward to speak without someone to assist you?" His eyes were almost trembling with wrath, and maybe some sort of sadistic excitement as well.
As she was trembling with fear and anger, Vinyl took out her notepad and pen, and clumsily wrote a few lines:
“I’m bringing Octavia to the infirmary, if that’s an issue for you, do whatever you want, make fun of me, of my condition, but don’t expect me to listen without doing anything.”
“...What? You can’t talk? For real? Now that’s funny! How can you possibly be such a pain in the ass?!”
Vinyl ignored the teacher’s comment, signed Lyra, and the two of them grabbed Octavia under her arms. Luckily, the infirmary wasn’t far from here. As they walked away from the P.E teacher and the rest of the class, they could hear admirative whispers amongst the students, quickly interrupted by Sombra:
“Don’t think this is over! You think you can just walk away from my class?!”
}--oO0Oo--{
Vinyl was crying. Octavia had now been unconscious for ten minutes. When the three girls finally reached the infirmary, a sweet and light voice answered their knocks:
“Yes, come in!”
As Lyra and Vinyl dragged Octavia into the room, the latter had a quick look at the school nurse: she was a small, thin woman of undefined age, her light pink hair and white skin giving her a younger look. Her blue eyes were warm and reassuring, and her vintage nurse outfit gave her a really comforting vibe. Lyra didn’t let Vinyl waste time writing, and spoke first:
“We kinda have an issue with one of our friends, Miss…”
“Redheart, nice to meet you. Oh my! Is she okay?! Here, put her on the sofa over there! What happened?”
“It’s crazy!” Lyra exclaimed as the woman took Octavia’s pulse and tension, “Our P.E teacher, Mr. Sombra, forced us to do some crazy exercise, and Octavia fell down on the floor at one point! He didn’t even allow us to bring her here!”
“Oh my… Mr. Sombra again?... It’s not the first time I receive students from his classes, but this girl here is alright. Too much effort as you were probably thinking. She’ll have to rest for a couple of hours, you can stay here with her if you want, I’ll give her parents a call.”
Vinyl suddenly stood up and shook her head while crossing her arms in a “no” sign.
“Oh you must be Vinyl. Ms. Cheerilee told me about you, great job being able to cope with all these difficulties. Why are you shaking your head like that?”
“I don’t think calling Octavia’s parents would be such a good idea” said Lyra “Judging from what she told us, they’d probably sue the school or something. They’re not really the forgiving type.”
“Oh I see…” the nurse sighed as she was putting down her phone “Well I can’t just keep this information. I’ll give a call to Principal Celestia, and if your friend doesn’t wake up in the next two hours, we’ll send her home, okay?”
“Okay, thanks!” Lyra smiled.
Vinyl collapsed on her chair, both tired and shocked. How did any of this happen? Why was she still here and not calling the cops or something? Did he have the right to treat them like this?
And most importantly, was Octavia alright? Vinyl had never felt this concerned since… a long time ago. Sure, Octavia just needed some sleep, but the blue-haired girl couldn’t help but feel a lump in her throat, as tears were slowly rolling down her white cheeks. Suddenly she felt a friendly arm on her shoulder, and Lyra’s chin laid on her back as she gave Vinyl a hug.
“Don’t worry girl… She’s gonna be alright…”
Was she? Vinyl couldn’t tell, she couldn’t tell anything at the moment. This girl she met barely three days ago was suddenly more important to her than any other thing, including the fact that the two girls didn’t know how they could ever show up to P.E class again.
Vinyl looked at the sleeping girl’s face: she was calm, like she had been needing this. Her eyelids were slightly trembling, and her breath was making light sounds that felt like a lullaby for Vinyl. She could not abandon Octavia, she would not. Her friend needed her and honestly, she needed her friend as well. What kind of friend would she be anyway, if she just let Octavia rest here with the nurse?
“Hey dude you… you wanna talk about something?”
Vinyl looked at Lyra. She knew what her friend meant, but did she really want to talk about it here and now?
The DJ stayed silent, leaving her friend waiting for an answer.
“Ok no prob girl… If we’re gonna stay here for some time, I’ll go get something to eat, you want me to choose a snack for you?”
Vinyl nodded, still looking at Octavia’s face as Lyra left the infirmary. The nurse was in the back room, leaving only the two girls together.
“Octavia looks so peaceful… No one would believe what just happened by looking at her… I guess she really did need some time away from her own life…”
She looked at the cellist’s sleeping face, and a slight smiled appeared on her mouth.
“For the first time ever you look more relaxed than me, and it’s in a moment like this... I wonder what your life is like, Tavi…”
}--oO0Oo--{
Before she even opened her eyes, Octavia felt a slight headache, as well as a few cramps in her legs. Was she on a couch? What in the heavens happened? She remembered falling on the floor of the gymnasium, hearing the angry yelling of Mr. Sombra and Lyra… and then… she didn’t have the faintest idea. She took a deep breath, and finally decided to open her eyes.
She was indeed on a couch, in a corner of a grey and white room, filled with shelves and metal closets. Was this the school’s infirmary? Her sight was blurry but after a few seconds she noticed two other students in the room: Lyra was sitting on a chair, eating a sandwich and listening to music, and Vinyl was sitting next to her, with a large smile on her face.
Without any warning, the blue-haired girl suddenly hugged her, almost to the point of hurting her arms and chest.
Octavia had no idea why her friend was showing so much affection, until she realized that Vinyl was crying.
“V… Vinyl, what’s the matter? Why are we here?”
“Oh you’re awake!” Lyra exclaimed “Finally! We were worried as fuck, especially Vinyl!”
“Lyra, what happened to me?” the cellist asked while still being embraced by her friend “Is there a problem with Vinyl?”
“There was a problem with you girl! Y’know, the part where you fell unconscious during P.E class? This asshole of a teacher yelled at us and made fun of Vinyl, so we left the gymnasium to bring you here, in the infirmary. Concerning Vinyl, I’ve never seen her like this in my life, she’s been watching over you for the last hour and a half, as if you were dying or something.”
Octavia remembered the P.E class and their horrible teacher. She had never met such a rude and despicable person in her life. And he mocked Vinyl when she was trying to help her? That couldn’t be right.
“You can thank Vinyl! This dumbass stood up to the teacher, ignoring his threats and asked me to help her bringing you here! She hasn’t stopped crying like a lil bitch since!”
“Wh...What?”
Octavia couldn’t believe it. Vinyl saved her? And she had spent the last two hours by her side, to watch over her? Did she really deserve all of this?
The cellist took her friend’s hand and, almost by instinct, tightened her fingers around it, feeling the DJ’s warm skin and tears dropping on her own hand.
This was it.
She had friends. True friends.