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This was not how today was meant to go.
The almost complete lack of adult supervision aside from the camp counselors was probably not a great idea when Valerie was basically getting paid $4 an hour to get high in the woods with Alice and Arnie. It had been kind of awkward when Alice and Arnie had started dating, but honestly she was used to it by now.
But, it also meant that sometimes when they snuck off to makeout that she had to deal with her own shit by herself. Her cut had opened back up and she couldn't find anything to fix it with. Her knee ached, and she'd already dripped blood onto her socks. Normally, she'd tough it out, rip a t-shirt and make a bandage. But this one was just a little bit too much.
So, very bitterly, she hobbled off to Nurse Mary's office. "Nurse Lane?" She called out, immediately sitting on Mary's desk. "Hello?" There was some shuffling and Val shivered. This is why she never went to Nurse Mary's office if she could help it.
She hopped awkwardly off the desk and tried to take a step forward but her knee seized up. "Nurse Lane?"
God, of course her friends would abandon her now that this shit was happening. The door swung open and Val jumped, Nurse Lane frowning at her. "Jesus, Mary. You want to give me a hand?"
"Oh, dear. Are you alright?" Nurse Mary had a vacant look in her eyes as she approached, and when she got closer Val could see that there was a thin layer of dirt on her hands. She reached for Val's leg, but the teenager flinched.
"Are..." this interaction was already far too uncomfortable. Val should've just hunted down Arnie and Alice, watching them suck face was less painful than this. "Are you alright Nurse Lane?"
The look in Nurse Lane's eyes seemed to melt away as she looked down at the nasty cut on Val's knee. "Valerie! What have you done here."
"I ate shit in the woods," Val said, not taking her eyes off Nurse Lane's face. "Are you alright?"
"Let's get that sorted out," Nurse Lane tried to reach out for Val's leg a second time and this time Val spoke up.
"Do you want to wash your hands first?"
Nurse Lane looked like she hadn't even noticed the state of her hands. "Oh! No, that won't do at all. Yes, wait right here, sweetheart. I'll be right back."
Nurse Land washed her hands and then got right to helping Val treat her knee. She operated in silence, but fixed Val right up so she was able to go supervise her campers in their archery practice.
She couldn't shake off just how weird the interaction was, though, as she watched her middle schoolers attempt to re-enact the Battle of Troy with each other. She was never really the most hands-on counselor, but now with her bandage peeking out from underneath her jean shorts at least she had an excuse.
Honestly, she just wanted to forget about her knee so she could push the interaction with Mary out of her brain. Luckily for her, Arnie and Alice were probably too fucked-out to even notice. She was jealous.
