The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

2.2 || No Pain, All Gain

The possibility that he may be going insane weighed heavily on Josh's mind. So much so he almost wished Hannah would speak as they walked to the nurse's office, but she was surprisingly quiet. He'd expected an interrogation from her the moment they were alone.

It would come at some point. The wait for it may just drive him even crazier first.

He managed to keep his mouth shut until they approached the door to the school office. "Uh, Hannah, why are we here?"

Hannah paused, her hand on the door handle. She turned narrowed eyes on Josh. "You're kidding me, right? You're a junior and you still don't know where the nurse's office is?"

As she spoke, a partial memory rose up of hearing about the nurse's office being situated in the back of the main office. He shrugged. "Never cared. I haven't had to go there before."

Lips pressing into a thin line and eyes narrowing, Hannah said, "Of course you haven't." She opened the door and stepped inside.

Josh followed, barely repressing a wince. She'd already been suspicious enough, and now here he was, adding fuel to the flame. Of all people outside of his family, she best knew how hard it was to hurt him. She'd seen him fall twenty feet from a tree, land awkwardly, and walk it off without a mark.

There was no reason for him to need to be here, and he had done nothing but remind her of that.

The office was quiet this time of the day. A parent spoke to the secretary about their kid's doctor's appointment and a student sat outside the principal's office, arms crossed. A senior, that period's office duty student, sat behind the desk. She raised her head when Hannah and Josh neared.

"What are you doing here, Hannah?" the girl asked.

Hannah pointed further back in the room. "Taking my friend to the nurse's. See you in History, Desirea."

They walked on to an office tucked nicely in the back corner. The nurse sat behind a wooden desk, jotting down notes on a paper. She looked up when they stopped outside her door. Her gaze flicked between them, scrutinizing everything in a way Josh had seen his mom do often when she examined an injury.

"Hello," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah." Josh shifted as her gaze settled on him. He should have talked Hannah into letting him hide in the bathrooms until class ended. He had no idea how things worked with nurses except casual check-ups. "My teacher wanted me to get checked out."

The nurse hummed, her brows drawn together in confusion as she continued to look him over. By all outside appearances, it likely didn't look like he needed any attention. "Well, please, have a seat." Once they did, she continued, "So, what exactly happened?"

Josh gestured at his head. "We were playing soccer at gym class. Someone kicked the ball and it hit me in the head. Mr. Willis thinks I passed out for a few seconds."

The confusion shifted to something more like worry. "Well, at least it was gym class. I've seen more than enough incidents from shop class." With one last, lingering studying, the nurse turned to her files. "What's your name?"

"Joshua Davidson."

"Okay, Josh," she said as she plucked a vanilla envelope from the files. She placed it on the desk, revealing his name printed along the top. Pausing for a moment, she scanned the documents. When she was satisfied, she searched through her desk drawers. "Do you have any history with head injuries?"

Hannah snorted, knowing full well Josh's lack of experience with any sort of injury. At the nurse's questioning brow, Hannah shifted it into a cough. "Sorry. I had something in my throat."