Unordinary: New Student

40: Early Morning

Stephanie's POV

I checked the clock when I woke up. It was 4:30 a.m. Yawning, I thought I would sleep more after the events from the day before. But as I turned over, I noticed a sharp pain in my chest. I wondered why it hurt there, before concluding that it was some aftershock from my recoil damage or something. Things like that happened to me occasionally but not very often. Lucky me, I inwardly sighed. I should probably get that checked. I guess it's not too early to go to school.

Getting out of bed gingerly, I got dressed, throwing on my Wellston uniform. The white button up shirt, the skirt, and the jacket. I left out the vest. It just didn't suit my taste. Actually, I hadn't seen anyone ever wear it before except John. Grabbing my bookbag from beside my desk, I grabbed a banana before heading out of my house. Closing the door behind me, I headed in the direction of my school, in a pace neither slow enough to be a walk nor fast enough to be running.

When I finally neared the gates of Wellston High, I briefly wondered what time it was. I would have checked my phone, but how convenient- my phone was still broken because of a certain blonde jacka$$. I should get a new one soon. I thought as I walked toward the main building.

The halls were quiet; not many students came to school this early willingly. I was glad. I enjoyed the silence as I made my way to the infirmary. But as I turned a corner, I stiffened slightly. It felt like someone was watching me. I looked around, but I didn't see anyone. But the feeling stayed with me, and finally, I yelled, "Who's there?" At first there was silence, and I thought I was going crazy. Then I heard the footsteps, loud against the silence of the morning, heading quickly away from me. "Hey, stop!" I called, narrowing my eyes. I caught a glimpse of a pale gray aura before the footsteps faded away.

"What was that?" I muttered to myself, continuing toward the infirmary, just up ahead. "It was probably someone trying to mess with me." Shaking off the uneasy feeling, I opened the infirmary door.

"What happened to your face?" I heard as I stepped inside the Infirmary. My mouth almost dropped open when I saw who was in there. Someone with familiar blonde hair. I saw that it was Doc Darren who was talking, staring at- you guessed it- Arlo, who stood in front of Doc's desk. Next to them, a man with light brown hair and black glasses sat in a chair at the desk. His piercing blue eyes fixed on me as I entered.

"I'm not really here to talk about it." Arlo answered Doc. "I just came to heal it up before the school freaks out about my injuries." Arlo's face had a multitude of bruises on it, and also some cuts. I almost smirked, knowing that some of those injuries came from me. Arlo turned abruptly, stiffening as his eyes met mine. "You-"

Doc noticed me, too, and he frowned. "Stephanie? Why are you here?"

"I came to get an injury healed." I explained. "I don't know exactly what's wrong, but my chest hurts."

"You heard the girl, Darren," the unfamiliar man crowed from his chair, munching on his apple. "Get to work."

Grumbling, Doc moved toward me and examined me, listening to my breathing and such. For a minute, he ran some tests on me before reaching a conclusion. "So. Your lungs and your ribcage are not damaged. But the whole area around them is, with some internal bleeding." He glared strictly at me. "Mind explaining how you got hurt?"

"Ah," I said nervously, my eyes flicking to Arlo for a second. "I got into a fight. It might be the recoil damage, though."

"Didn't I tell you to stop using your ability so excessively?" Doc lectured me. "I'm guessing, from the amount of bleeding and the damaged tissue, you pushed yourself to your limits?"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Doc." I snapped back. "I was helping a friend."

"Well, take care of yourself first!" Doc's voice rose. "You know how dangerous it is for you to keep overusing your ability like this! Every time you use it, you damage yourself. And since you've been using it so much lately, I'm surprised you haven't gotten a life-threatening injury! You know the recoil damage can be enough to kill you sometimes." I saw Arlo flinch.