After Durian saved Tyler from Sid, Durian was helping Tyler walk down the hallways towards the admin part of the building.

The trip to the nurse’s office was nauseating. On top of the shock of a bully managing to break a glass case using his back as a hammer, Durian was giving his shoulder to Tyler to help him walk down the hallway. Why was he being so nice? This wasn’t what Tyler thought possible when it came to the otherwise intimidating Durian. Glancing over at his savior, Durian almost looked… kind?

“T-Thank you” Tyler said, realizing then that he had a hard time speaking.

“Don’t mention it. You’ve helped me forever with my homework.”

“Helped?” Tyler croaked out.

“Here’s the door, one sec”

Durian leaned Tyler against the lockers across the hallway leading to the nurse’s office.  It required great effort to keep himself from collapsing right there on the floor. His legs felt so weak. Durian opened the door as far as he could and propped it open with his foot. He then tried to get as close to Tyler as possible without letting the door close again. Tyler reached out his hands to the bully now… friend? And he limped into the office.

It was white. Painfully so. Like, they managed to bottle fluorescence and turn it into paint. There were fake plants here and there, the presence of which did nothing to dim the room. It was also frigid in here. Tyler guessed it had something to do with keeping the room sterile. Behind a desk sat a stern looking woman staring at them come in. When she noticed the bloodied shirt on Tyler, her look turned to one of concern, and she hurried over and helped Tyler to a cot, where she immediately started inspecting the wounds.

“What happened?” She demanded.

“Sid threw him into a glass display case.” Durian helpfully supplied. “He literally picked Tyler up and slammed him into it.”

“Is this true?” She said, looking back at Tyler. He was taken aback at how intently she stared at him, and it took him a second to respond. “Yes, ma’am, it is”.

“hmpf.” She hmpf’d. “Well, it doesn’t look like it broke through all the layers of skin. There’s still a chance of infection, but since the cut doesn’t look too bad, I won’t have to call an ambulance. Are you hurt anywhere else, Tyler?” She said this last bit with a voice that hinted at sympathy.

“Yes ma’am. Just a little sore, my back and chest and my throat hurts. Oh, and I feel warm.” Came his reply.

“Take off your shirt.” She said sternly.

“What?” Came Tyler’s knee-jerk reaction. A blush ran up his cheeks.

“I need to see if there’s anything cut under your clothes as well, and since I’m done bandaging your arm it should be okay to remove your clothes as it doesn’t look like you’re bleeding too bad anywhere inside your shirt.”

“O-oh.” Tyler said. He nervously looked up at Durian, who also got a little red on his face when he realized what Tyler was getting at.

“I-I’ll be going to class then.” came Durian’s reply.

“Just a moment, young man. Wait out front near the lockers.” The nurse said forcefully.

“Okay?” Durian wasn’t sure why but did as he was told. As he left, Tyler began undressing. He snagged his arm on the shirt sleeve that had some drying blood on it, and he winced as it caught right on the cut over the bandage.

“Okay, it looks like you don’t have anything cut or bruised too badly on your front, I’m going to check your back now.”

◊◊◊

The rest of the visit was thankfully brief. Thankfully, Tyler didn’t have any broken bones and the cuts were all superficial. She made a comment about needing to go to the doctor to get a checkup since it looked like I bled far too much for what little cuts there were. By the time the visit was over, Tyler was feeling better and was able to stand and walk on his own.

To Tyler’s and Durian’s dismay, they were both told to go wait outside the principal’s office by the nurse. They both walked to the office, worried about what kind of trouble they were going to get in. As they were about to open the door, Sid walked out the door instead, looked them both up and down and continued his way in silence towards the front of the school. They both shared an awkward look and walked in and found a couple of chairs by the door and waited.

The nurse had gone ahead of both and was soon finished speaking with the principal and walked past them as well. If she saw them sitting there, she didn’t acknowledge them. They were soon called from another door further in that the nurse had just come out of by the principal.

Here it is, Tyler thought, Our moment of reckoning.

The principal, Mr. Wakefield, was a stern man with absolutely no sense of humor. When standing, he stood at almost six feet tall, but sitting in his chair it seemed like a lot less than that. He had a balding spot on his head, and it looked like he took one too many trips to the tanning salon. They were instructed to sit down, and the principal began telling them their fate.

“I don’t expect Tyler to know this since he hasn’t ever gotten into trouble before, but Durian, you should know that this school has a zero-tolerance policy for fighting. Since both of you were involved in the fight, I’m going to have to give you both a one-week suspension from school.”

Tyler was shocked to hear this. Shocked and scared. How was he going to keep up with everything being out for a whole week?

“That’s not fair!” Durian spoke up. “Tyler wasn’t ‘involved in a fight’, Tyler was being wailed on by Sid. He never once raised a hand, even in self-defense!”

The scared feeling Tyler got vanished, and he looked up at Durian. He had his arms crossed, and he looked like he was daring the principal to counter him.

“A fight is a fight, son. It takes two to tango, and Tyler shouldn’t have been in a fight in the first place.”

“You don’t seem to understand, sir.” Durian let out that last sir with a touch of sarcasm. “Sid sought Tyler out, cornered him, and then started beating him up. This wasn’t a fight, it was bullying. How are you going to punish him for the actions of another?”

“Regardless of however many times you tell me, I’m afraid I have to stick to my guns on this. Zero-tolerance means zero-tolerance, and bullying or no bullying, a fight is a fight.”

Just then, the door to the office opened and in walked Ms. Knightly. Tyler looked up in surprise at his new history teacher’s presence.

“Ms. Knightly, I know you haven’t been here for very long, but I don’t take kindly to people interrupting my duties as a principal.” Mr. Wakefield said.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Principal Wakefield, but I’m here to give my account of the events, which is what, I assume, is the issue you’re currently discussing?” Mr. Wakefield gave a nod. “I was there near the end when Mr. Lambert stopped the fight, and I heard a bit of the beginning of the fight, which is why I was there. Sid started the provocation and Tyler didn’t do anything to escalate. In my opinion, Tyler is the victim of bullying and wasn’t in anything close to resembling a fight.”

Tyler looked up at what he was quickly starting to consider his new friend and mouthed his name as a question, “Durian Lambert?” he whispered. Durian only blushed and turned away.

Mr. Wakefield sighed and leaned his forehead on his hands. “Look, Ms. Knightly, I’m sure you have the best of intentions here, and thank you for your clarifying input, but I’m afraid my hands are tied. The school board is going to see this as a fight, and I have to give some kind of punishment.”

Ms. Knightly paused for a moment and thought it over before asking, “What was McCoy’s punishment, and what were you thinking of giving the two young people here?”

“Sid got a month, one week for starting a fight and three weeks for destruction of property. As for these two, I was going to give both one week for being in the fight.”

“It wasn’t a fight!” Durian blurted out, but Ms. Knightly put a hand on his shoulder and that seemed to calm him down.

“Okay.” Ms. Knightly said kindly while looking at Durian. Tyler wasn’t sure if she said it to Durian or to the principal. “It sounds like you’re giving different times anyway because you recognize there’s a different level of harm caused by the two parties. Why don’t we do this then, why don’t we give the very minimum amount of punishment for Durian and Tyler here?”

“Ms. Knightly, you know I can’t show favoritism in how I do my job.”

“I know, Principal Wakefield. I’m not asking for favoritism, just the lowest possible punishment that wouldn’t show it.”

Mr. Wakefield sighed but seemed to consider her words. He looked at her like he was trying to figure out what she was thinking, and then his eyes rested on Tyler and Durian. He sighed again. “Since you two have a teacher backing you up,” he looked back at Ms. Knightly then back at the boys, “and from the accounts I heard today Mr. Lambert wasn’t technically involved in the fight. For you two, Mr. Lambert and Mr. Underwood, I can give a two-day suspension. This is the best I can do.”

“I understand. Thank you, Principal Wakefield.” Came the reply from Ms. Knightly. The three of them stood up and walked out, with a little prodding from their new history teacher.

◊◊◊

“So…” Tyler said, mostly to clear the air of the silence that hung over the room and to help his brain get back up and running again.

“So.” Came a response from the little girl named Eris on the foot of his bed.

“What are you doing here? How’d you get in?”

“I got in the same way you did, silly. Through the front door. And I’m here because you are.”

“That.” Tyler huffed. “That doesn’t make any sense. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” She said, still sitting on his bed like it was a casual slumber party. “The going’s on, as you put it, is that I’m currently bound to you by circumstance, and I can’t really leave you alone until we’re not.”

“Bound? Circumstance?” Good job Tyler, you’re so eloquent lately, he sarcasmed internally. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” She said, putting her index finger on her chin and looking at the ceiling. “What I mean is I was stuck in a cup for a long time, then when you did the ritual, I wasn’t. Honestly, I thought you’d know more than me? It was you who did the ritual and bound me to you, right?”

“Ritual? What ritual? What cup?”

“I’m not quite sure how I could have been released without a ritual, so you might have just been an innocent bystander. I assume you don’t remember any hooded figures or being tied down to an altar?” Tyler nodded and gulped. He had a pretty rough day, but he was happy it wasn’t anywhere near that bad. “But the gist is that I was bound to a cup for reasons I’d rather not go into right now. Suffice it to say a ritual was performed, and then I was moved from being bound to the cup to being bound to you, and now I just woke up. I dunno what happened to you, though, it took quite a lot of effort to put your body back together. You need to be more careful, fixing cracked ribs is not easy!” She finished with a huff and crossed her arms.

“Wait.” Tyler said. “Wait. Cracked ribs? The nurse said I only had a cut on my arm.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled back.

“I don’t understand anything.” Tyler said, giving up. He was suddenly aware of just how tired he felt. His vision even swam a little. “Look, I just. I need to lie down, so could you please move off my bed.”

“Sure!” Eris said and then stood up and walked right towards Tyler.

“What are—” He started but didn’t finish as she walked right into him. And then walked right through him. He turned around to look behind him, but no one was there.

“I really need sleep.” Tyler said and laid down. He brushed the hair out of his face.

That’s funny, Tyler thought. I just got a haircut recently.

◊◊◊

The baby blue smartphone rang on the countertop and was promptly replaced by a wine glass. By the third ring, Ms. Carlyle spoke, “Hello, Cathy speaking.” She laughed at herself for that. It had been more than two decades since she switched to cell phones, but she still slipped up and used a greeting that doesn’t make much sense anymore.

“Cathy! How have you been?” it was Mr. Johnson, her old teaching colleague. Her mood, while already good before, now perked up just a bit more, so she found herself smiling without realizing when she had started.

“I’m doing just fine, Matt. How’s Florida?” She asked, recalling the state he moved to, so he could take care of his ailing little brother.

“Humid. I don’t know how anyone manages to live down here and not drown whenever they walk outside. It’s seriously horrible.” Matthew gave a hearty chuckle at that. “Art’s doing well too.” He continued, “He’s talking a bit more since I got here, at least. How’s things at the school? First day go okay?”

Cathy knew he was deflecting away from talking about his brother but decided to let her old friend have a break. This time. “Mostly okay, at least until after lunchtime. There was a major incident with a bully that broke some property.”

“Oh no. I bet it was that McCoy kid, wasn’t it?”

“Got it in one.” She sighed deeply, “The kid threw a senior into the glass trophy case and managed to break it. Luckily, Tyler didn’t get any wounds that required stitches, but still went home in bandages.”

“Trophy case?” Matt’s voice took on a tone that scared her a little. It was urgent and kind of scared.

“Yes.” She said, unable to keep her voice from transmitting a tone that most certainly told Matt she picked up on his change. “It was the very end case in the hall of achievement. Like I said, though, Tyler was okay and could go home without stitches.”

“Was there blood on anything?”

“What? Matt, you’re scaring me.”

“Cathy.” Matt said, his voice urgent. “Was there blood anywhere?”