Why Am I A Troublemaker?!

Both Leo and I untangled ourselves and scrambled onto our feet.

"Not only have you shown disgraceful behavior," rumbled Mr. Kvasir. His eyes were dark with irritation. "But you have also completely subverted the goal of the exercise. You were supposed to demonstrate your weapon skills, not wrestle like little boys."

Leo's head dropped with shame. Meanwhile, I was just glad that I didn't get hospitalized by Leo.

"Apologies, sir," I weakly replied.

"Excuse yourselves to the nurse's office and don't come back until you've learnt discipline. Currently, you are both unfit to continue classes."

He turned his back on us as he returned to examining the class.

"What are you all doing, standing around like fools?" The scarred man thundered.

The other freshmen stiffened, before returning to their sparring partners. However, they still stared at Leo and I as we walked out of the classroom.

The silence was uncomfortable as we briskly walked through the empty hallways. 

Our footsteps echoed through the space and made me feel alone.

"This is all your fault," hissed Leo. His calm indifference had turned into anger.

"..."

I shrugged. Technically, he was right.

"I'm going to kill you the next time we fight," the white-haired boy swore.

"I'll look forward to that," I replied with an easy smile.

Leo fumed angrily but I ignored him.

He'll calm down. Thankfully, he won't use his hidden card now. 

He's mature enough to only use it when he really needs it.

I looked up at the sign that read "Nurse's Office," before stepping inside. Leo followed behind me though he looked deeply dissatisfied about that.

"Hello! How can I--" The greeting was interrupted as the nurse frowned. 

He was an older man with salt-and-pepper hair that swept to the side. The nurse was wearing an old, worn-out doctor's coat and had a stethoscope around his neck. He had stubble on his chin and bags under his eyes, like he hadn't shaved or slept for weeks.

"Lay down while I grab some supplies," the nurse suggested, before walking into the medical storage room. I heard him rustling through boxes and sat down on one of the beds.

Leo picked the bed furthest away from mine.

Honestly, I don't blame him, I laughed to myself. The situation seemed funny in hindsight.

The nurse emerged with some bandages and ice packs. He quickly patched us up with expert efficiency and supplemented the healing process with some healing magic.

"Now, I have the feeling that I'm going to be seeing a lot of you," the older man said as he sat down next to my bed. "You seem like the trouble-making type."

I complained, "You haven't even met me before! How do you know that?"

"Gut feeling," the nurse said simply. "Anyways, you can call me Dr. Andre. Try to avoid coming here very often, okay?"

"You think I want to be here?"

"No one does, but you seem like the reckless type." The doctor laughed. "I'm only the school nurse-- don't do anything too stupid."

Dr. Andre stood up and walked back towards his desk, waving his hand.

"Anyways, you're free to go."

My muscles twinged as I stood up, causing me to groan. Without the adrenaline numbing the pain, my whole body ached like I had been run over by a truck.

When I looked around the nurse's office, I noticed that Leo had already left.

I'm going to see him again soon, I sighed.

After rushing back to the dorms to change into my uniform, I checked my watch and dashed back towards the classroom.

"I can't miss any of my classes on the first day," I groaned.

I thought I left school behind four years ago… I never want to do this again…

***

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. When classes ended for the day, I threw myself onto my bed in my dorm and sighed with relief.

"Hah… it's finally over…"

Dread filled my chest when I realized that I had to do the same thing, almost every day, for the next four years. I shook my head to get such terrible thoughts out of my head.

"I'll handle it one day at a time," I slowly hissed out one long breath.

Suddenly, I heard knocking on my door.

I paused for a second, looking at the door and checking that I wasn't dreaming.

The knocking continued again, though softer and more unsteady than the first time.

"I wonder who that is…?"

Dragging myself out of bed, I walked over and opened the door. My eyes widened slightly.

"A-are you alright?" Perseus asked. "I d-didn't have t-time to ask you in class…"

Behind him stood the taller Lucia, her golden eyes slanted with worry. "You looked pretty rough when you left to go to the nurse's office."

I blinked several times, before laughing softly. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. You didn't have to check in on me, though I do appreciate that."

"Are you fine enough to work out?" Lucia questioned with a devilish smile.

I felt the blood drain from my face and stepped backwards, crossing my hand repeatedly.

"N-no! I'm good!"

Perseus curiously looked between the two of us, before shyly suggesting, "H-he's probably still h-hurt. Maybe we c-could do something l-less physical like… studying?"

Lucia groaned with frustration. "I feel like I only understood 50% of what they were saying…"

Perseus shrugged as well. "Some of the c-concepts were d-definitely pretty hard…"

"I can help," I volunteered. "I think I understood most of the material."

"You were answering all the questions," Lucia snorted. "You probably know the material better than some of the teachers."

That's not really my knowledge, though… A pang of guilt pierced through me, but I shrugged the feeling off and laughed. "I don't know if I'm that good…"

I continued, "Well, you guys can come on in then. Though I only have one chair…"

"We can sit on your bed," Lucia waved her hands dismissively. "Let's go…"

She frowned, before asking the purple-haired boy, "What was your name again?"

"A-ah, I'm P-Perseus."

"Nice to meet you Perseus." Lucia clapped the shorter boy on the back, causing him to cough aggressively.

It's nice to see them get along well, I smiled as I watched them talk to each other.