back.
Johnathan must have been extremely tired because he didn’t retaliate when Alec called him Johnny. He just mumbled, or grunted, or something.
“Come on, John. Let me clean up your wounds before you fall asleep,” I said. He grunted again.
Alec and Seth wandered off to find something to eat, talking excitedly about Johnathan’s scuffle with the Devil-hound.
“I’ll go get some water and cloths—and the first aid kit,” Halli said.
“Thanks, Hal.” I scooted my chair around so I was right next to Johnathan. I put my mouth next to his ear. “John, I know you’re tired, but you need to let me clean you up a little. Now, sit up so I can see what new damage you’ve done to your gorgeous face.”
That made him lift his head. I didn’t often express my attraction to him. He looked me in the eyes, a small but sad smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
“Okay. But I’m going straight to bed as soon as you’re done.”
Halli brought the supplies over. We both dipped a cloth into the soapy water. Halli started cleaning the scratches on his arms and hands and I gently wiped the dried blood from his face. His left eye was nearly swollen shut and he had some abrasions to his cheek on that side as well.
The cut on his eyebrow started to bleed again as soon as the crusted blood was removed. I scrubbed the dirt out as best I could. Johnathan didn’t even wince; he just sat there staring at nothing. The cut was deep and gaping and should have had stitches, but I taped the edges together with three butterfly bandages then squeezed some antibiotic ointment over it. Halli applied ointment to the deeper scratches on his arms and hands.
“Okay, John,” I said. “That’s good enough for now. Go get some sleep. But as soon as you wake up, you need to shower to get the rest of the dirt off you.”
He gave me that sad smile again as he slowly stood up. He surprised me when he wrapped his arms around me in a fierce hug and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Paige. I don’t deserve your worry for me.”
I was too startled to respond—this was the first time since his
changing
that he’d shown any affection toward me at all. He quickly let go and headed for his sleeping area, and was asleep within minutes. I stayed close by him all day and checked on him frequently, worried that his injuries might be more severe than they looked.
couple of weeks went by before the school records for Seth and his sister made their way to us, via Joe’s address. We didn’t patrol every night during that time. On those nights when we didn’t, it was usually because Johnathan would say, “I don’t feel like going out tonight. Let’s just get some sleep.” But he wasn’t sleeping much—if at all. I was worried about him—he seemed to be falling into a chasm of depression. And he refused to talk to any of us about it.
The records finally arrived, and Joe introduced Seth and me to our ‘mom.’ Getting signed up for school wasn’t as easy as we hoped it would be for Johnathan and Alec. The admissions secretary at the school was surprisingly unaware of the loopholes regarding homeless students. It took her more than thirty minutes of phone calls to become educated on the subject. Finally, the district sent over a homeless liaison, and she had them signed up and ready to go in ten minutes. She left a copy of the McKinney-Vento Act for the clueless secretary to study, and gave Johnathan and Alec each a card with her contact information.
Seth and I showed up a couple hours later, with the mom Joe had found for us. Seth’s records were missing the last six months or so, because that was when he’d left home, but the secretary didn’t seem too concerned with it. We were in and out as fast as our mom could fill out and sign the paperwork. We were told to report to school in the morning and pick up our class schedules.
I was the only one in our group who couldn’t use my real first
or
last name; I had to use Seth’s
Johnathan must have been extremely tired because he didn’t retaliate when Alec called him Johnny. He just mumbled, or grunted, or something.
“Come on, John. Let me clean up your wounds before you fall asleep,” I said. He grunted again.
Alec and Seth wandered off to find something to eat, talking excitedly about Johnathan’s scuffle with the Devil-hound.
“I’ll go get some water and cloths—and the first aid kit,” Halli said.
“Thanks, Hal.” I scooted my chair around so I was right next to Johnathan. I put my mouth next to his ear. “John, I know you’re tired, but you need to let me clean you up a little. Now, sit up so I can see what new damage you’ve done to your gorgeous face.”
That made him lift his head. I didn’t often express my attraction to him. He looked me in the eyes, a small but sad smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
“Okay. But I’m going straight to bed as soon as you’re done.”
Halli brought the supplies over. We both dipped a cloth into the soapy water. Halli started cleaning the scratches on his arms and hands and I gently wiped the dried blood from his face. His left eye was nearly swollen shut and he had some abrasions to his cheek on that side as well.
The cut on his eyebrow started to bleed again as soon as the crusted blood was removed. I scrubbed the dirt out as best I could. Johnathan didn’t even wince; he just sat there staring at nothing. The cut was deep and gaping and should have had stitches, but I taped the edges together with three butterfly bandages then squeezed some antibiotic ointment over it. Halli applied ointment to the deeper scratches on his arms and hands.
“Okay, John,” I said. “That’s good enough for now. Go get some sleep. But as soon as you wake up, you need to shower to get the rest of the dirt off you.”
He gave me that sad smile again as he slowly stood up. He surprised me when he wrapped his arms around me in a fierce hug and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Paige. I don’t deserve your worry for me.”
I was too startled to respond—this was the first time since his
changing
that he’d shown any affection toward me at all. He quickly let go and headed for his sleeping area, and was asleep within minutes. I stayed close by him all day and checked on him frequently, worried that his injuries might be more severe than they looked.
couple of weeks went by before the school records for Seth and his sister made their way to us, via Joe’s address. We didn’t patrol every night during that time. On those nights when we didn’t, it was usually because Johnathan would say, “I don’t feel like going out tonight. Let’s just get some sleep.” But he wasn’t sleeping much—if at all. I was worried about him—he seemed to be falling into a chasm of depression. And he refused to talk to any of us about it.
The records finally arrived, and Joe introduced Seth and me to our ‘mom.’ Getting signed up for school wasn’t as easy as we hoped it would be for Johnathan and Alec. The admissions secretary at the school was surprisingly unaware of the loopholes regarding homeless students. It took her more than thirty minutes of phone calls to become educated on the subject. Finally, the district sent over a homeless liaison, and she had them signed up and ready to go in ten minutes. She left a copy of the McKinney-Vento Act for the clueless secretary to study, and gave Johnathan and Alec each a card with her contact information.
Seth and I showed up a couple hours later, with the mom Joe had found for us. Seth’s records were missing the last six months or so, because that was when he’d left home, but the secretary didn’t seem too concerned with it. We were in and out as fast as our mom could fill out and sign the paperwork. We were told to report to school in the morning and pick up our class schedules.
I was the only one in our group who couldn’t use my real first
or
last name; I had to use Seth’s
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