Vynsan knocked twice before entering, carefully pulling Olli along behind him.

“Hey Mr. B, my friend hurt his hands, can we have an ice pack please?” Vynsan spoke casually to the nurse, Mr. B, as he explained why they were here. “I know you’re just about to be on lunch break, so we won’t bother you for long, haha!”

Olli stared at Vynsan in surprise, no one had ever called him a friend, even before all the bullying started. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts then looked around to try and spot who Vynsan was talking to, but didn’t see anyone in the main room. A voice called out through an open doorway off to the side, “Nah, it’s fine Vynsan. The packs are in the freezer, just be sure to return it later.”

“Alright, thanks.” Vynsan let go of Olli’s hand to look in the freezer, before coming back and handing him the ice pack. His hands tingled as they gripped it, relief spreading throughout his aching palms shortly after.

“Thank you, feels better already.” Olli mumbled as they walked out the door, Vynsan pausing to shut it behind them.

“No problem, sorry I left you behind though, the halls were a bit crowded and I didn’t notice you weren’t behind me until I got downstairs.” Vynsan sighed as he apologized, “Anyways, we should go drop your stuff off at your locker and go eat lunch. Make sure we have enough time to eat without rushing.”

Olli nodded and followed Vynsan to his locker. He already knew the way, it was easy to get around the relatively small school, but he liked hanging out with Vynsan. If following him around everywhere meant he wouldn’t be lonely, Olli would gladly do so.

Neither of them had brought lunch, so Olli quickly dropped off his books while Vynsan leaned back against the lockers next to him.

“I didn’t realize you weren’t with me until I was almost to our lockers, so I dropped it off and went back to look for you.” Vynsan explained without Olli having to ask. He nodded and closed his locker, making sure it was locked before following Vynsan to the cafeteria. No one probably knew it was his locker, but Olli had to make sure to lock it after he’d forgotten twice, back in second school. He had learned his lesson(;-;) and made sure to double check every time he locked it.

Their lockers were on the opposite side of the school from the cafeteria, so they would have to head back past the stairwell again. Olli hoped they wouldn’t see him, but he didn’t want to go out of his way to walk to the cafeteria using a longer route. It would be easier to just walk by quickly and duck inside the cafeteria if they did see him.

The stairwell was coming up on Olli’s right, so he moved around so Vynsan would be blocking him from view. They only walked a couple steps past it though when he heard it clang open and someone rush in their direction.

Olli whirled around and saw the guy who had tripped him, he was walking in their direction and waved when he looked up and saw Olli looking at him. As Olli turned around to run away, the guy noticed and started walking faster “H-hey! Don’t run away! I just wanted to say I’m sorry!”

Olli stopped and looked at him suspiciously, while Vynsan watched, confused.

“What’s going on? Why is he sorry, what happened?” Vynsan voiced his thoughts aloud.

“I accidentally tripped him, I didn’t see him comin’ down the stairs behind me. I’m sorry, are you hurt?” He looked over at Olli, then down at his hands where he was holding the ice pack.

“Y-you’re sorry?? You didn’t trip me on purpose then? I thought you blamed me afterwards…” Olli frowned, looking off to the side, “You don’t have to lie, I won’t tell on you.”

“Ah! No! That was a bad joke, I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was blaming you… I wasn’t lying, I’m really sorry… I’ll get going now, I guess. You haven’t had lunch yet, right? You guys should get food before it’s time for the next class.” He started backing away, then turned around and walked back to the stairwell his friends were in.

“...I thought you fell?” Vynsan said hesitantly, not wanting to sound like he was accusing Olli of lying.

“I… I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble, that always makes the bullying worse.” Olli started walking towards the cafeteria, looking down at his feet and fidgeting with the ice pack in his hands.

“Bullying? People bullied you at your old school?” Vynsan was a little shocked when Olli nodded. He had never seen anyone bully another kid in his school, and he hadn’t realized how different other neighborhoods could be.

“I don’t think anyone here would bully you, but just stay with me and I’ll help you if they do.” Vynsan had made up his mind. If anybody even thought about hurting Olli he would be there to stop them.

***

Olli’s hands had already stopped hurting before school ended, but he didn’t know his way around the school well enough to drop the ice pack off in between classes. It was already melting, becoming a useless squishy lump by the time the final bell rang.

“Let’s go drop the ice pack off and then I’ll drive you home.” Vynsan said as they were walking to their lockers.

“Ok, thank you for showing me around all stir, and for driving me… and for taking me to the nurses office.” Olli was slightly embarrassed that Vynsan had had to help him so much all stir.

Vynsan chuckled, “It’s fine. I can drive you every stir if you want. We’re neighbors, and it’s faster than the bus, too.”

“A-alright, thank you!” Olli squeaked out.

“No problem.” Vynsan started off down the halls towards the nurse's office when he noticed Olli had finished closing his locker.

They chatted quietly until they reached the nurses office, then went inside to quickly put the melted ice pack away. The nurse, Mr. B, was already packed up and waiting for them to leave so he could lock his office.

“You must be a new student, I’ve never seen you before.” The man, Mr. B, said to Olli, “I’m the nurse, Mr. Bronsen, but you can call me Mr. B.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Bronsen- Mr. B. My name is Olifar, I just moved here.” He seemed pretty laid back, and nice, so Olli wasn’t too nervous around him, especially with Vynsan around.

“Alright, I’m done. Thanks for waiting for us, if we borrow anything else we’ll bring it back earlier.” Vynsan smiled as he walked out of the room, waiting for the nurse to lock the door before parting ways.

“Bye Mr. B, have a nice stir!” Vynsan waved as he started walking away, Olli following close behind. The nurse nodded and went the other way, shoes clanking on the metal floor.