Hello! Like I said on one of my main stories, I've been wanting to get myself back into writing a little more by writing a couple of random stories/one-shots and I saw this random prompt online where it said "Character A and Character B meet each other in the hospital on Christmas Eve" and I decided to my own little twist on it. This isn't Christmas related, but meh, sue me. XD Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this!

Every since I was young, the hospital became a second home to me. If I wasn't there just to see mom or when she wasn't able to get me a baby sister, I was probably on one of the gurneys. It wasn't because I was a troublesome kid, but more because I could never figure out how to not get hurt. When I was a kid, I would always find a way to get hurt in some way. May it be falling from a tree, trying to jump the canal on my bike, or just tripping down the stairs, I found a way somehow to get hurt. Nowadays, it's more like I can't escape it. I somehow always find myself at the other end of Steve Palchuk's fist constantly. Especially recently when I decided to be a hero and try to help a kid named Eli when Steve decided he was his target of the week. Since then, I became his target of the year.

So walking around the hospital with a bandage right above my eyebrow and my hand wrapped in gauze was not an abnormal sight to the staff. No one questioned me and often times they enjoyed seeing me. Especially since when I was younger, I would always try to make the other patients happier by going to random hospital rooms and try to make them laugh with shitty jokes. I stopped doing that after one of my favorite patients ended up passing away when I was ten, but I would still lend a helping hand to the staff if they were too busy to do a random check-in with the less urgent patients. Like if it was someone that just came out of minor surgery or a kid with a broken arm, they would send me in there to just say 'Hi' and keep them distracted for a little bit longer while they would run around with their heads cut off.

"Oh, Jim! Come over here real quick." I gave the head nurse who I've always known as 'Auntie Margret' a smile before heading over to her. It was clear she was going to ask me for assistance since she was swamped with papers and the three phones on her desk were ringing madly. I watched as she pushed the chaos off for a second to give me a quick once over. "What was it today? Fell off your bike or that kid is still giving you problems?" I felt a little uneasy as she gave me a knowing smile. She knew what was going on with me and Steve but she also knew that I didn't want my mom to worry about it. She had enough stress on her plate. I didn't need to add onto it.

"A combination of the two." I gave her a small smile that received a small chuckle from the woman as she shook her head lightly. "I'm guessing you need my help?" I gave her a bigger smile to encourage us to change the topic. She gave me a paper that had a room number, the name of the patient, and the reason why they were here. I didn't even bother looking at it because I knew she would just say what she needed of me and where to go out loud anyway.

"There is a girl your age in room 30A. Her name is Claire. She's here due to a minor crash where she fractured her ankle, nearly broke her arm and had stitches recently. Since your mom is a little busy and so is the other doctors, she has to stay a little longer until one of them can give her the clear to leave. Your mom said something about giving her a concussion test at least before letting her leave. Mind giving her a little company?" I gave her a nod which rewarded me a smile. "Thanks, kiddo." I started on my way soon after the room. I had the wings memorized at this point so I didn't really have to worry about really getting lost.

Once I arrived, I knocked on the door lightly and opened the door with a small smile. Instantly, I was floored by the sight. The girl was certainly near my age from what I could tell. She had black hair that seemingly met her shoulders with a blue streak going through it. Her eyes were an intoxicating chocolate brown that had a small number of freckles that danced directly under them on her cheeks. She had a Papa Skull shirt on with a purple skirt. It was obvious she was hurt enough to go to the hospital with how they had her ankle wrapped up to her caff, a bandage wrapped around her left forearm, and a bandage that was on her right temple. Even with the bandages and wrappings, she was breathtaking.

"Um, do you have the wrong room?" Her voice shook me back to reality. Even though my instant thought was "Wow, her voice is just as pretty as she is".

"Oh sorry, I'm Jim Lake. My mom is one of the doctors here. They're all a little busy right now, so they asked me to check in on you to how you're doing." I gave her a smile as I came fully into the room. "I know I look like a patient, I technically am." I gave myself a chuckle to make myself a little less uptight as I spoke. "But I always try to help them out when I can." The girl gave me a small smile.

"So, Jim, why are you here if you're technically a patient?" I walked a little closer and pointed at the bandage on my forehead that mirrored her's with my gauze wrapped hand. "A tiny little scrap with a classmate of mine." She nodded to my statement.

"Oh, sorry you had to go through that. Wait, what school do you go to? I don't think I have ever seen you before." I gave her a smile as I felt more relaxed. "I go to Arcadia Oaks High." I watched as she leaned her head back to the pillow that behind her as she gave me a smirk. Instantly I realized that she went to the academy. "And you're an academy kid." She gave me a nod before giving me a shrug.

"My mom wants me to transfer to Arcadia Oaks High though. My friends go there so my mom says it would just be easier for everyone if I just transfer." I nodded as she spoke. It seemed reasonable. Fewer trips. More time with her friends. "I don't personally like it as the academy anyway. Most of them are stuck up all to hell." I laughed with her on that one. "But since you're here because of a school fight, I'm starting to think the academy can't be that bad." I gave her a small shrug.

"The normal high school isn't that bad. I just got on the wrong side of a kid that's not afraid to get in a little trouble. I think you would like it anyway. Not as many stuck ups." She laughed at my joke and then stuck out her hand soon after.

"The name's Claire. Claire Nuñez." I took her hand with my uninjured one and shook it with a smile. Nuñez? Why does that sound familiar? "So since you're here to help pass time, what kind of things are you into?"

Soon after that, we started talking just normally. We went from talking about school, music, our favorite movies, and our dream jobs. Finding out, Claire was a girl that very committed to her passions. She was dedicated to becoming an actress. I almost got her to go on for an hour just about theater and her favorite plays. Just like how she got me to talk for almost thirty minutes straight about my desire to get a Vespa which she then joked that after I talked about how I was almost always at the hospital that if I had one then I would literally be at the hospital every single day. We ended up exchanging numbers while talking after we both agreed that we needed to speak more after this.

"How did you even end up doing that?" She questioned me as she was laughing through talking as I then gave her an over-exaggerated shrug. "I have no clue! One moment I'm on my bike, the next I'm skidding across the street!"

"And you think you could handle a Vespa better?"

"Yes, yes I do." She shook her head with a smile.

"You're certainly a special one, aren't you Lake?" I gave her a smile as a knock arrived on the door. We both looked over to see that my mom then entered the room.

"Hello there Ms. Nuñez. I see you have met my son, Jim." She walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I hope he didn't give you any problems. We don't need the council woman's daughter feeling uncomfortable."

Wait. She's the council woman's daughter? No wonder why her last name sounded so familiar! Now things make a lot of sense. The idea of her going to the academy and everything. By the way she acts, I can tell she hates the kind of kids that have the whole "My family has power and stuff so you gotta like me" kind of thing.

"To be honest? He made this place a lot less insufferable." I smiled at both of them as my mom patted my shoulder.

"Well, I'm glad. Thank you for your help, Jim. You know the routine." I nodded and said my goodbye to Claire and started my way out of the room. "Now your family is in the waiting room for you but before you leave I want to do a quick-" I closed the door lightly behind me and started to make my way to my mom's office.

I don't think mom would mind if I go there to sneak a drink from her little fridge in there. As she said, I did a good job. Also, I think my throat was dry from the very moment I walked into the room.

"We're sorry we had to leave you at the hospital sweetie. I had a meeting that was urgent and your baby brother needed someone to be with him." I shrugged it off as I held Enrique's stuffed bunny that once used to be mine before him. I watched him coo with a smile as I gave him the stuffed animal completely.

"It's okay, Mama." I then turned to look out of the window and watch the sunset upon the horizon. I was used to this. A lot of my life was consisting of my mom being within my life but also really not. She was like a transparent essence within my life. My father was little more consistent but he was also not always there either. I love both of them, don't get me wrong, but it was as if the last part of my teenage life is going to be mainly raising myself as well as helping to raise someone else. That was another reason why I hated going to the academy. Everyone there thinks it's all sunshine and rainbows to be the child of an influential figure.

Your mom is councilwoman, right? How is that like? My dad is the mayor of the town so if it's anything like that, you must have a lot of alone time. It must be nice right? For me, it's amazing.

Council woman's daughter, huh? Not as cool as my dad's job but it's alright. What's that like anyway?

I hate it. That's why it was such a breathe air to talk to Mary and Darci whenever I can. It was also amazing to talk to someone like Jim.

"A lot of people think that being at the hospital a lot must be annoying, but I actually enjoy it. My best friend, Toby, likes to joke that it'll turn me into my mom but I actually love helping them out while they can. Might as well help those that are helping others while I'm here, you know?"

He was different.

I smiled to myself as I remembered he smiled and how he had bright blue eyes that contrasted to jet black hair. He was this kind of cute mixture of dorky, sweet, and also kind of cool. For each part, I could come up with at least ten reasons as to why I could say that. Everything from his favorite movie being Gun Robot 3 to the idea that the reason why he got into a fight a school was because he was standing up for a kid that was being bullied.

"Was the stay terrible? Did you just sit there and wait the whole time?" I was pulled out of my thoughts as my mom started to speak again. I gave myself a smile as my mind danced back to a memory of laughing as Jim was talking about how he and his best friend used to try to jump the canal when they were kids. Thinking that they could fly if they went fast enough.

"No, it was actually quite decent." My dad hummed in approval after I spoke. "Well, that's good. How was school today, before the little crash?"

Oh yeah, the little crash. I put my hand in my jacket and held tight onto the amulet that was sitting in it's pocket. Totally was just a little crash.

"Um, speaking of that, when can we talk about transferring me to Arcadia High?"

"Oh? You finally made up your mind on it?"

"Yeah. Let's just say today gave me a lot to think about."