Little Talks

[Un-Persona†]

Ruth suddenly remembered that he was supposed to bring extra clothes, in case he ruined the ones he was wearing.

"I'll just have to remember to bring some when I get back."

Ruth took the cup from Ms. Au, who was busy taking care of Kyran, and left with Claire.

"So, Ruth, what happened to you?"

"I, uh, got a fever, probably from playing in the rain yesterday." Ruth was looking at the ground, twirling his hair like a telephone cord, out of shyness. Most of his friends were in the other classes, and he barely knew anybody in his own. "So-so, is he gonna be ok?"

[Laurels]

((Un-Persona and I will continue to skip Psych until Claire and Ruth get back to the nurse's office))

"Oh, Kyran, yeah, he should be okay," Claire said to the boy twirling some of his hair around one of his fingers. "He just fell of a swing. Got a few scrapes. A little dirt on him. Nothing too serious. He fell once already today. Just an off day for him. I fell while jumproping, and I'm cool."

She began to trace her fingers along the brick lines in the wall.

"So why were you playing in the rain?" she asked. "Just gotta roll in the mud like a little piglet? Needed an outdoor shower?"

Claire giggled to herself. She was really interested in why Ruth would be outside in the rain.

[Un-Persona†]

Ruth felt nice to know that Kyran would be ok, even if he didn't know him that well. Claire had asked Ruth why he was playing in the rain, which was a good question, with a simple answer.

"No, nothing like that. I was just playing baseball with some friends of mine and, um, it started raining at the 8th inning. We thought the game was almost over, so we wanted to finish it, but it took longer than it was supposed to."

Ruth bumped into the water fountain and stopped to fill his cup with water. "So that's probably why I'm sick"

[Laurels]

Claire waited while Ruth filled his water cup in the fountain. So, he just got sick from playing baseball.

"That's pretty lame," she said. "Did you at least win the game?"

She began to look up and down the halls at the art and decorations on the walls.

"Well, we better get to the class to get Kyran's stuff," she said. "I bet Ms. Jaenichen is wondering where we are."

[Un-Persona†]

"Well, we really don't have that many people, so we didn't play a real game." Ruth took a little sip from his cup and cleared his throat. "So nobody really wins."

Ruth almost choked on his cup when he heard Ms. Jaenichen's voice.

Ruth! Claire! Where have you two been? Recess was over 3 minutes ago! And where's Kyran?

Ms. Janichen was a young woman, but a strict one. She seemed to always have a scowl on her face, and her voice was freighting and booming whenever she was frustrated.

Ruth, almost needing his extra pants, tried to answer Ms. Janichen's questions. "The nurse's office, ma'am."

[Laurels]

Claire giggled when Ruth mentioned how the game didn't have enough people. The idea seemed really silly, to play a game without at least nine players on each team.

That's when she heard the shout. Mrs. Jaenichen realized the two weren't in the class, and was curious as to why they were late. She was so curious, she had to yell. That made Claire uneasy.

Ruth quickly stated why they were out.

"Yeah," Claire added. "Kyran fell down, and Mrs. Au sent us to get his clothes."

"Okay," said Mrs. Jaenichen.

She went into the class and grabbed Kyran's spare clothing. She handed the clothes over to Claire.

"I want you guys to come back as soon as the nurse allows," she told them before returning to the class.

"Alright then," Claire said as the door closed.

She then turned to Ruth.

"Wow. She was really mad. So, uh, we better get this to Kyran before it gets worse."

[Un-Persona†]

Ruth almost forgot his backpack before they left the room. Ruth started to slow his place when he noticed some of his artwork on the wall.

"She's scary sometimes. Even when she's not mad, she looks like it."

Ruth was starting to feel more comfortable around Claire. He wasn't as nervous anymore, maybe because Ms. Janichen made him focus all his worries on her.

"Hey Claire? How do you pronounce your last name? He realized it was a rather random question, but he seriously couldn't tell if it was French or some other European language.

[Laurels]

"My last name? Oh, it's pronounce mon-a-han. The 'g' is silent. My Dad is three quarters Irish, but I got a French name, even though neither of my parents are French. My older sister got a German name, and my brother and little sister got English names."

"So, how did you get the name Rutherford? And why do you go by Ruth?"

Claire was anxious to know why a boy would go by the name Ruth. They were getting close to the nurse's office, and she hoped to know while they had some time together.

[Un-Persona†]

"My dad's name is Rutherford too, so my parents named me after him. People just call me Ruth 'cause it's a lot shorter than Rutherford. I think were named after the president, but I'm not sure. I'm part Irish too, I think. I know I don't look like it, but I'm half Mexican too, on my mom's side."

Ruth could tell they were getting close to the nurse's office, so he kept trying to keep the conversation going.

"Hey, um, are you near-sighted or far-sighted?" Ruth tugged on his own glasses, that hung around his shirt, knowing that he himself was near-sighted.

"She doesn't even wear glasses, you dummy!"

[Laurels]

"Well that's interesting," Claire said in response to how Ruth got his name. "Yeah, I couldn't tell you were Mexican from glancing at you."

"Oh, I have perfect vision. Not a single issue with my eyes. That's why I don't wear glasses, although I bet I would look good with them. But no one in my family wears glasses, so I don't think I'll ever need them. Hey, we're here."

Claire and Ruth had made it back to the Nurse's Office. Claire pushed open the door and made her way into the office.

"We're back!" she shouted. "We got Kyran's clothes!"

[Un-Persona†]

((Psych should pop back in now))

Claire had already made the announcement that they were back, and Ruth felt no need to add to it, so he went back to the cot, placed the cup on the counter next to him, took off his backpack, and resumed his position of being under the blanket.

[Cake]

[[OOC: Sorry for the wait! I'm back and will be quick from now on.]]

Kyran had been sitting on one of the chairs, observing and feeling the texture of the Band-Aids which the nurse used to cover up his scratches. He was feeling much cleaner now. Turns out the scratches on his face were barely visible after the dirt was cleared off. What was discovered was the presence of a bruise on his forearm, which the nurse had given an icepack to him for.

Speaking of the school nurse, she had just wandered out through the back door of the health room, connected to the school's front office to do something. Kyran could see her having a lengthy conversation with one of the office ladies through the open door.

Then the front door of the health room flew open and Claire was there announcing her return along with his extra clothes. The other girl, Ruth, made her way back into the room to lay down, not saying a thing. Kyran looked at her in acknowledgement and went straight to his new friend. He thanked Claire and took the plastic bag of clothing from her. He headed to the bathroom right next door to change.

---

Kyran was quick to change out. He stuffed the dirty clothes in the plastic bag to take home after school was over. Then he headed back into the health room, to see that the nurse was still busy and Claire still there, waiting for her, probably for a written excuse note before heading back to class. Their teacher was awfully picky about that sort of thing, after all. Kyran took a seat and returned to apply the icepack to the bruise on his forearm.

After a fun recess with Claire, Kyran decided to take his chance and engage in a conversation with his other classmate, despite his own shyness. He didn't know the laying girl particularly well, being that it was still early in the school year, but he was bored, so why not?

"Um, Hi Ruth. You're in Ms. J's class too, I think? Sorry if I'm wrong, I don't usually talk to the girls in class."

[Laurels]

Kyran took the bag away from Claire and moved into one of the bathrooms. Mrs. Au was chatting with someone, so Claire would have to wait for the slip to return to class. She hoped Mrs. Jaenichen would be okay with the extra wait. Claire was certain she wasn't missing anything important anyways. It was math period, and she was already excelling in long division, at least according to what her Dad said when he checked her homework.

Ruth had returned to the cot and pulled himself under the covers. Claire thought he looked kind of cute the way he looked when trying to rest. She thought he looked kind of like an anime character with his ambiguous gender and soft features. She figured he could fit in an episode of Pokemon or Sailor Moon (not as a Sailor Scout, but as a background character).

"Well Ruth," she said, stretching her arms, "looks like our quest was a success. Now we need to see the result of our efforts."

Just then, Kyran emerged from the bathroom in his new clothes.

"And there it is."

Kyran sat down and put an ice pack on his arm. Claire saw the bruise on his arm before he put it on. She then realized the extent of her over-zealousness on the playground. She figured it would be a good idea to apologize again. However, Kyran spoke to Ruth first.

Um, Hi Ruth. You're in Ms. J's class too, I think? Sorry if I'm wrong, I don't usually talk to the girls in class.

Claire held back the urge to laugh.

Oh no. He thinks Ruth is a girl. After all this time he still thinks Ruth is a girl. Oh man. Oh man.

Claire then leaned over to Kyran's ear.

"Uh, that's a boy," she whispered.

[Un-Persona†]

Ruth was stretching himself out on the cot, trying to get comfortable. Ms.Au was talking to one of the office ladies, so Kyran and Claire had to wait to get their slips. That was fine by him, since it was always quite in the nurse's office. Claire was congratulating herself and Ruth for getting Kyran's clothes, even though he just went to get his backpack. Perfect timing too, since he really didn't want to do more long division problems, which were written all over the board. Kyran stepped out of the bathroom with his new clothes, and sat down on the same chair he was on before.

Then the typical happened. Kyran thought that Ruth was a girl. Of course, it had happened before, but it was pretty silly. Ruth still felt embarrassed about it however, and hid himself under his blanket. He could hear Claire giggle a little and a tiny bit of whispering. Ruth tried to explain himself, even though he was heavily ashamed.

"Um, but I'm a boy. I'm Rutherford Roger Jr."

[Cake]

"Oops!"

Kyran felt the heat of his own embarrassment rising after hearing the truth about Ruth's gender.

"I just thought, uh, that you uh, well Ruth is a girl's name and um I thought..."

What was a nice way of telling somebody that they looked like a girl? The conversation was quite awkward and would keep going that direction for both if he kept going. It was probably best to apologize, so he did.

"I mean- I'm sorry about that." Kyran sat there quietly, letting his apology sink in before speaking again.

"Wait a sec you're a Ruth Junior, right? Can I call you R.J. for short?"