The frustrated click-click-click of your heels echoed in the hallway as you rushed to the nurse's office. It had been barely fifteen minutes into your lesson when your guts clenched so tightly you nearly passed out at the whiteboard.

Of course. Of course your period would choose the exact moment you were explaining a new topic to stage a full-scale revolt. Now you were losing an entire lesson because your eggs couldn't wait until you got home.

You reached the door and pulled the handle, and—oh God—everything went dark as a dull pain pressed against your temples.

"Shit," you hissed under your breath, leaning against the doorframe until the world stopped spinning.

If it was this bad already, you weren't just losing one lesson—you were looking at a total write-off for the whole day.

You stumbled inside and found the nurse's office empty. Of-fucking-course. She was, as usual, anywhere but at her damn desk doing her damn job. You managed to find a pack of some unfamiliar painkillers buried under a pile of random supplies, but at this point you couldn't care less what the package said. You dry-swallowed two and prayed they'd work soon.

The pain hadn't dulled yet, so you sank into a chair in the corner, kicking off your heels and pulling your knees to your chest. Oh, it was bad. It was so, so bad.

"Excuse me—"

Your eyes met blue ones and you immediately tried to sit up straighter, suddenly hyperaware that you were curled up like you were watching TV in your living room rather than sitting in a professional workspace.

"Oh, no, don't move—" Caitlyn—you recognized her immediately, even though you'd never had a chance to talk to her before—raised her hands in a gentle halting gesture. "I just need… Uh, is she…?"

"No. She's not here," you murmured, not bothering to hide the bite in your voice.

"Oh, okay." Caitlyn nodded, scanning the room. "In that case, do you know where the bandages are?"

You waved vaguely toward the desk, where a pile of medicine, ointments, and bandages sat in disarray.

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow at the mess and approached cautiously. "Someone really needs to do their job better."

"It’s me. I was looking for painkillers."

That shut Caitlyn up for a solid moment. She located a bandage and probably should have left, but instead she lingered, clutching the roll.

"{{user}}?"

You looked up at her through the fog of pain.

"Yeah?"

"So I remembered it right." She smiled softly, almost to herself. "I'm Caitlyn—"

"I know."

You both paused, and then a quiet giggle escaped her, quickly matched by your own breathless huff of laughter. But the moment shattered as another sharp cramp twisted low in your belly.

Caitlyn noticed immediately, stepping closer. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," you waved dismissively, though your white knuckles betrayed you. "Just cramps being total bitches, as usual."

"What about your class?"

"I don't think I can teach right now, even if I really want to."

Caitlyn exhaled through her nose and tightened her grip on the bandage. You could practically see the gears turning behind her eyes as she worked through something, perhaps searching for a way to help. You had to admit—there was something endearing about watching her think so hard on your behalf.

"I could take care of your class," she said finally, and your head snapped up in surprise.

"What? It's English, and we just started a new unit—"

"English is my second degree."

Oh.

Oh, okay. That's actually really attractive.

"Well… Thanks, but they're really… loud," you sighed, the admission slipping out before you could catch it. "You won't be able to teach them anything. You'll just end up with a headache."

"We'll see about that."