Emily and Helen had been walking for a fair amount of time and had, more than likely, covered about half the trip to the University by now. The district where Emily lived was a pretty fair distance from the University. It meant that it would take them longer to get there, which had been a problem with Emily, but had not been a problem for Helen. The girl could have gotten sick again, at any time, and the more time they took it easy, without Emily getting into a stressed-out mood from seeing her friend, or not seeing him, the better.
They were now at the very edge of the city, and were walking, slowly. Emily had begun this trip by running, but Helen had quickly stopped her. She expressed to Emily the importance of maintaining a slow and steady pace, in her condition. While it was true that Emily felt a lot better, if Jim was at the University, he would still be there, whether they got there in 20 minutes or 60 minutes. “It will be better for us to take it easy on our way there, for your sake. I don't want you to get sick again, Emily, okay?” Emily had not liked the idea of taking it easy, but she agreed to go a little slower, afraid Helen would take her back home if she got sick again.
She was just worried because of what had happened the last time she saw him. That girl who took him looked like she was angry with him. With the way she'd treated her when she called up, trying to stop her, she worried for Jim's safety. If she would forcefully kick Emily, what would she do to Jim? Would he be hurt? Did anyone even know where he was? She had faith that he was back at the University today, but those thoughts of him being hurt lingered in her mind. She was worried about him, and about how he was doing.
Helen could see the worry in Emily's face. The girl was stressing herself way too much for this guy. She almost wanted to hurry up and get there, just to get the stress off Emily's head, but she didn't want to risk her getting sick again. Having some stress on the mind was a lot better than collapsing and getting sick. Not wanting the stress to weigh too heavily on her, she decided to intervene and start conversation with the girl. “So, Emily...you've been worried about this Jim person for a good while now. What's making you so worried?”
It was an interesting question and definitely made her think for a moment. She felt Helen's arm go around her shoulder as they walked, both as a friendly gesture and to be there, in case the girl fell over. She looked at Helen's face, seeing an innocently curious expression pointed towards her. She started collecting her thoughts and spoke of why she thought she was worrying about him so much. “Well, he helped me. He helped me a lot yesterday, and I suppose I just want to make sure he's okay, and to help him if he needs it, to return the favor.”
Helen smiled, inquiring further about what had happened. She knew what happened, as Emily had told her earlier. She wanted to keep Emily's mind busy, and to let out as much of this stress as she could before they got back. “Helped you? What did he do to help you, Emily?” Emily got a soft grin on her face as she heard the curious tone of voice that Helen was giving her. She was pretty sure she'd already told Helen about why she was so worried about Jim and what he'd done to help her out the previous day, but she saw no harm in telling her again.
“Well, Helen...” she began. “It was yesterday, when I was trying to get to practice. I had just run into two girls on campus and I was late, so I was rushing across the place to find where the squad was meeting. On the way there, I ended up tripping and my ankle fell into one of the small Path-Signs they used to direct the Minor students and faculty around campus.” She took a deep breath as she looked down towards her ankle, which was still patched up. “I was hurt pretty badly. The sign had stabbed right through my ankle, and couldn't take the pain. That's when he came closer.”
Helen held as interested of a look on her face as she could as she listened to Emily's story unfolding, watching the wind blowing at the girl's crimson hair. “He was right there, in front of me. With an injury in his own leg, he came forward and tried to calm me down. He convinced me to let him me with the injury. Trying to take all of the pain, I waited and screamed as he yanked the sign out of my ankle. This got me very emotional, but aside from that is what he did next...”
“Next...my ankle was bleeding out, uncontrollably. He had pressed his own body down on my ankle, using everything he had to hold the blood in and keep my injury from getting worse. I could tell, by the look in his face, that he was also in a lot of pain. He wasn't willing to let any more blood out than he had to. My blood had even started to push him away from my ankle, but still, he held on.” Emily's face was red and she was smiling as they walked along, further down the road, the University off in the distance.
“I ended up wrapping the injury up, but I would never have gotten the courage to look past my pain if he hadn't been there for me. He helped me fight back and endure the pain I felt. He did so much for me, like a true friend would. We both napped together, in the field after that. So, I guess I just really admired what he did for me, a complete stranger, and would like to return the favor, somehow.” Helen was smiling and held Emily closer to her. “Emily, I think that's great. Maybe when we get to campus, you'll be able to help him with something, like you want.”
Emily looked up at Helen and smiled back, ready to say something, but then saw the campus a short distance in front of them. “Oh, wow! We're here already!” The two of them walked a little faster as they approached the front gates. Helen's plan had worked out perfectly. Emily was smiling and having fun now, rather than staring at the ground, stressed out.