There is quiet crying coming from this one room.

...

He knocks gently.

There is a soft eeping sound, and then a moment of silence, and then a soft voice says "...Come in?"

He comes in.

"Hey. You okay?"

"I'm fine." (She's clearly not.) "Who are you?"

"Scott. McCall. Scott McCall? My mom's a nurse here, and I was just bringing her dinner. What about you?"

"Anna-Sophia Sayers."

"Nice to meet you, Anna. What are you here for?"

"My first name is Anna-Sophia, it's hyphenated."

"Anna-Sophia. Sorry. Um, do you need anything? It seemed like- well, do you need anything?"

Shrug. Huddle.

"...how about I get you some food. Decent food, from across the street. There's Chinese, a sandwich shop, and a bakery, but that's probably closed."

"--Okay."

"They probably said you can buzz if you need blankets or water, but I can get that on my way back, if you need it."

Shrug.

He steps out, closing the door gently behind him.

He retrieves his order of Chinese with a grateful smile, and retrieves a sandwich for Anna-Sophia. He's not sure what she likes. He avoids meat and cheese and takes both meals back with him.

After a quick stop at the nurse's station, he knocks on her door again.

"Come in?"

"Food and blankets," says a familiar voice, though his face is currently obscured by blankets.

"...Thanks."

He deposits the blankets at the foot of her bed, and approaches to hand her the food.

She takes it carefully. Her eyes dart to the door.

"Is everything okay?"

"Mhm." (No.)

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm not really sure if you're just trying to be polite here, I don't want to bother you."

"Wouldn't help."

"My mom's a nurse," he repeats.

"But if you don't want to talk about it, we won't. I wasn't sure what you like, so I just stuck with the simple stuff."

"Thanks."

"I have friends. Who can do more things than a nurse can. They couldn't help. So she can't."

"I trust you. It's your choice."

He probably shouldn't watch the girl he's just met each her sandwich, he's not her mother.

"Do you go to Half Moon Bay?"

"Mhm."

"Do you want me to go before your...parents...get back?"

"Please."

"Night."

He does as the lady says. He goes home, and catches up on some reading.

If he notices, she's back in school a few days later, talking to a pair of other girls and seeming much less terrified.

He does notice. He considers. He heads towards them.

"Hi," she says when she sees him.

"You know this guy?"

"A little bit."

"Uh, hi. I just wanted to check in. Make sure you're- okay."

"--These are my friends."

"Oh. That's good. Uh, I'm Scott. I heard Anna-Sophia when I was in the hospital, and asked her more questions than I probably should have. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Okay. I'll just...go then?"

He goes.

"Wait."

He waits.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. You were nice."

"Oh. You're welcome. Have a good day."

And he goes.

A few days later, just before lunch, Edie receives a video in a group chat.

Edie checks the video.

It's a girl, siting in the chemistry lab.

She drops her pen first, and then begins convulsing.

It has all the makings of a seizure, but her classmates don't seem concerned.

They laugh, and one of them films her from behind.

The teacher finally interrupts, yelling at them to help him, and the video cuts out.

Edie gets up and bolts for the chemistry lab.

The chemistry lab is rapidly emptying as people move on to other things. The teacher is attempting to arrange her body in a less dangerous manner, alone.

Edie snarls, low in her throat.

The teacher starts, but most students continue walking.

"Can you help, please? I knew she had epilepsy but this is more than I expected..."

"Yes, of course." She comes over.

Getting her into a safe position is easier with two people, but it's still difficult to do in a chemistry lab.

The teacher doesn't particularly seem to know what he's doing.

Edie doesn't either but there is the internet to consult.

The teacher will trust her arcane wisdom.

They get the girl onto her side.

By then, it already seems to be subsiding.

She starts to breathe normally again.

"Are you okay?" Edie asks when she looks recovered enough to talk.

"Fine. This happens a lot."

The teacher stands, muttering something vague about handing out detentions, and leaves them alone.

"Okay. Do you need anything?"

"Punch the one with the camera for me? This will give them fodder for weeks."

"It will be my sincere pleasure. Fodder?"

"For whatever joke they're going to use now. Hopefully no one goes for pig's blood. It's not even the right motif."

"What?"

"It's not usually that bad, just some teasing. Scott will probably feel guilty he wasn't there to stop them filming and get me a present, so it works out. Seriously, I'm fine. This is how high school works."

"I wonder if it's even legal to film someone like that and distribute it without their consent. I think I ought to find out."

"...if you want. I'm not sure it's a good idea to escalate. If they don't do anything, it'll just get worse."

"Mm. I see your point. Something has to be done, though, this is not acceptable."

"If you feel like telling at some teenagers, be my guest. They just know which kids they can target."

"There should not be a set of kids they can target."

"I didn't invent the concept of popularity or useless administrators. I've just learned to accept them."

"Well. I have not."

"...thanks. I don't think it'll help, but thanks for offering. We should get going."

"Yeah, okay."

So they get going to lunch.

Scott waves at them from his and Erica's usual table.

"Thanks for the help. See you around."

"See you."

Edie attempts to figure out who the person who took the video was.

It might be one of the young men at this table who are currently watching it and laughing.

She walks over to this table and clears her throat.

The boys elbow each other until everyone's attention is on the girl.

One of them stands up, and offers her his hand.

"Hey, cutie. I'm Van. What can I call you?"

"Someone with an ounce of compassion. Do you really think mental illness is that hilarious?"

He doesn't know what to say to that. He looks pleadingly at one of his friends.

His friend shrugs.

He looks back at her.

"Man, I don't know. It's not like she's really sick."

"How do you know that?"

"I mean, you know...I mean...hey guys, back me up here."

He swats one of his friends, now snickering at him and Edie. One of them makes kissing noises.

"Ugh. I don't know, she's just always so snotty and bitchy and she's not even pretty, she's a total spaz!"

"Wow. Not even pretty." She applauds slowly. "Good to know that the long-held tradition of boys reducing women to their desirability as sex partners is alive and well."

The boy looks uncomfortable.

"Hey- I didn't mean- that's not fair, now you're twisting everything up."

"I found you guys making fun of an epileptic, how much do I need to twist it?"

"...I'll delete the videos, happy?"

Some of his friends groan.

"Thank you."

He shakes his head and sits down, fiddling with his phone.

"There," he says, showing her as he deletes the video.

This gets him a little smile. Very little, but there. "Thank you."

He smiles back, then.

His friends seem put off or amused, by turns, but no one seems inclined to make any trouble.

She walks back to her table after socially acceptable conversation-ending maneuvers have been performed. Well. That didn't solve the problem, but it probably helped.

It isn't that day, but the next, that Allison approaches their table.

"Hey. I saw what you did yesterday, with those boys. I just wanted to thank you. I've been trying to get them to leave her alone for ages, I don't know what you said, but thanks."

"I asked them why they thought epilepsy was funny."

"Oh. I didn't think of that. It was always so stupid anyway, I guess I didn't think of pointing it out. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I wish I'd been able to do more sooner."

"Kids can be awful. I just wish they'd keep it to themselves. It's not like we can help every person who's being bullied."

"Yet. Growth mindset."

"Yet. Thank you."

She returns to her table.

The next day, Allison can be found at Erica's table.

While Erica and Scott both seem confused by this turn of events, at least Scott looks grateful.