(no subject)

[fry_sandhu]

The advantage of being a kid is that when you need a moment to think how you can get out of trouble, you can at least momentarily hide in the toilet. At least this is the strategy Fry uses today, when he slips into the bar.

The first thing he does is go to the real bathroom to check whether he's getting a black eye from the scuffle. He peers at it carefully. Definitely redder than the other. Bother, more questions!

He comes back out and goes up to Bar.

"I don't know what to do." he says.

Bar produces a game of travel scrabble. Fry shakes his head.

"No, I mean, what do you do when every answer is going to get you into trouble with someone?"

'Be brave?'

Comments

[runningred]

"Fry?" Jay asks softly, making sure not to sneak up behind the boy. "Are you okay?"

[fry_sandhu]

"No." Fry says, looking round. His eye is just starting to swell a little. "Everyone is asking me questions and I have to keep a secret."

[runningred]

"That's a hard thing to do." Jay nods, checking the boy's face. "Fry, are you hurt?"

[fry_sandhu]

Fry looks at the floor.

"No. I'm scared." he says.

Not about his face though. He's confident he got Bradley back at least as hard as he got hit, but he's pretty sure that being in a fight with a wheelchair user is going to land him in more trouble.

[runningred]

"Can you tell me what's happened?" He sits down opposite Fry.

[fry_sandhu]

"Tommy asked me to keep a secret of where he's gone, but Bradley saw him leave school and said you have to tell secrets if someone's in trouble, but he's not in trouble so I wouldn't tell him and he tried to beat me up but I won." Fry says. "But now he's got Miss Havisham and I don't know what to say."

[runningred]

Jay nods. "Would you like some advice?" He'd rather give Fry the choice.

[fry_sandhu]

"I think so yes please." Fry says.

[runningred]

"When you teacher arrives, I would suggest being as honest as you can with her without betraying your friend's secret. Even if you get in trouble, you've done the right things to protect the trust your friend put in you."

[herr_bookman]

Autor approaches carefully, trying not to startle him. "Hello, Fry. Are you all right? It looks like someone hit you."

[fry_sandhu]

"Yes, it does look like that." Fry says, choosing his words carefully.

[herr_bookman]

Autor furrows his brow. "Did someone hit you?"

[fry_sandhu]

"Yes." Fry says. "But I won." he adds quickly.

[herr_bookman]

"Well, that's good at least," Autor says, frowning a little. "Why were you in a fight in the first place?"

[fry_sandhu]

"Because Tommy wants me to keep a secret, Bradley wanted me to tell him, but Tommy doesn't want Bradley to know." Fry says. "And Bradley thinks Tommy's in danger but he's not so I can't tell the secret."

[herr_bookman]

"So Bradley hit you because you wouldn't tell?" Autor says, shaking his head. "That's a dumb reason to hit someone. Good on you for keeping the secret. I'm proud of you, Fry. Will you get in trouble for the fight?"

[fry_sandhu]

"He said I was a lousy friend." Fry says. "I called him the same."

"If Miss Havisham finds out, yes." he adds. "I'm pretty sure it looks bad if you fight someone who uses a wheelchair most of the time."

[soldier_blade]

Sonya had noticed the kid in Milliways more then a few times during her time here, but even when her daughter was a child herself, she was never one to casually intrude on other kids without some sort of introduction. She was usually just one to leave them alone.

She's reading a military history magazine at the bar when she sees the kid from the corner of her eye. Much as she usually left other kids alone, she still kept watch from a distance (the combination of being an officer and maternal instinct), and she definitely noticed the swollen eye he was sporting.

"Bar, can I have an ice pack." A small, blue chill pack appeared infront of her. She took it and handed it to the kid. "Hey, kid, this will help with the swelling."

There was no point asking 'what happened'. Sonya had been in enough fights (to say nothing about the rest of her family) to know that no one really got a 'bad eye' by falling onto something.

[fry_sandhu]

Fry takes the pack, and looks at it, then drops it on the bar, startled.

"It's cold. What do I do with it?"

[soldier_blade]

She frowned, reaching to pick up the ice pack. Maybe it was a little cold for a small kid. She asked bar for a small tea towel.

"It's an ice pack.." She covered one of her eyes with the pack to show him, keeping her grip light on it but keeping it covered. "Hold it over that sore eye of yours, it'll reduce swelling down."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry tries it, cautiously, on his eye. Then drops it again.

"It's cold!" he says again.

[soldier_blade]

She didn't pick it up again. "Wrap it up in the towel, see if that helps, but it has to be cold for it to work." She wasn't going to raise a scene in a public place, especially with a kid who's parents she didn't know. "After a minute it should get numb."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry flaps his hands a couple times, anxiously.

Nothing personal, Sonya, his dad can't get him to do things like this either.

"It's cold." He says again, picking it up only to put on the bar, wrapping it in the towel, but not putting it on his face.

[soldier_blade]

Sonya realized she had to be more direct. "Yes, it's cold, but the cold will reduce swelling in your eye and make it less painful tomorrow. Which would you prefer, the cold of the ice pack, or your eye swelling and making it difficult to see the next day?"

She kept her voice gentle. "Your parents give you medicine when you're sick, right? It tastes awful at first, but it helps you feel better, same with the ice pack-only you don't eat this."

[fry_sandhu]

"I would rather it swelled." Fry says, considering. "Calpol tastes of strawberry."