Chapter 4 - First Aid
Eve peered into the dank basement classroom in which she would be spending the bulk of her weekend. Despite the fact that she was early, there were already quite a few people. Engrossed in their phones, nobody looked up as she walked in. The desks were arranged in a semi-circle, discussion style. Being fairly timid, she prayed there wouldn't be any discussions. She tried to find a seat that wasn't immediately next to somebody and failed. She settled on a seat at the far end of the room.
The room was silent except for the mad clicking sound of text messages being sent. Not wanting to be the odd one out, she pulled her phone from her purse. She didn't have any new messages, and had recently deleted most of her social media apps. She was just staring at her menu screen. Bored already, but without putting her phone down, she surveyed her fellow students. She was probably the oldest person here. She would be surprised if half of them were old enough to buy alcohol.
A few more people walked in and then, finally, the instructor. He set down a large box on his desk with a thud and asked for a volunteer to help pass out the manuals. A hand flew up next to her. Eve turned her head subtly to have a look at her eager neighbour. All she could see was an unruly cloud of strawberry blonde curls. She got a better look when the girl got up to go grab the pile of books. She was wearing a flannel button down and black leggings. The girl was beaming with energy. Great, her neighbour was teacher's pet AND a perky morning person. Eve re-evaluated how much she actually needed to take this First Aid course.
There was to be a combination of lecture and practical exercises with breaks scattered throughout the day. They began with a lecture. Mercifully, the instructor was engaging and Eve was surprised when the instructor declared their first break. She hadn't brought any food and didn't need to go to the washroom, so she just stayed at her desk and flipped through the manual.
"I'm Daria."
For a moment Eve contemplated pretending she hadn't heard, but her polite upbringing triumphed over her desire to be left alone. They had nothing in common, the girl hailing from outside the city limits and talking about working on cars when she had time off from university. Despite this and to her amazement, she found that she quite liked Daria. She was bright and Eve enjoyed her candour.
They managed to stop talking when class resumed. The instructor announced they would be moving on to a practical section. Daria grabbed Eve's hand and whispered, "You are going to be my partner!" She could feel heat radiating from Daria's hand. It reminded her how long it had been. Her grip remained steady. Eve smiled and nodded in confirmation. To Eve's dismay, having received her response, Daria let go.
They stood in a circle as the instructor demonstrated how to deal with an unconscious person. When he told them to break off into partners to practice, Daria rushed over to grab a mat and then staked a claim on a patch of floor. Eve walked over nervously. She didn't feel like she had paid enough attention to the demonstration. As if she was able to sense this, Daria offered to go first. Visibly relieved, Eve laid on the mat face-down and waited. She may well have been unconscious for she was lost in thought, anticipating how shortly Daria would be handling her petite body. Her heart pounded in her chest. Finally, she felt Daria arranging her legs so that she could easily be flipped over. Eve heard her walk around and waited for her to move her arms. She scolded herself; she should be paying more attention to what Daria was actually doing since she was going to have to do the same thing in a few minutes.
