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Someone chuckled and she looked up to find that her classmates were still in the room. Her pain had eased enough that she was capable of embarrassment now. “Um, how about a little privacy?” she asked, motioning for them to leave.

For some reason they seemed disappointed, but they surprised her by respecting her request and moving towards the door.

“Actually, I’d like to check over you all before you leave,” Fletcher told them. “I’m guessing you’ve come from your Combat exam and Alex probably isn’t the only one to have an injury or two. Please take a seat and I’ll be with you all momentarily.”

“Fletcher,” she whined. “This is humiliating.”

He reached out and closed the curtain around her bed to give her some privacy.

“Better?” he asked.

“Not much,” she muttered, but at least her classmates couldn’t see her anymore.

Fletcher inspected her shoulder again. His prodding was still painful, but it was dulled thanks to the medicine he’d given her. She still hissed when he touched a particularly tender spot.

“Well, it’s definitely dislocated,” he said, “but I’m not sure how bad it is without an X-ray. I’ll just grab my Device.”

He stepped out of sight and returned a moment later holding a book-sized, TCD-like object in his hands.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s a MedTek,” he told her. “It has an application for an X-ray feature which will show me a holographic image of your localised skeletal structure.”

Alex kept still as he held it close to her body and pressed at the screen. He asked her to move a few times, rolling onto her side and then onto her front while he took X-rays from different angles.

“All right,” he said, inspecting the hologram that rose out of the device. “It’s a good, clean, dislocation. We just have to pop it back in and you’ll be right to go. You might be a little tender for a few days, but there’ll be no permanent damage.”

“Pop it back in?” Alex repeated, completely ignoring his other remarks. “What do you mean by that?”

Fletcher didn’t answer immediately, instead he stuck his head out the curtain and said something before moving back to her side. A moment later Declan and Kaiden invaded her bubble of privacy.

“Fletcher?” she growled.

“It means exactly what I said,” he told her. “I have to pop your shoulder back into place.”

Alex stared at him, not letting herself think about how he would do that. “What are they here for, then?” she asked, gesturing to the boys and dreading the answer.

“To keep you still, of course.”

“Of course,” she muttered, closing her eyes slowly before opening them again. “Fine, whatever, just get it over with.”

“That’s a good girl,” he said, beaming at her. “Declan, you grab her legs. Kaiden, make sure you keep her upper half still.”

As her two strong classmates latched onto her, she looked up at Fletcher. “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

“Immensely,” he said. At least he was honest. “But it will be over fast, and then I’ll give you a stronger painkiller as promised.”

“You’d better,” Alex grumbled.

Kaiden squeezed her good arm reassuringly. He sent her a teasing grin and asked, “So, do you come here often?”

To her shame, she actually laughed, and Fletcher used her distraction to click her shoulder back into place.

Agony. Absolute agony. Her laugh turned into a muffled groan as she tried not to scream at the pain. She closed her eyes tightly, desperately willing away the urge to vomit.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the pain started to fade. Alex was soon able to open her eyes again, and as she blinked back tears she noticed Fletcher, Kaiden and Declan all watching her with concern. But it was the dark green vial of liquid in the doctor’s hand that she was more interested in.

“Please tell me that’s for me,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.