It took a couple of weeks longer than Ness had hoped before she got the cast off her arm and could finally use a crutch but the joy she got from being able to return to school would have made most teenagers think she had run completely mad. She noticed on her first day back that someone was missing but it was only when he was still missing over a week later that she mentioned it to Zach
"Do you know where Brad is? He hasn't been at school since I got back."
"No clue" Zach responded, too fast and his voice hitched slightly
"Zach?"
"Honestly, I have no idea"
"But you know something about it, what have you done?"
"Nothing! Honest Ness," he looked straight into her eyes "I only told the guys what I suspected, it kinda made Paul angry"
"What?" Ness's voice showed she was suppressing her anger
"I don't know anything beyond that, I swear Ness, you'll have to ask Paul, he wouldn't tell me what he had planned." Zach knew better than to try placating her, so he did the only thing he could think of and threw Paul under the bus. He figured he would have to take a beating on Saturday, no way was Paul going to wait. He looked at Ness again, she was glaring at him, but he could see her gaining control of her emotions.
Ness was furious, she hated the idea that someone else had finished her fight and it was even worse when she didn't know for sure that the fight was warranted. She hadn't seen who hit her, what if it hadn't been Brad, what the hell had Paul done, and how the hell was she going to deal with all of it. She was impatient at the best of times, but she had a few days to wait before she could confront Paul and find out what he had done; by the time Zach picked her up on Saturday she was ready to spill his blood. She was out of Zach's car and looking for the bikes before he had even cut the engine.
"They're never here this early Ness" he said, "Let's go to Jerks,"
"Fine" her curt voice betrayed the barely suppressed anger and Zach winced for the tongue-lashing Paul was going to get, he hoped he could get a warning to him before she started. He didn't.
"PAUL! You fucking jerk!" Ness shouted across the beach, causing several people to turn and stare, Adam actually looked like he ducked; Paul, however, got to his feet and walked forward to meet Ness, a look at Zach confirmed what had caused the outburst, he set a grim look on his face and prepared for the verbal onslaught, what happened next would give the guys a good laugh for the next few months. Ness didn't say a word, she just took her weight on her right leg and swung the crutch hard, so it connected with the back of his knees, sweeping his legs out from beneath him. Paul lay on the beach staring at the sky
"What the…" he asked the passing clouds, Jake laughed loudly,
"She can still whup our asses even while missing the use of one limb!" he whooped.
"Shut up, or you're next." She said through gritted teeth. "Tell me what you did Paul, NOW!" she added, jabbing the end of the crutch into his gut.
"I took the photo that Zach gave me and passed it to someone that owed me a favor. That's all."
"Photo?" Ness turned to glare at Zach
"What? I was angry, he asked for a photo, I sure as hell wasn't going to say no."
"We don't even know it was Brad that hit me! Fuck sake!"
"Yes, we do, my associate made sure to get the truth out of him before… Dealing with him, he admitted to stealing a car, so nobody could pin it on him, he thought he was so fucking clever, he even admitted that he had hoped to do more than break your bones, he wanted to kill you."
"So, what happened to him?" Ness's anger had abated but only because her curiosity had taken over, she flopped down in the space vacated by Paul, the guys all shuffled to make more space for Zach and a somewhat battered Paul
"I don't know the details, he roughed him up a fair bit and used a few connections to get the family an 'opportunity' to move state." He said, simply. "I was told not to ask questions, so I didn't."
"So, Brad actually admitted to trying to kill Ness?" Zach asked, "I knew he was pissed at getting his ass whupped, but the guy didn't seem that unhinged, shit, Ness has whupped most of the guys at school at least once, and if she hasn't, it's because they are smart enough to keep their stupid thoughts to themselves."
"Admitted it and was proud of the damage he did do." Paul said "That boy was pretty sick in the head"
"Well I was proud of the damage I did to him, does that make me sick in the head?" Ness asked, quirking her eyebrow up at Paul,
"No, that makes you badass, you inflicted that damage with your bare hands" Paul grinned "We don't let just anyone into our club, you know"
"Suck-up" Ness responded.
The last shred of tension faded away as they all laughed, and the conversation moved on to safer subjects.