The two guys were fighting. Or at least, one of them was. The tall guy, apparently, had the upper hand. His face did not bear a single cut or bruise. He had dirty blond hair, artfully messy. His eyes, a startlingly cold, black colour, were staring down at the boy on the floor.
The second boy was a bloody mess. Alyssa had seen many high school fights before, but not one had been so violent. This one was.
The guy looked timid and scared. His right hand was profusely bleeding. His face seemed to be filled with pain. His silver hair was dripping with water. Apparently, Jason had poured the remaining contents of the bottle on him.
Jason stood over him, a mocking look on his face. "Mistakes will be mistakes," he drawled, his voice thick with a slight Spanish accent. "Deliberate stupidity is worse. I don't know what yours was, but unfortunately for you, I don't tolerate either."
Alyssa's face contorted, as she tried to keep another version of the incident from replaying in her mind – her shivering with fear as The Playing Demon stood before her, a knife carelessly hanging from his finger.
"I... I'm sorry, Jason. It won't happen again, I swear," the poor boy stuttered.
"Sure it won't," Jason said, coolly, before stomping hard on the boy's finger. He let out a yelp of pain.
Alyssa's heart leaped to her throat. She couldn't help but clench her fists... make sure her fingers were intact.
The discussions around her got louder, but no one dared take a step forward. His victory was evident.
Finally, Alyssa saw Jason kneeling down. He grabbed the boy's collar in his fists, staring straight into his eyes. He continued, "Because next time, you'll think twice before coming anywhere near me. Jason raised his fists. The boy's eyes widened with fear.
"Please..." he whimpered.
Too much. This was too much for Alyssa. She had gone through all these things and worse. She hadn't been able to do anything about those. She had only suffered the pain. She couldn't look on as the un-named boy went though this pain...
Before Alyssa even knew what she was doing, she screamed, "Principal! Principal coming!" and then she dove towards the bloody boy on the floor, pushing him aside towards the left before rolling away towards the right, herself.
She looked up. It seemed like her plan had succeeded. At least, for the time being.
Jason had stood up immediately and composed herself. He had fallen for her trap, thinking the principal was really approaching. Half the crowd scattered, running away from the spot. Only a few remained. And they soon realized that it had been a lie. Jason realized that too.
Damn... she should've thought of doing something with a bit more lasting effect. But that was the problem – Alyssa hadn't thought, she had acted.
For now, Jason was glaring down at her, his coal black eyes gleaming dangerously.
"How dare y-" but he was interrupted.
"Jason, man, calm down."
Alyssa looked sideways to see Jaden, the boy who had warned her earlier, coming towards them.
"She's new," Jaden finished, nodding towards Alyssa.
"It was none of her fucking business!" Jason shouted, his voice laced with venom and anger. Alyssa could almost see the sparks of ire radiating off him.
"Jason, enough," Jaden said, his tone ringing with finality. "You go off to class now; I'll be coming in a minute."
"You don't get to order me around, man!" Jason murmured, but complied nevertheless. Alyssa saw him walk off towards another group of guys. He silently grabbed his bag from one of them and strode off, with them following him. He didn't glance back.
Alyssa slowly pushed herself up. Everything seemed okay, except for a small scratch on her elbow. Nothing she couldn't bear.
Then she turned her focus to the whimpering boy on the floor. He was bleeding. Crunching her nose, she looked up to see Jaden sharply scrutinizing her. She cleared her throat.
"Thank you," she said softly. She was glad that Jaden had interrupted them. She had suffered enough pain that day. She didn't want to feel it again. After all, Jason definitely hadn't seemed like the kind of person to show all Regency Era gallantry towards girls.
Jaden's reply was somewhat harsh. "I told you to stay clear off Jason. Why the hell did you intervene?!"
Alyssa shook her head. She wouldn't go into explanations. Jaden didn't know what she had suffered in the past. He didn't know that she couldn't possibly have stood there and watched without doing anything. He, therefore, had no right to judge her.
Alyssa turned her attention to the boy who was trying to get up. "hey there, I'm Alyssa. You are-?"
"Devon Charles," he murmured as quietly as possible.
Alyssa bent down, trying not to look at his wounds. "Can you get up?" she asked.
"yeah, it's just my hand that is hurt, I guess."
"Fine. We should go to the medical room. Get you checked up," she said, trying to focus on the situation at hand. Because her mind seemed to be drifting more and more into the past...She pursed her lips, trying to pacify herself. Thinking wouldn't change the past...
Jaden, who had remained silent for so long, spoke up. "Alyssa, let me take him. You go to your class. There are you books."
She had thrown them down before diving.
Alyssa pursed her lips. Three minutes left till classes started. It wouldn't do her any good being late to class on her very first day.
She glanced up at Jaden. She wasn't sure if she could trust him. After all, he was Jason's friend. But then again, he was the one who had broken up the fight before Jason could bite her ass off. And he didn't seem like the bad type, despite his appearance suggesting otherwise.
She decided to ask Devon. "You okay with that?"
"yeah." Devon nodded at her, wincing slightly.
"You can trust me, Alyssa," Jaden said, somewhat amused. "I'm usually the one who breaks up Jason's fights. Anyway, you better get going."
He hooked Devon's arm around his neck to support him. Then he walked off, with Devon limping slightly.
Alyssa stood there. Suddenly, she shouted Jaden's name, halting him in his steps. "Jaden, won't the Principal come to know what happened today?"
Jaden's features were calm yet tense as he nodded in agreement.
"Then won't Jason, me and Devon be in trouble? We were all involved." But technically, she was saving Devon. Jason was the main culprit.
"Alyssa..." Jaden sighed. "I'll talk to you about it later. There's a lot you need to know about Dilbert, if you're going to keep up with the crowd here. "He then walked off again, with Devon in tow.
What did he mean by that?
Alyssa picked up her books. The hallway was almost bare, apart from a few loitering people, who glanced up at her curiously. Alyssa bowed her head. So much for wishing for a peaceful year. Her first day had already turned out to be worse than she had anticipated...