The afternoon classes start, Adrien arrives a little late, the four bullies are already in class, the 2 oblivious ones grin has he passes near their desk.
Whispering abusive slang directed at Adrien, he does not care, he does not respond, stone cold deadpan nerves, he remained himself before their teasing.
Jones noticed the way he showed no emotion to them, had Adrien forgotten his earlier advice?
The class goes by, half of the class almost falling asleep from hearing the monotone voice of the professor.
They all awake as the bell reverberates trough the school, Adrien does not rush himself, he takes his sweet time, and as he was about to get out, there they were, the 4 famous friends awaiting him.
"Hello sissy, we meet again."
Says Hugh with a hungry smile on his face, already imagining the meal he was about to receive.
Adrien ignores them, walks past them as if nobody had spoken.
"Didn't you hear me, you little cocksucker, I'm talking to you."
Hugh grabs Adrien's shoulder.
Adrien looks back, glaring at him.
"What? What is it, you ugly monkey? Don't you have some tree to go climb? Oh let me guess, your monkey brain is telling you have to go hump something, so you don't think about your sad existence while you do it. Guess what monkey. If you want to fuck, go fuck yourself!"
Ian chokes on air watching Adrien's rebellion, snickering at his response.
Jones is speechless.
"What did you just say to me, you fag."
Hugh grabs Adrien by the collar with rage, pushing him against the wall with his massive right arm.
He lifts his left arm, preparing himself to punch Adrien, closing his hand into a fist
"Apologize, right fucking now!"
Adrien was hurting, the impact against the wall had him stunned for a couple of seconds, and yet it still felt like nothing, that pain was jack shit compared to what he had felt those last years, he glares at Hugh once more, all he could see was waste, a guy lost in his self proclaimed throne, disgusting human.
Adrien spits on his face, Hugh turns completely blind with rage, he was about to swing his left arm in full force, before he has the chance too, Jones and Ian hold him down, trying to separate him from Adrien, but the man does not let go.
He is furious, piercing his eyes into Adrien's face, trying to move his restrained arms fo take him out, that worthless excuse of a man that mocked him.
"Stop this Hugh! If you hurt him, you will be kicked from the team."
Ian tries to appease for his weak spot.
"I! DON'T! CARE!"
It has no effect on the enraged male.
Jones finally manages to unlock Hugh's grip on Adrien, who falls to his knees immediately, they slowly distance the two of them.
Jones let's a small sight of relief, the conflict was over.
Noah runs towards Adrien, just as Jones sighs, kicking full force on Adrien's right side, Adrien doesn't even notice the pain at first, only at the middle of his descent to the ground, does the excruciating feeling begin, making him shriek in torture.
Jones is gone, completely gone, the once almost impossible to stop Hugh gets quickly knocked out by a shove from him.
But Noah was the one he wanted, grabbing him by the collar.
"Jones, what's up with you? Why are you so mad from this little fucker getting hu-"
A deep strong thump, a not very fast punch, but an immeasurably devastating one, Noah gets instantly knocked out by it.
He falls like a rag doll to the floor, as soon as Jones let go of him.
He tends to Adrien, Ian is near him already trying to help him breath, which he could barely do right now, he collapses shortly after Jones grabs his delicate hand.
"Stay with me, come on Adrien please stay with me."
But it's already too late.
Avery was not wasting any time, spreading the rumors between her friends, asking them to pass them further, that's until she see's Jones accompanied by Ian, passing trough the main hall at a distance, he looked worried, in a hurry and carrying someone, it was Adrien! He didn't look good at all, collapsed while Jones carried him like a princess.
Avery is extremely worried, her first instinct is to rush over to them to discover what had happened, but she stops herself from doing it, she had lost the right to be near him, the chance to be by his side, now it was Jones who stood there, she could only think.
"Be better than me."
Jones is dead, and his light in the tunnel was Adrien's smile, a smile he didn't know if he would ever get to see again, as he carried him out to the school's infirmary , the whispers followed them.
"Who is that Jones is carrying?"
"What happened?"
"Isn't that the boy that is always alone?"
"Take a photo."
"Are they close?"
"Is Jones in love with him?"
Background noise, it didn't matter, they reach the infirmary, the nurse examined Adrien, he had passed out from the pain, he was breathing fine, the kick from Noah had made his diaphragm spasm, causing his previous inability to breath, he was now bruised around his ribs.
He should go to the hospital, to make sure everything was truly alright, the nurse asks the two boys to leave the infirmary, Jones refuses, Ian has to drag him out.
"All we can do now is wait Jones, tomorrow he will be back to new, you will see."
Ian tries to comfort Jones, as he sits in silence on a bench.
Adrien gets taken to the hospital, the other 2 collapsed bullies get taken to the infirmary, they leave the surrounding area of the infirmary, Jones phones his goons, so he can keep tabs on Adrien's condition, the whole school is talking about the incident and how it would be handled.
The whole day fades in, Jones is isolated in his mind, his eyes are focused on the screen of his phone, updated every ten minutes, Adrien gets diagnosed, treated, wakes up, his mother arrives, he is sent home with his prescription.
At home now, in his king sized bedroom, Jones receives another message, this time it was from Adrien.