"Chris?" Ashley said weakly from the floor, looking up at me. "Is that-?"
"Don't talk," I said. "I'm here, okay?"
Whispers were spreading through the crowd like wildfire. They all knew what had happened before, but they were highschoolers: they wanted a fight to happen.
And oh boy, this was a fight that they would remember.
"Chris! Please, Mark, don't hurt him!" Abigail cried out, and she tried to break through the crowd, but Dick held her back. "Let go of me, Dick!" she said, struggling to get out of his grip.
"Abi, it's too late!" he said. "There isn't any way to stop this, because everyone wants to see a fight. Don't you think that I don't want him to get hurt either?" At that, Abigail stopped trying to struggle, looking helplessly in my direction. Dick looked at me, and I looked at him. "Be careful," he said. I nodded, a steely look in my eyes.
"Can you stand?" I asked Ashley, kneeling next to her.
"I...I don't know," she said, struggling to push herself up onto her knees, her voice weak. "He just...slapped me and...shoved me out of my seat..." Something started to snap within me, and I turned and faced Mark. "You're going to pay," I said, an aura of anger and rage coming off of me. Everyone directly near me backed away. Mark seemed to hesitate a little bit, but then he rushed at me, bringing a right hook to my face. I managed to block it with my arms, and he kept pummeling me with punches, keeping me on the defense. I knew that he was trying to stop me from going on the offensive because he knew how brutal I was. The crowd was cheering, and they all seemed to be looking for blood and for Mark to win. But I could see that he was starting to lose his energy, his stamina slowly burning away. And that was exactly what I wanted to happen.
My main priority was trying to steer him away from Ashley, who I would look at every few seconds to see if she was able to stand yet. From what I had seen, she was still unable to stand, but she was now on her knees, still watching me fight. I managed to steal another glance at her, and there was horror in her eyes. It was clear that she didn't like the situation that was going on right now.
My attention was brought back to Mark as he punched me in the stomach, momentarily catching me off guard, and making me lower my guard. Then he punched me in the face, sending me sprawling to the floor while getting a roar from the crowd as he did so. Where is the teacher during all of this? I thought to myself. Of all of the times that they are supposed to be watching the cafeteria, they aren't doing their job now. That's just wonderful. More shit for the school to fix.
I was brought back to reality as he continued to pummel me, this time using his legs to kick at me. I felt the blows land on my arms, and I felt like they would eventually snap under the continuous blows. As I was blocking, I looked over to Ashley, and I was surprised to see that there were fresh tears in her eyes and something that looked like a punch mark on her face. She was also holding her arms, and it looked like she was trying to hold in a scream of pain.
The thing inside me had almost snapped completely, and I managed to offset his balance by aiming a kick at his other leg, making him fall to the floor. Then I managed to land a kick on his face, and I couldn't help but feel a dark twinge of satisfaction as I felt the sole of my shoe land on his face. "Oooo," rippled throughout the crowd, and I managed to get to my feet since he was stunned and groaning in pain. I did hit him right at the bottom of his face, which would stun anyone. I made my way over to Ashley quickly, kneeling down next to her.
"Chris...please-" she said, her voice full of pain.
"Can you stand?" I asked her, putting my hands on her shoulders.
She shook her head. "I...I can't-"
"Just...try to crawl away, okay?" I turned back around to look at Mark, but he was gone. I immediately stood up and whirled around, trying to find him. I cursed myself for not paying attention to Mark, and I kept looking around to see where he was. Suddenly, I heard him say, "I'm right here, fucker," and I felt a fist slam into the side of my head, sending me to the ground where I lay groaning. The crowd was cheering wildly. I still wondered why there was no teacher here. Surely, they were hearing everything, right?
"C-Chris!" she cried, and I looked over to her, she held the side of her head in pain, in the same spot where I had been punched.
I turned my attention back up to Mark as he grabbed my shirt and lifted me off the floor. "You're going to regret doing that to me," he growled, a fist raised up in the air. He started to pummel me, and I started to see black spots in my vision. The cheers of the crowd were starting to get dim. The pain all seemed to blend together, and I was losing consciousness fast.
Then I heard through the punches, "Lea-Leave him alone!" Then the punches stopped, and I was on the floor, gasping for breath. I tried to sit up, and I somehow managed to, and I looked at Mark, who had stood up and turned to Ashley, who had apparently kicked him on his side. She looked up at him, fear written all over her face, a bunch of bruises on her face. "You bitch," he said, kicking her in the face, sending her sprawling to the floor, unconscious. I felt that same blow, and my head slammed back, waking me up and snapping the thing inside of me fully.
I don't exactly remember what happened, but I eventually came to, punching Mark's face repeatedly as he lay on the floor, not even trying to fight back. I stopped, looking at my fist, covered in blood, and then around at everybody, who had gone silent. Ashley was unconscious on the floor, being held by Abigail, while she looked at me in horror. Dick walked to me, a little bit of fear on his face. "Chris?" he asked, his voice steady. "Are you good, man?"
I looked up at him, then I stood up slowly, and the crowd around Mark and I all backed away, leaving a very clear circle, with Mark down on the floor, not moving. I looked down at him, seeing that he was breathing, and I looked around at everyone else. "Tell me," I said, my voice quiet. "Do you think I went too far?"
Nobody said anything, but I could feel fear in their eyes. Dick didn't say anything, but the look on his face said everything. I sighed, laughing to myself. "I told myself that this wouldn't happen again," I said to myself. "Guess that's a lie. Mom's going to be so upset." I looked at Mark, then at Dick. "Now you know why people hated me," I said, a blank look on my face. "I'm sorry you had to see this."
A vision flashed through my mind. I was standing over another kid, my fists dripping blood, a look of absolute anger and rage on my face. The kid was barely able to breathe because his face was all covered in blood and bruises. I might have even broken one of his ribs, too. There were a bunch of other kids around us as well, and they were all whispering to each other. The whispers grew louder and louder until a teacher shoved through, telling me to go to the office. I remembered the principal saying that if something like what had happened that day happened again, I would be suspended or worse, expelled.
I snapped out of the vision when I heard the sound of footsteps. A teacher had shown up, and he was finally doing the job that he was supposed to. He took in the scene before him: me, with blood on my hands and a bunch of bruises on my face. Mark, on the floor, clearly unconscious, but very much still bruised and bloodied. Ashley, unconscious, with a bunch of bruises on her face that were very similar to mine. "You, Ward," he said, pointing to me. "Principal's office, now."
I nodded, already knowing what would be happening next. I put the hand down by my side, and I started to walk away. Then I hesitated, and I turned back around. "Call the nurse," I said, pointing to Ashley. "She needs it. So does he." I looked at Mark for a second, then I turned and walked away, the crowd of students forming a path for me to walk through.
Long story short, I ended up getting suspended from school for two weeks.
Since it was Friday, I was able to stay the rest of the day, but everyone made a point to avoid me...except for Dick and Abi. Ashley ended up in the nurse's office, where she stayed for the rest of the day. My mom wasn't exactly too happy about that decision, but when I told her about what happened, she understood it a little bit. That didn't stop her from grounding me for that week, though. My face was covered in patches, covering the bruises and there were a bunch of ice packs on the places where there were bruises from the fight. There was also a bandage around the spot where my head had slammed into the bathroom sink. I honestly looked very miserable.
I was also very miserable, too. I didn't deserve to stay in the school, the only reason being that I had defended myself and that I hadn't instigated the fight like the last time. Mark had been expelled for almost killing a student, and I thought that was a cruel twist of irony. He had been expelled for almost killing a student, yet I hadn't. Funny how the world works, sometimes.
The thing about Eastwood is that I still had to do my homework at home. For the two weeks that I was suspended, I got all of the homework for those weeks. At least the lessons for the work came almost directly from the textbooks, so I could teach myself. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but as I spent time alone, away from my friends, I started to miss Dick, Abigail, and Ashley. I missed Dick and Abigail's cheesiness, Ashley's company, and just being at school-
I was startled out of my thoughts by my phone ringing on my desk. It was about a day after the week of my suspension started, about the time when school would be getting out. I picked it up, and I looked at the caller's I.D., seeing that it was Ashley. I answered, putting the phone to my ear. "Hello?"
"Hi, Chris," she said, her voice with a little bit of sadness. "How are you feeling? Are you doing better?"
I chuckled a little bit. "You sound like my mom," I said. I leaned back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling. "I'm doing better. I'm feeling...well, I'm still in a little bit of pain, but it's going away slowly."
"That's a relief," she said, her voice filled with relief. There was a bit of silence before she said, "Thank you for standing up for me. It-it was very brave..."
"But I almost killed him," I said, putting down my pencil. "That isn't the right way to do it."
"I know..." she said, her voice quiet. "But he had been bullying me ever since freshman year. And...I'm glad and grateful that you did that for me...even though it wasn't right."
I didn't know what to say to that. Here was the girl that I defended, saying that I did the right thing by beating up one of her bullies. But then there were the conflicting emotions in me that said that it wasn't right. I had almost beaten someone to death, and she was thanking me for that. My mind was conflicted, torn between the two things, arguments for both coming up.
Ashley kept talking. "You...you treated me like a person," she said, her voice cracking a little bit. "Before you, Richard, and Abi, I was alone. No one talked to me at all, and I was shunned. It...it really means a lot to me that you talked to me. It was nice that I became friends with Abigail and Dick, but they mainly focused on themselves due to them being...together. You're...you're the first friend that I ever really had. And...and I don't want to lose you because of this."
"You won't lose me," I said, leaning back in my chair and looking up at the ceiling. "You're an amazing person. It's everyone else's fault that they don't see that. If they did, then they wouldn't ignore you."
I heard that she had started to cry, and I stayed on the phone for a while, comforting her. "You know...you really need to stop crying," I said, my voice soft and a little bit playful.
"I-I know," she said, sniffing. "But...thank you for being here for me. It means a lot."
"You've said that a lot already," I said, but I smiled to myself. "Look, Ashley, I've got to go. I need to finish my homework."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't even think that you would be working on your homework!" Ashley sounded a bit frantic, and I laughed a little bit. "It's fine," I said. "It's okay if you forget about things like that, okay?"
"Oh...okay," she said a little bit sheepishly. "Well...I'll let you work."
"Okay," I said. "Bye." I hung up, and I put the phone face down on my desk. I smiled a little bit to myself, then I got to work again. Around five in the afternoon, I finished, and I wiped my forehead. "I forgot how much homework these teachers assign us," I muttered. "There's so much of it, it's a wonder that most people pass the classes."
I sighed, and I put it all away, also cleaning my desk in the process. When I was finished, and my desk cleared, I opened one of my drawers, taking out a single sheet of paper. I started to write on it, and a few hours later, I had a chart. A chart centered around me and Ashley. There were always the exact same injuries on us, always in the same place. These all started after I had met her on that day Abigail convinced me to go to that meet together.
I had so many questions. Why did it seem like there was a connection between the two of us, and not Dick and Abigail? Why was it that the connection between the two of us was established through pain? I put a pencil to my head, thinking over these things. "What does this all mean?" I mused. "And what's going on with Ashley?"
I circled her name. "Ashley," I muttered. "I hope nothing bad is happening to you."