Chapter 16 Her Left Hook

I couldn’t find Donny anywhere that afternoon, and I didn’t want to be alone. I sent him a text.

Me: Yoo, where you at?

There was no reply, and my battery was at eight per cent. I wandered the halls, hoping maybe his phone had died and that he was just chilling somewhere else. I thought about going to the library to see if he was there, then realized Donny was far too loud and talkative to last long in there.

I made my way to the cafeteria, and through the crowds of students, I saw Desmond in the distance, sitting at a table with two girls. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he made them laugh, and he smiled, clearly enjoying the attention. He had gotten over Mel fast. He spotted me and gave me a subtle smirk. I returned the gesture with a middle finger, and wiped the smirk right off his face. I wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit that day, or ever. I ended up hanging out by myself underneath a stairwell until the class bell rang.

There was a lot to think about under that stairwell. I had to make things right with Mel. She’d poured herself out to me, and I’d thrown it back in her face. Sure, I was mad. But it wasn’t an excuse to treat people like crap. Mel deserved to be treated better. I opened up a journal from my backpack and began writing things that I could say to her.

Hey, listen. What I said a few weeks back? It was dumb.

Hey Mel. I’m real sorry. That was stupid, and I wasn’t thinking.

Mel, I don’t know what to say other than I was wrong.

None of it really stood out, and it made me frustrated. I needed to be authentic, I needed to be honest, I needed to be real. I had to let her know I was sorry, but not in a way that swept what happened under the rug. I had to be better.

I had no idea when I’d see Mel. I hadn’t reached out to her at all. But in time I knew I would, so I sat there for my entire lunch hour, trying to write out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I felt like I was going in circles, getting lost somewhere in my words, in my own mind. Then the bell rang. I had English that afternoon on the third floor. I made my way up the stairs, and as I walked up there, I felt someone snatch the notebook. I looked back and saw Desmond. He ran back down the stairwell without saying a word.

“What the hell!?” I said. I ran back down the already crowded staircase, following him. He made his way through the entrance of the school right in front of the fountain. He knew there would be a crowd, and I should have known better.

“Come get it, loser.” He held it in the air. I made my way toward him and mentally blocked out everyone standing around outside. Desmond was about to get a piece of me. I went to grab my notebook back, then out of nowhere I felt someone push me to the ground. Hard.

“Think you can just give my boy the finger?” I heard. Lewis. I got back to my feet as fast as I could, but he already had his grip on my collar and forcefully pinned me against the wall.

“Who do you think you are?” he barked. “You go in his home, start shit with his girl, then give him the finger?”

Ha. His girl? Mel wasn’t property, and I doubt she wanted to be anywhere near Desmond after that. I knew better than to bite, so I stayed quiet.

“Got anything to say, lipo?”

I wasn’t in the mood. First Lewis called me fatass and now he decided to call me lipo? I couldn’t win.

“What’s in the journal?” Lewis sneered.

“Don’t,” I said, scowling.

“There we go, now we got a reaction.”

A crowd of students started forming.

“What are you guys? Some band of shitty supervillains?” a random voice in the crowd said.

“Shut up, idiot,” Desmond snapped.

“Go back to private school, you pretentious asshole,” someone else yelled at Desmond. The entire crowd erupted into laughter while his face turned red. I began to laugh, too. Lewis noticed and slammed me against the wall, hard.

I tried to fight back, but Lewis was a lot stronger than I was. I didn’t exactly eat my vegetables and knew I wasn’t going to get out of this using strength. So I sucker punched him in the gut. He let out a weird noise and dropped me. I shoved him out of the way with the little strength I had and tore my notebook out of Desmond’s hand. He looked frightened and unprepared to see me in his face.

“Uhhh. Hey man, be cool.”

“Desmond, stay the hell away from me, and Mel —”

Before I could finish that sentence, I felt a shove from behind. I face-planted into the concrete, and my notebook went straight into the air. I looked up and saw it coming down as its shadow graced my face. Everything was in slow motion, but all in real time. I could see students pointing at the notebook, and at me.

“Watch out, it’s airborne!” someone yelled.

Then I heard a splash.

“No,” I said quietly. I got back to my feet, and there it was, sinking in the school fountain. All my ideas, thoughts, and what I was going to say to Mel were sinking to the bottom. Before I could even crawl to get it, I felt Lewis grab me by the collar again.

“Look what you did, loser. You just lost your book. Was it worth it? I hope it was, because right now you’re about to go in there, too.” Lewis dragged and shoved me against the fountain railing.

“Lewis, don’t!” I pleaded. Lewis had one hand wrapped around my neck and used his other hand to lift my feet.

“Yeah! Throw him in there!” Desmond cheered.

“Shit, shit, shit! Lewis, what are you doing!” I tried to fight him off. But he was a lot stronger than I was. At that point I was holding onto the rail and freaking out. I could see the water, and Lewis was only getting more forceful. I was mad, upset, and I was going to look weak in front of everyone. Again. I closed my eyes, wishing I was strong enough to put him on his ass. Then suddenly gravity brought me back down and terror was replaced by surprise.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Lewis yelled. I opened my eyes, and someone I couldn’t quite see knocked Lewis to the ground. They were wearing a black hoodie. Lewis tried to get back to his feet, but that was a mistake. As he stood up, he was met face-first with a left hook that sent him back to the ground. Lewis went limp.

A collective “OHHHH” escaped the students standing around us.

The person in the hood looked over to Desmond. His jaw dropped. “Oh shit!” he squealed then ran off back into the school.

“Figures,” the hooded person said. They turned around and the hood came down. I saw long, black hair, eyes that looked too tired for this shit, and a face that was fearless.

“Mel,” I breathed.

“HA! Lewis just got knocked out by a girl!” I heard someone in the crowd say.

“Hey, what’s all the ruckus out there!?” It was Mr. Stephens’s voice. Everyone scattered and went in different directions. In the corner of my eye, I saw Lewis get up and limp away, dazed.

“Come with me,” Mel said. She gave me a hand, and I wrapped mine around it. She pulled me up, and we ran away from that school like it was on fire. We ran from bullies, we ran from standards that were set too high, we ran from teachers who didn’t understand us. We ran away from fears and anxieties and scripts that were written out for us. I didn’t know where we were going, but when she held my hand, she held it tight.