~*~

Alright. I finally wrote more. Good for me! :)

 

 

 

~*~

 

I tore out the doors behind Jesse.

“What’s going on?” The shouting was coming from the parking lot right outside.

 “I don’t know what happened! But there’s a fight.” The wind snatched his next words and carried them away from me.

 ‘What?!” We were there.

“Come on, Rob! Get the little twerp!”

“Fight back Denny, you got this!”

“Watch out!” A girl shrieked.

“Someone get help, he’s going---”

Jesse didn’t have to explain any more. We burst through the crowd into the middle of the parking lot where Rob Corlett already had Denny’s head pinned between the ground and the front left tire of a red pick-up.

 “What’s that twig-face?” The older guy grinned, a bloody joker grin through red slobbery teeth. Denny, red-faced and veins bulging, muttered something and tried to wriggle free, but Rob had him pinned. He raised his thick fist and delivered a bashing blow before I could squeeze all the way through the crowd that had gathered around them. Girls were screaming and guys were calling out and taking sides. Ms. Lanningham, the Home Ec teacher, stood looking on in horror, her tiny hands wringing. She was no help. I shoved past the spectators and bear-hugged Rob from behind, dragging him off my best friend. He recovered from the surprise quickly, turning on me. His elbow flew towards my nose, but I ducked in time.

  “Look Rob, whatever this is about, I’m sure its not worth a black eye at Prom, right?” His fist whizzed past my ear, so close that I could feel the wind. “No? Ok, then,” Intercepting his hook, I dived for his belly, pasting him against the pavement.

 “Get off me, punk!” Rob grunted, fighting my grip. A river of profanity poured out of his mouth, and from the corner of my eye I saw Mrs. Lanningham turn milky white. Rob writhed, but he couldn’t shake my hold on his arms. At that moment, Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Atkins came running up, wading through the gathering of kids. Mr. T peeled me off of Rob while Mr. Atkins bent over Denny. Amid all the swearing and stumbling and “Get him to the nurse’s office!” I lost track of what all happened after that until I found myself sitting in the principal’s little waiting nook between the two adversaries. They were both silent. Denny had bloody tissues stuffed up his nose and Rob had ice on his eye. Miraculously, I’d escaped without a scratch, a fact which made me feel a little guilty, yet also a bit smug. The bench we sat on was cold, as if it foretold of our coming doom. No matter how long we sat there, it wouldn’t warm up.