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“Oh shit, shit, shit,” Miles panted, his eyes wide with fear, his hand gushing blood all over the place.
“Dude, you’re bleeding,” I said because I was that fucking brilliant.
“I know,” Miles croaked as he slid down the wall to sit in an inch of fresh snow. Tyler knelt beside him, yanking his hand out to stare at the wound in the dim light of a lone lightbulb over the back door to the noodle shop kitchen, which was closed tight to keep the cold out. This rear parking lot was a mugging just waiting to happen. No security lights to speak of, and lots of dark places for shifty sorts to lurk, and a wide-open space that led to a major highway to get away clean, like the dude who had just cut Miles had. I did have him on film though. Well, not film, but a memory card, which I would gladly hand over to the cops. “He jumped out of that stupid bush when I parked. The guys took off.”
“This looks pretty deep,” Tyler said as he held Miles’ quaking hand. “I think it should get stitches. Jonah’s mom is coming soon. Do you want us to take you to the hospital?”
“Why would you do that?” Miles asked as I dug out a clean hankie for him to tie around what was probably a defensive slash.
“Because we’re not assholes like your stupid friends,” Tyler replied. Miles pulled his hand free, then stood. He towered over Tyler, his hand wrapped in my fave blue Railers kerchief. I took a step to bar Miles from touching my boyfriend, the one who had saved his stupid ass.
“You two will always be assholes,” he snarled, stalking off to climb into a sleek black sports car, his father’s Bugatti, which I knew he was not old enough to drive. I’d like to see him explain all the blood over the fine leather seats to Daddy. Off he went into the night, peeling rubber, leaving us standing in the cold, minus one hankie and one hockey stick.
“That’s gratitude for you,” Tyler sighed, tossing the broken half of his stick into the dumpster.
“You can’t fix stupid,” I mumbled as I stared long and hard at the parking lot. Maybethiswas something that could be used for an article for the school paper. Maybe I could petition someone in power—a congressman or a senator or the mayor—to install more lights here for the safety of their constituents. I wasn’t sure if a senator would even talk to me as I wasn’t old enough to vote, but it was worth a try.
“No, but you can save stupid from being mugged,” Tyler replied as a flash of headlights swept over us. I recognized my mom’s car right off. “Maybe he’ll be less of a jerk to us from now on.”
“Maybe.” I took his hand, saw it was covered in Miles’ blood, and gave him a big grimace. “Your mom will freak out when she hears about this.”
“Yeah, probably, but man, did we snap into action huh?” He wiped his hand on his jeans, but I was pretty sure his mom was going to freak out in a major way despite the swipe of palm on denim. “Guess we’re sort of like paladins or knights out saving the common folk from villainy.”
I pecked his cheek as my mother rolled up beside us, then rolled her window down. David Bowie’s “Heroes” floated out into the cold air.
Huh, I guess my guy and Iwerechampions. I’d never have thought it was possible for me to be this proud, this happy, this whole.
It’s amazing what love can do.
Epilogue
Tyler
We could never have realizedthat handing in the recording would cause a ripple effect that went way past a single person who’d bullied me. We’d turned over the recording to give Miles the chance to get justice for what had happened to him, but actually, we’d inadvertently made his life a whole lot more difficult.
The attack had been a low-level dope exchange gone bad, and as more of the story came to light over the following weeks, the number of people involved grew and included some of the people Miles ran with.
Miles was expelled from Chesterford Academy, mainly because of the attack on Jonah, but add in the dope issue, and the knife, and that was his time with us done. Last we heard, he and his family had moved to his mom’s place in Switzerland, so I doubted we’d see him again. School was quiet for a while, heading up to Valentine’s, and the obligatory dance event in the school gym. The last time I’d been in here with it all fancied up with balloons had been for Halloween, and it was amazing how much had changed since then. Miles was gone. His beefed-up football cronies were quiet. The school had a brand-new policy on bullying that was basically one strike and you’re out, something that having money at a private school could not get you out of.
It was a start.
“Ready to go in?” Felix hurried to my side, his costume nothing more than shirt and jeans in icy bitterly windy February. Someone—God knows who—had decided the Valentine’s Dance would be summer-themed. How in the gods’ names that had passed anyone’s scrutiny, I didn’t know, but at least I was wearing a heavy coat over my summer clothes. As was Jonah, who had his arms around me from behind and exuded warmth like a radiator. Soren was right on Felix’s heels, Shaun next to him, both of them coatless as well.
Idiots.
“I was ready ten minutes ago,” Jonah muttered.
I leaned back for an awkward upside-down kiss. “Let’s go in then.”
Soren and Felix went in first, Shaun with them, then the rest of the Coyotes, who’d all had more sense and waited for the big hockey entrance to the event inside the building. Then, it was our turn, but Jonah tugged me to the side, and then, in the opposite direction to the back corridor.
“Oooh making out by the lockers, in a quiet dark hallway,” I mused. “I could get with that.”
“We’re not doing that.” Jonah seemed determined, then halted. “Wait, what am I saying.” He pressed me against the nearest locker, 813 I saw, and we kissed for a long time, wrapped in each other’s arms, lost in the kiss, until someone cleared their throat behind us.
“Gentlemen?” the voice said—a familiar voice—Jonah’s dad, who was here as a chaperone. “Wondered why you didn’t come in with the team Tyler.”
“Oops,” Jonah said, and when his dad raised an eyebrow, Jonah grabbed my hand and we ran farther down the corridor, him dragging me, and me going wherever he took me. We ended up deeper in the school, taking a few lefts and rights until I was completely turned around, until we stopped running, and I realized we were in the science block.
