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“You better watch your mouth,” he threatens.
“Why? What are you gonna do about it?” I ask, as I hop off my bike. I usually avoid conflict and let their whispers slide off my back but today I’m too wound up to let it go. He lunges at me, and his fist connects with my cheekbone. My fist balls before I throw a punch back, connecting myself. Then his friends jump in and it's three against one. I've got punches coming from all sides and I can't fend them all off. They wrangle me to the ground and one of them kicks me in the stomach knocking the wind out of me.
“Lorenzo!” I hear someone scream my name, which registers before another foot kicks my leg. “Get off him,” the female voice screams again, and then the guys are pulled away from me. I glance up to see Sophia standing there with her friend Kelsey, Kelsey's brother, and his friend.
“All of you, detention after school,” Mrs. Lancaster the principal calls out, as she walks up to the scene.
“Who?” Kelsey asks.
“Devon. Chad. Peter and Lorenzo. The four of you have detention this afternoon. I could see you fighting from my office which is not acceptable behaviour at this school. If you don't show up to detention, I will be ringing your parents,” she threatens.
“That's not fair. It wasn't Lorenzo's fault,” Sophia comes to my defence.
“Do you want to see yourself in detention too Sophia? I think you should get yourself to class before you do.”
“He was only defending himself. Why should he be punished?” she continues.
“Fine, I'll see you in detention after school too Miss Philips,” she says. “Now everyone, get to class.”
The crowd disperses, not wanting to get caught in her wrath, and they hurry their steps to get to class in time. I pull myself to stand, my body protesting from the pain. The backof my hand glides across my mouth as the metallic taste hits my tongue. Blood shows on my hand but I ignore it. Picking up my bag I'd dropped, I follow suit and hurry to class not stopping to check how my face looks in the bathroom. Maybe I shouldn’t have sped to school after all as I could have saved myself the trouble of detention. This day was already going to be unbearable while worrying about Gramps but now it’s worse. I can’t wait for it to be over, and I can finally get out of here.
∞∞∞
Sophia
As soon as I saw them punching Lorenzo, I raced over to stop them. His cheek has a bad bruise on it but I'm not sure if it's gotten worse as the day has gone on as I haven't seen him.
Here I sit inside detention waiting for someone else to show up. I know Devon won't. His parents don't care if he gets detention so it's not like he's going to care if his parents get called. Mine wouldn't let me hear the end of it though so there's no way I want mine called.
Footsteps sound behind me but I focus on the paper in front of me. There are lines on the board I've been instructed to copy. I shall not get into fights at school. How ridiculous when I wasn't the one fighting. A figure drops into the seat at the desk beside me and my head can’t help but turn to glance to see who it is.
“Mr. Moretti, write the line on the board three hundred times, then if the hour is still not up you are to complete any work you have or else get a head start on some reading material,” Mrs. Lancaster says to Lorenzo.
My eyes flick back down to continue to write but I hear him moving around in his seat, pulling out a book and pen to get started. A few minutes pass in silence and Mrs. Lancaster begins tapping away at her laptop in front of her.
“Thanks for sticking up for me today. I wish you hadn't though because now you're stuck in here too,” Lorenzo's voice carries across the desk to me.
“I wasn't gonna stand there and watch them beat the crap out of you in an unfair fight,” I huff.
“I could have taken them. I was just warming up,” he jokes.
“Well, the concrete you were lying on would disagree with that statement,” I joke back, which has a soft laugh leaving him.
“Do I need to remind you two you're in detention and it's supposed to be done quietly. I can get you back tomorrow and the next day if you would like.”
“No Miss, we will be quiet,” I rush to say. My focus reverts to the tedious task in front of me instead of on the boy beside me. After a while my hand cramps and I shake it a few times to get some feeling back into it.
“Very well you two, you are free to go. I don’t want to see either of you involved in any trouble again or else next time I will be calling your guardians. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mrs. Lancaster,” we both reply.
“Well off you go,” she says, so we pack up our books, hand in our lines that are likely to get thrown straight in the bin anyway, and high tail it out of there. Lorenzo surprises me by walking beside me down the hall. I guess we are both going to the car park, so it makes sense.
“Thanks again for today,” he says, with his hand pushing the front door for the school open for me to exit.
“You don’t have to keep thanking me. Any decent person would have stopped it,” I tell him.
“That’s the thing; I don’t think they would have,” he states, which makes me look at him properly for the first time in a long time. A dark purple bruise shines against his cheekbone, the only indicator he was in a fight today. “Do you need a ride?” he asks, as I continue to stare at him.
