Between Love and Admiration

Chapter 8

Sometime later....

There was only a half hour left before the last class of the day let out. We had finished the lesson for the day and Coach P was letting us talk amongst ourselves as long as we stayed relatively quiet. I found myself drawing a picture to kill time. Suddenly, there was a loud thud in the hallway. The entire class grew silent as we listened, Coach P advised us not to move before walking to the hall. We could still hear the noise and it sounded like there were multiple people and things were hitting the locker.... FIGHT! the thought must have come to all of us at once because everyone tried to make it to the door to see what was going on from behind Coach P. He was opening the door when he started to reprimand us but when he saw the fight, he ran to help separate them. There were two male students fighting but there were so many people surrounding them, we couldn't make out much of anything. Some students ran to get a better view; I knew better than to get too close. You just needed to look for a good view point and that's exactly what I did. Easing to the less crowded section of students. Seeing Coach P and another teacher were trying to stop the guys from landing their blows. Finding the perfect spot just in time to see a male student connect the hardest right hook a teenager could manage. "DAMN" everyone let out. That was hard enough to end the fight but the guy was getting up. Coach P tried to lock his arm to pull him towards our classroom. Oh my gosh... Nick. Seeing his face was fine with no bruises but knowing in a few hours there would be some. He probably figured as much because he was furious. He was bucking to get out of Coach P's grasp until he managed to pull away and ran back to fight, getting a clean shot to the guy's nose, leading to the second DAMN! of the fight. Thinking they were going to be able to calm Nick down because he got his hit back but he didn't stop. He kept swinging and suddenly he looked like a professional fighter, he was so angry and quick that the other guy was having a hard time getting hits in. The two teachers turned their attention to him and managed to pull him inside a classroom, securing their separation. The female teachers were ushering the students back to class as the other guy who had a busted nose, walked into another classroom down the hall. As Ms. Riley waved me back towards class, I started to wonder what that could have possibly been about. 10 minutes later and Coach still wasn't back. Stormi and Summer were already letting us know what happened. Apparently, the other guy is named Devon and he has been fooling around with Jessica. So he confronted Nick and words led to fists. Alana was a drug addict and Jessica was addicted to drama. He really knew how to pick 'em. Some students had decided to sneak out before the bell rang but I decided to wait just to see if I could check on Nick. He was already in a lot of trouble and this was going to ruin his scholarship opportunities if he wasn't careful. Once the bell rang, I walked to the classroom they took Nick to but it was empty. They must have gone to the Principal already, so I headed there. Nick was on the bench outside the office, he had his head back against the glass with his eyes closed. He must have been clenching his jaw every 5 seconds because his jaw muscles would not relax. I rolled my eyes at this dramatic showing, taking a seat beside him and looked around to make sure no teachers or security were around. "Are you ok?" I asked him but he didn't move. Not sure if he heard me I asked, "Are you good?" a little louder. He opened his eyes and looked at me coldly, before resuming his position with eyes closed and jaw still clenched. Deciding that he needed time, I got up to leave and just as I started to walk away he laughed causing me to stop. "Did you say something?", hoping he would talk to me but getting annoyed that he seemed to want me to drag it out of him. "I just see now that the only person you run behind is Alana. You must really want to fuck her?" he said coldly. I didn't know why he was lashing out on me but I didn't want to listen to it and I didn't have to. "Well I know I don't want to fuck you." I said, turning to leave. I don't get him and what did he mean about that Alana comment, me and her were friends, I just wanted to help her. Just like he did, I wanted Alana in my life but a happy and healthy Alana. The reason we became friends in the first place was for Alana but just like her, he thought being friends meant I would be his punching bag. And boo boo the fool, I was not. Walking away from him with my head held high and never once looking back.