Kiss With A Fist (ON HOLD)

Chapter 7

-•@•-

School went by as slow as molasses, but without incident, and I gave Helen some random excuse for Jayden's absence. She seemed a little suspicious, but since it was me, she let it slide.

But when I got home, things got a little rough.

First of all, when Jason came home with Theo, the first thing Theo did was run to the washroom and puke his guts out. Then he refused to eat unless I bought him gummy bears, so I ran out to get a few packs.

Second, Jason's cheekbone was turning purple and his knuckles were bleeding, but he refused to explain why. Later I got a phonecall from Mr. Ross, the principal, about Jason and some otter kids getting into a fist fight at lunch. Jason was scheduled to have an hour long detention every day for the next week as punishment. The principal also warned me that the next time Jason got into a fight, he'd be suspended.

And last but not least, Jayden was acting weird, his speech slurred, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. When I asked him what was wrong, he seemed confused and just ignored me.

-•@•-

"Levi," Jayden stirred restlessly, falling back into consciousness. He had been blacking out for the past hour, and his outrageous fever had returned with a vengeance. "Levi." in that single grunt, there was so much agony that I winced as if it were my own pain.

"I'm sorry Jay, but your cut's infected. It's either this, or you go to the hospital. I'm doing this against my better judgement, against all logic, but only because I don't want you to get in trouble." I sighed. I ran my hand through his hair a few times before resting it against his forehead.

I had been so worried about his thigh getting infected that I'd completely ignored the fact that his arm could be infected just as easily.

I was so stupid, and this was entirely my fault.

I cut open the stitches in Jayden's arm, and he gasped, succumbing to unconsciousness. I applied a mixture of crushed up herbs to draw out the infected fluids, then I washed my hands, taking extra caution. I then applied even more disinfectant before carefully stitching up the cut with quick, precise movements.

He didn't wake up until the next morning.

-•@•-

I was still doing my homework when I heard the floorboards creak. I looked up to see Jason watching me from his room.

"You okay?" I asked, slightly worried. Why was he still awake? He had school tomorrow.

"Umm, I was wondering. How long is Jayden going to stay with us?"

"I don't know. As long as it takes for him to get better. Why?" He had a strange look on his face, but I had no clue what he was thinking.

"No reason. I was just curious." Jason turned to go back to his room, but I stopped him.

"Jase, what's going on? Why'd you get into a fight today?" His eyes were filled with indecision, but he eventually gave in.

"Some assholes were teasing one of the girls in my class and calling her a slut. She's known as a nerd and doesn't have any friends so they decided to pick on her." I smiled wryly, that sounded so much like myself. "She started talking back and then they were touching her and pushing her around. I couldn't just stand there so I yelled at them. They started throwing punches, I hit them back."

"Did you beat them up?" I asked curiously. Jason looked shocked for a moment, but then he grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"Yeah, I got 'em pretty good." He boasted smugly. Then he yawned, which reminded me that it was late.