The Brightest Star

9. King

King's POV

It was nice to see Leo back in school again, with his bubbly attitude and big bright smile. I was really worried he got hurt more or something bad happened to him. I did, however, feel like the only one who cared, expecting everyone to jump him with questions again once the lunch bell rang but they didn't as he walked out with a group of people smiling and talking like he didn't miss school at all. I don't know, it was just a little weird to me.

I walked down to the cafeteria like everyone else and got my lunch then walked to the school's courtyard like I've done every day since starting here last week. I'm a big loner and don't like being bothered while eating food. Once done, I started to walk back and took the long way to kill some time before the bell rang for class again.

Just as I was passing the gym I looked at the floor and started thinking about Leo, this stupid school, and what Uncle Ben said this weekend. The only other person to ever say they were proud of me was my dad. It was nice to hear.

Then the look of fear on Leo's face the last time I saw him popped into my head as I about stopped in the hallway. I've been keeping my distance from him today because of it. Maybe I should take it as a good thing. I didn't need someone like that in my life anyway. With the things I do on the streets and the people I hurt. It was better to be alone.

I was rudely thrown out of my thoughts when something hard smacked into my shoulder making me almost fall over. I looked behind me at some unknown fat fuck just walking down the hallway like he didn't just shoulder check me for no reason at all.

My anger got the best of me before I could stop myself as I balled my fists. "Really need the whole damn hallway to walk your fat ass down?" I called after him, pissed off. I just couldn't believe he did that and I wasn't going to let some rich punk push me around.

He quickly stopped and turned around, walking up to me with his red round cheeks as I stood up taller getting myself ready.

"You talking to me bitch?" He spat in my face.

Bitch? Really? I hate being called that. I'm no bitch. I looked this kid up and down with a smile. He's more fat than muscle, he would be slow and easy to dodge.

"I think I am piggy."

And with that, he swung to hit me. I pulled my head back quickly to dodge, taking a step back, and did it again as he swung his other arm around. I messed up though, not paying attention to my surroundings so I was soon against the lockers and that's when he landed the first hit to my right cheek.

I started laughing out loud because it's been so long since I've been hit in the face like that. I was mainly laughing at my own stupidity though. Rookie move.

"Fuck you bitch," the fat guy yelled and punched my stomach making me cringe. He hit harder than I thought he would.

With that I had enough and tackled him to the ground, getting about three hit's in before someone else tackled me and tried hitting me but I was quicker as I hit him in the face and rolled us over again so I was on top. Blood started pouring out his nose as he let me go holding it with an 'oh shit' look. I got back to my feet to see yet another one now standing next to the fat kid. Where were all these guys coming from?

"You're done for now, you fucking thug wannabe," the taller one yelled. I started seeing red again as they both came at me and pinned me to the wall.

The tall one landed a punch to my ribs but I was able to kick his knee, making him fall over, and started punching the fat guy who was still holding me to the wall. Once he let go and backed off I elbowed the taller one in the face knocking him to the ground. That's what you get for jumping into a fight. He was out cold.

With those two out of the way, I tackled the fat kid down once again and started punching him wherever I could land one. I could feel myself start to blackout until someone lash onto my arm in a death grip, stopping my arm from ramming back into the fat fuck's face again.

"King stop!" Someone yelled.

I started to throw my fist up, nearly hitting him when I noticed the golden hair and stopped just before hitting him in the face. He flinched with a gasp but his grip tightened around my arm as if his life depended on it. Scared as hell but ready to take the hit at the same time.

"Leo?" I asked as he opened his tightly closed eyes, still, a little shaken but he smiled so brightly at me. Fuck, this kid just made my heart skip with that smile as all my anger just melted away. "What are you-,"

"Hey! No fighting on school grounds! Both of you come with me at once!" A teacher yelled, grabbing both me and Leo while other teachers started to take care of the other three still on the ground moaning in pain. I didn't really know what to do as we were getting dragged away from the scene.

How did Leo do that? Why did he do that? I could have hit him and hurt him, but it was like everything snapped back as soon as I looked at him.

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We sat down in the office next to each other, hearing the one teacher that dragged us in here yelling at the principal with the door closed. I guess he was the football coach and those three in the hallway were football players.

I turned to Leo and was just about to ask him why he stopped me but he was faster.

"Are you okay King?" That took me by surprise as I looked to see his face full of worry as he looked down at my bleeding knuckles on both hands. "What happened?" He asked me again quickly.

Usually, people just assume I started the fight and blame it all on me before asking what happened. Clearly, the teacher in the other room yelling thought I started it because he found me on top and the other two pretty beaten up. They just never cared to hear my side of the story first before.

"I'm fine," I said, hiding the cuts as I moved my hands between my legs so he wouldn't worry. I don't know what happened there. I may have missed one or two punches and hit the flood or locker. I was kinda out of it by the time Leo stopped me. But I looked down and saw Leo had some scratches of his own on his hands that were already scabbed over. "What happened to you?"

He looked down to see his hands and let out a small giggle. "Oh. Well, I kinda got a cat over the weekend. She wasn't too happy with me helping her at first but all is better now," he smiled big at me, it was different than the last smile, almost proud looking. It was cute. "So what happened back there?" He asked again, guess he wasn't letting me off the hook yet.

"The fat kid hit me twice so I hit him back and then the other two came along and you showed up to see the aftermath of that. I didn't mean to get you involved too."

"So sounds to me like it was self-defense. Plus I'm a witness so it's my job to get involved. Sadly, I don't think it looked that way to the coach but I also don't think you would go around starting fights around the school for no reason. Right?"

I looked at him confused and opened my mouth to say something. I didn't really know what I was going to say but then the coach walked out of the room in a rage and left the office looking at us both with hatred in his eyes.

"Leo and King, please come in now," the principal called out to us sounding exhausted and annoyed. We both walked in and sat down in the two chairs in front of his desk. "Mind telling me what's going on here boys?"

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Damn. King really needs to work on his anger control but I'm really glad he stopped before hitting Leo by mistake.