Never Let Go || 𝘋𝘕𝘍

Unwanted Battles

About two hours later George stepped out of the room to find the hallways unusually quiet and empty. He looked up and down, wondering where everybody was. Walking to his locker, he pulled his phone out of his backpack to find his lock screen was filled with 20-50 missed calls, texts, and voicemails from Bad and Sapnap. Confused and suddenly worried, he called Bad and put the phone up to his ear. It rung for a few seconds before Bad picked up. George could hear cheering and shouting in the background.

"George, where the heck are you?" Bad asked, his voice in a panicked shout.

"I just got out of class! What's going on?" George asked, shuffling around anxiously.

"Dream and Brad are fist fighting in the parking lot. Get over here!" Bad said before hanging up. George looked at his phone, dialed Sapnap's number and held it up to his ear as he jogged down the hallway towards the exit to the parking lot. It took Sapnap a few seconds to pick up.

"Where the hell are you? What are you doing? Haven't you seen our texts?" Sapnap immediately asked, sounding angry and worried at the same time.

"I'm on my way to the parking lot, where are you guys?" George asked quickly.

"You'll see us when you step out of the building," Sapnap answered, then began a series of cursing. "Hold on, one of Brad's buddies just joined in. I gotta go. Hurry up and get here," he said before hanging up abruptly. George cursed under his breath and ran faster, anger and worry and anxiety for what he would find clouding his mind. I told him not to do anything stupid, George thought frustratedly.

He quickly reached the end of the hall and pushed through the exit, immediately spotting a huge crowd of kids about thirty yards away. He ran towards them and pushed through the crowd until he spotted Dream and Brad brawling in the middle, and Sapnap and some other guy throwing fists on the side. George also spotted Bad and another kid standing together, looking unsure of what to do and equally concerned about the people who were fighting. George rushed over to them, eyes wide.

"What's happening?" He asked loudly, having to raise his voice above the voices of the crowd.

"Dream and Brad started yelling at each other in the hallway, so Mrs. Toby kicked them out, saying 'no fighting on school property.' So they came out here, and one after the other, kids started gathering around as they yelled and started shoving each other. I had no idea it was going to erupt into this. It's been going on for almost ten minutes," Bad explained.

"Sapnap jumped in to help when another guy started teaming up on Dream," the other kid added. He had blue eyes and brown hair that covered his forehead, and he was wearing a gray t-shirt and black sweatpants. His eyes showed concern and fear. He must have noticed George was looking confused, so he added, "I'm Karl, Sapnap's boyfriend." George was caught by surprise for a moment.

"I'm George. Sorry, I guess he never mentioned you," he said with a small smile.

"Yeah, I haven't been at school for the past few days, because I was with my family. Of course he decides to get into a fight right when I get back. Are you... New here?" Karl asked. George nodded, but before he could reply further the crowd erupted into screams and cheers as Brad punched Dream in the jaw and he fell to the ground, blood pouring from his nose and face swollen. He had a couple of black eyes, a bloody mouth and nose, a few re-opened cuts from before, and some new scrapes and cuts on his cheeks and hands. Brad had some nice injuries, too – he was limping slightly, and cradling his arm as if it had been twisted. He was also bleeding from multiple cuts on his lips and forehead, and his mouth was red with blood.

Brad advanced on Dream, picked him up by the shirt, and punched him again, this time right in the cheekbone. Dream fell again. Brad kneeled on his chest and began strangling him against the pavement, blood dripping from his face onto Dream's shirt. On the other side of the circle, Sapnap was beating the other guy, landing most of his punches and even dodging some of the other kids'. They weren't nearly as bloody as Brad and Dream.

"Holy shit! Brad's gonna kill him!" Some random kid yelled, and George looked back at Dream to see his face was turning blue and he was growing weaker with every second.

"Oh my god," George said as he rushed forward and threw himself into Brad, knocking him off. "What the hell, man? Are you trying to kill him?" George yelled, furious. Brad stood up and George grabbed his shirt before punching him as hard as he could in the nose. Brad took a step back and screamed as blood gushed from both nostrils. He clutched his nose painfully, tears beginning to stream from his eyes.

"You broke my fucking nose! You broke my fucking nose!" He was screaming. George paid no mind to the crowd, who was booing and yelling and screaming, "No fair!" George rushed to Dream's side and surveyed the damage. His nose was probably broken – or at least fractured – and he had a few cuts in need of stitches. His knuckles were also swollen and red, and covered in blood. George put his ear to Dream's mouth to check if he was breathing, and thankfully he was.

George then hooked his arm under Dream's armpits and stood him up, half-carrying and half-dragging him towards the car. He took a quick look back and realized the fight was breaking up, and Karl and Bad were helping Sapnap. George fumbled in Dream's pockets and found the car keys before unlocking the back door and laying Dream down across the seats. He was unconscious, but was in dire need of a hospital. George quickly climbed in the driver's seat and started the engine before zooming out of the parking lot. The nearest ER he knew was about five miles away.

"Dream, why are you so stupid? I told you not to do this," George said in a strained voice, passing the car in front of him. Some guy honked at him, but he could barely hear, his heart was racing so fast and he was so worried. He knew Dream couldn't hear him, but he felt like yelling anyway. "Of course you picked a fight with the only guy in the school that hates you. Why the hell are you doing this? I don't understand. You're going to get yourself killed one of these days! This isn't high school anymore, where the other guy gives up after one punch. Nowadays, it's a fight to the death," he yelled, anger almost making him shake.

He passed another car and almost ran a red light if he hadn't looked up when he did. He slammed on the brakes as cars crossed the intersection ahead of him. "Ugh, come on..." He muttered, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel. "I can't believe you've done this. What a stupid thing to do," he said as he looked back at Dream. He was exactly where George had left him – he hadn't moved an inch. George reached his hand back and held it above Dream's mouth, praying to God he was still breathing. He was. Some car began honking behind him, and he looked back at the stoplight to see it had turned green. He slammed on the gas and sped towards the ER.