All I Wanted Was You

Five

Josh's POV 

I half ran to my locker before mentally slapping my forehead. I couldn't believe I had cowarded away like that! She'd been right there, RIGHT THERE, and I had completely avoided her. I needed to talk to her but I didn't have the guts to do it. Great. 

Suddenly, someone pulled me back-and out of my thoughts-violently and I almost fell over. "Don't let 'em get me, man!" pleaded a voice behind me. I turned to see a guy with funny hair and a terrorized expression twisted by a smile. I wasn't sure whether he was about to scream in horror or burst out laughing. With a shaky finger, he pointed at something behind me. 

Three beefy dudes who looked like they'd just escaped from prison now faced me with menacing faces. Oh fuck. Why me? 

"Can't hide forever, Barakat," one of them told the poor guy behind me. Wait, that name sounded familiar... 

"Yeah, you're gonna pay back your debt one way or another." I felt like in one of those mob movies where the guy who didn't pay back his debts always ends up getting killed. Those always bring me to wonder why the fuck anyone would manage to owe money to guys who shoot each other for the fun of it, but I guess some people are just that stupid. 

"I'll pay you back, I swear!" pleaded Stupid. "I just need to uh, go get my wallet and-" 

"Bullshit!" interrupted Prison Fugitive #1.  

"Get him!" ordered Prison Fugitive #3. 

And that's about when I realised I was the only thing standing between the three little pigs and the little shithead. I tried making a run for it, but my prot\u00e9g\u00e9 gripped me so hard I was pretty sure his fingers had penetrated my skin.  

"Get out of the fucking way!" yelled Prison Fugitive #2. Yeah, I wish I could...  

All of a sudden I didn't feel like laughing anymore. I was in deep shit. Again. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. I was paralyzed. This was it. The end. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. Once I was gone, everyone could finally stop worrying about me and I'd have some peace of mind down in hell...  

Prison Fugitive #1 lost his patience and raised his fist to hit me. I shut my eyes and mentally told my parents and my sisters that I loved them for the last time. 

And that's the last thing I remember. 

Hayley's POV 

I had no idea how I would get Josh to talk to me again. I wished I knew if he actually wanted to talk to me or if his reaction would be the same as the first time I'd tried. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that he definitely wouldn't make the first move. 

Suddenly, Jack, my lab partner, bolted past me, running straight into a girl who was peacefully crossing the hallway. She fell to the ground and he barely apologized before resuming his crazy race. Just as the girl was getting up-not without cursing a few times-three brawny boys ran past her and she almost fell over again. "What the FUCK is WRONG with you people!?" she yelled.  

I laughed. What had Jack done this time? I decided a little distraction wouldn't hurt, so I followed them through my maze of a school until they suddenly stopped short. Jack had reached a dead end. He turned and backed away slowly before bolting in the other direction once again. There was nowhere he could go though, so he found refugee behind...  

Oh no. Of all the people in the fricking building, did it have to be HIM? 

Josh looked back and forth in confusion while Jack pleaded him for help. A small crowd was already forming around them, watching silently. The three gorillas approached them with heavy steps.  

"Can't hide forever, Barakat," the first one said. 

"Yeah, you're gonna pay back your debt one way or another." Jack stood up straight in an attempt at looking confident, but he was still hiding behind Josh who actually looked amused. I suddenly felt very scared for both of them. These guys weren't kidding. 

"I'll pay you back, I swear!" Jack tried. "I just need to uh, go get my wallet and-" 

"Bullshit!" Uh oh. They weren't buying it. The crowd thickened around me and I could feel the atmosphere growing tense. It made a bit sick to realise that most of them were hoping for a fight.  

"Get him!" I couldn't look. Why didn't Josh move? Why didn't he get out of the way? This wasn't his fight! 

"Get out of the fucking way!" the tallest of the bullies ordered. Yeah Josh, get out of the way! 

But he didn't. One of the brutes raised his fist. All I wanted to do was squeeze my eyes shut, but they wouldn't listen. And then the fist came down.  

The punch was so strong that Josh's feet almost left the ground and he was projected into the air. Jack moved out of the way, the coward, letting Josh fall hard under him, face down. He wasn't moving.  

A wave of gasps and yells crossed the corridor and a teacher I didn't know finally appeared on the scene. He was tall and looked pretty old, but he didn't hesitate before grabbing two of the bullies' arms and yelling at them. They didn't try to fight back, looking more defeated than anything else. A few more teachers came then. Some tried thinning the crowd while others helped the first one take the gorillas to the principal's office-I supposed that's where they were taking them. The others-my math teacher, a short woman with curly hair, as well as another woman I didn't know-crouched down next to Josh to examine him.  

They turned him over and gasped-along with a few other people including myself-at the amount of blood covering his face. It was hard to tell where the blood was coming from. I felt sick. My brain was frozen. All I could think about was my upset stomach. And Jack. Where the hell was he? He'd vanished right before the teachers had arrived. What a coward. Why did Josh have to pay for his fricking mistakes? I fricking hated him. 

No. 

I FUCKING hated him.