Met a Boy at Seventeen (Kellic)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Vic - Nothing But Trouble

I expect Kellin to get right back up. I mean, yes, I heard the crack as Craig’s fist met his face. Yes, it definitely looked like it could do some damage. But I still expect Kellin to get up. He always gets up.

Not this time.

This time he falls backward against the wall with blood staining his face. We’ve shifted from the center of the club to one side, where we’ll draw less attention. Even if people do happen to see us, they’re all wasted—chances are, they won’t be of much help.

Craig cracks his knuckles and turns to me. “That was satisfying.”

I glance at Kellin, and in that brief moment, I see something in his pocket: his knife. I dive for it just as Craig swings his fist my way, missing me by a millimeter. I yank the knife out of Kellin’s pocket and hold it up in front of me.

But I can’t stab anybody; I’m afraid. Craig doesn’t seem to know this, though, judging by the way his eyes widen and he freezes. “What are you going to do with that?”

Wow. Kellin was right—he is intimidated by a knife. It’s that easy.

"You don’t want to find out," I say, my voice coming out sounding stronger than I expected. "Walk away, and you won’t."

Craig looks like he’s just about to do it, just about to walk away and leave us alone, when a hand flies out from nowhere and knocks the knife right out of my hands.

I whirl around, coming face-to-face with a guy I immediately recognize as Jesse, who interrupted my make-out session with Kellin about twenty minutes ago.

"Hey there, Vic," he says, smirking. Unlike Craig, it seems that Jesse is not intimidated by a knife. “Looks like you’ve got quite a few enemies, huh?”

He punches me before I can respond, sending me flying backward and making me hit the same wall that Kellin is still slumped against. I see stars and blink a few times, and just as I’m pulling myself back to my feet, Jesse shoves me back down again. The world is blurring a little, but I can clearly hear a familiar voice say, “Hell fucking no.”

When my vision refocuses, I call, “Mike?”

Sure enough, Mike and Tony have taken over, with Tony chasing Craig away fairly easily and Mike facing Jesse seemingly without an ounce of fear. He’s pretty impressive, actually.

"Vic?" a raspy voice says from next to me.

I turn to Kellin, whose eyes are slowly blinking back open. “Yeah?”

He winces. “You okay?”

"Am I okay?” I push myself up to a standing position. “You’re the one who went unconscious. I’m doing fantastic.” I hold out my hand, and after a second of hesitation, he takes it and pulls himself up.

When I look back at the fight scene, I don’t see Craig or Jesse anymore. (That was fast.) I just see Tony giving Mike a high-five. In his other hand, Mike holds Kellin’s knife.

Kellin’s hand reaches into his pocket. When he doesn’t feel anything there, he turns to me. “Where’s my knife?”

I nod to my brother. “Mike has it.”

Kellin waves at him, leaning on me for support. “Hey, can I have that back?”

Mike turns to us. “What? Oh, sure. Here.” He hands it to Kellin. “I kind of have a feeling that if we stay here much longer, that’s just gonna keep happening. You’ve got a lot of enemies.”