My Bully

Fist Fights and Nurses

I wake up on a crappy mattress and bright lights blinding me. I sit up, realize that it's a stupid idea, and lay back down. A chubby nurse with wire glasses and a clipboard enters the room.

"Oh, you're up! Good! How do you feel, sweetie?" She asks. She's about late 30s, I think with her hair in a tight bun. 

"Like I got ran over by a car." 

"I see. Okay, well, here's some ice for your bruises and you can be off on your way!" She hands me a bag of ice and leaves. Wow, Tik Tok's not wrong about crappy nurses and their bags of ice. I sit up extremely slow, like I'm in a slow motion clip in a movie. I glance out of the window outside the nurses' office and see a glob of mostly boys surrounding something. I roll my eyes, not in the mood to be a cliché girl and stop the fight only to get punched in the face. I go home to be greeted by tater tot casserole. I eat and go to bed, saying goodnight to my mom. 

                                —————————————————————————-

It's currently the end of school. I'm at the normal spot I go to of said school. Devon stands there, back towards me, hands clenched in fists, his friends no where to be seen. That's really weird. Devon's never alone, especially at this time of day. He turns around, sees me, quickly unclenches his fists and rubs the back of his neck. 

"Hey, loser! Ready?" My gaze darts around him.

"Um, where's your friends?" I ask, pointing to the empty places beside him. 

"Oh, they're...somewhere," he says quickly. "Doesn't matter! Are you ready?"

"Hey, how'd I get to the nurses' office?" I forgot to ask the nurse how I got there when she gave me a freaking bag of ice.

"That also doesn't matter. Can I hit you?"

"Why were you angry when I got here?" I press.

"Oh you saw that? It was nothing you can be worried about. Can we get this going now?"

"Uh, how about no. Now," I walk forward, making him take a few steps back. "Why. Were. You. Angry?" I ask, saying each word with a pause in between for effect.

"It. Doesn't. Friggin. Matter!" He responds equally annoying. 

"Just tell me! How hard can that be?" I raise my voice, getting mad. Why am I mad? Good question. The fact that Devon was mad about something bothers me. He's usually so calm about things. Or at least, that's I think from what I've seen of him.

"No, I won't tell you! Leave me alone, Haylee!"

"No!" SMACK! I put a hand to my cheek to where he slapped me. He wraps a hand around my throat and squeezes. Not hard, but enough to where I can't get enough air through. "Dev-on..." I manage to choke out. 

"Stop being nosey and leave me alone. It's my business, not yours. You're just a little freak that's so annoying. No wonder why your dad left you." Tears fall from my face. Just as I was about to black out again, Devon lets go and leave me there, gasping for air. Okay, so maybe he isn't as calm as I thought.

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It's Friday. I should be happy, right? Wrong. I haven't seen Devon since Wednesday. I mean I have in's chool, but not after. Not in the spot I always go to and definitely not with his friends. I know what you're thinking. Why are you worried about someone who's so incredibly mean to you? To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. Maybe it's because there was consistency in our messed up routine. So, when that consistency is broken, I worry. I like consistency, no matter how stupid or hurtful it is. Something is wrong with Devon. 

I walk to the back of the school to where I saw the huddle of boys out of the window. A crowd of boys are gathered around something. I hear shouts of "yeahs!" and "get him!" Most of all, I hear "fight! Fight! Fight!" I make my way over and push my way to the front. When you're as small as me, it's easy to step on feet and make them move. Okay, so that was a lie. I just wove my way through. I'm that short and petite. 

I was expecting two boys fighting over who knows what? Which game was better, fortnite or Minecraft? Or a girl, or really anything. Just two random boys that I didn't know. I wasn't expecting Devon beating up I don't know who and I don't care. The point was it was Devon. I connected two and two very quickly. This was where he was, fighting other boys about-

"Dude! All I said was that she's a piece of s***! Why the h*** do you care? You do it all the time!" The other boy yelled. Who's he talking about? 

"I don't care! Shut up!" Devon yells back. He kicks the guy where the sun don't shine. A collective "ooo"s occur. I don't know what got into me, but I needed to stop this. Just as I was going to say something, a pair of teachers appear around the corner. 

"Boys! Break it up!" The teachers tear Devon off of the other guy whose name I think is Dicky or something. Devon tries to fight back, but the teachers keep him in check. Dicky limps away to the nurses' office while Devon is escorted with his hands behind his back like a prisoner to the clinic as well. He passes me and I see his face clearly. His lip is split, there's a slight circle forming around his eyes of black and blue, and there's a a little bit of dried blood underneath his nose. I cover my mouth to stop the gasp from escaping. As he passes, I see a glimpse of his hands. His knuckles are split and blood drips down. He looks back and for a split second, we make eye contact. Then, just as the connection is there, it disappears. 

Soon enough, people disband and they go on with the rest of the day. Me? Yeah, I don't do that. I do something stupid instead. I go wait outside the nurses' office. Again, why? Who knows at this point? 

The door opens. A tall, tan boy steps out. Devon. I look up as he passes. I jog after him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I try to stop him.

"What?" He snaps back.

"Why were you fighting?" I ask as he crosses his arms and faces me. His hands were covered in bandages. 

"Why do you care?" Good question. One that I can't even answer myself. Aye, aye, aye. How'd I get in this situation?

"Uh, I'm not entirely sure." He starts walking off. "Wait! Look, I just wanna know if you're okay."

"I'm fine. Now go away." I stand there as he walks off. I guess that's all I'm getting out of him. 

"You wanna know why he was fighting, Haylee?" A new voice asks behind me. I turn around to see Joshua, one of Devon's closest friends.

"Yeah, of course." I cross my arms.

"It was about you," he replies nonchalantly, like it's been the usual for a long time. I hold up a finger.

"Hold up. Me? Why me?" I am very confused at the moment. Why would Devon be fighting for me when all he does is bully me.

"The kid he was beating up talked crap about you. Devon got mad and started punching him."

"But why?"

"You'd have to ask him yourself. I'll see ya around." He walks past me waving a hand. Alright, now I know what I need to ask Devon tomorrow. That is, if he'll actually respond.

Hope you enjoyed! Love and foxes!

~ FV4