You Ain't Bad || Michael Jackson

Chapter 3: Scuff Of My Own

"Miss Costello! Ahh! Welcome to class! Twenty minutes late. Would you care to explain?" my annoying French teacher Mrs Appleby asks.

Rolling my eyes, I walk up to the desk I sit at. "Not really, Miss," I reply smartly, before sitting down at my desk and opening my French book.

I force my eyes down onto it to avoid eye contact with Mrs Appleby, but then I jerk back in shock when she slams her hands down on my desk to get my attention. It's then that I look up at her angry face; she has pale white skin, brown hair done up into a bun, and glasses. She looks in her fifties.

She shoots an evil glare at me. "Let me try again. Would you like to explain why you were twenty minutes late?" she asks in an sly yet calm tone.

I shake my head. "Can we just do the lesson please? I don't wanna talk about it," I reply, looking back down at my French book.

The next thing I know, Mrs Appleby shuts my book and looks me in the eye. "Miss Costello, come with me, now," she orders.

Sighing and standing up, I exhale loudly to show I'm annoyed, before following the teacher up the corridor. We go by the lockers and into the main foyer of the school, which is when I decide to get away from Mrs. Appleby. After all, I don't wanna get detention for saving a kid's life.

I start to run the other direction, undiscovered by Mrs Appleby, eventually deciding that I'm gonna skip class for the rest of the day, because I don't want any of my other teachers to find me out and get me in the same situation I'm in now.

I run past the lockers and to the maths block of the school, then past some random person, causing their bag to drop to the floor by accident, making all their stuff fall out. However, I don't stop running.

"Hey!" the person calls, understandably annoyed at what I've just done to their bag.

But still, I don't stop running. I get to the art and design section of the school, so I stop for a minute to take a breath. I never run around, unless in Gym class, or if I'm at a train station and look at my watch first.

Suddenly, I find myself being pushed against the wall. "Hey! Let go of me!" I cry, trying not to cause much of a scene as there are lessons going on.

The person holding onto me has the same grey hoodie, leather winter gloves, and jogging bottoms as before ...

"Don't mess with me, get it?" he hisses back.

As I try to remove his grip on me, his face finally emerges from his hood.

God, that face.

The eyes, the skin colour, the black curls, the soft-looking lips ...

"Let go of me!" I scream, coming out of my trance.

"Sorry; you know The Jax's rule. Don't let no one mess with you!" he growls.

I gulp silently, unsure on what to do now.

"Jackson! You are doing great!" Daniel comes up behind us, clapping in praise to Michael.

Now I know his full name: Michael Jackson.

"She knocked my bag to the floor. I wasn't not going to mess with her, right?" Michael asks, the same anger in his voice, but with a laugh.

God, his voice is so high pitched and gentle. But, it kinda suits him speaking with an angry tone of voice.

Daniel walks up to me and lays his head close to mine. "Just be lucky he didn't kill you ... " he tells me in a creepy tone.

Once again, I swallow nervously.

Wait ... what am I doing? I'm meant to be tough!

Forcing down my fear, I take a hold of Michael's arms and twist them as far as they can go. He winces in pain, before letting go of me. I rub my arm quickly before planning my next move.

I grab my school bag, which Michael knocked to the floor to almost, sorta, "get revenge" for me doing it to him.

Then, I start to run away, wherever my legs will take me. When I stop, I find myself at the English section of the school. Leaning my back against the wall and sighing, I let my legs pull me down to sit on the floor. My arms embrace my knees, and I lean my head back against the wall.

What's The Jax's problem?

Why do they get kicks out of hurting people, both mentally and physically?

It isn't right.

~~

-Edited June 3, 2016-