"Today we're going to be playing soccer" Mr Dylan told the class before instructing them to get into pairs to practice passing the ball.
"Hey Logan, let's pair up" Logan's friend said as he ran up beside him.
Logan looked at Alfie. He would've felt far too guilty leaving him on his own, so reluctantly declined the invitation.
"If you keep hanging out with the new kid people will start to talk" Logan's friend warned.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan confronted his friend angrily.
"Only losers hang out with losers" Logan's friend laughed, looking Logan up and down.
"So what does that make you?" Logan mocked, looking around in search of his friends non-existent supposed friends.
"Don't be an ass, Logan" Logan's friend smirked.
"I'm the ass?" Logan said, shoving his friend harshly by the shoulders.
Alfie gulped. He knew where this was going.
"You heard me" Logan's friend answered, pushing him back.
That's when Logan completely lost his temper, lunging at his friends and throwing punches wildly. His friend fought back, aiming directly at Logan's face.
"Boys!" Mr Dylan shouted, running quickly to the scene.
Regardless, Logan still went on hitting his friend, even though there was obvious blood on both of their faces.
"That is enough" Mr Dylan continued to shout, grabbing both boys by the back of their shirts and pulling them away from each other.
"Enough" Mr Dylan repeated once the boys were far enough apart so they couldn't reach each other.
Alfie couldn't believe what he had just seen. Logan turned away, spitting blood out of his mouth, then wiping his face with his sleeve.
"Mr Bentley's office. Now" Mr Dylan said, still holding both of the boys by their collars.
"The rest of you get changed and go to the library" he continued, not taking his eyes off the boys as he spoke to the other students.
Alfie wasn't sure what he was going to do without Logan, slightly panic setting in as he watched him being marched away. He looked towards the other students, who were all stood with similar shocked expressions on their faces. Nobody could understand why Logan and one of his best friends would start acting like that.
"In" Mr Dylan ordered Logan and his friend once they had reached Mr Bentley's office.
Logan's friend seemed more disheveled than Logan, but it was Logan's face that was dripping in blood.
Mr Bentley looked at both boys with wide eyes as they were pulled into his office and sat down in front of him.
"Logan and Blake decided it was appropriate to start fighting in my lesson" Mr Dylan explained.
"I see" Mr Bentley sighed, his eyes darting from Logan to Blake.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Mr Dylan prompted, admittedly confused as to why they had been fighting too.
"He started it" Logan looked at Blake in disgust.
"I don't care who started it. Both of you know better than to be fighting" Mr Bentley raised his voice.
"What was the problem?" Mr Bentley asked.
Blake shrugged, not wanting to admit he had been antagonising Logan to begin with.
"He was being a jerk about Alfie" Logan said.
Although, of course, Mr Bentley didn't condone violence, to know that Logan had done this to support Alfie was reassuring to hear.
"Why?" Mr Bentley asked Blake.
"Because Logan doesn't seem to understand that his entire reputation is on the line now that he is choosing to hang around with such a freak" Blake said.
"Blake" Mr Dylan reprimanded.
"Blake. Go and see the nurse. Then you can come and sit in the detention room" Mr Bentley said, pointing at the door.
Once Blake and Mr Dylan had left Mr Bentley handed Logan some tissues to wipe his face.
"You know that wasn't the right thing to do" Mr Bentley said. He was talking more sympathetically now that Blake had left.
"Alfie didn't deserve that" Logan said sadly.
"Of course not. But, if you have a problem with somebody you know that you come and talk to me about it. You don't go around throwing punches at everybody that says something you don't like" Mr Bentley explained.
Logan nodded. He knew Mr Bentley was right, but he couldn't control himself in the moment.
"But, I would like to say that it is nice to see you being so considerate of Alfie and his feelings" Mr Bentley went on to say.
"He trusts me to look out for him" Logan said softly.
Mr Bentley had known Logan a long time, and he had never once seen such genuine compassion from the boy.
"Do you understand that you need to make better choices next time?" Mr Bentley asked.
Again, Logan nodded.
"You're a good kid Logan. Don't ruin that by being sucked in to Blake and his unkindness" Mr Bentley said.
"Get yourself cleaned up and then I want you to go and find Alfie to make sure he's okay" Mr Bentley instructed. He didn't mention anything about a detention to Logan as he realised that Blake was the instigator in all of this.
Logan headed to the bathroom, washing his face with cold water. He stared in the mirror at the rapidly forming bruise under his left eye. He knew that his parents would be mad at him when he got home looking like this.
After drying his hands he headed in search of Alfie, caring more about making sure he was okay rather than planning what he was going to say to his parents.
It didn't take Logan long to find Alfie, sat alone on the edge of the football field.
"Hey" Logan said, sitting himself down next to him.
"Are you okay?" Alfie asked, looking at Logan's bruised face.
"I'll be fine" Logan said, trying his best to smile.
"You didn't have to do that" Alfie felt guilty for being the reason Logan had got into the fight in the first place.
"You aren't a loser" Logan tried to reassure Alfie.
"You think?" Alfie asked.
"I know" Logan said, putting his arm around Alfie and pulling him in closely for a few seconds.
"My parents are going to ground me for sure" Logan sighed after he let go of Alfie.
"Can't you explain what happened?" Alfie questioned.
Logan shook his head. His parents were very focused on Logan getting a sports scholarship to college, so if they knew he'd done anything to ruin his chances they would be furious.
"Y-you could come to my house if you w-wanted" Alfie stuttered. He'd never invited somebody round to his house before, but he trusted Logan.
"Are you sure?" Logan asked, not wanting to over-impose.
"Uh-hu" Alfie confirmed.
Soon the boys were in Logan's car and on their way back to Alfie's house.
Alfie was nervous. His mum was on a business trip overnight, so he didn't have to worry about her and her hundreds of questions, but he still felt anxious.
After seeing Logan's house the other night Alfie was also embarrassed about how small his own house was. Ever since his dad had died his mum had struggled to keep up with bills and money, so Alfie had just had to accept that he couldn't have all the things most other kids could.
However, when Logan saw Alfie's house he didn't have any negative thoughts. As they walked into the kitchen he noticed all of the photos stuck to the fridge. Every one of them showed a happy family, with loving parents and a content little Alfie.
"What's this?" Logan said, pointing to a chart that was pinned to the notice board to the left of the fridge.
Alfie looked at what Logan was talking about and immediately began to panic. The chart was something his mum had made to keep track of when Alfie wet the bed. She would put a sticker down on each day that Alfie woke up dry, and leave it blank if he'd had an accident.
"Do you pee the bed?" Logan asked bluntly when Alfie didn't answer his previous question.
"Uh..." Alfie couldn't find the words to speak.
"It's not a big deal" Logan smiled, moving on from the topic as it clearly stressed Alfie out to talk about it.
The boys then went up to Alfie's bedroom.
"Oh cool, an X-Box" Logan said, browsing through Alfie's collection of video games.
"Let's play this" Logan said excitedly, passing over one of the games to Alfie.
Together the boys played video games for almost two hours. By then it was starting to get dark, so Alfie drew the curtains.
"You can spend the night if you want" Alfie offered, secretly hoping Logan would refuse.
"Really? That would be awesome" Logan smiled to Alfie's dismay.
They then ate dinner together. Alfie was exhausted from school, so found himself yawning uncontrollably as he ate.
"Are you sleepy, buddy?" Logan asked softly, moving Alfie's plate away from him.
Alfie nodded, his eyes feeling heavy.
"Come on then. Let's get you ready for bed" Logan smiled, holding his hand out for Alfie to take.
When he was alone with Alfie, Logan couldn't help but take care of him. He liked the idea of Alfie depending on him, and it seemed like Alfie didn't hate the idea either.
Alfie held tightly onto Logan's hand and allowed himself to be guided up stairs.
"Go and brush your teeth, please" Logan instructed.
Alfie did as he was told, brushing his teeth as quickly as he could so he could get into bed.
"Ah. Ah. Ah" Logan said when Alfie tried to leave the bathroom after brushing his teeth.
"Potty" Logan said, pointing at the toilet.
Alfie sighed, but sat himself down anyway.
Although he didn't particularly feel like he needed a wee, his body allowed him to go potty with very little effort.
"Good boy" Logan praised, smiling widely at Alfie when he heard him start peeing.
Alfie then washed his hands and made his way back to his bedroom. He lay himself down on his bed, wrapping himself up in his blankets. Logan sat down next to him, feeling the crinkly plastic sheet under him.
"Would it be weird to say I want to read you a story?" Logan asked honestly.
Alfie shook his head. He loved being read to, and nobody had done that for him for a long time.
Logan then walked over to Alfie's book shelf, looking through all of his childhood story books.
He settled on reading 'the cat in the hat'. As he read he carefully brushed his fingers through Alfie's hair.
Once he had finished Alfie was already asleep. He looked at him closely as he peacefully lay next to him. He wanted nothing more than to look after Alfie, and he knew from this moment that he was going to do everything he could to keep him safe and happy.
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Lots of love,
B Xxx