"Donny. Donny, he's coming. Donny. " I grab the sleeve of Donny's coat and start pulling him faster.
"Come on, Ryan, you know he won't mess with you while you're with me. "
"No. It isn't like that this time. He is pissed off. Majorly! Like he isn't just pissed off, he is-"
"Pissedly pissed?"
"Yes!"
"Oh, man, that isn't good. We gotta scram. " Donny says.
We run up the stairs taking three steps at a time to get there faster, but it doesn't help. Ethan is still on our tails. I'm dead. I'm so totally dead.
"I don't think we can work our way around this one. " I pant.
"Almost there. Don't worry, we're almost there." We run down the hall, pushing aside the small little Freshman and Sophomores.
We're going to make it. We are going to make it. Almost to Mr.Deuke's class. Almost.
Donny, who's a few feet in front of me (despite my 'amazing' track skills), gets in the class room earlier than I do. I'm almost to the safety of Mr. Deuke's classroom (as safe as you can get with a teacher who flicks his boogers around in the classroom.)
"Yes!" I shout. I'm five feet from the door.
Right as I'm about to go into the classroom, a hand jerks me backwards and sends me flying onto my back on the cold hard tile floor. I let out a groan as the air is knocked out of me.
"You think it's cool to make out with my girlfriend? You think it's cool?!" Ethan shouts at me, grabbing the front of my collar and jerking my face towards his. He's so close to me I can feel the spittle from his mouth landing on my face.
"Thanks for the spit, now I have to disinfect my face." I rasp.
"Shut up! You're the one who spread germs to my girlfriend." He punches me in the eye and it immediately closes in pain.
"Damn it! Stop!" I shout.
"Answer my question, Feldbach!"
"It was four years ago, calm the hell down. " I hiss in pain.
"Excuse me?! ANSWER MY QUESTION RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR-"
"No! It isn't cool, ok? And I'm sorry. " I whimper.
"Thank you. " He rolls his eyes and yanks me back up by the collar. Farewell to this blue V-neck shirt. "Now we can continue with what I planned to do to begin with. "
He slams me against the locker and throws a punch right into my gut. I immediately slink to the ground, gripping my stomach and trying to catch my breath. Next, he punches me right in the nose and it feels warm. I reach my hand up and feel blood. This psycho is going to kill me. Ethan punches me again in the temple and I fall backwards on the ground.
I look up and I swear I see stars and, like, two different Ethans above me.
"I think I made my point. " He breathes heavily like a rabid animal. "But just to make sure you get it...don't ever mess with my girl again. "
I hear shouts and people running and the two Ethans immediately look up. I see two Donnys and two Mr.Deukes come into view, shouting at Ethan for what he did. Well, it took him long enough. Did he not wonder why I wasn't in the classroom yet? Maybe he thought I stopped at my locker for ice cream and shit. If I could shake my head right now I definitely would, but sadly I hurt too much.
I see a girl come into view, hovering above me. Her brown hair curtains her face and mine and it tickles my nose. I feel her pat my cheek with her cold hand and rest her other on my chest.
"I told him not to. " Thula says. "But he did anyways. He disrupted his calm levels, and focused on his negative energy instead of the positive. "
"Yeah. Weird, I only see one of you, but two of them. " I smile like a loony.
"Are you ok?"
"Do you want me to be honest?"
"Well, duh. "
"I don't feel good at all. I hurt. So no I am not ok, Thula Ann. "
I hear her giggle and then she gets up.
"Ethan, I told you not to! You are not supposed to resort to violence!" I hear her shout.
"Look, I'm sorry Thula. It isn't my fault the teachers let me get that far!" Ethan says desperately.
"Talk to me when you have channeled your inner positivity. " I see her ball up her fists and slink them into the back pockets of her black skinny jeans. I look down at her shoes.
Those are some dirty converse...
"Alright. Let's get you out of here and to the nurse's office. " She walks back over to me and helps me sit up, which is really hard because my head pounds when I do. "It's ok. Take it slow. "
Thula presses her hand against my back to support me before swinging my arm around her shoulder and helping me stand up. I almost fall, but she helps me stay balanced. I can smell her hair from here and it smells like magnolias. Magnolias are one of my favorite kinds of flowers; I love how their smell can overtake the whole atmosphere when they finally bloom.
"You really did get knocked in the head, huh?"
"Why? What makes you think that?" I slur.
"You're muttering about how my hair smells like magnolias. " I look over at her and she's smiling really wide. Her teeth are showing, and I can't help but think how I never noticed how truly beautiful she is. She looks gorgeous. Wait, I think I have already noticed that....I can't remember right now in this state of mind.
"Oh...I said that out loud?"
"Yes. Now stop talking, before you say something you don't want to. "
And with that, Thula walks me all the way to the nurse's office and then leaves me once I'm there, making me miss her extra support.
~
Thunk thunk.
Someone is knocking on my bedroom window. Who would be knocking at this time of the day? I look over at my clock. It's midnight. In the movies, it's always a superhero, Peter Pan, a crook, or kidnapper/rapist knocking on the window. There aren't any superheroes that I know of in this town and we haven't had a lot of robberies for a while, so it must be some creepo that wants to kidnap me. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh sh-
THUNK THUNK.
"Ugh. " I rub my eyes and cautiously walk over to the window, taking my pillow with me. I can knock them off of the roof with it if they try to make a move on me.
I see a dark figure from where I am in my room and quickly freeze. Oh god, I am certainly done for this time. I step out in front of it and immediately sigh in relief when I see Thula. Clutching my heart, I open up my window for her, grimacing at the loud squeal it makes as I open it. I hope my mother didn't hear that. She will bury me alive for being up this late, seventeen years old or not.
"Thula. What are you doing up this late?" I rasp.
"I came to check up on you. " She says matter-of-factly.
"You could've just done that after school. " I say while letting her grip my hand for support. Wouldn't want her falling from my window and actually dying this time.
"That would've been boring. Like I said before, if you never take risks or have surprises, you never expect them. Then when you get older-"
"Someone may throw you a surprise party and next thing you know it turns into your funeral. " I finish for her.
"Yes. " She grins.
"Well, you definitely surprised me. " I assure her. "You know, I just met you yesterday and you care about how I'm doing. "
"Well, duh, the nice thing for me to do would be to check on you. And besides, we are friends, right?"
"Yeah, of course. "
"Let me see your eye. " She says abruptly.
I tilt my head towards her so she can see it better. She leans towards me and I can feel her mint-scented breath on my face as she examines my eye. She taps my bruised nose before saying,"All good. Your stomach?"
"You want to see my stomach?" I ask surprised. No girl has ever asked to look at my stomach.
"Yes. I need to look at the bruise. " She says. She looks impatient so I agree.
Thula carefully lifts my shirt up, her cold soft fingers lightly grazing my stomach. While she looks at my nasty bruise on my stomach with squinted eyes, I look up at her face. She actually looks pretty with the moonlight shining on her face and her hair falling down from a hastily pulled up ponytail. Her lips are really pink and full, making her pale face look even more astonishing. Her eyes are a startling dark green and the moonlight dances around in them.
"Well. It looks fine. " She says, looking up to meet my gaze. "What are you looking at?"
"You. I notice more things about you when you don't talk about focusing inner peace and all that hippie stuff. " I admit.
"You are a kind boy, Ryan. " She smiles,"And I'm not a hippie. " Thula slaps my arm playfully.
"Yeah. " I whisper.
"I'm very sorry about what Ethan did. That was uncalled for. I even talked to him about it earlier this morning and he even agreed not to. His inner core is filled with anger that needs to be let out and then refilled with refreshing joy. If that makes any sense... "
"I agree. " I laugh.
"Idina is sorry. "
"I don't care. I haven't really talked to her in ages so it doesn't matter to me what she thinks. There are so many other girls out there so..."
"Yes. There are many. " Thula looks up at the ceiling in thought like she did last time when she was talking about putting herself into my conscience with a label for her. "Well, I'm glad you are still living. I came to make sure it wasn't anything serious. "
"Thanks, Thula Ann. "
"You're welcome. Bye Ryan. " She waves and hops out of the window. I close it and lean against it, wincing as my gut has a flash of pain.
I look outside to make sure she gets back home safe and walk back over to my bed after she hops over the fence. That girl needs to teach me how she sneaks out of the house...