Thursday 22nd April 2022 - 0815
St Judes, Middle School and Orphanage - London
The Residence
I wake up, I feel pretty good.
I was starving when we got back and ate a massive pasta and sauce dinner, Ami was ribbing me on blowing up like a balloon if I kept eating.
I was super tired going to bed, and hit the sack at around 10. I hadn't slept so well in a long time, which made no sense because I pretty stressed out.
I'm starving again so I hit the shower, get dressed, drag on the school uniform. Black slacks, black brogue shoes and the blue and black stripy school tie to go with a simple white shirt. The basic uniform you see in almost every school, I don't even have to buy it. One of the few perks of having no family.
I beat my bushy blonde hair into some kind of shape with a brush and water, and head down the rec to grab some food.
No one else was there, so I grabbed a huge bowl of cereal and dug in. I just ate, surfed my phone and waited for my backup to come down.
At 0840 there she was, bundled in her typical shapeless uniform, long black hair glistening, fresh from the shower.
She grabbed some cereal and joined me.
'Right Rambo, I'm ready, let's go and kick the hornet's nest', Ami says with a sly smile.
'Rambo?' I say, 'that ref's way dated, I prefer Scott Pilgrim'.
'You know what, your right. Old and inaccurate, cause Rambo lives, your gonna be more like Rob Stark'
'Less dated and accurate, I approve!' I reply.
This is our typical banter. Normally I really enjoy it, but right now it's just reminding me I've got to face up to Fizz and find out about the note.
She looks at me, straight on, and very slightly shakes her head. I find her lack of faith hilarious and burst out laughing. She can't keep a straight face and cracks up too, there we are, roaring with laughter, trying to keep cereal in our mouths.
One of her eyebrows raises, and she says, 'hey what happened to your face?'
'What do you mean?' I retort
'It's not beat up, it's healed, where's your black eye?' asks Ami confused.
I only just realise, my face doesn't hurt, actually, none of me does. I hadn't really thought about how good I felt when I woke.
I get my phone out and flip the camera, not a mark on me.
'Are you wearing makeup?' she asks with a stifled giggle.
I snort out a laugh in return and say 'The healing power of sleep eh, I feel good today'. She shrugs and goes on eating.
We finish up, 'Right Neo, let's go and see the Merovingian', she says
I smirk, but don't reply, my mind has turned to how I'm going approach Fizz without setting him off. As much as we are joking about what might happen to me, I really want to avoid another kicking.
We walk along the connecting path between the residence and the school.
It's a beautiful morning, inspiring even.
I decided just to go for it, as soon as I see Fizz I'll face up to him. If I see him and then think about it too much I'll wimp out, I've got to just go for it.
We walk through the gate in the chain link fence and there he is. Surrounded as always with his group of mates, my resolve nearly brakes right then.
I take a deep breath and step forward. As I stride away I hear Ami say, 'Dodge bullets.'
She follows it up with a whispered 'please be ok' like she's talking to herself, but somehow, I hear it.
I keep going, it's like walking in mud, but I force myself forwards.
His backs to me, so I tap him on the shoulder and say, 'Hey Fizz.'
I see his mate's opposite, start to laugh and cringe, they know how this is going to go.
Fizz turns slowly, 'hey freak, what you doin gettin up in my face, you ain't had enough from yesterday?'
He stares at me for a moment and says 'where's that shiner? 'You wearing makeup you little girl?'
'Fizz I just want a quick word ok' I say trying to muster as much confidence as I can.
'Spit it out then' he fires back
'Can we talk over here Fizz?' I say pointing back towards the residence gate.
'Nah, whatever you got to say you can say in front of the lads.'
I try to think of another way to get him to move but it's hopeless.
Why did I do this?
I knew I'd never be able to control the situation.
I can feel things going downhill.
I am so sick of the abuse,
I feel myself beginning to tense up, I feel the vibrations, but all over this time.
Screw it, I'm here now.
I pull out the note and flash it at Fizz
'Fizz did you put this note in my pocket?' I demand with as much confidence as I can muster.
He leans forward, breathes in my face. The smell toothpaste, I'm faintly surprised he brushes.
'What's that eh? Never seen it you runt' he pulls himself back to his full six feet two, sticks his chest out and looks round at this crew.
'If I wanted you to run I'd just put my fist in your face again'
I can feel myself losing my cool 'Don't lie to me Fizz, was it you.' I shout.
I've blown it.
There is sudden silence, Fizz and his gang are shocked at my insolence. So am I to be honest.
They are going to recover soon, and this is going to go badly for me, I start looking for a direction to run.
Fizz grabs my shirt, everything slows down, I see Fizz's fist coming at me, I turn my head back, his fist has only moved half way toward my face, it really is moving in a kind of slow motion like he's in water or something, I mean it's getting closer, but I've got the time to dodge it.
As he's about to hit me I move my head to the left, he's still moving slowly, and the fist goes by, as he misses.
The swing ruins his balance.
I put my hands on his chest and shove.
Hard.
He literally takes off and crashes into one of his mates, I'm so surprised I overbalance and fall over backward.
Wow, I'd no idea I was that strong.
Everything returns to normal time, I'm stunned and can't take it all in.
Fizz and his mate lie in a tangled heap on the ground, I'd laugh if I wasn't so overwhelmed. It was beginning to dawn on me that I was in serious trouble.
Fizz weakly raises a hand and cries 'Get him!'
The gang descends on me, fists and feet are flying in, I ball up in my standard defense.
This is well out of control now, they are not holding back, not in the slightest.
As the blows rain in, I can feel the power in them, I've got to stop them or I'm going to get seriously hurt. I hope Ami has gone for help.
The world slows, I see a foot coming in and I grab it.
I pull as hard as I can, the owner falls and lands hard on his back.
I take a punch to the face, it's hard but I take it.
I grab the arm and pull down.
I use the momentum to pull myself up and get my legs under me.
I punch out and my fist collides with another boy's fist.
There is a sickening crunch followed by an ear-splitting howl.
I don't even have time to work out what's happened when I'm rugby tackled from the side.
It's a big hit, this guy's called Steve Bromick and he plays in the scrum for the school team. He doesn't bring me down at first though. He keeps pushing to try and drop me.
I wrap my arms around his waist and try and lift him.
Steve is one of the biggest guys in the school so it's to my surprise he comes easily off the ground.
I briefly consider a WWE style tombstone. Fortunately, common sense kicks in and toss I him to the side, he files a good ten feet before hitting concrete.
Gavin Robbins, the boy whose leg I pulled is rolling around on the ground holding his knee. The fist bump guy Kyle Jones, is moaning and rocking over by the fence, tears streaming down his face.
Steve the guy I threw just isn't moving. I briefly hope I haven't seriously hurt him.
There is only one left from the ground and pound team and he's holding his hands out defensively and backing away.
I see him look over my shoulder, I know what it means, the world slows, and I start to turn.
It's all in slow motion again.
It's too late.
Less than a foot away, Fizz swinging a laptop computer at my head,
it's too late I can't react.
I note the scrapes and blood on his face with a certain satisfaction.
The laptop hits and it all goes black.
Do you think Kai over reacted?