I put my phone face down on the bench. Didn’t want to look at it anymore.
My eyes drifted back over to the girl on the grass. The more I looked, the more I noticed. Her uniform wasn’t just dirty from the fight, it was... old. The collar was frayed, and one of her shoes had a little bit of the sole peeling away at the toe. Her hair was a ss, too, but not just from getting grabbed. It just looked like no one had bothered to take care of it.
I don’t know why, but that pissed off. Like, really pissed off. It wasn’t just about the fight anymore. It was the whole damn picture.
’What the hell are her parents even doing?’ I thought. The anger felt weird, sitting there in my chest next to all the other crap I was feeling.
She finally pushed herself up, her movents slow and stiff. She wiped her face with her sleeve, sniffled one last ti, and just started walking toward the school exit.
’Hm? She’s going ho?’ It made sense. I wouldn’t want to stick around after that either.
I was done with my sandwich. I should probably just head back inside. Break was almost over. I stood up, ready to just... forget about it. Let it go. It wasn’t my problem.
But I stopped. I looked in the direction she went.
People in that state... you’re not supposed to just leave them alone, right?
The bell was going to ring any second. I had to get back to class. Go back to my desk. Go back to being the quiet kid who minds his own business.
"Fuck it," I muttered to the empty air.
And then I was running. Or, you know, doing that fast, limpy thing that was my version of running now. My ribs complained, but I just ignored them. I ran after her, a part of my brain screaming at that this was a terrible, stupid idea. But I just kept going.
I caught up to her just outside the school gates. The fast limping had my ribs screaming at , and I was definitely out of breath.
’Alright, you caught her,’ my brain said, panicking. ’Now what, you idiot? What’s the plan?’
There was no plan. I had zero plan.
"Hey," I said, and my voice ca out all wrong, like I’d just been winded.
She whipped around so fast she almost stumbled. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. The second she saw it was —so random guy running after her—she flinched and took a step back, her hands coming up like she was ready to block a hit.
Crap. Of course. She probably thought I was one of them, or one of their friends, coming to finish the job.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was shaky but had this hard edge to it. "Leave alone."
I held up my hands, trying to look as non-threatening as possible, which is hard to do when you’re out of breath and limping. "I’m not... I’m not with them," I said. "I just saw what happened."
She just stared at , her eyes darting from my face to the school entrance and back again, like she was mapping out an escape route. She didn’t believe . I wouldn’t either.
"So you just wanted a closer look?" she shot back, her voice dripping with venom. "Get your own video?"
"No," I said quickly. "No, I just... Are you okay?"
The second the words left my mouth, I knew how stupid they sounded. Of course she wasn’t okay. Her lip was split, her uniform was torn, and she looked like she was about to shatter into a million pieces.
I looked down at her bleeding lip. My hand went to my pocket without even thinking about it. I pulled out the little tube of antiseptic cream and the bandage the nurse had given for a scrape on my hand from when Tyler punched . I hadn’t even used them.
I just held them out. I didn’t say anything.
She stared at my hand, then back up at my face. The hard, angry look in her eyes softened just a tiny bit, replaced by pure confusion.
"What...?"
"Your lip," I said, my voice quiet. "It’s bleeding."
She didn’t take it. She just kept looking at , like she was trying to figure out what the trick was.
"Why are you being nice to ?"
I didn’t have a good answer for that. Because I’m trying not to be a selfish loner anymore? Because my life got weird and now I do stuff like this?
"Because what they did was ssed up," I said. It was the simplest, most honest answer I had. "And no one was helping. Including , I am sorry."
She finally looked away from , down at the ground. She didn’t say anything for a long ti. I just kept my hand held out, feeling like a complete idiot.
Finally, she took a shaky breath and reached out, her fingers brushing against mine as she took the small tube and the bandage.
Her hand was so cold.
"Thanks," she whispered, her voice so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.
"What’s your na?" I asked.
She looked up, surprised. "Thea," she said.
"I’m Kofi."
She gave a tiny nod, then looked back down at the stuff in her hand. We just stood there on the sidewalk in this weird, heavy silence. I had no idea what to do next.
The bell was going to ring any second, and I should have been walking back to class.
"So, uh," I started, and my voice felt weirdly loud. "Are you gonna... go back to school?"
The second I said it, she flinched. Like, a full-body flinch, her shoulders hunching up as she took a quick step back. Her eyes went wide with fear again.
’Right, wrong question. Idiot.’
Of course she wasn’t going back in there. She’d be a walking target.
"Or, uh, are you going ho?" I asked, trying to recover.
She looked down at the ground, pulling her arms around herself. "Yeah," she whispered. "Ho."
The way she said it, though. It wasn’t just an answer. It sounded so... empty. Like ’ho’ wasn’t a safe place, just the only other option. There was no way I could just leave her like this.
’Sigh, what a ss.’
I was going to be late for class. My bag, my books, everything was still at my desk.
I pulled out my phone, my thumb hovering over Nina’s contact. She was probably still pissed at . This was a bad ti to ask for a favor, but I didn’t have a choice.
I hit call.
It rang once. Twice. Three tis. Then went straight to her voicemail.
She didn’t pick up. She was definitely still angry.
I opened up our text chat. The last ssage was her telling to have fun with my boy missions. I took a breath and started typing.
> : hey. i know you’re probably still mad at .
> : i’m with thea. the girl who got beat up. i’m walking her ho to make sure she’s safe.
I hesitated for a second, then just went for it.
> : my bag is still at my desk. can you grab it for after school? i’ll get it from you later. sorry.
I hit send, then shoved the phone back in my pocket without waiting to see if she’d even read it. One crisis at a ti. I turned back to Thea, who was still just staring at the ground like she was trying to burn a hole in it with her eyes.
"Done," I said.
"Let’s go."
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