Because of Karson

Chapter 31

Nora and I were walking to class the next morning, trying not to think about Karson, when Colton abruptly stopped us. He was breathing heavily, using the back of his hand to wipe a bead of sweat off his forehead.

"What the hell?" Nora whispered under her breath as she took a small step back.

"It's Karson," Colton shot out, breathing heavily as he only stared into my eyes. His chocolate, brown eyes were swimming with a look of concern as I immediately stiffened.

"What about him?" I carefully asked as I had no clue what was going on. Why did he come to tell me?

"Karson and Brody are fighting in the gym," Colton admitted, his eyes darting around the students that stood still in the hallway.

"Okay?" Nora cut in, her eyebrows raising in annoyance. "Why is this our problem?"

I felt a weird feeling in my gut as I gently tugged the hem of my shirt. I was worried about Karson. Is he okay?

"It's about you," he grunted, pointing his finger at me. I slightly gasped, my eyes almost popping out of my skull as those words fell from his mouth.

"Why the fuck would it be about me?" I whisper-yelled as students began to stop in the hallway, trying to listen to what Colton was telling me.

"I don't fucking know," he mumbled. "Just come with me!"

"Drama? I'm in!" Nora squealed as she dragged my arm and pulled me along. I grunted, the sudden movement making me almost trip over my feet. Colton followed behind us as her nails began to dig in my flesh. Ouch.

Nora dragged me all the way to the gym with my arm in her grasp as she used her body to push the door open. We stumbled through the door, hearing a grunt from Colton as the door almost swung back in his face.

She abruptly stopped in front of us as we both looked up to see a crowd forming in the middle of the gym.

"Goddamn it!" Colton barked from behind us before darting through the crowd of people.

"This reminds me of that one time when Brody hurt Jace by the lockers," I shivered, the palms of my hands sweating as those flashbacks clouded my thoughts.

Nora hummed in response, not letting go as she dragged me along once again. She pulled me through the crowd of students holding their phones as they recorded the fight between Karson and Brody. Fuck. This was not good.

"Excuse me," I mumbled under my breath as I kept running into people's shoulders. "Sorry."

Nora didn't say a word, she just continued to pull on my hand until we reached the front. She squealed, breathing heavily as she looked around the crowd of students.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard the insults the two boys were throwing at each other. I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want to see Karson hurt.

Nora nudged my side, causing my eyes to shoot up as I glared at her. "Look!"

I huffed, giving in as I stared at the back of Karson's body. His muscles were tense as he held both of his fists in front of him. My eyes traveled to see Brody standing in front of Karson, his nose bloody as a purple bruise covered the majority of his jaw.

I sucked in a sharp breath as my eyes raked over the damage Karson had done to Brody. I still wasn't able to see if Karson was hurt because his back was facing us.

I whipped my head around, trying to find Colton, since he was the first one to break away from the group. My eyes stopped, immediately landing on a furious Colton as he held back Braxton.