Odd One Out

CHAPTER 16

Naya
Friday, October 24

"Let him go!"

Bailey scurried over to the boys' side, unable to break them apart. Both Ellis and Viktor were throwing hard punches at each other, but it was clear that Viktor was being controlled by rage — and his rage was winning.

"Jake," I tried to say, my throat suddenly feeling extremely dry. Trying to dodge the two boys fighting, I bent down to pick Jake up from his position on the floor. His face was scrunched into a whirl of pain, groaning as I managed to lift him up.

"Oh Lord," I whimpered, seeing the blood stain on the sharp rock below. I quickly turned to Jake's head and sure enough, there was blood on his hand from holding the back of his head in an attempt to ease the pain. It clearly wasn't working.

"My head," he murmured, and though it didn't look like a severe injury, the blood made me feel uneasy and incredibly panicked.

"Bailey," I called out, but she was busy trying to keep Viktor from beating Ellis's face into his brain.

Ellis.

"Ellis?" I called out, watching as he grasped Viktor's shoulders and turned him around so that now he was on top, taking charge of the punches.

"Guys!" I screamed out, my voice going hoarse. Bailey's perfect, straight bun had turned into a disheveled mess, Viktor's cheek was bruised and so was his eye, and Ellis's nose and eye were slightly swollen, blood seeping out of his lower lip. I saw them all halt their movements, Viktor and Ellis finally breaking apart and standing up only to have a staring competition between the two. If Bailey hadn't slapped their arms to get their attention, they probably would have continued fighting.

Instead, they stared at me with shock and terror and confusion taking turns within their eyes.

"What..."

Bailey's words snapped me back into reality, where I looked down to see what they were staring at. The lilac sweater I had on was smeared with blood, and my fingertips were tinted red.

"Francisco," Jake called from his position in front of me, and in front of him was a crowd of students who had formed, many of them with their phones out as they yelled and whispered, all at once.

When did they get here? Why didn't we see them?

Principal Wes squeezed his way to the front, along with senior counselor Joan Knightly who we rarely ever spoke to unless we were failing a class, or decided to change our minds about college.

Behind them was one of the school's nurses, with a small first aid kit in hands. It was a dark, blurry mess that made me wish I could teleport. I looked back down to my hands and realized I was shaking, but I couldn't feel my body shaking. I couldn't even feel Miss Knightley's hand as she helped pull me up from my position on the floor, away from Jake who was now in the hands of the nurse, and I could not feel the stares of half the school on my face.

I did feel something strange coming out of that scene, a stare in particular that stood out above the rest. As Miss Knightley led me out through the crowd, I looked up to see Detective Summers standing on the bleachers, a few feet away from the commotion, with a subtle grin on her face.

Viktor
Friday, October 24

They could take me to jail. And maybe then my mother would finally leave this shithole behind, all the memories and all the people who didn't support her when she needed them most. She could leave her shit husband, too.

I had spent so many years trying to forget those memories, but someone out there was out to make them surface again. It didn't matter who, to me. It didn't matter why.