Childhood friends (Fruk)

8

"Wecouldnotjuststandbyandletithappen!"

"Hehithiminfrontofusandyouthoughtwewouldnotdoanything?"

"SLOW DOWN! ONE AT A TIME! Now... tell me what happened," The school counselor calmed Alfred and me down. "Francis, you know that fighting is prohibited in school, so why did you punch him?"She pointed to the student sitting outside of the office. He was holding onto his bloodied nose, and a nurse held an icepack to his head. "Ma'am, It was not his fault! Lovino started it; he was bullying Arthur and tried to hit him," Alfred tried to explain. He was the one who pulled me off of Lovino. I looked down at my fists, and they were red and bruised. I had only known Alfred for less than a year, but he and his brother have been close to Arthur and me, along with Gilbert and Antonio.

"Is this true, Francis?" the counselor asked. "Do you want to tell me your side? This is not like you," she spoke sweetly. "I- well, he hit Arthur for wearing torn clothes, so I hit him back; he would not stop making fun of him, so I did something," I said, looking up. Memories of the fight started to flood my mind. The screaming of the students, the way his blood splashed onto the floor, and the way I felt happy beating him up. He made fun of Arthur for not having new clothes like him? so what if there were a couple of holes in his shirt?

"Francis, you will have to go to detention for the rest of the week and apologize to him verbally and in a written statement," she spoke. "Yes, ma'am," I uttered.

"Listen, I know you care a lot about Arthur, but there are things you are too young to understand; you have to take his feelings into consideration before you act," She tried to say. I understood what she was saying but did not give a shit. I would do it a million times to ensure he was safe. "You are both dismissed now, and I expect to see you after school tomorrow for detention," she demanded. I nodded at her, and Alfred and I both stood up to leave.

I kept my head down as we left the room. I turned to the left, seeing Lovino watching me. He was still holding a cloth to his nose, and I started feeling bad. How was I able to do that? I beat him up pretty badly. I stopped to look at him, but he immediately looked away from me. "Where is Arthur?" I asked. He pointed out the front doors, and I saw Arthur being lectured by his older brother. He had his head down, and his brother was glaring at him.

I felt myself starting to go toward them, but Alfred stopped me. "You know that is not a smart idea, so why do it?" he spoke. I felt my blood boil, watching Arthur's brother grab his arm. "It pisses me off," I told. "I know, but we can not do anything. Do you know how bad the situation would be?" He asked. I nodded, agreeing as I watched his brother pull his arm toward their car.  I hated watching them do this to him. "The counselor does not seem worried about it, so maybe calm down?"

"The counselor is an idiot! I do not know why no one will step in. If I were older, they would not be a problem."

"Francis, you need to chill, bro,"

"I am! I am just tired of this already. No one does anything; what if they kill him one day?"

I looked at Alfred, who was sad about what I said. "Hey! are the two of you okay? We heard what happened," Matthew came running toward us, along with gilbert and Antonio. "Francis! Your hands? So you did get in a fight? who was it with?" Antonio asked. "Uhh, it was Lovino... the one that is brothers with Feliciano," I explained. I pointed to where he was sitting, and they all looked shocked. "I did not even know he had a brother," he spoke. Gilbert started to look at my hands and rubbed my knuckles. "Well, did you win?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes at what he said, and Alfred started laughing. "Of course, he won!" He laughed. "Where is Arthur?" Matthew asked. "He went home, which was why I got into a fight. That kid was picking on him, so I stepped in," I explained. "Wow, I did not realize you had so much pent-up anger," Antonio laughed. I rolled my eyes again, and we all started to walk out the school door together. School had ended a few minutes ago, so it was time to go home.

~

"Bye, see you all tomorrow!"

"BYE GILBERT, BYE ANTONIO, BYE FRANCIS!"

"See you later!"

"BYE!"

"Bye..." I waved to them, and we all went our separate ways. I needed to hurry home since my sister was making dinner soon. I am sure they have called her, and she was going to lecture me. She could not make it to school earlier because of work.

I started to walk in the direction of my house and took the usual shortcut through the alleyway. It slashed the trip from ten minutes to five.  I looked at the sky and saw how the sun was starting to set. It was wintertime, so it made sense that the days were shorter now.

"Hey! Kid!" a voice suddenly spoke. I turned my head in the direction and saw a man standing behind a tree. Okay, this is my moment to leave. "Hey! Why are you leaving?" he asked. "Because you are creepy," I spoke, walking faster. I felt a sudden hand on my shoulder and turned around to look at the person. "Hey man, back off!" I yelled, pulling away.

He suddenly grabbed me by my shirt collar and held me toward him. He suddenly looked at me with a hateful glare and began to lift me. "If I find out you are getting into Arthur's business one more time, I will ensure your picture is on the milk carton!" He hissed. My eyes widened at his threat, and I tried to get loose. "Who are you?" I asked, scared. " I am Allistors friend, now back the fuck off, or else," He demanded. He threw me to the ground, and I held my arm.

The man started to walk away from me, and I gathered myself quickly. He must be the one that has been abusing Arthur? and his brother lets him get away with it. It made me feel sick to my stomach.