Dodge (update every ten days)

Birch's story

I ran away from Ice before I did something stupid, like kiss him.

Why did he have to be so sexy?

I tried to push Ice out of my mind and turned my attention back to finding Birch. He was upset and I realised I didn't know his story, and no one knew mine.

I jogged down the lower floor English corridor (and I knew it was that one because it had a huge sign above it saying 'Lower floor English'. That was a dead giveaway.).

"Birch?" I called as I jogged.

I couldn't find him but I needed to. He was upset.

"BIRCH!?" I shouted.

I heard a grunt and then the sound of something heavy being flung across a room.

I looked in the room I heard the noise coming from, and I found Birch.

His hands were bleeding and it looked like a tidal wave had hit. Except everything was dry.

"Birch." I said softly.

"WHAT!?" he screamed.

"It's me. Tell me what's wrong."

"Fuck off."

"Birch come on, let me look at your hands."

"I said Fuck off."

"And I said no."

"Dodge." he said looking at me like he was trying very hard not to attack me, and not in a vampire way either, 'Leave. I need to be alone right now."

"Oh! Guess what!" I said "So do I! We can be alone together!"

"Dodge..." he whined.

"Birch...' I replied matching his tone.

"Fine. You wanna be here, you can be here. But a teacher will be here soon, and you're gonna get in trouble."

"Oh, that'd make a change. Me, getting in trouble."

I sat next to him and started to look at his hands.

They were red raw and bleeding in some places.

"What did you do?" I asked.

He rubbed his forearm on his head.

"The tables took a lot more effort to move than I thought."

I looked around the room for something to wrap them up in.

There was a small first aid kit on the floor, it had been on the teachers desk.

I opened it but it as empty - helpful.

I grabbed a toilet roll that was on top of a metal cabinet that Birch had left standing. I wrapped it round his hands, one at a time, until we could find a better bandage.

"You wann talk about it?" I asked after I had finished wrapping.

"It's complicated."

"I'm pretty smart, and I've got time."

"Fine. I'll tell you... Let me start at the beginning."

He looked at me and I nodded.

The story was coming.

"When I was abut fourteen, my dad left. Just packed his bags and left. No explanation, no note, and he left no money. My dad came from a rich family, so he was minted. Mum didn't have a job, but she did have a gambling problem. It wasn't even that bad, not until he left. Without his money, me, mum and Denny, my older brother, went skint. Obviously it didn't happen over night, but me and Denny hadn't known anything else. We spent all the money within a week. Couple that with Mum's gambling problem, and we were the picture of a family who had problems. Denny was failing everything at school and was starting to get into drugs. He tried to get me started and to be honest, I tried 'em once or twice, but that's a different story.

Anyway, Mum refused to get a job. Denny couldn't get a job, and he didnt want one. I did what any fourteen year old boy would do, I started nicking things. Small things at first, pencils, pens, food. Then I started to get braver, clothes and shoes. One night, I had decided to go big. I was gonna nick some money from an abandoned building on the M25. I watched it for day's, and nights, then when I thought it was empty, I made my mood. I snuck in a side window. I saw a huge bag of money just lying around. I looked inside and there was at least ten grand. I grabbed it and ran back towards my windows, where I'd come in. before I got there though, someone grabbed me from behind. They had me knocked out in seconds. I woke up and I was tied to a chair.

"Where you goin' with my money?" asked the man.

I looked around and saw I was in some sort of fighting ring.

"I-I-I didn't realise it was yours. I didnt think anyone used this place." I tried to explain, but he didn't listen. He just punched me in the stomach and asked again.

"I'm sorry. I needed the money. I'm skint. I didn't realise. I'll go and not come back." I suggested.

"Naa." said some other man I hadn't seen "He might go to the coppers."

"I won't! I ain't got nothing to say to those faggits." I muttered.

I hated police officers. They were always bringing my brother home.

"Ohhhh. Little thief's got an attitude." he said.

I just looked down. If he was gonna punch me, I knew I had to be ready.

"Alright, here's what we'll do." said the second man "We'll put him in the ring against Lime and if he wins, he starts fighting. If not, we bash 'im up."

They untied me and took the chair away. Some kid about thirteen crawled into the ring. I beat him. I can't really remember the details, but I remember winning. I remember thinking that they'd let me go now I'd won. But they'd done something better, they'd introduced me to street fighting. I made my home at that building. And they even gave me thirty quid for beating Lime.

When I got home my mum weren't too pleased. She started having a go tame for being gone so long. Then she started hitting me. She stopped shouting after a couple of days, but she didn't stop hitting. I couldn't do anything. There was no way I was gonna hit my mum, and there weren't no way I was gonna go to the police. So I put up with it. Fighting was my escape. Fighting kept me sane. But Jones started to notice when I started showing up with bruises and he got annoyed. Jones was the man who suggested I fought Lime and he owned the place. He told me I had to lose the bruises, it was effecting my performance. So that night when I went home, I told my mum to lay off. Then I punched her. It was the worst feeling ever. It wasn't the right thing to do. I knew I shouldn't have done it before I even had, but I did it anyway. Then I ran to my room. I knew I had to get away from her. The next day, I wa arrested for assault on my mum, and street fighting. She told them.

I was sent here and that was it. I didn't speak to my mum, or my brother. Earlier, I got an email from Denny, telling me that I needed to send them money. They asked me! I'm the one whose in a fucking prison! Are they stupid! EUGGHHHHHH!"

Birch stopped talking and threw another table over.

"Miss Dodge, Mr Birch," came a voice from the door "You'd better come with me."

It was Miss Balack.

"Sure thing." I said.

That was Birch's story. And it wasn't what I'd expected.

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Authors note

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I is back!!!!

Don't worry, I spent my time productively writing, but I didn't have to meet any deadlines so I wrote faster. Hopefully, I'll be updating once a week!!