Free Falling *Discontinued*

6|The Peters in the World

A giant sigh of relief spilled from my mouth as the final bell rung. Chairs screeched across the floor as everyone pushed them back and headed out of the class. I waited until there wasn't a crowd forming around the door before standing up, grabbing my skateboard, and leaving.

As I neared the front of the school, I heard yelling and commotions coming from another hallway. Confusion and curiosity spiking, I followed the voices to where a bunch of students were gathered around two people. I couldn't see their faces clearly, but I could see the tops of their heads bobbing, as if getting ready to have a go at one another.

Pushing myself to the front of the crowd, I witnessed Miles getting shoved by a blonde-haired boy. It hadn't registered in my head who he was until I took a step closer, then realizing that he was Peter White, captain of the wrestling team.

"Come on!" Peter yelled, spit flying from his mouth and his face turning red as anger concocted within him. A dangerous glint swarmed in his eyes as he continued taunting Miles, trying to gorge a reaction from him.

Miles clenched fists remained glued to his side as he resisted the urge to fight back, but the look on his face screamed murder. I scanned the crowd for Eli or even André, but they weren't there.

Where the fuck were the teachers when you needed them?

Peter shoved Miles again and said something so low that only he could hear. This time, Miles reacted. His face contorted into powerful hate as he drew his fist back and rammed it straight into Peter's face. Miles tackled him to the ground and served him doses of consecutive punches, all the while screaming profanities.

My breath caught in my throat as I watched a boy who always seemed happy and positive pummel Peter into the ground.

Suddenly, Caden emerged from the crowd with Brandon and another boy who was on the wrestling team. They pulled Miles off of Peter, and I could see that he was worn out because his shoulders sagged like he was a deflated balloon releasing all of that rage that had built up inside of him. Miles leaned against the lockers.

"Caden," Peter coughed and spat out a glob of blood. He reached for his friend, but Caden snatched his hand away.

"You disgust me," Caden said, glaring down at his friend and captain.

Peter scrunched his eyebrows. "You don't even know what happened and you're already taking his side?"

"I heard all that I needed to hear."

Caden stalked off to check on Miles who was messaging his fists while glaring deathly at Peter. Brandon and the other boy helped Peter off the floor, and soon everyone dispersed, leaving me, Caden, and Miles alone in the hallway.

"Miles," I said finally, finding the muscles to move. "Are you okay?"

His eyes were bloodshot red as tears pooled around the edges of his eyes. He looked at me, then lowered his head.

"He got to me," he croaked. "He fucking got to me."

"What happened?" I asked softly, scared that if I touched him or spoke too loud that he would explode. I approached him like he was a ticking time bomb, and I was the person sent to dissemble it.

"I wanted to join the wrestling team," he began slowly, his voice a mere whisper, "but when I went to sign up, that bastard told me that all the spots were filled."

"Bullshit," Caden said with a frown. "There's no way in hell he found replacements so fast, and he would've told me about it."

Miles snorted and wiped his face. "I know. So when I confronted Peter about why I couldn't be on the team, he called me out of my name. I said some things that I do regret, but I was so," he clenched his fists again, "angry. I was fed up, and so when he came at me, I gave in." Miles released a heavy sigh and dusted his hair. "But it's not his fault."

"Yes it is," I argued, frowning at his simplicity to dismissive Peter's actions.

"Generations after generations get this notion embedded into their heads of how we are a threat to their society, how people like me are inferior to people like him. I can't judge Peter because he's been brainwashed."

"He still needs to be held accountable," Caden said softly. That doesn't give him a pass to call you that."

Miles shrugged. "I've been called worse."

From the day he was born, Miles had been dealt a terrible hand and seemed to be losing in this war between the racially discriminative society and himself. I couldn't imagine the ongoing battle raging in his head, and to see him give up was astonishingly heartbreaking. But I realized that this was his world, this was his truth, and this was what he had dealt with on top of the horrors hidden behind the doors of every foster home he'd been in.

No one deserved to be viewed as less simply because of the color of their skin, and I needed him to know that. I needed the words to register in his brain.

I held Miles' rough hands, sighing and shaking my head as I inspected his bleeding knuckles. He looked up at me with his red-rimmed eyes, and my chest constricted like all the air had been sucked out of me. I prayed that my voice came out stronger than I felt.

"I will never know how it feels to be you, but I want you to know that there are more of us than there are of him. Don't let them turn you into something you're not, okay?"

Tears were gradually slipping from his eye, but when the words soaked into his head, his body began to shake with reckless sobs. Wordlessly, I wiped his face before embracing him. His arms snakes around my waist to pull me in tighter. I forced back tears, focusing on consoling the boy who was in war against the Peters in the world.

In that moment, I believed I had never met a boy as beautiful and strong-willed as Miles Perkins.

~