unlucky (newtmas)

25

The following Monday, Newt came in with a black eye.

He tried to hide it from me at first. He walked in to physics and had his head angled away just slightly, saying chirply, "Morning!" before turning away to look in the other direction.

I wasn't stupid though, and I was too distracted to reply. For once I had been sitting up, waiting for him to come in. I knew something was up when he hadn't come to my locker that morning, and now the proof was evident right there in front of me.

"Newt," I started lowly. My voice was dangerous. "Turn around."

Newt flinched but didn't obey my order. He pretended to busy himself by flipping through his notes. I glanced over my shoulder, but Finn hadn't arrived yet. By my guess, he was probably ditching class.

"Newt," I repeated, softer this time. This seemed to get to him, because he stopped fidgeting and stilled. Finally, he looked over at me.

The bruise around his eye was not fresh. It looked as though it had happened a few days ago, as it was yellowing around the edge and wasn't as nasty a purple as it probably had been. Despite this, however, Newt's brown eyes looked contrastingly dull, and the sight was nothing pretty.

"I fell," he said lamely.

Seeing as Newt had such terrible luck, other students may have bought the lie. But I knew him, and I remembered Thursday evening, and Dean's words, and Finn's angry glare as Newt walked away from him, and my anger flared as if Finn had just smashed another cone onto Newt's head.

"I'm going to kill him," I said. I was up and out of my seat and storming into the hallway before Newt had even gotten in a word.

The hallways were empty because the bell had already rung. I was moving quickly, eyes skirting from room to room, debating, thinking--

"Thomas, stop!" Newt begged desperately. His tone made me think that perhaps he had been calling my name for a while, but I had not heard him.

"Why?" I snapped, my anger suddenly turning on him "Are you trying to protect him or something?!"

"What?" Newt asked, stopping in his tracks. My mind flashed to Dean saying, "And then Finn left. I remember." I saw Newt standing there, refusing to fight time and time again. I saw him talking to Finn at his locker, letting Finn say horrible things to him with hardly any retaliation. I saw him, and I pictured him and a young Finn together, and my heart was beating angrily.

"Forget it," I spat, turning on my heel. "You might be too afraid to hit him, but I'm not."

"What the hell?" Newt said. "What's gotten into you?"

"Dean made it sound as if you two were grand old pals," I relented, turning on my heel. I wasn't sure why my temper was running red hot, but the idea of the two of them together made me boil.

"Dean's four, Thomas! Are you really going to take anything he says seriously?" Newt was scurrying to keep up with my determined pace.

"Yes! I am," I said, throwing up my arms. "Because in the two minutes that he was talking to me, I learned more about you than in the two months we've been friends!"

Newt grabbed onto my arm. His eyes were wide and desperate. "Thomas, please," he begged.

I scoffed, shrugging him off.