the thing about revenge

20 e n t y : fire alarms and detentions

"Hey babe," Thomas winked. He stood by my locker, holding a small cup of coffee. I gratefully took the cup from him.

"Hey," I smiled back, pecking him on the cheek as Asher sighed a very audible sigh from behind.

"Hey, babe. Hey!" Asher mimicked from the back. Hm, it seemed like he was fully healed up and all ready to annoy everyone again. A few juniors walked by, cooing and waving at Asher and Asher waved back, gliding off the wall.

"Y'all kids can't be the only ones having fun, can you?" He smirked as he sauntered off to exchange saliva with some poor soul.

I grabbed his arm. The clever boy wore a long-sleeved dirty green hoodie.

"Are you feeling better? Are your wounds all-" I started, peering up into his blue eyes.

"Yes. I'm fine." Asher replied, cutting me off as he looked at me wide-eyed.

"What do you mean wounds? What is going on? Emily? Asher. You better fucking tell me." Thomas growled as he caught Asher's hoodie.

"Whoa, this is no big deal, man." Asher tried, to no avail.

"How is this no big deal? My best friend got himself injured and I don't even know about it?"

"It's fine-"

"Oh my god. You went down again, didn't you? I told you to stay away from those thugs!" Thomas yelled, attracting the attention of everyone in the hallway.

"Thomas," Asher said, a hint of impatience in his tone. "I'm fine now."

"We had a deal! Fucking hell, Asher. You know how much it hurts her to see you like this. Your mother-"

Asher finally conceded, both hands raised. 

"That's like the five thousandth time you said that to me!" Thomas finally exploded, pushing Asher to the ground. Effectively slamming his shoulder onto the cement floor. Asher winced in pain.

"Okay, guys. I think that's-" I started unhelpfully.

"Enough!" Principal Bobby bellowed. His nose was flaring and I could almost see the steam from his ears.

"Thomas, what do you think you are doing?"

"Uh, sorry sir. I was-"

"My fault. I'm sorry. I provoked him. Thomas here was just trying to stop me from..." His eyes flicked upward as he pushed himself off the ground. And then I saw it in his face. It was an I-got-an-idea-but-it-may-be-a-shitty-one-at-that face. His hand reached up and-

"-from setting the fire alarm off." He smirked triumphantly as he pulled on the metal chain. A loud shrill sound rang out continuously and the hallway broke into chaos. Students and teachers alike rushed out of lecture theatres and classrooms. There were shouts and confused faces as Principal Bobby whipped his head from side to side, trying to figure out how to solve the mess Asher started.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, sir. He was just trying to stop me from doing that." Asher shrugged.

Principal Bobby glared daggers at Asher before spluttering into his phone to ask his office staff to switch the damn thing off. Asher had the audacity to yawn.

"Attention students, please return back to classes. False fire alarm. Attention students, please return back to classes. False fire alarm. Thank you." An office staff said through the speakers.

Thomas stared at Asher, mouth wide open. Asher stared back, almost daring Thomas to open his mouth to say something.

"Is that true, Thomas?" Principal Bobby asked after students moved back toward their respective classrooms.