Out There

Hard Times

Of course. Of-fucking-course. Just as I thought there was a little bit of order in my life he has to bring his smug ass back into it. Well shit. I'm sitting on the floor holding my nose, Konnor is standing in front of me with a twisted smile, people are starting to gather around us, the leader of the cool group, a very attractive leader at that, is stalking toward where everyone is gathered. A few seconds passed by, seeming like hours as everyone, including me, waited to see what would happen next. In a flash, the leader of the cool group was standing between me and Konnor, staring him dead in the eye.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked dumbly. Yes there's a fucking problem. My ex-boyfriend just popped back into my life, I fell in front of all of the upperclassmen who hadn't left for lunch and probably thought I was a complete idiot, my head is pounding, and my face hurts.

"No, nothing's wrong thanks," I lied easily. I got up and quickly walked toward the nurse's office, dripping a trail of blood on the way. Soon after I took off I noticed footsteps quickly approaching me and I shielded myself, ready for a blow from Konnor. Instead, the nice looking leader gently pushed my arm down from shielding my face and smiled at me, jutting his hand out.

"Hi there, my name's Jimmy." I slowly shook his hand and smiled shyly. Damn, was he hot.

"J-Jack," I finally managed to sputter out.

"Well J-Jack, it's nice to meet you," he said, chuckling at my stuttering and shaking my hand firmly.

"Now let's get you to the nurse's office." He walked me over to the office and knocked. After a second the door opened and a short lady with little glasses poked her head out. She looked up to me and smiled.

"Hi there. Oh dear, your nose. Come on in." She pulled me in and I looked back for Jimmy but he was long gone.

"So what happened here?" she asked, cleaning up my nose and inspecting it. I swallowed and looked down at the floor as I answered.

"Oh I just tripped and fell. Hit my nose on the floor." Well it wasn't a lie. I did trip. It just wasn't an actual accident.

"Alright well you'll be good for now, but take this napkin with you just in case. It isn't broken or fractured, just a bit bruised. Come back and see me if it starts bleeding again, okay sweetie?" I nodded and left the office, heading off to the library since I still had 15 minutes of my half hour lunch break. Once in the library I settled down in the very back with a book in my hand. I must have zoned out pretty bad because just as I turned the page someone jumped behind me and whisper-yelled "Boo!" Of course I jumped and dropped the book I was holding. Jimmy came from behind me and picked the book up, delicately placing it on the table. I looked down at my hands and quietly muttered a thank you as I got up to go to class. He snatched the book from the table and held it up high where I couldn't reach it. He smiled and spoke up.

"If you ever want to see this book alive again you'll go behind the science building right after school's over." With that he ran off with the book, just when the bell rang, signaling lunch was over. I groaned, half in excitement, half in nervousness.

In my last class, English, I discretely texted my mother, telling her I was going to stay after school with a friend. Was he my friend? I would think so. Hope so. After English I headed down the stairs and out the main building, making my way to the science building. After making sure no one was around, specifically Konnor, I went behind the building and saw Jimmy with the other guys from his group. He saw me and smiled, pulling me over to the rest of them.

"Guys, this is Jack. The kid I was telling you about." Ouch. Sure I was a grade lower than him but kid? Whatever. His friends all shook my hand, grunting some greetings to me. Jimmy introduced them as Lee, Charlie, and Ben. I shook their hands back, just saying hello a couple times then looking down to my shoes.