the breakup [skephalo]

[6] Knocking Teeth

trigger warnings: strong language, violence, blood

THE BREAKUP, ch. 6
After the last period of the day, Zak's energetic level had replenished and he was actually in a pretty good mood. As soon as Darryl saw him he noticed how happy he was. "Hey Skeppy," He greeted with a smile.

Zak flashed a toothy grin back at him. "Hi Darryl," He replied. His stroll had a bounce to it as he walked alongside his friend.

"You seem quite happy," Darryl commented with an eyebrow raised. He was unsure if he would be able to be as chipper if he was in Zak's shoes.

Zak shrugged. "Life is just great I guess."

As the two talked, the hallways filled with giggles and laughter, mostly coming from Skeppy. Both boys were smiling by the time they left for school, but their smiles quickly faded when they heard screams and shouts coming from the sidewalk nearby.

Zak was quick to rush to the crowd of people, pushing through them to see what they were staring at. Once he broke through the gathering, his eyes landed on something shocking.

Clay had George pinned to the ground, his back facing the air. One of Clay's hands was pressed against the side of George's face, pushing the boy's cheek into the concrete. Clay's other hand had George's arm twisted behind him in a painful looking position. Clay's knee was resting on the lower part of George's back, making it so the boy couldn't move.

Tears were forming in George's eyes as he begged Clay to stop what he was doing. Before Zak could even say anything, Jacob flew into the scene.

Jacob threw a punch right at Clay's nose with a loud crack, causing searing pain to shoot up the taller's sinuses. Clay brought both his hands up from George, covering his nose as he fell off of the smaller boy.

While Jacob helped George off the ground, Clay sat on his ass with thick blood gliding down over his lips and dripping onto his lap. Clay let out a groan of pain and retracted his hands from his nose to look at his palms, noticing that they were covered with red. A girl from the crowd let out a scream at the sight.

Jacob lead George over to where Zak was standing. Skeppy was frozen in horror at what Jacob had done. "What the hell!" Zak finally exclaimed.

Jacob couldn't help but smile. "I told you I'd knock his teeth in."

Zak shook his head but didn't say much else to Jacob. Zak grabbed the terrified George and guided him to Darryl. "You, take care of George," The short boy ordered before turning around to face the bleeding Clay.

Darryl felt horrible staring at George. The shy boy had a scrape on his left cheek from being pushed into the sidewalk. He was also holding the arm that had been twisted behind his back. His hands were trembling, he looked scared for his life.

Zak, on the other hand, had approached Clay. "Why the hell would you do that to George?" He snapped in anger.

Clay was holding his nose that was still gushing blood. "Call a fucking ambulance," Was all that he said in reply.

Alice and Vincent arrived at the scene as Zak was interrogating him. "Call 9-1-1!" Alice ordered Vincent, looking panicked and distraught. She knelt down next to Clay and rubbed his back. She then looked up and met Zak in the eyes. "You can go," She declared in a very aggressive tone.

Zak held his hands up in innocence and turned back around towards Jacob, George, and Darryl. "Let's go home," He muttered.

On the way home, George had silent tears running down his face. Whenever one of the boys asked him what was wrong, all he could muster out was "Clay." Darryl just assumed that Clay had threatened to do something to him outside. Luckily Jacob was there to the rescue.

George and Jacob both decided to join Zak in spending the night at Darryl's house. They all had been through enough trauma during that day and needed a place to relax and be free from the world.

Zak was awfully quiet the entire journey. Whenever someone asked him any questions, he would either shake nod, shake his head, or shrug. Darryl had no clue why he was acting like that but didn't push anything at all.

When the boys finally arrived at Darryl's house, his mother gave a kiss on the cheek to Darryl and Zak, then gave hugs to the other two boys. They all went up to Darryl's room where Darryl started patching the boys up.

Darryl had grabbed some antibiotic ointment and bandaids from the bathroom, applying some of it to Jacob's knuckles and George's cheek. Zak sat on his bed in silence, staring at his phone but not tapping anything on it.

Darryl turned on Frozen on the TV. It was a good and easy distraction from the stressful day that they had just endured. George fell asleep on Darryl's beanbag chair pretty quickly. Jacob took out his laptop from his backpack and started to play some games on it.

Darryl walked up to Zak to see what he was doing. He noticed that Zak was still staring at his phone and he hasn't really tapped anything on it. Curious to see what he was looking at, Darryl peaked over his shoulder.

Darryl was surprised to find that he was staring at a single text message.

A-LICE🤮
I told you not to try anything. Your spicy secret is no longer safe.

~

a/n: oh, was that a cliffhanger? my bad