The Loner's Journey

Chapter 19

Archer's POV
One the boys catch up, I decide to wait for them. Grayson gets his breath back first and gives me a smile when he looks up. I blush slightly and give a small smile in return. We continue waiting for a few more seconds, until Danny has his breath back too. Danny slowly straightens up and loops his arm around my neck. "Why'd you run off like that?" He asks. I lean towards his ear and he bends down a little. "When the bell rang, I noticed Trent was staring at me with a scary look and started to come over towards us." I whisper to him. I see Danny clinch his fist and jaw in anger. I lean back away, and then look to Grayson. He seems a little confused about what I said to piss off Danny. "Everything good?" He asks cautiously. Danny looks over at him and you can still see the anger roiling in his eyes. "Yeah. We're good." He answers a bit curtly. Grayson understands his tension but doesn't try to push the subject which I'm great full for. The late bell rings and we all hurry to our next classes. Danny goes to science, and Grayson and I go to history. On our way there I can tell he wants to ask me something but is holding back. Once we get situated in class, I tap his arm. He turns to me and I point to his phone. He understands I want it and hands it to me after unlocking it. I search for his notes. I find them and begin typing that he could ask me whatever question he was bursting to. I hand it back and he reads it. He gives me a somewhat surprised look and then just kinda laughs. He begins typing and once he's finished he hands it back. 'What did you tell Danny that got him so pissed off?' He had typed. I sigh. Of course that's his question. I repeat to him through text what I had told Danny. After he reads it over he gets an angry lookin his eyes. I tap him. He looks over at me, and I make an 'it's ok' motion with my hands. He shakes his head at me and turns back to type on his phone. Once he's done typing, he hands his phone to me. I look down to read it. 'It's not ok for you or anyone to be treated like that." He typed. I look at him and he has a fierce look in his eyes. I give him his phone and a small smile. He returns the smile. Not long after that, the bell for our next class rings. We gather our stuff and head out the door. I spot Danny near my locker and start to walk over. I'm almost there when someone puts their leg out in front of me and I trip. Luckily, I was near a locker so I was able to catch myself but I dropped my books and stuff. I look to see who tripped me, and of course it's none other than Vince, one of Trent's goons. He starts laughing as I bend down to pick my stuff up. Next thing I know, I'm laying on the floor. I slowly realize that Vince must have pushed me down with his foot or something. I try to get up but I can't. I look behind me to see his foot is on my back, holding me down. I grunt when he adds more pressure from me squirming around. He laughs some more and then gets shoved off me by someone. I can't really see who until I sit up to get my things. I look over and Grayson has Vince pinned to a locker. I can't hear what they're saying but it seems to frighten Vince enough that when Grayson lets him go, he runs away. I slowly get up and grab the rest of my stuff before starting back toward my locker. "Hey! Are you ok?" I hear Grayson ask, as he catches up. I simply nod and continue to my locker. When I get there Danny sees me and starts asking questions about what happened. Before I can answer, Grayson does. "He was ambushed by Vince." He says. Danny gets an angry and protective look on his face. He starts checking me for injuries. I laugh a little when he crosses a ticklish spot on my shoulder. He smiles slightly and seems to take that as meaning I'm ok. "How's your ankle?" He asks. I give the ok sign with my fingers. He looks skeptical. "Switch your books then we can go somewhere so I can check it." He says. I roll my eyes but do as he says. "What happened to his ankle?" I hear Grayson ask worriedly. "That night when you and I talked I got a call, remember?" Danny asks. Grayson nods. "We'll turns out that Trent and his goons had jumped him in the library. One of them stepped on his ankle and it twisted the wrong way. But it was just a pretty bad sprain." He explains. Grayson seems to think for a minute before he makes a noise of acknowledgment. I happened to get done switching books right about when they finished talking so I got Danny's attention and started walking towards the front doors so I can go sit on one of the benches outside.