𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗰 [𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝘂]

set me free .15

"how could you be so stupid, bowen?" ricky's coach asked, pacing in front of the boy. ricky shrugged his shoulders, focusing on his bloody and bruised knuckles.

the rest of the team awkwardly leaned against the lockers, glancing at their shoes or at ricky for a response. the game got cancelled. east high was forced to forfeit due to jack and ricky's fight. they lost the game. ej's scouts left right away, not wanting to be involved in the mess.

ej was angry. he was standing close to his coach, leaning his back against a wall. ej twirled the lacrosse ball in his hand in silence, cursing jack and ricky in his head.

"you injured your own teammate. one of your own," coach scolded again. ricky rolled his eyes.

"i wasn't the only one out there?? jack was the one who initiated it-"

"and i expected more from you. jack started it but you should have never tried to finish it."

"we were losing because of him."

"and we still lost, ricky. so honestly, how effective was your fight? it didn't do anything for you or any of us," coach argued back. ricky could feel everyone's eyes glaring at him so he put his head down in defeat.

"everyone else stay here. ricky go in my office." ricky heard his coach demand. the boy avoided everyone's eyes and dragged himself to coach's office. when he stepped inside, he saw the principal and his parents sitting inside.

fuck.

"ricky, sit," miss jenn instructed. she got up from her seat and motioned for ricky to take her place. before ricky could relax, coach walked inside - locking the door behind him.

"ricky, what you did was a serious problem," miss jenn started to say, crossing her arms over her chest. ricky glanced at his parents. they were disappointed and embarrassed of him. ricky sighed as miss jenn continued, "i know that this is not you, though. i never would've expected this behavior from you."

coach nodded his head and leaned on his desk, squatting in front of ricky, "hey, look up, would ya?" coach said in a quiet voice. ricky didn't even notice his watery eyes until he saw how blurry coach looked. the boy blinked away his tears and wiped his eyes away from his parents.

"what's going on between you and jack?" coach asked. ricky shrugged his shoulders.

"i don't know, he was pissing me off in the game. he kept tormenting me before the game and refused to pass the ball to me-"

"why is jack tormenting you though? what's going on between you two?" miss jenn asked.

ricky sighed, biting the inside of his cheek. "i don't ... i don't know. him and his friends have been bothering me and mine since forever. it's always been like this, it's just escalating now i guess."

"you and what friends...?" miss jenn asked.

ricky hesitated, glancing at his parents. he gave in, "they just... they all bully nini. i'm just trying to stick up for her."

"you shouldn't be the one trying to fight nini's battles," mike bowen finally stated. ricky rolled his eyes, "don't make it your problem."

"nini's my best friend. it is my problem."

the room fell silent, tension rising between everyone. ricky continued, "...besides it's not just nini either. jack made it his problem when he started to bother me. i'm just sticking up for myself."

miss jenn sighed, "listen ricky, i will have a separate conversation with jack and then eventually his friends too. however, i still don't condone what you did. fighting doesn't resolve anything and is against school policy. so i have no choice but to punish you. i'm sorry."