Seasons #1

Sage

"He's pissed at you just so you know. And because of that he won't talk to me either." Ava says later the same day. She pulls a fuzz ball off of my comforter.
"Well, I don't care. He has no right to talk like that about someone he doesn't even know." I reply.
"You don't even know him, Sage!"
"I know enough about him to say that he's not a freak."
"That's it? You still don't know what his home life is like. He could have issues or something. Why else would someone be that quiet?" Ava pulls another fuzz ball off and flicks it onto the ground. "He's weird."
"Define weird."
"Weird as in he doesn't talk."
"He talks when spoken to."
"Yeah only to to teachers though."
"He's talked to me."
"Oh he has? About what? I bet he complained about daddy issues or something."
"Watch it, I'll drop you like I dropped Zach." She sticks her touch out at me. "I just don't get why you guys are accusing him of being a freak if you don't even know how he actually is. Y'all didn't even give him a chance."
"Some people don't need one, Sage."
***
The scream runs down the hallway and we all hear it and run out of the classroom to see what's going on.
Ryan has Azrael shoved against the wall holding Azrael's hands up over his head. Ryan has Azrael's sleeves pulled all the way up exposing his scars. Some of them are fresh, still dripping little drops of blood. They run down his arm turning purple as they stain his hoodie.
Azrael is trying to escape Ryan's grasp but has no luck. Ryan is stronger than him. Ryan rubs his arm down the fresh cuts making Azrael scream.
I run up to them and scream at Ryan to stop.
"Shut up, Sage. Don't you see how much of a fucking psychopath he is?" Ryan scrapes his nails down Azrael's arm. Azrael screams again and I see tears slide down his red face. "I caught him in a stall cutting his arms!"
I grab Ryan and try to pull him off of Azrael. He shoves me hard and I fall to the ground. I feel someone pull me up and turn to see Zach. He runs up to Ryan and shoves him off of Azrael. "Fuck, Ryan! This isn't cool man. What the fuck are you doing?"
"Like you fucking care! You called him a freak and I proved it! Look at him!"
Azrael slides down to the floor and pulls his sleeves down. They turn a deep purple as they soak up the blood from his arms.
"You went too fucking far! This is not cool at all!" Zach looks pissed. I don't think I've ever seen him this mad before.
"Why am I the bad one all of a sudden? You started it and I'm ending it!" Ryan yells back.
At this time the principal and school counselor runs in between students to break up the argument. The principal yells at Zach and Ryan to get in his office. The school counselor runs over to Azrael and helps him up. She walks him to her office. As they pass by me, Azrael looks at me. I can see the hurt in his eyes. The tears are still sliding down his tear stained cheek.
I need to help him. I don't know how or what I'm going to do, but I need to help him. I need to be the friend he can trust.