Across the Universe: A BFDI Oneshot Collection

Why We Fight

Unknown POV

I glossed over the assignment paper again as I walked out of the high school building, grinning. A five-page single-spaced essay on the current state of the economy? I thought PA classes were supposed to be hard. After stepping to the side to let the stream of students make their way out, I sat on the nearby bench and opened my backpack to slip the paper inside.

"Should be a piece of cake—AH!"

A particularly strong gust of wind blew the paper out of my hand and along the sidewalk next to the school. After panicking for a second, I zipped my backpack back up, slung it over my shoulder, and chased after it. "No, no, no! I can't lose that!" I thought to myself as I raced as fast as my noodle legs would carry me.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't even fifty meters, but I was already sweating and aching by the time the paper rested long enough on the ground for me to snatch it back up. Deciding not to risk it blowing away again, I carefully folded the paper and slipped it into my pocket. I was about to turn around and make my way back when I heard a haughty laugh and some snickers from around the corner.

"We know you remember them. Come on, it ain't gonna hurt ya!"

"Yeah, come on. We won't tell if you don't."

With piqued curiosity and cautious alertness, I hunched over slightly and tiptoed toward the conversation before peeking around the corner. About forty feet away, three of our varsity Grifball players had a girl that I'd never seen before trapped against the wall, clutching a couple of notebooks to her chest while her backpack started to crumple from how close she was to the wall.

"We're too busy grinding for Grifball trophies to study, little lady," the third guy scoffed. "We can't let the school down, after all. Now, are you gonna give us those test answers or are we gonna have to...convince you?" The girl shrank back even more as the three guys laughed again.

"HEY!"

Hearing how loud I yelled right then surprised even me as the others turned to look at me one by one, bewildered. Without thinking, I whipped out the folded sheet of paper from my pocket and waved it at them. "You jerks want the answers?"

The guys looked at me briefly before glancing at each other. I heard one of them whisper a question—something along the lines of "Hey, isn't he a nerd, too?"

But I didn't care. Instead, I made what was simultaneously the best and worst decision of my life with four simple words:

"Come and get them."

I dashed like a madman down the sidewalk and pushed my legs to their absolute limits as I ran for my life. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know what I was thinking. All I knew was that I wanted to get those guys as far away from that girl as possible. And judging from the sound of three stampeding jocks behind me, I guessed that I was doing a pretty good job.

The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math.

Contrary to what my adrenaline was telling me, I had only made it about the entirety of twenty yards before I felt 200 pounds of pure muscle tackle me face-first into the ground and pin me there. A coarse hand snagged the paper out of my fingers, and I knew exactly what was coming once I heard the paper unfold and three enraged growls.

Blood ran like a river from my face that day. That was the second most painful day of my life. I couldn't even tell how much time had passed by the time the jocks got bored enough to get up and leave. I was too dazed to even realize that, a few minutes later, I was slowly being dragged back toward the school building.