It Wasn't That Way

Chapter 7

But when Eiw crashed into him a few hours later looking humiliated and smelling like cigarette smoke, all of Cake's heartache about moving was forgotten. And for the first time, Cake understood what it meant to have your vision go crimson with rage.

After Fee spilled the situation with Eiw and Sand, anger became a wild thing. It trampled all rational thought and made the world sharp and clear. All he knew was his target, and Cake was about to kick his ass.

Before he knew it, Cake had stormed to the open area by the bathrooms behind the cafeteria and decked Sand.

The knuckles of his fist struck Sand square in the temple, taking him and that stupid cigarette hanging from his mouth down. The repellent scent of tobacco smoke festered in Cake's nose, but he was satisfied to note that it mixed with the metallic smell of Sand's blood. 

"Hey, what the fuck!" Sand roared from where he lay knocked to the ground. He touched his hand to his temple and looked furious when it came away bloody.

Sand was shorter than Cake, but he was built solidly like a truck. His hair was cropped short and muddied by blood. He had mean eyes and his face was contorted with anger. Cake might've been threatened by him if Sand had come for him under different circumstances. But fueled by vengeance, Cake was unstoppable.

"Who are you?!"

"Eiw's best friend you asshole!" Cake thundered.

Sand got to his feet and before Cake could block him, he landed a punch as well.

Pain burst along the side of Cake's head, but he barely registered it. Sand tried to skitter away from the altercation after punching Cake, but Cake was too quick.

He grabbed a fistful of Sand's uniform and pulled him back. Adrenaline surged through Cake's body and he forgot everything else besides Sand and the way he had hurt Eiw.

Eiw, who trusted so generously and freely. Eiw, who had been so excited to make a new friend. Eiw, whose wide, glassy eyes spilled over with tears. Eiw who had gotten betrayal as his reward. How dare Sand make him cry!

"Did you really think you could get away with taking advantage of him?" Cake shouted, jerking Sand around so he could punch him again.

"So you're the famous Cake." Sand scoffed, "Some best friend you are, leaving Eiw all alone for guys like me to mess with." He smiled mockingly and cracked his knuckles. Sand's friend backed away.

Cake growled gutturally, and fury shot through his veins, red hot. Who the fuck did Sand think he was? Fee didn't give him the full story, but Cake knew enough to know that Sand was the villain.

Cake lunged at Sand and beat him recklessly, fists meeting Sand's meaty flesh with sharp cracks. They rolled around in the dirt of the courtyard, and Cake bested Sand, pinning him to the ground and landing as many punches and kicks as he could. A crowd of kids surrounded them, egging the fight on and filming them.

Cake beat every centimeter of Sand that he could reach, wanting nothing more than to beat him to a pulp. He didn't stop until a teacher ran over and pulled him off.

"Principal's office, both of you. Now!" The teacher said grunting with the effort to hold Cake back, his glasses slipping off the end of his nose.

Cake struggled against the teacher's hold, feeling out of control. All of his righteous fury towards Sand, all of his pent up anger over Eiw pulling back, and now his feelings about moving had finally found an outlet and they weren't going to let go of it so easily.

Sand stood opposite him, panting and bleeding and his stupid face begged for another right hook. Cake broke free from the teacher's hold and rushed Sand again, knocking him to the ground in a cloud of dust. Another teacher burst onto the scene and between the two adults, they finally held Cake back and deposited him in the principal's office.

The whole time, Cake stewed in his chair, furious at Sand, at the teachers, and most of all, Eiw. Cake had warned him! He had told him! He'd known that Sand wasn't good news.

Didn't Sand have a conscience? How could anyone wrong Eiw? Cake wished that Eiw had joined a club, waited by himself like before, or even just gone home, instead of getting mixed up with someone like Sand.

But even though Cake felt sorry for his friend, it didn't eclipse his anger about the situation. Why didn't Eiw tell him what was going on? Why didn't he tell him anything about Sand beyond the fact that they'd been hanging out together lately?

Cake and Sand were dismissed from the office after their parents were called and Cake wasn't looking forward to dealing with that, but his parents were the least of his worries.

With one last look of contempt, Cake left Sand in the office and headed for the computer lab.

Eiw tried to talk to him the moment class let out, but Cake shut down and brushed him off, too jumbled up inside to talk to him properly.

His friends were buzzing with excitement over his fight wanting to know about all of the details. He joked around with them half-heartedly and promised to tell them all about it that night on MSN.

At the bottom of the staircase, he and Eiw split from his gang and they met Cake's mom in the parking lot.

And before he could stop him, Eiw told Cake's mom all about what happened and Cake's anger bubbled up again. He had wanted to deal with this whole situation just the two of them, there was no reason to involve anyone else. Cake shook with frustration and ushered Eiw home.

Cake felt increasingly rankled until his family lovingly "punished" him at the end of the day. He finally smiled when his dad congratulated him on a fight well fought and Cake earned a couple more thwacks from his mother when he smirked with pride.

Afterwards, he didn't seek Eiw out and went to bed on his own.

Cake just didn't understand. Why didn't Eiw talk to him? He still had no idea why things between them had changed. He and Eiw used to tell each other everything. If things were like before, Eiw wouldn't even have made another friend, much less one with such ill intentions.

They had always been closer to each other than everyone else, they were the closest best friends he knew. He just wanted to go back to the way things were, especially now that he was moving.

But no. Someone had hurt Eiw like this and Cake had been completely in the dark until he found out from someone else.

Cake should've known, Eiw should've told him. He should've been the first to know, he should've been the first to meet Sand.

Eiw knew that he could lean on Cake. Cake had been making that so clear these past few weeks. They had always leaned on each other and told each other everything. He wasn't even sure why he had to remind Eiw, they had always been that way.

Cake sighed and pulled up his covers, willing in vain for sleep to come. Life had been a lot less complicated before the ninth grade.