LOST BOY

LOST BOY: put mommy on the phone

[geneva noughtengalis iv, 18]

The room was dead silent. Eyes traveled amongst the room in shock. "Go to the office. Now." Amir huffed through gritted teeth. "Get the hell out of my classroom!" He yelled, charging after the young man who'd just punched him in the nose. Blood was dripping from his nostrils down his chin, staining his off-white button-down.

The young man sneered, "You gone hit me back?" He teased Amir. "Come on, you can do it." He looked him up and down with tight eyes.

The room full of failing students remained silent, as if watching an intense movie scene. Amir wiped his nose with his sleeve and opened the door of the classroom. A teacher was in the hall and spotted the bloodied man. She gasped. "Amir, what happened!" She ran to him. Then walked into the classroom to see the whole class sitting quietly with one student standing with a bloodied hand.

"Kenneth, to the office immediately."

"Why? It ain't my fault he a bitch." The student rejected her orders, yet nearing the doorstep. "He need to learn how to handle his business like a man instead'a phoning a weak ass friend to help him out. I mean, look atchu. The fuck you supposed to do?"

She furrowed her brows, amused and bewildered which angered her a bit.

"I'll get security and Principal Brewster." She sighed, walking away down the long hall towards the main wing of Sweetwater High.

Instead of waiting for his colleague to return, he grabbed his bag and left the classroom, headed to the exit. Along the way, he was stopped by the sight of a girl coming down the hallway. She looked up from her phone and gasped, frozen in space. The two of them stood there— Amir and Raquel. He moved, readying to walk the other way when she blurted out, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He furrowed his brows, turning back to her.

She stepped back, then forward, unsure, but willing to confront the man.

"Um." He started, not really having a response. He wanted to leave the premises before the principal came. But she was holding him up.

"I saw you. And you know I did, that's why you look so nervous right now. I knew I recognized you. I thought I was tripping. But, it was you. You stole my shit. You broke my mom's brand new TV. I really wanna break your face but looks like somebody else already beat me to it." She slapped her leg.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He pinched his lips together and brushed past her, leaving out of the double doors.

Principal Brewster and security came around the corner walking right past Raquel and she let them; knowing exactly who she needed to go to now that she was sure of the perpetrator's identity.

"Girl, you good?" Her friend Geneva asked as she returned to her classroom. "You're red. Like, red red."

Raq pushed her hair behind her shoulders, composing herself, "Is it that noticeable?" She asked, turning even darker red at the revelation of her redness.