Catch Me When I Fall

What's Wrong With Chocolate!?

"Uhh..." I nervously glance behind Noah, where I see Tyrone Trying to jerk his board out of Geoffrey's hands.

Noah marches towards me angrily, and the only defense mechanism that kicks in is me closing my eyes, as if Noah will disappear or won't be able to hurt me if I can't see him.

I stand like and idiot, railed to the spot with my eyes shut, expecting to get hit.

After a couple seconds, I brave a quick glance. 

Noah is still approaching me, but Tyrone's noticed me now. It's like he has to choose between his skateboard and me.

I really hope he doesn't like skateboarding that much.

I'm still paralyzed, my mind blank. 

How do I defend myself?

Tyrone shoves Geoffrey over, reclaiming his skateboard in doing so.

And suddenly, he's a couple feet away, behind Noah and swinging his skateboard.

Everything still seems to be going in slow motion. 

Tyrone's board swishes through the air as he holds the one end, and the other rapidly collides with Noah's face, knocking him over backward.

I still can't move, but this time I'm amused and astonished rather than fearful.

"Aw shit, I'm gonna get in trouble for this." Tyrone says casually, like he didn't just knock a six foot - something, heavy set guy to the floor.

"I'm sorry." I apologize quickly. 

Tyrone shakes his head and gives a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Not your fault. Let's get out of here, though."

Tyrone places a hand on my back to guide me forward, and I try not to look at him, blushing too much from feeling heart-warmed and flustered and all of the many other emotions I always seem to be feeling.

🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

Miss. Porter is delighted to see Tyrone back in math again.

"But you've missed what... three days?" She questions.

"Something like that." Tyrone replies.

"That's means you missed three days of content. You're behind now, and each lesson builds on the previous and you're already struggling with math."

Tyrone looks overwhelmed, so I decide to step in quickly.

"I tried to catch him up a bit. He's got his homework done."

Tyrone glances at me, then back to Miss. Porter again and nods.

"That's very good. I'm proud of you, Tyrone. And thank you, Khai, for doing that for him." She expresses her gratitude.

"No problem." I tell her politely.

"Would you like me to review your homework, Tyrone?" Miss. Porter questions.

Tyrone nods and hands his notebook over, and we both find seats after that, claiming the good ones before they get taken by everyone else.

The class fills up quickly, and both Mervin and Geoffrey show up. Noah, on the other hand, is absent.

I would be too if someone whacked me in the face with a skateboard.

Still, I'm glad Tyrone did that.

Miss. Porter goes on with her lesson, and I try to focus as much as I can, but my mind is busy with everything from finding Tyrone breaking down in that alley to the injuries he's covered in to the near-fight experience this morning. I manage to pick up a few words here and there, but I can't help but wonder how I'm supposed to help Tyrone catch up if I can hardly pay attention myself.