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twenty-one:: when you fail to keep the peace.

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Friendship development is key.

TWENTY-ONE: when you fail to keep the peace.

Once upon a time, I believed in being a bystander and not getting into shit that didn't directly affect me.

Since coming out, I'd realized how much of a dick I was, watching people get hurt and not intervening. I was once one of those guys who would laugh at gay jokes or laugh along when Calum 'roughed some nerd up', disregarding how wrong it felt.

So when I was walking through the welding hallway a week after my date with Paul, on my way to math and saw Pete getting slammed into a locker by Ricky, some insignificant little sophomore, I had to do something.

I had to do something to stop Paul's brother -the guy who had basically saved my ass- from getting his face pounded in. I watched as the curly haired boy was pressed hard against that locker, his boxy glasses littered on the ground, a lens cracked.

And I saw the pure fear in his eyes.

"Yo, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" I was walking with Ben, the guy mumbling about his bad grade in Lit but not really loud enough to where he'd expect me to respond. My rhetorical question had caught the attention of the other three in the hall.

The kid just scoffed an I could basically hear him rolling his eyes. I could however see his grip release a bit on Pete's shirt and it gave me the hope that I might not have to get suspended for fighting, "I'm teaching Andy Sandburg a fucking lesson."

And Ben was laughing, at least, he was trying to stifle it. The way Ricky said it so intensely was kind of fucking hilarious if we were being completely honest.

But I could still feel the tick in my jaw, arms crossed over my chest.

Benji could see me slowly losing my cool and he shook his head at the lame insult on Ricky's part, "Leave 'em alone, kid."

"Who the hell are you?" Ricky had spat, hand moving from his shoulder and clenching so tight around Pete's neck, he was starting to run a light shade of purple. His right shoulder was jabbed into the lockers and eyes were unfocused, darting around in fear as Ricky held him. And I thought back to the day I was admitted to the hospital, he'd murmured something about Ricky and been shaking with fear and I hadn't wanted to dismiss it but I had. Seeing Pete struggling to breathe as his hands were pulling at Ricky's fingers to loosen his grip made me regret letting it go.

"Seriously, Ricky, get off of him," I'd spoken up when Pete started gasping. I was getting worried and Benji was as well. Getting closer, I pulled at Ricky's shoulder, trying to keep myself calm. Benji was still a bit confused on whether to intervene but I knew if it came down to a fight, he'd win without a sweat.

I saw Ricky's grip loosen, Pete's face slowly turning back to normal. Still, he wasn't fully released when Ricky turned to direct his statement at me, "You're not my fucking captain here. I can kick your pussy ass out here; you don't run shit, fag."

"That's a lot of cursing, ain't it?" Benji chuckled, sarcastically looking towards  me before turning back to Ricky as he made his way closer, "is it to make up for the fact that you're ignorant and you don't know when to shut to fuck up?"