𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡

Ch. 24 - The Hallway Hooligans

Pain shot through my fist as it made hard contact with the corner of Dean's mouth.

Apparently the punch was much stronger than I intended, because Dean stumbled backwards and had to regain his own footing. He slowly looked up from the floor and met my own wide eyes with astonishment.

"You just-" He mumbled in utter disbelief behind the hand now covering his mouth. He slowly removed the hand to reveal an angry red gash on his lower lip. His tongue ran over the spot, swabbing away any droplets of blood that might begin to form. "You honestly just punched me in the face."

I stared at the busted lip feeling slightly guilty. I'm really not the best thinker when pressured.

Dean's shock quickly turned into rising anger."You seriously just punched me in the face." An icy glare sent a frigid chill up my spine. I began to take a step back when the approaching sound of clacking heels reminded me of the situation I had unwittingly allowed myself into.

That's right...I'm helping him.

I clutched my head and pretended to moan in pain as the clicking heals rounded our corner. Although I'm not making eye contact with him, I'm sure confusion is painted over Dean's stormy features.

"DEAN! What makes you think you can-" The teacher began what would surely be a harsh lecture before fully taking in the ridiculous scene before her. Dean glaring with a battered lip, and me clutching my forehead like I had just ran into a doorpost . "What's going on here?!"

The two of us looked up to see Ms. Longmire scowling deeply behind her sharp crimson glasses, both hands firmly rested high on her hips. She's one of the school deans and expects absolutely no nonsense from her students.

Which doesn't make it any surprise that she seems to have it out for the everlasting hothead Sawyer here.

"I-I'm sorry!" I feigned surprise, when my eyes met hers. I dropped my hands from my head and turned between her and the boy behind me. "Are you sure you're okay?" I raised both eyebrows at Dean, pretending to wait for some type of reply.

The scowl that had been carved into Dean's face now morphed into utter confusion, showing clearly through the scrunching of his eyebrows.

I don't blame him. Even I have no idea where I'm going with this.

The only thing I could do with a raging Ms. Longmire right behind me was try to show my thoughts through my facial expressions. Just play along, I attempted to convey the silent message to him. Being as observant as he was, Dean picked up on it within seconds.

"Uh...I'm fine. Just a scratch." He dabbed his thumb against his lip, and shrugged both shoulders.

"We kind of bumped into each other..." I gave a sheepish look to the woman, not missing the irritated tapping of her foot against the hard floor. Well, it wasn't a lie.

"Pretty hard, too..." Dean added on for extra effect.

"Well, I'm sure you two wouldn't have had such a collision if Mr. Sawyer here, had not been running away from me!" Ms. Longmire focused her pointed glare on Dean. The nerves in my spine began to sprout legs and crawl as her eyes fell on the blood stain near his collar. It was clear that a hard skepticism was settling in, as the muddy brown orbs held on the spot. I wasn't the only one who picked up on this. Dean milked his injury by grunting and touching his battered lip, most likely trying to direct her attention elsewhere.

"Last time I checked, walking fast is not the same as running. And, I was only coming back from the water fountain."

"Do you think I was born yesterday? Try again, and this time tell the truth."