This One's for the Broken

Chapter 3- Here's to the Bullies

I walked into school on Monday, remembering fondly about my awesome day with Eli yesterday. Zoned out, I ran into a larger student. I apologized and became more aware of my surroundings. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder. Shrinking back, I look up and saw who I thought was the senior I had bumped into. 


"How ya doin'?" The senior said. 


"Get off of me," I replied, yanking his arm off of me and twisting it behind his back. 


He said a few choice words then grabbed my arm. "You are feisty," he whispered, his horrid breathe filling my nose. He had short blonde hair and wore a t-shirt and running shorts, both Nike brand. And he smelled strongly of Axe. 


"And you stink," I spat in his face then ripped my arm free. 


He yelled at me as I ran down the hall, and crashed into another person. 


"Rebel?" 


I gasped and looked up. Eli was standing tall looking me over.

"What's wrong?" At that moment the senior came running up and slammed against the lockers to my left. The senior then proceeded to grab the upper part of my arm and swing me around to look at him. I kicked up with my left leg as he swung me around and I hit the jackpot.

The senior withered in pain and slowly walked away, and Eli stood gawking at the scene that had just unfolded. Kids rushed around us, trying to get to their first period class. I moved passed Eli, and headed towards my locker. I put in the combo then proceeded to take out my math book. I then shut my locker and turned around to see Eli looking confused.

"Long story," I muttered.

"Those seniors cannot keep their hands off of you, can they?" Eli replied, shaking his head.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's get to Health." I strolled alongside Eli as we made our way down the emptying hallways. Eventually we made it into the Health room. We sat in our assigned seats and watched as Ms. Lyons strutted into the room and dramatically threw a stack of papers onto her desk.

"Here are your grades," she called out as she began to read off names to the small, thirty seated classroom.

After I had gotten my grades back, surprised to have a B+, because I was expecting way worse, I looked back at Eli. He was staring at his paper, hyperventilating, and his legs were shaking. I rushed to the back of the room, and without saying anything, grabbed Eli and guided him out of the door.

In the hallway, he pulled me into a hug. He was shaking real bad, and was breathing into my shoulder. I hugged him back and let him have his time, knowing what was wrong.

Eli's breathing slowed down and he began to stop shaking. Slowly he let go and sunk to the ground. I followed his example and sat against the wall also.

"I usually never have panic attacks at school..." Eli murmured, massaging his temples. I reached over and rubbed his back, sisterly like.

"What grade did you get?" I asked, removing my hand from his back.

"D+. My dad is going to kill me," he replied putting his head down. We sat in silence and I pulled his report card up off the ground. I studied it.

"This isn't yours. This is Frank's." Eli looked up and grabbed the paper. He took one look then broke out laughing. I also laughed and then it just became two crazy lunatics laughing in the hallway.

We got up and headed back into the Health room, where Eli snatched up his real report card from Frank, and proudly showed me an A. I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

When the class period was over, we walked out of class, still humored by the report card situation. As we laughed and talked walking through the hallway, a nerd walked up to us.