Gangbanger Study-Buddy

Fights and First-Aid Kits

Dante's fist is a blur as it rushes to meet West's face. I'm not aware of my body moving until I've pushed Dante's boulder of a body a few centimetres to the right, causing his knuckles to barely miss West's face and hit the brick wall in full force.

Instead of wincing like a normal person would after punching a wall, Dante releases a low growl and lunges for West again.

"No!" I scream as I throw myself in the line of fire. I immediately raise my hands in front of my body and close my eyes, praying that he'll stop before running me over.

When I don't feel the impact I slowly lower my hands from their defensive stance and open my eyes. Mere centimeters in front of me is a seething Dante, his chest rising and falling sporadically, his jaw clenched tight.

"What is your problem?!" I scream as I back up a few inches while still keeping the barrier between the two boys. "Your not allowed to fight. If the principal were to find out about this, or worse if I hadn't of stopped you, both of you would get kicked out and sent back to juvie!"

The events that just occurred begin to catch up with me as a cold sweat appears along my brow. Idiots. Hot-headed, irresponsible, idiots.

Despite my outburst, Dante's gaze remains glued to West behind me. Knowing fully well it will take an act of the Pop-Tart Gods to get his attention, I turn to face West.

"What the hell is all this about?" I ask, placing my hands upon my hips to try and seem intimidating. Despite the scuffle, West remains indifferent as he lazily moves his gaze from Dante to me.

"I don't know," he says with a playful smile. "Ask your dog."

Instantly I feel Dante press against my back in an effort to try and attack West. "I'm no one's dog, stronzo," Dante growls, his front completely flush with my back.

Although he could easily push past me, he stays behind the invisible wall I established when I planted myself between them. Perhaps he realizes the trouble he would get in if he were to physically injure West. Or maybe he's doing it because he knows the consequences it would have on me. Either way, the outcome results in him not hurting West and following the guidelines of the program.

"Okay, everyone just needs to chill out. We only have," I pause to glance at my watch,"Thirty minutes til the doors are open. Can we all just get along until then?" I look over my shoulder at Dante, whose frustration is written in the hard edges of his eyes and jaw, then return my gaze to West.

"I'm cool," West says, shrugging. "But you should probably go get something to clean those cuts." This sparks my attention and I turn around to grab Dante's injured hand and bring it up to eye level. Thankfully the cuts aren't too deep, but they definitely need to be cleaned properly.

"I'm fine," Dante rasps, ripping his hand away from my grip and stepping back a few inches. I hadn't realized how close we were.

"Y-you need to get those cleaned," I argue as the color drains from my face. I'm not squeemish around blood, I mean I am studying to take over as head surgeon, but the fact that he's so carefree about the gashes in his knuckles makes me question how many times he's punched the living hell out of something. Or someone.

Once I'm sure I've fixed my expression I look up at Dante. "Come on, we still have a few minutes. We can walk to the corner store to get a first aid kit and be back in time for the tutoring."

Dante's eyes flicker from me, to West, than me again.

"Fine."

I release a small sigh of relief as I walk past Dante, towards the store a few blocks down. I silently thank the Pop-Tart Gods when Dante falls in step beside me.