Razzledazzle [ ✓ ]

Chapter 16 | The Fight

Everything spirals out of control from there.

Troy, who apparently does not enjoy being punched in the face, shoves Lee backwards and pushes him onto the floor. Lee, with an X-rated shout, jumps back up and full-on tackles him.

Troy doesn't like being tackled, either.

Furiously, he throws Lee off, slugging him in the arm. Lee proceeds to desperately punch him back, and they start to tussle in a shoving match.

The entire class has started to crowd around at the front, whooping and hollering, clapping and screaming. Glory is just watching with a horrified look on her face.

Troy clearly has the advantage of size and strength, and he's slowly pushing Lee farther and farther into the desks, as Lee's punches get weaker and weaker.

This fight isn't going to last very long.

Not at all.

Tyler, who sits between Lee and Troy, has since cleared away, and is now watching the fight with a mildly amused look on his face.

Troy gives Lee a final punch to the face, sending a shower of blood over the clean tile floor. Lee's clearly given up at this point, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

I don't know why it makes me so mad to see Lee hunched over a desk, bleeding like he is. But it does. Maybe it's just because I'm still mad at Troy.

"Troy!" Glory shouts, over the clapping and cheering. "Stop! You've won, everyone knows you've won!"

But Troy isn't done with his fun yet.

He's resorted to kicking, and with a swift kick to the back he sends Lee sprawling back onto the floor. Finally satisfied as Lee goes limp, Troy turns away.

And in comes Ms. O'Carthy.

I've never seen the short, bob-haired science teacher looks quite so shocked. Her eyes are wide and she slams the door shut, striding right in and grabbing Troy by the collar of his shirt.

"Did you do that?" she cries, pointing a finger at Lee's unmoving figure. "Did you?"

Troy looks guilty. "He did it first. It was self defense."

"It wasn't self defense!" I blurt suddenly, not sure where my words are coming from. "He punched you once because you said something mean. He didn't slug you repeatedly and then knock you out."

"I didn't knock him out," Troy objected. "The floor did."

Glory speaks up. "He's right. It was just self defense. Troy wasn't the only one being mean."

"How can you be on his side?" I retort. "That wasn't self defense. That was just wrong."

Glory glares at me. "You would rather be on Lee's side than be on mine? After you already snooped on me? Wow, Rose. You're a great friend."

Desperately, I look over at Alex. "I don't see you yelling at Alex for snooping on you! Alex is on my side! Right?"

Alex gives me a long, apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Rose, but I have to take Glory's side on this. What Troy was doing was just self defense. You're overreacting."

"I'm sure it was an accident," Glory adds. "Troy didn't mean to hurt him like that."

"Troy's still going to the office," snaps Ms. O'Carthy. "However, if it was just self defense, he may not be suspended—"

"How can he not be suspended?" I scream. "He just made someone bleed!"

"You're overreacting," Alex insists. "I don't know why you're just taking Lee's side like this. I thought you knew who your friends were."

"But—" I stutter.

"I can't believe this, Rose," sighs Glory. Her hazel eyes glitter with disapproval.

"Hmmm?"

Everyone turns around to look at the floor, where Lee is flopped over the tiles. His eyes are slightly open by now and he's rubbing his nose.

"That's enough," says Ms. O'Carthy. "Everyone can go back to their seats. Rose, why don't you walk Lee to the nurse? It might help you calm down."

I'm the one that needs to calm down? Really?

"Glory, if you could walk Troy down to the office—no, I'll do it. And if a single one of you gets in a fight, I swear I'll have you all written up. This is unacceptable behavior, especially on Lee's part, if he did start it."

Are you kidding me? Lee gets in trouble for starting this fight? Seriously?

"But Ms. O'Carthy," Lee protests, his voice slurred. "I didn't—"

"Stand up," she interrupts. "Rose, walk him to the nurse. I'm going to walk Troy to the office. Alex, make sure no one else tries to kill each other while I'm gone."

"Sure," Alex says, her dark, stormy eyes still burning into mine.

Angrily, I stand up to where Lee is, leaning against the desk for support. Tenderly, he gets onto his feet and, limping, he follows me out of the classroom.

I hear the door slam as Ms. O'Carthy takes Troy in the opposite direction. Troy's walking completely fine, none of his perfect features scathed.

Self defense.

Really.

Maybe I am overreacting. Maybe I'm still just mad at Troy for locking me in a closet. Maybe that's all this is. Maybe that's why I'm being so stupid. Is this stupid?

But I'm still supposed to be mad at Lee.

I'm so confused.

We're walking (and limping) in silence for a while, until I start to hear grunts of pain from Lee. I turn to look at him and he's really limping, a few feet behind me by now.

Am I really about to say this?

"Come here?"

Did I really just say that?

He limps over to me and carefully I bend over, letting him put one arm on my shoulder. He's light, lighter than he looks.

"Thanks," he mutters grudgingly, as if the last thing he wants to do is thank me. "Thanks for standing up for me back there. I don't know why you would, considering they're right."

"They're right?" I echo.

He nods, wincing. "I did start it. I am wrong."

No. Lee Cancer admitting he's wrong? Why is he admitting he's wrong?

"Don't say that," I mutter. "Troy shouldn't have knocked you out that hard." What am I saying? This is my enemy!

"No. I should never have punched him. I was just mad—mad because of what he dared me to do."

"I thought you said he dared me to kiss you," I say suspiciously.

"That's exactly what I said," he replies vaguely, before turning away. "Whether that was the actual dare or not... I guess you'll never know."

•••
Sooo... who's side are YOU on? Troy's or Lee's?