Peace and Grace

9. Fight!

"So Naddie, has Warren made another move?" Zach questions at lunch a few days later. The guy just won't let it go.

"Zach, I swear..."

"Yeah how is getting to know him better?" asks Maj.

"Well he's not making it very easy." And in answer to Zach's question, it's as if nothing ever happened. Warren's gone back to acting like I, or anyone else for that matter, don't exist.

"Will!" Layla calls. We turn and see him making his way across the cafeteria towards us.

Suddenly though, he trips, or is tripped - I hear Speed and Lash laughing - and falls head-first crashing to the floor, the tray flipping out of his hands and his lunch going flying, most of it landing in Warren's lap.

The five of us watch in horror as Warren rises to his feet and turns on Will. If he ever looked angry before, well... Now he looks vicious.

"Uh, s-sorry..." Will stammers.

"You will be," Warren threatens. "You think you can do whatever you want just cause your name's Stronghold?"

"Look I'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail-" Seriously Will? Sometimes that guy can be so stupid. I mean how does he think that's a good thing to say, especially now?

Rage flashes in Warren's eyes and he grabs the front of Will's shirt in tight fists. "No one talks about my father." There are gasps and Will stumbles back as Warren's fists ignite with fire and he advances on Will. He raises his arm, ready to throw the fire.

"Mr. Boy do something!" cries Layla to one of their teachers who stands amongst the crowd who's chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"I'm on it!" he announces, throwing down his drink and running from the room shouting "Principal Powers! Principal Powers!"

Warren releases the fistful of fire at Will who holds up a tray as a shield. It quickly melts. Warren continues to throw fire, none of which hits Will but which hits and damages much of the cafeteria. People run screaming out of the way and for cover.

Will scrambles beneath a table, searching for cover himself. Warren jumps on top of the table, throwing fire beneath it.

"Where's your sidekicks sidekick?" he growls.

"Right here!" Zach, Layla, Maj, and Ethan all jump to their feet before him. He regards them for a moment before shouting and igniting his arms, flames swirling around him. Ethan melts. I yelp and jump in front of my friends, hands out and ready to cast a protective energy field if need be.

But Will's already on it. "Leave them alone!" And to everyone's great surprise he stands up, hoisting the table Warren still stands on into the air with ease.

There's a moment of stunned silence before Layla cries, "he's strong!"

Will takes a moment to realize this himself before using it to his advantage and throwing the table, causing Warren to hit a lower section of the ceiling before crashing down. I wince - he hit it so hard that part of the ceiling has now started to crack. A table breaks his fall, literally breaking when he lands on top of it.

The crowd cheers at Will's triumph. He beams at us. His victory is short-lived though when there's a shout of "Stronghold!" and Warren gets to his feet, brushing bits of table debris off of himself, looking more enraged than ever. Will holds up his fists in fighting stance.

Warren takes a run at Will, and one shove sends the flame-thrower through the wall. I've just about had enough of this.

Will's celebrating again when Warren emerges through the hole he made in the wall. "You think I can't take a hit?!" he roars. That's it.

"Naddie!" Zach cries, reaching for my arm in an attempt to stop me from charging out into the fight. I jump between the two boys, facing Warren, hands held out in front of me, a mix of purple and orange energy swirling around them.

"That's enough!" I shout.

"Yeah Naddie!" cheers Will.

I whirl around to face him. "You too Will! This is crazy! I hate fights, hate them, especially these pointless, stupid ones. So cut it out! You're going to destroy the cafeteria, and hurt someone." I feel a surge of heat behind me and turn to see that Warren's arms are still ignited, the flames only growing. "Warren stop, just stop okay. It was an accident and he said he was sorry. It wasn't even his fault, he was tripped." However, I don't think they're only fighting about that anymore.

"Out of my way Grace," he snarls.

"Warren-"

"I said out of my way!" I jump back as he lunges towards Will, arms aflame. This is cut off abruptly by the blaring ring of the fire alarm, followed moments later by the appearance of Principal Powers. And boy does she not look happy.

Great. Here I am, literally caught up in the middle of a fight, and now the principal is here.

No one says anything, and no one gets the chance to for suddenly, there's a cracking sound from above and the chunk of ceiling that had started to crack because of Warren hitting it breaks away - and I'm standing right beneath it.

Out of instinct I hold my arms up as a shield but then I suddenly feel myself get shoved to the side and I stumble to the floor. There's gasps as well as a pained cry. Turning to look I see Warren kneeling in the place where I had just been standing, pain creasing his handsome features, and he's gripping his shoulder tightly, the chunk of ceiling crumbling at his side.

He saved me. He pushed me out of the way and the piece of ceiling hit him instead.

A now panicked Principal Powers kneels at Warren's side. "Mr. Stronghold, go and get the nurse."

(I'm so sorry for the delay! University is good but busy! You guys are amazing - every time I checked it looked like the reads had gone up by about 100! I wasn't even sure how well this story would do, but I see that it's popular and I'm glad :) Hope that means you're enjoying it! Thanks so much!)