He Was A Ten

No Touchy Please

I told Alice I'd be right back, but I don't think she heard me. I stood up and walked out the cafeteria door as quickly as I could without it seeming like something was wrong.

I was probably just imagining it right? I mean, why would Marcus be concerned about Hattie?

I walked out the door and looked down the hallway. To my right I saw Chase holding Hattie against a wall. Ever since we were little, Chase and Hattie had always been at it. I never knew why, all I knew was I wasn't going to let Chase push my friend around like that.

"Hey!" I called out. Everyone turned to look at me. I was starting to regret this. "Leave Hattie alone?" I tried to say commandingly, but my voice refused to go any higher than a regular volume, and it sounded more like a question, even to me. I resisted the urge to face palm.

Chase scoffed, letting go of Hattie, and turned to me. "Or what? You'll call your mommy?"

Chase and his friends laughed. I glanced quickly at Hattie. No one was holding her anymore, and she was slowly making her way over towards me. If I could just distract for a second or two more...

Suddenly Chase shoved me into the wall. "Next time, you should just mind your own business. We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt," he growled, gripping my arm tightly, causing me to yelp in pain.

"Next time you should leave my friends alone," I retorted quietly. "Or are you too scared to take on someone who's not smaller than you?"

"Why you little-" Chase started, but before he could finish, he was thrown into the wall. I dropped to the floor, clutching my wrist, looking at the red mark in the shape of a hand. That was going to leave a bruise.

"Thanks-" I started to say as I stood up, but stopped as I realized who I was talking to.  "You?"

Marcus glared at me. "You. What are you doing here?"

I returned the glare. "Excuse me, but I was helping my friend. What are you doing here?"

"None of your business," Marcus muttered, grabbing my arm. "Come on."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast," I said, pulling my arm back. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking you to the nurse. You're going to need ice for your wrist," he pointed out. He reached for my arm again, but I snatched it back.

"I can walk to the nurse's office myself you know."

"Then by all means."

I rolled my eyes and turned to back to the lunch room. I wanted to go talk to Hattie and see if she was okay. Besides, the best thing the nurse could do for me was give me an ice pack. I'd be fine.

Marcus held out his arm, stopping me. "That's the cafeteria."

"I know that," I said, gritting my teeth. "I'm going to go check on Hattie."

Marcus sighed, exasperated. "You should really go to the nurse and get some ice for your wrist."

"I'm fine. I can take care of myself believe it or not."

"Look, I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself. But in this case, taking care of yourself means going to the nurse to get ice."

"I'm. Fine."

"You should get some ice."

"Since when do you care?" I demanded, irritated by his persistence. "We're not exactly friends and as far as I'm concerned, you seem to hate me."

"Yeah, well believe or not, I've got people I hate more than you," Marcus retorted. "Please just go to the nurse and get some ice."

I hesitated. He seemed genuinely concerned. But I was genuinely concerned about Hattie, so I told him, "No thanks."

I speed walked back into the cafeteria and sat down next to Alice. "Oh there you are Paige! I was wondering where you ran off too."

I shrugged. "I was in the bathroom."

I looked at Hattie. She was looking at my wrist concerned. But she didn't say anything about what had happened in the hall. In fact, besides my now throbbing wrist, it was like it never happened.

There were ten minutes left in lunch now, and my wrist was really starting to hurt. I was holding it in my lap to try and make sure no one noticed, but Hattie started glancing over at me more. She could clearly tell that my wrist was bothering me. Just as it looked like she was about to say something though, someone dropped a bag of ice in front of me.

I turned around and Marcus looking back at me. "You should really put that on your wrist before it starts swelling."

I was surprised. He had gone to the nurse to get ice for me? "Uh, thanks?"

Marcus smiled. "No problem, Precious."

He winked and then strode off. I sighed. Of course he had to say it. Just when I thought he wasn't that bad, he had to prove me wrong.

"Seriously? Why does he keep calling you Precious?" Alice asked. "And why did he bring you ice for your wrist? Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," I lied, faking a smile. "The bathroom door closed on my wrist and Marcus thought that I should get some ice for it."

Alice smiled broadly. "See? What did I tell you? Marcus is amazing."

Hattie and I both sighed. Here we go again.