Our Experiment

5: Take A Break

PAST

The freshman's face was covered in bruises, and one of her eyes was swollen shut. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she clutched her stomach, trying to recover from the blow she had just received. She coughed, spitting blood onto the ground. Tears poured from her eyes.

"Get up!"

She peered up at the sophomore who was glaring back at her. Her face was full of rage. Her stance was defensive, ready to attack her again.

"I said get up!" She yelled and watched as the freshman slowly staggered to her feet. The sophomore stepped towards her, grasped her by the front of her shirt and sent another fist to her face, this one connecting with her nose. The girl recoiled, falling to her knees as she held her bleeding, and possibly broken, nose.

A crowd of students watched as this went on. It was late and outside of school grounds, so it wasn't likely this would be interrupted by adult intervention. This fight was long overdue. The sophomore had been waiting for the day to beat this girl's ass since the first day of school. There had been several incidences that led up to this point.

The first offence was when the freshman "accidentally" dumped her food tray onto the sophomore's clothes. She had glared at the girl, but let it slide since she had been looking for an excuse to skip the rest of school anyway.

The second offence occurred during gym class when they were playing dodgeball and the freshman "accidentally" hit the sophomore directly in the nose with a ball. Again, because the teachers were present, she let this one slide as well.

The third and final offence had happened the day before when the sophomore overheard the freshman bragging to her friends about how she had purposefully done both of those things and how the sophomore was a wimp because she didn't retaliate. "Talking shit" was the final offence.

The sophomore grinned down at the girl, "Talk shit now, you filthy niner!" She yelled. "Fight me now! You had a lot to say yesterday to your friends. How you purposefully provoked me and that you could have easily kicked my ass had I tried to fight you. Where's that tough girl now? Fight back!"

She walked to the girl then, squatted down and looked directly into her watery eyes. She said, quietly, "If I hear you talking shit again, if you mess with me again or if you even utter my name again, you'll close you eyes for the last time."

This entire time Johnny's Gang was watching from the sidelines. Bruce had been openly expressing his interest in the girl joining their gang. "We need a girl like that on our team. Plus, she's cute." He winked at Johnny who said nothing.

Johnny was also impressed by the girl. There had been a few girls that had truly pissed him off, or were enemies to his gang, but he wouldn't lay his hands on a girl. However, with a girl in the group, she could take care of that.

They watched the girl rise from her squatting position and kick the girl over before walking in their direction.

"Hey, Justice!" Lucas called out to her as she was about to walk passed them. "I'm Lucas. What you did was awesome. You're so badass. You should join our gang."

She sneered at them, eying the bigger one who was grinning foolishly, then the blonde one with the intense stare who said nothing, before looking back at the guy in front of her. She brushed passed him as she said, "Why would I join you losers."

***

PRESENT

Her head was throbbing when she woke up the next morning, slumped over the armrest with her legs thrown over Peter's legs. Peter had fallen asleep upright on the couch with his head thrown back, snoring quietly. Her eyes wandered to the baby girl sleeping away in her carrier. Justice groaned as she thought about the tiresome night they had trying to calm the crying baby.