The Abuse of a Friend

Chapter Two (Jackson)

I stood in the back leaning against the wall, I could see Nick in the corner fumbling with his necklace from his brother. I felt bad for him, he was a military man in a school with people who hated the military for some god unknown reason. Ty and the kid picking on Nick whose name was Ashton were arguing and trying to bargain with the principal as well as the dean of students.

"Mr. Jackson. Are you paying any attention?" I could hear Mrs. Mouse yell breaking through my musing thoughts, I looked up and kind of just shrugged my shoulders. She rolled her eyes and repeated her statement that my dad had yet to answer any of their calls, or their texts or their emails.

"Now can someone tell me what the hell happened." Mr. Serven said as Nick's mom walked in and set her hand on his shoulder, Ty's parent walked in quickly behind her and pulled their son to fawn over his broken face as he put it.  His nose wasn't even broken and was barely bleeding now, but of course he was a pussy.

"I saw that Nick's necklace had fallen on the ground so I leaned down to pick it up and hand it to him when he just punched me out of nowhere!" Ty said when he was clearly lying through his teeth. I saw Nick glance up as his mom walked in and kneel in front of him. they began to whisper quietly not letting anyone hear them. I could see that his mom was very upset with what was happening  and for some reason that made me snap.

"Oh that is utter horse shit!" I yelled pushing myself off the wall, I could see all the adults and the kids snap their heads toward me in shock. Ms. Mouse was about to say something but clearly changed her mind and shut her mouth.

"Well then, what really happened Mr. Jackson?" Mr. Serven asked as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. I rolled my eyes and began my story on how Ty and Ashton have been bullying Nick all because of how his brother is in the military and how Nick acts because of it.

"Hey! What do you mean how I act?" I could hear Nick yell in the background, but I quickly hushed him and finished my story on how Ty had taken something dear to Nick and had basically taunted Nick into punching him.

"Why the fuck are you telling them that?? You were supposed to lie for me..." Ashton whined not realizing that he pretty much admitted that it was the truth. "Your gonna get it pretty boy watch it!" Ashton growled at me.

"Whatever I'm out of here in ten months anyway" I said rolling my eyes as I leaned back again on the wall, I saw my brother walk in and give me a curt nod before standing next to me silently.

"Wtf is that supposed to mean you little shithead!" Ty yelled standing up and out of the chair not letting his mom pull him back or let his parents fawn over him anymore.

"It's called basic training ever heard of it fucker" I smirked and heard my brother start snickering beside me. I saw both Ty's faces and Ashton's face morph into one of disgust, while all the adults in the room gave me a nod and a smile. Though both of Ty's parents seemed forced.

"Now back to the issue at hand..." Mr. Serven began but I stopped paying attention as I began focusing on other small things in the office.

*30 minutes later*

Welp that was utterly stupid, Ty and Ashton both got at least a week and a half of school suspension. While me and Nick both got three days of after school detention. I don't get why I got detention, all I did was having the necklace thrown at me, not like it was my fault.

"Hey Jackson! Wait up!" I heard my name being called from down the hallway, I paused briefly and turned around to see Nick jogging up to me. I was kind of shocked. He didn't really act this outgoing, especially to me.

"You all good Nick?" I asked cocking up my eyebrow as he finally caught up yo me, he just shrugged and handed me a pass from the office. Luckily we had the same english homeroom, so we were both heading in the same direction.

"Yeah sure," He started before rolling his eyes. "Can I ask you something?" He finished as he cocked his head slightly to the side, and his eyebrows furrowed to form something that looked like a question mark.

"Yeah go ahead and shoot" I answered shoving my hands into my pockets and crumpling up the note.

"What did you mean by how I act?" He asked as he brought a hand to rub the back of his neck and shrinking back into himself again. I felt bad for the kid, all of the bullying and mistreatment by a lot of the students and some of the teachers had caused him to be more hidden and scared.

"Well, it's just..." I began but trailed off not knowing really where to begin with how to explain it. He looked at me in confusion with one of his eyebrows popped up, I just sighed and hung my head for beginning again. "Your quiet, and like submissive but not in a sexual way, and you always stay on the outskirts of every social event never interacting."

"So.... what it's because I'm an outcast?" He asked with his teeth clenched, I looked at him as I leaned against the wall near homeroom, we still had twenty minutes left until the next class so I didn't see any purpose in going in and interrupting a class. For this school, our homeroom was our third class of the day, for us it was my least favorite class. Nick had his hands clenched into tight fists down by his sides, his chest was heaving up and down fast like he was having a panic attack. Shit...

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Calm down your okay..." I spoke as I gently but firmly placed my hands against his shoulders, by this time I had moved him to where he was sort of pinned up against the lockers. I spoke in a calm and quiet soothing voice. Well at least I hope I did... I didn't really know how to deal with stuff like this. I reassured him that it was gonna be okay, and that he was safe. It seemed to be working.

"You okay?" I asked as I leaned down just a tiny bit so I could see his face, his breathing had returned to normal, his face was flushed and his bottom lip was shaking just a bit. He smiled a bit, well tried to before mumbling that he was sorry. All I did was roll my eyes. I could tell that he didn't wanna talk about what just happened, so I decided to drop it for now.

"What branch are you?" I asked as I leaned against the locker next to him, but kept my head slightly inclined towards so he could see that I was still listening. 

"Air Force, you?" He asked as he popped a piece of gum in his mouth before throwing the paper in the trash can across the hall.

"Army, what the fuck did you get on the ASVAB?!" I asked kind of astonished, I barely passed that thing. All he did was chuckle and told me that he had gotten a high seventy, he asked me what I had gotten and I looked down and mumbled that I got a high forty. 

"Yikes, you gonna retake it?" He asked as he gave an oh shit face and whistled a little bit, I shrugged not that it really mattered. I knew the month that I was leaving, but not for what kind of job or the exact date. 

"I don't know, I need to really study for it" I said before trailing off, he smiled a bit and offered to tutor me which I agreed to after a bit of persuasion. He explained that if I scored really high on the ASVAB then that could open up a lot of better jobs for me in the Army. 

"Yeah, that sounds really good." I said just as the bell rang, we watched all of the students pile out of the classrooms and begin making their way to their next class. W e waited till the crowd died down a bit, before we began fighting our way through the crowd to our class. We got a bunch of angry looks and some disgusted ones too, we were after all on the opposite side of the hallway. I nodded to Nick as we entered the classroom, and then made my way toward my seat.