George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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"Hey!" Mike shouted as everyone was leaving, "Hey. Hey, Troy!"
Troy turned around, rolling his eyes and sending a threatening glare Mike's way. George shared a glance with Lucas and Dustin before they all raced to catch up with Mike.
"You think this is funny?" Mike asked, defiantly. Hed stepped forward, getting right up in Troy's face.
"What'd you say Wheeler?" Troy asked, although George had a feeling he'd heard perfectly.
"I saw you guys laughing over there. And I think that's a pretty messed up thing to do."
"Didn't you hear the guidance counsellor Wheeler?" James mocked from beside Troy, squaring up to Mike too, "Grief shows itself in funny ways."
"Besides, what's there to be sad about anyway?" Troy spat. George clenched his jaw and squeezed his hands into fists, "Will's in fairy land now. Flying around with all the other fairies. All happy and gay!"
That was the last straw. George couldn't just stand there and take this. No one insults Will like that, especially when he may or may not be dead.
But before George had time to act, Mike got there first. Troy and James and quickly got bored of them and had started walking away. Mike darted forward, hands firmly placed and shoves Troy hard. He staggered, lost his balance having been caught by surprise and fell flat on his face. He skidded across the floor.
The whole room went silent before everyone erupted in cheers. George relaxed. He even smiled. Lucas clapped and cheered from beside him, even Dustin was grinning.
Troy scrambled to his feet, his shoes sliding on the polished floor. He jumped up and immediately locked eyes with Mike. He scowled and Georeg wouldn't have been surprised if steam shot out of his ears.
"You're so dead Wheeler!" He bellowed, his angry shout reverberating all around the gym. It was like he was everywhere. Which is certainly how it would feel for Mike when he started beating him.
Troy lunged forward, his arms outstretched at head height. He aimed for Mike's neck. Mike shuffled backwards and flinched, hiding his head behind his shoulder. There was no way he was coming out of this alive.
*
Nick froze as she heard the words screamed out.
"You're so dead Wheeler."
Mike was in the middle of that circle? Mike was what everyone was staring at? And how nanny of his other friends were there? Was George okay?
Nick ran down the rest of the benches, vaulting them just to get to the crowd quicker. It looked as if the entire school had crowded round. There was no way she was going to get to them. But she had to try.
*
Before he had time to think things through, George rushed forward. He stood stock still in between Mike and Troy. God, what was he doing? Now both of them were going to get beaten to a bloody pulp.
George had never punched anyone before. He had no idea what he was doing. As he stood before a raging Troy, time seemed to slow. Troy was running at him, charging like a bull, bit incredibly slowly. George raised his fist and swung it forward, hoping for the best.
Never having punched anyone before, George was not expecting it to hurt so much. Firstly, he wasn't even expecting it to hit. But it did. Hed just punched Troy square in the jaw and by god did it hurt.
George sprung back. He doubled over, bending his knees and cradling his bleeding fist in the other hand. His knuckles were bruised and cracked. Droplets of blood spilled from the indent of Troy's teeth, like they'd been carved into his knuckles. He shook it and winced, determined not to cry in front of the entire school.
Once the immediate sting of pain had ebbed, George realise everyone was silent. There was no cheering this time, no one had expected it. Lucas covered his gaping mouth with a hand. Dustin's mouth hung open and he was staring at George in unblinking amazement. Mike was equally shocked, if not more. Troy's rage was aimed at him, now he was sprawled on the floor spitting out blood.
Dustin's shock quickly turned to glee. His grinned and clapped. Lucas cheered. Troy was not so happy. He quickly picked himself up and gently massaged his jaw. Then his face twisted into a painfully sadistic smile. He'd just been punched so hard in the face he had bled and now he was smiling. He smiled eight at George. Then pounced. This time nothing moved in slow motion. George didn't have time to even jump out of the way before punch after punch landed square on his face.
*
Nick pushed and shoved and pleaded with people to let her past but she still found herself on the outside of the crowd. She'd always been tall for her age. Now she wished she'd stopped growing years ago so she was enough to squeeze through people's legs. It was no use, she couldn't get past.
Nick ran around the entire perimeter of the crowd, looking for any gap, no matter how small. She bad to try. She stood still. She could hear punching. The crunch as bone his bone and a small whimpering. Oh, god. That could be George. She had to get to the middle. She had to stop this. But there was no way through.
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