Devil's Talk

Chapter 1

"Get out of here, loser!" A ginger headed boy, Railin Pursh, pushed Luce down into a patchy grass area covered in morning dew.

As Railin's loud voice echoed with the wind, it followed to Lara's attentive ears. She searched for the scene to find the bully hovering over Luce as the Railin kicked up grass and made slanderous comments. His friends followed him like a pack of wolves. Lara felt heated about it. Her friend, Chris Rein, tried to stop her, but she was already on her way.

"Hey!" Lara pointed her fingers at them as they turned to look towards her, "Stop that!"

"Why? He's just a loser, Lara!" Railin continued, "Are you a loser, too?"

Railin slowly approached her, hovering over her as he poked her shoulder, forcing her to back off. Out of anger, she pushed Railin back. As he motioned to push her back, Luce rushed in to tackle him down. It became a cycle where Lara pushed Luce back to protect him until the school staff arrived to assess the situation.

"What is going on here?" The lead teacher, Mrs. Hannigan, spoke with a raised tone, "Who started this!"

Lara and Luce pointed towards Railin and his gang, but they were outnumbered.

"Ugh, follow me," Mrs. Hannigan pressured the points between her nose and began to walk towards the school build.

Railin motioned a fist as a sign that he would bring more mischief to their life. They obediently followed their teacher into the school building towards a room that read 'Detention'.

"First, Lara and Luce," The teacher darted her eyes at them to enter the room where a man sat behind a desk in the small office room. The man seemed to know something about Luce and frighteningly collapsed his hands together over his paperwork of student information.

"Luce, you may go back to class. I will take care of everything from here," The man started.

"No!" Luce sat next to Lara and crossed his arms and legs.

Lara giggled at his serious face and with shock from her reaction, he looked towards her. Their attention is reverted back to the door, where a boy with dark black hair stood. It was Chris Rein.

"Chris, what are you doing here?" The man grew more agitated.

"Please let my friends go. Railin started it. I bear witness to the bullying done on Luce and claim that Lara intervened to protect him. Railin pushed first and laid his hands on Lara which should be considered a form of harassment. As a witness, I stand firm to the facts that they are innocent and nothing should be further discussed," Chris stood tall and proud.

The man was left speechless and unsure how to proceed the situation. He then decided to send all three to after school detention and deal with Railin and his gang separately. Chris shrugged towards Luce and Lara without a care and followed them towards the detention hall.

"I tried," Chris laughed it off.

"Just because your dad is a lawyer doesn't make you one," Lara whispered to Chris as she giggled.

Luce enjoyed seeing them happy and not worried about the situation. When they arrived to a table full of garbage and dust, Luce still could not help but feel like it was his fault they were in this mess. He wanted to say something.

"I want this entire table organized and placed in proper bins. This will be your punishment. You have one hour to complete this task. Failure to do so will result in another table for the next detention day," The man left the room disgruntled and hasty to return to his desk. Once he had left from sight, they all let out a sigh that made Luce feel unsure if the sigh was a relief or not.

"I'm sorry you guys are in this mess because of me," Luce finally said it.

"Psh, Don't worry about it," Lara smiled and bumped him on the shoulder, but he let out a small yelp, "Oh no, I'm so sorry. Did that hurt? Let me see, May I?"

Luce nodded hesitantly, and allowed her to approach him. Chris was busy organizing the newspaper as Lara began examining his shoulder. She slowly began to lift his sleeve up to reveal his injury. When he was pushed down, he fell on his shoulder instead of catching himself with his hand, leaving him a small cut from a possible stick hidden in the dirt that might have punctured his shoulder.

"You did not feel this since it happened?" Lara looked shocked and worried.

"I guess not," Luce answered.

Lara searched the room to find a first aid kit hidden under piles of paper on a nearby shelf. As Luce just stood, he watched Lara rummage through paper to find the kit as she returned to him. She had him sit down after wiping the excess dust and began the procedure.

"It might sting a little bit, so bare with me," Lara smiled softly.

She began to feel worried about the procedure. She wanted to handle him with care to make sure to not cause a lot of pain. As she uncapped the liquid gel, used for disinfecting the wound, her hands began to tremble when she got closer to him. Luce noticed it and grabbed her hand with the gel softly. He looked into her eyes with sincere trust.

"It's okay. I trust you," He smiled gently and appeared happy. She felt relieved and comforted to continue.

"Okay! Let's begin!" Lara felt positive once again.

When Luce let go of her hand, he felt a rush he had never experienced in his life. What was it? The feeling of belonging or comfort? He could not understand it. But he was happy.

After Lara finished patching up his wound, she felt proud and accomplished at her work and turned over to see Chris napping on the empty table. Lara was shocked that the task was finished so quickly. But she expected nothing less from him.

"I guess we won't be meeting here again tomorrow," Lara giggled, but with a sense of sadness.

"You laugh a lot," Luce came out straight forward.

"Is it too much?" Lara covered her mouth, worried that she may have offended him. But then he began to laugh and shook his head.

"No, it's cute," He smiled very innocently that caused Lara to feel a rush of emotions. She thought he was just adorable, "Thanks for helping out, I should be getting home,"

"Wait, Chris and I will save a spot for you at the table during recess tomorrow. Will you join us?" Lara invited him hoping he would say yes. He silently nodded his head as he stood at the door of the room and disappeared.

Today they started a new friendship, tomorrow would be the start of a new day with a new friend.