Mary Mae and the Boys

Chapter 8

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" A crowd quickly surrounded the two as Gilbert flipped them over and began throwing punches at Zach. Zach retaliated by slipping out of Gilbert's hold and knocking him to the ground. The two struggled on the floor as Mary Mae rushed and threw herself at the two as Luka and Brian struggled to separate them.

The audience was loud and the boys were fueled by adrenaline as they continued to fight. Finally, Mary Mae and Brian had pulled Gilbert far enough away to where Zach couldn't reach him meanwhile Luka and two others had pulled Zach away.

"You deserve everything that happens to you!" Zach shouted, his lip bleeding as he wiped it angrily, shrugged the boys away from him and rushed toward the bathroom. Mary Mae stood in shock. She knew Zach was an emotional person, but she never thought he'd have the desire to hurt someone like that. She wondered if something was going on at his home that was making him act up. She'd have to ask him when she gets the chance.

"Gil, are you okay?" Mary Mae asked, wrapping her long slim fingers onto his cheekbone which was cut and bleeding.

"Yeah, Mary, I'm sorry you had to see that. It was really disrespectful of me and I'll apologize to Zach the next time I see him." Gilbert said, his kind eyes staring at Mary Mae as his clearly bruised features made her want to hug him like a teddy bear. "You might want to go check on your friend. I don't know what he's going through, but he might need his friends around him for now. No hard feelings."

Mary Mae raised her eyebrow at Gilbert. He didn't seem angry at all, so she wondered why he had even decided to fight back. She'd barely seen the fight, but she did know that Zach threw the first punch and Gilbert may have just been trying to dodge the whole time. She'd only seen a couple seconds since the crowd had enveloped them all.

She was surprised that no teachers had arrived to break up the fight, but she was thankful for the boys.

"Are you okay?" Mary Mae asked again as Gilbert nodded and stood up.

"I'm okay," he said as she hugged him. It was so strange to feel this close to someone after just two days of knowing them. She'd never felt this way before with anyone. "You should check up on Zach." Gilbert whispered as he held her close. She didn't want to let go, loving the smell of his cologne, but eventually released him and kissed his cheek.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight." She said, as Gilbert traced his hand down her arm, grasping her hand, and kissing it. She felt herself blushing and melting all at once as he turned a completely strange moment into a romantic one.

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there at seven on the dot." He said as they released hands and she began walking toward the bathroom that Zach had entered. She noticed that the boys were all gone and assumed they were all in the bathroom together. She snickered at the thought as she pushed the bathroom door open and barged in.

Six pairs of eyes turned to look at her as she stood in front of the door. Zach's eyes met hers through the mirror as he held a wet paper towel to his lip. The bell rang in that instant as the boys all stood up and patted Zach on the shoulder and they left the bathroom. Mary Mae remained in her spot as a few of them put reassuring hands on her shoulder before leaving.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked, staring at Zach with her emerald green eyes that sparkled like a rainforest after the rain. Zach turned fully toward her, his face solemn, emotionless, but the look in his eye gave it all away. The depth of the pain and the sadness of his emotions were what made her rush over to him and hug him tightly.

"Zach, you know you can always talk to me if something is bothering you, right?" She murmured against his chest. Zach's heart was loud and steady in his chest, speeding up every time he thought about the beautiful girl hugging him. Yet before he had a chance to speak, the door opened and a kid walked in. He rushed to the urinal and kept nervously eyeing them. Mary Mae caught his glances out of the corner of her eye and backed away from Zach's hug.