Chapter 172
172 A Tussle
As I walked out of the room, I heard footsteps coming after me. I turned around, seeing September behind me, as she looked at me with worry in her eyes. I smiled at her and then walked over to her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked softly. “You seem really worried.”
“Yeah...” I replied softly as I looked into her eyes. September looked at me, embarrassment all over her face, as she blushed a bit before she spoke up.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to get you all worried about me.”
“I’m not worried about you,” I said with a laugh, “but about all of us.”
“And uh...about um...Masaru,” she said, tingling her fingers, as if she wanted to touch him but couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“What about him?” I asked her with a concerned expression on my face.
“Well, what we just did,” she said as her blush deepened, “I just wanted you to know that I don’t regret it.”
“I’m glad that you didn’t regret it,” I said, looking at her, “I’m glad that you’re okay.”
.....
September nodded as she looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you,” she said softly, “I appreciate that.” Then she looked at me again with a small smile on her lips. Anger built up inside of me, but I kept it under check, knowing that September needed my help right now.
“Well, we’re soon to be out of here I guess,” I said, trying not to throw a punch, or kick, or something at Masaru. But we all needed to stick together, and that’s all that matters, right?
“Yeah,” she said softly as she stared into my eyes. “It’s going to be a long ride back home.”
***
I was in my room, back at home, just thinking about Greg. He thinks I’m the cause of his PTSD, which is super wrong-I think, but he doesn’t even listen. I don’t know what he’s thinking, and I just can’t understand him.
I guess that’s what makes me so angry with him sometimes. He thinks of me as an enemy, or some pest, rather than someone who wants to help him. And I’m not like that.
But then again I guess he did save my life once. But I needed to get into Greg’s head, open up his eyes, so that he sees that he needs help, not me.
***
I was by my locker, seeing Greg once again with what seemed to be a bigger crew of friends. I’m pretty sure I’m probably one of the most hated people in this school, or something like that, but I just can’t understand why Greg hates me so much. It’s really weird-he thinks that I’m the cause of his PTSD when it was really him that did all these horrible things to me.
But he might not be wrong or something, and perhaps I did, in fact, cause his PTSD. Maybe I should say sorry to him, but that would be nonsense, right? He’d just look at me and think that I was insulting him. But maybe he does think that way-he’s been thinking of me as an enemy for quite a while now after all.
Maybe-that’s it.
I will fight against him-and being my state of revenge, I would win against him. He gets what he deserves and I become popular, simple as that. But I might just get pulped by his friends, who probably are gonna try and show their loyalty, so I’m not sure if I should do it.
Should I, or should I not, I asked myself. I really didn’t know how I could do anything right now. Greg just won’t listen to me no matter what I say or what I do. He might even be more mad, and it would only be worse, but then again-he might not be so mad at all. He might even be fine with it.
But then again, that’s a long shot.
But then the next thing you know, his crew of friends began to walk towards me, and I was starting to get scared. What were they doing? Why were they moving like that? They must be up to something bad for them to move like that.
They began to surround me, and then a fist came from behind me and hit me on the back of my head as it connected with me. I felt as my ears were crying in pain as they rang, and I stumbled but still kept my ground.
I felt a foot kick me from behind as it connected with my side and then the ground began to shake as one of them started kicking me in my ribs, but it wasn’t enough for them to stop me. I saw students rushing to the scene and screams bellowing through the hall, as they began to speed towards the scene like a tornado.
I had to run now because he’s trying to kill me. The crowd began to form around us as everyone began to push their way through the crowd, which was forming in front of us. But I eventually got up, my breath heavy and down as the guys looked at me. “Awww, is Connor dealing with too much?” the guys mocked, as they began to close in on me, laughing and calling me names.
Then they began to take their fists and began to punch me in my face, in the ribs, in my legs.
I needed to get out of here, but there was no place to run, there was no escape. I felt my face burning as the pain intensified.
And then it happened, and I could feel myself begin to lose consciousness as they kicked me all over my body, taking punches at my head. You know what, this was my chance. Instead of fighting Greg, I would fight eight people, but at least I’d survive this one-on-one fight and get out of this place alive.
I could hear the screams of the students around us as they saw what was happening to me, but they were powerless against it all as well. But I wasn’t going down like this-not if there was no other way out. Quickly, I got up from my feet, and immediately knew my next move.
The guy in front of me had no defense, or any sort of barricade against his stomach-he’s done for, and that’s where I’m headed for right now. The crowd was still screaming at me, but I just kept my pace forward until I slammed into him, knocking him back into the others behind him.
Another guy came with an overhead punch that barely went over my head, but I returned with a quick jab, hitting his chest and causing him to fall on the floor with a thud as he cried out in pain.
The guy next to him went for his head as I swung my arm with all my strength. The guy ended rising from the ground and speeding towards the ground, as if he had wings, as he fell back to the floor. The crowd laughed as I kept on moving forward towards the other guy.
I could hear more laughter now as I smacked another guy in his face and pushed him back into another guy before turning my attention to the next guy in line. A guy came forward with a punch towards me and I blocked it with my left hand and swung my right fist at his jaw with all my might.
“Whoa!” I heard someone shout, as someone began to speed towards me, trying to knock me back into the others behind me, but I knew this guy wasn’t going to hit me in my face with all those others around him. So I ducked, using his momentum against him, and turned around to see who it was.
He was right before me now with his hands raised in a defensive pose, and I could see he had no real defense against me if we fought one-on-one like this: he was clearly terrified of me. I walked towards him and stared into his eyes before quickly backing away from him as I readied myself for the next one.
He barely even tried to push forward, or do anything of that sort, and he slowly stepped away from me before turning around and walking away from me. The crowd started to cheer as he walked away from me and I felt something in my heart breaking inside of me as they continued to cheer at me like monkeys.
But then I heard footsteps walking towards me, and I saw Greg with rage in his eyes, with his fists balled tightly together as he came at me with a swift punch right in my face. And before I knew it, I was down on the ground.
“So, you wanna beat up my friends huh,” he hissed.
“You friends? I was your friend!” I shouted, as I got up back to my feet, but it wasn’t enough-he kicked me right in my ribcage. “Greg, stop!”
He kept on kicking me and hitting me until eventually the crowd stopped cheering and just stared at us in shock.