My heart was racing and I was almost sick with fright, but I had to help Jacob. I grabbed Myles and tried to push him away.

“Stop!” I shouted. “Leave him alone!”

But Myles just shoved me to the ground and I heard laughter ripple in the crowd. Then someone shouted “TEACHERS!”

I saw hand after hand holding phones in the air, recording everything. Jacob was struggling and shouting, like he was in a kind of blind rage.

“Please!” I begged as I jumped to my feet. “Just let him go.”

Myles grinned at me.

“I warned you,” he said.

I saw his fist flying through the air. I heard Freya scream my name. I heard gasps from the crowd. All in a split second …

Myles’s fist caught me hard under my chin. I felt my head snap back and my body start to fall.

And then my world went black.

12

Batman Forever

I woke up in hospital, with a nurse staring at me.

“Hello!” he said. “Welcome back.”

“Cal!” I heard my mum’s voice say.

She appeared from my right, and started kissing and hugging me.

“Mum …!”

“I thought you were seriously hurt,” she sobbed. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Give the boy some space, Jas,” I heard Dad say.

His face appeared from my left with a
too-bright grin.

“Hey!” he said. “Sore?”

I smiled and tried to nod, but my whole head throbbed.

“Owww!” I croaked. “Why am I here?”

“You had a nasty fall,” the nurse told me in a soothing Caribbean accent. “You banged your head on the ground.”

“I don’t remember that,” I said. “I just saw Myles’s fist and then –”

“SSSHHH!” Mum said. “Forget about that. Just get some rest.”

“Where’s Freya?”

“She’s here – she went to get a drink.” Mum smiled.

My head hurt, my jaw hurt, my legs felt like jelly. I tried to sit up, but I sank back down again, dizzy.

“Was Jacob OK?” I asked.

“Everything’s fine,” Mum said, with a look over to Dad. “Just rest.”

I gave her a glare, but Mum refused to say any more. She and Dad went to get some coffee.

“You need an X-ray,” the nurse said. “Just to be safe. It was a nasty fall. Now, hush, and let me get that sorted for you.”

*

They let me go just after 9 p.m., but I was still groggy.

“Where’s Jacob?” I asked Freya.

“He beat Myles up,” she said. “Then the police came and arrested him.”

“Why?” I was shocked. “Myles started it …”

The rest of the trip home passed in silence. At Freya’s house, she gave me a peck on the cheek.

“I’ll see you after school tomorrow,” she said.

At home, I couldn’t sleep. I was sore and I was angry. Myles had picked on Jacob, then punched me. So why was Jacob in trouble? When I asked Mum, she shrugged.

“That’s the law,” she said. “Apparently Jacob went berserk.”