I had no idea when I’d see Mel. I hadn’t reached out to her at all. But in time I knew I would, so I sat there for my entire lunch hour, trying to write out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I felt like I was going in circles, getting lost somewhere in my words, in my own mind. Then the bell rang. I had English that afternoon on the third floor. I made my way up the stairs, and as I walked up there, I felt someone snatch the notebook. I looked back and saw Desmond. He ran back down the stairwell without saying a word.

“What the hell!?” I said. I ran back down the already crowded staircase, following him. He made his way through the entrance of the school right in front of the fountain. He knew there would be a crowd, and I should have known better.

“Come get it, loser.” He held it in the air. I made my way toward him and mentally blocked out everyone standing around outside. Desmond was about to get a piece of me. I went to grab my notebook back, then out of nowhere I felt someone push me to the ground. Hard.

“Think you can just give my boy the finger?” I heard. Lewis. I got back to my feet as fast as I could, but he already had his grip on my collar and forcefully pinned me against the wall.

“Who do you think you are?” he barked. “You go in his home, start shit with his girl, then give him the finger?”

Ha. His girl? Mel wasn’t property, and I doubt she wanted to be anywhere near Desmond after that. I knew better than to bite, so I stayed quiet.

“Got anything to say, lipo?”

I wasn’t in the mood. First Lewis called me fatass and now he decided to call me lipo? I couldn’t win.

“What’s in the journal?” Lewis sneered.

“Don’t,” I said, scowling.

“There we go, now we got a reaction.”

A crowd of students started forming.

“What are you guys? Some band of shitty supervillains?” a random voice in the crowd said.

“Shut up, idiot,” Desmond snapped.

“Go back to private school, you pretentious asshole,” someone else yelled at Desmond. The entire crowd erupted into laughter while his face turned red. I began to laugh, too. Lewis noticed and slammed me against the wall, hard.

I tried to fight back, but Lewis was a lot stronger than I was. I didn’t exactly eat my vegetables and knew I wasn’t going to get out of this using strength. So I sucker punched him in the gut. He let out a weird noise and dropped me. I shoved him out of the way with the little strength I had and tore my notebook out of Desmond’s hand. He looked frightened and unprepared to see me in his face.

“Uhhh. Hey man, be cool.”

“Desmond, stay the hell away from me, and Mel —”