3: Just

"Looks like no one is gonna save you this time, Lee." sneers King Baby Face. In a blur of movement he punches "Lee" or Kenji in the face. King Baby Face hits him with a punch so powerful that it results in Kenji stumbling back a few feet. "Where's your thug Lee? Is he too busy stealing to help you?"

"He's not a thug, you are!" Hollers Kenji. Kenji hollering... It is a shocking and unpleasant sound. After what feels like an eternity, I close the distance between King Baby Face and myself.

"Leave him alone," I demand, meanwhile using my body to shield Kenji. I open my mouth to say more, but King Baby Face scurries away before I can utter a sound. With a loud sigh, I mutter, "He never sticks around long enough for me to finish speaking to him..."

"Thanks, but you didn't have to help me," Kenji says, walking out from behind me so he can look me in the face. I can feel myself involuntarily frown as I notice that he is clutching his nose. Not only is he clutching his nose, but scarlet liquid is seeping from in between his pale fingers.

"I actually I did have to help you. You stood up for me after all," I respond, soon adding, "Do you want me to walk you to the Nurse's office?" To my surprise, he laughs.

"You worry about others a whole lot. Do you ever worry about yourself?" He pauses for a minute, and emits a soft sigh when I don't answer. "Anyways, yes, it would be nice to walk with you to the Nurse's office." He flashes me a smile, and I swear that my heart skips a beat.

For a while we walk in silence, with only the sound of our feet connecting with the floor filling the hallway. Out of boredom, I decide to count every single tile within the hallway. When I get to 473, Kenji says, "I'm sorry, I just realized that I don't know what your name is." With the hand not clutching his nose, he rubs the back of his head. The action reminds me of one of my teachers who, when nervous, twirls a strand of her hair around her index finger.

"I'm Jake," I respond, purposely failing to mention my last name. Would he still be willing to talk to me if he knew my last name, who I am related to? How would he react upon realizing even though I'm not a thug, I'm related to one?

"Is it short for Jacob, or is your name just Jake?" Kenji asks, with his gaze focused on the ground. I wonder if he is counting tiles like I was just a few minutes ago.

"Just Jake," I say. Much to my annoyance, the conversation goes flat. What could I say to start a new conversation? Should I ask him what his favorite color is? No, that's a bit random... Maybe we could talk about the weather? No that wouldn't work, only the weather man and old people talk about the weather. "What about you, is Kenji short for anything?"

For a brief moment his brows furrow together, as he says, "How do you know my name? Oh wait you must have heard the librarian say it..." I am actually a bit grumpy about that fact that his brows unfurrow. With furrowed brows Kenji looks like a confused panda. Well, that is, if pandas ever got confused. "Kenji isn't short for anything. I'm just Kenji." Just as he responds, I realize that we are currently standing in front of the Nurse's office.

We both jump as the door to the Nurse's office opens itself. Luckily, it is just the school Nurse, Mr. Dewitt. Mr. Dewitt runs a hand through his chestnut colored hair before emitting aloud sigh. "Did you stop yet another fight, Jake?" He asks, shifting his gaze from me to Kenji. "Or did he fall down the stairs? Either way come in before you get even more blood on the hallway floor. Then again, maybe he is a samurai in disguise, so maybe he got hurt defending his honor."

"I was defending Jake's honor, actually," Kenji says, with a chuckle. Huh? Shouldn't he be offended?

"Like you, I see Kenji a lot," Mr. Dewitt explains.

"Oh, do you walk injured people to the Nurses's office too?" I ask, throughly curious to why Kenji frequently visits the Nurse's office. Kenji and Mr. Dewitt merely look at each other and laugh.

"Kenji is the most clumsy person I know. In fact, if he were a King, he would be the King of Clumsiness," Mr. Dewitt says with a grin, "In fact the other day he tripped going up the stairs."

"That was last week," Kenji mumbles, suddenly growing fidgety. He, instead of looking at Mr. Dewitt, looks at his sleeves and pinches the fabric repeatedly.

"He either trips over something," Mr. Dewitt says, with an amused chuckle, "or nothing, or defends his, or in this case, your honor." Upon hearing this, I can't help but feel a bit worried. Just how often does he get hurt? Just how often does King Baby Face bully him?

Mr. Dewitt, upon realizing that we have been talking, and not helping Kenji with his bloody nose, hurries to get Kenji some tissues. Opening the nearest cupboard, Mr. Dewitt curses upon finding no tissues. He soon opens every cupboard before sprinting out of the room, yelling "I'm out of tissues, I'm going to 'borrow' some from the nearest classroom."

"Does King Baby Face bully you a lot?" I ask, both wanting and not wanting to know the answer. "Do you claim to trip going up the stairs so Mr. Dewitt won't worry?" An unnerving silence fills the room as Kenji fidgets, and repeatedly pinches the fabric of his sleeves. The action seems like a nervous habit...

"I am pretty clumsy but," Kenji whispers, not looking at my face. Why won't he look me in the face? "Never-mind." I almost open my mouth to demand that he tells me what he originally planned to say, but soon close it when I notice that his body is shaking. As he shakes, tears silent slide down his cheeks, leaving shining trails on his cheeks. "Never-mind. Never-mind. Never-" He repeatedly says, as if trying to reassure himself that there really is nothing wrong.

Instinctively, I close the distance between us, and embrace him. I don't care that blood from his nose stains my shirt, or that his tears stain my shirt as well. I do care about the fact that he is crying, that he is shaking, that he clearly is in an pain. "J-Jake?" Kenji asks, his voice shaking just as bad as his body. "C-could we s-stay like t-this? Could w-we just s-stay like this f-for a l-little while?" Hoping that he knows what I'm trying to express with my actions, I hug him just a little tighter.

Our just a little while ended up being just a few seconds as Mr. Dewitt, who having returned from his tissue hunt, insists on helping Kenji as soon as possible.