It'd been snowing for about a week now. Every time I looked outside, the trees were bare and the screams of other students playing and chasing each other outside were gone. Christmas was just around the corner, and it was one week away from winter break. One of my favorite things about winter vacation was that students were allowed to go off of campus grounds as long as they made it back by curfew, which was 10:00pm. Not that anyone actually paid attention to that.

Most used that as an opportunity to raise hell in the neighborhoods nearby without getting penalized by the Boarding School. But for Kelly, Thomas, and I, we liked to use our allowance to go out in the town and see where our hearts would take us.

One of our annual traditions was to see a firework show at 8:00pm near the lake. I'd never forget the first time I went there.

I was only seven but Kelly, who was about nine at the time, was there watching over us like she always does. The cold was bitter. I mean, I was shivering and I know Thomas had goosebumps, but we were too excited to notice.

Our eyes lit up as the colors and dazzling lights erupted in the sky, taking our minds off of all the hard times we had endured. Concern about our parent's absence, the bullying, the abuse. It was all gone that day. When I was having fun with them I was happy. Everything about life was just good and suddenly problems didn't exist anymore.

The three of us went there every winter vacation ever since and this year we were going again. Luckily, we never had much trouble due to our rather attractive savings. But that was established in the morning so we had some time before the display actually started. We spent most of our time in the morning finishing an anime called Puella Magi: Madoka Magica.

It's this dark magical girl series about these girls who exchange their souls in exchange for a wish to become magical girls, but then they find out that they're pretty much damned to sink into depression turn into disgusting witches where they'll be forced to either kill or be killed by their friends.

I don't know why but there's just something that makes me love it. Art style, the music, the feels. This show murders my heart but I don't know how I'd live without this show! And the English dub is awesome.

Thomas actually watched it with us one time and he cried near the ending of the third episode. Since then he's been a full blown otaku.

Other than anime and manga, Thomas likes playing RPG games. He's all about leveling up stats, exploring, figuring out how to beat the next boss, the list goes on.

The afternoon and evening was pretty relaxed. Me and Kelly were discussing our favorite songs and TV shows, Thomas was browsing internet forums and mashing the replay button on game trailers, we caught a movie on Netflix. Good times.

Eventually it got late and the time came for us to see the fireworks.

After me and Thomas got ready and met with Kelly to leave it didn't take very long for us to run into an issue. There was a thick crowd of students in the hallway that just wouldn't open up.

Thomas looked up at Kelly, who seemed to be tall enough to see what was happening. "What's goin' on?"

Kelly forcefully shoved into the crowd and we managed to squeeze through. Then I immediately felt stupid for wondering who was involved.

"Go away!" A foreign girl yelled as she kicked one of Joshua's brothers in the stomach and snatched her arm away, falling to the ground.

"You not finna touch me again." Tequan, Joshua's older brother, threatened as he walked closer while she held her wrist.

"Leave her alone!" a blonde jumped in the way to block him from getting any closer.

She was instantly slapped to the ground as Tequan shoved past her, not even bothering to look as she rubbed her stinging eye.

The girl she panicked, scooting backwards and staggering to her feet as he slowly approached.

"NO! Stay away from me!"

*SMACK!*

The foreign girl delivered a slap of startling force whilst standing up, still trembling out of fear of what might happen next.

"Boy, she smacked the hell outta you! You good?" D'shawn instigated the incident along with Joshua and a few other people within the crowd.

Tequan looked back at the girl.

As he clenched his fist and the vein on his forehead began to show the chuckles in the crowd silenced and turned into whispers from people anticipating what was about to happen next.

Tequan quickly advanced towards the girl and wound back his arm as the girl threw up her arms to shield herself.

Suddenly, out of nowhere Kelly intercepted his attack in a burst of speed. She grabbed his wrist before he could follow through with the attack and sent him crashing into the tiled floors with a jab to the face powerful enough to penetrate walls.

She yelled and tossed back his arm. "If you touch her I'll bust your shit right here lil' boy!"

Tequan, whose nose was now bleeding, looked at Kelly with a slightly fearful glance. His brothers rushed over to help him up as Thomas and I rushed to Kelly's side along with the foreign girl and the blonde who had attempted to defend her.

We all stood there looking at each other. It was me and Thomas standing awkwardly by Kelly and the two girls, staring Joshua and his brothers down on opposite sides of the halls. The crowd watched us for a while with wide eyes. It got really quiet.

After a few minutes Joshua and his brothers turned around and walked away as the crowd opened up. Once they were gone the crowd silently disbanded, full of whispers and interpretations of what did and could have happened.

The newly rescued girl let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much, you really did me a favor." She hesitated a little, "My name is Mizuki Hanajima. I'm a 7th grade transfer student from class B." She said while bowing. "I just flew in earlier today. I'm from Baiyo, so please forgive me if I have poor English. What's your name?"

I didn't need her to tell me she was a transfer student, you could have told Mizuki wasn't from the U.P. A. Just by looking at her. Slick black hair that went down her back, skin as pale as mine, a Japanese accent and big shy eyes.

Basically she was adorable.

"It's Kelly Nicholson. You're welcome but it's nothing really, I hate them just as much as you will." Kelly replied scratching the back of her head.

"Well even though you may not realize it you helped a lot." The blonde jumped in.

"If you hadn't come I was afraid I could've been next. Someone really should knock some sense into those three. I'm Katrina by the way, Katrina Harrison. I'm from the 8th grade, class A."

"So what did they want with you guys anyway?" Kelly said.

"Well Mizuki here was minding her own business when this sort of chubby boy came and asked her to the upcoming dance. She said no thanks and he started acting like he had an attitude problem and kept yelling at her, then he kinda lost it and got his brothers."

Kelly rolled her eyes, most likely playing back what she said in her head. "So basically, Joshua asked you out and when you turned him down he decided to call his brothers on you?"

Mizuki responded "Yes. Honestly I didn't mean anything by it but he didn't need to get so angry. It can't be helped I guess..."

"Yeah, for future reference stay away from those guys. They have... Problems.

They're mad at pretty much everybody and if Joshua calls his brothers on you things can get pretty dangerous and it usually stays that way, so try to move in crowds whenever you think they might notice you. Trust me, it works."

"I appreciate you informing me, Kelly!" Mizuki responded "Arigato gozaimasu!"

Kelly furrowed her brows and turned to Thomas.

"She said thanks" he said.

"Oh, no problem!" Kelly said "But we really should get going, we're going to the firework display."

I could tell her mind was filled with the fondest of memories.

"Well I guess I shouldn't keep you then. Have a good time! Sayonara!" Mizuki said, bowing goodbye.

"Yeah you guys have fun!" Katrina said, waving as we walked away.

Eventually we got to the firework display. Kelly and Thomas seemed to be enjoying themselves but I still couldn't forget about that night, and what happened today.

I wasn't just thinking like that because of what happened. It made me seriously think of what I wanted my life to be, I didn't just want to be some kid who went to Boarding School and had to fear for his life and tolerate crap like that.

I wanted to learn something about who I was, experience the world, and grow some more.

But how? How am I supposed to make these changes happen? What am I supposed do first, and when should I do it? Then there was another thing that scared me once the fight was over. Actually it's more of something that always scared me.

It's the way Joshua, his brothers, and a few of their friends always linger around once something really bad happens or before it does.

Like the time Tennisha was found dead in her locked dorm room after a rumor that she was pregnant with one of those guy's baby got around.

Or the time when me and Thomas got jumped in the bathroom and he almost...

Just then I felt chills at the memory.

There were so many unanswered questions that I needed to find the answer to. It was the only thing I could really think about.

That was the first time I actually felt like a serious change needed to happen, It was all so overwhelming that I started to get stressed. I just tried to enjoy the fireworks with Kelly and Thomas, they were having a good time so I didn't see why I shouldn't. But every time I tried to focus on the show thoughts kept popping up in my mind. Eventually I started zoning out.

"The firework display will now enter a thirty minute halftime intermission, please help yourself to our all you can eat holiday buffet and enjoy yourself to the greatest extent possible. Thank you!" A loud female voice on the intercom interrupted my daydreaming.

"That was a pretty rockin' display huh?" Kelly said.

I was still dazed "Oh... Y-Yeah it was nice."

"And if you thought that was great just wait until the finale!" Thomas said waving around a sparkler "It's gonna make history!"

Kelly held his shoulders "Okay, I'mma need you to bring it down a couple before you set someone on fire with that thing."

He stopped jumping around and held his sparkler close. Only to resume giggling as he tried to contain himself.

I had never seen him so excited before, I figured that the display must have been really good so I joined them at the buffet and enjoyed the rest of the night.

After that I didn't think about what happened too much, I was having too much of a good time to worry. So during the rest of winter break I just pushed those thoughts to the back of my head and kept doing the best I could to go through life normally.

When winter break was over they took down all of the lights and decorations. Everyone exchanged gifts and people whose parents were allowed to take them home came back. But just because winter break was over didn't mean the fun was.

Before classes started again there was a New Year's Eve party and dance coming up. It was the only time students were allowed to stay out of their dorms past midnight. They had everything: colorful lights, all the new music, everybody's favorite foods and drinks, a DJ.

Everything was perfect and everybody was focused on finding a date to the dance. I heard a rumor that this girl named Amber liked me since the 3rd grade for playing with her when she first came here, so I thought I would ask her to be my date for the dance. When I asked she said yes, but she wasn't like I remembered.

She had this air about her that was so unsettling and weird I couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy, but I tried not to think much of it.

The dance started at 9:00pm and everyone was having a good time, except for Kelly. I was standing nearby and so I overheard what happened.

Apparently this guy named Raymond, one of four honor roll students in the entire building, ditched her at the last second to dance with Kaitlyn, who promised to take his V. Card on-the-low in exchange for making Kelly look ridiculous in front of everyone.

As Raymond walked off Kaitlyn sashayed towards Kelly in a skin-tight fuchsia open back dress that frilled at the knees, winking at other boys as she felt her bare waist and squeezed her loosely covered cleavage, which contoured a large silver necklace embedded with glistening amethyst gemstones.

She paused in front of Kelly, posing in 6-inch white stilettos and tossing back her hair to reveal a pair of sparkly diamond earrings.

"... Uh, can I help you?" Kelly said.

"Oh I don't need help. Just making sure you sluts know where you stand, that's all."

Kelly grimaced, looking her up and down.

"What's with the get up? And why is your chest so big all of a sudden?"

Kaitlyn fluttered her lashes "Whats with yours?!" She quipped.

"...And just so you know, you aren't impressing anyone, you aren't the only one with huge boobs y'know..."

Kelly ignored the remark, folding her arms and looking away.

Kaitlyn applied more lip gloss as she tapped her foot somewhat impatiently, rolling her eyes.

"You know, that black really matches your personality."

Kelly cracked her knuckles "Okay, that's it!"

Kaitlyn let out a girlish scream as she tried and failed miserably to run in heels.

Kaitlyn viciously slapped Kelly's arms "Get away from me you crazy lesbo!"

As she tried to wrestle, Kaitlyn tripped over herself and fell backward, causing Kelly's blow to miss and strike her chest, knocking two large silicone pads out of Kaitlyn's bra and flying across the room.

"MY BOOBS!"

A few people chuckled in the distance while others pointed and laughed shamelessly.

"Tasha! Kapreisha! HELP me! NOW!"

They rushed to her side "Girl! What happened?!"

"This nasty bitch tried to squeeze my boobs!" She shouted.

"If she tried to squeeze your boobs then how your shit fly all the way over-"

"SHUT UP, KAPREISHA! GOD!"

They stood her up and carried her off, leaving Kelly to fend off the stinging eyes and remarks of everyone.

"Oh. My. God. You're so disgusting." A girl spat.

Kelly quipped "How?!"

"You tried to touch her boobs!" Another shouted.

"No I didn't! I was gonna slide her lyin' ass until she fell over in those damn heels!"

"SHE A DYKE!" Bryce shouted across the room "SHE WANT THAT PUSS-AY!"

A group of boys erupted into uncontrollable cackling. Shouting slurs and jokes of horrible taste as others pointed and passed on the bogus accusation.

Kelly's lips tightened and quivered just a little bit as she scowled and dug her nails into her palms. She walked off from the center of the room, sitting on a secluded bench near the corner as Thomas walked over and tried to cheer her up.

I hadn't ever seen Kelly like that before. She just looked so depressed and you could tell she really didn't know what to do anymore.

Kelly is a strong girl but even she has limits. You can only deal with so much at one time before it really starts to get to you. I knew she was dealing with some deep feelings she didn't want us to know about.

She always did that. She wanted to protect us, and to her a part of that was making sure that we weren't worried about what she was dealing with.

Not matter how bad it was.

As I looked up I noticed Thomas glaring at Raymond and then Kelly, and back again.

Must've heard the news...

That made the most sense. Besides, Kelly getting left for Kaitlyn? There's no way people we're gonna let that go.

Suddenly Thomas began walking towards Raymond.

"So you like leaving people, huh?"

At first a few people just started looking, then more stopped talking, then some more were instigating a fight. Most people were just surprised that Thomas, out of all people, was confronting Raymond. Kelly even sat staring at them with her eyes wide open.

"...What you say lil' nigga?" Raymond responded dryly.

Thomas walked up "You heard what I said. You think you special? You think you can just walk up to people acting like you care and then leave like ain't nothing happened?"

I eyed the two of them and noticed something.

Thomas was a lot... bigger than I remembered. Not fat, I mean, he was in the 4th grade and Raymond was in 7th, but you wouldn't know that there was much of an age difference.

Don't get me wrong, Thomas was still baby faced and Raymond wasn't exactly huge either, but him and Raymond were almost at the same eye level.

...Did Thomas have a growth spurt while he wasn't in school?

He continued to raise his voice "Kelly ain't need to have SHIT with you in the first place, and you might have dated her once but we all know she can do a HELL of a lot better than some dumbass like you."

It got really quiet. Everyone including me and Kelly froze and stared at the two of them for I don't know how long.

That's when Kaitlyn, who had just finished reinstalling her breasts, stopped dancing and started shouting at the top of her lungs "What?! Dating? You were dating me and her at the same time!?"

She wore a look of shock that left everyone including me confused.

Didn't she JUST plan this whole thing out?

Raymond stuttered "Well... I"

Kaitlyn pounded her heel into his foot.

"OW! Dang! What's that for!?"

"Don't lie to me! Did you really think you could get away with dating Kelly, Little Miss Oreo over there, at the same time you were dating me!?"

Raymond's mouth gaped "Ain't that what you said?! We was finna bang after I ditched that hoe..."

"You idiot! I didn't say that!"

The lying literally made me cringe.

... Really?

"You know what forget about it" She then grabbed a tray of cupcakes and smashed it on his shirt and face.

"Happy New Year... Jerk!" With that she left the dancing hall. Raymond wiped the frosting off of his pants in frustration and stormed out of the dance hall, cursing under his breath.

The DJ cut the music back up and everybody started dancing again.

Kelly was at a loss for words, she just sat there staring at him. Then Thomas walked up to Kelly and asked her if she wanted to dance with the two of us, as friends.

Kelly shook her head and replied "Okay uh... yeah"

"Hey c'mon cheer up. That new song by Blake and Nicki is on!" Kelly blushed and looked away.

"Yeah you know the one!" Thomas said, dragging her out onto the floor.

"Travis, you coming?!"

I joined them and the three of us lost ourselves in the night.

Kelly was still a little shocked after what happened but she seemed a little calmer when she was dancing. She actually looked really proud that Thomas had stood up for something.

You know, Thomas may have been a crybaby back then but he knew how to make things better when either of us looked like we were about to give up.

After the dance I tried to make it up to Amber for dancing with my friends but she turned me down.

Apparently she was just using me to make her ex Mason jealous and since I had failed to serve my purpose, there was no need to continue the facade.

It was all a lie... Of course...Why would anyone date me?

Sometimes I didn't even feel like hanging out with Thomas and Kelly even though they didn't do anything wrong.

As I dealt with the possibility that I really could just be pathetic, thoughts of wanting to change began to come back. I mean, I should be able to do whatever I want.

Right?

This time even though I wanted to make a change I was too tired to think about it, so I just let my mind rest, only to be constantly kept awake by the pain and stress that weaved it's way into my daily life.

On January 5th classes started again. Ms. Carmichael was out tormenting children, bullies were out of control, teachers showed no mercy and bombarded us with assignments and projects one after the next. It was so stressful that it almost had completely slipped my mind that my birthday was only two days away.

When my birthday did come I got ten birthday licks from everyone I passed.

Don't forget two for luck...

So many people were punching me it was hard to tell which ones were for my birthday or which ones were for whatever was in my bag...

Thomas and Kelly couldn't buy anything since they couldn't leave campus grounds and I had to settle for whatever the school offered, which was usually something I'd rather do without.

The entire time these questions and thoughts were running rampant in my head. I tried to understand but I just couldn't get what I had to do and if I even could do anything at all. At that point I had started to lose hope...

...Until something happened in the middle of February that flipped everything.

For good.

It was after classes in the evening at our boarding school. I was walking through the empty sunset-lit corridors by myself, an empty laundry basket in my hands, heading towards the elevator at the end of the halls.

I groaned to myself.

A true man's work is never done...

That's what always kept me going.

Suddenly, I heard a loud crash echo through the building. As my pulse quickeneds and my curiosity takes over I dashed through the halls, following the noise. I come to a stop at the end of a corner and peer into the dense crowd.

"The hell you gonna do?!" Joshua shoved Thomas into a wall.

*SMACK!*

Joshua delivered a slap to Thomas's head so powerful that I could feel the sting. Joshua looked away to chuckle.

Thomas spoke "Just, leave me alone... I didn't even do any-"

"MAKE ME! All you do is cry like a little bitch. You can't stop SHIT that happens here. I don't know the hell that crap was at the dance. You ain't no goddamn superhero.

You'll never be anything you little shit!"

He wasn't even talking to me, but those words pierced deeper than any knife I've ever felt.

"You alone. Your mama left you alone. Your daddy went off and died so you could be alone. Ugly ass daddy hated you that much." Joshua was practically growling. "And soon yo friends gonna leave yo bitch ass ALL ALONE!"

Thomas stuttered "I-I..."

Joshua gave him a wide eyed glare "What? That ain't true? Merch and say that shit ain't true"

Thomas' face began to turn a light shade of red. He hung his head and slowly tears dripped to the floor.

Mizuki and Katrina were in the crowd visibly tearing up. Mizuki took one step out of the crowd and Joshua's vision shot towards her.

Hell if she didn't know what that meant.

Katrina touched her shoulder and they looked at each other for a second. Mizuki stepped back and Joshua snickered under his breath, looking back towards Thomas.

"Hey!"

I could see it Thomas eyes. He heard everything Joshua said but his mind had ventured miles away from here. He was lost in something, somewhere far away from where we were standing.

*SMACK!*

Thomas attention jolted back to the situation at hand.

"You see anybody getting ready to fight for you? Don't nobody around here give a SHIT about you. Where them other two at?"

Tequan answered him. "That pale kid and the dyke ain't here."

Thomas wiped his face.

"Sadism." Suddenly his voice dropped. It got calm and deep, enough to make me jump.

"...Huh?" Joshua replied.

"It's the only way something like this would be happening, ain't it?"

Joshua furrowed his brow "...Hell you just say to me, faggot?"

Thomas silently stared off into space.

"Is this nigga slow or somethin'?" Joshua said as the crowd around them began to joke along with him.

"...I don't know why you like seeing me like this."

Joshua stopped laughing.

"Sadism is the enjoyment of other's pain," Thomas' voice stopped breaking and he wore a deadpan expression despite the tears that continued to flow.

"You like seeing me cry like this because it makes you happy somehow. I'd never wanna see another person like this, but for some reason people like you do."

It killed me on the inside to listen to what Joshua was telling him. A sickening mix of heartbreak and self hatred panged in my gut, imagining what they had put Thomas through all these times was almost too much for me to handle.

The feeling of not being able to do anything crushed me. I wish I could stand up like Kelly but I don't know how. I can't fight, I'm not as strong as either of them. I'm just a kid who waits around and hides behind his friends. Or at least, the people who tolerate him.

I remember trying to seem like I was helping by telling Thomas to "man up" and by scolding him to make myself appear stronger, yet when situations like this came I just sat there and watched.

All I do is watch.

I'm doing it right now.

I feel completely useless and it's my fault.

I could only blame so much on bullying and being in this boarding school from hell, but one thing I couldn't blame on either of those, the worst feeling out of anything any of those ever caused me, was this feeling of inadequacy.

This is a feeling I gave to myself and it affects everyone around me in the worst way possible.

I can't listen to this...

"As for why... I dunno. Maybe you just like being powerful...Maybe you hate me... Maybe I'm just an outlet.

What you're saying might be true, but it doesn't matter..."

Joshua raised his brow.

"...Because you're here too."

Joshua tightened his jaw.

"You keep saying people left me because they didn't care and that I'm alone, you use that as a weapon. But by that logic I can do the same thing to you.

Because your mom didn't want you. And your dad didn't care about you enough to stay alive and off the streets to be here."

Joshua snapped. "BOY! SHUT YO BITCH ASS UP! I'll tell you where they at! They waiting.

They all waiting to shit on you, spit at you, and make your life HELL until you just can't take it no more." Joshua started leaning closer.

"Soon you just gon' decide to make it end." He cracked a small grin "If you don't soon I'mma end it for you."

"...Get away from me..." Thomas said, turning away.

Joshua's pupils shrunk as he watched Thomas walk away and his smirk twisted into a disgusting scowl.

He shoved Thomas into the lockers.

"Where YOU going? You hear me!? You can't do SHIT about NOTHIN' bro!"

This is getting hard to watch...

Joshua's head turned and he saw me standing by the corner, gawking at the two. His vision quickly shifted to Thomas, who was still staring blankly into the floor.

"Hey!"

Thomas ignored him.

"I SAID HEY!"

There was no response.

A violent flame lit in Joshua's eyes as Thomas took a step in the opposite direction and in a sudden rage he unleashed a barrage of cheap shots.

"Don't you DARE get stuck up! Who the hell do you think you is ignoring me!?"

He flailed his limbs with the temperament of a four-year-old, hitting Thomas wherever his rage-filled blows landed first.

"Where the HELL do you get off pretending you deserve to be here?! You dirty ass PIECE OF-."

*THUD!*

My heart almost burst in my chest as the booming thunderclap of a powerful blow echoed through the halls.

Thomas had delivered it to Joshua's stomach.

As he doubled over in pain with a look that showed he hadn't the slightest idea of what just happened, Thomas swung his leg from the side to deliver a brutal roundhouse that shot through the side of his head and sent Joshua tumbling across the hall.

Immediately Thomas pursued Joshua who struggled to keep balance, backing away from him and reeling from the blow as he quickly drew near.

Joshua pulled his signature weapon, a steel lock, from his back pocket and swung it as he advanced towards Thomas with a familiar pissed-off look, grinning with confidence.

Thomas snatched the lock out of midair as Joshua held on to the string attached. Interlocking the steel weapon with his fingers, Thomas violently jolted the string along with Joshua forward and slammed the steel weapon into his jaw over and over as if his entire arm were some sort of enraged jack hammer.

Teeth flew from his mouth while hysterical cackling became audible among the cheering as Joshua wildly swung at him, desperate for a hit in hopes of saving face with the crowd after the cringe inducing start to the fight.

Joshua's pain caused his fingers to slowly release the string and Thomas hurled it at his face, snapping the bridge of his nose on impact with a sickening crack as Joshua angrily lunged forward with yet another misaimed blow.

The instant Joshua fell past his target the sound of ripping fabric shot through my bones as Thomas snatched the back of Joshua's collar, took hold of his skull with the other and repeatedly slammed his face into the window of a classroom door, smashing through the glass as students poured from their classes to watch.

Joshua stumbled to the side, his nose gushing with blood and knees weakening beneath him.

"...B-Bitch ass... Muthafu-"

A heavy crate spewed from the crowd and exploded across Joshua's face. He flew back, visibly fighting tears as his knees continued to buckle.

"YEAH!" Katrina waved her fist, "GET WRECKED!"

Mizuki shyly raised her hand "Yeah, get him Thomas!"

I had never seen Thomas fight before. He was usually so timid and harmless.

Hell, I didn't even know he was that strong! And I didn't understand how he was fighting so well either! Things usually NEVER make sense to me but the expression of pure unadulterated shock on other student's faces told me I wasn't alone on this one.

The crowd got larger and larger as I looked at the two of them. Thomas unleashed an endless storm of gut smashing blows with an impact so hard you could hear the BANG.

If Thomas was always this strong then this fight was over before it even started, and by the look on Joshua's face, an unusual mix of fear, embarrassment, and desperation, I'm sure he realized it too.

A crushing hook to Joshua's nose snapped his head to the right and sent a spray bloody saliva flying into the crowd as he fell to the ground, tears flying from the ducts of his eyes as he hit the floor and immediately experienced the impact of his body hitting solid ground and Thomas' boot simultaneously smashing into his face like a football player kicking a field goal.

As I tried to hide the grin spreading across my face Thomas thrashed his foot into Joshua's head while he desperately threw his arms up in defense.

Probably to avoid getting his face kicked in, but to hide his face from anybody that didn't recognize him for the sake of saving whatever shred of dignity he had left also, I'm sure.

Soon people tried to break them up, but were pulled away by others that supported and stayed to instigate.

Thomas didn't even look like himself anymore. While he was stomping Joshua he stood over him with a look of mindless fury. His pupils shrunk and fierce yet filled with anxiety and pain. A boy seething with rage but scared and hurt at the same time.

After recovering from a strange mix of shock and joy I sprung into action. I wasn't going to be useless any more. As satisfying as it was watching Joshua get decked and brutally wailed on I knew that the situation was serious.

Barely anything up to that point could compare to what I'd seen that day. Not Kelly and Kaitlyn's fight, not watching Tequan beat that kid, not seeing the oh-so common recordings of student's being jumped or being jumped myself.

This fight was pure brutality, nothing anybody would imagine children that young being capable of. A brutality fueled by rage, a thirst for revenge and the result of haunting trauma. It was cringe worthy, shock inducing.

Not for the faint of heart, as some would put it.

After fighting through people who tried to force me away I tried pulling Thomas off of Joshua to no avail.

I shouted as loud as I could over the sickening applause of students going out of their minds over the primal display.

"THOMAS!"

He kept fighting.

"THOMAS STOP! YOU BEAT HIM! IT'S DONE! "

He ignored me and eyed the dean's empty chair. Taking just barely a few steps away.

God, what's he doing?!

I thought to myself, breathing heavily and trying to pull away from the crowd behind yelling profanities at me.

Joshua, getting a few free seconds mustered enough strength to lift his most likely pounding head off of the ground.

Without changing his angsty expression, Thomas snatched the wooden seat from underneath the desk and whirled his arms around, bashing Joshua across the face with it as the sheer impact shattered the chair into millions of pieces and left Joshua's face splintered and bleeding as his head and body flew back, landing him smack in the middle of everyone.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"

As Thomas continued to beat him with the fragments I flung my body at him, just barely weighing him down.

As he laid there his pupils dilated for a second and returned to normal.

"Are you okay?!"

"I-I'm... fine, I just-." before he could finish his sentence he looked and saw Joshua being stood up by his brothers.

He was sweating, clothes shredded, mouth gaped open and flooding with a thick redness, his nose was dripping with blood and he was wobbling, as if drunk or dizzy.

Everyone's attention turned to Thomas who was suddenly just as surprised with the amount of damage he did as everyone else.

I thought everything was over. I was wrong.

In a desperate attempt to redeem himself, Joshua charged toward him with a broom, bellowing a tearful cry. As I yanked Thomas aside Joshua slammed full force into a door, bashing his head against the thick wood.

As he hit the ground he began convulsing and drooling on the floor, a look of anger and shock frozen on his face. It wasn't long before everyone broke into a panic when they started realizing that Joshua was having a seizure.

"Shit! Look what you did!" Moreece screamed at Thomas, frantically trying to revive Joshua while his twin D'shawn and older brother Tequan tried to stand him up.

"You DUMBASS! Why did you hit him so goddamn hard!? Was you tryna kill him!?" Moreece kept glancing at Thomas and Joshua.

His face softened and became sadder the more he looked at his brother.

Suddenly Ms. Carmichael stormed the hall.

"WHAT IN HELL IS GOING ON!"

She turned her head and saw Joshua on the ground being attended to by his brothers.

"WHO?!" She shouted, gesturing at the few.

Before anyone could answer or even point a finger she turned her head and looked at Thomas who stood there in his blood stained uniform, breathing heavily and clenching his fists.

"WAIT! it's not what it looks like! I swear!" I said.

She shot me with a bone chilling glare "If it isn't then TELL ME!"

My heart smashed against my ribcage.

GOD, I'll NEVER get used to that woman shrieking her lungs out at me!

"Joshua and his brothers have been bullying Thomas ever since laid eyes on him! He took so much crap from them over the years that he couldn't contain it anymore! Thomas NEVER stands up for himself!

He wasn't even trying to hurt Joshua he was just defending himself and all his emotions came out at once! You HAVE to understand!"

But no matter how many times I told her she wouldn't listen.

Her presence was stone. She didn't care about how it happened or who started it. She didn't care about why Thomas was so angry.

She never cared about anything.

She just wanted a kid to beat on. That's it.

"MOVE NOW! If you disobey me you'll be sore from the same BEAT DOWN as him!"

"NO!"

I heard the whirr of thick wood shoot through the air between us.

*WHAM!*

Before I could think I felt the solid wooden paddle she would always carry strike me in the head with full force.

Once.

Twice.

And again.

I stumbled to the side holding my face.

If she so much as saw my lips part I knew I'd get hit again. Talking was useless, there was no way anybody could reason with her. I looked at her, then looked at Thomas.

Carmichael, Thomas, Carmichael, Thomas.

I grabbed Thomas' hand and pulled him along as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

I couldn't take it anymore, that was it.

Enough is enough.

As we were running I saw our dorm. We ran inside, then slammed and locked the door behind us.

I knew a locked door couldn't hold Ms. Carmichael forever. In a panic I ripped all of the dresser drawers out.

Everything from clothes to broken headphones lay scattered everywhere, but I didn't care.

We dumped our school supplies and filled our backpacks with everything. Snacks, clothes, soap, bandages, toothbrushes.

Anything that our hands touched first.

Ms. Carmichael was shrieking at the top of her lungs and pounding the door at this point. I could see the screws on the hinges rattling and loosening with every bang.

It was only a matter of seconds before she was going to smash through.

My eyes flew across the room, analyzing each possible escape route until they landed on a clear glass barrier leading to the outside world.

As I opened the window Ms. Carmichael burst through the locked door with a dropkick.

Thomas barked "WHAT THE HELL?!"

As her legs smashed the screen of our TV she instantly launched from the wreckage and darted across the room.

"OH MY GOD! THOMAS GO!"

Without the time to think, we tumbled out of the three story window, grabbing onto the branches of a large tree to break our fall.

We plummeted to the grassy surface and landed in a heavy tangled pile of each other and our bags. I twisted my ankle on the landing but that didn't matter. I wasn't spending another minute in that Boarding School.

We were leaving.

Me and Thomas raced across the campus and burst through the doors of the girls dormitory, zooming through the halls as people raised eyebrows at us, shouting at us to leave or yelling that boys weren't allowed.

We found Kelly standing by her dorm, still fully dressed for school in a hallway. While running I grabbed her hand.

"Come on, we're leaving!"

She put a hand over her bouncing cleavage "What do you mean we're leaving!?"

"We're running away from this Boarding School. NOW! We'll get you more stuff later!"

"What?! You guys are crazy!"

We snatched her bag in an instant and left without hesitation. We burst through the campus gates and down the packed sidewalk, racing through busy intersections as people and the night clouds became a mere blur in our peripheral vision. We came to a halt as we reached a bus stop, catching one just on time. We rode it to the end of the line and then took the first train we saw leaving.

While riding public transportation Thomas and I explained what had happened to Kelly.

More than anything she was surprised to hear that Thomas whopped Joshua like that, even when it got quiet the look on her face while she was processing that one simple fact was priceless.

"I can't believe we're actually running away from Boarding School! We have nowhere to live! What are we even gonna eat when these damn hot chips run out?!"

"Shush! Someone's gonna hear you!" I whispered.

Kelly looked around cautiously as Thomas continued to explain.

"It's okay, Travis grabbed our money before we came and got you" Thomas said.

"Still! What happens when we run out!? I can't believe we're actually doing this! Plus I don't have anything with me because you dragged me out at the last friggin' minute!"

Thomas played with his fingers "Sorry, Can't you just wear some of our clothes until we get some more?"

"I can't live in sweaters, T-shirts, and boy jeans! I'm a LADY!"

At the time I was still scared. Seeing everyone's facial expression as we raced through the hallways, Ms. Carmichael's abuse. I was finally out in the world and didn't have a single idea of where to go, how to do anything, or what to expect.

But if there was one thing I knew for sure and that was if we couldn't take being in that boarding school then being out here in the real world was going to be a challenge that we had to grow to meet. Regardless of what it takes.

I didn't know how it was possible, but I knew it had to be done. Because I wasn't giving up and I wasn't going back to that boarding school either.

~~~

A/N

Who the hell knew that Thomas could whoop ass like that?! Besides the aforementioned throw-down of the century, it seems our heroes have made a big decision. Let's see how this turns out...