OCTAVEUS
AFTER SCHOOL the next day, Summer and I were walking over to the small bench area outside the school to sit and chat a little, as we normally did before I walked home. As Summer and I walked out the front doors of the school, we heard what sounded like a crowd gathering.
    "What's going on over there?" Summer said. I shrugged, and we both started walking toward the gathering crowd. We pushed our way to the front of the group-- well, more like I started walking toward the front and people cleared out of my way while Summer just stayed right behind me-- to get a better look. I saw what the crowd was about and growled to myself.
Seth was standing in front of the small Asian boy from PE, cornering him against the wall of the school. The Asian boy was at least two inches shorter than Seth, and definitely less menacing. (Though if I may say so, he looked a lot cuter than Seth did. . . oh my God, did I just say that out loud?) His deep brown eyes were wide and he pressed his back against the wall behind him to get further away from Seth. Seth glared at him, his blue eyes looking colder than ever. The front of his mohawk fell over his face.
"What did you say?" He growled at the Asian boy.
"No," the Asian boy said quietly. "You're not the boss of me."
"Drew's standing up to Seth!" I heard someone next to me and Summer whisper.
"Who?" I asked. 'Drew?'
Seth took a threatening step toward the Asian boy. Seth's hands were clenched into fists and he growled angrily. 'Talk about over-reactions, Jesus.' I thought, but I shouldn't really be talking; I gave my brother scars because he stole my muffin. (To be fair, it was my muffin.) Seth took another step forward, slightly raising his fist, and I decided that I wasn't going to just stand there while Seth threatened people.
"Hey, leave him alone," I snapped at him, limping out to stand in front of the Asian boy, facing Seth. Seth stopped and glared at me, even though he was shorter.
"And what if I don't?" He snarled. I didn't answer, just narrowed my eyes at him. His eyes widened along with the people gathered behind him. It took me a second to realize that I had narrowed my pupils to slits instead of glaring. Oops. I could hear the Asian boy shift against the wall behind me.
"Just. . . leave him alone," I growled at him through clenched teeth. He stepped right up to me.
"Or what?" He growled, baring his teeth in my face. I bared my teeth back at him and he shrank down a little bit for a second when he saw my pointed canines before jumping right back up in my face, grabbing the collar of my jacket in his fist. I looked down at his fist on my jacket, then back at his face, narrowing my pupils even more.
"Don't. Touch. Me," I snarled, forming my hands into fists. He tightened his grip on my jacket, flattening his forearm against my chest and stretching out the collar. I raised my fist slightly.
"Get. Your hands. Off." I hissed, raising my fist higher.
"No." Seth stretched my collar even more.
I growled low in my throat, but Seth still didn't back down. I heard Summer behind me getting the Asian boy to move away. Seth noticed this as well and tried to go around me, but I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back. His eyes lit up with anger and before I could react he punched me. Hard.
His knuckles cracked against my bottom jaw. I staggered sideways a little bit, my vision blurring for a couple seconds from the force of his fist hitting my head. My lip was now split and bleeding. People in the mob gasped when Seth hit me, but none of them walked away; they all knew that we were both strong and probably wanted to know how this fight was going to end.
   While I was temporarily confused Seth walked right up in front of me; I looked at him. He looked like he was going to punch me again, but I waited until he was close enough to do so before showing that I was no longer confused. As soon as he was close enough to hit me again, I raised my fist and punched him square in the face.
   He let out a surprised shout in pain and staggered away from me, cupping his hands over his nose and mouth and grimacing. He eventually stopped moving away from me and moved his hands away from his face, glaring at me threateningly; as soon as he moved his hands I cursed at myself under my breath. Blood poured from his nose and dripped down his chin, and his nose was now ridged in a zigzag shape. People behind and around us gasped loudly when he moved his hands away from his face and someone whispered, "He just broke Seth's nose!"
  'No dip, idiot,' I growled in my head.
"You're going to be sorry you did that," Seth snarled at me, blood dripping down his chin and onto the front of his shirt. He made a move to walk toward me, but as soon as I raised my fist again to defend myself he stopped dead in his tracks. I glared evenly at him, daring him to come closer, but he didn't. He got a dangerous light in his eyes as he slowly retreated, glaring at me and wiping the blood off his face before turning and darting away.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and whipped around, but seeing that the hand belonged to Summer I relaxed. She looked almost scared.
"You shouldn't have done that," she said.
"Done what?" I answered, slightly snappily.
"Broken his nose," she responded. "Look, you don't know Seth like I do--"
"Which means that you know better than I that he deserved his broken nose," I interrupted her. She sighed, agreeing, and seemed to notice the half-curious, half-terrified look on the Asian boy's face behind her.
"Vee, this is Drew," she introduced me, moving aside so that the Asian boy and I could make eye contact. He looked up at me, his dark brown eyes still wide. When I was closer to him, I noticed that he had a bunch of red-brown freckles on his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose, which somehow made him look even cuter and more innocent. (Cute as in, you know, how a kitten is cute. Totally not crushing on him right now.) His narrower eyes were angled to make him look almost worried or scared.
"Drew," Summer continued her introductions. "This is Octaveus." Drew smiled shyly at me and I returned his smile, wiping the blood from my split lip on the sleeve cuff of my jacket.
"I'm sorry he hit you," Drew said to me quietly. His voice was small, but I could tell he could be loud when he wanted to. (Oh God, that came out wrong. Whoops, sorry.)
"Nah, it's fine," I said, wiping more blood off my chin. "I've bled worse."
Drew nodded and I caught him glancing at the scars on my wrists, but he seemed more sorry than surprised. Summer stood off to the side of us, awkwardly shifting feet before Drew said, "I should probably head home now." Summer and I nodded and he turned to walk down the street, heading in the opposite direction of the headquarters. I watched him until he was out of view.
Summer stood next me, glancing at my face and smirking as Drew walked out of view. "You like him, don't you?"
"W-what? No. I don't know what you're talking about," I pretended that I wasn't blushing.
"Oh, come on," Summer elbowed me lightly. "I saw the way you were watching him. Also, the banana in your pants says otherwise."
"Shut up," I mumbled, looking down at my feet and covering my predicament discreetly with my hand. She chuckled at me.
"Don't worry Superman," she said. "Your secret's safe with me."