Chapter 3: Willow

Chapter Three

I make my way towards the school building, a block difference between the buses. Soon, people start crowding together and I was being pushed around like a little monkey in the tiger section. Some eighth-grade boys start fighting over some unnecessary beef. 

"You stole my girl. You're gonna pay." 

"YOU WERE THE ONE CHEATING ON HER OVER THE SUMMER! STOP MAKING EXCUSES!!!" 

They start punching, kicking, and flailing their little arms like wrestling cats. 

"Even eighth-grade boys can't fight properly. What have I been expecting in middle school?" I sigh. 

They both turn around. 

"What'd you say?" They look at me, creepily.

"Uh, nothing." I turn around and start running as fast as my little legs can carry me, through the maze of students.

"Sorry," 

"Watch where you're going!"

"Excuse me."

"Hey!"

"Thank you!"

I finally lose sight of the eighth graders, probably offending many more people than just two. Now, I was only a few feet away from the school.

The school is humongous. But, not big enough. Waves and waves of students splash into the building, filling every corner. The piercing smell of perfume fills my nose. I sneeze. The chattering of everyone is making my head hurt. Lockers are placed on both sides of the main hallway, connecting to the other smaller hallways that were all labeled with alphabets. Teachers and staff are in the middle of hallways, yelling at kids from time to time for running. 

I walk fast towards "E" hall, located at the end of the main hallway. No one is there yet except for two teachers talking about how they're going to teach the new seventh graders this year. Blue-colored lockers are on the sides now, instead of the gray ones in the main hallway. I open the door to an empty classroom and sit in a corner, breathing out a sigh of relief. 

"Oh my gosh. Breathe in, breathe out." 

I start breathing, hoping to calm down soon before I have to get to class. I check my watch. 7:03. Good. 12 more minutes.

"Thump."

I look sharply towards the door. 

"Thump."

I peer through the window in the door, only to gasp at two very familiar faces looking at me, smirking. The two eighth-grade boys I had offended!

They start banging on the door, punching and kicking and pouncing. I couldn't-

"HEY WIMP! OPEN UP!!" The door was about to burst. Frantically, I hid below the teacher's desk. 

"WHAM!!!"

The door opens, slamming on the corner wall. The two eighth graders walk in, huffing and puffing. I watch as their feet come closer and closer to where I was hiding. I held my breath. The dust under the table made it hard to breathe. I suck up some air. My nose felt ticklish inside. Uh oh.

"ACHOO!!!"

Of course. I sneezed. What perfect timing.

The two boys immediately found me under the bed. 

"Get up! Come out!"

I crawl out reluctantly, rubbing my nose in anger. "What do you guys want?" I ask, sniffing my nose.

"Give your money now and we'll spare you." One of them said.

"You? Spare me? In your dreams buddy." I reply. 

"You-!" He charges at me, lunging forward to grab onto my hair. The other boy grabs me by the neck and squeezes, hard. The pain of my hair is making me nauseous. The choking isn't helping either. I struggle under his grasp, gasping for air. Cold sweat drains my back as I try to break free. 

"S-stop… please," I manage to get out.

"Oh yeah? Where's all the confidence you had earlier? Now, you'll be begging for me to spare you." The boy who was pulling on my hair said, now pulling even harder.

I bite my lip in pain. Out of desperation, I free an elbow and flail it around, hitting one of their faces. A boy cries out in pain and backs off. I gasp for breath, finally free. The pulling on my hair didn't stop though. The other boy was still behind me, pulling me backward. Breathing deeply, I throw my arms upwards, getting a hold of the arm of the boy. I turn around, twisting the arm in the process. 

"AH!!!" The boy cries, trying to break free of my grasp. I pried his fingers off my hair, twisting his hand counterclockwise until I heard a snap. The boy shouts in pain, falling backward and banging his head on the corner of a desk. He looks up at me, shaking his head with pain, then rolls his eyes upwards and plops onto the floor. 

I grin, feeling the adrenaline rushing through my blood. The YouTube short I saw about self-defense really worked! I should watch some more later-

I fell to my knees in pain, my eyes blurry and watering. Blood trickled down the corner of my mouth, falling onto the floor before me. I look up, surprised to see the other eighth grader standing in front of me, his fist dripping with blood. The blood from my face.