Nine
It was finally Friday, the last day of the week for school.
Tyler and I had managed to avoid Jake Kellen and his friends throughout the week, and we had just one more day of sneaking around, and then we could enjoy two days of freedom.
I sat on the first seat in the fourth row of room 7B during history class, with Claire beside me and Tyler, beside her.
History, was another class we all took together and it was also the last class of the day.
I glanced at my watch regularly, awaiting the sound of the final bell, while struggling to keep up with Mr Damon's speedy dictation.
"Did you get that last sentence?" Claire whispered to me, peering at my notebook.
"Yes I did, but now I didn't get this part." I whispered back.
"It's not my fault." Claire replied, glaring at me.
"Yes it is." I retorted.
"If you guys keep this up, you won't get any part." Tyler informed both of us.
"... The delegates sent were unable to convince the leaders to lessen the attacks on..." Mr Damon continued.
"Jason." Claire whispered again.
"Yes."
"What are you doing this weekend?"
"Figuring out how to complete my history note."
"Sorry." Claire said.
"... Paragraph, the conquering of the surrounding settlements coupled with..."
The sound of the bell cut Mr Damon off, leaving a frown on his face and a wide satisfied smile on mine.
"Alright, we'll have to continue next week. You're dismissed." Mr Damon concluded.
I didn't see the point of his last words since half of his students were already outside the classroom.
"Claire, are you giving us a ride?" Tyler asked as we walked out of the classroom.
"I didn't bring my car today, sorry."
Tyler groaned. "It's okay, we'll just walk."
"I thought your house was far from here?" I asked Claire.
"Not really. My house is just two houses away from Tyler's."
"Really?" I asked in surprise.
"Yep."
"I just found out on Wednesday." Tyler added.
"I need to grab something from my locker guys." I informed them as we were about to pass by my locker.
"Make it quick." Tyler said.
I opened my locker and picked out my Statistics textbook from it.
"What do they think they are doing?" Tyler asked suddenly.
"What are you talking about?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Over there." he replied, pointing ahead of us with his right arm.
Claire and I turned in the direction of his arm, it was Kate Jackson, Sophia Edgar, Catherine Sanders, Nicole Manchester and Mae Curtis. They were standing in a semicircle in front of a girl who was clearly intimidated by them.
"They are just doing what they enjoy: picking on others." Claire remarked.
"Well they should do it on someone else!" Tyler yelled.
"Why are you so concerned?" I asked.
"Because that's my friend, Ashley." Tyler replied.
I turned back to the semicircle and realized that it was actually Ashley the cheerleaders were surrounding.
"I'm going over there." Tyler said and started toward them.
I rushed ahead and blocked him. "Dude, can you relax. They are not doing anything violent. For all we know, they may be asking her to join the cheer leading squad."
Claire glanced at me with raised brows.
"I just think we should observe them before taking any rash decisions." I continued.
Just then, Kate hit down the books in Ashley's hands and shoved her violently into the locker behind them. She snatched her school bag from her shoulder, emptied its contents on the floor and tossed it.
"That's it." Tyler said and before I could raise any objections, he was marching swiftly in their direction. Claire and I hurried after him in an attempt to stop him from whatever he was planning to do, but our efforts were futile.
"Hey!!" Tyler yelled immediately he was near them. "What do you guys think you're doing?!"
"Look guys, it's the cave man!" Catherine said, and they all burst into laughter.
Tyler's eyes were now spitting balls of fire on the five of them "Never," he growled "pick on her again."
The smiles of the cheerleaders faded away completely and fear was spread on each of their faces evenly.
"Or what?" Kate managed to say.
"You'll regret ever being enrolled in this school." Tyler replied in a low firm voice.
Kate's face turned pale; she was scared.
A smile was slowly creeping up to my face but it quickly faded away when my eyes met with a very familiar pair.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I was certain that my face had turned pale. Tyler's eyes widened, and he retreated a few steps back.
Where had they even come from?!
The very thing we had avoided all week had finally caught up with us and there was no way of escape.
The cold look on Jake's face made it clear that we were about to experience a lot of pain. Color had returned to Kate's face and so did her smile.
"Hey boys." Jake said.
"Hello, we were just leaving." Claire said with a fake smile plastered on her face. Jake gave her an icy look, and she retreated quickly, to where Ashley stood.
"We are going to teach you guys, never, to mess with us again." Jake said. Turning to his friends behind him, he jerked his head toward us.
In a flash, Allan and Michael attacked me, while Kelvin and Dave went for Tyler.
I was on the floor in seconds, and Michael and Allan launched their fists and feet to various parts of my body.
In a short while, I tasted blood in my mouth and all I could think of was pain. I could hear the laughter of Kate and her friends and the pleading of Ashley and Claire over my groaning and shouting.
Claire's voice sounded cracked, which was weird. Was she crying?
No, that was very unlikely, she didn't look like the crying type at all. Something else must have caused the cracked sound of her voice.
I was not sure of exactly how long the beating lasted but it felt like it had been going on for hours. My body hurt everywhere, but Michael and Allan continued their clobbering.
"Hey!! What are you boys doing?!" An adult female voice yelled.
The beating seized immediately and Jake disappeared, alongside his friends and the cheerleaders.
"Are you boys okay?" The woman asked.
I looked up and realized it was the school nurse, Mrs Maxwell. Claire rushed to my side and my earlier thoughts were confirmed, she was crying.