Never Ending Equation

I was eleven when I beat up a kid at school for her.

"Andy, what's going on?" I asked, coming out to recess late. I got stuck finishing up a test that was harder than I thought it was going to be.

"Not sure. You didn't miss much, though. It just started."

There was a big crowd of kids all around two people. There were never any fights or things like this, so I was kind of confused.

"Hey," Andy said, hitting my arm. "Isn't that Nicolette?"

"What? Where?" I asked as I searched for her dark hair in the sea of people. I spotted her within seconds and immediately shoved my way through everyone to the middle.

"What's going on?" I questioned, placing my hands on her shoulders. She looked away. "Nicolette. Look at me. What happened?"

She slowly looked up, and I saw tears streaking down her face and more welling up in her eyes. I didn't wait for her to answer me. I spun around and saw some kid in the grade above us standing there.

"What did you do to her?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," he replied.

"I think it is."

"He hit me," Nicolette said quietly. I was shocked, completely shocked. We were only eleven and boys were already punching girls. I was furious, too. He could hit me all he wanted, but he wasn't allowed to lay a finger on her.

"Only because she made fun of me because I was sitting by myself!" the boy retorted.

"That's not true! I went over there to talk to you!"

"Bullshit," the kid spat, lunging for Nicolette.

I stepped in front, pushing him away. Kids started chanting 'Fight! Fight!' and that's when he hit me. His fist collided with my face and I stumbled backwards.

"Jordan!" Nicolette yelled, rushing towards me.

I didn't pay her any attention. I charged at the kid who had hit both of us and managed to get him on the ground. I hit him square in the jaw and then wherever my hand might have landed after. I got a few good punches in before the kids around us started to scatter, saying something about teachers coming. Someone pulled me off of him and dragged me away from the scene.

I was brought into the principle's office and was told sit in the chair in front of his desk and wait. I was soon followed by Nicolette.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, concern evident in my voice.

"I'm fine," she answered, not bothering to ask if I was okay or not.

Frowning, I could already see a bruise forming under her left eye. "He's lucky I didn't kill him."

"He's not worth it," she said before letting out a big sigh, turning to look at me. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Jordan."

"I-I," I stuttered out. "I didn't want you to get hurt, but I guess I was too late. I was just trying to help."

"Yeah, well don't. I can take care of myself," she told me. No 'Thank you', nothing. Instead I got an angry and cold reply.

We stayed silent until the boy who I beat up came walking in, the principle right behind him. I glared daggers at him and he returned the favor. We all told our versions of the story, and Mr. Marks, the principle, deemed Nicolette innocent and let her leave. Steven, the other kid, and I weren't so lucky. We weren't allowed to go back to class and we couldn't come back to school until next week.

As I sat in the principle's office waiting for my mom to come pick me up, Marc, my older brother, came walking in.

"I heard you beat some kid up.. Nicely done," he told me.

"Yeah. Where's Mom?"

"She's out there talking to Mr. Marks," he told me, jerking him thumb behind him. "Dad's going to be so mad at you, but at least you had enough guts to stand up for your girlfriend."

"Shut up. Nicolette's not my girlfriend."