Turtle

I watched as Eve followed behind Allen and Stacy, leaving me in the dust. Watching them go almost hurt more than getting punched by Allen. His hands were all doughy, it wasn’t the worst fist I’d gotten connected to my face.

But what hurt even more than anything was the sound of Liz’s voice right in my ear. She was crying and going on about how I could sue Allen for punching me. But there was no chance I’d do that, if I sued every time I got punched I’d probably be a millionaire. But I’d probably be even worse on the social ladder.

I pulled myself up, very aware of Liz’s claw hands on my back. Tears started rolling down her face, and it made me feel just the slightest bit sad. I hugged her lightly, trying not to lead her on. At the moment though, it actually felt good, to have this one person on my side. Even if this one person was soaking my shirt.

I tried to help Liz up too, but there wasn’t much I could do with my stick arms. So she just got up with the help of the bench. We stood there looking around for a moment before she grabbed my hand and started leading me back to the school.

“I’m not marching today” my voice came out really low almost as quiet as Eve’s usually was.

“And you shouldn’t, I’ll drive you home. We can tell Tori to tell Mr. Taylor you couldn’t come for medical issues” she squeezed my hand, her nails digging into me. I looked down at our
hands, her big round one wrapped around my skinny boney one. I looked up trying not to think about how weird we looked together.

My mind went to that one nursery rhyme, Jack Sprat. It went something like…

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so between the two of them
They licked the platter clean.

I remembered loving it so much when I was little, looking at the little picture of the fat lady with a pie in her hands. I’d never expected to be like the man with the twig like figure who stood on the other side of the page.

Her car was amazing, it was a mustang with those rear lights that blinked from left to right depending on which way you were turning. I wish my mom would’ve bought me any car, but she always worried that I’d crash or something.
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I leaned against the car as I waited for her to come back from the band room. I tried to think like a cool person, but I ditched that idea since I knew I definitely wasn’t. I slouched against the car while rubbing my jaw, it didn’t bruise but it sure did hurt. I’d ice it when I got home.

“He says ok!” Liz ran toward me, her back pack slung over one shoulder and her tank top coming un-tucked. Revealing her belly button, and her permanent donut. It wasn’t a very pretty sight, so I focused in on her eyes, they were an deep shade of blue. If people only saw her eyes they could probably get past the sound of her ‘excited’ voice.

“But he says he’s got to see you first” she jumped a little when she stopped in front of me.

“Tori or Mr.Taylor?’

“Taylor” I nodded and she intertwined her fingers with mine again after throwing her bag in the back seat.

We walked into the band room, getting a couple confused stares. But I was unsure if it was because I was with Liz, or because I just had a girl with me period.

“You look fine to me Fields”

“yeah, well one of the kids in here punched me” I looked around, Liz still standing by my side.

“Is he in your section?” I looked down, and kicked invisible pebbles.

“Well, no”

“You made a commitment to us in the beginning of the year” he was trying to guilt trip me.

“I know bu-“ Liz pushed in front of me with anger in her eyes.

“Look at him! Do you think he could take a punch!? Especially not from a guy like Allen-“ I stopped listening. I was too busy freaking out, I may have been a victim of bullying but I didn’t care. I’d rather be a victim than a tattle tale.

I slapped my hand over her mouth and pulled her away from Mr. Taylor. He looked bewildered but I just smiled.

“I’ll be marching today” I said to him, before I pulled Liz into a practice room.

“What are you doing!? You never tell on someone, it’ll only make them more angry”

“I-I’m sorry. I was just worried about you” she looked down. I felt that need to comfort her, just because she cared about me. I pulled her into a big bear hug, for a moment before pulling back and brushing a piece of hair out of her face.

“I got to go get ready” I walked out of the room, things would be so awkward. I could already feel it.

“Trevor get new girl!” Wut yelled out laughing, I laughed a little even though I’d have to correct him later. Because there was no way I was going to date Liz. But maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.