Knockout
“Mark wants to beat your ass,” Julian had warned me at the beginning of the school day.
More like Mark is going to beat my ass. Everyone knows I can’t fight. I sit in my seat wondering what will happen next.
Julian sees my worried face and says, “Relax, I got your back.”
The teacher walks out and I can feel Mark watching me.
Rachel whispers, “It’ll be really funny if you win,” into my ear from her seat beside me.
I turn and Mark is in my face. He pushes me and I instinctively push him back.
He hits me. Then I’m on the ground. Completely disoriented.
I wait for another punch to come but it never does. I finally regain my senses and get up to see Julian holding Mark with his arms pinned behind his back.
“If you are going to do something, do it now,” he says, struggling to hold him.
I hit Mark three times with my left hand then he elbows Julian and breaks free. He charges at me and before I can react his fist connects with my jaw.
I wake up with Rachel in my face.
“That was pretty funny too.”
Copyright © 2015 by Robert Bates
Cover Photo by Carrie Albert