The Bully
"Can't believe she did this again," Lucas spat, staring down at his accounting exam. The bright red "F" that Mrs. Potter had put in the corner started to run as the falling snow landed on it, looking a little like blood. "I explained this to her, and I know Conklin has. I don't get F's. Ever. Why doesn't she listen?"
The sandy haired junior looked around at his friends, all of whom stood silently by, cowering a little inside their greatcoats. The wind ruffled what hair was visible underneath their hats, and one boy wiped his red nose with a gloved hand. They were standing outside the math building, waiting for Lucas to calm down so they could head back to their dorms.
"Well," Lucas bunched the paper up in a wad, wringing it tight, "She's gonna learn now."
"What're you gonna do?" a dark haired boy asked, his face square and his eyes looking a little like someone had just given him electroshock. "I thought you were laying off the teachers since you scared off the last principal. I thought your uncle was afraid the superintendent would hear about it and…."
"My uncle pays these teachers, Flint, and I'm supposed to get straight A's because of it. Just because he's told me to cool it with the faculty for a little while, don't mean they can give me shit like this!" He threw the exam into the dirty pile of snow next to the door, then kicked more over it, burying the paper.
"But, I mean, I think that, maybe, before you do anything to Mrs. P…."
"Shut up, Flint!" Lucas shouted, cuffing the boy on his head. "Did I ask you to think? You talk when I say you can, and not before, got it?"
Flint lowered his eyes, nodding once. "Yeah, sorry."
Lucas growled, wiping his gloved hands on his tan jacket as if trying to get the stain of the exam off of them, and stared around at the gray landscape and the softly falling snow. "Look, seems to me, I can pick on Mrs. Potter without doing anything directly to her," his eyes narrowed as a small smile touched his dry lips. "Something to show her she can't get away with this kind of thing."
"Like what?" another boy asked, this one a portly boy with pale blue eyes and curly blond hair.
"Like, when does that kid of hers, that girl, get out of class?"
"Mrs. Potter has a daughter?"
"Yeah, and a son too! 'Til this year, they haven't been going to school here. But, from what I heard, the girl wanted to come, for some reason, maybe to see her mum more or something. And someone told me she's going to school here now. Her name is Vi or something, and I think she's an 9th grader."
"Her name's Violet. Dunne knows her," a different boy said, the one who had wiped his nose. He was younger than the others, with dark curly hair and very dark colored eyes. His comment earned him a sharp look from Lucas. They all knew who JD Dunne was—he hung out with Larabee's gang now.
"He know her well, Demos?"
"I think they're friends," Demos replied, wiping his nose again, this time on this sleeve. "He's got a crush on Ms. Wells' niece—Casey—and Casey and Violet knew each other from before because of Mrs. Potter and Ms. Wells being friends for so long. They're friends with Inez too."
"Inez Recillos?" Lucas' eyes lit up. Inez was another freshman, one that all the boys knew because Inez was, well, gorgeous.
"Yeah. She's Miss Recillos's—you know, Maria Recillos, the new art teacher that everyone thinks is hot—anyway, Inez is her little cousin. They all hang out, I think, because they're all related to teachers. You know," he sniffed again, "I heard Wilmington's after Inez."
"Well," Lucas smiled, "this gets better and better. Let's see if we can't shake Larabee up at the same time then, eh? He's been too quiet lately; he could use a wake up call."
+ + + + + + +
JD checked his watch, sitting down in the big arm chair down in the common room, cross-legged with his sketchpad on his knees. He drew some lines every so often, creating vaguely tree-like images, but he wasn't really trying. His fingers tapped on the pad, his thought warring with themselves as he considered if he should really go through with stealing those tigers. Buck would be furious if he found out, but JD really wanted to see the animals and, besides, Ezra was just being a jerk anyhow.
The fire door swung open on the upstairs landing, and JD pretended to draw again. He'd been doing this for the last twenty minutes--every time the fire door swung open, he'd pretended to draw, waiting for Ezra to head off to class with the others. Ezra and Vin had class together, and Josiah, Buck and Chris had another class at the same time, so he fully expected to see all five of them come down the stairs…
Any moment now….
He sighed. So far it felt like it had been every one in the dorm except Ezra.
"Hey JD," a voice called—a nice voice. A girl's voice. JD looked up, unable to stop himself from smiling. Three girls walked down the stairs, all really pretty…and one of them was Casey Wells. His smile grew.
"Hi Casey," he said, hoping to God he wasn't blushing. The girl in the middle, a pretty, short brunette with long hair tied up in a pony tail and wearing a red sox baseball cap smiled back. She had a sweet face, with wide open eyes and an easy grin. A little in front of her, a tall girl with light brown hair and blue eyes laughed, and in back, walking down behind Casey, a dark, wavy haired girl with very dark brown eyes patted Casey on her shoulder. Seeing the pat, JD did his best to cover, realizing he'd ignored the other two—two 9th graders.
"Oh, and hi Violet. Hi Inez. What're you girls doing here? Better not let old Conklin find ya."
"Conklin can go stuff himself," Violet said quickly, flashing a grin. "We came because Buck said he got some new music for Christmas, and was going to let us borrow it."
"Oh yeah," JD nodded, "He got The Strokes and the White Stripes, I think." He shrugged, "I gave him the White Stripes."
Casey grinned, "Yeah, he told me that," she said, biting her lip. "S'cool of you, JD."
JD just stared.
"Um," Inez pushed Casey forward, "We got to go, JD. Me and Violet have got class."
"Oh," JD looked at Inez, "Right. Sure. Have fun."
"I could stay," Casey suggested, still watching JD.
"No you can't," Violet said, grabbing her arm. "Come on, girl. See ya, JD."
"See ya," JD lifted a hand, not taking his eyes off of the three girls or lowering his hand until they actually shut the main door to the outside closed.
"Moooo," Buck's voice called from the stairs. "Mooooo!"
"Looks like we got ourselves a lovesick calf, Buck," Josiah chuckled, his arm around the other boy's shoulders.
"She's got it bad for you, kid," Buck agreed, jumping down the stairs, followed closely by Chris, Josiah, Vin and Ezra. They were all grinning, even Ezra.
"Shut up, Buck," JD snapped, blushing as he looked back down at his sketch pad.
"I gave him the White Stripes," Ezra mocked, raising his voice to imitate JD's.
"Yeah, he told me that," Vin said, imitating Casey.
"S'cool of you, JD," Ezra finished. "Moooo!"
"Knock it off!" JD said, throwing his pencil at them. Ezra laughed, grabbing Vin by the arm and propelling him towards the door. Chris had walked out already, followed by Josiah. Buck left last, waggling his eyebrows at JD, who stayed beet red where he sat, trying desperately to ignore the faint "Mooo," Buck whispered just before he disappeared.
JD had to laugh once they were gone, staring blankly down at his sketch pad. After a moment, his smile fell.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the skeleton key he'd stolen and copied from Conklin's office and stared at it.
Okay, he thought, now's your chance.
So why was it so hard to go through with it?
+ + + + + + +
"So, Buck's pretty cute, huh," Violet said, shouldering her backpack as she and Inez took the path around the back of Main to get to the math building.
"I suppose," Inez smiled, "if you like tall, dark, handsome Casanovas."
Violet giggled, hitting Inez on the arm. "Like you don't!"
"Me? He's not after me," the Spanish girl said. "I thought we went there for you, Vi."
"Yeah, right," Violet shook her head. "He doesn't even look twice at me when we're in a room together. You know it was you he was into." Violet sighed, pushing back her brown hair and tucking it better under her hat. "I'm just the third wheel."
"Well, then he's an idiot," Inez flared, shaking her head. "I only went because I know you have a crush on him. I don't want him."
"Why not?" Violet said, looking askance at her best friend. "I thought you liked smart mouthed guys."
"I do," Inez shrugged. "I just…think I like boys my own age better."
Violet's eyebrows shot up, surprised. "Huh?"
Inez smiled softly, "You heard me."
"Oh! Then, you mean….Vin? Or Ezra!" Violet grinned, nudging her. Inez just shrugged. Violet laughed, "Oh, you're terrible! You want them both, don't you!"
Inez blushed mightily, ducking her face to hide it. Violet just continued to laugh.
Suddenly, Violet stopped laughing. It was so abrupt, it brought Inez's head up.
Violet had gone white, staring straight ahead. Inez followed her gaze, then turned in a tiny circle.
Lucas James was standing right in their path, leaning on his hip, smiling at her. His friends were all backing him, moving in to surround the girls on all sides to stop them from running.
Violet gripped the strap of her backpack tighter, not taking her eyes off of the tall older boy.
"What do you want, Lucas," Inez shot out, lifting her chin proudly. "Because you're not going to get any money off of us. We don't have any, you know that."
"Oh, I don't want money, Inez," Lucas ground out, not taking his eyes off of Violet. "I want to ask Violet to pass on a message to her mother for me. I want Mrs. Potter to understand that, if I don't do good in her class, her little girl might not make it to class at all."
Violet swallowed, too scared to move. Lucas walked up, reaching out a hand, drawing a finger across the young freshman girl's chin.
Inez's eyes flashed, and she hit his arm away. "Leave her alone!" she shouted.
Lucas didn't even think, he just backhanded Inez, sending her to the ground. Violet squeaked, then tried to push him away and turn to check on Inez. Lucas was faster, grabbing Violet by her jacket, bringing his face within inches of the girl's, his lips twisted in a full sneer.
"Let her go, Lucas."
Lucas's blue eyes lifted, looking up over Violet's head. Chris Larabee stood a couple of feet away, his arms crossed over his chest. The wind was lifting the back of Chris's long black coat, like black angels' wings.
"Picking on girls, now Lucas?" Buck asked, sliding past his best friend to give Inez a hand to her feet. With Inez's arm in his, he glared down at two of Lucas's friends, smiling as they both backed up a step to allow him to draw her out of the circle.
"This ain't your business, Larabee," Lucas spat, watching Chris carefully.
"Oh I think it is," the blond replied quietly. "Don't you, Josiah?"
"Yup," Josiah walked up behind two more of Lucas's boys. He'd pulled the hat off of one of them, then pushed the same boy into his friend. Josiah's size instantly caused both boys to cower.
"Let her go, Lucas," Vin said, his voice barely audibly, but loud enough. The long-hair boy had shown some of his skills as a tracker, sliding up to Lucas without the older boy noticing and bringing his hands down on top of Lucas's where they still gripped Violet's jacket.
"Or we'll have to hurt you," Ezra added, a joker's smile on his face as he too appeared from nowhere, reaching an arm around Violet's waist. Slowly, he pulled her away as Vin put pressure on Lucas's arms, finding the pressure points in the wrists to cause Lucas to yelp in pain. The older boy involuntarily let go, and Ezra quickly pulled Violet away. Lucas shouted angrily, turning on Vin, his arm pulled back to strike at the younger boy….
And then Chris was in his face. The tall blond grabbed Lucas's fist, his hazel eyes boring into Lucas's blue ones.
"This weren't your fight, Larabee," Lucas spat, trying not to show he was scared.
"It is now."
Buck reached in, grabbing a handful of Lucas's collar and twisting, forcing the boy to look at him.
"You ever…ever…touch one of these girls, or any of the girls here at this school, without their permission, Lucas, and I will spit you, roast you and serve you to the pigs…you got me?" Buck asked, his eyes blazing. Buck shook Lucas's jacket, causing the other boy to emit a tiny 'oomph.' "I asked you a question, Lucas."
Lucas's jaw tensed, "I…."
"Hey! What's going on here!"
Buck and Chris instantly let go of Lucas and backed away, turning to face the new voice, recognizing it all too well. Mr. Conklin was walking swiftly towards them, his face dark.
"Larabee? Wilmington? Care to explain what you think you're doing?" Over next to Josiah, Vin sighed, while on the opposite side, Ezra just gritted his teeth in annoyance where he was standing slightly in front of both Violet and Inez, each of whom had a hand on his arm. Lucas gave a tiny smile, while Chris and Buck pulled themselves up to full height to face the vice principal. Conklin opened his mouth to ask his question again, when he was interrupted.
"They were stepping in to protect these two young women, Mr. Conklin," a different voice said, from a different angle.
Conklin pulled up short, while all of the kids turned around to look in the same direction as him.
Mary Travis walked around the corner of Main, her hands tucked into her long topcoat, staring hard at Conklin.
"Lucas James and his friends accosted these two women on their way to class, Mr. Conklin," she said calmly. "Mr. Larabee and his friends stepped in to help the girls. I saw the whole thing."
Conklin looked up at her, obviously flustered. "But…."
"And," Mary continued, "I could have sworn I saw you watching as well, from your office window. Was I wrong?"
Conklin opened his mouth, then shut it. He shook his head once, "No, obviously, had I seen the whole thing," his eyes narrowed, "I would have intervened sooner."
"Really? I thought Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington and their friends were actually doing an admirable job," Mary said, lifting her eyebrows. "Shame that they have to do it at all, however. Mr. Conklin, please take Mr. James and his friends to detention."
"I got class," Lucas said weakly. Mary's eyes bored into the boy.
"Not anymore, Mr. James. You and your boys here are officially suspended from class for two days for your unprovoked attack on these girls, and the fact that you hit one of them." She looked over at Inez and Violet standing behind Ezra, "Are you two all right?"
Inez had her cold glove pressed to her face where Lucas had hit her, not meeting the new principal's eye. Violet just sniffed, trying hard not to start crying, and nodded.
Mary switched her gaze back to her vice principal, "Mr. Conklin? If you please."
"Come on, Lucas," Conklin sighed, taking the junior's arm. Lucas shrugged out of it, threw a glare at the new principal, then at Chris and Buck, before walking stiffly away with Conklin at his heels. Mary arched her eyebrows at Lucas's other friends, who got the hint and quickly followed.
As soon as they were out of hearing, Mary let out a sigh and looked back at the kids still standing there, watching her. She frowned slightly at the wary looks they were all giving her. She attempted a smile, focusing on Violet and Inez.
"Girls, if you want to go sit with Mrs. Greene—and get something for your face, Inez--I'll let your teachers know where you are."
"Thank you Mrs. Travis," Violet said, taking Inez's arm. Inez kept her eyes down, not wanting to admit how much her face hurt, and let Violet take her away. Without realizing it, she kept one hand on Ezra's arm and pulled him along with her for a few steps. Ezra smiled, disentangling her hold. Inez glanced up once into his eyes, showing the unshed tears she was barely hanging onto, and smiled shyly at his gentle countenance. Suddenly, embarrassed, she starting walking very quickly towards the nearest entrance to Main with Violet, the two girls holding each other up.
Ezra brushed at his arm where she had been holding it, then looked back at the others.
Interestingly, Josiah and Vin had already gone, disappearing when Mary had her attention on the girls. Ezra wondered if the new principal had noticed. Chris and Buck still stood there, waiting for Mary to say something more. After a moment, Ezra slowly started shifting away as well, once he saw that Mary only seemed interested in talking to Chris and Buck. As surreptitiously as the others, he was soon away.
"I want to thank you boys," Mary said. Chris's eyes narrowed, confused. Buck tried a small smile. Mary shook her head, "No, I mean that. I actually showed up just as Lucas grabbed Violet's jacket, and I was going to step in, but you and your friends were quicker. Once I realized how well you were diffusing the situation, I let you keep at it. You did a good job. Thank you."
Chris shrugged, "Lucas is a jerk."
"Yes," Mary smiled, "I get that impression."
"Is there anything else, ma'am?" Buck asked. "'Cause we should really get to class."
"Yes, of course," Mary nodded, "go ahead. If your teacher wants to know why you were late, just tell him to call me, okay?"
"Really? Thanks, ma'am, that's nice of you," Buck grinned, taking Chris by the arm and drawing him away. Soon the two tall boys were striding swiftly away, headed towards the classroom buildings, talking quietly to each other, and Buck glanced back once, puzzlement still clear on his face. Mary watched them leave, a thoughtful look on her face.
For some odd reason, she felt like she had just taken part in something very important. Smiling, she turned to look around her.
That was when she realized Chris and Buck's friends had disappeared as well. She smiled and shook her head at the realization that they had done so without her noticing, and turned to head back inside.
The Stolen Tigers
JD finished gently placing all of the figurines of tigers into his bag, and then tucked the box Ezra had been keeping them in back on the shelf. So long as Ezra didn't look inside it for a couple of days, he'd never know they were gone.
The 12 year old smiled, feeling pretty damn clever. Buck had told him Ezra was the trickster in the group, but JD was pretty sure Ezra wouldn't have a clue that JD had managed to borrow the tigers without his knowing. He'd get away with it, and Ezra would be forever oblivious….
JD's smile fell a little, until, eventually he was frowning.
Truth be told, he kind of wanted Ezra to know. He wanted to show the older boy that JD could outsmart him. Damn it, he wanted to show Ezra that he couldn't stop JD from doing what he wanted!
With that impulsive thought in mind, JD reached up and grabbed the stuffed tiger off the shelf, causing a couple of Ezra's books to fall down that had been propped against it. The kid stared at the stuffed animal, trying to figure out why someone as old as Ezra would even have a stuffed animal. They were supposed to be for girls.
Not that he had ever seen Ezra play with it—in fact, it had become discolored on one side where the sun hit it in the same spot every day from the window.
Gritting his teeth, JD stuffed the animal into his sack and threw it over his shoulder. Climbing off the bed, he walked back to the door, hoping the guilty knot in his chest would go away.
Shutting the door behind him, he locked it then looked down the empty hallway. He could hear someone playing music somewhere, but otherwise the dorm was quiet. Still, he didn't want to get caught here with Ezra's stuff. He was going to go someplace he knew Ezra wouldn't even think to check. He'd heard the argument yesterday between Ezra and Vin about Ezra not eating. Ezra had foresworn even going to the cafeteria in Main for food at night anymore. Plus JD had a pass to visit the cafeteria after hours—Ms. Wells had given it to him when he'd agreed to fetch her lunch every day after she'd twisted her ankle last semester. The cafeteria people were used to seeing him there now, and no one else knew he could hide out there, not even Buck….
JD was smiling as he headed out of the dorm and headed for Main.
+ + + + + + +
"How is it," Vin asked Ezra, wiping his hand across his eyes as they climbed the stairs back into the dorm a couple of hours later, "that all that nonsense Mr. Wheeler puts on the board makes any sense to you?"
"Well, maybe because it is possible to draw one and only one straight line from any point to any point, and all right angles are equal to one another," his roommate answer innocently.
"What?"
"Oh come now, Mr. Tanner, surely you know that given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having the segment as radius and one endpoint as center?"
Vin's eyes widened, "Oh, now, hold on! That's just gibberish! What does it mean?"
Ezra grinned, "It means x plus y equals z, Vin, and the square root of negative one is answered only in one's imagination."
His roommate hit him on the arm, "Stop it."
"You asked. You know, you should really brush up on your Euclidean geometry …."
"Jerk!" Vin shoved Ezra sideways, and the smaller boy laughed harder. "You're just a freak when it comes to Math, you know that? I still remember you showing up Mr. Elliot last semester."
Ezra's smile weakened slightly, "Yeah, well, math is easy—there are no emotions involved. It just is or it isn't." He pushed through the outer doors in the common room and pulled his coat off, hanging it on the hooks there—they all did that when their coats were wet, and it had had been spitting ice outside when they walked back. Vin imitated him, putting his coat right next to Ezra's.
The younger freshman's smiled as he picked his book bag up again, "Seems to me Mr. Elliot would disagree with that, Ez. He got pretty damn emotional when you pointed out he couldn't add properly."
Ezra smiled back, but he kept his head turned away, so Vin wouldn't see that it didn't reach his eyes. Vin's own smile fell—why did Ezra think he couldn't see how unhappy he was?
"Ezra, come on. Why don’t you tell me what's really…."
"Race you to the room!" Ezra shouted suddenly, turning and running to the stairs. He jumped up the steps to the second floor landing without stopping, while Vin trailed behind more slowly. Pushing through the fire door, Ezra was in front of their door in seconds, fitting his key into the lock. His keychain carried about five keys, three of which Vin had no clue as to what they opened.
Vin pushed the firedoor open just as Ezra pushed into their room, and slid his bag off his shoulder as he walked the rest of the distance to the now open door.
"NO!" Ezra screamed.
Vin dropped the bag and ran into the room, seeing Ezra staring fixedly at the shelf above his bed. He instantly saw what was wrong—the stuffed tiger was missing.
"JD is dead, you hear me?" Ezra charged, turning to stare at Vin. Vin just blinked back.
"What? JD? Are you sure?"
"As sure as I am that your standing here in front of me, Tanner. That thieving little bastard stole it, and when I find him…."
"Ez, come on. I'm sure he's only borrowing…."
Ezra's eyes narrowed, prompting Vin to stop from completing his sentence. Suddenly, Ezra threw his bag against the wall, dislodging more things from the shelf, and stormed past Vin out of the room.
Vin watched him leave, then dropped his eyes to the floor.
He saw a piece of paper, and knelt down to pick it up. Turning it over, he saw it was a pass to visit the cafeteria at any time…with JD's name on it.
"Damn it, kid," he muttered. Standing, he turned to get his bag, then went to go and find Buck.
+ + + + + + +
JD positioned the figuring into a different light, his eyes impressed with the workmanship. Ezra had about a half dozen small ceramic tigers, some walking, one running, one curled up sleeping, and two lying on their side, just sitting. He also had a wooden one, that didn't look like a tiger but which was obviously meant to represent one, and he had a rubber one that was a little larger than the others, and that he recognized as something you might get at a zoo. He'd been sketching them, trying them in different lights in his little corner of the cafeteria.
The cafeteria, or "caf," was a huge room, big enough to feed at least half of the students in the school all at once. It was technically only open from 8-10 in the morning, 11-2 for lunch, and 5-7 for dinner. Otherwise it was supposed to be locked—not that JD cared about locks.
It was now 4:00, too early for dinner. No one ever came to the caf at this time, so JD had the room to himself.
At least—no one usually came into the caf.
JD looked up as the outer doors slammed open, curious. He frowned upon recognizing Lucas James walk into the room with two of his friends. One of them, Demos, was another 7th grader, and the other, Flint, was a sophomore like Nathan. Swallowing, JD tried to make himself invisible as they marched towards the locked doors of the kitchens.
"Damn it," Lucas shouted, rattling the doors. "I told Conklin to make sure these were open!"
"Guess he forgot," Flint said.
"Yeah, like he forgot who was in charge when that new principal thought she could make us go to detention," Lucas sneered. "Conklin's forgetting a lot these days."
"Well, we're not serving detention, at least," Demos said. "Suspension's pretty good – two free days without classes? Sounds like a good thing to me."
"So long as Conklin makes sure it doesn't get to my uncle," Lucas spat, "or on our records, I don't give a rat's ass. But I am hungry, damn it!" He shook the doors again, then turned around, as if looking for another way in.
That was when the junior saw JD, and his eyes lit up. JD couldn't help but think that someone had screwed up somewhere, when they were making Lucas James. Lucas's eyes were obviously meant to go to a rattlesnake, but someone had accidentally given them to the boy.
"Well, well, who have we here," Lucas said, sidling towards the corner where JD had ensconced himself. "If it isn't the latest addition to the Chris Larabee fan club, Mr. JD Dunne."
JD didn't say anything, just stayed in his seat, watching as Lucas wound around the tables towards him, his two friends following him like shadows. Carefully putting his pencil down, he closed the sketchbook and put it to the side.
When Lucas reached his table, JD stood up. And instantly wished he hadn't—Lucas towered over the much shorter boy. JD was even short for his age, which was good when you had aspirations to be a thief, but terrible when facing up to bullies—especially 17 year old ones.
Lucas looked at the figurines on the table, and at the stuffed tiger over to one side.
"Aw, look at this, fellas. Dunne's playing with his dolls." He stepped down the far side of the table and picked up the stuffed tiger. "Isn't this cute," he grinned, crushing it in his grip, "a widdle tiger for widdle JD. You like playing with baby toys, JD?"
"Leave it alone," JD growled. "Its not mine. I've only borrowed it."
"Yeah, sure," Lucas looked down at it, then up at JD. "Do you know what your friends did to me today, JD? They made me look like a fool. I don't like looking like a fool."
JD didn't answer, but sweat was trickling down the back of his neck as Lucas gripped the stuffed animal in both hands, his fingers pressing into the seam along the tiger's back.
"So, tell me, JD, what do you think I should do about that, huh? I suppose," he looked down at the tiger, "that I could do nothing, just let it slide. But," he shook his head, "then word would get around that I let Chris Larabee beat me, and I can't have that."
"Everyone knows what you are, Lucas," JD said, reaching forward a hand for the tiger. "Please, I swear, its not mine. Please, don't damage it…."
"Please," Lucas mocked, "don't hurt my toy," he whined. His face twisted darkly, and his fingers dig into the seam…and ripped the stuffed animal in half.
"No!" JD shouted diving across the table for the tiger. Lucas just laughed as Flint and Demos reached from behind the 7th grader and pulled him back. "You bastard!" JD shouted, struggling against the grip. "Let me go!"
Lucas just continued to laugh, dropping the ruined stuffed animal on the table, then sweeping it across and scattering all the figurines across the cafeteria. JD cried out again, watching Ezra's precious collection being sent to the floor, hoping desperately that none of the ceramic ones would break. Demos and Flint just held him tighter, digging their fingers into his arms.
Lucas reached across the table and grabbed JD's chin in his hand, burying his fingers into the boy's cheeks. Pulling his free hand back, he gripped it into a fist.
"You're going to deliver a message for us, boy," he hissed. "Let Chris Larabee know we don't like him interfering with our business!"
"Hey!" Buck shouted, running across the room from the outer doors. Lucas looked up and groaned as he saw both Buck and Vin Tanner heading towards him.
"Damn it! Let's go," Lucas hissed, letting JD's chin go, turning and heading for another door. Demos and Flint did the same, jumping over the table and following Lucas James as they ran from Buck and Vin.
Buck kept after them, while Vin skidded to a halt next to the table where JD was standing shakily, his trembling hands desperately trying to put Ezra's stuffed animal back together.
"You okay kid?" Vin asked, reaching over to touch JD's shoulder.
JD looked up, not bothering to wipe away the tears running down his face or to cover up the red marks on his chin from Lucas's fingers.
"I screwed up, Vin. I screwed up bad. I'm so sorry. Ezra's tigers.…What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" He held the tiger to his chest, as if he could will it back together.
Vin didn't answer, just shook his head. He didn't know.
+ + + + + + +
"How could you! After what I said!" Ezra shook as he looked down at the torn up stuffed animal, "You had no right!" He looked up, glaring at JD where the kid was standing quietly in Ezra's dorm room. Buck stood next to the 7th grader. Vin had gone to tell Chris and the others what happened with Lucas.
"Hey now," Buck said, leaning forward to put his hand on JD's shoulder, "it's not like he set out to harm…."
"He took my collection without permission, Buck," Ezra spat back, turning his glare on the junior. "That's harm enough! And look what happened!" He pressed the cotton at Buck's face, forcing the older boy back.
"I'm wicked sorry, Ezra," JD whispered, having a hard time keeping Ezra's eyes. "I'm so, so sorry. I swear, I never meant…."
"Never meant what, JD? To steal my things? Do you have any idea what this was to me? Do you?"
"I'll glue them back together. And I'll sew…."
"Glue? Sew? You think you can put them back the way they were? The ceramic is chipped, JD. You can't find all the pieces. And the stuffed," he held the rags close to himself again, "is completely ruined. You can't put them back they way they were! You've destroyed them, just because you had to prove how low you could go! I hate you, JD!"
"Come on, Ez," Buck said, "He's already had a scare tonight because of Lucas. Give the kid a break."
"Give the kid a break? No! I will not!" Ezra stared hard at JD, "I will never forgive you, JD Dunne. Never! Do you hear me?"
Tears continued to rain down JD's face, his jaw trembling something fierce. Buck gripped the kid's shoulder then turned a dark look on Ezra.
"Come here," he snarled, grabbing Ezra's arm and pulling the younger boy out of the room.
"No, let me go, you stupid behemoth!"
"Shut up!" Buck yelled. "JD, stay there!" he added, as JD looked like he would follow them. JD complied, flinching into submission, and set himself on Vin's bed.
Buck pulled Ezra into the hall and shut the door.
"Buck, don't you dare tell me…."
"What the hell is your problem! That kid got the life scared out of him tonight by Lucas, and all you can do is go on about your stupid tigers!"
Ezra's eyes widened, "What?"
"You heard me, Standish. That kid in there is scared and lost, and what do you do? You make it worse by yelling that you hate him! He's trying really hard to apologize, and you throw it back in his face."
"He stole and ruined my…."
"Your what? A damned stuffed animal? For Christ's sake, Ezra, it’s just a toy! All those things you had in that box are just toys! They're replaceable. Get over it! JD needs us right now, to show him we won't let Lucas push us around, and all you care about is a whether or not he might have hurt a stuffed animal?" Buck ripped the rags of the tiger from Ezra's hands and held it up, shoving it in the smaller boy's face the same way Ezra had done to him. "This is a toy, Ezra! And a little kid's one at that! Grow up! You're too old to play with this stuff. Now suck it up and act your age!"
Ezra visibly flinched at the onslaught, his own jaw trembling, but unlike JD, he was not about to start crying. He was staring at the toy in Buck's hands, blinking rapidly.
"Do you get me?" Buck asked.
Ezra's jaw stopped trembling, and something strange happened. Buck frowned, finding that, all of a sudden, Ezra was completely calm. The kid didn't even look angry anymore. Pale green eyes looked up at him, not the slightest hint of anger in them anymore.
"Yes sir," the younger boy said softly. "I get you."
"Good," Buck's brow furrowed slightly at the change. "Now, go in and apologize to him."
Ezra's jaw flexed, the only outward sign that he'd heard the command. His eyes lowered to the hall floor as Buck turned and opened the door again. JD was still sitting on the bed, his hands over his ears.
Buck sighed, walking in and kneeling in front of the kid. "Hey."
JD took his hands off his ears, and blinked back at the junior. "Hey," he answered.
"Ezra's got something to say to you."
"He doesn't have to say anything," JD said quietly. "I know what I did."
"No, JD, Mr. Wilmington is correct," Ezra smiled, moving to stand behind Buck. "I was over-reacting. While I don't like the fact that you stole my things after I said not to, I understand why you did. And I do forgive you. It is not your fault that Lucas James came upon you, and ruined my things."
JD's mouth fell open in surprise, and he looked up at Ezra with bright eyes. "Are you kidding?"
"No. I'm also sorry for yelling at you."
JD's mouth stayed open as he looked at Buck, who smiled back, then looked up again at Ezra.
The freshman nodded at JD, "And feel free to stay here as long as you like. I'm going to go find the others, if that's okay?" Ezra looked at Buck when he asked the last question, and Buck nodded in return. "Thank you," the younger boy said. Turning, he walked out of his room, leaving Buck and JD to finish talking things through.
But, instead of walking to the stairwell doors leading to the upper floors, Ezra walked out to the door leading out to the common room stairs. At no point did a flicker of emotion cross his face. He just simply grabbed his coat from where it hung on a hook near the door and walked outside. If he saw anyone, all he did was smile brightly at them and pass on by.
Buck was right. It was time he grew up.
The End
Continues in Fighting the Future
