Before I could finish the chapter that I was reading, the bell signaling the end of classes rang. I finished the line that I was on and stuffed all of my things into my bag. I slowly shuffled from the classroom, and into the river of students leaving the school, then made my way down to the student parking lot.
Out of all of us from the orphanage, Ronnie had gotten a job so that he could get a car. He was gracious enough to give me and the other orphans, Kenny and Sandy, a ride to and from school every day.
I made my way across the parking lot to where his car was parked. A large group of students were circled around an empty spot next to Ronnie’s car and I knew instantly what was going down.
They were all chanting in unison, "fight", and I knew that this was not going to end well. Once I was close enough to the crowd, I saw Josh land a punch across Ronnie’s face sending his head smashing into the driver’s side window of his car. The window cracked and blood remained as he fell to the ground.
Kenny pushed his way through the students and threw a punch at Josh. His fist made contact with Josh’s jaw, sending him to the ground, and blood spraying all over the onlookers. A group of girls called out that it was gross. Ronnie pulled himself from the ground shaking his head and trying to clear the ringing in his ear.
Josh had back up, the same guys from lunch joined in on the fight making the odds three to one. Ronnie balled his fists so tight that from where I was standing at the back of the crowd I could see his knuckles turning white.
I tried to yell over the crowd, but my words where lost, and it felt like the people were holding me back as I tried to push my way into the circle to stop the madness. I could see Sandy trying as hard as I was to get to the boys, to help, to stop the bloodshed.
Josh was picking himself up off the ground, Ronnie waited until he was in a kneeling position before running at him and kicking him in the gut. Josh fell back to the ground coughing.
One of Josh’s buddies grabbed Ronnie from behind, as another began to pound him in the stomach with his fists over, and over again, blood spraying from his mouth with every hit. The same was being done with Kenny, but after a few hits they dropped him to the ground where he balled up in pain.
Josh stood, and pushed his hair back out of his eyes, spitting blood onto Ronnie’s shoes. They held Ronnie up by his underarms, “Do you think that, that girl deserves this kind of a beating? She is nothing man. She will always be nothing.” He spoke as if he were talking to a friend, and then punched him in the face as hard as he could.
“You’re nothing.” Ronnie coughed painfully. His left eye looked painfully blood shot and was beginning to swell.
Josh laughed and jostled the crowd around him, “Who here would say that I am nothing? I am worth twice what any of you are worth.” Josh nearly stuck his finger in Ronnie’s eye in anger. The people all around us began chanting Josh, Josh, over and over again. He punched Ronnie in the stomach once again. He yelled into the air making a show of things.
Josh grinned ear to ear with bloody teeth, fists held high celebrating his victory over Ronnie. His buddies dropped Ronnie to the ground next to where Kenny laid.
I was finally let loose from the crowd, as everyone lost interest and dispersed. I dropped to my knees next to Ronnie, “What did you think was going to happen?” I looked at his black swollen eye and gently examined his head.
“I wanted to show him that we are not just going to sit by and take it while he treats you like crap. Besides, Kenny had my back.” He smiled with red teeth.
“I wasn’t going to just let him beat on you man.” Kenny’s head was lying in Sandy’s lap. Kenny had less facial damage, but he strained to speak.
“Grace, I will never just sit by and let something like that just keep happening. I care about you; I care about all of you more than that. You all deserve to be treated with respect.” He pushed himself up off the ground slowly and made for his keys. They were in the grass in front of his car. When he found them he looked at me to pick them up off the ground.
“Well, it was stupid.” I helped him stand up straight and walk to his car.
“That’s beside the point.” He joked, opening his door, and getting into the car and gently slid into the driver’s seat.
Chapter 2: Abduction
The drive home from school was short and quiet. We all had to figure out a way to explain what happened to the old lady, the woman who took care of us, no matter what we came up with, she would figure out the truth and we would be punished. She was very strict and she despised fighting.
We all sighed in relief that she wasn’t home when we pulled in the driveway. She usually went into town to visit with a few of her old friends during the day while we were at school. We all went inside, Kenny walked up the stairs slowly to the boy’s bathroom, and Ronnie went downstairs to the girl’s.
The house was separated into three levels. The top floor was where the boy’s rooms and bathroom were. The middle had the living room, kitchen, dining room, the old lady’s bedroom, and other various utility rooms. I never understood why, but the girls were downstairs, I always assumed it was some kind of joke.
Strictly speaking, the boys were never allowed in the basement, and vice versa, but when the old lady was away we hardly ever followed the rules. I knocked on the girl’s bathroom door.
“Yeah.” Ronnie spit blood into the sink.
I opened the door slowly. Ronnie stood in front of the sink with his shirt off, covered from his neck to his waist in bruises, and his face swelling quickly. The sink had a small puddle of blood sitting in the bowl. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll live.” He ran some water over a cut on his fist. I wondered if he was going to need stitches.
“Why did you do that Ronnie?” I leaned on the door frame.
He chuckled and washed his face, “Grace, you are not worthless. You are worth ten times any one of those assholes. You need to realize that.” He turned and placed his hand on my face. He looked into my eyes and I could feel what was going to happen next, so I turned away from him.
“The old lady will be home soon.” I cleared my throat. I walked out of the room without another word.
Upstairs in the living room Kenny was sprawled out on the couch watching TV. I pushed his foot out of the way; he winced with every movement, and sat down next to him. It was some sitcom, on a comedy channel.
“What’s the damage?” I wasn’t interested in the show on the TV.
“Mostly bruising, I think, nothing that some pampering won’t fix.” He smiled knowing that I would take care of him.
“Don’t count on it, the old lady is going to work your butt off this weekend because of this, and you know it.” I smiled back shooting a hole in his weekend plans of lying around and doing nothing. His grin vanished as he came to realize that I was right. He would have at least double the chores that he normally had, if she went light on us.
Sandy came in from the kitchen, and sat down in an empty arm chair, “I just got off the phone with the old lady, and she said that the school called her about the fight. It turns out that when Ronnie kicked Josh in the stomach he broke three of his ribs; he is in the hospital right now.” Satisfaction washed over all of us, but we quickly realized the hell we would soon be in.
“Who cares about Josh, how mad was the old lady?” Kenny started to flip through the channels.
“Well, I tried to explain the whole situation to her, but she didn’t care. I think that the both of you are going to be in some deep crap for a while.” Sandy left the room ducking into her bedroom.
“I don’t care, Josh won’t try anything like that again with you Grace.” Ronnie walked across the sitting room and went up the stairs. A few moments later his bedroom door slammed shut.