Offside

“See you soon,” I finally said. Nicole nodded. I released her, and she walked into the classroom.

Once I saw she had settled down toward the back of the class, I started heading for my Shakespeare class. Before I got very far, I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up into Clint Oliver’s face.

“Malone!” he said with a smile.

“Wassup, Clint?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing, man!” he said as he leaned in toward me like a co-conspirator. He was talking way too fucking loud for anything to be secretive.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. I sped up a bit as I pushed his hand from my shoulder.

“You and the Skye girl!” he yelled. As if I didn’t know what he meant. He quickened his pace to keep up with me. “I thought you already tapped that bitch! Since when do you go back for seconds on pussy?”

I froze in the middle of the hall, stopping dead in my tracks and bracing myself as some freshman plowed into me and then backed away with wide, frightened eyes. I barely noticed him. I clenched my hands into tight fists and barely resisted the urge to just turn around and beat the living shit out of Clint right there where he stood.

I had a better idea.

“Come with me,” I said coldly.

“Where are we going?” the idiot asked.

“Locker room,” I replied as I took off again. There was no first period gym, so it would most likely be empty.

“What for?”

“I need some practice,” I replied.

“But it’s first bell...”

“So what?” I turned to him and leveled my eyes with his. He nodded slightly and followed me as I knew he would.

He’d follow me after today as well.

We entered the locker room and found Mika Klosav in there, smoking a cigarette by the showers.

“Hey, Thomas!” he called out. “Did you really bring Nicole to school?”

Actually, his presence was fucking perfect.

“Shut the fuck up,” I said with a growl toward Klosav. Then I turned to Clint, but I didn’t speak to him.

I grabbed Clint’s shirt by the collar and threw him against the lockers. I didn’t let go but pulled him back and slammed his head against the metal. I punched him twice in the stomach, causing him to double over, but more importantly, taking the wind out of him so he couldn’t fucking talk. I reached over and opened one of the tall lockers, shoved him inside of it, and then slammed the door in his face. I could hear him yelling, but I didn’t give a shit about the words, so I didn’t really listen.

Pain seared down my side, but I didn’t fucking care.

“Malone…what the fuck?” Klosav dropped his smoke and took a few steps toward me. I turned and snarled wordlessly at him, and he stopped in his tracks.

I fished a padlock from the bin, twisted the key to open it, and returned to the locker, flipping the lock through the little ring by the handle while Clint continued to yell. I backed up and kicked the center of the door, denting it slightly with my heel.

“Shut the fuck up!” I screamed at him. I twisted the lock and clicked it shut. “You keep your fucking mouth shut, you hear me, you little piece of shit? If I hear one more fucking SOUND from you, I’m going to rip your fucking throat out!”

I kicked at the door again, leaving another mark.

“I want to make one thing absolutely…fucking…clear…” I accentuated my words with continued kicks to the door. “Don’t you ever…ever speak about Nicole like that! You don’t talk about her. You don’t touch her. You don’t fucking look at her without my permission!”

I took the little key to the padlock and balanced it on the bench next to the row of lockers—right at the edge. I jumped up on the bench and placed my foot right on the edge and on top of the key. I pushed hard, leaning into it while trying to keep my balance. Once it was bent enough to be useless, I picked it back up, jumped off the bench, and threw it toward the showers.

Mika ducked to keep from losing an eye.