Run

Run

“What’s wrong with your skin?”

Jack closed his eyes. This wasn’t his first rodeo. “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.”

This kid probably had more than a buck on him. “Well…it looks disgusting. You should cover it up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” It was only Jack’s fifth day at this new school. The baptism had come early.

End of last period had everyone standing around at their lockers. Excellent, a full audience. 

“Jack, right?” the kid asked. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”

Jack swallowed. “I tend not to offer myself up to potential bullies.”

“Monty.” Two bucks held out his hand with a smile that knew everyone in the hall was watching them.

Three more Monty characters moved in from behind Jack. He could smell their football sweat. The bell rang — perhaps he was saved.

“We’ll see you later.” Monty winked as the hall started to empty of students.

~~~

Jack waited until there was nobody left before he slammed his fist into the already dented locker.

“Well that’s not going to achieve anything.” She was standing only a few feet away, fingers laced through her backpack.

Jack was embarrassed to find himself startled. “What?”

“Rude.” She was expressionless with long dark hair.

He might have blushed. “Sorry.”

“Forgiven.”

A moment of silence. Jack brushed away a fly that didn’t exist. “I thought everyone had gone. I didn’t hear you.”

“Most people don’t. Not that I care.”

“Morose.”

“You’re one to talk.”

Was that a slight grin? “Touche.”

She cocked her head. “You should go out the side door, Monty and his pigs will be waiting for you at the front gate.”

Jack felt his ears twitch. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

He followed her to the side emergency door and they slipped out into a courtyard he hadn’t seen before. “I’m Jack.”

“I know.” She didn’t stop walking.

They walked from the courtyard to a path that led away from the school and down towards a shallow creek. “Are you going home?” he asked.

“Are you?”

Jack watched her hair in the wind; her blue backpack; her long patchwork skirt. He wondered why she hadn’t asked about his skin.

“So…” he started.

“So?”

They splashed through the murky water. “Are you a previous client?”

She didn’t turn around. “Err?”

“Of Monty and his, pigs, as it were?”

The silence said it all.

He followed her up a steep incline that led away from the creek. “Sorry.”

She huffed. “Listen, you can come this way to avoid them, but be discreet.”

“Thanks.” 

She was already walking away through the grass towards a narrow street lined with hedges.

~~~

The cafeteria was a goddamn zoo. Jack picked up his gen-pop slop and found a seat in the furthest corner possible. He hadn’t lifted his spoon before the hustle and bustle failed to drown out Two Bucks.

“Mickey Madson, long time no see.” Monty was holding a metal lunch tray and standing over the girl with the patchwork skirt.

She didn’t look up at him.

People were watching but nobody did anything.

“It’s rude not to say Hi,” Monty continued.

She still didn’t look up. “I’m eating.”

“I heard you’ve been eating many things lately.” Monty smiled and looked over to his buddies who were sitting at a nearby table. They all burst into laughter.

Jack watched as she — Mickey — stood up and moved close to Monty. “You’ll wish…”

“What did you say to me?”

Jack watched as she picked up the orange juice from her tray and poured it on Monty’s shirt.

~~~

The seconds passed slowly. Monty was bulky but he was fast. The metal tray came down on her face before anyone could step in. She didn’t make a sound but her eyes scrunched and there were gasps from surrounding tables. Jack was half out of his seat when he realised he was the only one.

Monty showed no shame. “I asked — what you said to me?” This time it felt like a statement.

Jack picked up his backpack and made a beeline for Mickey, grabbing her hand without a word. She didn’t resist. They made it to the bathroom.

He was already pressing a wet paper to her face when she met his eyes. “We’re not friends.”

“I never said we were.”

She didn’t pull away from him. “We should probably leave.”

“It’s only lunchtime.”

She almost smiled. “No, I mean…we’re in the female bathroom.”

“Oh. Right.”

~~~

Students were already filling the hall so they couldn’t use the emergency side door. Jack didn’t know the school well just yet. “Where can we go?” he asked.

Mickey was holding her face now. “Just buy the first ticket out of here.”

He took her hand again and they walked quickly to the rooftop stairway. It was overcast; threatening to rain. She sat on the far ledge and looked out over the football field. 

Jack stood a few feet away. The moment felt tense, considering. “You’ll wish?”

She scooped her dark hair up into a bun with an elastic from her wrist. “Err?”

“Fuck boy back there.”

“Incorrect use of that term.”

“Didn’t really want to call him by his name.”

She didn’t turn to look at him. “He’ll wish.”

Jack tossed his backpack on the rooftop cement and sat down. “Enlighten me?”

“That he never met me.”

“Mmm. I think I have an idea.”

Mickey turned to him, gingerly touching the red welt on her face. “You think or you have?”

He tongued his cheek. “You’re kind of a dickhead.”

At that, she laughed. “Well fuck, I guess we are friends now.”

~~~

The days passed and Jack only walked past Mickey — no words exchanged — in the hall. Monty was ever-present. Along with his goons, of course. The cafeteria was a no-fly zone and the talk, as far as Jack heard it, was that all of the pigs had taken their way with Mickey.

Scum.

It was Tuesday morning when she texted him. So, this idea. Care to share?

Jack was in math, nose-deep in some shit he didn’t give a fuck about. Long time.

Time doesn’t pass slowly here. 

Fair enough.

You’re avoiding the question.

You’ve been avoiding me.

You’ve been abusing my side door. 

Euphemism?

Hardly. Come to the creek after school. Make sure they don’t see you.

~~~

“This is your plan?” Mickey was stood in the female bathroom staring him down.

“Things could be worse. I’m not a mastermind.”

She scrubbed her eyes. “Clearly.” Her hair was in a braid behind her dress. “So we hang him by the S hook to a bleacher on the field?”

Jack cleared his throat. “We hang his shirt while he’s still in it. Probably best not to be murderers.”

“Is it though?”

“There’s something wrong with you.”

“Assuredly.”

~~~

The two of them sat low, crouching behind the far side of the bleachers. 

Jack could feel Mickey, tense beside him. “You okay?”

“Fuck no. Are we really going to do this?”

“Don’t you remember that bruise he left on your cheek?”

She was silent. 

Jack held the S hook, hot in his hand, as he watched Monty jog out onto the field and come to rest on one of the lower bleachers.

It was a whisper. “Okay, let’s go.” Jack felt her grip his other hand. It was cold and almost shaking.

The hook was easy to get through his shirt but the problem was his size. Even with them on either side the cunt was dead weight. 

Jack started to panic. “Lift!”

“I’m lifting!” she grunted.

Monty was slow on the uptake. “What the…”

They got him up three seats until they could get the S hook to grip. Jack watched as Mickey actually grinned. “And now?” he asked.

“Now we run.”