✦Sean✦

Sasuke had a good point, but Nick and Sam were a bit faster then I was with a response and they drag me out of the room and down the hall with them. I have a very bad feeling about this. The two of them brought me outside and out to the side of the building that was towards the cross country trail. Sam slams me against the brick wall and held me there with his forearm across my chest just under my collar bone.

“What the fuck is this?” I glare at the two of them.

“Spill it, you’ve been hanging out with that pipsqueak haven’t you?” Sam interrogates me as a devious smile starts playing with the corners of his mouth.

“Why the fuck do you think I’ve been hanging out with him? And that pipsqueak has a name ya know. It’s Sasuke,” I retort debating on knocking his arm off of me.

"So ya have been hangin' out with me' and that's why ya ran off on us yesterday,” Nick snorts and I glare at him.

That split second of shock that I show to the two of them was just enough for them to make it seem like they hit the nail right on the head. Sam slaps me across the face hard enough to make it burn, "What do ya think yer doin' huh?" Sam growls at me and I don’t bother looking at him, “Out of the goodness of Andy’s heart he let ya into our little group and then ya go behind his back and start hanging out with that freak.”

My hands ball into fists and my heart starts to pound. I want to throttle this guy. He has no right to call Sasuke names. Does he have to begin with, “What are we pissing ya off Sean? Did we strike a nerve with ya?" Sam practically giggles in delight. They were both enjoying this. They knew if a fight breaks out that they would be fine. I was just some delinquent that didn’t have a real home, a real family.

“You better fucking back off,” I warn them.

“Or what?” Nick smiles wickedly at me.

“Yeah, what are ya gonna do about it?” Sam asks and then I saw his eyes land on my neck. He reached out and hooked a finger under the chain of my necklace and pull it out from under my shirt, “So much for your good luck charm,” He snickers.

“Hey maybe it’s some stupid thing that he and the pipsqueak decided to make as a form of their friendship when they were little,” Nick comments and that was the last straw.

I push Sam’s arm away from my chest and grab a hold of my necklace before grabbing a hold of Sam's wrist and ripping it away from my necklace, “Just fucking leave me alone,” I turn away from them to go back to the school when Nick sucker punches me in the mouth. I wasn’t ready for it at all and the back of my head bashes off the wall behind me.

I was seeing stars from hitting the back of my head so hard. I quickly took my hand off my necklace and covered my mouth as I can taste iron rushing into my mouth. Sam and Nick were laughing hysterically as I lean against the wall trying to get everything to stop spinning.

“Back off!” Sasuke?! I open my eyes enough to see Sasuke land a solid punch on Nick’s cheek and made him stumble away from me and collide with Sam, “Sean, you okay?” He asks shaking his hand. He was panting a bit. He had to of ran, he looks like he’s in a lot of pain. His eyes are watering slightly. He ran through his pain, just to come to protect me…

"Are you stupid? You're already in a lot of pain, why did you come?” I practically scold him as I pull my hand from my mouth to just see blood on it. Nick easily split my lip open. At least one of them, if not both.

“You’re a friend. I’ll fight through any type of pain to help,” He answers with a very serious expression on his face. I want to say something to him, but my voice gets caught in my throat. My chest hurts…just those words…those simple words have so much of an impact on me…why?

“You little fucker,” I look from Sasuke to Nick and see that he has his fists cocked back and ready to give Sasuke the same treatment back.

I don’t know what it is, but my body just moves. Before I can even process anything I grab Sasuke wrist and switch places with him and take the blow to my chest. I’m not going to let you protect me this time…I’m going to protect you. I put my hands out. I can feel blood trickling down my chin from my mouth. “Leave Sasuke out of this. Your problem is with me,” I said every word a pain to get out. “Whatever it is just take it out on me. I’m the one that pissed you off anyways aren’t I?”

“Ya wanna play the hero Sean?” Nick snickers and rams his knee into my stomach making me couch out some of the blood I was about to swallow.

“Fine by us,” Sam laughs.

“You better make it good, because you’re not going to like the outcome if I can still stand when you're done,” My voice quivers ever so slightly as I try to stand up straight.

Sam had the most maniacal look in his eyes and he cocked his arm back and at full force hit me square in the temple. Everything went black for what felt like a minute and there’s a really loud ringing in my ears. But I’m not on the ground. I don’t feel pavement on my arms or anything. So what’s holding me up then? Someone’s screaming. It’s a deeper voice. It sounds angry that’s for sure. I feel like I wanna throw up.

“Sasuke, call your mother,” I can finally hear a full sentence. Was it Sasuke dad that was holding me up? But why? “You two are going to come with me.”

I feel really drained. Like I wanna take a nap on top of wanting to throw up. “No Sean don’t fall back asleep,” I hear Sasuke say to me, though his voice sounds a bit distant. Am I against a wall now? No, I’m moving, I can’t get my legs to function though. One side was really cold and the other was really warm and lower down. I kinda feel like I’m being dragged a little. I'm on something soft now. My head is pounding and Sasuke's voice is drowned out by the high pitched ringing in my ears again.

I fell asleep again. But, I’m laying down right now. There’s a white ceiling staring back at me. A groan escapes my lips from the throbbing in my head, “He’s awake,” Mrs. Carlson’s voice hit my ears and my chest instantly tightened. How many times today has my chest hurt like this?

“Sean,” This time it was Sasuke’s voice. I look over to where the voices were coming from. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson, along with Lilly, Sasuke, and Mr. and Mrs. Kaisai, even snowflake are here.

“You had us scared to death,” Mrs. Carlson said with a bit of relief in her voice as she came over with Lilly in her arms.

I get my arms under me and try to push myself up. I’m shaking, am I really that weak? I felt a hand on my back. It was Mr. Kaisai’s, he was helping me the rest of the way up. “I’m sorry…” I said quietly and look down at the blanket that I was under.

“Do you remember anything?” Mr. Carlson asks me as Mrs. Carlson hugs me quickly followed by Mrs. Kaisai. Mrs. Kaisai was so warm. It feels nice. I honestly don’t want her to let go, it felt so comforting.

“Um…” As if out of habit I bring my right hand up to my lips and I want to go start picking at my lips but they were really sore, “I remember getting socked in the mouth and Sasuke coming in, but everything around that is kinda fuzzy,” I answer truthfully and it hit me like a truck. I can’t remember…I have a concussion. I feel sick. I got into a fight. What was going to happen to me?

“Can you remember anything else? What day is it?” Snowflake questions me in a very calm voice.

“Um…” What day is it? Tuesday? No, no I have a feeling that it’s not Tuesday, I think today was the third day of school and strangely enough labor day landed on a Sunday so we started school on a Monday this year right? “It’s…Wednesday right?” I said a bit quiet and not really sure of my answer.

“The Doctor’s said that you can come home. But I don’t know if you’ll be okay being home alone,” Mr. Carlson mentions.

“If you would like to, I’m a stay at home mom, he can stay at our house for a few days,” Sasuke’s mother offers. Is she a stay at home? I thought she worked?

“Y-you don’t have to do that,” Mr. Carlson said as Mrs. Carlson finally let Lilly have her way and come onto the bed with me.

"We really don't mind. You do have your little one to take care of. Also, that way you don't have to worry if something will happen like him falling out of bed while you’re at work,” Mrs. Kaisai continues making valid points. Like seriously did she quit her job or something??

“Sean’s one of my best friends, it’ll be like when we were younger and he would sleep over,” Sasuke adds in and my lip quivers a bit at it.

I felt Lilly’s hands on my cheeks and I looked at her. She mushes her face against mine. He was her way of giving me a kiss. It stung really bad and I felt hot tears leak out of the corner of my eyes, “No, no Lilly, Sean is hurting you can’t give him kisses that hard,” Mrs. Carlson said.

“You’re not going to send me back to the home are you?” My voice cracking. My throat feels really dry.

“No, no sweetie, why would we do that?” Mrs. Carlson’s voice was soft and caring. It’s the voice she uses with Lilly when she’s trying to get her to sleep. She put a hand on my back and lightly rubbed it. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You were protecting a friend. You didn't throw any punches. We were all young once. Hell, I've gotten in fights before when I was growing up,” Mr. Carlson reassures me and put a hand on my shoulder, “Are you willing to spend a few days and the Kaisai’s house?”

I nod slowly and soon enough I was being taken out of the hospital. I refuse to be set in a wheelchair even though I keep feeling like I'm going to black out and all the strength is just spilling out of me and onto the floor. It got to the point where Mr. Carlson just had to poke me and I fell back into the wheelchair. Sighing in frustration at how weak I am. Mr. Kaisai pushes me out into the parking lot and helps me into the Carlson’s car. They follow the Kaisai’s as I lean against Lilies car seat and she pats the top of my head, “Alllll done.” I chuckle softly.

“Lilly sweetie doesn't hit Sean's head,” Mrs. Carlson warns.

I look up at her, “That’s right Lilly, all done,” I smile a little even though my face hurts.

When we got to the Kaisai house I was shaking a bit. I don’t know if it’s from my head or if it’s because I didn’t really eat anything at lunch. I said bye to Lilly and Mr. and Mrs. Carlson then they went the rest of the way home and Sasuke and snowflake helped me into the house.

“I didn’t expect you to be here snowflake,” I said and I got a chuckle out of Sasuke’s dad from behind us.

“It’s Toshiro,” He grins through his teeth.

“Lighten up a bit Shiro,” I laugh softly. “I’m not gonna stop, you remind me of a snowflake.”

They got me on to the couch and I lean back into the cushions, “The doctor’s said it’s a minor concussion, but you’re not allowed to go back to school for a few days. The earliest is Friday. And you can’t do any heavy exercises for a few weeks,” Mr. Kaisai explains and I nod slowly.

“Thank you for letting me stay here” I mutter quietly looking down at my lap.

“Of course, Sean. It’s not a problem at all,” Mrs. Kaisai says, but I think her voice was coming from their kitchen.

“You didn’t have to protect me like that you know,” Sasuke mentions and I look over at him to see him sit down next to me on the couch.

"Yes, I did. Ever since we known each other, you've always protected me. I think it's about time that I try to protect you,” I state. A smile crept on Sasuke face and he started laughing, “What’s so funny you jerk?” I ask and push him a bit then cross my arms, “Geez I try to be nice and ya go and laugh at me.”

“I didn’t mean to Sean; it’s just I can’t help it," He giggles wiping a few tears from his eyes.

We start bickering back and forth till I had to stop because my head was pounding and Mrs. Kaisai yelled at both of us to stop otherwise she’ll make sure that both of us don’t wake up till the morning. As weird as it is…I feel comfortable here. But I’ll never say it to any of them. I’m too embarrassed to say it. I’m seventeen now, there’s no point. I just need to graduate and I can make my own life. I’ll keep Sasuke as a friend though, that’s for sure.