Time for School

Chapter 7 - Confrontation

Note: All characters in this story involved in sexual situations are 18 years of age or older

*

I entered the opposite side of the cafeteria from where my friends and I usually sit. I waved to them as I walked by from a distance, but they seemed preoccupied with talking to each other. I shrugged it off and headed into the line to get my lunch. When I walked back out, my friends seemed as though they were on the lookout for me. I snickered to myself, realizing they were probably ready to poke fun at me nonstop for my kiss with Nora. I sighed happily as I approached them.

"Hey guys," I said in a merry tone. All of them were staring intensely at me as I placed my tray of food on the table.

"

Don't

sit down," Frank insistently said. "Just go—quick."

I looked at him in confusion, grinning and scoffing. They were most likely playing some kind of trick on me.

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking ab–"

"

There you are!

" a boisterous, male voice exclaimed somewhere behind me. I turned around and my jaw hung agape in shock at the sight of who was marching straight toward me, flanked by a couple of his friends.

"I'm sorry, Anthony," Nora quietly said, causing me to quickly turn my attention to her. She had an incredibly worried look in her eyes. "One of my boyfriend's

stupid

friends saw us kiss. ...He knows about it and he's really upset."

"You've

got

to be kidding me," I muttered under my breath as I turned my attention back around again.

I could not

believe

who Nora's boyfriend was: none other than Nick's aforementioned douchebag cousin, Jason.

My mind suddenly became a cauldron of mixed emotions. I was as ready to confront Jason over the issue at the same time I wanted to just walk away and avoid a scene. Instead, I stayed put and kept my eyes carefully trained on him.

Jason's eyes narrowed, sticking his head out to me as he approached.

"

You?

" Jason asked in disbelief. "

You're

the punk that had your lips on my girl, little boy?"

I stared at him with a contemptuous sneer. Immediately I wondered where the hell all my confidence went? Just

seeing

his face made me want to ram my fist through it as hard as I could. The fact that he wanted to confront me over something as harmless and miniscule as a kiss between friends irritated me.

However, I took a deep breath and found my cool again. I looked him squarely in the eyes as I quietly responded.

"Yeah. What about it?" I asked. Behind me, my friends looked on with worry.

Jason scoffed as he turned to one of his friends with an amused shake of his head. He then stood up tall, trying to intimidate me with the size discrepancy of a good few inches between us—but it wasn't working. I stared at him, unimpressed.

"You really shouldn't be kissing other guys' girls," he said. "I mean,

you

wouldn't know shit about that since you

never

had a girlfriend ever." His friends laughed.

"Look," I calmly said, "Nora and I are just friends, that's it."

"Good," he replied with a smirk. "I like hearing that. You just saved your own ass, little punk. And shit better stay that way or I'm gonna have to beat your ass like I used to do every day in middle school. Nora's

my

property, bitch—

don't

forget it." He then patted both his friends on the chest before turning away from me. "Come on, let's go," he said to them before they began to walk away.

Needless to say, I didn't like this guy at

all

. He was an unrepentant asshole to everyone and everything in middle school. Good to see some things never change.

However..., things were a lot different

now

than in middle school.

I amplified the tone of my voice and called out to him. "She's

not

your property." My remark brought him to a sudden halt. My heart skipped a beat in fear when he suddenly turned around and began to walk back up to me.

"The fuck did you just say?" he threateningly spoke as he shoved his chest into mine, pushing me back a bit. "Huh? You say something, faggot?"

I was shaking ever so slightly in a mix of anger and fear. I clenched my fists, but held back my desire to hit him. What the hell was it with girls' boyfriends around here anyway? First Eve, and now this. By now, though, our confrontation had attracted a number of eyeballs from all around the cafeteria.

I huffed sharply, standing tall against him. "I said, 'she's

not

your property.' Is that too hard to understand for you?"

He scoffed and stepped back, looking to one of his friends. "This kid...," he remarked as his friend nodded and smirked cruelly.

Out of nowhere, Jason thrust his fist forward and caught me square on the cheek. I only remember a loud, dull thud, my vision rattled as I stumbled down to a knee amongst the muted cheers of nearby students. My voice resounded loudly in my head as I groaned and held my cheek, my other hand propped on the floor for balance.

"Anthony!!" I just barely heard Nora shout in horror. I clenched my eyes and shook my head to try to rid myself of the popping stars I was seeing. My hearing gradually returned to normal as I looked over to see that a great number of students, both sitting and standing, had turned their attention to the spectacle. It was exactly what I was hoping to avoid, but this situation absolutely needed a resolution.

My friends were on their feet, ready to intervene on my behalf. I wasn't going to let them do that. I needed to take care of this by myself.

"Get the fuck up!" Jason shouted as he shoved my head. "I ain't done with you!"

My eyes were locked on Jason as I grit my teeth. I ignored the pain in my face and calmly rose to my feet, standing before him once again. I groaned quietly, gently rubbing my cheek and stretching my jaw out in all directions.

"I forgot how easy you were to hit," he remarked with a laugh. Then, my hand fell away from my face and I shot him a confident smirk.

"You're not going to do that twice," I coolly said.

"Oh yeah?" he wondered aloud as he arrogantly grinned at me. "You really think that, huh, bitch?"

His grin quickly faded when he stepped forward slightly and went to strike me with his fist again. Just as he did, I beat his oncoming punch with the blink of an eye. Everything went completely silent and I found myself standing before his inanimate body, his fist mere inches away from my face. He had really thrown his balance into the strike and I knew that it would've definitely hurt worse than the first one. However, it also presented a perfect opportunity to one-up him.

I took a brief look around, noticing just how many eyeballs were staring at me. I didn't like this set-up. Way too many people were about to witness me outsmart him. But I couldn't let this jackass get the better of me. I needed to send him a message that messing with me was not an option anymore, and neither was his treatment of my friend Nora. If I had to use my new power to do so... then so be it.

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily to steady my shaky nerves. When I opened them again, I began to calmly plan out my next move. I leaned the weight of my body onto one foot and tilted myself just enough to the side to stay out of his line of attack. I hoped that my plan would turn out successfully. There was only one way to find out.

Once I was ready to face the consequences of my actions, I blinked once again and immediately felt his fist breeze by my cheek.

"Whoa!" one of his friends exclaimed at the same time I heard Nora gasp.

"The

fuck?

" Jason exclaimed in disbelief. The cafeteria erupted into loud murmuring. Everyone else watching on was equally in shock.

"Oh shit, he missed," I heard someone say.

"He was so fast!" someone else exclaimed. "Like a ninja or some shit!"

Before Jason could follow up, I shoved his chest hard. He grunted and stumbled back a few steps. I shot him an expression of spite as he looked at me in confusion. Despite how tough I looked, I was as scared as I'd ever been.

"

Don't

try that again," I said as I narrowed my eyes. "I promise it's not going to be pretty."

"Holy shit!" an onlooker exclaimed. "That kid is crazy!"

Jason chest began to heave in anger. "You little

bitch!

" he shouted as he quickly marched up to me. "I'm gonna–"

He was cut off abruptly when I stopped time again. Jason's hands were extended toward me, likely to shove me right back. My heart was racing a mile a minute. I decided to take a brief moment to catch my breath. I stepped away from Jason and turned around, clenching my fists several times.

I was still shaking with nervousness as I turned to face him once more. Jason had terrorized me unmercifully when I was younger and as a result it made me extremely bitter and fearful towards him. I wondered for a moment if I could use my power to unfreeze just him and then show him my newfound strength as I wail on him. A cruel smile spread across my lips as I envisioned him bloodied, pleading for mercy while I refuse to listen to him and continue kicking him while he's down. I could then just take his head and drive it into the floor over and over and—

No. ...I wasn't going to be like him. The entire point of this was to stand my ground and assert myself, not to be a barbarian. After all, wasn't I a lover and not a fighter?

I shook my head to get the violent images out of my mind. I then pursed my lips and began to look at the situation more analytically. Again, he had unknowingly leaned his body weight toward me all in the attempt to get as much power as he could out of his strikes. I knew I could use that to my advantage... but how? I stepped to the side and studied his posture for a moment. I then humphed and smirked happily as I came up with the simple counter-attack—just trip him.

However, I wanted more punch to it than just comically sticking my leg out in front of him. I was going go with a risky, yet extremely rewarding idea. If it worked, it'd cause him a little pain and one hell of an embarrassment.

I positioned myself just to the side of him once again, putting my weight on my inner leg while I reared the other leg back. I exhaled sharply, keeping my aim on his tibia. I

really

hoped I was good enough at timing so as not to shatter my own tibia in the process.

In one extremely quick motion, I kicked forward and blinked my eyes, hearing the chatter of countless voices just as I kicked his legs out from under him. He shouted in surprise and then uttered a ridiculously pathetic moan as he landed hard on his chest.

"

Ohhh~!!

" came the raucous cheers from the cafeteria as Jason groaned in pain.

"Holy damn...," Frank remarked in disbelief. Nora looked on with eyes as wide as the glasses she wore.

I calmly stepped away and watched him as numerous students cheered and went wild all around me.

"Hey, man!" someone exclaimed in a shrill voice behind me. "That was fucking

great!!

"

I didn't care for the praise. I only kept my eyes on Jason with an intensely serious look on my face. He groaned loudly as he slowly lifted himself onto his forearms. One of his friends laughed as he walked over to him.

"You okay?" he asked. Jason groaned again, slowly getting to his feet and rubbing his chest for a moment. The two of us stared intensely at each other. I prepared for the very real possibility that he was going to come after me again, though I was really hoping he didn't.

"I swear to God," he said as he began to walk away while keeping his eyes locked on me, "this shit's not over. I'm gonna

fuck you up

for this."

He then walked away with his two friends by his side, his shoulders tense with anger, barging out of the cafeteria.

By then, most of the other students had already gone back to eating and talking to their friends. I closed my eyes and rubbed the back of my neck, sighing heavily in relief. I was really thankful

that

was over.

When I opened my eyes again, Nora was already making her way over to me. She looked like she was a second away from breaking down in tears as she neared me.

"Are you okay?" she softly asked, reaching up to tilt my face and get a good look at my cheek.

"I'm fine," I casually replied. "Might have bit my cheek or something when he hit me, but I'm good."

Her hand fell away, looking at me with the most sorrowful expression I'd ever seen from her. She sniffled and shook her head in disbelief. Tears fell down her face as she grabbed the chest of my shirt and buried her face there.

"I'm so sorry," she quietly said, her voice cracking.

I quietly laughed. "Jeez, all I wanted was to have lunch, not a boxing match," I joked with a playful smile. My smile slowly faded as she broke down right in front of me. She was obviously really upset about the entire situation, especially considering my usually

amazing

jokes had no effect on her. I sighed deeply, closing my eyes as I put my arms around her and allowed her to let it all out.

She sobbed quietly, practically crushing her glasses into my chest while I held her tightly. I looked over at the others for just a moment. Frank nodded to me and I once again gave him a thumbs-up to let him know everything was cool.

After a few minutes, Nora's crying slowly came to an end. She pulled her face away from me, taking off her glasses and reaching into her back pocket for a handkerchief. She huffed and sniffled as she dabbed the tears from her eyes and then proceeded to clean her glasses.

"Are you okay now?" I asked.

"Yeah...," she sighed. I smiled at her as she looked up at me. I didn't want her to be so upset. None of what happened was her fault, no matter how much I knew she wanted to believe it was.

"Come on," I said as I began to lead her over to the others, "let's go have lunch."

"Okay," she whispered as she headed to her seat across from mine.

"Yes," I preemptively said to the others as I took a seat, "I

am

okay. Don't worry about it."

"Wow, Anthony," Frank remarked in awe, "that was the most... craziest thing I've ever

seen

."

"I told you guys," Brandon said as he put an arm around my neck, "the boy's on his way to hulking up real soon. He's going to be a bigger Mr. Olympia than Schwarzenegger in a few years—just watch."

"Pretty sure that takes food to get there," I replied with a grin.

"Eat up, man," he said as he took his arm away. "You earned it."

I didn't need much more than that to start digging in and enjoy my food.

After everything Eve and I had done together as well as the fight with Jason, I was extremely happy to finally eat. Even though my jaw hurt like hell, I didn't let it stop me. I was just glad all my teeth were still intact. The rest of my friends were also content to eating their food, having only some mild conversation between them. Nora was also able to settle down enough to finish her food.

Eventually some guy came up to me and vigorously patted me on the back as he walked by.

"Good job, man!" he exclaimed, turning to me. I only gave him a brief, disinterested glance in response before turning back to my food. He just shook his head, he and his friend laughing in amusement as they walked outside. I really didn't care for any attention and was ready to make any attempts I could to keep myself out of the spotlight.

Not long after, the bell caught us all off guard.

"All right," I said as we all got up together. "I'll see you guys later."

"See ya, Anthony," Frank replied. As I walked away to throw my tray in the trash, he and the others gave me one last look before parting ways.

I was glad none of my friends made a big deal out of it and were willing to just move on. Of course, that was the reason they were my friends—they understood me so well.

Once class had resumed, I picked up where I had left off in my work without skipping a beat. I was fortunate enough that nobody had noticed or at least pointed out the mark on my cheek. I was really not looking forward to talking about it with anyone. Still, I was in the clear in terms of having to explain what happened. I simply focused on my work and put it behind me.

The bell to end class soon rung out. I glanced up at the clock and then began to calmly put my belongings away. As I stood up to slide my backpack over my shoulders, I noticed a figure come to a halt just beside me. I quickly looked over to see Jennifer, smirking arrogantly at me. She didn't say a word as she grabbed my chin and gently turned my head to inspect the bruise on my cheek.

"Nice," she remarked, bringing her hand in front of me to fall onto my far shoulder. "I bet that was fun, huh?"

"You know me," I replied with a smirk, "I love getting my ass kicked."

She then carefully studied me for a moment, her hand gently rubbing my shoulder.

"I told you not to change," she quietly spoke. "You remember that, right?"

"I do. But you never said anything about bettering myself."

She smiled and humphed softly. "You're right," she remarked with a quiet sigh. "Maybe you are coming into your own, Anthony. I'm all for it, as long as it doesn't mean you constantly get your ass handed to you."

"I'll be fine," I reassured her with a confident smile.

She nodded and then gave me a gentle kiss on the temple.

"See you later," she whispered in my ear while playfully scratching the back of my head. She let her hand fall away and calmly took her leave.

I smiled as she walked away. It felt unbelievably good to know others had my back—especially someone who's usually as detached as Jennifer. I looked to the side and saw Eve smiling at me, having watched that entire exchange. She simply smiled and gently waved 'goodbye' to me. I waved back before she left the room with Lila. I readjusted my backpack and headed for the door with a small group of other students. As I waited for the crowd to pass, I was bumped hard from the side—by Elizabeta, of course.

"Papi," she casually greeted me with a smirk as she passed by. Just behind her was Sofia, who also looked at me with a smile.

"See you after school," Sofia said.

"You got it," I replied back with a slight grin. How lucky I was that they weren't facing the messed-up side of my face.

I made it out into the hallway and slipped past a few people in an attempt to get to Spanish class quicker. In my endeavor, I suddenly found myself positioned right behind Natalie who was casually talking to one of her friends. I found myself in awe of her splendrous frame just inches away from me. Her immaculately matured body, filled out in all the right places and broadcast by the unnecessarily tight clothes she was wearing was a sight I was unable to turn away from. I shuddered at the sight of her incredible ass swaying from side to side as she walked. How was it possible that she was actually the same

age

as me?

"Yeah, we're going to the beach on Saturday," she said to her friend.

"Where at?" her friend replied.

"Over by that new building there, the Apex. I'm meeting a friend who lives there and then we're gonna hang out on the beach, tan for a bit, check out cute guys and stuff." Her friend chuckled. "We're going at around two-ish. Maybe earlier."

My jaw dropped in amazement. I couldn't believe such an appealing prospect was taking place. Gorgeous Natalie and her incredible body were going to be just across the street from where I lived. Well, I knew what I was doing on Saturday. And I was sure if I played it right, it could also be

who

I was doing on Saturday.