Chapter 6

Ash

Ash had always figured it would hurt a lot to get punched in the face. He was right.

When James' fist hit him that afternoon, only minutes after school got out, he first felt a hard crunch at the bridge of his nose, then a rush of warm blood down over his lips. That would have been enough, but those sensations were crowded out by a pain so intense it wrapped around his whole head and went down into his chest and arms. His eyes stopped working for a moment, then came back blurry, clouded by a thick layer of tears.

He was already on his back on the ground. Not because he had wobbled or lost use of his legs, but simply because the blow had been so hard it had knocked him down flat. As he lay there, his hands went to his face. Touching it didn't make the pain any worse. The feeling was so overwhelming he didn't think that was possible. There was an off center feeling to his nose and it seemed flatter than usual. The ample blood on his hands confirmed that it had to be broken.

The small part of his mind that wasn't sending him pain signals or thinking about broken noses registered the boy standing over him. James had to be seventy-five pounds heavier. Maybe more. No wonder that punch hurt so much.

There were other kids standing around, a growing crowd. Ash wondered for a moment what he had looked like, sailing backwards through the air. From the way some were laughing and others were gasping, it must have been impressive.

He lifted his head from the sand. At least James had dragged him to the volleyball courts outside the gym before starting the fight. Ash didn't know which would have looked worse, splashing into the sand after the punch like a kid shaped asteroid or crashing into the nearby asphalt. At least with the sand he had a soft place to land and his head hadn't hit like a watermelon on the blacktop. But judging from the laughing, this had provided a pretty good show. At least somebody was having a good day.

He looked past several of them, started to feel worse with each pointed finger, each smile covered by a hand. Then he saw Danica.

She took a step back, pulled her arms in tight to her body. Before he could wonder what she was thinking, he was pulled away from his own pain, away from everything around him. The wave of feeling didn't come as images this time, which it often did, but just as plain, certain knowledge about her. Her smiles, her wavy hair, her pretty clothes were something she shouldn't have. He knew that she was remembering laughter instead of fear. The way she was covering up showed that she had been hit before. But she didn't remember it.

He went deeper into the thought. Ash knew that his friend had told him this once, that Danica's friend took the pain of those hits, took the worry so that Danica could feel something better. Even though he was the weird kid, Ash knew he had it better than Danica.

Before he could remember more, a scream brought him back to where he was. He looked up and saw Hetty stamp her sandaled foot in the sand and shove at James' shoulder with both hands. "Damn it!" She shoved again. "What are you doing?"

Ash lay there and watched as James, open mouthed, looked over to Hetty.

"Why are you fighting?" she asked.

"Uh..." It actually sounded like James didn't know. Ash blinked away some of the tears and tried to focus on James, but Hetty pushed again and stepped in the way. Her bright blue eyes stood out against the rich, tanned color of her skin as she glared down at him a moment before she turned back to James. As she stood there, Ash got a closer view of her than he'd ever had before. Ash didn't know much about what girls liked to wear, but she dressed like she actually read fashion magazines, or at least watched a lot of television. Her short skirt and tight top emphasized every bit of her that he had ever tried to peek at during classes. He had always thought she was the prettiest girl in school, but had never talked to her.

As he looked at her, he started to drift away again. He started to notice a part of her that was harder to see, but easier to talk to. And he remembered her real name.

"God!" she said as she glared at James. "We were supposed to walk home together. I was going to let you invite me to the dance."

Ash drifted back as he heard her and he remembered why he had never tried to talk to her. She wasn't there to stop James. She was there because the fight was inconvenient for her. And talking to him was something she'd never want to do. But, the memory of the part of her that was nice to talk with, and of her real name was the only thing competing with the pain of his broken nose. "Hehet?" he said.

She turned quickly down to him and Ash saw the confusion on her face turn to anger. "Where did you hear that?" She leaned over and while Ash could see even more of her that he'd always wanted a peek at, all he could focus on was the returning pain in his face. "It's Hetty. Hetty!" As she straightened, she kicked a wave of sand at him. "Weirdo!"

Then she rounded on James. "Moron!" She stomped off, left both boys staring after her.

Ash turned away first, saw James gazing at her bare legs. Then, James turned, clenched his teeth. "Freaking weirdo. That's your fault."

They had bumped into each other in the hallway just after school got out. Ash had stopped near the door, transported by another thought and James had crashed into him. For a moment, it had looked like James was going to apologize, then something in the larger boy's mind had changed and he had dragged Ash outside.

James stepped closer, one foot on each side of Ash's body, and leaned down. Ash tried to raise his hands to protect his face, but knew it wouldn't do any good. His head was too foggy from the pain and the extra information he had to wade through. And, as James grabbed his shirt and got ready to punch again, Ash saw it. James didn't want to hit him. He didn't want to fight at all. But something, someone, was telling him he had to.

His perceptions blurred by the pain and the distraction, Ash barely saw the bottom of the tennis shoe that came up between James' legs. But he did hear James cough out a groan of pain and saw him fall over to the side.

Behind where James had been, Eun Kyung stood. She hiked her baggy jeans up and adjusted her hoodie before offering a hand to Ash. "I don't think I've ever kicked anybody in the balls from behind before. That was awesome."