The last bell rang and I glanced around. No one was in class. The crowd doubled in size and a loose circle had started to form around us. Becky dodged around a group of guys and started to come to my side. I shot my hand out and shook my head so she braked a few yards from me, but edged in closer. When she mouthed if I was okay, I shook my head.

No, I wasn't okay. Mason was severely outnumbered.

Suddenly, Adam shoved Mark aside and his elbow caught me in the face.

"Hey!" Mason barked as he caught me and pulled me behind him. "If you want to fight, fight me, not your buddies. Sam just got clipped."

Mark cried out as he caught one of Adam's arms, "I'm sorry, man. Sorry, Sam—" He was about to say more, but Adam cursed and lunged once again. "You're a piece of crap, Kade!" He continued to bite out curses.

Mason sighed and motioned for him to come forward. "Just let him go. This will get done a lot faster. I have school too."

Peter lifted his head and yelled, "If you'd shut up, man. You're not helping."

I felt Mason's impatience. The one hand he kept on me was tense, so tense I wondered if he realized he was going to leave a bruise. Then I stopped wondering. He looked like he was amused by the whole thing, but a nerve jerked under his shirt. I saw it through the opening of his shirt. It was his only tell; everything else about him was silent. He was completely still.

I knew he was ready for an opening.

And then something happened. He jerked forward, hooked an arm around Peter's neck and threw him to the aside. Adam swung, but Mason dodged and instead tackled Mark to the left. They both fell to the ground, but he scrambled back up in the blink of an eye. He turned around and it was now him and Adam, no one else.

Adam took a step forward and opened his mouth—

Crack!

Mason punched him between the cheek and mouth, one time, and then he stepped back.

It looked like it happened in slow motion.

Adam's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell with a loud thud to the ground. His head smacked against the cement twice and his limbs bounced back up before they settled down.

There was silence in the crowd.

"Oh my god!" a girl screamed. Another started to sob.

I rushed to Adam's side and patted his cheek. "Adam? Adam…"

"What's going on here?" a teacher cried out.

"Holy, man…" "Did you see that?" "Shiite." Another guy whooped in laughter and others started to yell back and forth. People were starting to push and shove against each other.

Becky's mouth had dropped open. She was frozen in place.

More teachers were starting to push their way in and then I heard my dad's voice in the background. "What's going on? Let us through."

"Oh no—" I hurried up and started to push Mason into the crowd. "You have to go."

When we got to his Escalade, he smirked down at me. "Why? They'll say it was me. I knocked him out cold, Sam."

"You can leave. You might not get in trouble."

He rolled his eyes. "Are you serious? I'm not going anywhere. I'll face the firing squad here."

I sighed. "Do you know what you did?"

He turned back to the crowd, but shrugged. "I don't care."

"You attacked a student on school grounds. They could get you expelled from your school."

"Maybe." His jaw stiffened.

"Samantha!" my dad hollered.

I jerked around, but he hadn't spotted us yet. "Go, Mason. I mean it."

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Samantha!" David's voice was closer now. And then he broke through the crowd to us.

I turned to face my father, but I hissed behind me, "You could have you arrested."

David stopped in front of us and he placed both hands on his hips. He stared at me for a moment and then Mason before he took off his coach's hat and rubbed at his head. "Do you know what you've done, son?"

"Yes, sir."

My eyebrows went up when didn't see a smirk on his face and heard respect in his tone.

"Basey," David hollered behind him.

One of his assistant coaches popped up. "He'll be fine, sir. He'll come around. We just gotta get him inside."

My dad took a deep breath. "Alright, well, you heard him. Let's all head inside." He pointed at Mason. "You, go to the principal's office."

He nodded. "Sure…where's that at?"

"Sam?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"Take him to the principal's office."

"Sure thing."

"And do me another favor?"

I halted at the frustration in my dad's voice. "Yeah...?"

"Call your mother and his father." He turned around, but I heard him mutter, "This should be fun."

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Mason and I were in an empty classroom. His head was bent down, cushioned by his arms and I was starting to wonder if he'd fallen asleep. He couldn't have. And then someone sped past the door, screeched to a halt, and backtracked to stand in the doorway. Logan greeted us with his arms spread wide and a bright smile on his face.

"One punch, Mase?" Logan laughed and launched himself on our table. "Next time I think you should get him to knock himself out."

"Logan, dude." Another guy followed him in, looking irritable. I recognized him from one of their parties. "You just took off. This place is bitch heaven, at least grace me with some bread crumbs."

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