Page 65 of Lost
“Lysander,stop it!”
The voice caught him by surprise and he faltered, stupidly giving Masters the time to land a blow to his left temple. He fell back against the ground hard, seeing stars for the first time. He had to blink to clear his vision.
When he could see clearly again, he could hardly believe his eyes.
There was Loralie, standing tall over him with her fists raised. Masters had backed off, but there was a condescending smile on his bloody lips as he looked at the girl — one that said he knew he could kick her ass, but he was going to let it slide this time.
And that was probably only because there were teachers stepping into the ring.
The second he was on his feet, Lysander was being ushered to the principal’s office. Somewhere ahead of him the same was being done to Masters, but he was more interested in what lay behind him. He shot a look over his shoulder and caught Loralie’s eye. But it lasted no longer than a moment — not enough time for him to thank her or to yell at her for getting in the middle of things. He hadn’t decided which he wanted to do yet.
Now that he and Masters were no longer at each other’s throats, the aches and pains were beginning to register in Lysander’s mind — and they were everywhere. His head specifically was throbbing like he had just rammed it into a tree. He held back a groan as it really started to get going. No way in hell was he going to give Masters the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting.
A tissue was held out in front of him.
“You’ve got blood all over your face, Mr. Maverick.”
His heart skipped a beat at the sound of the voice, and when he looked up into Ms. Lowe’s face it was with great reluctance. Because he knew there would be disappointment there, and he didn’t want to see it.
But see it he did.
And before he could stop them, all of his walls came crashing down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Zack had been surprised to find Principal Randall calling him for the second time in so many weeks, but not as surprised as he had been to learn that his son had been fighting.
Lysander — peace-loving, no-hate Lysander — had beenfightingwith another student.
Again.
Zack had caught sight of the other boy as he and Georgia made their way toward the principal’s office. Although they weren’t yet showing, he knew the kid was going to have an assortment of bruises on face by the time he made it back to school the next morning. His nose was bloodied, his lip was busted, and he was complaining to a nurse — a little over-dramatically, in Zack’s opinion — that his head hurt. A part of Zack was proud that his son could obviously hold his own, that maybe he had inherited something from his father after all. But the other, more parental part of Zack that had been forming over several months was horrified.
This wasn’t like Lysander.
His heart stopped in its tracks when he finally stepped into the room and laid eyes on his son. The other kid had looked bad, but Lysander looked worse. There were bloodied tissues on the desk in front of him, another one pressed to his bleeding nose, and another nurse was in here tending to a cut just above his left eye.Blood, blood, blood.That was all Zack saw. There was so much of it.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. Thank you for coming.”
Zack had been so focused on his son that he hadn’t even noticed the principal sitting at his desk. He gestured to a set of chairs in front of his desk, indicating that Zack and Georgia should both be seated. With one last look at his son — who was looking his way now, too — Zack did just that.
“What happened?” were the first words out of his mouth.
Randall had called not only to inform Zack that his son had been fighting, but also to insist that they meet in person. The latter Zack had no problem with, but the former was something to be concerned about — especially when Randall wouldn’t say over the phone whether Lysander was all right.
Seeing his son now, Zack wondered whether the principal had refrained from saying simply because he had not known. There was so much blood that Zack felt it was cause for alarm — surely there was an ambulance on the way? — and had he been in Randall’s position, he probably wouldn’t have answered the question either. Imagine telling a parent that their child was fine, only to have them arrive to find their kid passed out on the floor. The very thought of it made him shudder.
“He’s fine,” spoke a blonde to the principal’s right. Zack’s eyes darted to her. “It looks bad because of all the blood, but it’s just a few scrapes and bruises.”
“And a possible concussion,” the nurse attending to Lysander added. “We really should get him to a doctor an—”
“No,” Lysander said forcefully. “I said I’mfine.”
The woman threw up her hands in exasperation.
“We’ll take care of him,” Georgia assured the nurse with a smile. “Zack’s had a number of concussions over the years, so I’m familiar with the signs.”
“So can you pleaseleave?” Lysander growled at the woman.
