Chapter 17

"Feeling better?" I asked as I walked up to the bus stop.

"Better than you look."

"What's wrong with the way I look?" I asked, standing straighter and running my fingers through my hair.

"Aside from the fact that one side of your face is a giant bruise, nothing." Tami leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. The unbruised one.

"Yeah, looking in the mirror this morning I was sure glad I don't have to shave yet."

Tami grinned and molded herself to my side.

We stood like that for about five minutes until the bus came, ignoring the looks we were getting from the others.

On the bus I swung into the third seat, and Tami sat down beside me. It was like nothing had happened, yet I knew it had.

The driver had closed the door and started to put the bus into gear when Paula came running up. He looked down at her and shook his head. She looked up, smiled big, and clasped her hands in front of her in a pleading gesture. He relented and opened the door. Just another average day.

We picked up eight more kids before we got to Robbie's stop. She smiled as she got on, seeing Tami and me sitting together, then squeezed past Tami and plopped herself on my lap.

Mr. Connors, the bus driver, gave me a dirty look but didn't say anything.

"You don't look quite as bad as I expected."

"Good morning to you too."

She gently turned my head and inspected the damage. "You used to be cute."

"And will be again."

She inspected me again. "Maybe. But maybe I'd better start recruiting a replacement. I can't be seen with Frankenstein."

"Thanks."

Next to me, Tami shifted but said nothing.

"Why the hell did you let him hit you if you could beat him up?"

That was a damn good question. "I didn't beat him up, I defended myself."

"The question stands."

I let one hand rest on her butt and the other on her thigh. I lowered my voice. "I guess I figured he had a couple of hits coming. Since I'd made him out a liar and everything."

"Why?" Tami asked quietly, almost whispering.

I looked over at her. "I decided their were worse things than lying. Like bragging without caring about another person's feelings."

"He could have hurt you," Tami said.

"He did hurt me," I admitted. A true hero would have shrugged it off. "I play football. I've been hurt before. I'll get hurt again." I thought about adding a line about standing up for what's right, but there's a limit to early morning corn.

"Thank you."

"You're my friend," I said as I rubbed Robbie's leg.

Tami watched my hand for a minute and nodded.

As we got off the bus, I put my arms around both girls. Across Tami's shoulders and Robbie's back. It certainly wouldn't hurt the rep to be walking around with two of the hottest girls in school.

"Mr. Sims!" I heard as I was whispering something totally inappropriate into Robbie's ear. "My office." Mr. Reed, the principal, was standing a few feet in front of us, arms folded and foot tapping.

"Is there a problem?" I asked innocently.

"Only if you consider being suspended a problem."

Around us, the halls got very quiet. There were about sixty kids in the hall, waiting for school, including the twenty-five or so that had just got off the bus. Everybody was staring. Robbie put her hand over mine on her waist and squeezed.

"Getting suspended would definitely be a problem," I admitted. Mr. Reed nodded at my statement of the obvious. "My parents won't be pleased."

"You should have thought of that before you put Mr. King in the hospital." Several kids gasped. By now everybody knew about the fight, but not everybody knew how bad Peter had gotten hurt. Hell, I didn't know he was in the hospital.

Mr. Reed unfolded his arms and pointed toward the main office. "Let's go."

"You don't understand," I said, not moving and still holding the two girls. "My parents aren't going to get mad at me; they're going to be royally pissed at the school." I saw Tami's eyes open wide when I said pissed, but I'd chosen my words carefully.