One of the smaller boys had the misfortune of having his head right where the next target was about to step. Without thinking, he curled into a ball instead, and was kicked hard by the upright soul. Deacon’s eye caught this, and started over; his two cronies advanced as well. Their intent was unmistakable to anyone who had spent more than ten minutes with Deacon, while disadvantaged by being around the same age as him.
The fallen boy lashed out, catching Deacon’s ankle with his foot; he registered the blow but didn’t lose his footing. He didn’t have any excuse not to do it now. Deacon wound up with the unstruck leg and delivered a solid kick into the boy’s unprotected midsection, bouncing him a few inches backwards. His cronies started to advance faster, but were stopped as the teacher caught the smaller boy by the arms and hauled him to his feet. The boy, breathless and witless, gasped ragged curses at Deacon, who crossed his arms and spoke; his words were inaudible to Gene and his friends.
The teacher started to drag the smaller boy away, who was quickly realizing the situation. The first kick was delivered in secrecy. The teacher had no proof of it. All the teacher saw was Deacon coming to help him up, and then he kicked Deacon. As far as the teacher was concerned, Deacon was the victim. Deacon’s friends laughed and shouted at the smaller boy, whose screams had turned from rage to despair. “I didn’t start it!” he howled; while everyone could hear it, nobody was listening.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
soul = sole? Like the bottom of a foot, right? I really didn’t know what you meant at first.