CHAPTER 28: This Ends in a Hospital

There was applause. I'm not entirely sure if they were out of pity and general kindness of the audience, but there was. I had a smile on my face when I walked down the stage.  Sage stood. There was a spark in her eyes but her mouth formed a thin line. Her face reeked contradiction. Her eyes were smiling but she wasn't. I couldn't quite describe it but she looked like she was about to hug me and punch me at the same time.

I was so captured by Sage that everyone else around us blurred.  All blurred: the audience, Louie, London, Kaye, the fist that was soaring towards my nose... Wait, what?!

My reflexes suck, I admit. It's been proven by that soccer-ball-to-the-face incident. This fist hurt more, though. Soccer balls are kinda soft and just bounce right off. This fist slams every knuckle to the nose. It's bone clashing to bone with flesh to coat them off.

My poor nose had taken all it can get these past few weeks. This time, it bled.

I crumbled to the ground like a frickin' snowman.  On my way down there, I was able to catch a glimpse of a murderous-looking Italian.

Diego clamored to get to me again but Louie and the others had already pulled him back. The audience members were alarmed. It didn't take long for the theater staff to throw us out the parking lot.

Louie had my arm draped over his shoulder while Sage and Kaye were pushing Diego out, way in front of us. It was cold when we got out to the parking lot. 

"Him?!" Diego jabbed a finger at my direction, looking like he was about to jump Sage, too, but Kaye stood between them, keeping them a meter apart. "That's the best you can do, Sage? He can't even afford a proper car nor is he sharp enough to dodge a football! One little fight and you end up with this asshole?"

Sage scoffed. "Okay, one, it wasn't 'one little fight'! You broke up with me, you jerk. And, two, at least I didn't jump at the chance to hightail out of the country the following week."

"No," he mocked. "You decided to jump on another guy's dick."

I could've sworn I was being held back meters away from them but I found myself right up Diego's face. I didn't really know what to do. I got about an inch away from him when Diego shoved me back. I charged forward again, only to be stopped by Sage. So there we were, Diego being held off by Kaye and me by Sage.

"Stop!" Sage yelled.

"That mouth of yours's gonna get your teeth knocked off," I threatened Diego still pushing. Man, I must have been really weak to have had to struggle against a 5-footer's hold.

"Oh, what are you going to do?" he said. "Tackle me again while I'm beating someone else up?"

My jaw ticked. That smile Diego had on his face made me angrier. It was just last week that I thought this dude was cool.

"It's not worth it, Trevor," Sage whispered in the softest tone I've ever heard her use. But my eyes were still locked on the Italian asshole. My fists were still itching to collide with his face. Then, Sage reached up to a warm hand behind my neck. With a slight tug, she made me look down at her. "Hey," she said, our eyes meeting. "He's not worth it. Let's just go." Her hand traveled from the ends of my hair down to my fist, which automatically uncurled at her touch.

"Yeah?" she asked, wide-eyed and tentative.

I glared once more at Diego who'd surprisingly went quiet. He was wearing jealousy on his face if I ever knew the look of it. That made me feel good. Yeah, it felt great. I nodded down at Sage and she didn't wait another second. She just pushed me towards the opposite direction. London and Louie were there when I turned. 

"Go back to your slums, the lot of you!" I rolled my eyes, not even sparing Mr. Spaghetti one glance back. As if he's not being petty enough, Diego continued. "And, Trevor! Tell your little sister to keep off Paolo. Eight's a pretty young age to start being a gold digger, isn't it?"

I stopped in my tracks. It wasn't only me. London and Louie stopped. Even Sage stopped. We all knew he crossed a line. 

Say whatever shit you want about me. Hell, you can even say shit about Louie and I'll be lounging back. Louie'd take care of that anyways. But if there's one person nobody should ever insult, it's my sister. Not Lally. Never Lally.

I said, taking a sharp 180°. I started pacing up towards Diego. Kaye had left his side. Hell, even Kaye - arguably the most pacifistic girl in town - was mad at what he said. "You know," I spoke when I was close enough, "I always knew there was a reason why your name is an anagram for GO DIE!" Then, I charged.

Diego raised his fists as I approached. In my head, I was running like a ninja, one fist raised in the air. I got closer and closer. My fist could feel the would-be impact with Diego's face.

Looking back, I realized my fist knew nothing. Excited to bash the fucker's face in, I forgot the parking lot had those concrete stoppers. By the time I noticed the one in front me, I had already tripped over it. The momentum lunged me forward. I'd accepted my faith. I was gonna fall face-first into the gravel. Only... that wasn't the case. As I fell down, my face got dangerously close to Diego's fist. And the little shit took advantage of that situation by sending a sucker punch straight to my jaw.

There was ringing in my ear. The power of the hit must have twisted my body because I saw the sky blurring out as my back hit the ground. The back of my head slammed against the concrete. I may have heard someone screaming. It wasn't very clear. The ringing was still deafening.  But the weirdest thing, though: I swear I saw Louie flying over me. Then, I passed out.

×××××

The concrete ground magically turned into a comforter when I woke up. I was no longer staring up at blurring skies, instead, there was a blinding fluorescent light.

"Hey," a voice by my side said.

I half-expected it to be Sage, but I knew London's voice too well to have believed it. "Hey," I croaked out. "Did I win?"

Louie was there, too, and he laughed at my question. "Every time that asshole knocks you out and you wake up, that's the first thing you ask. And every time, I'll repeat: Hell, no!"

I sat up, feeling a slight throbbing in my head. "Ugh, what happened?"

"You tripped," Louie stated. "Honestly, worst way to lose a fight. I've been in countless brawls, but that was the shittiest one I've seen. It was like watching Michael Cera trying to fight Pacquaio! You could have at least--"

"Louie, Louie! I get it!" I stopped him. Geez! 

"Lucky for you I tackled that bitch down!" he exclaimed.

"No, you didn't."

"Uh, yes, I did. After the asshole knocked you into the ground, I leapt forward and got my quarterback on!"

Oooh, so that's why I saw him flying over me.

"And you really had to wait until he's already knocked me out?"

He shrugged. Terrible, terrible best friend! "It was brutal, man. And Sage was there to watch--"

"Shit!" I just realized that Sage was there! Oh, God. As if she doesn't think I'm already such a wimp. "Wait, where is Sage?"

That made the siblings uneasy. Louie sure as hell wasn't answering that, so I turned to Donnie. "Don?"

"She went home," London replied. "She came with us here," she said, trying to lift me up a bit. "She even rode in the backseat, holding you up."

"She did?"

They both nodded. "Then we got here and the doctors came. It as such a blur. I was dealing with the nurses. Lou was calling your dad. And when we turned back, she was just... gone."

Gone?

Remember back in Chapter 1 when Trevor was all like, "I'm scrawny but I can beat yo ass up!"? Oh, the lies he tells. XD