A Broken Nose = A Best Friend

Adrianne Hunter, Jo Murdock & Ayden Nelson

I had been kicked out of 7 schools already in my life. This was quite an accomplishment given that I was in 5th grade. I didn’t expect this new school to be any different.

“Class, welcome Adrianne Hunter,” the teacher said with just a bit too much forced happiness.

I could hear whispers start to fill the classroom.

“I heard she got kicked out of her last school.”

“No other school would take her.”

“My brother says she punched a principal.”

It was nice to know my reputation preceded me. I sat down in the empty seat the teacher pointed to. The boy next to me gave me a big toothy grin, apparently unaffected by the rumours.

“Hi, I’m Roy.”

I scowled at him. Much to my content, no one else tried to talk to me all morning. I had no intent on making friends. The kids all looked like they thought they were too good for me or that they were scared of me. Or both. It wasn’t worth getting to know any of them anyways, I would probably get suspended before the week was over anyways. Maybe even the day.

When one of your parents is a spy, and the other a mercenary, one skill you pick up fast is lying. Moving schools so often, especially in the last couple years, resulted in quite an inconstancy in my education. Not that I cared. Every time a new teacher asks me what my previous school had covered, I would fabricate the story that would result in the least work for me. Education doesn’t really matter. It’s street skills that'll get you somewhere in life.

The lunch bell rang, and everyone ran out of the classroom. In the scramble, Roy bumped into me. I shoved him back, probably a bit harder than he deserved, and his eyes welled with tears. Kids are pathetic.

I was enjoying my lunch and going over the most recent boxing technique Dad had shown me. While Mom was a better teacher, Dad had more of the raw passion for punching people. Between the two of them, my brother Jordan, and I learned quite young how to defend ourselves. Jordan takes after Mom. He is calm and collected, when he wants to be, but an amazing fighter when he puts his mind to it. I’ve got more of Dad’s anger management issues. This is evident with how often I’ve come home with a bloody nose or a black eye. The thing that runs strongest through our family, though, is stubbornness. Which is probably why Mom and Dad had broken up and gotten together more times than I care to count. They were married and divorced long before Jordan was born.

A group of kids from my class were making their way over, with a dark haired girl in the lead. Well, I was itching for a fight anyways. I stood up and loosened my fists.

Most of the group paused a few meters back, but the dark haired girl and a couple others kept getting closer. She was either … or an idiot. A boy with long blond hair grabbed her arm.

“Jo, don’t be stupid.” She shrugged him off.

She stopped within arm’s length.

“You really think you can fight me, even with backup?”

“Is it true you punched a principal?” She finally asked. Not with fear in her voice, but maybe almost a bit of admiration.

“So what if it is?” The truth was it was a teacher not a principal, but minor details.

“You don’t look like you have the guts to do it.” I promised Mom that I would try to not get suspended on my first day.

“I bet half those stories about you aren’t even true.” She laughed, half turning to look at those behind her.

Promise or not, this was insulting.

“You’re probably just a coward who-”

That was it. I never did like the word coward. I leapt towards her landing a punch directly on her nose. There was a sickening crack. Jo didn’t turn to run, as I was expecting, instead, she brought up her own fist and hit me right in the eye. I stumbled back. I could hear the crowd chanting faintly in the background, but they didn’t matter. I wasn’t about to let some snobby kid beat me in a fight. We both ran at each other at the same moment. It wasn’t long before we were tumbling on the ground, punches and kicks wherever we could land them. It was obvious she had had some self-defense training before.

Two teachers pulled us off each other. As the adrenaline wore off, I started to feel the new bruises that were forming. She had landed some good punches.

Once again, I was on my way to the principal’s office. A teacher led Jo and I inside and told us to sit down while he got the principal. The principal’s eyes widened as he took in the sight. Jo’s face was smeared with blood from her nose, and I was sure I didn’t look much better. The nurse handed her an ice pack

“Come in and take a seat.”

He looked from Jo to me, then back at Jo.

“Josephine, why don’t you tell me what happened out there?”

She scowled at him.

“I tripped.” I almost laughed. So that’s how we were doing this.

The expression on his face that she even dared say that was so comical.

“Adrianne, would you please tell your side of the story.”

“I tripped as well. There are a lot of tree roots sticking up in the school yard, you know.”

He was not impressed by my answer, to say the least.

“There were dozens of witnesses that saw you two fighting. I’ll give you one more chance to tell me the truth.”

He paused.

I wasn’t going to say anything. I didn’t particular care what happened, but I was curious how this would play out. The fact that Jo wasn’t saying anything was interesting. She could easily spin this incident being entirely my fault, and with my track record, it would be pretty easy to believe.

The principal sighed.

“Adrianne, I know you’re new here, and may be having trouble fitting in, but we do not condon fighting here. Jo, I’m surprised and disappointed in you, you should know better.”

I didn’t even make an effort to conceal rolling my eyes. This was one of the worst principal talks I had ever heard. Jo groaned under her breath beside me

“Now I want you to apologize to each other. Then we will talk about proper punishment, both for fighting and for lying about it.”

Apologizing, yeah, right. I wasn’t sorry for getting into a fight, and didn’t seem like Jo was either.

“Sorry your nose got broken.” I said, the tone daring the principal to make me put myself into the apology.

Jo followed my lead, and said

“Sorry you got a black eye.”

The principal was so annoyed with us at that point, that he didn’t bother to make us restart the apology with us in it. The secretary stuck her head in the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s a call for you.”

He looked hesitant leaving us on our own together, but I guess he figured there wasn’t much harm we could do in a small office.

Much to my *dismay*, I was actually starting to like this girl. There weren’t many people that knew how to throw a punch like that. Maybe I would give it a try.

“Killer punch.”

She looked up in surprise and smiled,

“Thanks, you too. The strength behind your first hit was amazing.”

I laughed. It was a move I practiced with Jordan hundreds of times.

“Where’d you learn to fight?” I asked. She didn’t fight like someone who had taken classes, but also, not really the sort of brawling you find on the street.

“My dad taught me. You?”

“Yeah, my parents as well.”

Jo laughed, “my mom’s a doctor, she is not impressed every time she has to patch me up.” I smiled, maybe getting to know someone wouldn’t be that bad. Then I remembered that I was probably just about to be expelled.

“What’s the worst injury you’ve gotten?” Jo's question dragged me out of my thoughts.

“I got my arm broken a couple years ago. I misjudged how far it could bend before it snapped.”

I laughed at the memory, it had been my own fault. I had been too stubborn to tap out.

“Worst for me was probably a few broken ribs” She winced at the memory. She was just going into details as the principal opened the door. At once all the laughter faded, and we were both back to our sullen selves.

“Okay, all I’m asking for you is to apologize to each other.” He didn’t sound like he had much hope left.

I hesitated for a second, then came to the conclusion that maybe if I apologize I wouldn’t get expelled. I wouldn’t mind getting to know Jo better.

“I’m sorry your nose got broken.”

I could see the principal process what I said, and he was about to say something, probably to make me put myself into the apology, when Jo spoke up.

“I’m sorry you got a black eye.”

The principal looked from me to Jo, and decided this was not a battle he wanted to keep fighting.

“You both have detention for a week.” I had to work hard to keep a smile from spreading across my face. “And if I catch either of you fighting again, you will be suspended. Now get out of my office.”

As we left, he looked so dejected.

Waiting outside the office was the blond boy. He looked up as Jo walked towards him. I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I should follow, or if whatever that was in the office was a one time thing.

“Adrianne, this is Adyen. Ayden, Adrianne.”

I half smiled, unsure how he was going to react to the person who had just beaten up his friend.

To my surprise, he grinned, and turned to Jo.

“Wonderful, now you can stop using me as your punching bag.”