Punching Cade

Bone cracked on impact and it made me gasp while the crowd hollered the fight on, one bloodied body dropping hard to the ground. A boy loomed above the almost still, lifeless body, chest lifting and dropping while his fists stayed clenched. Dark hair clung a little to his forehead while he slowly scanned the screaming crowd. Somebody rammed a shoulder into me while cheering, then jumped onto his friend's back in excitement. Phones were everywhere, recording the whole thing. I shoved through the circle toward the victim still stretched on the ground. Nobody had even tried to see whether he was dead. His blood-soaked hair slid through my fingers while I cradled his head. I couldn't make my hands stop shaking; red covered every finger. The boy's hazy eyes were open, electric blue fixed somewhere beyond me. "He's not dead." A rough voice cut across the noise, "Son of a bitch ought to be dead, but he ain't." I looked up and met Cade's stare, flat and empty on me. He was dead inside; even the ache in his reddened knuckles couldn't touch him. "Move! Break it up!" Mrs. Halberd shouted over everybody as she forced her way into the middle of the homemade ring, "Get to class, all of you!" Everybody knew that if there was even the tiniest hint of misbehaviour, Mrs. Halberd would ring a kid's parents without thinking twice. People scattered fast until only Cade, the almost unconscious boy, and I were left. That was how Cade Mercer set his personal best at four broken junior noses in a single term. Everyone knew Cade Mercer by name, but when it came to speaking to him or getting near him, almost no hands ever went up. He wasn't, per say, "popular," but everybody wanted him as a friend. Maybe it was the thrill of saying, "I'm best friends with a guy who hates everyone, which makes me special." The rumours about Cade Mercer were so ridiculous they almost felt true. Some people said he's high up in a gang and undercover so the police miss him- except he causes far too much chaos for that to stay hidden. The newest favourite was that he dealt drugs. That one started because of the little tattoo at the back of his neck. Most people didn't realise he saw the school counsellor for his "anger issues." Really, nobody knew- nobody but me, and I'm a nobody, so nobody knew. I only knew because my appointment came after Cade's, the last slot of the day: 4:30pm every Wednesday. But today was off. He sat quietly on the couch outside her office, arms folded, earbuds in. His eyes stayed shut, his face blank. I jolted when Cade's eyes snapped open and landed right on mine; one eyebrow lifted. "Hey, can I sit there?" I pointed beside him; there was just one couch, and I wasn't about to stand there for thirty minutes. Cade tugged one earbud out. "What?" I cleared my throat and tried again. "I said-" I wet my lips, "is that seat taken?" Cade gave me a look like he wanted to murder me before he answered, stiff as wood, "Yes." I watched, weirdly amazed, as he put the earbud back and erased me from his world, leaving me standing there alone and awkward. A shout came first, then sobbing, from Eliza Bloom's office. Whoever sat in there wasn't getting out anytime soon. Making myself brave, I dropped my bag to the floor and sat beside Cade, who didn't shift, who looked dead. I didn't have a phone; I couldn't afford one. So, naturally, my brain picked that moment to do something kids barely did anymore. "SOOOOOO!!" I blurted, smacking both palms against my thighs- oh my god, what was that even, Maisie? Am I sweating?...wait, don't smell yourself; that'd be weird. I turned toward Cade with reluctance, but to my surprise, he hadn't budged at all. "That isn't music. I'm ignoring you." Cade said flatly, eyes still shut and body still. We sat there in silence until I worked up enough nerve to ask, "So you seriously aren't listening to music?," Cade hissed through clenched teeth. Another whaling sound floated out of the counsellor's office. I snorted. "So you are listening to music?" Cade shot upright and turned to me in the same motion. I swallowed hard, suddenly aware of how fond I was of my own nose. "Can't you shut the fuck up?" Cade spat in my face before getting to his feet. "Tell her I'm not coming today." I only sat there and watched him leave without another word. That was the first conversation I ever had with Cade, if that even counted as one. "Maisie? Was Cade here?" Eliza looked through the cracked door. "This session's running over. We can talk tomorrow, if that's okay?" "Yeah, he was here a minute ago. He just left, and it's fine."