The icy air whipped around the students as they made their way to the frozen lake. Mr Zorric, the sports teacher, was in front, leading the kids towards the pond that was used for ice hockey in the Winter. Kenny and the rest of his friends were walking behind the rest of the group. As they laughed at the girls in front who were wearing ugly pink parkas, Kenny noticed Owen ambling in front. A sneer grew on Kenny's face, as he nudged the other guys to draw their attention to the idiot in front of them.
As Owen stumbled along wearing that gross coat of his, kenny made his approach. He slung an arm across Owen's neck, and put his face next to Owen's. He felt the boy tense up, as if he was expecting a punch in the gut. Kenny felt tempted to give him one.
"Hey little girl," said Kenny. "You know the ice? There's a whole lot of fucking freezing water down there. And you're going in it." With that, he pushed Owen away and walked off with the others.
Owen's mind went cloudy. He didn't want to get beat up again. kenny had not just last week ambushed him in the locker room after swim practise, after he had laughed when Kenny got ten laps for pulling down Angela Stevenson's swimming costume strap. Kenny had given him the most painful wedgie in history, then Owen pissed himself.
But going in the ice? Through the ice? He could get killed! He could drown and nobody would care…
"Hey Owen!" Mr Zorric called. "Get your ass down here pronto! We gotta start practise!" he yelled.
"Coming." shouted Owen.
At the ice, Owen stood frozen at the corner near the tree line. He watched as Kenny and the other bullies skate around, pushing the weedier kids like him to the frosty ground. He could almost see the ice creaking and shattering before him, and imagine plunging into the dark, sub-zero water, watching his breath escape to the surface while the ice formed again over his head…
"Yo Owen! Heads up!" Owen briefly saw the snowball before it hit him square in the head. Kenny laughed out loud when Owen wiped the snow off his face.
"So you ready?" said Kenny, a smirk on his face.
"For what?" asked Owen, dreading the answer.
Kenny snorted, looked at his friends and then back at Owen, who by this time was scared out of his wits at what tortue was going to pursue his answer.
"To go in the water you prick."
Owen gulped.
"You see that little bit of ice over there? The one that's got the poles around it?" Owen nodded. He had already planned out the attack: his face hitting the water like a slap, nobody hearing his cries as he drowned in the bitterly cold water.
Then, in a short-lived second, Kenny's friends had Owen's arms locked to his side. Terrified, Owen panicked, thinking the same thoughts as not long before.
But then, he remembered what Abby had said.
"You need to hit back, Owen. You need to hit back hard."
And that's just what he did.
Struggling free, he kicked Bradley, one of the bullies, in the balls, and he sunk to the ground in agony. Surprise flickered across Kenny's face, then it was replaced by anger. He lunged at Owen, but…
A scream was hurled across the lake. All the kids looked up from their pucks and sticks to see Kenny sprawled on the ice clutching his ear.
"He speared me! The little bastard fucking speared me in the ear!" Kenny howled. Owen stood back, numb with the quick emotion. He had never, ever hit Kenny before. But here he was, standing a few feet from the kid who he had just stabbed in the ear with a pole nearby. The pole had been holding up tape that cornered off the patch of thin ice Kenny was going to… to push him in. And he had stabbed his bully with it.
Mr Zorric was holding Kenny's head. The other children crowded around the ice that was now stained with dark blood. Kenny's ear was split, the flesh flapping. Kenny's anguish-filled screams echoed around the clearing.
"Okay, everyone back to the school! Somebody get the nurse, and make it quick!" Then he turned to Bradley and the other guy, who's name was Thomas or something. "And you, go on."
