Ch. 1 Forth Time's the worst

AUTHOR'S WARNING: There is MAJOR violence that involves a beloved character in this chapter. Read at your own risk. Violence is in bold.

Nathan whistled to himself as he opened his locker. He had come early before school to talk to one of his teachers, and was excited for the evening. He had a date with Daley.

In his locker he had three pictures on the inside door- one of the entire Flight 29 Down gang (with him included) goofing off together; one of him and Melissa in Junior High, and a recent one of him and Daley (going to the winter formal last Christmas). He couldn't wait to replace that picture with one from Senior Prom in four weeks.

Nathan dug into the back of his locker and pulled out another photograph. This one was super old, dirty, and dusty. He wiped it off with his sleeve.

It was when he was eight, and it was a group photo of him, Melissa, Daley, and their old friend Liam- he had died of Leukemia in the 6th grade. Nathan smiled sadly at the picture, and hung it up in his locker. He, Melissa, and Daley had annulled their old pact a year and a half ago- and it had been a huge relief to be able to talk about Liam again.

Nathan found his books, and gently shut his locker as footsteps came up behind him. He whirled around and faced who used to be his teammates- used to being the key word here- Bruce, Reggie, Sergei, Joey, Bill, Rich, Sam, and Jason.

"Hey guys," Nathan shrugged, "what's up?"

"This is what's up," Bruce grunted and all 8 football players formed a tight circle around him. Bruce held out a note.

"This is from Miss Johnson," the note looked real to Nathan, so for once he didn't doubt Bruce's word.

"We'll give it to you on two conditions," Jason nodded.

"One: you ditch Marin. Two: You ditch your friends," Bill grunted.

"No way! Are you kidding? I'll just go talk to Miss Johnson," Nathan tried to push past him, but the bullies held him back.

"Take- the- note!" Bruce yelled through gritted teeth.

"No," Nathan said simply, and Bruce punched him in the gut.

Nathan let out a gasp of pain, and Jason kicked him in the crotch. He stumbled to the ground, helpless now, as Reggie tromped on his arm. Blood splattered everywhere. Nathan gritted his teeth in pain for a moment, but let out a gasp as Sam kicked and stepped on his legs. Joey then brought him to his feet just to have Sergei ram into him, crushing his chest and then Rich kicked his crotch again. Bruce punched him in the mouth and Reggie punched his eye. Nathan grabbed onto one of them, but then Joey let go of him and Nathan crumpled to the ground. By then he had lost all feeling in his legs. He made a weak effort to stop them by weakly pulling Bruce's feet out from under him, but that did nothing to stop the bullies- they worked like a flawless team, smoothly kicking him everywhere and anywhere. Nathan soon couldn't feel his body, the only thing he could feel was… nothing. He was completely nub. He felt another sharp blow to his head, and he was in so much pain that it was beyond screaming. He was beginning to black out.

Oh god, they're going to murder me… Nathan thought helplessly.

"Stop," he murmured to the best of his ability.

"Oh, does wittle Nathan want us to stop?" Jason cackled.

"Continue boys. Don't stop," Bruce laughed evilly.

Nathan let out a small groan as they continued. He couldn't see anymore, someone had kicked both his eyes shut.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? NATHAN!" screamed a familiar voice.

Daley, Nathan thought, and that was when he completely blacked out.

F29DWN

Daley was walking through the school hallway, happy because she was in the top 1 of her class. She was going to the library to study, as always.

She was going past the hallway where Nathan's locker was, and heard some idiotic laughs and a soft voice murmuring in pain, stop. Daley doubled back, and screamed.

Eight football jocks were repeatedly kicking and stepping on, so basically murdering Nathan. He was groaning on the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? NATHAN!" Daley screamed and ran over as Nathan went limp.

"Oh look, Nathan's being rescued!" Bruce laughed dumbly.

Daley was about to crumple to the floor, but first whirled around and punched Bruce in the mouth. He let out a small squeak and fell to the floor. Daley when and punched another one of the bullies in the gut and kicked the other coming at her in the crotch, showing she meant business.

The rest of the jocks helped up the injured ones and ran away, so then Daley crumpled to the floor.

"Oh Nathan!" she whispered softly, bringing his limp form into her lap. He was unconscious, but breathing. His breathing was quiet, but forced, labored, and irregular. Daley lifted his form in her arms and cried. She knew she had to save him, but right now she couldn't think. Her mind was filled with one simple thought: No, not Nathan! No! which repeated itself over and over.

Soon, more footsteps came down the hallway. Daley heard a gasp and heavy books fall to the floor. The person rushed over to her.

"Honey? Daley, its Mrs. Ralson," Daley didn't make sense of anything except it was the librarian.

"Daley, what happened?" she asked again.

"Bullies," Daley began to stammered, "the jocks injured Nathan."

"Is he alive?" Mrs. Ralson asked softly.

"I… I don't know," Daley whispered, so Mrs. Ralson checked his pulse.

"He is," and Daley heard Mrs. Ralson pull out her phone. Daley felt a rush of relief wash over her, but it wasn't big. When Mrs. Ralson assured her that the paramedics were on their way, she left so she could meet them in front of the school. Daley could finally see through her tears, and saw a piece of white paper on the ground. She was shaking as she picked it up and read it.

Nathan's in the top 1 too… Oh Nathan! She thought, and folded up the note and stuck it in her jean pocket.

It wasn't long before Mrs. Ralson came rushing back with the paramedics. Daley reluctantly let go of Nathan so they could roll him on a stretcher.

"C-Can I go?" Daley asked softly.

Mrs. Ralson nodded, "I'll explain to the office."

Daley nervously got in the van with Nathan, and didn't let go of his hand all the way there.

Back in the hallway, his books lay forgotten.

(1, 105 Words) I figured you'd want to see the bullies hurt, lol. Does Nathan survive? You'll see… Review please!