Thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows. This chapter is out of turn as I am due to write one for my Growing Pains story. But I couldn't stop writing this. I love writing teen Skye. Yes, Lincoln is going to be in this. Eventually. I am still developing the characters in my bios.
It was a colder day then yesterday as Skye walked to school with Ryan. JJ had left earlier to get to a team football meeting so it was just her and Ryan. He was kind of quiet and had barely spoken to her since she had arrived.
Skye decided to play spy a bit. "So Ryan, JJ is captain of the football team huh? What position does he play?"
"Yeah he is. He's the quarterback. He's good. They won the first four games. He also plays baseball."
"So you play football too?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Don't do sports. That's JJ's thing. Not mine."
"So what's your thing then Ryan?"
"Uh, I don't know. I just try to get good grades. I was in chorus and band in Middle School but JJ said it was for sissies so..."
"You don't do them now that your in high school."
"Yeah I tried sports but was never very good. Everyone thought I should be, you know cause of JJ, but I always disappointed the coaches. I do run cross country and do track. Just running. I'm not a superstar or anything but I made the team. Dad says it looks good on college applications, and looks good for him and his perfect little family."
Skye raised her eyebrows. His last statement was curious but she decided to ask a safe question. "So what instrument did you play Ryan?"
"Sax. I was good too. I still play at home. So what do you do Skye?"
"Um...as little as possible." She laughed and he joined in.
"Well my dad will probably expect you to get involved in something. He likes everything to reflect well on his image."
"Seriously? Cause all I am really good at is computers. Like super good. I do okay in other classes if I like the class." She paused for a beat and then continued. "Why do you think they took me in?" She stopped walking and turned to him.
He stopped when Skye moved in front of him. He looked at her, then he looked down at his shoes. "You are his new project Skye. His way of telling the world what a great guy he is. Taking in some stray kid makes his image better. He's running for State Senator. He's going to announce his candidacy in a few weeks."
Skye was stunned. "You are kidding?"
"I wish I was. Everything Jason Brody does has a reason. He is a manipulative son-of-a-bitch. Mom hates that you're here. JJ does too but he'll toe the line and do whatever Jason wants. Mom will just drink more. JJ will act all nice around you but behind your back... just be careful Skye."
"What about you Ryan? How do you feel about me being in your house?"
He grinned at her. "Right now, great. My family is trying to be sort of normal. And the focus is on you. Which means my dad is not on my case about my everything, and JJ doesn't slam me about my choice of friends. Mom just ignores me in favor of the drink as usual. And apparently I now have someone to talk to." He laughed. She joined in. They continued walking to school.
"So Ryan, why doesn't JJ like your friends?"
"Cause they are nerds. Like me. He thinks I hang with the wrong crowd. He and Grant are always trying to get me and Thomas to be more cool. Problem is we like being nerds. At least Thomas stayed in the band. He stood up to everyone in his family. And Grant at least cares about him. JJ hates me."
"Whoa, hold up." Skye stopped walking again. "Thomas? Do you mean Thomas Ward?"
He also stopped and looked at her. "Yeah. How'd you know his last name?"
"I sat next to him at lunch. At the table. With Leo and Jemma."
"Of course you did." He smiled. Skye did remind him a bit of his friends. "Yeah I wish I ate first lunch, but I needed to take Bio that period. The others all took Bio back in eighth grade. I opted to take Geometry instead. Thomas, Leo and Jemma are my best friends. That's why JJ is always on my case." Ryan took a breathe and then checked his watch.
"Hey we better get a move on or we'll be late for first period." He started down the block leading into the school driveway.
"Ryan? Did your brother and his friends beat up Leo and break his arm?" Ryan came to a stop. He shook his head and turned back to face Skye.
"No. Not JJ. Just his friends. JJ doesn't like to get his hands dirty if he can help it. I've never forgiven him for it."
"So you and JJ getting along..."
"Yeah Skye. All an act. I hate him and he hates me. I gotta go. See you after school." He turned and jogged up the drive to the school entrance. Skye followed behind, slower, weaving in and out of the other students. She felt someone watching her and turned to her right to look. There was a group of kids sitting on the concrete wall lining the walkway. They were all staring at her. Not good she thought. Just keep walking Skye, just keep...
One of the girls stepped out in front of her. She had to stop. She stared back at the pretty dark haired girl in the flower dress.
"So you're JJ's new sister." Skye knew it wasn't a question, so she waited not saying anything. "You know JJ isn't happy you are in his house."
"Yeah well that's his problem."
"Actually no. It is going to be yours. You better just do what he says sweetie, or well let's just say ...we all, " she pointed to around 15 boys and girls, "we all have his back. Don't think we don't know who you are paling around with. Believe me Skye, we'll be watching."
Skye looked at her. She couldn't help it. She started laughing. All she could see in her mind was a bad teen film. She laughed harder.
'Oh god are you going to sick your jocks and cheerleaders on me and my nerd friends?" She laughed harder doubling over holding her stomach. "Cause... thhhheeee... smmmmart nerds always winnnn... in every movie ever made." She managed to say between her laughter.
All the other kids around were paying attention. Skye straightened up and took a deep breathe. "Listen Flowers. Just stay the hell away from me and leave me and my friends alone. Go back to your teen whatever and your drama and don't ever get in my face again. Kapeesh?" A red headed girl stood up and moved to stand next to the girl in the flower dress.
"Raina, Alicia, is everything okay here?" Phil Coulson knew trouble when he saw it starting. "Hello Skye. Making new friends already I see."
Skye grinned. "Yeah Mr. C. Everyone is just so friendly."
Raina and the others started to disperse. Raina glanced back at Skye and smirked at her. " Oh Skye. Don't forget what we talked about. JJ will probably remind you later."
Skye's smile disappeared as she watched Raina walk into the building. Phil was still standing there. "You know Skye, I don't pretend to know what's going on, but that looked like potential trouble. If you need to talk or need help you can go to guidance or the principal or any of us teachers. Okay?"
She smiled at her favorite teacher. "It's all good Mr.C. Just a little misunderstanding. I'll fix it when I see JJ later at home. See you in class."
Skye walked into the building and headed to the gymnasium. She had ninth grade fitness class first period, the class she had missed yesterday. She hated freaking gym class. This day was fast turning into a crappy one.
Phil entered the building and decided to go to the teacher's lounge before heading to his classroom. He walked in and headed to the keurig machine and searched the flavor options. Settling on french vanilla, he popped the container in the machine, placed a cup under it and pressed the button.
"Gotta get your fix of coffee here or does Melinda let you drink it in her house now? "
Phil turned to see Rosalind Price sitting at one of the tables nursing her own mug of coffee.
He waved his hand. "Mel drinks coffee occasionally now Roz. You'd know that if you stopped by more often. What has it been, a few months?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I hear it enough from Mel when she calls. So how are your classes going this year Phil? Already six weeks into the new school year, can you believe it?"
Phil grabbed his cup and sat down at the same table. "Good actually. Pretty good bunch of Freshman this year. My America History classes, of course my favorite, are good. Which by the way, I sure wish..."
"Oh shut up Phil. You say the same thing every year. You have to teach at least one class of World History and one of Government. It's already bad enough I get so many parents calling to put their kids in your classes instead of my other very fine Social Studies teachers'. "
"I can't help it I'm popular Roz."
She laughed. "Sure Phil. There's always a first for everyone. I remember your nerd was strong when we both went here."
"In the dark ages you mean, right." They both laughed.
"Things sure have changed. Back then the worst thing was being worried about getting shoved into a locker by the cool kids. Now they break arms."
"Phil. We had an investigation. The police could not find evidence. And the kids all clammed up. What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know Roz. I know is sucks. Some of these kids are bullied and won't speak up. Then we have a few here, like Malick and Garrett who not only look the other way but encourage it."
"Well Phil, you need to be careful what you say too. You have no proof of that. No evidence. Just cause they are jerks doesn't make them liable for what kids do."
He raised his eyebrows at her and smirked. "Please Roz. Their attitudes and compliance in some of these matters is almost criminal. I don't care who Malick's brother is or how much power he has."
They both grew quiet as the door opened. Stepping inside was one of the school aides. "Ms. Price. Nurse Connor asked me to get you. Something happened in first period gym class."
Roz raised her eyebrow at Phil and got up to follow the aide out the door with Phil close behind, both coffees forgotten about. They walked briskly to the nurse's office. Upon entering they were greeted with two kids sitting on the cot and one in a chair next to the cot. The nurse was holding a cloth to the bleeding nose of one Thomas Ward, sitting on the cot who also appeared to have a welt on his forehead. Next to him was Jemma Simmons who was sporting a cut lip and scratches under her chin. On the chair, was Skye. She had a black and blue cheek and a sizable welt on her neck. She was also holding an ice bag on her left wrist with her right hand.
"Mrs. Connor. What happened here."
Four pair of eyes looked at the principal. Phil watched Skye and saw hers blazing with anger.
"I'm not sure. Mr. Garrett and Miss Davis walked all three in here a few minutes ago. Said they got hurt in gym class. They left and I sent Mrs. Green to get you. I need accident reports filled out for all three and we may want to call Thomas's parents and hers since her wrist may be broken." She pointed to Skye.
"Accident my ass."
Phil looked at Skye. So did Roz. She spoke to her. "Are you claiming this was done on purpose, um...Miss.."
"Skye." Phil finished. "Her name is Skye. She started yesterday and is in my second period history class.
They continued staring at Skye. She looked at Thomas and Jemma. Thomas was smiling at her and shaking his head. Jemma would not meet her eyes.
"What exactly did you mean by that, Skye?" Rosalind Price walked closer to the girl and stood in front of her.
"Nothing."
"So tell us what happened then. How did you, all of you get injured in gym class."
"Dodge ball should be fucking banned from schools."
Roz glanced back at Phil. "Please control your language. Skye, was it? What's your last name." Skye simply stared at her.
"Um Mrs. Price could I talk to you." Phil motioned to go into the other room next to them. Roz nodded and followed. Phil closed the door.
"She's new Roz. Names Mary Sue Poots. Won't answer to it. Goes by Skye. She's a foster kid. I dug a little yesterday. She's staying with the Brody's."
"Jason and Anne? JJ Brody?"
"Yes. Those Brody's. She's very smart Roz. Jumped right in to what I was teaching about and answered a few questions. She's taking all Honors classes and she's even in Malicks' high computer class reserved mostly for upperclassman. I checked her grades. In computer classes and what looks like ones she cares about - she has like 100's, straight A's. The others are B's. Her discipline record is pretty interesting. Mostly marked as having a bad attitude, talking back and skipping class. No violence."
"So what do you think happened?"
"I saw Raina and Alicia giving her a hard time before school today. She shrugged it of and basically told me to mind my own business."
"So how do we proceed? If kids are being bullied or targeted Phil, we need to stop it. But the kids have to speak up."
"Well for starters call her Skye. Then let me talk to her. You talk to Thomas and Jemma. Jemma's too afraid most likely but maybe Thomas has had enough. His brother hangs with Raina and Alicia and that crowd."
She nodded her agreement and they both went back to the other room.
"Skye how about you follow me and we talk about what happened." Phil motioned to the room he had just vacated. She looked at him, shrugged and got up. She walked into the room with Phil close behind. He left the door slightly ajar. Skye slumped into a chair and looked expectantly at Phil.
"Yeah so Mr. C. what do you want to talk about." Her voice dripped with attitude. so much so Phil had to smile
"How about the truth? Just tell me what happened."
She smirked at him. 'Long or short version?"
"Any version would work."
Skye sighed and then took a deep breathe. She looked up at Phil who had a very calm expression and a caring one. Like he actually cared. His eyes looked compassionate. That was not common in the teachers she knew.
"Short version then. I hate gym. Thomas and Jemma hate gym too. In fact, most high schoolers except for jocks hate gym Mr. C. It's a form of torture that should have been outlawed years ago." Phil smiled.
"First period gym is especially brutal. Coming in to school, tired, not enough sleep, cause face it Mr. C - teens stay up way too late and then after just dressing for school and getting there on time, one has to undress in front of other kids, virtual strangers, put on gym type clothing and then march out to face the music."
"You make it sound like a firing squad Skye." She looked at him and pointed, nodding.
"Yep. Good analogy." Phil laughed.
"Then we get to wait to see what wonderful type of torture the gym teacher has thought up for the day. Will it be running for no damn reason? Will it be shooting baskets in that hoop thing most of us miss? Will it be lining up to count by twos to play volleyball or hockey, two games I still have no idea what the rules really are. Or maybe indoor soccer so we can limp around the remainder of the day with sore shins. Or that tried and true game of capture the flag, where only 3 kids from each team actually care and the rest of us sit by the wall thankful it isn't the dreaded dodgeball."
Phil was full on laughing now. "I thought you said this was the short version."
"Do not interrupt. It'll take longer." She grinned at him. Dodgeball. The game invented by masochists that truly only bullies and hardcore jocks love. The game where the mere mention makes stomachs queasy and knees knock. People have died playing dodgeball, Mr. C."
Skye paused and continued. "We picked teams. Of course super jock gym teacher picked his captains. Jemma, Thomas and I ended up on the same team. With a lot of other none jocks. Kids with high IQ's but not high speed or high power. The captain and his two friends got out right away. Then the other team got out all the other kids. Even though Jemma, Thomas and me were open to get hit, they didn't hit us. Until we were the only three left. Then 20 balls came at us at the same time. Hard. Mostly aimed at our heads. I pushed Jemma out of the way and she fell and a ball bounced off the floor onto her face, skimmed over it, hence the skid marks across her chin. I saw two balls headed for my head and through up my arm for protection. Both hit the same spot, on my wrist." She held it up for emphasis, then continued. "As I was holding my wrist and trying to get off the playing area, another ball struck me here on my cheek." She put two fingers to the black and blue welt. The she touched her neck. "I don't even know how this one happened. Thomas saw another one coming at my face and stepped in front of me. That's how he got the bloody nose. I don't think they meant for him to get it that bad. Just me. Lucky me."
Skye stopped and looked at the teacher for his reaction. "I guess that was the long version after all."
Phil's emotions as Skye was talking went from disbelief to anger. He didn't doubt her story one bit. It flowed too easy and too full of emotion to be made up. "I'm sorry Skye."
She jerked her head up to look at him. "Why? Why are you sorry."
"Because no one should ever be bullied or targeted. Ever. Please tell me their names so it can stop."
Skye laughed. "Stop. Please. If I tell you names it will only get worse. Do you know what the gym teacher said to me when he came over after he realized I was really hurt? He said I should have caught the ball. If I wasn't such a wuss I could have won."
Phil saw red. He had never liked John Garrett. He was a jock through and through, and favored the athletes, and he was kind of dumb but this was crossing the line.
"He had no right to say that to you. Or to let those kids do that. He should be punishing them. Hopefully Jemma and Thomas back up what you told me. We can fix this Skye."
She smiled. He was a really nice teacher but had no clue. "It'll never be fixed Mr.C. The big strong jocks always rule in high school. Wasn't it like that back when you went."
Phil nodded. "To a degree maybe. But they weren't cruel Skye. They were just jerks. I think here at our school the line into cruel has been crossed."
Just then there was a knock on the door. Roz walked in and made her way over to Phil. She looked at Skye. Phil spoke to her, "So what did Jemma and Thomas say?"
Skye watched Ms Price. She looked pissed. So they must have said nothing to her like they told her they were gonna do. She frowned.
"Nothing. They said nothing. At least nothing of value. Jemma went on and on about needing to be better at gym class, and Thomas said outright he wasn't talking. No matter how much I tried to get him to all he said was he should have been paying better attention in the game. What about you?"
Phil looked at Skye who turned away. He saw the disappointment flash before she masked it with indifference. "Skye says it was deliberate. But she knows it's her word against everyone else."
"How was it deliberate?"
Skye looked up at her. "Does it even matter? I'm the new kid. Been here one day. I also know what's in my records. Both the school one and the social service one. No one will ever pick me against them. No one will believe me. Everyone is too afraid. Hell, I'm afraid."
"I believe you Skye." Phil spoke up.
She smiled. "Thanks. Now if only you knew a good self defense teacher."
He laughed. Ms. Price laughed as well. Skye looked at them both with a puzzled expression. Phil spoke up. "I'm married to one."
Skye looked surprised. "Really?" She smiled. How weird was that?
"I really need to get back to my office. Phil your class started but while I was out there trying to talk to Thomas I sent Mrs. Green to stay with the class. Skye, the nurse is filling out your paperwork and Mrs. Brody was called. You will need x-rays for your wrist."
Skye nodded and followed them into the room. Jemma and Thomas had already gone. Ms. Price walked out the door. Phil turned to Skye as she sat down in the chair by the nurse's desk.
"You know my wife has been looking for someone to clean her gym. Couple hours a week. Maybe give you some lessons instead of paying you. She teaches all kinds of Martial Arts disciplines. I mean if you were interested."
Skye looked at his concerned face. He reached into his pocket and got out a card. He handed it to her. She read it. 'Melinda's Place - Martial Arts Instruction'. It had a phone number on it. "Give her a call if interested. I'll mention you to her. If you are serious I mean. She is the best." Skye placed the card in her pocket and turned her attention to the nurse who wanted to re- check her wrist. She wondered if Mrs. Brody would be pissed off or not.