"I walked into a door," Phil said as we all looked at his face. It seemed as though the others believed him.
"For a minute there I thought you'd been in a fight, Deville," Angelica said.
"It's got a nice purple tint to it," Suzie said. The bus pulled into our street and everyone turned away.
"You sure that was a door?" Kimi asked him but Phil just smiled and nodded. We got on the bus and I could see Pete and his gang staring at us. I sat on my own behind Phil and Chuckie. I watched the houses fly past the window but all I could think about was what I'd dropped Phil in. That was obviously no door.
Phil's black eye had been on my mind for the first few lessons; I was scared to look back at Pete. I did once and when I did he pointed at his eye and started laughing. Those lessons were the slowest I'd been in. I needed to see Phil at break. When it came I found Phil and took him to the edge of the school grounds.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Pete and his two little friends, what's their names? They came to my house last night," he said.
"Did he just hit you?" I asked.
"He asked me to come on a little walk with them; I agreed," he said. I was shocked did Phil want this? I didn't get it.
"You didn't want anyone knowing about the Pete thing, if they started beating me up on my doorstep my mum would want to know what was happening," Phil explained.
"Okay, what is going on! I'm not going anywhere till one of you tells me!" Kimi said, turning up out of nowhere.
"You don't want to ruin your birthday present do you?" Phil asked smoothly.
"Phil, I'm not stupid, I can see when something's up. Who did that to you? Is this something to do with Dil's detention? Is that why you and Lil were off yesterday?" Kimi questioned.
"Lil's got nothing to do with this," I said.
"So something is going on," Kimi said.
"Kimi, I can't say. You just have to trust us," I said. Then Pete turned up with his friends.
"Skinny, loser boy," he said with his mates sniggering behind him, "Who's your new friend?" he looked at Kimi. I couldn't speak.
"You again. What is this?" Kimi asked, "You still owe him money?"
"Which reminds me Pickles," Pete stuck his hand out and I gave him everything I had.
"You told her what's going on Pickles?" Rod asked pointing at Kimi.
"I haven't told anyone," I said.
"You've told loser boy here haven't you, he told us all about it," Tessa said. I looked at Phil.
"You want me to get a teacher?" Kimi asked.
"Snitch, you're not telling anyone about this," Pete said holding Kimi's jacket.
"About what?" Kimi shouted, "Let go of me."
"See you later Skinny," Pete said letting Kimi go then getting a good look at Phil and Kimi. I felt awful, now Kimi was going to get it. I decided to explain everything to Kimi now. She was kind of surprised, but knew deep down this was probably what was happening.
"You told a parent? Teacher? Tommy?" Kimi asked me.
"No, just Phil and now you," I said.
"How long you known about this?" Kimi asked Phil but then the bell rang and we all went off in different directions, Kimi was stormed off angrily but Phil still kept his cool.
Lunch came and I got my lunch money from Phil as usual. I went of to get my lunch and when I returned to our table Phil was gone.
"Kimi where's Phil?" I asked sitting down.
"He ran off, said he couldn't talk about it right now," Kimi sounded annoyed.
"Talk about what?" Lil asked.
"English! Project," I blurted out.
"I didn't think Phil was in your English class Kimi," Chuckie said.
"He's not I just need a word," Kimi said. Tommy and Olivia were at the table too. But by now I'm sure you know that they wouldn't be paying attention.
"I'll catch him on the bus," Kimi said.
At the end of the day I got out of class on time. It was a relief as now it was the weekend. I ran straight to the bus and sat down. Only a few others were already on. I waited for the gang and watched out the window. Pete was coming. As he got on the bus he unzipped my bag and 'accidentally' tipped it over. He and his friends went to the back laughing. I bent over in my seat and picked up my books and pens. As I lent over I heard Phil and Kimi's voices get on the bus. They sat in front of me.
"How long have you known Phillip!" Kimi screamed at him.
"You can't do that! Only Lil calls me Phillip when she's angry" Phil joked.
"Phil do you not realize how serious this is?" Kimi said. Phil didn't answer right away.
"I just wanted to do what Dil wanted. I was trying to help him! He doesn't want his parents knowing! I thought I could get those guys of his back," Phil said. I coughed loudly and they turned.
"Dil! How have long you been sitting there?" Kimi asked.
"Longer than you two," I said.
"You really have to tell your parents," Kimi said.
"And get a mega beating from those guys! I can only just survive the ones they give me now. And also Mum and Dad will be ashamed of me," I said.
"They won't be ashamed," Kimi said comfortingly.
"Look, I'll be fine, I'm learning how to be, you know, normal. Plus I've put on weight since this first started. They won't be able to call me Skinny much longer," I said.
Kimi gave me a stern look.
"Can't you tell Tommy? He can explain it to your parents," Kimi said. I didn't reply.
"Tommy's a bit busy right now, isn't he Dil," Phil said, I looked at him but again said nothing.
"Too busy to help out his little brother?" Kimi questioned.
"Yes! Just look at him will you!" I yelled standing up and pointing in Tommy and Olivia's direction. The bus went quiet. Everyone was looking at me; everyone was looking at Tommy and Olivia. They looked up and didn't understand what was going on. The bus suddenly started moving and I fell back onto my seat.
"Dil? What's up with you?" Kimi asked sounding concerned.
"Just don't talk to me please," I said hanging my head in my hands. I sat in silence the rest of the journey. So did Kimi and Phil. I felt dreadfully ashamed. I was an idiot.
I got home and surprisingly Olivia wasn't there, but Tommy was.
"What was that about on the bus Dil?" Tommy asked as I walked towards my bedroom.
"Nothing," I said quietly.
"It must have been something, you angry with me?" Tommy asked.
"Nope," I said in an unbelievable tone.
"You know, I can't talk to you when you're acting like this," Tommy said storming out my room.
"Fine, go run of to Olivia," I said. I thought I said it quietly, but Tommy heard.
"What's your problem with her? I can tell you don't like her," Tommy said coming back.
"I...err" I tried to speak, fortunately the telephone cut of my sentence. Tommy picked the cordless phone of my floor, answering it expecting it to be Olivia.
"Oh, hey Phil, what's up?" Tommy said about to leave my room, "Dil? Oh okay, sorry." Tommy walked back and handed me the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Dil, you okay?" Phil asked.
"Just great," I said sarcastically as I closed the door after Tommy left.
"You want to sleep over tonight?" Phil asked.
"Sure, I'll check with mum," I opened the door and went downstairs to ask her. She was cool with it so I packed some stuff and head straight over.
"Where's Lil?" I asked as we sat on the sofa watching 'The Simpsons'.
"She's out with Chuckie," he laughed, "Chuckie asked her out on a date." I laughed with him. "Both my parents are out too, which is why I asked you over," he paused, "I was getting bored."
"Oh God! Chuckie and Lil won't turn into a Tommy/Olivia situation will it?" I joked.
"Hope not, I'd have to spend more time with Kimi," he chuckled. I laughed too. There was a long awkward silence. I think we both had Pete on our minds, but neither wanted to bring him up. We watched the rest of 'The Simpsons' then went upstairs to Phil's room. We decided to play Ultimate Speed 4 on his games console. We were playing when the doorbell rung. Phil went downstairs and answered it.
"Loser boy, how's it going!" I heard Pete's slimy voice say.
"Not now Pete," Phil replied.
"Where's you're look-alike?" Tessa asked, talking about Lil.
"She's out,"
"And your parents are out too," Pete guessed.
"You going to invite us in?" Rod asked. At that point I left Phil's room and walked down a couple of steps, so Pete and his friends could see me.
"Two for one special!" Pete said coming into the hallway.
"Get out of my house," Phil said pushing him back.
"Don't push him," Rod said as Tessa pushed Phil. I ran to the bottom of the stairs behind Phil.
"Want me to make you another black eye to match your first?" Pete said smirking.
"Just leave us alone, please," Phil begged. It didn't sound right, coming from Phil, but he obviously meant it.
"Come on, just a little punch up," Pete taunted, holding his fists up, "We could have a tag match, me and Tessa against you two,"
"What about me?" Rod asked.
"Shut up," Pete replied, "How about it Deville?"
"I don't fight little kids," Phil said, looking down at him. Suddenly Pete's fist flew through the air and punched Phil in the face.