Joey attempted to walk past them. They stopped in his path.
"Can I help ya?" Joey glared at them
"Yea" The ring leader smirked and snapped his fingers, the other four advanced on Joey and Kei.
"'Ey, what we ever done to you?"
"Not what you did to us" The leader kept smirking
"What you did to Jordan" Kei looked up at Joey
"Can't he fight his own battles?" Joey gently pushed Kei behind him "Or does he need his lackeys to do his dirty work?"
Three of them grabbed Joey, while the fourth grabbed Kei and pulled her away.
"Joey!"
"Kei!" He tried to break free but they forced him to his knees. Two of them had hold of his arms, the other held him down by his shoulders. The leader looked at him.
"You're pathetic, you know that?"
"Really?" Joey smirked "I'm not the one picking on two defenseless people, now that's pathetic!"
The leader punched him then walked towards Kei. She started to struggle in her captors grasp.
"So you're Kei…I can see why Jordan likes you, but why don't you like him?"
"'Cause like you, he's a jerk!" She felt his palm across her cheek. Tears swelled up threatening to fall. She slowly looked back up at him as he raised his hand again.
"Leave her alone!" Joey wriggled in the boys grips. The leader turned his attention back to Joey and swung his foot into his side. Joey let out a loud cry then hung his head. The leader turned back to Kei.
"Whimper like the mutt you are" He looked over his shoulder at Joey
"I-I'm…"Joey stuttered in pain then leapt to his feet breaking free "I'm not a mutt!" He threw his fist at the leader and broke his nose. The others jumped in except for he one that had Kei. He picked her up and started to carry her off in the other direction.
"Put me down!" She wriggled in his grasp. She head butted him in the nose and he dropped her instantly. She ran back to Joey and saw the others had run off. Joey staggered towards her. "Joey you ok?"
"Yeah, fine. Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head and studied his wounds. "C'mon let's get to school" She held him up so he was steady and slowly walked to school. They slowly made their way to the nurses office and sat on the bed. "Lift up your shirt"
"What?"
"Lift it up, so I can see where he kicked you"
Joey slowly lifted his shirt showing a large bruise on his left side and a few more along with some cuts. Kei looked at them puzzled.
"A few of these look old…"
"Yeah, I'm a little clumsy" Joey smiled
Kei looked up at him, not in the slightest bit convinced. "You can tell me anything Joey…"
"I can?" He looked at her confused
"Yeah, we are friends after all…aren't we?" Her eyes filled with sadness and worry of loosing her only friend. Joey looked deep into her eyes and pulled her into a hug. She gently hugged back not wanting to brush past his bruise and hurt him.
"Kei?" A voice came from the door. Kei looked behind her to see the nurse
"Hey…"
"It's not like you to be here" She walked over to them "What happened?"
"We just got jumped" Joey looked at the nurse
"I see…"
"Could you look at Joey, he got it a lot worse than me"
The nurse looked at Joey's visible bruises "Take off your shirt"
"Excuse me?" Joey blinked
"So I can look for any other injuries, now come on"
Joey sighed and took off his shirt. Kei turned her head away as he did.
"Oh my…" The nurse gasped as she looked at the cuts and bruises covering Joey's chest
"Joey…" Kei looked at him
"I…fell down the stairs" Joey tried to lie
"Can we have a minute please?" Kei looked at the nurse
"Sure thing" She nodded and walked into her office
"Well Joey?"
"I told you, I fell down the stairs"
"My foot you did, what happened?"
Joey stayed quiet and looked away from her. Kei placed her hand on his.
"Joey…you can tell me"
"I can't…I'm sorry"
"But Joey…"
"No! No buts, I can't get you involved. It's for your own safety"
"Please Joey…"
"No…" He almost whispered "I can't" He pulled her into a hug again "You don't want me fightin' cause you don't wanna see me hurt…that's why I can't tell ya"
"Fine…" She sighed "But please…be careful…"
"I'll tell you…someday, when you won't be in danger…"