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Chapter 3

"This is complete crap!" Tanner Riley exploded as he carried his books up the steps to the third floor.

"Early morning detention sucks." Shelly Snider whined as she too lugged her day's books up the steps to the top floor.

"It's enough to make you drop out of anything afterschool." Pepper Fawley panted as she approached the top landing.

"Wait up Pepper! I don't want to be the last one in…" Kyle Murphy shouted as he ran up the steps. He was rushing around as he was later than normal today.

The quartet was making their way to the top of the steps to the third floor for their early morning detention. It was very early. They had to be in to Mr. Andrews's classroom at six fifteen in order to get credit for serving their detention time. They were all active members of afterschool organizations and they were all serving detention for various acts of juvenile mutiny.

Tanner was known for his mouth with the teachers. He had always believed in talking back as the best policy. It had gotten him out of several lower grades but had gotten him grounded more than once. He was also a top notch runner for the cross country team. Shelly Snider had been in trouble since she came out of the womb. She was an only child whose parents had better things to do with their time than spend any of it with her. She was destined for greatness with her singing voice. She was also member of the band and had carried a flame for Tanner for a number of years. Her biggest problem was getting to school on time and her fondness for the color black. She was always called "the Goth girl" only she hated the term Goth or Emo. She would always tell people: "I just like the color black. Is that just so difficult to understand?" Pepper Fawley and Kyle Murphy had been inseparable since they had hit high school. It was a well known fact that Pepper and Kyle were always being caught making out in the hallway between periods. This had earned them a near permanent spot in early detention since they too were in the band and several other after school events.

"Kyle… were gonna be late. I am not about to sacrifice my spot on the Cheerleading Squad for that." Pepper whispered forcefully.

"Hang on babe… I'm almost… there." Kyle tripped up the last step bringing the others attention back to him.

"That was smooth." Shelly laughed running her black polished nails through her dark chestnut colored hair. She bit her lip as she and Pepper continued to watch Kyle try and gather his pride long enough to climb the last three steps

"Not a word…" Kyle held up a hand to Tanner as he started to speak up.

"10 points!" Tanner exploded bringing an explosion of laughter to the others who had gathered to watch and pinpoint the exact location and who was behind the commotion.

"Come on…" Pepper wrapped a supportive arm around Kyle who pretended to be injured for the sympathy it was getting him.

Tanner pulled opened the door and the group filed in the hallway and stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh my GOD!" Shelly's face fell as she was the first to see the body lying in a small pool of blood.

Shelly gasped when she heard a muffled moan escape his lips. She dropped her books and ran to his side gently pushing his sweat sticky hair from his pale face. He was lying on his left side. His left arm stretched out above his head. His cheek was half on half off of his appendage. He let out a small cough as Shelly dropped her books to the ground and ran over to his side.

"Shell… who… is he?" Pepper asked as she, Tanner, and Kyle edged forward.

"Looks like that McQuaid kid… what's his name?" Tanner asked

"Tommy." Kyle finished.

"Shew… his brother's gonna be none too happy." Tanner said in a low voice.

"Someone get some help. He's bleeding pretty bad." Shelly shouted as she pulled a tissue from her pocket and began to gently dab at his nose.

--

Hanson could hear voices coming up the hallway. He could hear them but he couldn't find the words to tell them to get away. There could be someone who might hurt them too. All he could do was lie on his left side and continue to bleed. He wanted so badly to call for help but he just couldn't find his voice for that either. His head was pounding so hard that it mad him want to be sick. His ears continued ringing loudly. He could hear loud thundering footsteps as they closed in on him. He could feel someone touch his face gently with warm soft fingers. He could hear her voice; so soft and serene. It felt so good to feel human contact after lying on the frigid tiled floor all night. He was chilled and sore, stiff and exhausted.

"Doug…" he whispered almost inaudibly.

"No… my name's Shelly. Me and Pepper are with you. Kyle and Tanner went for help. You're gonna be okay." Shelly tried to reassure the injured student.

"Pepper… he's a mess. Get me some wet paper towels from the restroom."

"Okay." Pepper nodded almost afraid of what was going on in front of her.

"You're gonna be alright." Shelly reassured again.

Shelly took a deep breath as she continued to asses the man in front of her. He was a terrible site to look at. His nose was obviously broken by the amount of swelling and blood. His eyes were starting to show the black and violet swirls of bruising from the break to his nose. His lips were displaying a sheen of blood where the bottom one was split in the middle. There was also a river of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. His hair was matted in the back with sticky, slick blood from the base of his skull. He had obviously been hit by something rigid from behind. Who would do this to a kid?

"Tommy… can you tell me if you hurt anywhere else?" Shelly asked in a soothing voice.

Tom took a shallow breath and then coughed forcefully sending a spray of blood across Shelly's blue denim jacket. Shelly felt horrible as she watched his lips as they fumbled trying to form the words.

"R-R-Ribs." Tom stuttered as he sucked in another breath. He clamped his right arm protectively across his side as he coughed again.

Pepper ran back from the restroom holding a bouquet of white paper towels in her delicate fingers. Some were obviously wet while others were dry. She nervously thrust a wet towel towards Shelly. The seventeen year old female smiled gently at her nervous best friend as she quietly thanked. She then doubled the towel over and pressed it to the base of his head in an effort to stop any additional blood from escaping the injury.

"UGGGGHHHH!" Hanson groaned loudly as Shelly touched the painful spot on the back of his head.

In the distance the sound of sirens could be heard as several sets of feet clambered up the steps towards them. Pepper was visibly shaking as Kyle showed up pulling her off of her knees and into his gentle tight embrace as tears started to fall from her eyes. Shelly raised her eyes slowly catching sight of the nervous Tanner Riley as the school nurse Violet Sanders began moving the students away.

"Shelly… I'll take over you kids…"

"No. I'm gonna stay here and hold this towel in place while you check him out. He says his ribs are hurting and his nose is broken." Shelly maintained her position with who she thought was an injured teen.

Violet looked almost shocked at the obvious disobedience of a student but the principal merely nodded as he and Violet sat down and began to get information from the victim. Violet laid her hand on Tom's side and brought a loud cry of anguish from him.

"Mr. McQuaid… can you tell me who did this?" Mr. Trumble asked. His voice was full of what sounded like a false concern. It was almost like he was annoyed with the fact he had to deal with an injured student before he had his morning coffee.

"D-Don't… know…" Tom choked out.

Mr. Trumble sighed loudly as Nurse Sanders lay her large hands heavily on Hanson's damaged rib cage. The weight of her hands brought the injured officer back to a painful reality. He shifted laboriously and screamed loudly between his clinched teeth as pain shot like red hot bullets through his medium sized frame.

"Dear Lord…" Mrs. Sanders gasped. She gingerly lifted Tom's blood spattered white t-shirt and noted the deep purple and black discoloration on his ribs. He had taken an unimaginable beating.

"Hang in there son… the medic's will be here soon." Mr. Trumble patted Tom's foot. He then stood up and walked purposefully over to the two teenaged girls trying to assist their injured classmate. He looked down at Shelly and Pepper. There was a chirp from his mobile phone in his pocket. He picked it up and walked just a few steps away talking softly…

"Yes… yes… okay… nope… I don't think he will be very soon… don't worry… okay… goodbye."

"Girls I am gonna leave Mr. McQuaid in your capable hands. Let me know if you need anything."

The two girls looked at each other. Both were thinking the same question;

What the hell is he thinking walking away from an injured student like there is nothing wrong?

Shelly gently rubbed the side of Tom's battered face. She maintained her position holding tightly to the towel on the back of his head. Pepper had rejoined her on the floor. She had taken it upon herself to motherly grasp Tom's hand. She held it tightly while to her chest while she watched the nurse nervously fuss over Tom. Kyle and Tanner had been sent to the front of the school to help the medic unit find their way to the injured party.

--

"What do you mean he never showed up? Penhall, he's your partner and you didn't think about looking for him?"

"Cap'n… his mom called me this morning. He had detention for mouthing off to a teacher uhh… Mr. Sullivan. I didn't bother him about "dt" because he was meeting his mother for dinner. It was her birthday yesterday."

"Shit Penhall…" Captain Adam Fuller ran his long fingers nervously over his beard as he was beginning to assume there was a problem. His mind was ablaze with so many possible scenarios' all having to do with Hanson being hurt so badly he couldn't fend for himself.

"Captain!" Harry Ioki rushed into the officer not bothering to knock.

"What is it Harry?" Fuller retorted in an annoyed voice. He had a rule about knocking before entering. Something had to be going on for his young Asian officer to explode in the door without regard to his "knock before you enter" rule.

"They found a kid at West Side High; he was beaten up pretty bad. They're taking him to County. The name of the student is Tommy McQuaid."

Fuller felt his stomach rise up in his throat as all the color drained from Penhall's face.

"Tommy…" Doug whispered.

"Let's go!" Fuller shouted grabbing his long winter coat. Penhall jumped up following behind him.

"Booker, Hoffs my car, now!" Fuller shouted as he and Penhall continued their trek through Jump Street Chapel and out the door. "Ioki… call Hanson's mom and then go pick her up. I don't want Hanson's cover blown yet. Bring her to the hospital and find me. I'll fill her in on what's going on.

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