The next day, David and Rose meet up at the intersection on the way to school. He wraps her tiny body in his arms, and he can't help but catch a faint scent of vanilla emitting from her hair. Why was his best friend so perfect?
"Morning, Rose," he says, tucking a flower he found on the way behind her ear.
"Ta, Doctor. You ready?"
"As I'll ever be, I suppose. So, I was thinking about our science fair project. Potato battery?"
"Lame! What about rewiring some old radio parts into a semi-functioning robot? If we boost the radio wave signals to recognise basic commands, it should function properly. I've got books!" Rose rambled. David smiled softly to himself. Rose constantly teased him for his love of sciences and maths, when in reality, she understood it almost as well as he did.
"You nerd," he teases gently, bumping their hips together. Rose scowls at him, but David still can't stop grinning. His clever Rose.
"Shut up, Space Man."
"I need to talk to you, David," a hardened voice talks into his ear, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from his conversation with Rose's good friend Donna.
"I have nothing to say to you," he retorts hastily, trying in vain to tug himself out of John Master's grip. He noticed without satisfaction that the older boy's face held no bruising from his earlier hit.
"You hit me the other day. If it weren't for the fact that the school would have my hide, I'd beat you until you couldn't walk away, understand?"
Gulping, David nods slightly in response.
"Good. Now that that's settled, I want you to know that I can and will say whatever I want about whoever I want, without repercussions from your likeness," John says softly.
"What are you doing? Leave him alone!" Rose's voice cuts through the tension. "He's done nothing to you, apart from what you bloody well deserved, you stupid prat, so you can take you petty demands and shove them up your-"
SLAP
For a second, the world stopped, and David watched Rose step back in shock and cradle her cheek, which was quickly becoming red. As tears sprung to her warm hazel eyes, all David saw was red. Before he even realised what was happening, he was on John and punching whatever he could reach. Sooner than he would've liked, John recovered from the shock and began to hit back.
"DAVID, STOP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" somewhere in the back of his head, he could hear Rose shouting at him in the back of his head, but he was too far gone. Seconds seemed like hours before he was roughly pulled apart from the other boy.
"MASTER AND DOCTOR, WHAT, IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" their principal, Ms. Smith asked shrilly. Normally a very kind and understanding lady, none of the kids had ever seen Sarah Jane Smith so enraged before. "My office. Now," her statement left no room for arguing and both boys could sense the barely-concealed anger. Heads hung low, the boys trudged solemnly to their principal's domain.
AN: sorry for the wait. Writer's Block, I suppose. Not nearly as long as before though, how about that? Anyways, I have to go now, my mate's giving me a ring soon. Or.. um that sounds weird. A telephone call, I guess. Not a legitimate ring.
