18
He smirks and I snap, pulling my fist back and taking aim. The punch wipes the leer from his face as he turns and takes the impact on his cheek. His reaction is instant and he throws his own fist toward me. I manage to avoid it and hit him again. When he retaliates he gets me in the stomach, winding me enough that I bend double, trying to pull sweet air back into my empty lungs.
Before I can act again, I feel a hand on my shoulder, yanking me upwards and leaving me looking into the stern face of Mr. Berty.
"Mr. Cullen." He turns to look at Whitlock. "Mr. Whitlock. I think we'd better take a walk to see the Principal."
My heart sinks. I've kept out of trouble for the past six months, but the fact remains that I'm still just one strike away from expulsion after all the shit I got into the last time Izzy was back.
...
Mr. Berty leaves us outside in the hallway while he goes in to speak with Principal Greene. Whitlock lounges against the wall across from me, watching me with a smile playing on his lips. I look away, his words about Emmett still bouncing around my head as the minutes tick by.
The door opens and Principal Greene emerges. "Come on in, Mr. Whitlock. Mr. Cullen, your mother is on her way. We'll speak when she arrives."
My heart takes a dive and I lean forward, letting my head drop into my hands. This is going to be bad.
I look up as Whitlock swaggers past, lifting his eyebrows and grinning at me as he disappears behind the door. I hate him.
In the ten minutes it takes my mom to arrive at the school, my head is no clearer about this whole sorry mess. I hear her heels clacking down the hall before I see her. I keep my eyes on the ground.
"Oh, Edward. What the hell have you done now?"
I can't look up; can't bring myself to see the disappointment on her face again.
"When we were at the beach on Saturday night, I heard someone screaming. I ran to see what was going on and Whitlock and his friend were all over a girl. I got them off her and they took off and when I went to talk to him about it today, things got a little … heated."
I risk a glance at her. She looks horrified.
"They were attacking her? Edward, what the hell were you thinking, taking matters into your own hands? Didn't you even think of reporting it to the police?"
"Of course I thought about it," I huff. She begins to rummage in her bag.
"I'm calling Chief Swan. There's no way I'm letting you get into trouble for a schoolyard fight, and they walk away from attacking a girl."
"No!" I reach out and grab her phone from her hand, holding it out of her reach.
"Edward!"
I take a deep breath and offer the only explanation that I've ever needed to offer when things went wrong, bracing myself for the fallout from what I'm about to say.
"The girl. It was Izzy. She's back."