Page 10 of Defect
I wasn’t in the mood for chips on shoulders or attitudes right then. I had a bone to pick with everyone in my path. “You’re back?” He sneered, taking a step closer to me. His goons fell in line behind him three-deep. I barked out a laugh, tipping my head back because I didn’t know who the fuck they thought they were intimidating. I wasn’t easygoing like I used to be. I was full of pain and anguish after losing my twin and I couldn’t take it out on my mother because no matter what kind of dumb monster I’d turned into I could never hit her.
I could hit Antonio Morris though. Especially if he said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Lately, it always seemed to be the wrong time.
“You see me standing here right?” I asked, relaxing against the row of blue lockers.
“No need for the attitude. I heard your brain is all fucked up so I guess I should expect it, huh?” He smirked and looked over his shoulder for validation from his squad. They gave it to him by chuckling at his dry attempt at humor. I wasn’t amused. “Ev isn’t here to save you anymore, unfortunately.”
“Is it unfortunate for me or you? Because I’m not worried.”
“Oh, shit. Listen to you. Your defective brain gave you some kind of edge. Still doesn’t matter. You know who runs this school. Pipe down before I have to make you. Ev was always too soft when it came to you. I’m not him.”
“You couldneverbe him.” I eyed his letter jacket and shook my head. “You want to be so bad though. Is that why you hate me so much, Toni? Because I’m Ev’s twin and you had to always settle for coming second to me?”
“I said pipe the fuck down, defect.”
“Defect,” the guys behind him laughed loudly and I felt fire scorching my skin, charring any bits of the old me that would shy away or back down. The new trauma inside of me was happy to unleash the savage rattling the bars of my broken brain.
They wanted to see a defect? I was about to show them one.
“What did you call me?” I asked, tipping my head to the side. I felt a dull throb crawling along my temples like a warning telling me not to flip the fuck out. I couldn’t help it. I felt my lips flatten into a line and my nostrils flare out, sniffing out any opportunity to snap.
“A fucking defect. God must hate all of us since he took Ev and left us the defective twin. Piece of shit.” He drew his head back and I heard a snarl start in his chest and roll up his throat. He launched a wad of spit at my face. It slid down my cheek for a millisecond before I found my reason to snap.
My fist drove into Antonio’s face repeatedly. My defective brain bypassed all the signs that I should stop. All the popping and crunching sounds coming from under his skin. All the screams and the growing crowd. The warm spray of metallic crimson misting my face and coating my knuckles.
I ignored all of it.
I stopped when the fuck I wanted to.
I stopped when Antonio wasn’t moving. When I stood up, silence ballooned in the hallway. Every pair of eyes was glued to me. Once again, nobody wanted to come near me. Maybe Antonio was right. Maybe I was one giant fucking defect.
“Ezra!” My mother’s shrill scream didn’t make me snap back to reality or suddenly grow remorse in my chest. I didn’t give a fuck about Antonio. He was a piece of shit. The fact that he was sputtering and groaning on the floor honestly annoyed me. He was lucky I didn’t do worse.
“Call the police!” Someone else screamed. I leaned against the lockers again and looked at everybody, waiting for someone else to call me defect like it was my name. All three of Antonio’s boys were church mice. They didn’t even try to help him up.
Principal Dorsey grabbed my arm, trying his best to yank me into his office but I snatched away from him. He held his hands up after I glared at him. I could walk myself into his office. I was tired of everyone treating me like I was a walking vegetable.
“The police are on their way, Ezra. You’ll be arrested,” he told me once I was seated across from him.
“Okay,” I nodded.
“No! That is not okay! Principal Dorsey, Ezra doesn’t know what he’s doing! He can’t go to jail. This is a big misunderstanding.”
“No, it’s not, Ma! I know what the fuck I did. He deserved it. He spit in my face.”
“He spat in your face?” Principal Dorsey asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah. He did. You think I flew off the handle for no reason? Run the tapes back.” I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead, smearing Antonio’s blood across my skin. I didn’t give a fuck.
Principal Dorsey gawked at me and opened his mouth. Nothing came out but he nodded his head. “Oh, he spit in your face? Why didn’t you tell me, baby? Why didn’t you come get me?” Mom asked, nervously nibbling her bottom lip.
“Come get you for what? Were you going to wipe the spit from my face? You got a bib in there for me, Ma?” I rested my elbows on my knees and pushed out a long breath.
“We’ll get this all sorted out when the cops get here.”
“Cool. Whatever,” I said. Principal Dorsey left us in the office and that’s when my mother railed into me.
“I’m trying to get you back into school and this is what you pull? What in God’s name has gotten into you? You would have never done anything like that before.”
