Free The Beginning of Never (The Never Trilogy #1) by O. E. Boroni

he
recovered, and shoved me.
    The book fell out of my hands as I flew backwards and
tried to break my fall, but I was glad that he hadn’t done something worse like
punch me in the face. It should have been surprising to me that he didn’t mind
hitting a girl but I had a dad that I’d watched hurt my mother more times than
I cared to remember, so it didn’t move me. Bastards like these existed
everywhere.
    I landed on the floor, and just then, I heard the door
to the classroom open. Trying my best to rise to my feet as quickly as I could,
I glanced towards the door and almost stopped breathing when I saw Nathan
standing at the threshold and watching me. I felt relieved that he was there,
but as I watched his face change when he took in the sight of me on the ground,
and then turned to the boys, I was suddenly very scared for them.
    Closing the door behind him, he came towards me to help
me to my feet. I stumbled against him, and it took me a few seconds to
stabilize myself before I could meet his eyes. It was a mistake, because
although he appeared calm, his eyes had turned a very dark shade of blue- like
clouds had gathered across a previously bright sky. I felt his anger like heat
against my skin and for a moment, I almost shrugged his arms off because they
seemed to be burning right through my sleeves.
    "I'm fine, don’t worry about it," I quickly
said, and started to turn him away so that we could walk out together. But he
refused, and gently pulled my hand down from his.
    “Leave,” he said, but I refused.
    I held his hand again and tried turning him to come
with me, and he did, but he stopped as we got to the door and gently but
firmly, pushed me outside. Then he banged the door in my face.
    I stayed there for a few seconds, exhausted and upset.
    Then I heard the first blow, accompanied by a shout and
the crashing of somebody into the furniture. Terrified, I jumped and ran back
into the room to see the dark haired boy already on the floor. Right then,
Nathan grabbed Clinton by the collar, and my hand shot up to stifle my gasp as
his fist connected with the boy’s face, driving it to the side. I could have
sworn I saw sparks fly.
    “Nathan!” I yelled, and I ran to him, but before I
could even get to him, he had delivered two more blows. Blood poured from the
boy’s broken nose as he fell to the floor, but Nathan refused to let him be. He
lowered himself down to meet him, and drew his arm back for another blow.
    With my heart in my mouth, I grabbed Nathan’s arm but
the force of his swing easily displaced me and I was thrown forward, barely
missing the blow myself by only a few inches.
    That stopped him, but it brought me face to face with
the blood that had gathered on the boy’s face. Tears erupted from my eyes.
    “Nathan,” I cried, and he immediately took hold of my
arm. He rose with me and I held on for support, my quiet sobs piercing through
the deadly quiet room. He turned me to him, and I buried my head against his
neck. When I had gotten myself under control, he held my shoulders and pulled
me slightly away to look into my eyes.
    "Look at me," he said, but I couldn't. My
eyes were still filled with tears. I caught another glimpse of how bloodied the
boy’s face had become, and the tears seemed to come down even faster.
    "Look at me," he repeated, this time a little
harder and I was forced to look into his frozen blue eyes.
    "Go now, to your class," he said, but I
started to look away to try to find my textbook. He saw what I was after and
shook his head.
    “Leave that for now,” he said. "But wait for me in
your class a few minutes after school, and I'll bring it to you."
    "What happened here?" I heard a familiar
voice say behind me, and we both turned to see James with eyes that had widened
to the size of saucers. That was more than enough to prompt me back into action
as I realized the severity of the situation if anyone else was to come in and
meet the scene. Immediately, I turned and started