Free Hated by C Fournier Page B

is…far behind in paying…for her debt,” Haley stumbled, “and I thought a little scare would knock some sense into this selfish, little girl.”
                  Now that ticked me off and I could not stop myself from retaliating, “ SELFISH !? Look who’s talking! My family can…we can scarcely…” I didn’t want to say what our condition was because then she would just put more pressure on us to pay up. Antonio caught my drift but didn’t ask any questions. The only thing he did was squeeze Haley’s wrist until she cried out in pain, then he let her go and grabbed my arm. I tried to push him away but he squeezed my arm, until I stopped trying to pull away.
                  He took me to the nurse’s room in silence. Not really caring about the audience that he had attracted. The halls were pretty much empty except for a couple people at there lockers. Everybody must’ve been outside watching the commotion going on between Haley, Antonio and myself. I glanced up at Antonio from time to time trying to read his expression, but there was almost nothing there to read. By the time we were half way to the nurse’s office I had had enough of the silence and enough of Antonio being with me. It was making me think and feel things I didn’t want to with him.
                  “Okay, why did you bother helping me?” I asked ripping my arm from his grip. I rubbed the arm that he had had a hold of; it ached from him squeezing it. I knew I was going to have a bruise there tomorrow.
                  “What I’m not allowed to help people?” he asked, surprised by my outburst.
                  “People from gangs always want something in return for offering their aid,” I replied through clenched teeth, trying to keep my temper under control.
                  “Why do you say this?” Antonio asked confused. What is he confused about? I mean he is part of a gang. Maybe he doesn’t deal with the people who ask for help or who need it.
                  “Experience,” I muttered and started to walk away.
                  “Why do you keep comparing me to the other gangs?” Antonio asked, I stopped and turned around. “Can’t I just be myself without having a label?” Antonio sounded sad and he had this very odd expression on his face.
                  “Well if you want me to consider you separate from the other gangs you’re going to have to prove to me that you deserve it,” I replied. I walked the rest of the way to nurse’s office on my own, leaving Antonio to think about what I’d said.
    I knew the nurse because I came to her office pretty much every day, with either a wound of my own or a wounded person who couldn’t walk. The nurse’s name was Isabella, and she was happily married with a baby on the way.
                  I walked into the office and Isabella looked up from reading the newspaper. She looked surprised to see me, but she smiled. We both enjoyed each other’s company even if it wasn’t under the best of circumstances.
                  “What are you doing here so early in the morning?” Isabella asked. “Stopping by to say hi?”
                  “I wish that were why I was here,” I replied, and I held out my right arm. Isabella got up and came around her desk to look at my arm. My arm had started bleeding a little while ago and I could see some of my skin had peeled off. As Isabella was looking me over she found a scrape on my head. I had suspected that I had hit my head but I didn’t think that there would be a scrape where I had hit the ground. I had thought there would be a bruise.
                  “Oh dear, what happened that made you get these?” Isabella asked as she went to the back room to grab some stuff.
                  “I dodged getting hit by a car,” I answered, going to sit on a bed in one of the