Free Love Song by Jaz Johnson Page A

that Song wasn’t waiting for her at the top of the steps as per usual. Panting, Marceline took a confused step forward with pinched brows. She glanced around the immediate area, but saw no sign of Song, or the three girls that were usually outside stalking her.
    That made her worry.
    “Song?” Marceline called out instinctively.
    She wasn’t sure why she expected a response of some kind as she walked up the stairs. A few students exited the building, each giving her a weird look for not being in uniform. But Marceline ignored them, moving past them to enter the building.
    She observed her surroundings carefully, looking for any sign that Song might be nearby. She didn’t know exactly was said sign would look like, but she remained acutely observational nonetheless. She called out her name several times with no response, except for the increasing amount of attention she was drawing to herself.
    It was when she was caught by one of the teachers, that her search was put on hold. A male professor stepped in front of her, slowing her to a stop to question her.
    “Excuse me,” he said in a coated Chinese accent. “Do you go here? Where is your uniform?”
    “I don’t go here. I’m looking for my friend. Her name is Song. I’m supposed to walk her home,” Marceline rushed to explain, constantly peering around the taller, slender man. She moved to step around him, but he was quick to reposition himself.
    “Ah – wait. I’m sorry. But I can’t just allow you to walk around the campus. You have to go through the lobby to fill out a visitation form.”
    Marceline huffed in aggravation. She knew Song was probably being bullied somewhere. And it was her fault for showing up late. She couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
    “Look, I don’t – She was supposed to be waiting for me. Just let me find her and I’ll never step foot in here again,” she protested, trying to move around him. But he was persistent.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But we can’t allow unauthorized personnel to explore the campus. Please. You don’t even know if the person you’re talking about was in class today.”
    “No. She would have texted me if she –“
    Marceline was cut off by the sound of rather loud clanging echoing through the halls, followed by the shriek of one or two girls. Both she and the professor peered down the hall in its direction. But only one of them was confused.
    “What in the world –“ the professor mused before being rushed past.
    He reached a hand out towards the running Marceline before running after her himself, shouting for her to stop and come back. They brought more attention to themselves as they ran towards the sound, more leaving students moving back towards the lockers to avoid a collision.
    Rushing past one of the bathrooms, she heard the clanging again, and skid to a stop a few feet away from it. She spun on her heel and booked it back, nearly avoiding colliding with the professor as she pivoted into the bathroom, slamming the door open with her foot.
    There towards the end, she found the three girls, one of which holding the back of Song’s head and attempting to dunk it in a bucket of water. Another girl had one of Song’s arms behind her back, while the other recorded on their phone. There was water all over the floor, and Marceline assumed that the noise they’d heard was Song trying to knock the bucket away.
    All three girls gasped as they looked up at Song’s savior, none of them moving from their positions until the professor barged in a moment later. But by that time it was too late. He’d seen what was going on – and Marceline was seeing red.
    “Ladies …” the professor uttered in appall.
    All it took was the look in Song’s watering eyes to send her into motion.
    “Why you –“ Marceline growled as she took a menacing step forward, making the girls gasp soft whimpers. “Get away from her!” she screeched, running at them at full speed.
    The girls