“You shouldn’t have done that Lance” Josh scolded when he found Lance and it was just the two of them.

“Shouldn’t have done what?” Lance asked innocently.

“You know what you did Lance. You came in late on purpose, that’s what you did” Josh told him although he was aware that Lance knew exactly what he’d done.

“I just wanted to see if they would give me the same punishment” Lance defended.

“What did you say to the principal?” Lance avoided eye contact as Josh studied him.

“What did you say Lance” Josh demanded.

“I just asked him why he gave you detention for three days and I only got a warning”

Josh sighed, “You shouldn’t have done that”

“Why not?”

“Because there is no point; it doesn’t solve anything and it certainly doesn’t make it better”

“But maybe now that he knows I know he’ll think twice before doing it again” Lance figured.

“It’s no use Lance. It all doesn’t matter what you do or say they’ll always despise me, they’ll always look at me with suspicion and they’ll always treat me this way. God knows I deserved it, everyone knows I deserve it just you don’t…”

“I know you don’t deserve this” Lance said determined.

“No you don’t, you don’t know. You don’t know the things I’ve done”

“Then tell me” Lance said softly. Tears shimmered in Josh’s eyes.

“I…” he started but his throat constricted because of the bile rising in his throat due to the tears that were building in his eyes.

“I can’t” he swallowed hard, forcing the tears back.

“I can’t…” he suddenly forgot the start of his sentence, sniffed, wiped away his threaten to spill tears and ran a hand through his hair to compose himself, changing directions completely.

“It’s better if I just try to stay out of their way, I won’t bother them and hopefully they won’t bother me”

“You can’t do that!”

“Well I’ll have to. I can’t change anything” Josh said dismissively.

“You can” Lance argued.

“No I can’t, you have no idea. It’s no use, none at all….” he told him before he walked off, making sure Lance couldn’t keep asking, he appreciated the gesture but it really was no use and the sooner Lance realized that the better, or so he thought.

When Josh came into the cafeteria for lunch a few minutes later and saw Lance sitting at a table, their usual table he walked towards him. Lance eyed him, he wanted to continue to talk about this. As far as Lance was concerned the conversation they’d had just minutes ago was not over yet but Josh had cut it off by walking away. He however was not finished talking and saw lunchtime as a good opportunity. But when Josh came closer their eyes met and they were pleading not to ask, not to talk. Josh’s eyes were pleading not to get into this again, it was clear he wanted to let it go, leave it for once. Lance sighed, giving in, he was not in the mood for a fight so he accepted his friend’s wishes and stayed silent, for once. But only this once because he was not about to let this go. Josh was being mistreated, Lance was sure of that and he only wanted to help, only wanted for Josh to be treated equally to everyone else.

Sure Josh wanted that too, right?

“You should really go to principal some day” Lance blurted, as they were walking home together and the English class of the day came back to him.

It was a week later and Lance had tried to ignore how Josh was treated, especially by Mr. Zaggery. It got harder every time. Lance just didn’t understand why Josh wouldn’t fight back, why he didn’t say anything or just did something about the harassment of his teacher. Lance knew there was not much Josh could do but going to principal could be an option, he couldn’t understand why he had not thought of that before but he was just too angry to think clear.

Now however he’d thought about it all and going to the principal seemed logical, although the man didn’t really like Josh either it was his job to protect him. It could work, even if it didn’t it was worth a shot.

Josh looked at him strangely, “For what?”

“To report Mr. Zaggery” Lance stated simply, thinking he’d found the answer to the problem. It was getting harder and harder to contain himself from getting up and yelling at the man. The more he hung out with Josh, the more he liked him and he couldn’t just let that man humiliate him. He wanted to do something but he didn’t want to do something that would cause Josh only more trouble with Mr. Zaggery.

Josh shook his head no, “Can’t”

“Why not Josh? What do you have to loose?” Lance asked him, he couldn’t stand the fact that Mr. Zaggery got away with this. Josh wasn’t even willing to fight.

“I just can’t ok, leave it alone” Josh said staring down at his shoes. Josh sighed, he knew Lance wouldn’t let it go completely, Lance was determined and although he’d agreed to let it go when he silently asked him last week, Josh fully realized he was just dreading, not getting rid of the problem. Actually Josh wanted nothing more than to report Mr. Zaggery, pay him back for every vicious remark he’d made about him but reality was he couldn’t and Lance could make it sound so simple.

Lance made it sound too simple but it wasn’t that simple.

Lance had no idea.

“I could” Lance stated, staring at the floor before carefully looking at his friend. He met Josh’s wild eyes.

“No Lance, you can’t!” he said almost panicking.

“Why not Josh?” he challenged, luring him to tell him the truth. Josh stopped walking abruptly.

“Promise me you won’t” Josh said seriously. Lance stopped as well, taking in the wild expression in his eyes and the urgency in his voice.

“Why not?” Lance repeated.

“Please Lance” Josh pleaded, his eyes still wide but the urgency in his voice was replaced with a pleading tone. Lance kept staring, he was persistent, maybe he would be able to find out something if he kept it up long enough. Josh dropped his gaze.

“It’s no use to report him”

“Why not?” Lance asked curiously, hoping he’d succeeded in getting Josh to open up.

“It won’t stop him”

“He’ll get what he deserves”

“No he won’t, I will get it then”

“What do you mean?” Lance still persisted.

Josh sighed heavily, “Please Lance, just let it go”

“I can’t. He’s hurting you I can see it in your eyes”

“He can do far worse if you report him, trust me, just please leave it as it is, I’ll be fine” Josh told him, first explaining then reassuring. Lance saw it clear then; Mr. Zaggery was playing some kind of twisted power game over Josh. He probably threatened him. Josh didn’t have to say it, it was clear in his tone. Lance sighed defeated.

“I can’t just sit by and let him do that”

“I know” Josh told him, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“It just makes me wanna punch him, hard” Lance growled frustrated.

Josh chuckled, “I know” They walked in silence for a while.

“Thank you” Josh said all of a sudden.

Lance smiled in return. He knew he couldn’t help Josh with Mr. Zaggery, he couldn’t stop him without hurting Josh even more but at least he could be there for him. Josh let him know his support was enough, he would get through it as long as Lance was there. Lance was still not totally satisfied, he wished he could do more for Josh, being there for him was a start but he just wished he could end it completely. Knowing that he couldn’t, he reluctantly settled for what he could get.