When Isaac felt Tanner’s fist crash into his head, the only thing that he could think of was finally. If he hadn’t thrown a punch after all of that, Isaac wouldn’t have known what he would do.
Isaac didn't stop smiling even as his vision swam from the force of the punch. This whole week had been nothing but a boring mess. It honestly made Isaac feel like he was moving through sludge.
But this fight was going to brighten up his whole week.
He did feel sorry for Luci, though.
She had been trying so hard this last month, distracting him with books and playing interference with the more short-tempered classmates, not because of him, she said, but because she wanted to finish this school year on a quiet note.
And now all her hard work was going to waste.
But Isaac Cantor doesn’t end things quietly; if he goes out, it’ll be with a bang.
Letting his body fall with the force of the punch, Isaac fell into a sort of T-pose, his back perpendicular to the ground and his leg rising between Tanner’s legs.
Off to the side, Luci sat there with her forgotten food. Already knowing the outcome, the only thing that she could do was sigh and hold her head, waiting for all of this to finish so that she could go home.
Not expecting a counterattack from Isaac, Tanner could not defend his most vulnerable area. Feeling an exploding pain between his legs, Tanner fell to the floor, unable to even let out a gasp.
The crowd was shocked; they expected to see Isaac on the floor, not Tanner.
His friends dropped their food trays as they came over to help Tanner stand back up. The cafeteria was silent as more people started noticing what was happening. People were already pulling out their phones, and some looked to be trying to get a teacher.
Not wanting the fun to end too quickly, Isaac immediately attacked. There was no time for any witty banter, so wasting no time at all, Isaac ran up to the first guy in front of him and punched him right in the face.
It was hard to see who he punched as everything was blurry, but he would rather fight without his glasses than mess up another pair. If he had to replace his glasses again, his mom was going to spank his ass red.
“ Come on, let's keep going.” Isaac taunted as he stood over their downed friend.
What he said must have woken them up because they quickly stopped what they were doing and came straight for Isaac.
Not wanting to let go of his momentum, Isaac ran towards them, knowing better than to let himself be encircled in a fight.
Aiming for the centermost blurry mass, Isaac ran straight to him and didn't stop.
People were screaming in the background as Isaac tackled the leading guy, carrying him as he ran. Isaac, still holding his unwilling passenger, ran straight through the circle of people surrounding him, sending them all out of the way before slamming his passenger into a table at the end of the cafeteria.
Isaac barely turned around before a punch to his face threw him to the side. Not one to let things go, Isaac grabbed the extended arm and pulled it straight down, forcing the attacker to the ground before Isaac kneed him in the face.
“Isaac, what are you doing?” someone screamed at Isaac. Everyone was in a state of shock, and no one knew what to do.
Fights were common in this school, Isaac causing the majority of them these past few years. But those fights were small things that people could watch and enjoy. This was a brawl, a brawl where anyone could get pulled in.
But none of that mattered to Isaac. Their safety was the last thing on his mind. He just wanted to keep fighting.
The whole cafeteria was in chaos now. Other people who had nothing to do with Tanner started joining in. As the fight went on, people went down, and when they went down, new ones came in. It was chaos as people who weren’t even part of the original group had joined.
Some helped Isaac, while others fought against him. A small minority started having their fights off to the side.
By this point, no one was sitting at their table anymore, and the ones not fighting hugged the wall, trying to stay as far away from the fight as possible. Their lunches lay forgotten under overturned tables,
But as the fight went on, people started to worry that things were getting out of hand. If this continued, someone would get seriously hurt.
“ Hey, that’s enough!” They cried. “ Stop!”
But Isaac wasn’t listening to them; he was having too much fun.
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“HAHAHAA!” Laughing, Isaac launched himself at the next guy.
The guy in front of him was a beefy kind of guy, obviously someone who was on the football team. So far, Isaac has been keeping up momentum, taking them out faster than they could react. But this guy was ready for him.
Dodging Isaac's first punch, the beefy guy reached around and grabbed Isaac tightly around his arms. Isaac was too fast for them to hit, so they had to hold him down, or they would never bring Isaad down.
Before Isaac could try and wiggle his way out, the rest of the beefy guy’s friends came up behind him and started beating him with whatever they could find. Fists, trays, a leg of a chair, all of it rained down on Isaac.
They hit Isaac on his shoulder, his ribs, and his back. Needing some space, Isaac head-butted the beefy guy right in the nose.
“ARGH!” He screamed in pain as he brought his hands up to cradle his bloody nose.
Dropping to the floor, Isaac hurried away from the group of guys around him, sliding underneath a table right beside them. Isaac needed to take a second to catch his breath. Laughing and fighting at the same time makes it hard to breathe.
“How many left, five?”Laying on the floor, dead tired, Isaac counted who was still standing. This fight had been going on for at least a few minutes, and even though he had knocked out so many people, five were still standing.
Isaac couldn’t stop smiling.
This was fun. No useless classes or dull day-to-day activities; this was living. Blood-pumping adrenaline flooded his ears, a pounding in his heart. He knew he would get in trouble for this, but that didn't matter right now.
Right now, five guys are picking up the table to get to him, and if he lets them, they will beat him, and it will hurt.
The pain he was okay with. You don’t start a fight and then get mad over getting socked in the face. No, he was glad they got some punches; it made the game fair.
Losing, though, losing isn’t fun. Isaac didn’t start this game with the idea of losing.
If he was going to play, he was going to win.
As soon as they lifted the table, Isaac punched the closest ankle he could reach, sending whoever it was down in pain. As the first guy fell to his knees, Isaac was already moving on to the next one.
They tried to kick him while he was still down, but he was too fast for them.
Blocking and dodging their legs, Isaac hooked his legs between one of their legs, tripping them and sending them into their friend.
Still on the ground, Isaac grabbed the leg of someone kicking him and pulled, making him fall on his back. Rolling out of the way, Isaac pushed himself up before kicking the guy already on the ground. Continuing his motion, Isaac then turned and punched down on the head of the guy with the hurt ankle, knocking him out.
Standing up, Isaac looked around. They were nearing the end of the fight, and almost everyone had left the cafeteria. The only ones left were the ones still standing and the ones unconscious on the floor.
Not counting Isaac, two guys were still standing. Isaac couldn’t remember their names but knew they were both part of Tanner’s group. Both were pretty big guys, taller than Isaac and uglier too.
They looked at one another. Isaac was all alone, but neither could take him alone. So, they decided to attack Isaac simultaneously. One on the left and one on the right ran towards Isaac, hoping to hurt him as much as possible before the teachers showed up.
As Isaac stood there, waiting for them to get closer, he couldn’t help but notice the look in their eyes. They hated him.
What for? He didn’t know.
It wasn’t like he was a good little boy before. After three years in this boring hellhole, he had to find some way to entertain himself. The students were just his unfortunate victims.
So no, he didn’t know why they hated him so much. But that was okay. He didn’t need to know. He was having fun.
The guy on the right was faster than his friend; he reached Isaac first. When he got close enough, he threw a punch right at Isaac’s head. Dodging to the side, Isaac returned the favor with a gut shot, sending him to the ground. The second guy, ignoring his friend on the ground, tackled Isaac, throwing him onto the table behind them.
His back screamed in pain—the hardwood and whatever else on the table made for a poor cushion. I think there is a fork in my back, Isaac thought.
Isaac fought to keep his mind steady, and the pain helped. But his attacker wasn’t going to let up. As he lay on the table, fist after fist, he hammered down onto him. Guarding as best he could, Isaac waited out the rain of blows before he grabbed his arms and pulled him down onto Isaac.
Before the guy could get up, Isaac took his head under his arm and put him in a chokehold. With his head under his armpit, Isaac felt as he struggled to get out of the hold.
Hooking his hands together, Isaac kept a firm grasp around the guy's head, holding him until he stopped squirming.
After making sure that he was still alive, Isaac pushed the body off of him and slowly got up from the table.
“ Urgh.” With a grown, Isaac twisted his back this way and that, stretching out all the kinks, hoping to lessen the pain.
Standing up, Isaac saw the last guy finally getting up from the ground. It had taken him a while, but he finally caught his breath and was ready to face Isaac.
Smirking at him, Isaac held his arms in a guard in front of his face, waiting for the last guy to copy him. When he did, Isaac began to walk around him. Following his move, they started to circle each other slowly.
Keeping a solid distance away, they circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Klang!
A loud ringing sounded like a gong as a metal bottle slammed into the guy's temple, sending him back to the ground, out cold.
Out of nowhere, Isaac swiftly turned around, grabbed a fallen metal bottle from the table to his side, and swung, knocking his opponent unconscious.
Isaac stood in the empty cafeteria, bodies sprawled all around him. Luci had left a long time ago, leaving Isaac all by himself.
Catching his breath, he waited for the inevitable. He had his fun, and now came the hard part.
Behind him, the cafeteria doors swung open, crashing into the walls. In the doorway stood a horde of adults, all looking around in disbelief and horror at the carnage in front of them.
Finally, the teachers arrived.
“ISAAC!”