Sabina, always so composed and rational, had lost her mind. She'd gone after the girl with her fists.
When I went to bail her out, I saw the bruises swelling across her cheek, and for the first time, I tasted bitterness.
She explained it to me:
"Stephen, when I heard what happened to him, I thought of how those girls used to corner you, and I just... snapped."
But...
When I'd been the one trapped in that exact situation, all she'd done was take my hand and walk me away.
...
By the time I woke up, I was already in the hospital.
The doctor told me with visible concern that it was a good thing I'd been brought in quickly. I'd hit the back of my head in the fall. There was bleeding in my brain. A little longer, and I might never have woken up.
I thanked him quietly, had my wounds treated, and left.
The moment I reached the ground floor of my building, several people with ugly expressions surrounded me.
"You're that scumbag from the internet, aren't you?"
"Looks decent enough on the outside, but rotten to the core. Heard you got jealous because a student was better than you, so you hired thugs to rough up a kid. Absolutely disgusting! You nearly ruined his entire life!"