Josiah Nipissing, snapping pictures and punching notes into his phone.
“Everyone get on outta here. Nothing more to see.”
It took a few minutes of solid glaring and shooing before most people returned to their day. The ambulance arrived shortly, and I sat with Felix as they checked him out and decided if he needed to go to the hospital.
“The cut on his lip could use stitches,” the paramedic, a woman in her mid-thirties, said, prodding the area with a glove-covered finger while dabbing at the blood with a square of gauze.
Felix remained quiet, only answering questions about his injuries when they were directed at him.
“Do you want us to take him in?” the paramedic asked.
Felix didn’t look pleased with that option, but he was underage, and I was pulling rank.
“Yeah, he needs to be checked out. How about you ride with me instead, and we’ll call your mom and dad when we get there? You can tell me what happened in the meantime.”
Felix heaved a sigh. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever.”
I thanked the medical personnel and headed to my cruiser, Felix hobbling beside me, holding a thick piece of gauze to his mouth. Although limping, he managed the short trek without assistance.
We drove most of the way in silence before Felix spoke. “Do we have to call my parents?”
“You’re under eighteen. I have an obligation to inform them, yes.”
He sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Same shit, different day.”
“That doesn’t help me understand. Does this have to do with what happened at school that day? Don’t think I didn’t recognize Benjamin was one of the ones wailing on you.”
Felix shrugged.
It was like pulling teeth getting teenagers to talk. They thought the whole world was against them and ignored all offers of help at the cost of their egos and reputations. According to them, adults couldn’t understand. Whatever Felix was dealing with, he was locked up tight and unwilling to share.
We parked, and I stayed close as we entered Jasper’s health care facility. Felix refused my offer to help, ensuring me he was fine.
Dr. Howard, the head of the medical department, was on site when we arrived and took Felix into an examination room right away. I followed but hung back while Felix underwent another routine check and answered the doctor’s questions.
“I think, aside from that cut on your lip, you’re just a mess of bruises and scrapes. You’ll live. A nurse will be in shortly to take care of that.” He gestured at Felix’s mouth. “Keep the gauze on it for now.”
Dr. Howard left. Felix sat on the edge of the exam table, looking glum and not at all approachable.
I tugged my phone out to check the time. It was after four in the afternoon. Still no update from Tomi. I suspected he would arrive in the next hour or two and was hoping to be able to take off once his text came through. If Felix was going to give me a hard time, that might not be the case.
“Ready to talk?”
He glanced up from under a fray of dark bangs that hung in his face. “Nothing to say.”
“How about you tell me how this started.”
He shrugged and stared at the floor.
“It’s gonna make for a long night if you don’t talk to me, Felix. I’ll be honest with you. Those kids could have done a lot worse. That was five against one. If I have any hope of helping you, you need to open up some and trust me.”
“The only reason there was five was because Ben can’t take me on his own. His friends had to jump in, or I’d have fucked him up. He calls me a pussy. He’s the fucking pussy.”
“Who started the fight?”
“Depends. What do you mean?”
“I mean, who started the fight? It’s not a hard question.” I crossed the room and found a seat on the stool the doctor had used a few minutes ago while examining Felix.
“I swung the first punch if that’s what you’re asking. I ain’t gonna lie.” He glanced up, challenging me. “But Ben instigated it. He said some shit I didn’t like. I tried to give him a lesson in etiquette, but he didn’t want to listen.”
“Throwing punches is your idea of etiquette? That’s how you give a lesson?”
“No.” Felix’s tone turned volatile and defensive. “I only fucked him up because he’s a narrow-minded bigot, and I have no tolerance for that shit. If he doesn’t want to listen to my words,