Ebrius Disputatios

Then one afternoon, walking home up one of the side streets, I pushed him and he pushed me back. I remember the exact moment I knew I was in trouble. It was in the way he pushed me.

There was something behind it that I hadn't accounted for. Months of it. Every name I'd called him. Every shove in the corridor. Every laugh at his expense.

It was all right there in that push and then he proceeded to kick my absolute arse. Properly. Comprehensively. The kind of beating where you don't even get a shot in. You just absorb it and wonder how the fuck you got here.