A World Apart Read Online Free Page B

light-headed.
    "Here, let me help you."  Jake felt Mr. Madison's strong left hand grab his left arm as the other arm wrapped around his back, hand gripping Jake's right shoulder.  Mr. Madison, surprisingly gentle, lifted Jake to his feet and helped him back to his truck and assisted him getting into the passenger side.
    "You look a little worse for wear.  You want me to call your folks?"  Mr. Madison asked.  Jake shook his head no.
    "Ok, I'll take you home."  He closed Jake's door gently, went around and climbed into the driver's side, started up the truck and turned around.
    "You want to tell me about it?"  Mr. Madison asked quietly.  "I can remember a few scrapes I got into when I was your age…over stupid things, mostly."
    Jake, suddenly aware of the tears on his checks, wiped them with the back of his hands, embarrassed, imagining Mr. Madison must think him a baby.  "I asked his girlfriend to the prom."  Jake replied.  "I didn't know they were seeing each other and he took offense.  He tried to start something earlier at school, but someone stopped him."  Fresh blood began trickling out of his lip as he spoke.
    "Here,…"  Mr. Madison said, handing Jake some tissues.  "…use the tissues and put some pressure on the lip.  When you get home, put an ice compress on it and your eye."  He paused for a moment as he turned down the lane to Jake's house.  "You want me to speak with your dad about this?"
    "No.  I'll talk to him later.  I guess I won't be able to hide this."
    "Alright, if that is how you want it."  He pulled into the driveway and stopped.  "Listen, Jake, there is no shame in what happened to you.  You got jumped by three guys and did what you could.  Don't let it get into your head."
    "I'll try.  Thanks for your help, Mr. Madison."  Jake said as he opened the door and got out gingerly, pain radiating from his ribcage.
    "You sure you're ok?  You need any help to get into the house?"
    "No.  I'm ok, Mr. Madison.  Thanks again."
    "If you say so, Jake.  Look, if you ever need to talk about things that you don't think you can tell your father, like fighting or some such, you can come see me."  Mr. Madison offered.  He backed out of the driveway, gave Jake a wave and left.
    Jake slowly walked to the front door, unlocked it and went inside.  He had an hour or so before his mom got home with Russ and Jane, his younger brother and sister.  He headed through the living room, dining room and kitchen, turned down the hallway next to the bathroom and went straight to his bedroom.
    He pulled his phone out of his pants and saw that he had a message from Sean.  He opened it and saw that Sean had asked - "You get home ok?"  He did not feel like discussing what happened yet, so he sent a reply – "No problems."  He plugged his phone into the speaker dock next to his bed.  He took off his clothes, went to the laundry room and tossed them in the washer, then headed to the shower.
    He kept the shower cold as it seemed to help with the pain in his ribs.  He carefully rinsed the blood off of his face, trying to avoid getting his lip bleeding again.  He could tell that his left eye was swelling.  He got out and gingerly dried off, wrapping the towel around his waist.  He went to the mirror and stared at his reflection, seeing that he was a mess.  His cheek and the skin around his left eye were swollen and starting to change color, his lip split in an angry looking cut, blood trickling out.  He grabbed some tissue and put pressure on his lip.  After a minute or two, he gently removed the tissue and threw the bloody remnants into the toilet and flushed them down.
    Wrapped in a towel, he went to the kitchen and grabbed some ice and aspirin.  He popped the aspirin, then wrapped the ice in a dishcloth and returned to his room.  He closed the door and pulled up his music on his phone, selecting the soft mix he liked when he wanted to relax.  He slowly laid down on his bed, shifting to get