Needless to say, neither Tommy nor I attended school that day. Instead, after leaving the police station, we both went and bought two sandwiches from a hot-dog cart and ate them silently as we sat on a bench in the park nearby, watching people pass by in silence.
Luckily for Tommy, his family was away and currently out of town, so hopefully by the time they returned, his bruises would heal. As for me, I had to come up with a story to tell my parents that could explain my hurt face, without having to tell them that I had been arrested and taken to a police station.
I was going to tell them only half the truth; I was going to say that a few guys were trying to beat Tommy up and when I asked them to stop, they punched me, and that was the end of it.
So after I bid Tommy go
