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It had been a few days since Robby’s run in with Shawn and his followers. Robby hadn’t seen or interacted with the other boy since then, but that was about to change.
Robby still had his long hair and was honestly quite proud of it. And Shawn was still determined to get a response out of Robby.
So it came to be that when Robby was sitting quietly on the cot that was assigned to him reading Lord of the Flies, Shawn came up beside him. “How are you today, Keene?” Shawn asked in a faux friendly voice as one of the guards walked past.
Robby knew that this wasn’t going to be a peaceful, civilized conversation from the beginning. His heart rate sped up, his anxiety kicking into high gear. “I’m alright, I guess,” Robby said as he closed the book and tucked it under his pillow.
The moment that the guard was out of sight, Shawn grabbed a hold of Robby’s hair, yanking it roughly. Shawn pulled from his back pocket a knife. Robby vaguely recognized it as one of the knives used for cooking in the dining center. How Shawn had gotten it, Robby didn’t know and didn’t particularly care. He just didn’t want to die.
Robby began to thrash around in Shawn’s grasp, but he didn’t really want to have to hurt the other boy to get him away. Shawn didn’t want to cut Robby at all. He only wanted to cut Robby’s hair short, to break him down a couple of notches, but he couldn’t really do that with Robby thrashing about like he was.
Shawn summoned his friends to help hold Robby still. Shawn’s gang of friends grabbed Robby forcefully, pushing him against a wall. The blade glinted in Shawn’s hand as the other boy went to cut Robby’s hair.
Shawn managed to finish cutting Robby’s hair before the guard returned.
“Why don’t you go back to reading your book, bitch?” Shawn said to Robby.
“Maybe I will,” Robby spat back. He had just about enough of their bullshit and was ready to fight them all, but the guard returned just in time to prevent him from doing so.
But that would be the last time that Robby would allow himself to be pushed around by Shawn and the others.