The Tormentors are Back (Chapter 4)

Daphne didn't stop once we were out of her father's sight, so I assumed that she was going to take us somewhere a little more private. I didn't know this part of town quite so well, so though I had a vague idea of where we were going, I couldn't figure out where exactly until we had arrived there.
"You like it?" she said breathlessly. She looked proud of the place and I could understand why. It was a giant field with trees all along the outside. It was basically a meadow in the middle of a forest. And it was separated from the outside world.
"Yes. It's very secluded."
"I'm glad for it. Where shall we start? Sports or sewing?"
"Whichever one you want to start with."
"I know I shouldn't be selfish, but can we start with sewing?" I handed her a piece of cloth, a needle, and thread. We took a good 20 minutes just threading the needle. Well, at least, she did. It only took me a half a minute, but only because my mom had made me do it so many times before already.
"What am I supposed to sew?" She looked slightly confused as she turned the piece of flower cloth over.
"This is mostly for practice on stitches and the feel of sewing. When you get better, then you can start to really sew." My mother had done that with Lisa and me, though Lisa had been, and still was, a lot better than me.
I showed her how to make tiny stitches in the fabric and different styles of stitches for different purposes. She started out with very large and uneven stitches, but after an hour of working on it, she was better than I was. I quickly brushed over embroidery, knitting, and croqueting, but I hadn't brought things for that, so I could only explain to the best of my abilities without tools.
Daphne seemed satisfied with what she had learned today, though in her eyes, I could tell she hungered for more. But she ignored the great yearning to learn and began to explain the rules to all the sports she knew. With a basketball, she taught me the right way to dribble (though we never got around to actually dribbling because one knows you can't dribble on grass). With her soccer ball, she taught me how to maneuver with the ball and kick properly. (This I actually got to do and proved to be decent at it.) We also went over the basics of football, tennis, badminton, and some other ones that seem to escape my memory. At the end of one and a half hours of sports, I was, like her, pleased but wanting to learn more.
She began to practice sewing again, so I worked on keeping the soccer ball in the air with only my feet, legs, knees, and head. Everything was great until we got some...unwelcome guests.
It was the gang from the clothing store where I had met Daphne. I had no idea how exactly they found us, but they had.
"Hey you!" I ignored them and so did Daphne. They called to us again, closing in.
"I heard you're a boy." One of them was behind Daphne, talking into her ear. She flinched slightly.
"Dressing in drag are we? The two of you? A boy in girl clothes and girl in boy clothes. Pathetic." At this, Daphne stood up and I stopped with the soccer ball.
"Aww, how cute. They're just perfect for each other. Two weirdos together."
"And look, the girl was playing soccer and the boy was sewing. That's so gay." I clenched my teeth, trying not to say anything as they circled us, shooting insults. I could tell Daphne was doing the same. There was an aura was rising anger coming from her general direction.
"So you think you're so tough, eh? Think you're a boy?" One of them, a red head, had walked up to me and pushed me on the shoulder, making me half trip over my feet. I didn't fall, but he pushed the other shoulder as soon as I got my balanced. Another one dragged Daphne from the circle, and she managed to slap him a few times before she got thrown to the ground.
I was starting to see red from all the anger that was bubbling inside me. I wanted to punch all of them, all of those stupid people. But I didn't have an excuse for doing so, and I know that sounds stupid (and it felt stupid), but my mother would kill me if she knew I started a fight. So I had to wait. And I didn't have to wait for long.
Soon they were all swinging fists at me, and thank goodness for the martial arts training that my mother had made me take for self defense against rapists. Sounded stupid at the time, but it was helping me now. I managed to avoid the majority of the fists though I got on in the stomach and one on my eye. I'm not sure who I hit, but I remember making contact with a lot of them. Daphne, I didn't really remember what happened during that time, for all I could concentrate on was the incredible number of fists coming at me and how to dodge them.
Unfortunately, I began to tire, for I had been playing sports for a good hour and a half, and soon I was left in a fetus position on the ground, shielding my face from kicks. I think I had a bloody nose by then, but that may have been later. They mercilessly pounded me until all I could do was groan in pain and shift slightly to try to ease some of the pain. The leader gave one last good kick in the chest, leaving me breathless, and walked away with his gang, laughing.
Daphne somehow appeared out of nowhere and was above me, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay? I'm so sorry...." she murmured worriedly.
"I'll...be okay." I tried to say calmly. I'd never felt so much pain before all at once. Everything hurt.
"Can you get up?"
"I can try." I attempted to stand up, but my legs shook and crumpled beneath me.
"I'll go get help."
"You can't. My mother will kill me."
"It's going to be hard to disguise, Jacob. You have a black eye coming on." I was about to reply that I was in big trouble then, but the ground went funny and the world went fuzzy.