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By the time Bean got there, it was all over. Teachers and medical staff were clattering down the halls. Dink Meeker was walking with Ender, his arm across Ender's shoulder, away from the bathroom. Ender was wearing only his towel. He was wet, and there was blood all over the back of his head and dripping down his back. It took Bean only a moment to realize that it was not his blood. The others from Bean's squad watched as Dink led Ender back to his quarters and helped him inside. But Bean was already on his way to the bathroom.
The teachers ordered him out of the way, out of the corridor. But Bean saw enough. Bonzo lying on the floor, medical staff doing CPR. Bean knew that you don't do that to somebody whose heart is beating. And from the inattentive way the others were standing around, Bean knew it was only a formality. Nobody expected Bonzo's heart to start again. No surprise. His nose had been jammed up inside his head. His face was a mass of blood. Which explained the bloody back of Ender's head.
All our efforts didn't amount to squat. But Ender won anyway. He knew this was coming. He learned self-defense. He used it, and he didn't do a half-assed job of it, either.
If Ender had been Poke's friend, Poke wouldn't have died.
And if Ender had depended on Bean to save him, he'd be just as dead as Poke.
Rough hands dragged Bean off his feet, pushed him against a wall. "What did you see!" demanded Major Anderson.
"Nothing," said Bean. "Is that Bonzo in there? Is he hurt?"
"This is none of your business. Didn't you hear us order you away?"
Colonel Graff arrived then, and Bean could see that the teachers around him were furious at him -- yet couldn't say anything, either because of military protocol or because one of the children was present.
"I think Bean has stuck his nose into things once too often," said Anderson.
"Are you going to send Bonzo home?" asked Bean. "Cause he's just going to try it again."
Graff gave him a withering glance. "I heard about your speech in the mess hall," said Graff. "I didn't know we brought you up here to be a politician."
"If you don't ice Bonzo and get him *out* of here, Ender's never going to be safe, and we won't stand for it!"
"Mind your own business, little boy," said Graff. "This is men's work here."
Bean let himself be dragged away by Dimak. Just in case they still wondered whether Bean saw that Bonzo was dead, he kept the act going just a little longer. "He's going to come after me, too," he said. "I don't want Bonzo coming after me."