by Jeff Hale
“Yeah, from who?” I asked. I glanced around, as though looking for someone that mattered. After a moment or two, I shrugged and looked back down at my bag of chips. I was goading them, and it was dangerous territory. My heart was racing. I had never actually stood up to these guys in the past and came out on top. I hoped that if this went where I thought it was, I wouldn’t freeze and forget my training.
“From us, you little bitch!” Nick exclaimed as he stepped forward and pushed at my shoulder. I felt my anger rise. That’s right, Kerensky. Anger, not fear. I needed that anger right now.
“I will only say this once.” I popped a chip into my mouth and crunched it loudly. “The next person who touches me will come away with broken bones.” I was tired of these guys thinking they could just push me around. They all needed to be knocked down a peg or two.
“Yeah right, you fucking pussy. We used to kick your ass all the time, like you’re really going to do something to us now,” Terry scoffed derisively. He reached down and grabbed the front of my shirt.
“Mistake one, you touched me. Mistake two, you have zero leverage. Mistake three, you attacked me on top of an incline with lots of debris between you and the ground. Mistake four, I have the high ground.” I stood suddenly, grabbed his wrist, pulled it in the opposite direction from which it was meant to bend, hearing a satisfying crack. I flipped him around, slamming him into the ground.
As he landed, I kicked him in the ribs, sending him careening down the gravel covered hill. He hit one of the small trees on his trip to the sidewalk. He smacked the pavement, and his head snapped into the side of the lower wall with a sickening thud.
Nick lunged at me, but found, much to his astonishment, that I was no longer there. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt, then helped his momentum and slammed him shoulder first into the part of the Wall that I had been leaning against. There was a snapping noise from his shoulder and he howled in pain. He clutched at his injured arm and the way he held it made me think his collarbone might have broken as well. I stood there, ready to act if Karl decided to take his shot, but he just backed off, holding his hands up.
“Whoa, dude, just chill. I’m just gonna go check on my friends, and get outta here, okay?” Karl gave me a newly respectful look, gesturing at Nick and Terry.
“Okay. Just let your friends know to leave me and my friends alone. All of them,” I said, my voice not even shaking a little. I was calm, centered, just like I had been trained to be. I looked down at Terry’s still form, then at Nick as he edged carefully away from me, and as I realized what had just happened, an exhilarating rush came over me. I felt empowered. I had faced them and won. I had redeemed myself from all those times they had beat me down and sent me home with scrapes, bruises and a bloodied, swollen face.
“Right. Not a problem,” Karl agreed, nodding vigorously. He bent down to check on Terry, nodding to himself, then moved to Nick, who had his lips clamped together to keep from crying out. Nick waved him away, then used his good arm to help Karl hoist Terry up and drag him back towards the school. Both were going to need medical attention.
I glanced around the immediate area. Everyone was watching in complete silenced awe. I shrugged, pretended to dust myself off, then sat back down and retrieved my bag of chips. I projected my best aura of calm indifference, like I had done something routine for me. Of course, it wasn’t true. I had just kicked their asses, and soundly. I was living the dream of every nerd or geek who had been bullied in their lives, and it felt wonderful. I finished my lunch as things slowly went back to normal around me, though I noticed everyone gave me a wide berth, all except Jessie, who was silently chuckling to herself. Malcolm just stared at me, astonishment very apparent on his face.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as I looked at Jessie.
“Them.” She waved a hand in the direction of the school. “They all come up here like they’re gonna kick your ass, then you just take out two of them in seconds.” She devolved into fits of laughter. “Did you see the look on Karl’s face? Priceless! I wish I had my camera for that one. I thought for a minute there you killed Terry though. That was kinda scary. Funniest thing about this though, was that it didn’t surprise me that you could do all that. Funny, huh?”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Malcolm said as he approached where we were standing. “I would ask if you’ve been taking lessons from our kung-fu deejay, but Nina hasn’t said shit about it, so I’m gonna assume not.”
“Yeah, so where’d you learn karate from there, big guy?” Jessie asked, looking at me expectantly.
“Uh, well from a friend while I was on the streets,” I covered quickly.
“Ah. Okay. I thought maybe all that crack you did kicked in temporarily, made you like Superman or something.” She gave me a playful smile.
“Jessie. Hun? What’d we talk about tact and appropriateness?” Mal asked her, giving her an exasperated look. She just gave him an innocent smile and shrugged. He rolled his eyes towards the sky and shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it. I dated her, remember?” I said, shaking my head and smiling despite myself.
The bell rang signaling the end of the lunch break. I walked back to the school with the two of them as they animatedly recounted the fight. Once we got to the courtyard we all said our farewells and headed our separate ways. The remainder of the day went by without incident, which was surprising. I was expecting to get called to the office and possibly suspended or a least have charges thrown at me. Neither happened, though the rumor mill was going strong and people avoided me more than usual, glancing at me over their shoulders or from behind books they were pretending to read. The only people not acting like I was a leper were the cheerleaders; they just glared at me openly. Maybe rightfully so. I had just single-handedly done the one thing no team on the field had been able to do thus far; completely destroy our football team. Yeah, like I gave a shit.
The only thing that worried me was that word of my violence would reach Kat and possibly make her think less of me. Damn me, but it had been a long time since I actually gave a shit about what someone thought of me, and the last person whose good opinion of me mattered was… Serena. I didn’t want to think about Serena at the moment, but it came unbidden anyway. Maybe I should just push Kat away. I wasn’t sure that I still wouldn’t feel like I was cheating on Serena in some way.
When Health class rolled around I was fully expecting Kelly’s recent nice streak to make a complete one-eighty, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. She walked into the class room, looking beautiful as ever in a black halter and a strategically cut up pair of blue jeans, and gave me a bright smile.
“Heya, Aerick. What’s up?” she asked as she sat down.
“Uh? Not much?” I was completely astounded that she wasn’t tearing into me for nearly killing her boyfriend.
She rested her elbow on her desk and her chin on her hand as she swiveled to face me. “So I heard that you trounced Terry and Nick pretty good,” she said nonchalantly.
“Yeah, well maybe they shouldn’t have tried to start something they couldn’t finish,” I said a bit defensively.
“Maybe you’re right.” She gave me an appraising look, then turned towards the front of the classroom as the teacher walked in. I couldn’t help but notice that all through class she kept giving me mysterious glances, but after class she didn’t stick around long enough for me to talk to her more. School was out for the day, so I headed out to the Wall to meet up with everyone. Despite my misgivings, I really wanted to see Kat. For once I didn’t have to go into work after school, so I would actually have some time to do what I wanted.
“So, how did that conversation with Kat go this morning?” Dave asked once I sat next to him on the Wall and lit a smoke. He was wearing his usual, with a shirt that asked ‘Got me?’ in big letters, and in subscript under that it proclaimed, ‘I’ll do your body good.’
“Fine,” I said tersely. Kat wasn’t there and I was disappointed. More th
an I felt I should have been. “Why does it matter?”
“Oh. No reason.”
“Out with it, Dave. You know how I feel about this gossip, high school drama bullshit,” I said impatiently.
“Alright, Nina said you guys set up a date tonight.”
“She’s full of shit, Dave. She seriously needs to knock her shit off. It’s pissing me the fuck off.” I flicked ashes angrily from my cigarette.
“Okay, okay. I give up, dude. I surrender. No need to shoot the messenger.”
I took a long drag and let the smoke out on a sigh. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just…”
“I know how you feel, dude. It gets to me sometimes too. I keep telling her she’s not acting any different from Kelly and her gossip mongers.”
“Actually, Kelly hasn’t been gossiping much recently,” I pointed out. “She’s been acting strange in my Health class. I’m not sure what’s going on. I think she might… like me. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah, kinda. But are you sure she isn’t gossiping?” Dave asked, looking past my shoulder.
“Not a hundred percent, no. Why?”
“Because it looks like she’s gossiping right now. More than likely about you.” Dave pointed.
I turned towards the parking lot. Kelly and three of her friends were sitting on the tailgate of a blue pickup truck facing us. Kelly waved at me and the others leaned in and started talking amongst themselves. I gave a confused, half-hearted wave back before turning back to Dave. “I see what you mean.”
“So you actually have the evening off work for once?” Nina asked as she came up behind Dave. She was actually dressed down, in a pair of tight blue jeans and a t-shirt like Dave’s, only it read ‘Why do I need a boyfriend when I can just use yours?’
“Yeah, I do,” I confirmed.
“Finally! So you’re gonna come with us and Kat and hang out tonight then, right?” Nina asked, hopeful.
“That was my plan, yes. That is, if you can knock your shit off.” I glared at her.
“What’d I do?” Nina asked, obviously completely oblivious.
“Your gossiping high school teenage bullshit. Just stop it. You’re no better than those yuppie bitches when you act like that,” I said, finally at my wits end with the whole thing.
“I’m sorry, Rick. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her eye narrowed and the set of her mouth was angry at my accusation.
“Aerick and Kat are going on a date. Aerick is soooo checking Kat out, oh they sooo need to hook up!” I pitched my voice in a higher tone, mocking hers.
“That’s not funny, Rick.” She gave me a hurt look.
“Yeah, but it’s fucking true and I am fed the fuck up with it. You have to meddle in my personal life and then broadcast to everyone you come across. Knock that shit off, or you can kiss this friendship goodbye. I’m tired of it, and I don’t want to have to deal with it anymore. In fact I don’t have to and I won’t.” My stare was grim.
She immediately became contrite. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t realize I was coming off like that. I was just…”
“Being a rumor-mongering bitch?” I completed for her.
“No! I was just trying to help you.”
“Well. Don’t. Okay?”
“Fine. Look are we going to try and have some fun tonight?” Nina asked, plainly wanting to put all this behind us.
“Yeah. We are. We clear?” I asked, just to make sure.
“Yep. We good then?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, now maybe you can quit fighting, kiss and make up, and you guys can show me around town,” Kat said from behind me. I turned and she was standing there with her arms crossed, Malcolm and Jessie with her.
“Someone didn’t get head today. First he beats up the football team, then he almost beats Nina up. Maybe I should just blow him to make him relax?” Jessie offered, giving me an appraising look.
Mal just gave her a resigned glance and shook his head. We all knew she wasn’t serious, she was just… being Jessie. “I can’t make it tonight, my mom has plans for some family thing.” Malcolm sounded less than enthusiastic.
“And I have to pick up some new ritual books that just came in last night and try them out,” Jessie said, her eyes lighting up in excitement. One of these days she was going to stumble across something that actually worked and I was going to have to bail her nicely shaped ass out of it.
“Well, that just leaves the four of us,” Kat said, casually leaning in and putting her arm around my waist. “Good, then it’ll be a double date.”
“A date? I thought we agreed…?” I almost moved away from her, a part of me unsure of the sudden physical closeness, another part soaking up the feel of her next to me as though it had been way too long and she was exactly what was missing.
“I lied?” Kat said, giving me a mischievous smile.
I thought I was starting to see why people called her Kat, instead of Kate or Katie or something along those lines. I suddenly had the urge to kiss her, but I held it back. It was too soon, way too soon for me to wrap my jumbled feelings around the idea, and there was no way I was going to do anything like that in public. I’d never hear the end of it from Nina.
The four of us all piled into Nina’s newer Chevy Avalanche, me taking shotgun. Kat and Dave sat in the back seat, Kat behind me and Dave behind Nina. I would have sat in the back with Kat, but one of my weaknesses was a tendency to get motion sick if I wasn’t in the front. She took the opportunity to lean forward and rest her chin on the seat back right next to my head, her right hand on the other side and dangling over so that her fingertips brushed my shoulder.
The Avalanche had been an eighteenth birthday gift from Nina’s parents, possibly an enticement to get her to move back home. They had told Nina that she could have whatever she wanted for it, and Nina had gone all out: a ten-disc CD player, floodlights, the option to make it a convertible in pickup mode, leather interior, built in DVD player for the back seats, GPS… if it was available, Nina had it put in. She’d picked out the paint as well, a pearlescent black that shimmered in certain lighting. Airbrushed on each side was a dark-haired girl in a black bikini, and on the hood was a panther. The girl and the panther had the same eyes: werepanther. Nina had always been fascinated with werecreatures. If she only knew they were real, and what they were capable of.
I glanced out the passenger window as Nina started the truck. Kelly and her friends were all still watching us. I pointed it out to Dave, who just gave me a knowing smile. He knew that I still harbored a huge crush on Kelly despite past misdeeds. Nina noticed me pointing and looked in that direction. She saw them and gave them a single finger to show them what she thought of them. Then she slid a Disturbed CD into the player, turned it up and revved the engine, before tearing through the parking lot at way faster speeds than she was supposed to, coming close to clipping the truck Kelly and her friends were sitting on. They yelled curse words at her as we pulled out of the parking lot and Nina giggled maniacally.
I was looking forward to a relaxing evening with my friends. Could I hope that things would actually be that simple? With my life, and my friends, it was probably asking too much.
SIX
We made two quick stops on our way to Nina’s destination of choice. The first was at my apartment so I could change into a pair of nicer black denim jeans and a button up shirt that had a dark green Celtic knot-work design along the bottom and sleeve hems. The second was by Nina and Dave’s place. Dave was fine with what he was wearing, so we waited while the two girls went into the bedroom to switch clothes. They came out a little while later, Kat in a pleated leather skirt, and a small vest that showed off her midriff and was cut generously low. She didn’t look comfortable in it, and I assumed that Nina had chosen the particular outfit for her. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, and I did, I would swear that the clothes were Nina’s. Nina had chosen a fishnet cat suit, a bra and a very short vinyl skirt. I did my best not to stare at Kat�
�s legs and ass as I gave her a hand up into the truck, but I failed miserably.
“So where are we going anyway?” Kat asked from behind me as Nina set the truck in motion again.
Nina glanced in the rear view, her mouth curling into a knowing smile. “You’ll see. It’s a place I just recently discovered, and it’s got a great atmosphere. It’s an all age’s club of sorts.”
“Great,” I muttered. I had been hoping for something else, maybe the Circus Circus Adventuredome, where rides would give me an excuse to get up close and personal with Kat.
“What?” Kat asked, staring at the side of my face.
“Oh, he just hates clubs. Or any place with lots of people,” Dave put in. “No biggie. He’ll just end up in a fight with someone once he gets agitated enough, considering his recent turn of attitude. Of course we’ll all get kicked out, and we may end up several hundred dollars short when we need to come up with bail. Nina, what were you thinking?” Dave shook his head.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll have a private booth all to ourselves. You won’t even have to leave it if you don’t want to, Rick,” Nina assured, glancing in my direction.
“Like hell he won’t. If he’s my date, then he’s going to have to dance with me,” Kat stated with conviction.
Dancing. Maybe the earth would just swallow me now. I groaned and slid into my seat a bit further and was silent for the rest of the trip to downtown Vegas. The place we were going to was actually on the Strip, across the street from the Treasure Island. Oddly enough, I didn’t ever recall seeing the place before. It was called the Velvet Flame, and I suddenly wondered at just what kind of club it was.
I looked back at Dave, who gave me a dubious expression. Apparently I wasn’t the only one. We both knew that Nina swung for both teams so a gay and lesbian bar would be right up her alley. Not that I minded if it was, I just felt that we would look out of place, being two obviously hetero couples.
