"All A's again huh Paul?" Glenn said looking over Paul's shoulder at his report card. "Geez do you do any thing besides study?"

Paul laughs and carefully tucks his grades away in to his book bag. "Of course I do. I practice martial arts 3 times a week."

Glenn just rolled his eyes at the lackluster answer and falls back in to his seat. "That's not what I mean and you know it."

"Well if I want to get in to university then I need to study as much as I can. Besides, what else is there to do anyway."

"What else?!" Glenn asked completely shocked. "What about girls huh? Getting their numbers, going on dates, getting lucky!" He shakes Paul by his shoulders while saying the last part. "That's what else there is."

"Well, there's time for that after I graduate from collage." Paul says fixing his school uniform.

Truth was Paul didn't have many interest besides studying and martial arts. Studying had been a big part of his life since he started school. It was instead on by his father. When he was 10 he asked to join the football team but his mother said no. "It was to violent of a sport." She said. So when she agreed to let him join a local karate class, he was surprised. It then later turned out he was really good at it as well. He excelled at both easily, rising to the top of his class in school and to a black belt in just a year. He moved to advanced classes for both and has stayed at the top since.

The last bell rings and the whole class stands to leave for the day. As Paul is pulling his book bag over his shoulder Glenn wraps his arm over them as well. "So I was thinking we head to that pizza place that just opened up before heading home. I heard their hiring drivers so maybe we could apply."

"Yeah that sounds good." Paul says pulling out his phone. "Let me just text my parents and let them know I'll be home a little later then normal."

Glenn rolls his eyes yet again and removes his arm. "Man it's time to cut the cord already. Seriously!"

Paul shakes his head with a chuckle. He was use to this sort of teasing from Glenn. They had been friends for the better part of their high school lives. Oddly enough they meet because Glenn was needing help studying for an exam and Paul had been assigned to be his tutor. After exams were over, Glenn treated him to a night of video games as a thank you. They've been hanging out ever since.

When he finishes his text, he tucks his phone back in his pocket and turns to face his waiting friend. "Well come on let's go."

The two boys walk through the crowded halls of school and out side to their waiting bikes. They walk them out of the school gates before mounting them and riding off toward the pizza place. "So how are things with you and Maggie?" Paul asks.

"Good I guess. It's hard dating some one when we go to different schools and all but her dad likes me so I get to see her on the week ends no problem."

"That's nice. You two seem like you get along well. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." Glenn blushes.

They ride their bikes across town till they reach the new pizza shop that had just opened a few weeks before. Locking their bikes to a tree, they walk in and are greeted by the owner. "Welcome boy's what can I get you?"

"We were wanting to apply for a job." Glenn says.

"Both of you?" The boys nod but only barely from Paul. "Well I'm only in need of one more driver. So I can't hire you both. Sorry boys."

"Damn." Glenn says disappointed.

Paul was secretly relived. He didn't really want a job to get in the way of his school work and martial arts. "Aww it's okay, you can have it Glenn. You can earn you some money to take Maggie out on a real date for once. Girl like that needs to be wined and dinned once in a while if you wanna keep her." He jokes.

"Man you sure?"

"Yeah go ahead." Glenn thanks him and steps over to talk to the owner alone. "I'll be out side waiting." Paul says but he's sure, in his excitement, Glenn didn't hear him. "Oh well." He thinks and steps out side.

While he wait's on Glenn to finish applying for the job he sits down on the bench out side the pizza place and gets an early start on his homework. With in a few seconds, he's in the zone and solving math problems left and right. "If Glenn takes his time in there, I should be able to finish this math work before getting home." He thinks.

"You think you're such hot shit don't you Dixon?" He hears from behind him breaking his concentration.

"Yeah, let's see you slither your way out of this one." Another voice says.

Paul's interest is peeked and he turns to see what was the cause of all the commotion. All he sees in the lightly busy street and nothing more. He's about to turn around and get back to work when a loud crash from the ally way next to the pizza shop makes him jump. He leans over to see what could have caused it and sees a trash can that had been knocked over and it's contents littering the ground. While he looks around to see if any one else seems worried, the sounds of blows hitting their mark and gasping breaths meet his ears as well. "Some one is getting attacked." He thinks as he jumps up and runs to the ally way entry.

In the tight space he sees four people. One on the ground and the other three hovering over him kicking his twisted form. "HEY!" He yells with out thinking causing the men to turn and look at him. "Leave him alone."

"Who the hell are you?" One guy asks.

"Look at his uniform. He's from that private school, you know St. James Academy. That all boys school."

Paul looks down at his school uniform. "Shit if I get caught fighting they'll know where I attend and I'll be kicked out." For a split second he thinks he should just back up and keep his nose clean. But when he looks back up, he sees the second bluest eyes he had ever seen, next to his own, glaring back at him from the ground. In that moment it's like they were able to communicate some sort of plan to get rid of the guys that were just beating him up.

"Yeah that's the one." The last guy laughs as the other two join in.

"Hey kid, why don't you just scram." The second guy says.

Paul's eyes flash form the other boys and back to the three who have turned their attention on him. "Why don't you scram before you get your butts kicked."

"Our butts kicked." They joust. "Are you serious?" For some reason they found something funny in what he had said. They were doubled over in laughter and not paying attention to the boy behind them as he rose to his feet and got in position.

The one Paul pegged as the leader steps up and wipes the tears of laughter from his face. "Man you're a piece of work you know that. Now how about you get going before you get hurt. Wouldn't want to get your uniform dirty." He takes Paul's tie and flicks it across his chest. And then, just as if a flag was dropped or a starting gun fired, Paul and the mystery boy start swinging.

Paul punches the leader in the face, forcing him back. Then with a round house kicks in the chest, the guy hits the wall and falls to the ground. The mystery boy surprises one of the other two with a punch to the back of the head knocking him to the ground as well. The mystery boy then takes this one down as well with a quick punch to the gut then an upper cut.

With the three of them knocked out, he and the other boy stand there alone looking down at what they have done. "Nice moves you got there." The boy says pointing at him and out of breath. "Thanks for the help. Wasn't needed but thanks any way."

Paul looks up at the boy confused. He had dark hair that hung just below his brow and fresh wounds across his face. He looked disheveled, beaten, and scrawny. There was no way he could have taken on three people alone. "Wasn't needed? Is this guy crazy?" he thinks. "Uh yeah."

"Paul?" Glenn calls from around the corner.

Paul instinctively turns to look for Glenn before looking back to see the boy has started running down the ally away from him. "Hey wait!" he calls out but the boy doesn't stop.

"Paul is that you?" Glenn steps in to the ally way entry and Paul turns to face him in shock and horror. Glenn smiles till he spots the bodies. "Whoa what the hell happened?" he looks around Paul, "Did you this?"

"Yes, I mean no! Well.." Paul looked down behind him and up to see if the mystery boy was gone. He was. "..sort of."

"Geez what happen were they trying to take the bikes?"

"What no?" Paul chuckles nervously. "I heard a struggle and found this guy being jumped by these three."

"So you knocked them all out?"

"No just this one." He points down at the one he fought. "The kid they were jumping got the other two."

"Really?" Glenn eyed him. "Well we should get out of here before some one notices and we get in trouble." He turns to leave the ally and retrieve his bike.

Paul takes one last look down the ally way in search for the boy then turns to leave as well. "Yeah, your right." He gathers up his book, unlocks his bike from the tree, and the two start to head home.

"So you said their was a boy but I didn't see any one besides you and the ones on the ground."

"He ran off when you called for me. Guess he was scared." Paul shrugged.

"Well did you get his name at least."

"No but I did hear one of the others call him Dixon I think."

Glenn hits the brakes on his bike and slides to a stop, making Paul stop as well. "Did you say Dixon?"

Paul nods. "Yeah why?"

"Oh my god which one was it huh? Was the older one or younger one? Wa-was he big and scary with a face like a rabid dog or smaller with dark hair and quick like a snake?"

Glenn's face was showing pure terror that only matched Paul's confusion to his questions. "Uhh the snake one I guess?"

"You met Daryl. He's not as bad as Merle but still you shouldn't talk to him, he's just as dangerous. Avoid the name Dixon at all cost." Glenn warns as he takes off on his bike again. Paul stands there for a second wondering why Glenn freaked out so much and why he should avoid them. The boy in the ally way didn't seem dangerous. He even thanked him for the help. "Come on!" Glenn calls out from a head.

Paul shakes his head and starts pedaling to catch up.
"Hey hold up. How do you know so much about them?" he asks when he catches up to Glenn.

"You're kidding right? They're the Dixon brothers. The whole town knows about them. Oh but I guess, now that I think about it, you wouldn't know about them seeing as you never look up from a book." He laughs. "Look don't worry about it okay. Just stay out of their way and you'll be find."

Paul still doesn't understand but he nods in agreement. "So did you get the job?"

"Oh yeah I did! I even start tomorrow. I can't wait to tell my parents and Maggie." Glenn smiles.

"How many hours will you work?"

"I'll only be working part time. Tuesday – Friday after school till closing."

Paul thinks about the days. "That means we wont get to hang out as much."

"What, why not?"

"Well if your gonna be working Tuesday- Friday and seeing Maggie on weekends. That only leaves Mondays but I have karate then."

Glenn thinks about it. "Man you're right."

There is a sad silence between them till Paul says. "Hey it's alright we still have school and we only live a few blocks from each other." Glenn nods and the sad silences returns.

They soon make it to the stop sign they part ways at and say goodbye. Glenn goes to the right while Paul goes left. The rest of the bike ride home he worries about the mystery boy he helped. If he was okay and if he wouldn't see them again. He makes it home in a few more minutes and pushes his bike in the garage before heading inside. "Mom I'm home." He calls out.

"Hey honey." His mom calls from some where in the house. "How was school?"

"Good, got my report card." He sets his book bag down on the table and starts to dig it out just as his mom enters the room. She's caring a basket of laundry and sets it on the bar then walks over to take the card from him. "Got all A's again." He smiled.

"That's great honey. Your dad will be proud." She looks down at him with a warm smile that quickly fades. "Paul what happen to you?" She sets the paper down on the table and picks up his hand to look at the fresh wound. "Is this blood?"

"What?" he asks while looking down to see what she's talking about.

"Oh my god were you in a fight."

"No!" he says jerking his hand back.

"Oh yeah then what was that?"

Paul hated having to lie to his mother but if she knew he had been in a fight, she would rip him from karate. He needed to come up with a convincing one on the spot. "Well it wasn't a fight really. Some guys were asking what kind of things we learn in karate and asked me to demonstrate. I forgot to hold back on one of my punches and ended up hitting someone in the nose. It was an accident."

His mom looked down on him with a look of disbelief. He was sure she would call him on his bluff and that would be the end of his martial arts. "Well I hope you apologized to him." She says turning to get the first aid kit.

Paul takes a mental sigh of relief. "I did."

"Good boy. Now let me clean that so it wont get infected."

"Yes ma'am." He walks over to her and lets her clean his hand.

Being their only child leaves him to be doted on a great deal. Best clothes, best school, strict rules, over protected, the works. It had been pounded in to him form a young age to keep them aware of his location at all times, study hard and get in a good collage, and most important, never to fight. If he had any problems with any one he was to seek help from an adult. When he started martial arts he was taught to avoid confrontation and only use what he learned as a last resort.

"There we go." His mom said tapping the last of the wrapping down. "That should help keep it clean."

Paul looked down at his mom's handy work and holds back a laugh. As always it was an over reaction compared to the problem. What a couple of band aids would have protected just fine, she used a medical wrap with gauze included. "Thanks mom." He says turning away and grabbing his book bag. "Well I'm gonna go finish up my homework."

"Okay sweetie. I'll bring you up a snack after I'm done with laundry." Paul nodded and starts up the stairs to his room.

When he reaches his room he empties his bag out on his bed. He finds the books he needs and sits down at his desk and starts on his home work. He was able to finish a little more than half of his math at the pizza place so there was only a little left.

Once that was done he opens his laptop and starts working more on his English paper that was due in a few days. He had the majority of it done just needed to proof read and spell check everything before printing it off and turning it in. Around the time he was hitting the print button his phone vibrates from a received text. Paul picks it up off the table and reads it.

Glenn : Hey have you already done your math?

Paul : Yeah why need help?

Glenn : Yeah just on all of it lol. But 4real, I can't get number 12. I keep getting an answer not in the multiple choice.

Paul flips through his work to find the question Glenn was talking about. He then texts him the proper formula to use to find the answer.

Glenn : THANK YOU! You're a life saver!

Paul shakes his head and laughs. He sets his phone back down on the table and stands to get his papers from the printer. He takes the small stack of papers from the tray and starts to flip through them. "No… no no no!" He says as he notices the fading ink. When he flips to the last couple of pages. They might as well have been blank. "Great." He huffs and throws the papers in the trash. "Guess I'll just have to save it to a hard drive and print it off at school."

Glancing at the clock he sees that he has a little over an hour before his karate class starts. "Guess I could go in a little early and warm up." He thinks while taking off his school uniform. Pulling on is casual clothes he grabs his sling bag with all his gear and starts to head down stairs.

"Oh I was just bringing this up to you." His mom says with a plate full of food.

"Oh well I was gonna go to class early and warm up. Do you mind putting it in a bag for me to take with me?"

"Sure honey." His mom says turning around and heading back in to the kitchen.

Paul waits for his mom to finish bagging up the food. When she does she hands it to him bag and he puts it in his sling bag along with his gear. "Text me when you get there." His mom says before kissing him on the head.

"I will. See you at dinner." He says as he opens the door to the garage. He takes his bike and starts down the road back in to town.

He makes it in to town in twenty minutes and decides to stop at a gas station for a drink. He pulls up to the first one he sees and runs in sided to get his drink of choice. When he comes back out he spots the mystery boy walking down the other side of the road. "HEY!" he yells out making every one around him turn and look including the boy.

The boy stairs at him for a moment then takes off running. "Not this time!" he says jumping back on his bike and riding after him.

He chases him down the road some till the boy takes a sharp turn down another ally way. Paul tries to ride after him but the ally has a fence a few feet in that he has no way of getting around or over with out being on foot. Groaning he quickly jumps off and drops his bike. On any other given day he wouldn't leave his bike with out locking it up first, but he needed to catch this kid. He had to many questions not to.

Climbing the fence just like the boy did, he takes off in the direction he last saw him go. When he turns the corner he's met with a dead end. "Damn it!" He whispers as he looks for anywhere the boy could have escaped through. A open door or window anything to provide a way out of this dead end but as far as he could tell, there were none. "DAMN IT!" he yells. Defeated, he turns around and heads back to the fence.

As he's climbing the fence he hears the sound of a can hitting and then rolling across the ground. His eyes narrow and he jumps down from the fence and heads back down the dead end. Looking around with sharper eyes he tries to figure out where the boy was hidden. Still unable to find him he figures he has nothing left to lose. "Look I don't want to hurt you okay… I only wanna talk."

Silence.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay after what happened today, but you ran off before I could ask."

Silence again.

Paul thinks of what it is he could do to get this kid to come out of his hiding place. "Oh yeah.." he pulls around his sling bag and pulls out the food his mom had made for him and the energy drink he had just bought at the store. "Have you eaten? My mom made this for me but I have a feeling that you could use it more then me…. It's just a sandwich and some apple slices but you can have it if you wont." He holds them out like the boys was actually standing there willing to take them.

The fact Paul is met with silence yet again makes him wonder if the boy is really even there. Had he been talking to the air this whole time. He waits for a few more moments before he sighs and sets the food and drink on the ground. "Well if you're there you can have it if not.. I guess this doesn't matter." He turns and starts walking away.

Paul climbs over the fence and finds his bike just where he had left it. Picking it up, he turns it around to leave the ally. Once he's out, he throws his leg over and rides off. While he does, he's left wondering if the boy was there, will he eat the food. That along with more questions fill his mind as he forces him self to face forward and not look back.