Chapter Warnings:

Bullying, harassment, violence, language.

This chapter is for Lyelentu.


Karok

Wednesday afternoons always came in the form of visiting the old school coin-op arcade next to a greasy pizza joint with Karok. Occasionally Kirstie, a senior from Rocheste Prep and Karok's (extremely sassy) girlfriend, joined them for a few rounds of pinball but the frown the older boy had on his face on this particular day made it clear that she didn't have the time to join them. It was a shame, really. She was amazing at pinball.

Karok, the only friend from his class Lann managed to make from Colhen Public High School in the past two and a half years, let out a disgruntled huff and threw his hands up in surrender when the asteroids he had been shooting at destroyed his last space ship for the fifteenth time with a noisy crunch; the game happily displayed a 'YOU LOSE' screen and demanded more coins. "Goddamnit, that was the last of my quarters, and I've only got fourth place!"

He turned to Lann, who had been dozing off in a chair as he watched his friend rage at the Asteroid game while waiting keeping an eye on the Pac-Man machines, and asked, "Hey man, can I have two quarters? I'll pay you back tomorrow."

Lann searched through his jean pockets and pulled out some lint and an old lollipop wrapper. With nothing but more lint coming out the pockets of his hoodie, he shrugged. "Sorry bro."

Karok deflated and looked longingly at his score on the screen.

"Well, too poor to afford your own gaming console? What a joke. I don't even know what Kirstie even sees in an oaf like you." A nasally sneer came from behind Karok and the boy craned his neck to see who had spoken.

Ah, Gallagher. The senior linebacker of the football team in Rocheste Prep. Oh look, he even had groupies – two bulky looking teens that were most likely on the football team as well. Joy.

"Choke on a peanut, Gallagher." Karok turned his back to them and walked over to where Lann, eyes glazed over and thoughts far away, was sitting. He sat down in their booth and ignored the three smirking boys and watched a few elementary school girls bicker over a broken brawling simulator a few yards away.

"I bet your girlfriend does." Karok colored and glared at Gallagher as his friends chortled. His giant fists clenched and he painstakingly reigned in his anger. Lann frowned and righted an empty soda cup that had fallen over.

"You're a dickface. Leave." Lann's voice was like steel despite the distracted look in his eyes. He wasn't quite all there at the moment, his head fuzzy-feeling and lightheaded, but just enough to keep track of what was going on.

"Oooh, Karok's little bitch has teeth! I'm so scared! Hah!" Gallagher mock fainted and Lann's frown flatlined. Karok's glare intensified to the point where Lann absently wondered if he could set something on fire if he glared a little harder…

"Hey, leave him out of this. You gonna pick a fight, you pick it with me." Karok must have some inkling that Lann wasn't at his best today, his mind in a place so far in space that the Enterprise wouldn't be able to beam him back quick enough.

"Nah, I think this is better. Hey, bitch, you were gonna say som–" Gallagher wrapped an arm around Lann's shoulder but before the older boy could take more than two blinks, Lann had wrenched his arm off, shoved him away with a surprising force, and decked him square across the face.

Karok couldn't help but wince (on the inside of course, that bastard totally had it coming) when he heard the crunch of nose cartilage against bony knuckles. Gallagher crumpled to the floor, his friends scampering out the door like chickens, and Karok managed to pull Lann back before he ended up stomping the other boy's eyes out as he writhed in pain on the thin carpet. A bored employee was coming to see what the fuss was about, and a few patrons sitting in the dining area were curiously peeking over the divider.

"Dude, that was… awesome." At Lann's slightly unhinged grin of satisfaction, Karok hastily added, "But let me do the talking alright? We might be in some trouble…"

The employee hauled Gallagher up and looked at the boy's bloody nose and then at Karok and Lann. From the pissed look on the woman's face it was obvious that she had more than one complaint about the annoying boy but she hadn't really expected someone to bloody him up. The lady sighed and gave the two boys a look of exasperation.

"Scram, alright? All three of ya. Nobody never saw anything, and don't come back until y'all can refrain from antagonizing each other over a freakin' video game. Kids these days…" Karok took the initiative to drag a puzzled Lann out with him. Gallagher staggered out behind them, took one look at Lann's blank face, and then ran as if hellhounds were at his heels.

Karok shaded his eyes from the bright sunshine that was completely different from the dimly lit interior of the arcade. Well, their afternoon might have ended up being thrown to the dogs but it was still salvageable. Sort of.

"Thanks stepping up for me. Didn't expect it, but, uh… It kinda was a little overkill, but who cares. That slug across the face was badass." Thanking people was one thing, but thanking friends was a whole different system that Karok fumbled with. Lann was a little too out of it at the moment to really notice, though.

"That's what friends do. Watch each others' backs n' everything." Karok frowned; Lann looked a little pale. The smaller boy always had problems with his blood pressure, or something like that. Medical stuff that went way over his head, but Evie probably knew tons about it. When was the last time he saw the other boy eating something sugary? Or anything at all?

"Not just any friend. A great one." Karok didn't need to be as smart as Evie or study as much as Fiona to know that great friends were more valuable than the best football equipment money could buy.

Lann blinked slowly, as if he just realized he was standing outside of the arcade. "Whatever you say, big guy."

Karok stretched his arms above his head. What to do, now that their main form of entertainment was gone for the day…

"Hey, want to get some milkshakes? I think I've got a ten somewhere in my backpack." Lann practically lit up at the mention of sugar.

"Why not?"