Yay! Update time. I would have done it earlier, but I had class today. Here's a little more info. on the subject of introducing OCs to the story. After much thought, I've decided it would be a good idea to have "Mini-stories" involving other people's characters to create.....filler, I guess you could say, inbetween major events. Of course, this is still far away. I don't even have an estimate to how many chapters I'm going to have before putting that idea in. Anyways, on with the story!
I didn't know why I got so worked up, but I didn't give a damn. I just wanted to get out of that place. Normally I could ignore all that, but Ian made it one-hundred times worse. When I walked past my locker, I punched it as hard as I could, leaving a nice fist-shaped dent in it, which caused my hand to start hurting. I probably bruised it, but that was not my concern right now.
"H.A.! Please stop!" Kari said as she ran toward me. As much as I liked her, I didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. I opened the doors of the school and left.
The autumn day was very peaceful. There were many people outside appreciating it. How come no one would appreciate me? Was I ever mean to anyone? No. Did I ever do something stupid to make me stand out? No. I'm a nice guy. I like to try and be the best person I could be, and for what? Be shoved aside because I'm different? It should be those kids at school who should be in my place right now. Treating people badly shouldn't give you praise; it should make you the bad guy.
After a few minutes of walking, I ended up at the park a couple blocks from school, and noticed how a few people were giving me looks. I guess adults can be as bad as kids when it comes to accepting someone who's different.
"Mommy….why does that fox have two tails?" Some kid asked their mother. I stopped walking and froze. The mother knew that I had overheard.
"He was probably born that way honey, but it's not nice to point people out because he's different." That made me feel a little better. Too bad things were going to get worse.
"Yo! Freak!" Someone shouted. My ears cringed at the sound of the voice. It sounded like a teen who hadn't just smoked five packs of cigarettes a day, but had also eaten the ends after finishing them. "Nice tails!"
"God…now is not the time to be messing with me, buddy." I said turning around, only to be greeted by a gang of five kids, all foxes. The guy who spoke was a red fox like me, but his fur was ruffled up and was very pale. "Oh…you have friends…great." I said sarcastically. I could tell I was in deep trouble. Upon further observation, I noticed that the kids behind him had weapons in their hands.
"You know….we dun like ya kind around here." He said. My eyes open wide.
"What do you mean, my kind?" I asked.
"My apologies…there ain't a 'Your kind' since you one of a kind, ya freak!" He said and started laughing as everyone else behind him started laughing behind him as well. I noticed that a lot of people in the park were starting to leave. I guess these guys had a reputation of starting up trouble. I would have loved to sock this guy in the face right now, but I couldn't take the risk of being beaten to death. I had to leave, and fast.
"Boss….when do we get to hit him?!" One of his mindless minions asked.
"Shut it! You's all can when I say so!" The leader yelled. He obviously was a great leader.
"What the hell do you want with me anyway?" I asked, realizing that now would be a great time to do "Less talking, more running."
"We here to punish you." He said with a smirk.
"What did I do to get punished? I just met you…wait…I haven't evenmet you. I don't know you and you don't know me." What the hell was I saying!? Why wouldn't I shut up and get out of there!?
He started laughing. "What you do? What in god's name are those things right behind ya?"
"Two tails. Your point? I didn't ask for them." I said, again asking myself why I haven't ran at this point.
"Don't want 'em? That's O.K. I'll slice one off for ya!" His crazy friend yelled as he charged at me with a knife. Now my heart was pounding. I dodged out of the way as fast as I could as the kid fell over, dropping the knife.
"Damn it! Hold still!" He yelled as he reached for the knife. I kicked him in the head before he could grab it, sending him backwards onto the ground. This didn't go over so well with the rest of the group.
"Oh! A fighter! Alright guys, let's make a game of it!" The leader said with a smile. "Whoever's the last one to hit him has to buy drinks for everyone else. Have at it!" As the other three foxes charged at me, I turned around as fast as I could and made a run for it. This was probably the scariest situation I had ever experienced in my life.
As I ran down the streets, I prayed that I'd see some form of police to help me here. Of course, as my luck showed, I got something else.
"H.A.! There you are!" Kari yelled as I ran up to her.
"Kari! Run!" I yelled. She looked at me confused, until she saw the gang of foxes following me. The light switch in her head turned on and she started running as well.
"H.A., what happened?" She asked as she caught up to me.
"I…have….no idea." I said, clearly tired from running already. "I was just…walking around…and they…showed up."
Suddenly, I tripped and stumbled to the ground. I felt a sharp pain go through my ankle in the process. One more point to bad luck. What else could have gone wrong at this point?
"H.A.!" Kari said alarmed as she looked at my ankle. "Are you alright?"
"Get out of here! You don't know what they could do to you." I said. I didn't want to see her get hurt. As the gang of foxes caught up, their leader stepped in front and started laughing.
"Oh! You got a girlfriend, and a cute bitch at that! Perfect! This will be so much better than beating you up!" He said with his cynical and annoying laugh.
"Kari! Forget about me and go!" I demanded.
"You're my friend. I couldn't…" She replied, but she hadn't noticed that two of the foxes snuck behind her and grabbed her arms. Alarmed, she struggled to get free.
"Let me go!" She yelled kicking her legs around.
"Kari!" I said trying to stand up, but I felt that sharp pain in my ankle again and fell to the ground.
"Oh this is priceless!" The leader said, again with a smirk. I really wished someone could shut this guy up. He had to be the most annoying person I had ever seen and I had only known him for like five minutes. "Poor little freak boy can't save his girlfriend."
"Don't call him a freak!" Kari yelled. This felt like school all over again, except these guys were doing more than calling names.
"Boss…she won't stay still!" One fox said.
"I got it…." He said walking up to her. He stared her in the eyes and held out a pocket knife to her neck. "Stop moving, or else."
"No!" She yelled and spit in his face. He didn't take that very kindly.
"Errr….." The fox mumbled wiping his face. He turned back toward her and yelled. "You…bitch!" Then, he smacked her hard across the face. Thank god he didn't use the knife, but this guy was no weakling either. The hit left Kari standing with a few tears falling from her face. I had just about gone over the edge in rage at this point. I stood up and leaned against the nearby wall.
"Put her down! Or else!" I said in a very demanding tone. They all looked at me and laughed. God, I hated being treated like crap.
"Tell ya what." The leader began. "You can have her back after we're done with her." He began to caress Kari's face. I couldn't stand to see this happen right in front of me.
"No! Let her go!" I screamed. The leader stopped to look at how angry I was getting over it. "Do anything you like to me! Fucking kill me for all I care! Just leave her alone!"
The leader smiled at me and actually thought for a bit.
"Boss! He's got a point. Forget screwing this girl! I wanna kick someone's ass!" The same guy I kicked in the head said, cracking his knuckles. He had a giant bruise on his head from where I hit him.
"Yeah! I've been dying to hit something all day!" Another fox said holding up a wooden bat.
"Alright…have at it guys. You can let her go." The leader said as the two foxes dropped Kari. I was relieved to have her out of this, but now I was a goner. The group walked up to me slowly. Suddenly, one of the foxes spoke up.
"Boss, is the bet still on?" He asked. The leader looked at him.
"Bet?"
"Yeah…last guy to hit him, buys a round of drinks." He said. The leader smiled.
"Sure, why not." He snickered a little.
"Let me at him first!" One guy yelled as he pushed forward, but another fox grabbed his leg and pulled him to the ground. Kari noticed that this was a good chance to get away. She ran over to me, held my on her back, and we ran off.
"No way! I get first dibs." Another yelled; all of them kicking and punching.
"Guys!" The leader yelled. "We're a group! We don't need to be fightin' each other." The leader looked around. "Hey….where did he go?"
"I think he got away boss!" A fox yelled.
"Well, don't just stand there!" He yelled, his face now more red than his fur. "Find that freak and kick his ass!"
Kari and I were already a safe distance from them.
"Geeze! You're heavy, H.A.." She said.
"Thanks…I appreciate the compliment." I said sarcastically.
"I think we lost them." She said, setting me down. Afterward, she took closer look at my ankle.
"Please don't tell me it's broken." I said wiping my face. She shook her head.
"No…it's just sprained. It should be fine by the end of the day if you don't put much weight on it." I sighed in relief. The one time I actually wanted to go to the school dance, and it was almost ruined by something stupid.
"Want me to walk you back to your house?" She asked.
"Wait…school isn't over yet." I replied.
"You honestly want to go back there?" She said giggling.
"No thanks." I said with a smirk.
I was almost certain that she liked me the way I liked her. I mean, not only did she stand up for me against the entire school, but she chased after me after I left, and even stood by my side when those goons ambushed me. Still, I was too afraid to ask her. Something in my mind wanted me to wait, just in case. It had only been a day, which was far too soon to get into a relationship.. After a long quiet walk, and also getting lost in the process due to my terrible sense of direction, we reached my house.
"Thanks for helping me get home." I said.
"You're very welcome." She replied.
"Would you like to come inside or something? You probably don't have anything to do today, since we like…..skipped school."
She giggled. "Yeah, I'd love to come in."
When we opened the door and I saw my mother, I knew the world was gunna come crashing down. She had a very surprised look in her eyes, and I bet she wanted to know why I left school so early.
"H.A.!" She shouted. I gulped.
"Y-Yeah..." I asked, expecting the worst.
"I have some news." She started in an immediately calm tone.
"News?" I said confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I just got back from the doctor's office today…..and…well…." She paused for a long time. Come on lady! Stop with the suspense already!
"You're going to have another brother or sister!" She said put her hands together with a big smile on her face. My eyes grew huge.
"W-W-W-W-What!!!!???" I shouted in complete shock. Kari hugged me tightly.
"That's so awesome H.A.! Babies are so cute and adorable!" My mouth was hanging so low I was expecting my chin to hit the ground. Then came the question I was expecting.
"Now that that is out of the way H.A.….I'd like to know why you are home so early."
I shook my head to get out of a state of shock, and began to tell my mom about the chaotic day.
What a nice way for me to end a chapter, eh? :P Again, if you want to give me permission to use your OCs later on in the story, drop me a PM. (Save the reviews for...well...reviews.) Now for some comments:
boredknight: The contrast and conflict between Ian and H.A. is definitely multi-dimensional. We'll find out later how they resolve their little dispute.
Sir Chase Vonvit: You can't ready every chapter everytime, I guess. The same thing happens to me with fanfics I read all the time.
Hedgehog B. Rebecca: Thanks, and thanks for the review as well. :D
kyuubihikari: Thanks. I try to give my characters their own personalty, without blatantly stating it. That wouldn't be interesting, now would it? :P
Kitsune Disciple: Thank's for the tip of using italics over bold. It definitely looks a lot better, and correct as you said. Ian is definitely a tough guy to figure out.