Pete was walking into the boys locker room to change for football practice. He went to his locker, which wasn't a long walk, because his locker was the first one in the locker room, a perk for being the quarterback. As he began to enter his locker combination, he heard someone calling his name.
"Pete!" The unidentified person yelled. Pete turned around and noticed an old friend he hasn't talked to in years.
"Roger!" Pete shouted. He quickly walked up to Roger and puts out his hand. Roger took then hand, and they both do a five-part handshake. The final part of the shake ends with them hugging each other. "Man how long has it been?" Pete asked his old friend.
"Too long," Roger answered. "When I came back, I heard you became quite the star on the football team."
"Yeah, well, I had to do something. After I got a year's worth of detention, anymore trouble and I would have gotten expelled." Pete explained. "So how have things been with you?" Pete asked his friend.
"Oh, nothing much really," Roger started, "I've gone straight too. I'm now a member of the X Book Club."
"Oh yeah? That's great." Pete smiled, happy for his friend.
"Yeah, why don't you come by after school? I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine. Maybe we can all go out for pizza." Roger offered.
"Sure, I would love to catch up." Pete accepted.
"Great. Meet me at the X Library at 3:00 PM." Roger said, as he headed for the locker room door.
"I'll be there." Pete waved as his friend leaves the locker room. He turned back to his locker. He reentered the combination until he heard a click. After the click, he opened his locker door. What he saw next shocked him. A piece of paper was taped to the back of the locker. There was a message on the paper, with big red letters forming words. Pete read what the words said. "YOU'RE GONNA GET IT SNITCH!" Pete shaken by this, runs out of the locker room and heads for the safely patrol office.
*X*
Fillmore and Ingrid were heading over to the gym, when Vallejo walked up to them. "Hey guys, where you headed?"
"We got from a reliable source that Pete's life might be in danger."
Fillmore started.
"So we're going over to the gym, to see if he's there. If he is, then we're going to protect him." Ingrid finished for her partner.
"Don't bother." Vallejo began plainly. "He's over at the safety patrol office as we speak. Apparently, he received an threatening note this morning in his locker."
"What?" Fillmore asked, shocked.
"Yes, it freaked him out quite a bit. He came here as soon as he saw it."
"Is the note still in the locker?" Ingrid wondered.
"I imagine it is. He didn't bring the paper with him." Vallejo answered.
"Okay, I'll head over to the locker and get the note. Ingrid you go inside the office and look after Pete." Fillmore commanded; he was definitely in the game now.
"Great, I'm stuck babysitting the football hero." Ingrid frowned rolling her eyes.
Ignoring her comment, Fillmore turned and started to once again head for the gym. Ingrid, however, followed Vallejo back to the safety patrol office. When she entered the office with Vallejo, she noticed Pete sitting inside Vallejo's office looking bored. Ingrid saw Vallejo head to his office. Soon, he was chatting with Pete. Pete then turned and looked outside the office. He spotted Ingrid and smiled. Ingrid, however, doesn't return the jester. Pete then shook Vallejo's hand and heads out his office. Pete walked up to Ingrid in a cocky strut.
"Hey sweet thing, miss me?" Pete smirked with cocky football pride.
"No, in fact I forgot all about you, until now." Ingrid says coldly.
"Just as charming as I remember." Pete countered in a sarcastic tone.
"Look, I don't have time for your ego Pete. According to our boss, you got a threatening note in your gym locker." Ingrid began, getting down to business.
"Yeah, it was really unpleasant." Pete frowns. "Here I was getting ready to practice for the big game, and what do I get, some crap note."
"What did the note say"? Ingrid was eyeing Pete seriously now.
"Some nonsense about me getting it for being a snitch, but I don't understand why anyone would think I'm a snitch." Pete answered looking confused.
"Could it have something to do with you telling me about the bike heights all them years ago?" Ingrid continued questioning.
"I don't see how." Pete starts to answer. "First of all, that job as you said, happened years ago. Second, you and I were alone when I told you about that job - no one else was around." Pete concluded.
"True, but there must be a reason."
"Maybe it was just one of my team mates playing a prank on me. I do it to them all the time. Maybe, they were just trying to get back at me."
Pete guessed, with a humorous look on his face.
"Maybe, but until we know for sure, I recommend you stick around with us for a while."
"I'd love to stick with you anytime, Ingrid." Pete said, with a seductive smirk.
"Watch it, or it might be me you have to fear, not some punk writing notes." Ingrid growled.
"Okay, okay, I get it." Pete shakes his head. "So what happens next?"
Pete asked Ingrid.
"Nothing happens, we just sit tight until Fillmore comes back with the note." Ingrid answered while walking over to her patrol desk. "Just have a seat over there." Ingrid points to the chairs near the door.
"Why can't I sit near you?" Pete wondered.
Ingrid gives him a cold glare.
"Just playing." Pete then goes over to the set of chairs and sits down.
*X*
Fillmore arrived at the boys gym. When he walked inside, he already noticed the rest of the football team was in the locker room getting ready for practice. Fillmore, went over to Pete's locker and opened it. Fillmore does a double take, because what he saw was different than what Pete reported. He saw nothing: no paper, no note, nothing. Fillmore immediately turned around and looked at the other football players.
"Who's been at this locker in the last 10 minutes?" Fillmore shouted in a loud voice. The chit-chatter that was going on before Fillmore showed up suddenly stopped. They all turned and looked at him.
"What are you talking about, belt?" One of the players asked.
"You heard my question, or would you like to answer it down at the safety patrol office?" Fillmore threatened in a demanding voice.
"No one's been around Pete's locker. Why do you asks?" The football player wondered.
Fillmore ignored the guy. "What about the rest of you? Have any seen anyone around Pete's locker?"
The other football players shock their heads in a no pattern.
Fillmore getting a little annoyed by this, decides to close the locker and head back to the safety patrol office.
"Anything we can do for you?" Fillmore heard one of the football players ask.
"No, that's okay, thank you." Fillmore answered as he heads out the door.
*X*
Fillmore arrived back at his office and saw Ingrid at her desk reading,
Vallejo in his office talking on the phone, and finally Pete was sitting in the one of the chairs close to the office door.
"Pete, we need to talk."
Ingrid, hearing Fillmore's voice, puts her book down and headed over to where both Pete and Fillmore were now standing.
"About what, belt" Pete wonders.
"There was nothing in that locker; no threatening note of any kind."
"But that's impossible. The note was there, I swear."
"Are you playing some sort of game with us Pete, because if you are-"
"I'm not playing any games! Pete shouted. "The note was there. It was hanging off the hook where my football jacket is. It said I was going to get it for being a snitch."
"Then somebody must have removed the note when you went to the patrol office."
"Hmmm, I was telling Ingrid that it might be a prank. Sometimes, the football team, and me play pranks on each other. It's all in good fun.
Maybe this was the case too."
Fillmore thought about it for a minute. "Did you see anything strange this morning, anything out of the ordinary?"
"No, not really. I saw an old friend of mine, but not much else."
"What's his name?" Ingrid asked.
"Roger, but he's one of my dearest friends. He would be the last person to threaten me like that."
"What do you think, Fillmore?" Ingrid turned to her partner.
"Well, I didn't see any threatening note. The football team claims they saw nothing strange. Until, something else happens, we really got nothing more to go on." Fillmore concluded.
"Should we still follow Pete, just in case?"
"That won't be necessary." Both Fillmore and Ingrid turn to Pete. "Like I said, it was probably a prank by one of the teammates, and I'll say they got me pretty good.
"But we don't know that for sure." Fillmore cautioned.
"Relax belt." Pete waved his hands in an uncaring motion. "If anything else happens, I'll come right back here."
"But-"
"Let it go Fillmore." Ingrid injects. "Pete isn't worried much about it.
Maybe it was just a prank." Besides, Ingrid was getting sick of Pete's arrogant attitude. He was trying to hit on her most of the time he was waiting in the office.
"Yeah, listen to sweet domino there."
"For the last time, stop calling me sweet domino, you mindless jock!"
Ingrid shouts.
"All right, all right. If you get any more threatening notes, bring the note to the office and show us, okay?" Fillmore demands.
"Sure belt, don't worry." Pete turned to leave, but before he walked out the door, he turned around again and looks back at Ingrid. "Call me?"
"Never." Ingrid replied in a cold voice.
"Hey, even mindless jocks can dream right?" And with that, Pete left the safety patrol office.
*X*
The rest of the day went by as normal. Pete went back to his locker, got dressed, and went out and practiced. Fillmore, Ingrid, and the gang, were working on leads in the treasury heist. Eventually, the day ended and school was out. Fillmore and Ingrid were just about ready to head home.
"Ingrid do you think it's safe to let Pete go without watching him?
Jimmy seemed pretty afraid for him."
"No, not really. I don't see why anyone would hurt Pete over something that happened years ago."
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Besides, he didn't want our help anyway."
Convinced that Pete was okay, Ingrid and Fillmore left the school building and headed their separate ways home. Meanwhile Pete was heading over to the library to meet up with his old friend. When Pete arrived,
he sees Roger and three other guys in the room. One was a really big muscular guy with a wife beater on. Another guy was really short, and looked Mexican. The third guy had on baggy construction pants and a flannel shirt. Roger himself had on glasses and a simple t-shirt and blue jeans outfit.
"Ah, you made it." Roger says standing up. He walked over towards Pete and shook his hand.
"Of course I did," Pete said, looking over at Roger's other friends.
After Roger noticed, he decided to introduce them.
"Pete, I want you to met my friends. Jason, David, and Alrondo."
"Nice to meet you all." Pete said.
"Nice to meet you too." The big guy known as Jason said.
"The pleasure is all mine." The construction pants wearing guy said.
"Sup" The short guy known as Alrondo said.
"Now that's out the way, let's get out of here. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about, Pete." Roger says happily. "But first let's go out and get something to eat."
"I'm down with that," Jason responds.
"Yeah, let's go catch up." Pete says smiling.
The guy's head out to a local pizza place and ate. Pete got to know the other guys, and they seemed to take a liking to him. Finally, the guys finished eating. Roger paid the guys way and left a 2-dollar tip for the cute female waiter who waited on them.
*X*
Pete and the rest of the gang were now walking around the neighborhood,
when Roger asked a question.
"Pete, I was wondering if you could do a favor for me."
"Sure Roger, what do you need me to do?"
"Roger looked over to his friends. "My friends and I are about to pull a big job, perhaps the biggest job in X community history. I was wondering if you want in."
"But, I thought you went straight?"
"That's just my cover. We all have one." Roger answered, smirking.
Then it hit Pete. "Wait a minute - You aren't the people planning the treasury heist, are you?"
"Indeed we are, and now I'm asking an old friend if he wants in?"
"No Pete, I'm out of that life now. I'm into my football career." Pete starts to get nervous when the other guys began to surround him.
"I see... Is that why you snitched to the belts about the bike heist all them years ago?" Roger now asked in a cold voice.
"How did you-" Then another light bulb went off in Pete's head. "That threatening paper, it was you who did it."
"That's right. I was hoping to spare you this, but now I have no choice.
Jason?" Roger looked at the big teenager behind Pete.
Jason quickly grabbed Pete's hands behind his back and pinned him to the ground.
"It looks like you forgot what happens to snitches when you went straight. It's time we reminded you!" Roger shouts.
The other guys started beating on Pete without mercy or any sign of slowing down. Pete tried to break free, but Jason's powerful body, kept him down. Finally, after ten straight minutes of beatings, Pete was a bloody mess. His handsome football hero image destroyed. If this wasn't bad enough, Roger wasn't done.
"Hold his body down!" Roger shouts.
The guys listened to their second-in-command. Roger picked up a huge two-by-four and walked towards Pete. Roger then lifted the two-by-four up and aims it a Pete's right leg.
Pete realizing what was about to happen, starts to beg. "Roger, don't. Please? I'm your best friend."
Roger - smiling down at Pete in a sinister way - said coldly, "A snitch is no friend of mine." Roger swung the two-by-four down hard, hitting Pete in the right kneecap.
Pete was screaming, but Alrondo put a hand around his mouth. Roger,
threw the two-by-four over to the side and looked down at Pete.
"Let's see how far your football career will take you now." Roger looked at Pete and saw Pete crying all over Alrondo's hand. "And if you tell anyone about this, you may stop the heist, but you won't live to tell about it. Got it?" Pete was still looking in shock and crying. So Roger bend down and looked at Pete in the eye. "Got it?" Pete asked again in a scary voice, showing no human emotion.
Pete looked in Roger's eyes and saw the lack of feeling in them.
Scared out of his mind, and in great pain, Pete nods in a yes pattern.
"Good, enjoy the rest of your night." Roger says getting up. The rest of the guys got up to followed, leaving Pete behind, but before they were out of sight. Roger turned around again and looks at Pete in a caring expression that didn't reach his eyes. "And it was so nice seeing you again, Pete."
"MUAHAHAHAAHA!" Jason laughed as they walked from Pete's sight.
*X*
"As the gang left the scene of their latest crime, David looked at Roger. "Man that was hardcore how you set him up, Specks."
"Just following my boss's orders, Bolts. Besides, I never liked him anyway. I was just using him at the time."
"You could've fooled us." Tank says.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The rest of the gang laughed as they walked into the night - leaving a battered and broken Pete Sander behind.
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