Tuesday night meant the Boxing club he had signed up for. He hadn't thought to find out where it was held, so he checked the bulletin board downstairs. It said there would be a bus leaving for the gym in Old Bullworth Vale after classes, so he ran out to the front of the school and saw people gathering at the gates.
Mostly kids he didn't recognize, but a few that Paul had pointed out in art class. He introduced himself and decided to stick with them. He noticed that Casic was sitting on a bench with headphones, a book, and a notebook he seemed to be writing in while reading. He didn't pay the older boy any more mind, but he just seemed to pop up everywhere he went.
When they got to the gym, everyone filed in the door and a short guy with shaved red hair was in the ring boxing with a much taller blonde opponent. When he noticed the kids, they bumped gloves, said their goodbyes, and exited the ropes.
The taller blonde introduced himself while the other left the building. "Welcome to the Harrington Family Boxing Club, I'm the club head, Derby Harrington. Those of you who are returning, we already have your waivers on file. You can change if you brought gear and hit the bags, weights, and ring. First timer's come over here and we'll get you introduced to the building."
Most of the students went to the locker room or straight to their activities. Brandon and two other students were the only first timer's. He recognized the kid from the bathroom his first day of classes as one of them.
Mr. Harrington ran upstairs and returned quickly with some packets of papers. "These are our club's liability waivers. We'll need you to fill out whatever you can, then we'll mail the rest to your parents to get their approval. Until then all we can allow you to do is watch the practice matches and learn technique- no weights, no gloves, no ring, no bags. Even if they choose not to sign, we'll still allow you to come learn hands off technique and to observe. I need to make a round quickly to make sure everyone is using their gear right after the summer off. Feel free to look around, I know first timers are usually drawn to the trophies and banners we have around.
"Hey, you're that kid from the bathroom the other day, right? I'm-"
"Don't talk to me."
"Woah, what's the problem dude? I'm just trying to-"
"Yeah I know exactly what you're trying to do. Things are bad enough, I don't need things getting worse. Just leave me alone." He turned to watch the boxers getting in the ring.
Brandon grabbed the boy's shoulder, "What are you talking about, I just want to-"
The other boy turned around and punched Brandon in the jaw, flooring him more from surprise than force.
Dan and the other boy in the ring jumped out and stepped between the two newer boys. "Hey, spazz, what's your deal? This is boxing- no fighting outside the ring." Dan got in the boy's face and pushed him back.
The other boy helped Brandon off the ground as Derby came back over. "You, out. We don't tolerate that kind of behavior in this gym."
"Fine, I don't need you guys anyway. My big brother can teach me how to fight better than any of you." The kid left the gym almost at a run.
"Are you alright kid? What was that about? All I saw was him turn around and sucker punch you."
"I heard it, Mr. Harrington. All Brandon did was try to introduce himself. That kid has been a problem since he came to this school, we really don't need him here with his behavior problems." Dan stuck up for Brandon to his surprise.
"Alright, well there doesn't seem to be any damage, you just might feel it a while. For now, I'm going to teach you your basic stances, how to move on your feet, and some basic swings."
Dan and his partner got back in the ring, and Derby spent about an hour teaching Brandon and one other new boy. After the lesson as people prepared to leave, Brandon walked over to Dan.
"Hey, thanks for standing up for me. I thought you didn't like me."
"I don't. Honestly, it's not even anything personal. I just really don't like that dork. He does that with everyone, you try to be nice and he acts like you're attacking him. Just avoid him when you see him. He tends to get kicked out of most clubs in the first day for stuff like that. The sooner he gets kicked out the better I think, he's like a time bomb. I'd feel bad for him if he wasn't such a dick."
"Dude, first day I met you-you barged into the bathroom, humiliated him in front of everyone, and me while we're at it."
"Hey, you humiliated yourself. And that guy is a walking humiliation, if it wasn't me it would be someone else or he'd do it himself. But it it gets you out of my face, I guess I shouldn't have done that. Even if he is a constant thorn in my side, I shouldn't be a dick to him. I don't want it getting around that I'm like that."
"Why don't you like me, is it cause I stood up to you that morning?"
"A little bit, yeah, but like I said, nothing personal, I really generally don't like people. I work with people, I teach people, but I don't really do the 'friends' thing." He turned his back, put on his headphones, and opened his book. Brandon considered getting his attention again but that hadn't gone so well an hour ago.
They waited for the bus back, just a short trip across the bridge. Left with a few hours before he planned to go to bed, no homework but to keep reading, he decided to get started on that. It was still warm out, being late summer, so he found a seat under a lamp and dove into his book until it came time to call it a night.
The evening was peaceful, despite definitely feeling the punch from earlier. No one bothered him and he made significant progress in his book. He headed for bed expecting tomorrow to be pretty good- Shop with Mr. Romano and a free period for the afternoon, practically a half day.
