When Jimmy arrived at The Hole, he saw it was already fell of students and even a few teachers, all of whom were eager to see the fight. Cornelius Johnson was taking bets in the corner. Jimmy listened and found out that Johnny was an odds on favorite for this fight. Good. He even considered going over and placing a bet on himself, but figured he shouldn't. Jimmy handed his jacket to Pete and jumped into The Hole. There were mixed cheers and jeers from the crowd.
Johnny strode in and jumped into The Hole. He was still wearing his leather jacket. Good call, asswipe, Jimmy thought. Jackets interefered with your swinging ability in a fight.
"I'm gonna stomp you, Hopkins." He sneered.
"Bring it on." Jimmy yelled over the cheers of the crowd. He was feeling uneasy. His last fight in The Hole had been with Russell last year.
Earnest Jones, the leader of the nerds, stepped forward.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Hole, Bullworth's most sacred battle ground, where for decades since the school's opening, teenage titans have struggled for superiority through the age old art of hand-to-hand combat. Tonight, we have two fighters squaring off. In one corner, the terrifying, bone crunching leader of the Greasers, Johnny Vincent!"
Cheers erupted all around. Johnny raised his hands to the crowd.
"And in the other corner, we have Jimmy Hopkins, king of the school, protector of the weak---"
"Get on with it!" Jimmy yelled.
"Er, right. Fighters, bow to each other."
Johnny and Jimmy did no such thing. They kept eye contact.
"Okay, then," Earnest continued. "Three...two..one...fight!"
Johnny charged right away, swinging right for Jimmy's face. Jimmy ducked easily and came up swinging for Johnny's kidneys. Jimmy hit nothing but air, and Johnny swung his arms around and hit Jimmy right in the face. Cheers erupted all around. Jimmy felt blood flow from his burst lip.
"Not so tough, are you, Hopkins?" Johnny said, smiling.
He charged again, but this time Jimmy was ready for him. He ducked low and threw himself at Johnny's legs, tackling him down. He got on top of Johnny and started pounding his face. He managed to most certainly break Johnny's nose. Johnny lifted his knee and caught Jimmy in the crotch, knocking him back. Johnny got up, blood running down his chin, and swung a right at Jimmy. He missed and Jimmy backed off. This wasn't going well at all. Johnny looked crazed, look ready to kill Jimmy and not give it a second thought. He charged again and Jimmy barely dodged his next punch. Remembering all those moves that the hobo behind the parking lot had taught him, Jimmy hit Johhny in the stomach with a roundhouse kick that sent him reeling. Johnny fell back groaning, and this time Jimmy charged in for the kill. He grabbed Johnny and pounded him in the face with both fists, kicking him in the side and chest. He grabbed a handful of Johnny's thick, greasy hair and began to beat his head against the walls of The Hole, leaving huge blood smears. When Jimmy finally let go of Johnny, he fell limp to the bloody floor, knocked out.
Jimmy stood and wiped his forehead. The entire crowd was silent, looking at the bloody and beaten Johnny.
From somehwere in the crowd, Jimmy heard the sound of clapping. Slow clapping. He turned to look at who was clapping. The crowd parted like the red sea, some of them gasping. Standing at the edge of the Hole, scar-faced and fair-haired, was Gary Smith.
Jimmy was speechless. He didn't know what was going on.
"Well done, Jimmy, well done. I should have expected it from you." Gary said, still clapping.
Jimmy thrust his hand into his pocket and came up with his slingshot. He primed it with a marble and aimed it at Gary's head. With luck, one good shot to the head would put him down.
Gary stopped clapping and folded his arms across his chest.
"Put that toy away, James. We're both men here."
"What the fuck are you doing here, Gary?" Jimmy said softly, not lowering the slingshot.
"You know, I've been asking myself that question for a while."
"You were in juvie! I saw the news reports."
"Oh, yes, that. Well, you'd be surprised how eager juvenile institutions are to release model prisoners. Two months and I was out."
"And Crabblesnitch actually let you back in here, after you tied him up and incited a huge riot?" Jimmy asked dryly.
"All it took was some sweet talk. The weak-minded are always so easy to sway. Enough about that. What matters is I'm back, Jimmy. Back to take my rightful place as king of this school."
"And you think I'll actually let that happen?" Jimmy snarled.
"You won't have a choice, old friend. You see, planting the note in that oaf's locker and setting him against you was just the tip of the iceberg. You're going down, Jimmy. Down."
"I'll kill you, Gary. Whatever it takes, I'll kill you."
"An idle pipe dream, just like everything else with you, Jimmy. You can never see the big picture. You are weak."
"Weak, huh? Why don't you step down here and try to prove it?"
"Me, fight you? Please, James. I have a much more serious agenda. You're going down, Jimmy. And soon Bullworth will be mine."
Jimmy let fly the marble. It sailed straight towards Gary's face, but Gary dodged it easily.
"Your aim's off, Jimmy. You might want to practice." He said, grinning.
And slowly, Gary walked, not ran, away, obvlivious to the shouts of "I'LL GET YOU!" coming from behind him.