What He Heard
By Cuirinelle Flamyrre
Chapter One – Cheeked
I felt...satisfied?
It was six in the evening, and the guys and I hadn't been able to pick a single fight yet. We spent the day throwing stones and pebbles at passerby cars and kids, spray-painting a double- parked truck in front of the park, and smoking a few joints together at the street corner, but other than that, the day had been quite...empty. The day was much less eventful than the others had been.
It was Piers' idea to pick a fight with one of the younger kids. They're the ones who are stupid enough to give you the satisfaction of screaming, and not fighting back. We didn't have to look far to spot the day's final victim.
About a dozen or two meters away sat a boy, about ten years old, sharing lunch with a girl around his age. They were chatting amiably and eating chips, occasionally stopping to sip their drinks. The boy kept blushing and smiling whenever the girl had something nice to say about him. I felt a twinge of jealousy.
Piers nudged me and I saw the twinkle in his eye, signaling my advance on the boy. I was a tad hesitant, but I didn't want to seem like I was afraid. I snapped my fingers twice, my own signal, to get the boys circling our target. That was how it always started.
The guys got on their racing bikes, and I got on mine; being far larger than the others, I had to get it factory made. Once we had circled our target, I saw the other kids in the park back off; they knew what was coming. The boy didn't even realize what had hit him until he noticed my shadow darken him. The girl had frozen, and she dropped her chip. The smile on her face seconds earlier was replaced with shock mingled with fear. I had no doubt she had heard of us.
Piers left his bike and came to accompany me. He smirked when he saw the couple, frozen in their seats.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? Joaquin Breve, is this your girlfriend? Oh, let's think..." He paused, pretending to look thoughtful.
"Breve, what will your mum say when she hears of you two? I remember her after your brother eloped...My oh my, what will she say of her?" He pointed at the girl, whose face had suddenly flushed. The boy's face, however, was incredulous as well as defiant.
"And?" He answered, looking not at all scared, and actually rather brave. He glanced at me and paled a shade.
"Are you cheeking me, Breve?" Piers said, putting on a face of mock surprise.
"And if I am?" The boy said, his voice rising an octave. He had turned a pale shade of green, and slowly rose off the bench. He was a full head shorter than Piers, and two heads shorter than me.
Piers glanced at me. His expression had gone slightly sour. I knew this was my signal. Mustering all my energy in my right arm, I pulled it back and gave the boy a strong right hook, sending the boy sprawling; he had literally flown from the bench into the tree a few feet behind it.
The girl had emitted a high-pitched scream and clasped her arms over her head. She quickly got away from the bench and ran towards the boy sprawled on the grass by the tree.
I walked around the bench towards the two, advancing menacingly. A feeling of power raged through me.
"Get up, Jo, GET UP!!" She tugged at the boy's arm and when he refused to get up, she got to her feet and attempted to haul him up herself. Her attempts were feeble, though, him being much larger than she.
A large bruise was developing around the boy's jaw. As he saw me coming towards him, his eyes opened wide and he let out a loud squeal, not quite opening his injured mouth. Behind me, Piers and the others guffawed, amused. I stopped in front of the two and kicked the boy in the stomach. He let out several more squeals in a row, his face and body contracting in pain. The girl had begun to cry bitterly, and cowered over the boy's body, as though protecting him from any more blows. The boys began to laugh even louder at this. Piers wiped his mouth and came forward to join me at my side.
"Don't ever – Ever – Cheek one of us again." Piers said slowly, looking satisfied, a smile still playing at his lips. Looking at his expression, I felt an identical one appear on my face. We then turned around and walked towards our racing bikes, away from the couple. I could hear the girl emitting curses and other various swearwords at us, but I pretended to not hear her.
We walked together down the road towards the Crescent, where we usually split up. I felt rather subdued, though I can't still figure out why. The other boys continued to joke over the small fight and I laughed along with them, so as not to look suspicious. A lone figure was sitting alone on the swings that we passed, but I pretended to ignore it; it looked strangely formidable and familiar. Gordon began to sing a loud, crude song, obviously improvised, about his ex-girlfriend. We couldn't help but laugh at him. When we finally reached Magnolia Crescent, we stopped, ready to say goodbye for the day.
"He squealed like a pig, didn't he?" Malcolm said, to guffaws from others.
"Nice right hook, Big D," said Piers. I glowed.
"Same time tomorrow?" I asked the lot of them.
After a short silence, Gordon said, "Round my place, my parents are out."
"See you then," I said, relieved that I wouldn't have to bring them to my home, knowing my Mum would go berserk if she saw the lot that I hung around with every day.
"Bye Dud!"
"See ya, Big D!"
When they left, I started on my own way home, still glowing with pride that Piers had complimented on my right hook. I began to hum a bit tunelessly to a Beatles song I had heard on the radio from Malcolm's sister's room earlier this morning.
"Hey Big D!" Someone was back, but I couldn't identify the voice. I turned to see who it was.
I couldn't see as well in the dark, but sure enough, when I squinted, I saw.
A lanky, skinny boy, dressed in baggy pants and a shirt, stood in front of me. He had messy, unruly dark hair, black-rimmed glasses, and bright green eyes that sparkled behind them. It was Harry Potter.
A/N: So how was it? r/r, plz.