Too Equal For My Taste

Chapter 9: The Day of Judgment

The last two days of the holiday passed, and school had started as it eventually had to. The Murtaugh's went to the Baker's same schools. So, within the next week, they were all together. Being in the same school, the Bakers and the Murtaugh's started hanging out a lot more. Sometimes, it intensified the rivalry between some, and ignited a new one in the form of Kenneth and Mike. Of course, Mike was in Elementary school, so it did not matter at school. So, since the twins were with him in the school, he started hanging with them, and they competed with grades and impression.

The rivalry between Ken and Mike was new and already intense. On top of the way they looked at each other at the beginning, there was a small incident in the middle of the week. Kenneth and Mike ran into each other again while Mark was inside getting some lemonade for himself and Ken. They stared at each other again, and then Mike asked what the hell his problem was. Ken opened his mouth to respond angrily and toughly, but Mark had come back out and Mike retreated for then.

This year, Mark was the only one in Junior High, which was in the same building as the High school. Their schools were on the same area and the same piece of large land, but the Elementary school was separated from the Junior and Senior High school by a wall.

By the time school started, Mark was completely taken over by Kenneth's schemes, so he changed a lot. Mark used to be the type to avoid trouble. But now, Mark was prone to trouble. If he didn't follow Ken, he would face harder trouble, so he took the easier side, and went along with it. The fact was no one knew he was so involved in trouble now, so nobody knew that something had to be done before it was too late. Mark was allowed to run scout free.

At school, Jake and Elliot were hanging out a lot, and Jake introduced Elliot to his older friends. Coolidge and Connor were the boys Jake hung out with most before, and one girl, Jessica McCartney, sometimes sat with them.

"Hey guys," Jake said, clapping their hands in turn.

"Hey man," Coolidge said. Coolidge was fifteen. He was tall, and had short brown hair. He wore casually. He usually wore a yellow T-shirt and Polo jeans to go with it. His brown eyes moved from Jake over to Elliot, and rested on the newcomer.

However, it wasn't Coolidge Dunham who asked who 'the kid' was. It was Jessica, a fourteen year-old girl nearing her fifteenth birthday. She had long brown hair, and braces on her bottom teeth. She looked like the regular smart kid in class, but after one had heard how she talked, suspicions would soon be cast down. She too had brown eyes, but behind frameless glasses, which stopped on Elliot immediately. She opened her mouth and asked with a typical teenage girl voice, "Who's the kid."

"Elliot," Jake introduced. "Don't worry, he's cool."

Elliot eyed Jessica with small interest, and Connor stepped forward, and said, "I'll be the judge of that." For the first time, Elliot was the one being judged. He usually judged others. Now, it was the other way around. So far, he did not have a particular liking for Jake's friends. Connor Feltman, fifteen, also had brown hair, and had a green shirt and pants, matching the green of his eyes which had a habit of moving vertically a lot. "Dude, what's your favorite kind of sport?"

"Does it matter," Elliot asked.

"Considering we're on the team, yea," Connor laughed.

"Ok, basketball," Elliot answered.

Connor stepped back, and let Jessica forward. She eyed Elliot, and Elliot was immediately mesmerized by her eyes. "What's your best subject?"

"P.E., and English," Elliot answered half truthfully. He was good at P.E., but he was bad at grammar. Anyone could take English, so what was the point of knowing why you talked the way you did?

"Oh, I like him," Jess laughed.

The bell rang for classes, and they had to split up, "Ok, let's see what classes we got."

"We're split," Jessica said, peering over at Jake's schedule. "Hey, Elly, what class you got?"

Elliot looked up at that name. Elly? What kind of name was that? "Just Elliot. And I got Chemistry."

"Awesome, you're with me," Jess said. They walked off together, Jess leading. "So, are you good at it?"

"Terrible," Elliot laughed.

"Well, we'll see how this teacher's like. It's not that hard to cheat."

That was one first impression, but at least they weren't completely bad. They were on a sports team after all. After school, he and Jake tried their moves on their skateboards. After half an hour, they rode back home.

"So, what'd you think?"

"Of Connor and the others? I dunno. They seem ok. What kind of sports do they play?"

"Basketball," Jake said, doing an airborne three sixty in their air. "Can you do that?"

Elliot tried, but fell. "Hah, I'll teach you this weekend. C'mon, let's go."

Elliot rode away with Jake, thinking of Jessica. She was not as he had judged the others. She was indeed smart, despite her way of talking. It was probably the influence of the boys she hung out with. Well, if Sarah was going to ignore him, he seriously did not see why he shouldn't try with her.

Meanwhile, at home, Mike and Ken had another encounter. What happened was that when Mark asked Mike about the bully he was talking to Nigel about, Mike said loudly, "I can take anyone any day."

"Oh- oh, really?" Ken laughed behind him.

Mike turned around, and Mark stepped back, not wanting to get involved. Ken eyed Mike again, more tensely. After half a minute of staring, "I don't like you, Baker," he said quietly.

"What's your problem, dude?" Mike challenged.

"You," Ken said, this time able to answer.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Use your brain, you!"

Mike stepped up to him, "Alright, I have an issue with you too."

Ken lunged forward, and they started pushing each other. Ken tried with his foot, and tripped Mike, who reached forward and grabbed Ken down with him.

Mike jumped up quicker and watched Ken get up. Ken eyed Mark angrily. "Ok, you wanna see who's tougher?"

Mike nodded, and held his arm forward, hands clenched into a fist. Ken did the same. They put them against each other, and tried pushing the opponent's fist into the other. This was a plain, one-sided fight though, and Ken won easily, and walked away laughing, leaving Mike staring at his back. This was so not over. He managed to get Ken to the floor once, and had he gone all out, Ken would've been hurt. Mike refused to believe it was over.