Too Equal For My Taste

Chapter 32: Two Black Thieves

The snowball fight did nothing to quell the fighting and warfare between the two main rivals, Mike and Ken. Mike had a problem with Mark too, and it had gone on for quite a while now. None knew of any siblings who kept their fight going for as long as Mike and Mark had theirs going on. They only spoke to each other when they needed something from the other, and usually that was Mark wanting to come in to Mike and Jake's room to borrow something. Sometimes, Mike got lucky and Jake spoke to him instead.

The two families agreed on one thing, and that was to count the points. What they failed on quelling was the fight between Mike and Ken, and they unwisely kept them going to the same Tae Kwon Do class. Very often in that class, they would literally try hitting each other with little or no prevail. The truth was Tom tried to take Mike out of the same class of Ken, and put off the classes until he made it up with Ken. But when he tried, he faced fire not only from Mike, but from Jake too, who wanted to see Mike triumphant against Ken and Mark.

Jake did not like what Mark did and how he was giving in to Peer pressure, especially in the form of Kenneth Murtaugh. Mark was just becoming a lot like Ken. Instead of his usually quiet attitude, he had an attitude not unlike Ken's. It was like Ken having a twin, and that twin living with the Bakers. It was not very pleasant. Mike had to deal with Mark almost every day too. He couldn't wait for the holidays for not one reason like most students, but two. He so wanted to get away from Ken and Mark, and have some time in his room with Jake, and talk things out with him to get Ken and Mark back.

Ken and Mark were sitting against a tree in the Baker's backyard. That was when the next verbal fight took place. It was not very big, because this time, Ken had to give in. Since it was in the Baker's backyard, Mike considered it his territory, and took the fight to territorial problems. He approached and stared at them. Ken glanced over at him. "What do you want?"

"Out of the backyard," Mike demanded.

"This isn't your backyard," Mark said back.

"Well, you wanna be a Murtaugh, go live with them, and don't you dare come back," Mike said angrily and threateningly. "Or I'll beat you up myself!"

Ken got up angrily. Mike thought he was gonna hit him, but instead Ken seized Mark and took him to their own backyard, and there they stayed for another week before their next meeting.

As Mike walked back inside, he felt very happy and triumphant. Plus, he knew it was only the beginning. Before that territorial fight, Mike's morale was down. He thought this would go on forever with no avail to either side. But now, he just beat Ken out of his backyard. If he teamed with Jake and his friends, they could probably take them down in their own base for good.

However, Ken did not feel down. His morale was unaffected. He felt he'd win this whole thing. After all, it was only Mike. He had Mark, plus Ken was older than Mike, and could seriously beat him.

Throughout the week, Ken and Mark were meeting and planning like crazy. They met at school, and even got themselves detention so they could talk in private. It was laughable when Mike saw them conversing in the detention area sometimes.

At the end of the day, they would converse at home. They no longer could talk in the Baker's backyard, because Mike was there and likely to make a problem. Ken actually left because he didn't want a problem without taking care of unfinished business with another brother first.

"Just give it few more days," Ken said hopefully. "It can't be that hard this time. We have no obstacles."

"Every time, something happens that prevents us from selling," Mark said sadly. "I hope this works now."

"It had better," Ken said bitterly.

"But"-

"Wait," Ken put his hand up, and looked over. There was Mike once again. For a whole minute, he stood staring at them. Mike was not considered in Murtaugh grounds, so Ken couldn't do anything. They just stared at each other, and then Mike walked away.

"Heh, guess he doesn't want to fight right now," Ken said happily. "We'll cut this meeting short, and sell soon. Meet here at eight Friday. Meanwhile, I got business to attend to. An old friend doesn't want to cooperate."

Ken did not approach Mike like expected. He approached Calvin. Calvin was tall and was growing sideburns. His short brown hair struck up at the front. He looked down at Ken, "What is it?"

"I think someone would like to settle something with me," Ken said, smirking slightly. "As your little brother, I am humbly asking for your help. If I am attacked, you'll defend me, won't you?"

"What's going on?"

"Well, Mike has a problem with me being friends with Mark," Ken explained.

As the truth, but not the whole thing, Mike could have been in real trouble. Ken approaching Calvin like this promised one thing though. A big fight could happen any time now.