"What do you mean hit you?" I asked loudly, I had no idea what was going on.
"Hit me. Your best shot." He said while removing his sunglasses. I wasn't sure what to do. I looked around to see if there was anyone was there. "Nobody's watching. Why do you care? Come on just one shot."
"Well I really shouldn't." I embarrassingly said, I was reluctant to do anything but he kept staring at me. "Fine." I clenched my hand into a fist and cocked it back, putting my foot back to get ready to launch my attack. Now history dictates that I don't through great punches but I thought I'd give it a shot, after all he was giving me a place to stay. I went to punch but when I stepped forward my foot clipped my leg and I fell forward. My fist continued to fly and I hit him in the face. He stumbled backwards, clutching his face.
"Ahh. You hit me in the eye." He exclaimed. I quickly rushed to his aid.
"I'm really sorry. I messed it up."
"No. It was perfect." He said as he punched me in the stomach. I stumbled back, just like he did, I hunched over and wrapped my arms around my aching stomach. He stood over me and I looked up at him, I smiled and he grinned back. "Do that again. Hit me."
"No you hit me." He said with a laugh. He started to fight, in the middle of the Cul-de-sac; the dim lights from the street lamps lit the ground around. We fought for about an hour, punching, kicking, tackling, elbowing. I was fighting almost a complete strange but somehow I felt we were like best friends. We finished up and he led me to his house. "We should do that again some time." Tyler explained.
"Quite. If I'm honest that felt exhilarating." I replied. "So where do you live?"
"Not too far. Just around the corner, on Paper Street." He explained as we turned the corner onto Paper Street. "Number 357."
"Number 357?" I queried as he led me onwards. We got to his house and I shrieked. Tyler was living in the old abandoned house. I had terrible memories from that house. "You live here? I didn't think it was suitable for occupants."
"It's fine. Four external walls and a roof, everything a man needs. Not everyone needs a condo." Tyler led me to the door. During my first (and last) visit to house Eddy broke the lock on the door and it still hadn't been replaced. Tyler kicked it door and it swung open. We went in and it looked nearly the exact same from when we were last there. There was still the stone fireplace and curved staircase but the sheets had been taken off the chairs and the table had been moved. There was also electricity installed now, though it was slightly faulty. When Tyler turned the lights on they flickered then came completely on. "I'll show you to your room."
Tyler brought me up upstairs and directed me down the corridor where there were three doors, two to bedrooms and one to a bathroom. He showed me to my room then pointed out his room and the bathroom. Then he left to go to bed, I envied his ability to sleep. My temporary bedroom was great; the walls were a dark beige colour with creaking wooden floorboards to match. Damp patches showed up in little pockets on the wall. My bed was a cheap camper bed that was more spring than bed. What a shit-hole.
I got into the 'bed' and stared at the ceiling, just like home, and waited for the sun to come up, something I'd been doing for months, but then something happened. Something of complete bliss.
Babies don't sleep this well
I woke up the next morning and I felt fantastic, my body was full, I felt again. I looked down at my watch, it was 6.50 am, plenty of time to get ready for school. Today was going to be a great day. I collected my things and went to check on Tyler, he wasn't there he was probably already downstairs. I got downstairs and looked around until I found him in the kitchen. The kitchen looked like a dump also, a rusty fridge and cooker were against the wall, a long wooden table sat in the middle of the kitchen, cupboards scattered the room. Tyler was eating lucky charms but I guessed he didn't have a lot of it utensils yet because he was eating out of a plastic container with ladle. He noticed me and smiled as I walked in.
"Greetings. How are you this morning?" I asked gleefully.
"Hey. I'm ok. How'd you sleep?" he replied with a mouth full of cereal.
"I slept magnificently. Thank you again for letting me stay here and last night was quite eventful."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Sit down." Tyler remarked. I pulled up a chair to the table. "Never mention to anyone anything about me, what we did last night or anything that goes on in this house." A serious tone was very much present in Tyler's voice. I was taken slightly back by it.
"Of course." I answered. "Now, do your parents know that I stayed here?"
"Nah. They wouldn't really care. They aren't really around much."
"I know how you feel." I sighed looking down at my feet then catching my watch in my view. "I must go. I best get ready for school."
"Ok. Well I'd offer you something to eat but there isn't exactly much here."
"That's quite alright. I was going to have breakfast at home anyway. I must dash." I stated as I headed for the door, stopping once I realised the door wouldn't open. Tyler came to my aid; he grabbed the corners of the door and pried it open. Just as went through the doorway I turned back to Tyler. "Shall I see you at school later?"
"Yeah. It'll be my first day. And hey, don't forget what I told you." I nodded and headed home.
I got home and the door was unlocked. I went in and was met by two sticky notes on the banister. One was obviously written one after another because one said 'Dear. I will be working late tonight so get father to cook for just two of you,' the other said 'Son, I will also be out late so make something for yourself at dinner.' Neither of them hadn't even noticed I wasn't home or maybe they did and just didn't care. I got a shower, got dressed along with my cardigan but I didn't bother with tie. I re-organised my satchel and got an apple for breakfast. At 7am I left to get the school bus with the others. I was the last to get on the bus and as I walked down the bus to get a seat people kept looking at me strangely but they didn't say anything. I spotted Ed and Eddy messing around and I sat with them. I sat and looked at them and they stopped messing around immediately and stared at me.
"What?" I asked getting quite frustrated with everyone staring at me.
"Umm. Sock head. You have a massive black eye." Eddy explained trying not to look me in the eyes. "Plus your knuckles are like bright red." I didn't know what to say. How could I have missed that?
"Hey Double Dweeb. Who'd you get into a fight with? Looks like it was pretty rough." Kevin asked from the other side of the bus. I couldn't answer him, I promised Tyler I wouldn't say. I simply smiled, shrugged my shoulders and stared at the floor for the rest of the journey.
We reached the school and I went straight to class. I tried to ignore the glances, of which there were many, and buried my head in a textbook. After homeroom I left the class, trying to keep distant from the others so that I wouldn't have to lie to them. I headed to my locker and found Tyler was hanging around there. Tyler was wearing a red plaid flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up, along with his tatty jeans and boots. He too had a black eye. We smiled at each other and I opened my locker.
"I trust you haven't said anything to anyone." He whispered.
"No but people have started asking questions. And by the way, thanks for telling me I have a black eye."
"Hey I didn't notice, I didn't even notice my own until I got here. But if it'll make you feel any better if anyone asks I'll explain." The bell rang and we headed to Chemistry.
We got in and sat with each other and partnered for our experiment. We were mixing chemicals to see if we could create a lower energy fuel to fuel a small toy car. While others messed around, making small explosions in there beakers, Tyler and I worked through different chemicals we had. We got through it quite quickly; no one was surprised due to my academic record. We sat and conducted our own experiments while the class was still continuing.
"You know what we should get? We should get some nitric acid, sulphuric acid, glycerin and some porridge oats." Tyler said. I went through the ingredients in my head, once I combined them in my head my jaw dropped and I looked back at Tyler. "Yes dynamite. You can make explosives with almost any household item." We both chuckled; the teacher looked at us and tried to figure out what was so funny. The bell rang. We carried on with our banter in the other classes. No one spoke to us; the black eyes must have scared them away. It was lunchtime and we sat in the cafeteria and ate, me with a healthy sandwich guaranteed to give you plenty of nutrition and Tyler with a can of soda and a peanut butter sandwich the school's clear rule against peanuts in school due to allergies. While we ate a 12th grader called Benny shouted over at us.
"Hey Brainiac. What hit you in the eye? A telescope?" Benny shouted at me, he thought he was good cool. I looked over at Tyler.
"No it was your dad. He punched me in the face." Tyler responded. "I'm only kidding. I've never met him, actually, you've never met him either." That shut Benny up; he bowed his head to hide his shame. My face was stuck in an expression of shock. I looked back to Tyler and he just grinned and got up. I got up and went with him, as I left I noticed almost everyone heard Tyler and were now staring at me for being friends with him. The bell went soon after that. We spent the rest of the day together; I wanted to make sure he was settling in well.
After school we all grabbed the bus. I got off with Tyler and went with him to his house. Tyler had to kick his door again. He decided to fix it. He rummaged through his closet and got out a sledgehammer. He dragged it over to me, I started to ease backwards, he gripped it and got ready to swing and I was shit scared, I had no idea what was going on. Tyler swung the sledgehammer and demolished part of door, where the door's handle use to be.
"See. Perfect." Tyler explained as he demonstrated that the door opened fine.
"But it won't close properly and you won't be able to lock." I pointed out. Tyler simple shrugged.
"Well I gotta do some stuff so I'll see you later."
"Oh. I see. I'll get out of your way." I said quite disappointedly. I headed home to an empty house, to an empty life. I sat in my kitchen alone and ate my meal of roast beef. I hated it. I stormed out of the house and round to Paper Street. Despite the door being wide open I knocked and Tyler came down the stairs. His expression was strange, like as if he'd been expecting me.
"I want to have another fight!" I exclaimed