CHAPTER 8: THE EXTORTION PROCESS
It was the next day when Jake needed my assistance again. It was this time after the last class of the day when he sent the same Jock from before to escort me to the Jocks' Clubhouse. "You, with me, now", he tells me in the hall just as I exit the classroom. "Nice to see you too, man", I sarcastically replied to him. I followed him all the way to the Jocks' Clubhouse and entered just as he turned to hang out with some other Jocks on the field.
"So how's life here in Bullworth so far?" Jake asks me as I enter the building. "Not too bad. I miss Liberty City though", I told him. "So what do you need today?" I then ask him. "I have some guys outside that will make their monthly rounds", Jake tells me. "Monthly rounds?" I asked him. "Each week, every clique besides my clique and the Preps has to pay what I like to call a 'protection fee'. If they don't pay this fee, then my friends get to have some 'fun' with them", Jake explained. "You're extorting the cliques?" I ask in complete shock. "Does John Maciel know about this?"
"John knows", Jake tells me, "and he gets half of all the money that we get". "So what do I do to get the cliques to pay their dues?" I ask Jake. "You just got to tell them that their payments are due today", Jake says. "And what if they don't pay up?" I ask. "Don't worry about that", Jake tells me. "My boys will be with you and they'll help you with any problems that you come across. You already know Jaquon. He's pretty much the muscle of the bunch that you'll be going with. The group is already waiting outside for you. Go and get it done". "Yes, sir", I said jokingly as I turned back towards the doors and exit the building.
I regrouped with the Jock from earlier and told him, "I'm suppose to help you guys out with the extortion ring today". "Really? Seriously?" Jaquon says out-loud. After a long, deep sigh, he finally says to me, "Alright, fine. You can join us, but if you fuck anything up, then I'm going to mess you up. You understand?" "Yeah. Sure", I told him. "Alright then. Let's go, ladies", Jaquon says to me and to the other Jocks.
The five of us then started walking away from the Clubhouse, went up the stairs and past the Gym and Pool buildings. "So who are we going to hit first?", I then ask the group. "We're going to hit the Nerds first", Jaquon tells me. "They're usually the easiest to boss around. They are so weak, they couldn't even beat a baby". "But they got powerful weapons though", I pointed out. "Just because they wave a gun around doesn't mean that they'll use it", one of the other Jocks says out-loud. "I don't know about that", I told him. After a while of walking, we made it to the courtyard outside the Library. There were several Nerds just standing around, watching two other Nerds play a game of marbles. Craig was one of them.
"Okay ladies, it's payday", Jaquon says to the crowd of Nerds. All of the Nerds looked up from their game and stared at us. "We were in the middle of a game. I got twenty bucks on this game", Craig says to Jaquon. Jaquon then stormed through the crowd and then kicked the marbles around, messing the game up. "DAMN", Craig shouts out-loud. "Now it's a draw", Jaquon tells him. Craig let out a sigh before he told his clique, "Go head and give them the money". Everyone then started taking out their wallets and handed the money to Jaquon. "That's $99. You're $1 short", Jaquon says to Craig. "I'll get you your dollar tomorrow", Craig tells him. "You better or else bad things will happen", Jaquon says before pushing Craig down into the flower-bed.
Jaquon and the rest of the Jocks laughed as they turned and left the Nerds to tend to Craig. Before I turned around to continue helping the Jocks out, I looked over to Craig and said to him, "I'm sorry. I didn't know that would happen". Before Craig could say something, I turned around and caught up with Jaquon and his friends. "Was that really necessary to push Craig like that?" I asked Jaquon. "I'm sure he would pay you the dollar he owes you". "He's a Nerd, Greg. Nerds need to know their place in life. You'll get it someday", Jaquon tells me. "So who's next? I want to get this over with", I told him. "We're going to deal with the Bullies next", he tells me.
"The Bullies? Yeah, that's very original", I said out-loud. "Nothing about them is original really", Jaquon started to explain. "They're weak, wannabe tough guys who harass the Nerds and non-cliques all the time. They have a leader name Tyler Northrop, who is someone that you don't want to mess with though. He's smart, but crazy. He's probably Bullworth's biggest psychopath. Don't mess with him". "If that's the case, then why are we extorting money from his crew? Won't he just fight back?" I asked him. "Nope", Jaquon flatly replied. "Word across town is that he's been put on some medication. He won't be doing any kind of fighting anytime soon". After a while of walking and talking, we made it to the parking lot where the Bullies hang out. I wonder why they usually hang here anyway.
"Yo George, where's Tyler today?" Jaquon asks a Hispanic kid in a white button shirt and blue jeans. "He has another therapy session and won't be back until tomorrow", the kid replies. "You know what today is, don't you?" Jaquon then asks him. "I do as a matter of fact", George says before pulling out a wad a cash and handing it to him. Jaquon started counting the money while I looked around the parking lot for the other Bullies. "Where's the rest of your crew at?" I asked him. "That's none of your business, new kid", George spat out. "George, this is only 90 bucks. Where's the rest of the money?" Jaquon asks him. "We've been having trouble with getting money this month. We need more time", George tells him. "Not good enough", Jaquon says to him before he tells me, "Greg, beat his ass up".
I didn't know what to do at that point. I really didn't want to hurt this guy over money, but if I didn't then Jaquon would tell Jake about it. I approached the kid, only for him to say to me, "Get away from me, bitch". I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask him if he could get the money before the day was over. But before I could start asking the question, the kid started punching me all over the body. I made my right hand flat and then swung it right into the kid's throat, causing him to fall to the ground, groaning in pain. "You bastard", the kid says in a low tone. "That was amazing", one of the Jocks says to me while slapping me in the back. Jaquon then approached the kid and started kicking him without relenting. "Dude, stop. You'll kill him if you keep doing that", I told him.
"You're lucky Greg is here. Next time, I won't stop", Jaquon tells him. Just before we could continue on with our task, Jaquon spit on the kid's shirt. "Have a nice day, George", the one Jock says before we continued on. Just as we approached the gates to the Auto-Shop, Jaquon grabbed me and slammed me against the wall. "Next time, don't tell me what to do. We're doing things my way, you understand?" he asks me. "Yeah, sure, whatever", I told him. He let me go and then we continued walking pass the gate. "We're extorting the Greasers next? You guys ever have any problems with them?" I asked them. "No, we don't as a matter of fact", Jaquon tells me. But just as we walked through a broken portion of a nearby wall, we were suddenly met with Greasers with slingshots aimed at our heads.
"What the hell is this?" Jaquon says to the Greasers. "We're tired of having our money taken", one of the Greasers says to us. "There he is. There's that punk that knocked me down yesterday", one of the other Greasers says while pointing his finger at me, the same one that tried to take Jake's package from me. "Let's take these fuckers down", the ring-leader says out-loud. Just as he said that, the Greasers opened fire at us, launching pebbles at us. We ran back behind the wall and took cover. I got close to the gap and waited for one of them to come around the corner. Just as one did, I pushed him against the wall and wrestled to get the slingshot out of his hands.
"Let go of my slingshot", the Greaser says to me. After a while of trying to get his slingshot, I kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to kneel down and grasp for air. I took his slingshot and then kicked him in the face. After that, I went back around the wall with the slingshot in one hand and some pebbles in another. I shot the first Greaser in the head and watched him fall straight to the ground. I aimed at the second Greaser and shot him a couple of times; first one was in the knee, and then I shot him right in the head too. He was down for the count. The third Greaser shot a pebble at me, hitting me right in the chest. I flinched for a moment right before I aimed and shot the third Greaser in the crotch. The last Greaser, the one that I encountered yesterday, dropped his slingshot and pulled out a switchblade.
"Do you really want to make this dirty?" I asked him. But just as I finished the question, he popped his blade out and charged at me. I moved out of the way just in time before the blade could get anyway near me. I kicked the blade out of his hands and then slammed him right into the wall. The Greaser lost his bearings and then fell down butt-first onto the ground. I went up to the Greaser and said to him, "Don't ever fuck with me, man, or I will fuck with you". "I'm going to tell Jason about this", the Greaser tells me. "Whatever, man", I told him. Just as I turned to leave, I told the Greaser, "The next time you try to fight me, I'll break your fucking hand". I left the Greasers to tend to their injuries and met up with the Jocks again.
"That was very good, kid. You taught those Greaseballs a lesson they'll never forget", Jaquon says to me. "Whatever. Can we go now?" I asked just as I tossed the slingshot to the side. "Actually, you can go now", Jaquon tells me. "Me and the boys are going to have to report this to Jake. Jason Vincent just might have been involved with the ambush. We're going to have to tend to him later today". "Just leave me out of it", I told him. "Unfortunately, the Greasers know that you helped us out and they'll most likely want to try and get even with you", Jaquon tells me. "Great, just what I needed: more enemies", I said out-loud.
Once the Jocks left me to go and report what happened to Jake, I quickly left the Auto-Shop and went straight back to the Boys' Dorm. If what Jaquon said was true, the Greasers will most likely try to find me and get retribution for what happened. Having an angry mob of Greaseballs coming after me was the last thing that I wanted. Things were going to get interesting soon enough, that's for sure.