Chapter Four

I exited drama after Pinky, looking down at her skimpy skirt

(Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a pervert, whatever – bit busy here).
"So, are you going to eat with us tonight?" Pinky asked, without turning around.
"Huh?" I asked, not looking up.
She turned around, as my head snapped up at her face being inches away from mine.

"I just thought we could talk about your first day at school and see if your bruises have healed up yet."
I grinned.
"Sounds great."
"Great." She said, turning around and walking away, swaying her hips while doing so.

I grinned after her.
I walked out of the door, going right into the car park where groups of boys in dirty white shirts and jeans stood.

"Hey! It's a trust fund baby!" one of them shouted.
I walked up to him.

"Let me know if I speak too fast, there's no caution sign to slow down."

"That supposed to be funny?" the pale blonde one asked, going toe-to-toe with me.

"Well it's sure as shit not serious is it?"
"You looking for a beat-down?" He said.

"Try it, see if you even get the first one down."

He grabbed my shirt and as he drew his head back, I threw mine forwards, launching into him. He let go instantly and I toe-punted him sharply in the groin.
"No fair." He whimpered and fell.

"Get the new kid!" one of the many bullies shouted.

I ducked under a punch and launched a fist into his stomach, turning around to a punch in the cheek. I spun around as another guy grabbed me from behind. I jumped up and kicked one of the bullies in the chest, then started to elbow the one behind me in the ribs before giving up and head butting him with the back of my head. He let go and I tackled him at the waist, throwing us both into the old broken school bus nearby. I grabbed his shirt and started to pound him in the face repeatedly.

The other bully had meanwhile gotten up and punched me in the side of the stomach. I stumbled away grabbing my stomach as one of them threw a punch at my face. I ducked underneath it kneed him in the stomach. I then kicked the bully behind him in the stomach, grabbed him in the stomach and back and threw him up in the air, slamming him onto the floor with a crack. The first bully had gotten up and launched himself at me. I grabbed his shoulders and threw him through the open bus door. I threw a foot below his neck to keep him in place and grabbed the door, smacking it against his right side of his head. I pushed the door back and threw him backwards, leaving him to grab his head.

"NO!"

I looked to my left and saw a beast of a boy there, dressed in the same attire as the bullies. He had to be on steroids. He was fucking huge! Biceps rippled – he was a fucking ape!

"Oh fucking hell." I said.

He put his head forwards like a bull and charged at me. I looked around frantically, grabbing a cricket bat that was conveniently lying around.

He noticed too late.

"Batter up knuckle head!" I shouted and swung the bat around and hitting him square in the head and splintering the bat into pieces. He went off-course and fell next to me, clutching his head.

"Don't fuck with Aiden Kane!" I shouted triumphantly.

I saw the bear raise up, looking around for me.
He turned around and charged at me. I jumped up and dived across him, landing on my hands, which were badly cut now.

I pushed myself up and sprinted back towards the main building, pulling a door open and darting inside.

A thunderous crash from the door informed me the gorilla wasn't smart enough to pull open a door.
I darted down into the cafeteria.
"Hey guys." I said, talking to some of the preps there.
"Oh, hello," said a boy in an English accent and light brown hair combed to the left "we were just discussing how the democratic party is a monstrosity! Isn't that right boys?"
The rest of them murmured, disgusted by the word "democrat".

"Erm, sure." I glanced around to see the bully exit the hall. "Practice the accent, it's nearly convincing." I said, walking past him and seeing the girl from English sitting and talking with the Hopkins kid.
"Hey Aiden, want some lunch?" said Kara, coming up next to me.
"Not right now thanks."

"Oh, okay." She said. "I'm not really hungry either. What do you want to do? Hang out?"
I turned to her, grinning.
"Watch this."

I watched Hopkins get up and leave towards the exit, leaving his food. I walked over and sat down in his seat, opposite the girl.
"Interesting book?" I asked, looking down at the book in front of her.
"I'd tell you if you'd let me finish it."
"It's just that I thought you'd be able to tell me because I thought you'd finished – given how you were making small talk with Hopkins."
"Jimmy is interesting."
"Now that's heartbreaking – I'm very interesting."
"Says who?"
"Therapists." I grinned.
"Okay then interesting boy." She said, putting down her book. "Tell me something interesting about yourself."
"Promise not to tell anyone?"
I looked at her, utterly serious.
She nodded.

I looked left. Then right.
I leant over carefully.

"I'm kind of psychic."
She nodded.
"Yeah. Real interesting." She said sarcastically, taking her book back.
"I'm serious."
She rolled her eyes and continued to read her book.
I placed my chin on my hand, examining her face carefully. I glanced down at her hand, which had slight callous on her third finger. I then looked back up at her straight, unsmiling mouth.
"You're a writer" I grinned.

She raised her eyebrows, but read on.
"You don't want to be here." I said slowly.
She made no movement.
"That means you're only here because you have to be. Because it wasn't your decision. Was it your dad's? Most dads are like inconsiderate from what I've heard. Or maybe it was your mums? You sound like you're from…New York? No…Connecticut? Ohio? Somewhere like that. Considering how you're sat and reading alone, you're not interested in friends and boyfriends like most people are around here. So I think you had a bad relationship that put you off them for life. Something really bad happened and now you can't face boys thinking of you like that."
She looked up at me quickly. Then back to her book.

"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" I said, smiling slightly.
"Like that."

I paused, biting my lower lip.
"Why not?" I asked.

She looked at me wordlessly.

"You alright?"
I looked up at Hopkins standing there.

"We were just exchanging thoughts on the book."
I stood up and turned around at Hopkins, smiling.
His expression changed completely.

"See you around." I grinned and walked past him, back to Kara.

"Fun to watch?"
"Very. Isn't that the kid who beat up Russell?"
"Don't know, don't care." I said, walking out of the cafeteria with her.

"So where to now?" I asked, taking out a pack of cigarettes and putting one in my mouth.

"Now," she said, taking a cigarette and putting it her mouth "we have Shop."
I groaned.
"It's the last lesson. Anyway, I don't know how you're going to survive if you can't make it through the day."

I lit the cigarette and passed her the Zippo.

"I can make it through a day, piss easy."

She grinned. "Sure."

We turned left and walked around the school, past the library and towards the grimy fountain at the back of the main building.

We walked up the stairs, dawdled towards the red-brick building. We walked inside, where a group of seniors were wearing leather jackets, peering under car bonnets.

I walked past them, and threw my bag onto the worktable beside a bonnet. I looked around, expecting someone to tell me what to do.
"You just start in Shop." Kara said, putting her folders beside my bag and peering into the engine.
"Huh." I said, looking into the engine again. I leant in and started to check the plugs were tightly screwed.
"So how was drama?"
I shrugged, grunting slightly as I tried to screw the plug tighter.
"I got an eyeful." I said, grabbing a spanner and starting to tighten it more.
"That's…interesting." She said.

I checked the others, correcting the fourth one.
"So, seen any girls that you're interested in yet?"

"Define interested." I said, passing the spanner over to her as she leant down into the engine.
"You know," She said, leaning in more "girlfriend material."
"Yeah," I said taking the oil can from the shelf behind me "about that – I don't do the girlfriend/boyfriend thing."

"You don't?" She asked immediately. I let out a yelp as the spanner flew down into the engine and the clash surprised me into a collision of my head and the car bonnet.

"Watch what you're doing!" I snapped, rubbing the back of my head.
"Sorry." She said sheepishly.

I looked back to the engine, reaching in and pulling the spanner out.
"So why don't you do the boyfriend scene?"
I shrugged.
"Boring." I said and turned back to the shelf and put the oil can back on the shelf.
Kara nodded and didn't really talk again after that.