There Connor stood, out in the expanse of stone ground where nobody who had been contracted to build the theater cared to build anything else. Out ahead of him a good six feet stood Jada, preparing herself with much more seriousness in her body than her doofy smile suggested made sense. Connor felt like he was squaring off in a sumo battle or something, especially with the way Sam stood not far from Jada, his arms crossed as he observed, then he paused to pick his nose.

"I start off with a blast shield of the dark arts!" Jada yelled, throwing her hairy arms into the air.

Connor stood his ground, refusing to cast a glance at Harper, just knowing she'd be eating this stupidity up. "I, uh... what can I even do?"

"As a clone trooper, not much," Sam chortled.

"It's true, you are dangerously outmatched, my friend," Jada agreed. She lifted her arms into the air and struggled to balance as one foot raised as well. "I assume the form of the cobra, which fortifies my defense systems tenfold!"

"Ooh," Sam cringed, shaking his head. "Form of the cobra. This isn't looking good for Connor..."

"Then I use magma and my- me- mih- mionic energies of the stars to rain a astro- asteroid rockfall on you!"

"All right, I think you made up 'mionic', and since when could Yoda do any of that? I thought he just did ketamine and ran people down in his Honda Civic."

"Your knowledge of memes won't save you from Jada's sheer mastery of the force!" Sam declared.

"Tremble!" Jada cried, then stumbled over, unable to keep the pose any longer.

"Uh, I... I don't know- I shoot you. Right in the face." Connor held a single finger gun out. "Pew."

Jada facepalmed and groaned. "No, no, no, Connor! You have to do something about my blast attack before you can shoot me!"

"It's true," Sam chimed.

"I jump out of the way, and I live."

Beat.

"You're still standing there, though," Jada murmured.

"What? I have to actually-" Connor sighed, then jumped aside from Jada's imaginary attack.

Sam began to applaud. "Nice work, Connor. Nice work."

"But then!" Jada intervened. "Then! The impact shoots rock debris into your back and you fall over! Yeah. Then I use a sprite elixir of the old gods to enchant my sneakers with water resit- resito- crap. Sam, what's that word?"

"Resistance, babe?"

"Thank you!"

Looks like there's no real structure to all this, Connor thought. Rules seem pretty malleable.

"So, fall over," Jada prompted.

"Fall over, Connor," Sam urged.

Connor paused. "No. No, I don't fall over, because before the debris could hit me, I, uh... threw an... an electromagnetic grenade that destroyed the rocks, and... oh, Jesus," he scratched behind his neck.

Jada turned to whisper to Sam, "Where's he going with this? The madlad!"

"Uh, the rocks blow up and they blind you, so I," once more, finger guns, "shoot you three times. Now, you're dead."

"Nuh uh! No! I use the force to detonate the bolts before they can hit me!" Jada used her whole body to announce these statements. "I go absolute mega crazy Jada-Yoda legend mode and I learn Connor's entire arsenal, experiencing decades of clone trooper training within single moments because of my enormous brain powers, then I block his attacks and make them my own! So, the explosion of his bullets blinds him and I," Jada leaped towards Connor, making him brace himself, "do a somer-flip-sault combo through the air and bite you with my fangs! Hiss! You're dead! I win! I win! I win! I win!"

"Ooh, tough break, Henson," Sam grunted. "Looks like you lose."

"Hey, get off!" Connor pushed Jada back from being able to bite him. "Who the hell would wanna play with you? You just make up whatever you want, whenever you want. I don't have to be a nerd to know that Yoda can't do all that shit."

"You're just jealous of my power!" Jada argued, flailing her arms around and wiggling like she was trying to do a belly dance.

"No, I'm not."

"You still lost, Connor," Sam rebutted. "We're not leaving."

Connor sighed again, shoving his hand around in one of his slack pockets, then he stomped over to Sam and tore out a wad of cash. "There. Thirteen bucks or so. I was gonna use it for my day out, but now all I want is to see you and Ms. Arbitrary Winner over there get out of here."

Sam nodded. "All right, Connor. You drive a hard bargain. Come on, Jada, we'll watch a scary movie another time."

"That's good! I was really afraid of wetting myself in there! It happens more often than you'd think!" she chuckled.

Connor facepalmed, groaning. Meanwhile, Harper watched him with an amused smile on her face.

Nearly tugging his owner off his feet, Winston sniffed around along the sidewalks of Bullworth town nearest a gazebo. As Kanashii fought to restrain him, adults hanging around the gazebo watched the dog go about his business with disgust. To them, Winston was a mere mutt.

"Easy, Winston!" Kanashii urged. "Heel, boy!"

Winston's ears pricked up when he smelled something coming from the gazebo. Kanashii's arm jerked and he grunted as Winston pulled so hard that his owner released the leash.

"Leash burn! Winston, wait! No!"

The lab raced past several people on his way to the gazebo. As he went up the stairs like it was nothing, with Kanashii in pursuit, the lab leaped into the lap of a couple seated at a bench under the gazebo's ceiling. One of the members of this middle-aged pair, a woman with a puffy coat, let out a shout as Winston slipped over his paws and collapsed against them. Unfortunately, the two had been enjoying a nice chicken salad in the woman's lap.

"Oh, my word!" cried the woman.

Lettuce, croutons, and more flew not only against the couple, but the floor around them. Kanashii barged up the stairs, dread in his eyes as Winston scrabbled to the floor to eat as much of the mayonnaise-covered meat as he could, leaving the lettuce for nature to have.

"Winston, no! This does not abide by that new diet plan!" Kanashii's weak attempt at defusing the situation did little to cease the anger burning in the eyes of the couple. "I'm so sorry about this, you guys. Uh, here," Kanashii bent down, gripped Winston's leash and handed the couple a few pieces of dirty lettuce and croutons. "My dog's blubbery belly looks to have crushed your roma tomato slices, but I was able to scrounge-"

"Get away from us," the man ordered, his voice colder than the temperature suited to the woman's coat. "Now!"

Kanashii let his head droop as he and Winston continued walking down the sidewalks of Bullworth town. Winston occasionally tried to lick mayonnaise off from his upper snout, but all he accomplished was looking special needs.

"That was about as embarrassing as it gets. You're never like this normally, Winnie. Maybe it's the leash; it's making you go crazy. At least the others weren't around to see that. Hell, or Slug. He's eager to scope out any reason he can to get you taken off campus."

Speaking of seeing, Kanashii stopped in his tracks when he saw a gym building among several smaller buildings connected by it, with a sign out in front reading

"'Bullworth Glass Jaw Boxing Club Gym'? Interesting. I'll bet this is the place Connor was talking about."

Curiosity gained the better of him, and Kanashii decided to head towards the building. With several preps hanging about, Kanashii knew he was right. In the center of the gym was one large, very official and sleek-looking ring. He felt like he was at a professional boxing event, not just at a gym in an obscure, small boarding school town. Some preps chatted while others went at it against punching bags on the sidelines of the gym. Kanashii spotted a flight of stairs leading up to a second floor, and through a window, he thought he could see a bar, as well as someone standing inside.

In the ring, two preps went at it against each other with all they had. One of them, Kanashii didn't recognize, while the other, with his immense height, and immaculate form, and sweaty blond hair stuck to his forehead, he figured it was Caden, Bullworth's champion boxer. Like the ring itself, the display of Caden brutalizing the prep against him didn't fit with the rest of the gym's surroundings. Once again, Kanashii felt transported to a professional event. Caden showed little mercy, and by the time the round was over, as he strolled towards one ringside post for a breather, the other prep tumbled forward and passed out before they could get their water.

"Hardly a challenge," Caden muttered under his breath.

Moments later, a prep spotted Kanashii standing and Winston sniffing around. With one noticing, soon others did as well. Most of the preps returned to what they were doing, while one went to speak to him.

"Howdy, partner," Kanashii greeted the prep. "Man, that ring looks expensive as fuck. Did you guys get that from the WBA?"

"Why are you here?" he demanded.

"I was curious. I wanted to check the place out, see where you guys hang out."

"All right, you've seen it. Be on your way."

"Wait, wait, wait."

Winston started to sniff the prep's shoes. The prep stiffened, then ran his fingers through his tamed fro and prompted Kanashii to resume.

"What if I wanted to box here?"

The prep nose-exhaled. "You? A skinny Asian kid, dressed in a hoodie covered in dog hair? First of all, I can barely stand to look at you without some kind of name brand on, and second, I'd like to be around someone who takes care of themselves."

"Well, it's a comfort thing, you know? All the dog hair makes me feel closer to Winston."

The prep once again stared down at the lab. Winston finished sniffing his shoes, then flopped over onto his side and started to pant with a big smile on his face.

"He wants a belly rub," Kanashii explained.

"And I want you to take him outside. No dogs in the gym."

"What am I supposed to do with him?"

"Chad!" shouted another prep. "Who is that?"

The prep turned to yell, "I'm dealing with it, I'm dealing with it!" Chad turned back to face Kanashii. "Rules are rules, buddy. Go on. Take him out."

He sighed. "Will I at least get a chance to box once I do?"

"Caden's practicing right now, then it's Roman's turn." Chad grinned. "After that, why don't you box me?" He lowered his voice, heightening Kanashi's discomfort.

"Why are you saying it like that?"

"Just take the dog out and speak to me once it's done."

Chad walked away, heading towards a punching bag that he proceeded to tenderize. Kanashii reluctantly looked down at Winston, tugging his leash and prompting the lab out of his exposed-belly position.

"Come on, fella. Let's take you outside..."

Connor headed back towards the line, trying his best to shrug off the annoyance he felt enduring a Clone Wars matchup against Jada. Luckily, there was only one more duo to deal with, then he would be on his way. Bully Scott and jock Dan stood together at the front of the line as the only pair left. Dan complained to the usher as Connor approached.

"Dammit, what is the hold up?" Dan snapped.

Scott set a hand on Dan's forearm, gently tugging him back. "Babe, just relax, we've talked about this."

"Afternoon, fellas," Connor greeted them.

At the moment that he did, they each jolted.

"Connor," Scott uttered.

"You guys seem a little shaken."

"We're not!" Dan insisted.

"Say, isn't this a couples only theater?"

Scott and Dan went silent, instead exchanging glances with each other and then back to Connor.

Dan stammered. "N- no! It's- you can come as friends, and that's what we did! We're here as friends. W- you don't have to be dating somebody to come here."

"Yeah, I'd believe that if it weren't for the fact that I heard Scott call you 'babe'."

Now the pair were speechless. Scott sighed and slouched. "Man..."

"Look, guys, there's nothing wrong with being gay."

"Well, I'm not!" Dan snapped. "So, that's a good thing then!"

"Dan, it's okay," Scott murmured.

"I'm not! I'm not fucking- I'm not a-" Tears started to form in the overhyper jock's eyes. "I'm not fucking gay."

Scott held his hand against Dan's arm again. "Baby. Come on. We're not hiding it this time."

Dan sniffled. "I'm not fucking gay..."

Even if Connor wanted to believe Dan, the sight of the jock squeezing Scott's hand afterwards vanquished any believability.

"What's your fucking problem with gay people anyway?" Scott snapped.

"I don't have one. I only want you guys to get out of here so that Harper over there can be first in line with her jackass, preppie boyfriend."

Scott and Dan each glanced over at where Harper posed in the distance.

"That whiney rich girl?" Dan spoke. "Yeah, right. She can hear no for a change."

"I'd agree with that, but I've already subjected myself to roleplaying with Jada, so I'm not gonna make that experience for nothing. Boys, how about this? I won't go telling anybody you're fans of the ol' one-eyed winker so long as you get out of here."
"Goddammit. You've got us there." Dan gestured to Scott, and the two started to head off.

Scott spun around to point at Connor and say, "You're lucky your feud with Evan's over now, dirtbag."

"I'm shaking in my sneakers," Connor replied stoically.

From behind Connor, Harper approached. "Thank you, Connor! I can't believe you did it! There's no way most guys would be able to get rid of an entire crowd like that. Impressive, for a-"

"Poor person," Connor interrupted, "yeah, I got it."

"I was gonna say teenager."

He paused, taken aback. "Oh."

"Yeah. Feel like it's usually the adults that handle things like that, you know?" She chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Thank you so much, Connor."

"Don't mention it."

Harper nodded to him, then headed off in the other direction.

He shouted to her, "Hey, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to watch the movie!"

She stopped. "I did, but my bitchass boyfriend still isn't here. Ugh, I've had about enough of him standing me up. What more important activities could he have than making me happy?"

Connor shrugged. "It's a mystery."

"Besides, I don't even care about the movie anymore. I'm more interested in heading to that aquaberry shop and getting some new shoes. These ones are starting to look ugly, and worn."

He looked down at her prim and proper white shoes, wondering what she was talking about; there wasn't an ounce of dirt on them. His mind pondered times where he'd been made fun of for wearing shoes held together by duct tape. "Whatever you say."

"I really do appreciate you helping me out today. Maybe you'd wanna stay in touch after this? Grab a bite?"

"Uh... maybe."

Harper smiled at him, then she turned away and was gone within moments.

Out from underneath a car tunnel with sidewalks on both sides, Shay emerged with a surprising lack of cars following along with her. On the other side, her eyes widened and she said, "No way!"

Just up ahead stood a carnival, complete with funhouses, a merry-go-round, ferris wheel, roller coasters, and more. Shay approached the entrance with excitement in her eyes, soon to greet the unenthusiastic woman operating a ticket booth underneath a standard, red and white carnival arch.

"Excuse me?" Shay peeped.

The woman, her eyes drooped like Droopy, glanced down at the giddy girl quite animatronically.

"Hi. Uhm, how much to get in?"

With a frown, the woman pointed to a sign beside her little stand. Shay read it, then handed over five dollars without saying anything else.

Once inside, her eyes drifted from all sorts of things to the next. She admired the little red and white houses, containing sideshow games with weird-looking and quirky carnies. She heard screaming coming from the distance, then saw a roller coaster car come flying down the rails just above her. She could smell popcorn from somewhere afar, and looking down at her pale hands, colors of all shades and varieties lit her up from the carnival displays.

"This is so cool!"

On his prowl back towards the meeting spot the quartet had agreed upon, Connor glanced to the street across from him and spotted the Glass Jaw Boxing Club gym, just as Kanashii had. Connor squinted his eyes; his focus was instead on the fact that Winston was lying outside the gym.

"What the hell?"

Connor crossed the street and headed over to the gym's entrance. Even from outside, he could hear the sound of preps boxing one another. Winston laid right by a bike rack, his snout between his front paws with his leash tied up to the rack. Once the lab caught a whiff of Connor's scent, he rose to his paws and started squirming and squealing, his tail wagging.

"Hey, buddy. What are you doing out here?" He got down onto one knee to pet Winston, then he eyed the sign above the building. "In front of the... Glass Jaw Boxing Club gym..."

Connor suddenly remembered his brief conversation with a prep named Chandler from English class.

"What say you to coming down to the old Glass Jaw Boxing Club gym? It's located in Bullworth town jus-"

"You can fuck yourself, that's what I say to it."

Connor cursed to himself as he worked on untying Winston's leash, gaining such admiration and gratitude from the lab that he couldn't hold back from licking his savior's cheek. "Not where I wanted to end up..." He sighed. "Kanashii, what are you doing here?" With Winston undone from the rack, Connor walked the short-furred, tail-wagging lab towards the entrance. "Come on, Winston. Let's go get your clown of an owner."

"I should bring Kanashii back here, or the whole group," Shay decided.

Shay passed by a test-your-strength kind of sideshow with a clown standing and mockingly failing at the test. He lifted an inflatable hammer up to slam down onto the bell, only for the clown to make a goofy face and fall backwards, mimicking a cartoon sound effect on impact. Shay smiled, then turned and saw a guy trying to toss a ball into a bullseye board to drop his girlfriend into a vat of water.

All around her, the carnival was alive and thriving, with lights and sounds flashing in full effect. She moved her way through the crowd of people walking around her, some holding prizes, others with sticks of cotton candy.

Then she stopped abruptly. A man walking past bumped into her, knocking over his drink in the process.

"Thanks a lot, little girl. My mother's come down with osteoporosis and that drink was for her. Now she has to break her bones, getting up out of bed to reach her fridge. Thanks a whole ton, bitch."

But the man's voice faded to the background. Shay stared through the crowd, mystified and disturbed at the sight of one person among the rest.

As Connor and Winston entered the Glass Jaw Boxing Club gym, Connor could already hear the sounds of what became of Kanashii's intervention to their training. Winston sniffed along the floor, moving even quicker than Connor to find his owner. Connor saw the ring in the center of the gym. In the center, the prep Chad stood in a boxing uniform, puffing his gloves together as he gloated. Preps around him laughed and spoke over each other, most of them berating Kanashii, who sat with his back hunched against one of the corner turnbuckles, breathing heavily.

"That thin-wallet fellow didn't sting like a bee," a prep chuckled, "he, erm... well, let's see, he... he fell from his cocoon like a caterpillar! Yes, quite."

Multiple preps laughed with their hands on their stomachs and their heads pointed up at the ceiling.

"A caterpillar!"

"What the fuck is this all about?" Connor snapped.

Several of the preps took notice of him and Winston, finished sniffing around and headed to the ring with his ears pointed up.

"Ah, Connor Henson!" shouted one of the preps.

Lo and behold, it was the head honcho, Oliver Harrington appearing from down the sleek staircase to the top floor bar. The robe he wore over his aquaberry outfit had him appearing like a bachelor, carrying a faux confidence akin to one as well. In one of his hands, a glass of wine. However, Connor instead focused on his friend.

"Kanashii, what the fuck are you doing here?" he demanded.

Winston started to whimper and squeal, eager for attention and reassurance from his owner. He put his paws up on the side of the ring, sunk his teeth into Kanashii's pant leg and tugged. Connor did the rest of the work, yanking him out of the ring from below the bottom rope. As Oliver reached the bottom of the stairs, Kanashii stumbled to his feet, standing just a little wobbly.

"Whoa... I'm okay, I'm okay. Hey, Winston..."

Through the glare of carnival lights, as well as bodies bustling and moving through her vision at rapid intervals, Shay couldn't make out the figure as well as the rest. She peered closer. This person, not moving like the rest of the happy-go-lucky carnival-goers, stood with a dark cloak over their head and torso. They had black pants... was that a wristwatch? Shay wondered. The sight of a white dress shirt peeking out from under a green vest-a darker green than what the nerds wore-worried her...

"Didn't I say that dog wasn't allowed in here?" Chad mentioned, full of himself and his victory.

"Shut up!" Connor retorted.

"Quite a big mouth you have on you," Oliver mentioned, swirling his wine around for no particular reason. "I've been told you can back it up as well. Judging from having witnessed your confrontation with Evan Mattson, I'd believe these rumors. You're a force to be reckoned with, poor, thin-walleted Henson."

"So, this is where you were instead of watching a movie with Harper."

This response threw off Oliver's composure. "What? How do you-"

"Would you preppie assholes leave us alone? I'm sorry my dumb friend was stupid enough to come in here, but now I'm taking us out."

"Ouch, Connor," Kanashii murmured.

He faced him. "What are you thinking, coming in here and taking on these guys? They're trained boxers and your training isn't even halfway done yet. Come on, let's get out of here."

As Connor tried to herd Kanashii out, Oliver spoke aloud again.

"But your training, Henson, I imagine, is on par with our own!"

Connor sighed, reluctantly turning around to face the group of rich kids.

"You could take Evan, so why are you afraid to show off what you can do on our turf?"

"I never said I was afraid, rich boy."

Oliver smirked and chuckled. "You never had to say a word. It's in your body language. You're eager to run and flee this gym like a little lost lamb running home to its mother."

"Ha! Home to its mother!" echoed Jayshawn, pointing at the offbeats.

"A caterpillar!" repeated the same prep from before.

A glare spread across Connor's face. Kanashii took a step backward. His friend's knuckles cracked.

Oliver parted his lips in a grin. "If you're so tough, why don't you take our good friend Chad on for a rumble? Get a little revenge for the thrashing he dealt your fellow welfare-scrounger."

Shay stepped forward. The earth rocked below her as a roller coaster car above her rocketed down the track, right over her head. The closer she looked, the easier she could tell who this individual was, little as she'd like to admit it. The figure lifted the cloak over their face, revealing piercing green eyes and a scar over one of them. Shay felt her blood running thin.

Standing beside the ring, Connor's green Bullworth hoodie flapped over Kanashii's face. Now, Connor stood and paced leisurely as Chad leaped up and down on the other end of the ring.

"A casual brawler against a seasoned boxer?" Jayshawn uttered. "Watch Chad take him down just as easily as he did his friend!"

"Connor's anything if not casual!" Kanashii shouted back, ripping the jacket off his face.

Connor caught eyes with another of the preps: reigning champion Caden. The tall blond leaned on a steel beam supporting a hanging punching bag, then he crossed his arms and smiled, watching patiently. Connor glanced back to see Chad with his fists out defensively, prancing around, just eager to get the match going.

"Fine," Connor stated, then he raised his fists as well. "Let's box."

Spooky as hooded Anakin Skywalker walking around prior to killing younglings, Benji revealed his face after pushing the cloak away from his eyes, allowing his bangs to dangle at the side of his pronounced cheekbones. Shay's heart skipped a beat when she thought she saw him catch eyes with her.

"Not the right day to wear something so flashy," she faltered.

As if this wasn't disturbing enough, Benji finally moved, fast as a hare, but instead of going any unthreatening direction, his rapid footsteps took him on a course straight for where Shay was standing.