CHAPTER 4: SCREW IT

"...and, you see, that's why the video quality on those UFO sightings are always crap. You don't think the aliens have the ability to make our tech go haywire?"

"Uhuh."

As expected, I found myself sitting in the cafeteria with Eli… again. I didn't put much effort into my lunch today, just a plain PB&J sandwich. Weirdly enough, on the walk to school this morning, Officer Birch wasn't at the school gates where he usually greets me. Which, I had to admit, I was pretty bummed out that I couldn't see that jolly old cop. Instead it was just a couple of construction guys working on the Hound statue in the front courtyard.

To add more spice to the recipe, my ADHD and dyslexia was noticeably worse today. So that's fun. At least I haven't gotten short-tempered about something… yet.

It was around halfway through lunch, and in the middle of Eli's strangely detailed explanation of how aluminum foil works, where Hunter and his posse walk into the cafeteria. We've been avoiding each other for the past week, or more like him avoiding me, so today I didn't assume any difference. That was until, as he walked by, he dunked his food tray on Eli.

"Awww, my bad Eli," Hunter mocked. "You know, I thought you were meant to see better with glasses."

The rest of his group started cackling. I look around at everyone else who seem to be doing their best to ignore it, like it was something that happened everyday. However, Eli didn't look phased.

"Are you just mad cause Arthur cleaned your ass out on the obstacle course the other day?" Eli said so matter-of-fact.

I almost choked on some peanut butter.

Hunter got flustered. "What?"

Eli continued. "I'm just saying you play this whole alpha thing with your hounds or whatever and so the one time you are physically bested by someone else you just go around and find someone you deem lesser than yourself in order to regain some form of confidence from your insecurities."

Gotta give it to Eli, man. The guys' got balls.

Hunter began to stutter, until finally giving up on words and instinctively grabbed Eli by the collar.

"Why you little–"

Hunter's grip on Eli grew tighter. I don't like where this is going.

Ah, screw it.

"Hey man, just leave it alone," I spoke up.

The bully stopped, his head turning and eyes glaring straight at me.

I just made him more mad, didn't I?

"You." Hunter immediately drops Eli.

I stand my ground. "Look man, I'm just saying we're all having a nice lunch. We can forget what happened at P.E., you could even join us if you wa-"

Before I could finish my sentence, the jock swung at me with full force. I felt like I was almost about to get hit until something in me kicked in. It was like a little tug in the back of my mind, allowing me to react quickly enough to avoid the punch. I step back, nearly losing my balance.

"Dude!" I exclaimed. "What the hell was–"

Another punch came blitzing towards accompanied by a scream. "Shut up!"

Again, that little feeling inside me is almost controlling my body as I swiftly evade the blow.

"Bro!" I pleaded again. "I'm not going to fight you."

He snarled something in Spanish as he went for another swing. I didn't understand a word he said, but I got the gist. It's like almost every word I said is just making this guy more mad. Which is NOT my intention by the way.

More and more Hunter keeps trying to land a hit, but that bodily impulse just keeps putting me out of harm's way. Everyone's starting to circle around us now, some are looking to get a better view while others are just chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' (not helping guys). And Hunter just keeps on coming as if someone flicked the hate switch in his head.

Where are the teachers?

I was tempted to sneak in a hit back but then I heard Mom's voice in my head. 'Raise a fist against conflict, not for it.'

Right. I don't want to hurt him, I just want to stop him.

My body is getting warmer but my heartbeat is steady, no unnecessary feelings of aggression so far. I started to think. Hunter and I are about the same size, but he's still slightly bigger and being a footballer he probably has more explosive power than I do, so brute forcing it is not an option. I think harder, all while I'm barely dodging and blocking his swings.

Wait. Mom always said she could never overpower the physicality of her peers, so she learned how to use the force of her opponent against them. And, it just so happens that she taught me a few things.

With my new plan in mind, I continue to let Hunter come towards me as I wait for the perfect opportunity…

There.

As soon as I see him go for a wild overarching swing with his right arm, I lunge forward. In one smooth motion; I rapidly step around his rightside, grabbing his swung arm in the process as I use my free hand to push down on his back and using his forward momentum to take him to the ground. I held him there, locking his right arm behind him.

I'd never done that before and yet… it felt so natural.

"Get off me!" Hunter yelled.

The rest of the students are going wild.

Seriously? Where are the Teachers?

"Are you gonna keep trying to hit me?" I say to him, I do my best to put a little authority behind my words. I lock his arm tighter just enough to make him rather uncomfortable, but not in pain.

"Alright! Alright!" He cried.

Was that a hint of fear in his voice?

After a slight pause, I let go of his arm and stepped away. The rest of his friends try to go in and help him up but he brushes them off. He sort of looked at them with a face that screamed 'where were you!?'.

The other students, especially Eli, started swarming me. Once again, it was high-fives and fist-bumps all around but it didn't feel as good this time.

It was around this time that the teachers finally got involved. The first one to investigate the scene was Coach Tigg, who did not look happy.

"What's going on here!?" he boomed.

"The new kid kicked Hunter's ass!" a voice cried.

The coach glared at me.

"That's not what happened coach," I tried to explain. "Hunter started swinging at me and I only just tried to get him to stop."

"Yeah, coach," Eli backed me up. "Hunter was harassing me and Arthur stopped him!"

"I saw it too!" another voice claimed and soon other voices started to chime in.

"Quiet!" Coach Tigg silenced the canteen. "I don't care what happened. You need to act your age! Whatever dumb mess you got yourselves into, I want you two to shake hands and walk away. I'll let you boys off but there better not be a next time."

I was the first to step forward, hesitantly reaching my hand out towards Hunter. Hunter just stood there, clutching his arm. He looked at his friends, he looked at the students around him, he looked at Coach Tigg. It looked as if he was finally calming down… and then he looked at me.

I could visually see the anger return to his eyes as he spat on the ground.

"Mr Vasquez!" Coach Tigg commanded.

"No!" Hunter grunted, looking me dead in the eye. "You think you can make a fool of me, huh? You think you can stroll in here and pretend like you're better than me?"

Coach Tigg spoke again, "Hunter that's enough!"

I looked at Hunter. "I'm not even trying to-"

The Coach shot his head at me. "Not a word from you either Pride."

Hunter continued speaking, "you just got here, Arthur. My dad owns a company. My family can ruin yours!"

This guy seriously needs to just shut the hell up. I've done everything to be as passive as possible but his anger seemed so volatile. My nerves started to fire up but I was still able to collect myself.

"One more word, Vasquez and that'll be detention!" Coach Tigg warned.

Out of nowhere, Eli spoke.

"Yeah well, Arthur's mom's a soldier so she could probably kick your dad's ass too."

I looked over at Eli, who had a proud look on his face. I forgot I told him about that. Didn't really need to be reminded about Mom right now, especially not in this context but Eli's gonna Eli. There were a couple of murmurs among the crowd. In the corner of my eye, I see a smile creep on Hunter's face.

"Alright that's it!" Coach Tigg interjected. "When I said 'not another word', that wasn't an invitation for everyone else to start chiming in."

Coach walked over to Vasquez. "You need to calm down." Coach looked at me. "I'll speak to you later… everyone else needs to finish their lunch!"

The moshpit of students slowly began to disperse as Coach and the rest of the teachers tried to restore order.

Then Hunter spoke.

"So, little Arthur's got an army mom, ey?"

I didn't say anything, I just looked back at him. His eyes were still filled with rage but this time matched with a toothy grin. Coach Tigg was too busy herding the other students to notice. His tone made me feel uneasy.

Hunter continued. "You know my dad tells me the military is no place for a woman."

What?

"I mean, I don't think that of course but I just thought you might want to know."

I don't like this.

"He says that the women get it easy because they're too soft to handle the pressure."

All of a sudden, my blood felt like it was erupting.

"So it makes me wonder," Hunter said, "because your mom's in the military and all. Does she actually deserve to be in whatever position she's in?"

The fuck did he just say?

I started to feel a thumping in my chest that made it's way to the sides of my head like someone beating a massive drum. I didn't realize at first but soon, my hands started shaking.

"Or maybe she does."

All the background noise slowly begins to drown out as my chest starts to tense up.

"You know what a 'barracks bunny' is, Arthur?"

…

"Well let's just say your mom is serving her country, just a different kind of service-"

The last thing I consciously heard was the laughter coming from Hunter and his friends. The next moments happened so fast it felt like images flashing through my mind. All of a sudden I held one of the food trays in my hand as it made a sickening crunch across Hunter's face. Next thing I knew, I was on top of Hunter, his face making contact with both of my fists. There was some form of yelling and shoving going on behind me, I think I even felt someone try to grab me but I didn't move an inch. The only real thing I felt was the sensation of blood dripping down my hands.

Then a voice; it sounded like mine but I don't recall saying anything:

"THE FUCK!? DID YOU SAY!? ABOUT!? MY MOTHER!?"

I heard another voice too; much weaker:

"please… I- stop…"

One more voice appeared, it was tough and bold:

"We must be strong. We must be better."

Then a final voice whispered in my mind, it came to me like a memory.

"Pride's don't break rank, we keep them."

Mom.

Everything stopped, like a pause in time. One by one, my senses came back to me. I could feel my breathing, the dryness in my mouth, the sweat pouring down my head. Ringing flooded my ears as quickly as it died down. My eyes focused, as if I had just woken up. I'm back in the cafeteria of Thornbrook high school. My knees pressed against the cold floor. Yet there is no noise, no students shuffling their feet or teachers yelling at them. Then I felt that familiar sensation once more, the blood trickling from my knuckles.

I looked down and in my horror I see a body. Blood covered the face, the eyes were swollen and the cheeks bruised to a brutal color. There was a terrible gash on the bottom lip as a few teeth were missing from their rows. The face was unrecognizable. Every few seconds a faint wheeze of a breath escaped from its mouth. I couldn't move. The shock took over my body as I just stared at the face and then to my hands. My head started spinning.

No… no… no no no. What happened? What did I just do? I didn't mean– I just got so– this is all wrong. This can't be happening. This is wrong– this is so wrong–

I regretted looking around me because all I could see were the expressions of teachers and students alike in terror. There was no familiarity. There were no friendly eyes. No Eli. No Coach Tigg. Just the faces of people that looked like they had just seen a monster.

What have I done? I just… couldn't keep it together–I… broke…