Lost In Purple
Chapter 8: Two Juggernauts and Their Moonshot
I squint a little as I don't believe what I'm seeing. It's Javier and one of the ROR brothers I haven't officially met yet who are at a stand off in the field behind the dormitory. The wind blows cold as the afternoon finally rolls in and the leaves form mini tornadoes around the battlefield. I know it's probably a better idea to not be a part of this and avoid being held for interrogation by the police, but my curiosity overwhelms my thought processes. I choose to lightly run behind a bush at the side of the dormitory and peek through it for a clear view and easy opportunity to eavesdrop.
Before I listen in, I take note of the two monsters that Javier is facing towards with his brother. One is a tall purple blob with small arms and small legs that have thick claws on his fingers and toes. He has one eye, big lips, and two hefty horns that turn black once you hit the tips. The other is a light blue slug with green spots whose only defining features are his large mouth with sharp teeth, and his two eyes that lay almost at the top of his head. They both turn slightly to show fraternity jerseys that idiotically have their names stitched onto them. The purple ones name is Percy, and the blue ones name is Baboso...and their both part of the JOX fraternity. I know that the JOX and RORs have issues with each other since Faust told me several times over this past semester to stay away from them, but now I'm seeing some of their conflict in real time.
"Percy, Baboso, this is childish and pointless!" Javier says raising his voice and eliciting a very unsettling rattle only a bug like him could do.
"Don't give us that Rios! We're done being compared to you and your pathetic excuse for a fraternity! We're the top scarers on campus, NOT YOU!" Percy howls.
I facepalm. These monsters seem like the dumbest monsters on campus, so there's no way that this statement could be true. Aside from that, is there really this much tension between these two fraternities? Like seriously, this has to be the stupidest fight I've ever seen. Literally nobody cares about which fraternity is the best...right?
"Says the ones who's lost the scare games three years in a row and can barely hold a 3.0 GPA in their scaring classes!" The other ROR member argues. This ROR is very plain compared to the three I've already met. He's a stocky, reddish-purple monster with two brown horns on his head and one horn in the center of his face that acts like a nose. He also has vampire like teeth that show themselves every time he opens his mouth. Honestly, I'm surprised he's not one of the JOX since he the physique like a stereotypical football player.
Javier turns towards his brother and gives him a half-assed push. "Why are you taunting him amigo? We're better than this!"
Chip furrows his brows and bares his teeth at Javier. "What do you mean Jav? We've proven ourselves to be the best, and all these guys want to do is whine and complain about their poor performance as scarers. They've barely even made it through their classes this semester an-"
"SHUT UP CHIP! Grades barely matter if you can score full points on the scare simulator!" Baboso booms, ignoring Javier's attempt at avoiding violence and cutting Chip off.
Huh. These monsters are proving themselves that bigger doesn't always mean better when it comes to scaring. If I were a talent scout, I would stay far away from them. Now I also that RORs name is Chip so that's good.
"Neither of you can even do that. In fact almost none of you can. The only one of you who's relatively close to becoming a real scarer is Faust and you treat him like a child! You'll never be good scarers!" Chip jeers.
Percy and Baboso growl, take up an offensive stance and begin stomping forward in anger. I'll admit this is kind of deserved considering how low of a blow that one was. I don't even know these two and I would never say something like that to them, let alone anyone else. It's not only because their big and look like their fists can go through the back of my skull, but also because that's really demoralizing and humiliating for a scarer. Before they get too close, Javier steps forward and puts himself in between the conflict. He reaches his hand out and says, "Stop. Back away you two. We'll settle this during the scare games next semester."
"Yeah right, we're not waiting that long for something a house pet like you deserves," Baboso snorts while smacking Javier's hand upwards and causing him to lose his balance.
Javier start clicking like the beetle he is and speaks through his clenched teeth. "I'm not a pet!" His eyes are narrow and filling with rage, clearly about to blow a gasket.
"Yet you follow orders from Worthington like he's your master... if you're not a pet, then what are you?" Percy snickers.
With in a blink of an eye, Javier grasps onto Percy's bulky arm and pulls him backwards. He's sent flying into a punch that Chip had winded up half a second beforehand, but remains upright. Javier tackles Baboso to the ground, which hilariously sends ripples through his body fat, while Percy jumps up and reaches over Chips head to put him in a headlock.
Even though I would normally run away when seeing things like this, I get a feeling deep within my stomach that I should step in and help. I react by instantly standing and sprinting towards Chip. Before I reach him, I see Javier pin Baboso to the ground with his lower two hands and using his upper two hands to pummel Baboso to the ground like hail during a thunderstorm. His claws are also lightly piercing Baboso's skin, which draws small amounts of blood compared to the amount coming out of his mouth.
With Javier seemingly winning his fight, I watch as Percy cowardly strikes Chip in the back of his head while kneeing him in the stomach causing Chip to emit disturbing grunts and gags. I leap up, wrap my legs around Percy's chest and claw his face while snarling at a high frequency. Exerting this much energy causes my head to throb intensely as my headache is still camping out within my head, so I finish off my attack with a solid punch to his bulbous eye. After jumping off of Percy's back I look back to see Javier running towards Chip and I, leaving Baboso knocked out on the grass. He grabs Chip who can barely keep his head upright, and coughs violently.
Percy holds his eye and head with his hands, covering up some cuts I created with my claws. He looks up to see his frat member unconscious on the ground, ignoring the three of us who are retreating.
"Go go go," I growl with worry while grabbing one of Javier's hands.
I really should have just left these two alone and gone back to my dorm. I'm worried that someone saw me do this and report me to authorities. I'm also worried that Percy and Baboso know who I am and will talk about me to the rest of their fraternity. It seemed like Percy was too busy dealing with pain to be able to figure out what just happened, so he didn't see me. Baboso on the other hand, it's uncertain if he saw me running over while being pulverized by Javier's strikes. Either way, what's done is done and I now have to run away in panic.
"Miss Everett, where did you come from?" Javier questions as we run through the amphitheater.
"The cafeteria," I pant heavily, "I just finished eating lunch with Bruiser and saw you guys screaming at each other." I look down in exhaustion to see my feet moving at the speed of light. My head throbs in pain once again as I think about how I've been a saint for 19 years, and I finally got in a fight with somebody.
"Turn left up here," I whimper as Javier takes Chip off his feet and throws him over his shoulder.
We take a 90 degree left turn and head into the wilderness of the eastern part of campus where all the sports centers, and gyms are located. I never even knew we had a majority of these services, so I make a quick mental note to check these out someday. We end up running along the backs of all the buildings and take refuge behind a couple large bushes where nobody could possibly find us. I'm basically dry heaving at this point because I'm not a very active person.
"Are you okay dama de la luna?" Javier asks after setting Chip down on the ground.
I pant heavily and nod my head. "Yeah, I'm... I'm alright. Why are you... picking fights out in the open? Do you guys s-seriously hate each other that much?" I question nervously. I really don't want to make them mad at me by causing them to relive a frustrating past.
"Y-yeah," Chip gulps while holding his hand to the back of his injured head, "Ever since Johnny, Jav, and I joined the RORs, the JOX have slowly declined as a fraternity and they're still livid about that."
Javier moves Chip's head so that he can see the damage that was done. There aren't any kinds of gashes but there is a large inflamed lump right on the back of his skull. Ouch. Javier clicks in anger, "You might have a concussion amigo."
"Great. Hopefully this won't cause my grades to drop," Chip groans.
I leave Javier and Chip to converse with each other and peek around the bushes to see if Percy, Baboso, or anyone else followed us all the way back here. Luckily it seems like the coast is clear. I also scan the main street to see if anyone is curiously looking back here and might accidently stumble across us. Luckily nobody's doing that either. "L-let's get him back home for now," I propose.
"Good idea. Chip, mi hermano, you're going to have to act like nothing has happened," Javier mumbles.
Chip nods in agreement and manages to stand up as straight and normal as he possibly can. There's a little bit of a sway here and there, but nobody would notice it unless they were having a conversation with him. That's really impressive considering how badly injured he seems. He could even get away with that in the human world if it so happened to occur. I wrap my arms around his left arm to provide him some support as Javier walks ahead with his hands in his pockets and guides us in between the buildings. We turn onto the sidewalks and find ourselves on main street acting like everyone else and we'll soon turn into Frat Row.
"I know...that this is a poor time to introduce myself, but I'm Chip. I... uh...I've been friends with, uh, Javier and Johnny since their freshman year," Chip stutters. He's clearly having a hard time thinking and simply functioning right now.
I just put on a caring smile and introduce myself to keep his mind of the pain. "I'm sure you know who I am, but just in case, I'm Melody. You can call me Melanie if you'd rather though, I don't really mind."
Chip puts his other hand on my right shoulder and thanks me. "I probably... uh... would have had a worse h-head injury if you hadn't come along," he slurs.
"I know, that's why I jumped in to help. However, I will literally kill you and Javier if I have to do this again," I sputter with the intent to make that sound half true.
Javier looks back to us as we walk down the busy activities street and gives me a surprised look. I'm assuming he wasn't expecting such a threat from someone as small and weak as me. Chip just laughs as if this is a normal thing, which kind of scares me.
"Yes ma'am, w-won't happen again," he salutes.
Javier, Chip, and I finally make it to Frat Row. It seems like everyone is out and about so that's lucky. I look over to the JOX house to double check and it looks abandoned for the time being. Thank goodness there won't be anymore drama for me, but I hope nobody will be home for another few hours, because I wouldn't like the RORs to get caught up in anymore shenanigans that are born from this.
Javier opens the front door to the ROR house and allows us to enter before cautiously shutting it. I walk through the grand entrance and into the main room that is no longer a cleared out dance floor. It looks more or so like a mess hall as more red velvet couches are set in front of the fireplace along with Victorian floor lamps, rugs, and an intricately carved coffee table. The walls are also lined with bookshelves and plants that are overtly healthy.
"Take him to the kitchen for me Miss Everett," Javier directs.
I walk through the mess hall and into the kitchen where I see an island with two chairs tucked beneath an overhanging counter. I set him in one of the seats closer to the fridge that's next to the back door and I take the other.
"Do you have a bag and some ice anywhere?" I ask Javier.
"Don't worry Miss Everett, I'll get it. Ugh, Johnny's going to be furious with us," Javier says facepalming.
I look over at Chip to see his head resting flat on the table and his arms motionlessly hanging. I keep myself from laughing because he looks like a bored child during summer vacation, or a child who's really against eating their vegetables for dinner.
"I mean I would too. You switched from not wanting to fight, to wanting to fight really quickly. Not only that but its become obvious that you guys have a rough history with each other," I jab.
Javier sighs as he takes out a plastic bag and opens it. "Ugh... I just hate it when they say I'm senor Johnny's servant. That's always their go to insult and no matter how hard I try I can't stop myself from getting angry."
My ears droop. I may not understand how he feels but I myself would hate being degraded in public like that. For it to happen frequently must also make it more difficult to get used to. "I'm... sorry you're treated like that. You don't deserve it," I respond sympathetically.
Javier chuckles. "It's not your fault amiga. I know that at the end of the day it's not true." He opens their freezer that has a mountain of ice in it and scoops some out with cup. He places the ice in the bag, zips it closed, and saunters over to Chip to place it on his head. Chip flinches as the freezing cold grazes the back of his head and neck, but gets used to it almost immediately. He takes one of his hanging arms and grabs the bag to keep it steadily on top of his head.
"Why would they say that though?" I ask while looking off to the side.
Javier walks over to the sink and lifts his hands up to reveal blood that's painted all over his knuckles. He sighs and says, "Señor Johnny is like family to me." He turns the faucet and out spits a stream of water. "My padre was... a bad person. He would come home every night to scream at me and my madre, saying how ungrateful we were for the very little we had."
Chip lifts his head up to reveal a sad expression. Has not heard this story?
"My madre told me when I was 8 years old that he was part of a drug operation in Monstropolis. He sold all sorts of drugs that caused the authorities to chase after us for years. After many years of verbal and physical abuse, he eventually got caught and murdered several federal agents in the process which landed him in prison for life. My madre had been home-schooling me at the time, but I was taken away from her and put in an orphanage."
Chip blinks in awe as we both listen to Javier's origin story.
Javier pumps out some soap from a dispenser and slowly washes his hands. "The orphanage enrolled me at Monarch Elementary over in Thornberry, the rich district, and that's where I met Señor Johnny. I was the dumbest in the class, the poorest in the class, and the saddest in the class. Every child there avoided me except him. He played with me, he tutored me, he ate lunch with me, and when I hit 18, after finally being kicked out of the orphanage, he had me apply here at MU with him."
The silence of the house ominously fills the kitchen as he runs his hands under the water. I feel a fierce sting within my head. Man these headaches are getting really annoying.
"Johnny then changed my life for the better by paying for my tuition and joining the RORs to become one of the greatest scarers ever. That was our dream and always has been. That's why they say that. Because I owe him my life. I would do anything for him, no matter how small and pointless the task may be. Because there's nothing I could ever do to repay him."
Javier then turns the faucet off and takes a paper towel to dry his hands. He wipes them clean and throws the paper towel in the trashcan located in the corner of the kitchen. He turns towards me and puts his hands behind his back. "I need to get ready for class. I'll text Señor Johnny to take Chip to the hospital. I'm hoping he won't be too mad for Chip's sake. As for you Miss Everett, you can stay here until Johnny arrives in a half and hour, or you can go back to your dorm and only your dorm. It would be best for you to lay low for now," Javier says changing the subject.
"I'll just head back to my dorm. I feel like I need to lay down," I whimper.
Javier bows respectfully and excuses himself to go upstairs and prepare himself for his classes. I see him take out a cell phone from inside his jersey and type with it.
"Hey Melanie... feel free to stop by whenever you want. We would...uh... appreciate it," Chip says still struggling to put sentences together. I really hope the concussion isn't severe.
"Ok, sure. I'll come by to check and see how you're doing. But I'd better hear that you're dropping those boxing gloves and instead practicing your scaring. You have to have both bark and bite if you want to one up the JOX," I scold.
"Well said. H-have a good day Melanie... I'll see you... uh... around," Chip groans.
"You too, feel better ok," I respond giving him a quick hug and then bolting for the front door.
I walk through the mess hall and look around for one last time. It's been a month since the party and I feel like I've already forgotten what this house looks like on the inside, so I take it all in like you would during a nature walk. I walk up to the front door, open it, and close the door to see yet another cloudy afternoon.
All I can say is, I guess I didn't listen to Faust's warning.