A New Beginning

Revenge

Shane yawned as he walked into the school early Monday morning, with his backpack slung over one shoulder and his usual energy drink in his hand. In spite of his attempts to catch up on sleep over the weekend, Shane still felt very tired. Maybe it was the Monday morning effect, or maybe it was because he had stayed up until two in the morning playing video games. Either way, he felt just as drained as ever. 

As he walked down the crowded hallway towards his locker, Shane took a sip of his energy drink. He had completely forgotten about Trip's threat to him last Friday after Shane had dumped a bucket of water on him in the bathrooms. This was in revenge for Trip not completing his part of their biology project, which meant that Shane to stay up all night and complete it himself. Furthermore, Trip had ruined their presentation by blurting out random unrelated facts, which caused Shane to lose his temper, which then caused Mrs. Lorne to send both of them to the principal's office. And on their way there, Trip and Shane had gotten into a fistfight, leaving Shane with a black eye and a bruise on his cheekbone.

As he approached his locker, Shane let his backpack slip off his shoulder and onto the floor with a thud. He opened up his locker and stared inside at the mess of books, papers, and pencils all thrown in a pile. 

"Dude! Whatup?" 

Shane turned around to see Adam behind him, his backpack slung over his shoulders. "Not much, man," he replied. 

"You'd better watch out for Trip today," Adam warned. "After what you did to him on Friday, he's gonna kill you for sure."

Upon hearing Trip's name, Shane immediately clenched his fists in anger. "That asshole thinks I'm scared of him?" he mocked. "Ha! He'd better think again!"

"I dunno, man," Adam replied, folding his arms across his chest. "He seemed pretty pissed. Who knows what he'll do to you." He paused, then added, "If you want, I can..."

"Dude. I already said I'm not fucking scared of him," Shane interrupted. His friend's concern was beginning to irritate him, for Shane hated receiving help from anyone, even his own girlfriend. He believed that in order to prove his strength, he needed to be as independent as possible. 

"Whatever," Adam replied as he walked away. "I gotta get to class. See ya later."

"See ya, man," Shane replied, unzipping his backpack and hurriedly stuffing his books for his morning classes inside, just as the first bell rang. 

Just then, Shane glanced to his left and spotted Trip stomping down the hallway with a scowl on his face, carrying his heavy math book in his hands. 

"There you are, you motherfucker!" Trip roared as he approached Shane, swinging his book and hitting Shane on the side of the head as hard as he could. "That's what you get for dumping water on me on Friday!"

"What the fuck, man!" Shane cried, holding the side of his head with his hand. Immediately after the hit, he was struck with an intense headache, which caused him to feel a little dizzy. But that did not stop him from standing up and facing Trip, with his fists clenched tightly. "What is your deal?!" 

"You know damn well," Trip retorted, swinging his book towards Shane's head again. 

However, Shane quickly ducked, avoiding the attack, and gave Trip a hard jab in the stomach with his fist. "It's because you didn't do your part of that damn project, you moron!" he yelled simultaneously.

"I did, too!" Trip shouted, throwing his book at Shane angrily. 

The book hit Shane on the shoulder before it fell to the floor with a thud. "No you didn't, you fucking liar!" he cried. Ignoring the pain, Shane lunged at Trip and started attacking him with his fists, unaware of the tardy bell that was ringing.