BLUNT. | Liam Dunbar

The Narc - Chapter Thirty-Two

L I A M

I walked to my locker at school, so many thoughts were trailing through my head. Was what just happened with Annie a good... or a bad thing? Was I going to die in the next 24 hours? Why am I so terrified of these Berserkers, or whatever the hell they're called. I can't get it's ugly, rotten face out of my mind for my life. Annie helped last night, but now? Now the thoughts crept into my brain, making me squirm at the thought of them.

"Liam!" Mason yelled down the hallway, running towards me. "Hey. Am I gonna see you at the bonfire tonight?"

A locker slammed down the hallway and made me flinch, Mason looked at me like I was crazy. Obviously my hearing abilities were having some trouble, as were my thoughts. I shrugged, "I'm thinking about skipping it."

Mason leaned on the locker next to mine, raising his eyebrows suspiciously, "You're not skipping."

I bobbled my head, looking over at him, "Why not?"

Mason scoffed, "Because you're on the lacrosse team. Don't you have to go?"

I shook my head, looking down the hallway, my eyes falling on the same bony creature that attacked me two nights before. I panted, closing my eyes, and opening them... the Berserker was gone. "I don't, uh... I--I don't think I can make it."

Mason sighed, "You're coming, and you're going to find Annie, that way you can embarrass yourself in front of her, and you'll find me a lacrosse player... because statistically speaking, someone on your team has gotta be on my team, alright?"

I gulped, my eyes deverted on the spot the Berserker had just stood. Mason hit me in the chest, "Liam?"

"Okay," I sighed, shaking my head and turning back to him. "I'll be there."

The bell rang, and I shut my locker, walking to the locker rooms. I yanked the door open to a chaotic mess of frantic boys, and I sighed, walking through the door and over to my locker. I rested my forehead on the cold, hard metal.

"Hey," his voice spoke softly as I looked up at Scott. "You okay?"

I sighed, shaking my head, "Last night my printer went off by itself. I couldn't turn it off. I hit the cancel button over and over again, but it just kept printing until Annie completely unplugged it."

Scott creased his brow, "Printing what?"

I gulped, "The dead pool."

Scott nodded, "What'd you guys do after that?"

I cleared my throat, looking at the ground, attempting to find an excuse and failing. "We--"

"Alright!" Coach interrupted me, and the relief flowed through my body, but Scott kept his gaze on me... we were definitely going to have a chat later. "Now, I know the start of season bonfire, it's a big deal for you guys." Coach paused, sighing, "I also know it gets a out-of-hand sometimes. The alumni show up, there's other teams, and alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol."

Everyone around us cheered, and I just shook my head.

"Alright..." Coach groaned, and everyone still cheered. "Shut up!" he hollered. "Now, what I don't understand is why anyone would ever want to get stumbling down drunk in front of a massive open fire... I've also resigned to not being able to stop you guys." Everyone cheered once again. "I also remind you, your team captain, McCall, will be there," all eyes averted to Scott standing behind me. "And I can count on him to narc on any and every one of these little bastards." Scott raised his eyebrows and Coach sighed, "Get back to class."

Everyone slowly drifted out of the locker room and into the hallway, mixing in with the passing students. I turned to Scott, about to say something, when Coach beat me to it. "What the hell's this?"

Scott and I quickly perked up and ran over to Coach's office where his printer was printing papers out like crazy. I gulped, picking one up, and revealing the dead pool. I handed it to Scott, "You see the difference?"

Scott sighed, "Derek's on the list anymore."

"And I'm not worth 3 million." I paused, pointing at the number next to my name. "It's 18 now. 18 million."