High School Revolution

Chapter 31: Clubbing It! The Grand Club Festival Begins!

Strider eventually arrived at school on a bright Tuesday, excited for the Club Festival, but wanted to keep his expectations reasonable. He came up with something interesting to help Kevin, was hoping to use the chance to become a leader or join a series of clubs, and have a simple, fun day with little problems or consequences. And like all his optimistic hopes, there was an immediate crack despite the train getting him there early than expected: the upperclassmen approaching

One was smoking, the other feeling his face, and the third was the first to approach him as the other two joined. Strider had one quick dilemma.

"Um, Lyness? Toplye? Kyler?"

"Liam!"

"Topher!"

"Kyle! You burned me, you dirt faced dipshit!"

"Hey, you attacked us for no reason!"

"That was payback for last week!"

"You tried to kidnap us! You're lucky the Principal didn't expel you sociopaths!" Strider only realized he was fueling their anger as a result. He tried running away, but Topher pushed him aside, narrowly positioning himself from completely falling over. The three of them quickly gave chase, forcing him to run to the entrance and watching his back at the same time.

"Get out of the way!"

He immediately witnessed a familiar motorcycle driving straight towards him, and leaped out of the way. The three behind him were confused and panicked as the vehicle was about to ram into them when the violent screeching of the brakes, and the driver's sharp turning got them to stop inches from the trio. It took him a few seconds, but Strider was ecstatic upon spotting a turquoise shirt with a fictional unicorn folding their arms with a smile underneath a leather vest.

"Didn't I tell you to fight your own battles?"

Strider shook his head. "Hey I wasn't aiming for a fight, they came to me," before smiling. "Morning Ken."

"Yeah whatever." Tennis and Liam immediately charged after him while Kyle stood in the back.

"Beat the living shit out of him quick, he's nothing without his stun baton!"

Ken noticed Strider's face of doubt, and told him to catch, throwing his own stun baton in the air. While Strider positioned himself to catch it, Ken tripped Liam over his feet and grabbed him with one hand while elbowing Topher with the other. The shaggy model pulled Liam back and pushed him into Topher, but didn't advance further, asking them if they were done. Kyle ran ahead of his friends to strike Ken, but pulled back once the stun baton fell towards the two freshmen, even though Strider caught it. Ken kicked Kyle towards the rest of the trio, who tripped over and fell on top of each other ala bowling pins.

Ken took the stun baton back and walked alongside his motorcycle while Strider followed, noting he was going easy today since he was in a good mood. When they got up, Ken only had one thing to say to them.

"Still think I'm weak without my stun baton?" They all shook their heads. "Good. Well, see ya."

They got up and ran into the school while the two boys followed suit. Strider wasn't sure what to talk about with Ken as they headed in, and then thought of his shirt.

"So that's your favorite unicorn in the show?"

"Yeah. He's strong, silent, and can take down almost anyone." Strider wondered if Ken found it relatable to him when the brawler asked him if he was watching anything.

"Well," admitting that he wasn't watching much but the one show at 6am he saw while getting ready for the day. "It's not that good. The characters seem really boring compared to the other seasons, the action feels like its missing content, the villains don't feel like a threat, and the heroes just learn lessons that don't make sense. It's so weird, last season was so much better in almost every way."