Radical (On Hold)

Chapter 1

Adia slammed her fist into the boy's face so hard that blood began to pour from his nose. Tears trailed down his cheeks, mixing with the blood and dripping to the ground.

"You never take the last Peace Tea! Ever!" She wrapped her hands around his neck, and his eyes widened. Taking a deep breath, she released him. Gasping, he rolled onto his side, clutching his neck.

Adia smiled sweetly and picked up the can of tea, then walked away.

The boy, Andy, struggled into a sitting position. He panted heavily, wiping his nose. He blinked several times to restore his vision, which had become clouded from his fading consciousness during the beating.

His work ID was lying on the floor a few feet away. Andy picked it up. It was bent, so he folded it the opposite way to reduce the damage. He hung it around his neck and stared at it.

Andy Biersak

The Ronnie's Music logo was at the top, and a few extra information, along with an old photo of him, was below his name.

Andy stood up, then leaned against the aisle shelves. He began thinking. How could a beautiful girl, with her bright eyes and fuzzy brown curls, be so deadly? Over a drink? It wasn't even alcohol. How old was she? Fifteen? Andy was seventeen.

Andy shook his head. If he didn't get something to drink soon, he was going to be late for work. He reached for a Coca-Cola and headed to checkout.

"Thanks for shopping at Walmart," the stereotypical extremely-overweight Walmart cashier said. There were dark circles under her eyes, and, by the way she looked at him, Andy could tell she wanted to kill everyone. "Find everything okay?" Her voice was monotone. Andy thought about mentioning the fight in the aisle that they had failed to notice, despite their many cameras, along with the fact that he didn't find everything okay, for he wasn't holding a Peace Tea, but thought better of it.

Andy nodded, taking back his drink. He unscrewed the cap, listening to it fizz. He brought the bottle up to his lips and swallowed a gulp, then headed to his car to drive to his area of employment, Ronnie's Music.

-

Adia proudly sipped her Peace Tea, then set it down on her desk to pop her knuckles. The bell rang, and homeroom was over. She stood up, carrying her things to a seat closer to the front of the room, where she sat during first block. She thought moving was pointless, since she had the same teacher for homeroom, but she had to sit where her teacher put her. Besides, her first block seat was closer to her friends.

Sara tossed her backpack in the seat in front of Adia. She slipped her books out, then placed her bookbag onto the floor so she could sit in the chair. She turned around in her seat so she could communicate better.

Sara looked at the can of tea sitting on Adia's desk. "You love that stuff."

Adia smirked. "I really do."

"What's that?" Sara pointed to a red smudge on the can. Adia turned it around so she could see the spot, then wiped it off.

"Blood."

"Did you cut yourself on the tab or something?"

"Nope." Adia rubbed at another red smudge on her knuckle. Sara noticed this, and then she frowned.

"Did you...punch somebody?"

"More or less." Adia had moved to a cuticle to pick at. She stared at her fingers, lazily avoiding eye contact.

"What happened?"

"No one takes the last Peace Tea. No one but me."

"You got into a fight over Peace Tea?" Sara placed her hand against her forehead, shaking it. "Who was it?" She waited a few seconds, then added another question. "Are they okay?"

"Some douchebag boy with long black hair. He was kinda cute, but he had my tea, so I had only one option."

"ADIA!"

"What?"

"You can't just hit someone because they took the last drink. What if you got caught?"

"At least I'd have my tea."

"I'm sure they'd take it away."

Adia poked her bottom lip out. "Then I won't get caught."

Sara opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by their Health teacher. "Open your textbooks to page 135, please." Instead, she just gave a disapproving look, then turned back around to face the front of the room.

"Poor guy," she whispered under her breath.