Battle Royale: Season 1

Chapter 4: No Interference

Like when Jayson and Reid had that argument two years ago about that girl that they both ended up forgetting about, Tucker stood by, stuffing his hands in his pockets, deciding to let them fight it out, get their aggression out and over with. Jayson felt slighted because, although he had more experience with girls than the rest of them throughout their high school ventures, the two hundred and fifty pound lineman was filled with insecurity. Reid, on the other hand, felt that he won the girl as if they'd competed for her in some midway fair game. They'd made sharp remarks at each other in the locker room and on the field there was some slack in supporting each other. For a week, they refused to be under the same roof as one another.

Seth was the one who stepped in.

He invited them all (Tucker, Reid, Jayson and Beau) to the football field one night, without telling Reid and Jayson the other would be there. He held a red mesh bag in one hand. Jayson and Reid both didn't focus on each other and focused only on each other. Then, loudly, he said that the girl they were fighting for was dating some quarterback at another school and that she wasn't worth it. "But if you feel so strongly about it," Seth continued, opening the mesh bag. "We can end this here tonight. Whoever wins, gets the girl." He tossed a pair of boxing gloves to Jayson and another to Reid. He must have broken into their gym lockers earlier (they all had each others combinations, so could it really be considered breaking in) because he also had the containers with their mouth guards. To Beau and Tucker, he said: "No interference. Let's give them ten minutes."

Reid, although smaller than Jayson, was quicker, more agile. Jayson, who chugged down vegetable smoothies every morning and spent an hour a day on his own personal treadmill, wasn't slow himself.

Seth set the timer and said: "Go."

There were a lot of grunts and dull thuds and some dribbles of blood. After seven minutes and ten seconds, Beau stepped in to intervene, grabbing Reid in a headlock because there was no way he could take Jayson down by himself. Jayson was panting hard, the boxing gloves on his knees as he coughed. He spit out his mouth guard in the grass, followed by some spurts of blood. His left eye was swollen and his cheek was red. Reid winced when Beau lowered him to the ground, gritting his teeth, both of his eyes red, probably going to be black in the morning.

"You hit like a girl." Reid said.

Jayson chuckled, sitting down opposite of Reid. "Do you usually look like that when girls hit you?"

Reid looked up, anger draining from his eyes. They stared at each other for a second and then both of them began laughing; this slow sort of laugh that grew into hard, powerful bellows. Reid fell onto his side, holding his gut, wincing in pain every few seconds, and then laughing again. "I don't have to worry about her now. You're uglier now than you were before." Reid asked, his cheeks bright red. Jayson laughed so hard, he could barely breath.

This caused Beau to join in as well. Tucker cracked a smile, glancing at Seth, who shrugged his shoulders. Seth was never thanked for that night, not even after Reid stopped pursuing the girl and Jayson invited Reid over to his house to play some video games. But Tucker was sure that Seth's presence was a key factor in their peaceful dynamic and that they all knew it.

~

Seth watches Dawson like a detective watches a suspect during an interrogation. He doesn't know what he's looking for but he knows what he feels. Dawson is sort of like a virus; his wealth makes him seem entitled and his natural ability to absorb information in class makes him cocky. Seth has never liked Dawson, who, as a red-faced chubby faced kid back in elementary school, always shoved, clawed, screamed, and cried to get his way with anything or anyone. His temper tantrums were replaced quick witted remarks in adolescence. Seth is thankful that Dawson wasn't able to join the football team. Coach would never have tolerated Dawson's immaturity and Dawson seems like the type of person who would have found a way to replace the coach.