I woke up ass naked. What? Did you expect me to be a bit less open? Anyways, I woke up naked next to a cute, fragile, Skylar. She had a light snore that you couldn't hear unless you were close enough.
I remembered everything we talked about, and everything that happened that day. It felt short, but I realized how much could go down in such amounts of time.
I got up off the bed and got all of my clothes back on, and I knew I needed to go and meet up with Daniel, so I quickly went to Skylar to kiss her on the forehead before I left. But Skylar was already awoke.
"That only adds to the amount of places you've kissed me on me at different areas, since last night!" Skylar exclaimed.
"Heh, if you keep up that talk, then expect it again when I come on back," I chuckled. She laid up in her bed.
"Going so soon?" Skylar frowned.
"No worries. I'm gonna help out Daniel. We'll see eachother again soon. I promise I won't ditch you like a dick again."
"It wasn't a dick move, you explained why you were gone, and I'm totally fine with it," Skylar said as she held my hand in hers.
"Either way, we'll see eachother again soon. I need to help Daniel."
"Lemme know what's up afterwards!" Skylar said as I left.
"I will!"
...
I get to Daniel's dorm and see how messy it is, and I saw the Subway sandwich wrappers scattered around his room. That's all it stunk of, just Subway. Daniel was snoring away in his dorm, nothing really changed. Except it was more messier.
I slowly and calmly pushed Daniel at a just good enough pace, calling out his name as well, and he finally woke up.
"Oh my god! Austin! I thought you were-- like-- banished from even coming back here again!" Daniel exclaimed as he woke up.
"It's a thing called sneaking in!" I whispered loudly.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Oh... I guess a better start taking notes on that too then," Daniel yawned.
"That's the spirit! But seriously, Skylar has told me what's been going on, and I wanna ask you legit, what's been going on, man?"
"Nothing man..." Daniel whispered.
"Anything bothering ya?"
"It's nothing man, chill out," Daniel kept whispering as he wasn't fully awake yet.
"Daniel I'm serious."
"I've been getting bullied even worse by Chad at this point, and by his stupid gang," Daniel said.
"Anything else Daniel?"
"Things haven't really changed. I just can't process it all at once for you right now..." Daniel gradually rose his voice and tone in that whole statement, signifying that he was beginning to wake up more.
"You need to go brush your teeth and shit? I won't keep you waiting then, man. Take your time. I'll help clean all this Subway shit," I encouraged Daniel to get off his ass as I got a trash bag from his small cabinet next to his medium bed.
As I finally got to the last of his wrappers, and he was halfway through his morning shower, I saw something. It was some sort of ripped off, piece of paper. Like someone ripped a piece off of an actual paper. Although I wasn't one to snoop, at this moment I hadn't really thought deep. I thought this was more garbage until I realized there was hand writing on the back of this tiny piece.
A phone number, yet written in feminine hand writing. Daniel was taking notes indeed. This was definitely something I'd wanna ask him about too.
Time flew by and his room was edible to the human eye. The scent of days old junk food soon went away and Daniel was looking alright.
"Where was I again?" Daniel asked.
"Man you start wherever you wanna start. Not my choice."
I acted more relaxed since Skylar was probably overreacting, since Daniel had no visible bruises and didn't show any regret either.
"Well I don't know man. Not too much has changed. I mean Chad kinda picks on me more and more now, since you've been out the picture," Daniel explained.
"Like what? What does he do to you?"
"Well they still beat the shit out of me man. It makes me look bad. Everytime they do it I try harder to fight back each time... but man... I don't know," Daniel looked down, with seemingly low self-esteem.
"Don't know what? Like what to do? I mean shit, I've been there many times too, man."
"I guess. I just don't like how they keep picking on me and stuff for no reason. Like they won't pick on buff assholes their own size. When they do get into a real fight, they tend to be super cocky. Like the fight you and I had with them," Daniel whispered.
"It's like they're the predators, and you're the prey. But the thing is that the whole cycle kinda repeats. When so many prey are eaten, the predators slowly die out. So the prey grow back, yet so do the predators. I think what you need, is something to wipe out the predators to such a small esteem, they won't touch you again, Dan."
"I don't know what you mean by that. It can't be something super popular for me. I need a good rep..." Daniel stated.
"Why? Well, I can't say shit since I've been out, but what do you need it for?"
"Well you see, I DID take some notes when you picked up Skylar like a total frickin' stud, right?" Daniel lit up with a smile.
"Yeeees."
"Well I tried my best on a girl named Monica. Moni for short. She's nerdy like me. No stereotypes though. She's not 'Asian' nerdy. I got her number. But fighting Chad... if it gets out there she'll find me in a bad light, man," Daniel said.
"Ahh, makes more sense now. You'd have to keep Chad silent after the encounter-- and no I'm not killing him, don't worry," I planned.
"Wait... where do I fall into this?" Daniel asked with a squint... not that his eyes didn't already do that for him.
"How far are you with Monica?"
"Barely."
"K. First I'll help you with her more, then after, you're gonna beat Chad up, without most of my physical support."
"What?! I can't beat up a big fuck like Chad easily!" Daniel rebuttaled.
"Well, that's in a raw match up. We'd have to put the odds into our own favor. For example, we do not instigate the fight. He hits first? You already got a good story if you lose. You win? Self defense. Also if he gangs with his buddies, that's more at your dispense..."
"I like your thinking. So what should we do?" Daniel asked.
"First talk to this girl man, try and slide in if you know what I mean. Make yourself seem really cool. Just be real you know? Then we'll deal with Chad..."
"I got an idea," Daniel suggested.
"What is it?"
"I'll text her to meet me outside the gates so we can go somewhere later to eat," Daniel added.
"Damn, on the right track my man. Fuck it, I'll wait here and you can go to class. By the end of your day, we'll go where they tend to hang out."
"Alright man, you sure you don't need anything?" Daniel asked.
"I'll find a way to entertain myself," I stated as I looked around his dorm room.
----
I had already told Skylar what Daniel and I were going to do. The plan was simple, Daniel would confront him, try to talk it down, doesn't work? Fight back. Lose? Got a good story to tell to the college. Win? Make sure it never gets out. Easy.
"Y'all niggas crazy," Skylar replied in a text.
Kidding. That's would have been hilarious though.
So I'm around the corner, and it reminds me about how Angelo was around for the Shepherd meeting. Old times... old fucking times. Let's hope it doesn't come full circle again.
I won't let it happen again.
Daniel chills there, with a smile on his face. I was ready for anything that would occur. He looked confident, and so was I.
Who wouldn't want to rumble with Chad? The guy was a faggot and thought high of himself. Yet when you make someone like him feel low, it's great.
Chad and his gang began to roll up again, the usual. Daniel had to prepare for this next event. He stood up before they got too close or said anything.
"Look. The Asian kid is back. I'll give you a run for your money since you're shaking quite a bit," laughed Chad.
"What do you mean by it?" Daniel stood straighter after being called out. I listened nearby around the corner.
"It's getting old to keep beating the same punching bag over and over. How about you just do my assignments for me and the boys. Get us good grades, you get the ace of spades. Know what I'm sayin'?" Chad had stupid language. Ace of spades in his fuckboy group meant money. He probably used the code name for deals all the time, regardless of the situation.
"No. No aces. No spades. Get the fuck out of here. All of you!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Finally cusses at us without mumbling. You tossing disrespect?" Chad asked. Wow. His voice and his phrases... both of them were annoying as fuck to hear.
"Why should I give you any if you don't give some to me?" Daniel fired back easier this time. He shook more and gradually formed his open hands into closed fists.
"You just gained some by standing up this time, and firing at us verbally. But you-- you're about to lose all of it, big boy," Chad smiled.
Chad tossed a punch and his fist slammed right into Daniel's face. Daniel fell flat on his ass, I could tell by him falling onto the concrete beneath him.
They were about to stomp him, the sounds of their shoes clapping on the ground got closer. Daniel got back up and kicked one of the attackers down.
The other one swung right at Daniel and got him in the nose, but he retaliated as quick as he could with a punch directly placed to the guy's liver.
"I said... get him!" Chad yelled.
Chad then ran at Daniel, but Chad's untouched goons lead the pace. Three of them came right to him. One dazed him with a hit to the face, while the other one came behind him to hit him in the back of his head. The third one pushed him down to stomp him. Whilst this occurred, the two hurt gentlemen joined in, stomping in unison.
Daniel held his own but needed help in someway. Blocking some of the stomps coming towards his face. But that's when Chad came and stopped his guys.
"Reconsidering your decision, punk?" Chad laughed as he questioned Daniel.
With quite remarkable speed, Daniel spit his blood directly into Chad's mouth while he was laughing.
"Go fuck your dead granny, Chad." Daniel smiled.
"No mercy," Chad demanded to his goons. Chad joined the stomp-fest as well, with absolutely no remorse.
I was about to run in. I jumped out from my corner after spending all my time peeking. I was about to shout hey, but someone was on the other end doing it for me.
"Hey! Stop that shit right now!" said the slightly familiar voice.
Chad and his gang acted like they didn't hear a thing.
"HEY! I SAID STOP THAT SHIT, RIGHT NOW," yelled the voice once again.
Chad and his gang turned around quickly to see who it was.
"Look! It's the cat who died from curiosity! What is he doing 'ere?" exclaimed one of Chad's thugs.
"My curiosity brought me here again. Looks like all of you haven't changed a bit. I see your crew has lessened, eh? Must of sold out more of your own for more benefits?" this voice was getting more familiar, by every single word.
"Well, considering that's all they do, you shouldn't be surprised!" Daniel yelled. Chad kicked Daniel again in the ribs and broke one, assuming by the sound.
"So easy to hit someone while they're down, too. I've heard what you did to others, and to gang up on the same kid again is disturbing." the voice kept trashing on Chad and his gang.
"Sick 'em!" Chad called out before the man could say anything else.
Only three came at him, while Chad and the other two still kicked Daniel. That's when I finally stepped in.
"You think that you can control the whole fucking place huh?" I began to ran towards them.
"You too? Everyone wants some these days!" Chad yelled.
His two lackeys came at me. I tripped one over my foot with ease. Then I uppercutted the other, right in the chin with ease. I directed my stroll to Chad. Daniel got back up and jogged to back away from Chad.
"I've got him... thanks for handling the bulk." Daniel prepared for Chad.
The two lackeys got back up and I beat both again, and they easily got knocked out. I finally looked at the other end. One big guy was left fighting the man. The other two were getting up again.
I ran past Daniel and Chad to assist the savior. I tapped one of their shoulders and then started the best down on one of them. The first one stood down and right as a turned to look behind me I was socked right in the face. I almost blacked down from the hit. It was the big guy.
He stomped on me so hard, and directly in my stomach too. I began to feel immense pain. I thought I was about to die. Turns out I was.
I tried to resist all this damage being done to me, but I simply couldn't. I was actually near death. My ribs began to fracture. My whole body felt like it was being smashed by gravity from all sides. My sight began to blacken.
"At least you died helping Daniel," My conscious screamed.
I couldn't see a thing and kept feeling my skin spike up in random areas of my body. The pain was going away. I couldn't breath any further. I couldn't move either. I felt too much at one, or rather had a lack of feeling at this point.
I couldn't hear my skin bruising anymore, all my senses gradually disappeared into thin air. I wanted to die already.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
It stopped. My sight slowly began to come back. Hell, all of my senses came back. I couldn't believe it.
"Am I in Heaven?" That was the first thing I asked when I finally fully opened my eyes. It was Houston! That was the familiar voice.
"Get up. You needed some help there, didn't you?" Houston lended his hand to me to pick me up.
"Damn Houston. Where did you come from?"
"Curiosity," Houston quickly replied.
As I got back up I noticed Daniel still in a fight with Chad. They were having a really equal brawl, hence no support was being casted onto Daniel this time around. Chad tried to tackle Daniel, but Daniel dodged with no problem and swiftly kicked Chad down onto the ground!
Daniel got a strange flare in his eyes and then turned Chad around forcefully, so then Chad was on his back. Daniel got atop him and began to punch his face in.
Houston and I stood there and watched. Savior and Wingman. I noticed that Chad was on the verge of being completely blacked out. I pulled Daniel off of Chad, and told him it was enough.
"You alright?" I asked Daniel. He looked up at me and smiled.
"Never... better..." Daniel replied. He spit the blood from his mouth on the ground this time.
"What now?" Houston asked.
"We can crack open some beers. Clean ourselves up, and live life," I said.
But things didn't end for me yet. One last task I had to resolve...