This choice: Deal with Dylan directly • Go Back... You while away the rest of the period in abject boredom with only occasional asides to Paulina. Math's never been your thing and even when Lucy put in more than the bare minimum effort towards school it was never her's either. The boredom you feel allows the flames of Lucy's anger towards Dylan to be stoked. It builds greater and greater, each time you think of him it's like feeding it more gasoline and dry brush. Larger and more intense it grows with each tick of the clock, each drum of your fingers and each pointless word spilled from Kowalski's mouth.
God it's so interminable! Is it ever going to end? How much can one person talk about things that will be so useless to most of the people sitting in the room? For Lucy Gibbon this is Hell; an eternity spent sitting at a cramped desk listening to a teacher's inane prattling about the Pythagorean theorem.
It grows larger and more intense, dancing wildly as that simple spark becomes an uncontrolled inferno, When the bell finally rings you practically jump out of your seat and out the door. You make a beeline towards the athletic side of the school. People take a look at you and practically dive out of the way and combined with your pace you reach the gym in record time. Just in time, actually, to see Dylan exiting the gym, laughing and whooping with some of the other losers from the JV soccer team.
"Riley," you roar as you charge him. He barely has time to react before you grab him by the shirt collar. "We're having a conversation," you snarl to him practically breathing fire in his face. "Now!"
You drag him back inside the now cleared out gym and into one of the locker rooms before you swing him around back first into a wall. "The fuck do you think you're doing," you practically scream. You hold his collar in your left and lean in as close as possible to his face as you can get without biting it off.
"L-Let go," he struggles around. For an athlete Dylan isn't the most muscular guy around so it's more like ineffective flailing than anything that will truly get him loose.
"Wrong answer," you tell him. He gasps as you land a blow to his flank. "Try again."
"I s-seriously don't know what you're... what you're talking about you psychotic bi--"
Another shot right in the bread basket leaves him doubled over as you release him. You let him pathetically gasp for a minute before you smack the dumb baseball cap off of his head, grab him by his dopey shaggy hair and pull his head back until you're eye level. "One more chance Riley," you say in a voice that's the type of calm that only comes out when someone is well and truly pissed beyond a reasonable measure. "Why are you suddenly harassing Karen," you ask him. "Tell me or so help me god it'll take dental records to recognize you."
"Because I wanna..." he gasps, "I wanna... get back with... with her."
"Fuck you," you say as you give him a hard smack across the face. "You're walking around here flashing girls money like you're some kinda hard ass. Bragging like you're fucking Scarface or some bullshit."
"The hell did you hear that," he asks now having mostly regained the ability to breathe properly.
"Are you retarded," you scoff. "My girls see shit and tell me. Or I see shit. Take your pick, I don't care. I got Karen away from you for a good fucking reason and here you come waving your dick around in front of her so she can get caught up in your shit."
"Dylan!"
It's a soft velvety voice that cries out. A girl, sleight of frame with light skin that'd probably mark her as white, features that would mark her as black and a mass of hair in dark brown curls bursts in, kneels down and throws her arms around him.
"What the hell are you doing Karen," you demand.
She looks at you, her face is innocent but conceals a surprising fierceness that's now being directed at you. "What does it look like," she asks in return. "What are you doing Lucy," she demands.
"Trying to save you from yourself I guess," you shoot back. "You can't seriously tell me you're giving him another chance."
"You're not my boss. We don't run together anymore," she glares at you. "So stop trying to control my life! I can take care of myself!" With that she helps Dylan to his fee and begins walking off with him. "C'mon baby, let's go," she says to him. As they walk off she glares back at you. "I'd be happy to see you tomorrow."
You hang around for a minute wondering if you'd gotten the attention of any of the staff but feeling it's safe you let out one frustrated cry, and leave behind one now dented locker, and decide to dip out to the portables.
* * * * *
"What the fuck were you even thinking," Dane yells at you as you hang around Hochstetter Park that afternoon.
"I was thinking that Mickie did such a good job yesterday that she can handle running things with the gang today too," you say much to your companion's annoyance.
"Don't try this shit with me, Prescott," he says as he paces back and forth. "Keep fucking up and I'll rip that book from your friend's hands, beat the both of you with it and shove you back into Matthias. I'll tell your buddy Gordon where you are too. I figure he'd wanna see you again."
"Look, I wasn't trying to make things worse," you say defensively.
"But you did," he replies.
"I only did what you'd do," you say before adding, "what you wanted to do."
"That's the entire fucking problem," he grumbles. "What I would do and what I should do are two entirely different things. I wouldn't be in the sorry state I am if I did what I should do."
"Talking wouldn't have done anything anyway," you tell her. "I think her mind was made up as soon as she saw him yesterday. This just lets her justify her mistake."
"God dammit but you're probably right," he groans.
"So you really think she's in that big of trouble," you ask.
He shakes his head. "I don't even fucking know," he admits. "Maybe it's a one time thing and she snaps back to her senses. Riley's such a fucking dipshit though and he thinks he's going to get in good with all of the other hoods vying for position here. One date could be enough to run her."
"Yeah but her mind was made up," you tell him, "so how are you going to stop her from even going on that date?"
"How am I..." he trails off as he once again begins pacing back and forth. "Ugh, god I hate this but I can't think of anything else."
"You got something?"
"Kind of but I hate myself for even thinking it," he replies. "Basically Karen's going on that date tomorrow."
"The fuck," you exclaim as you spring forward from the tree you were leaning against. "We're in this mess to make sure she doesn't."
"No, we're in this mess because you're a stupid fucking idiot," he retorts. "But I wanna know just what the fuck is going on with Riley. Not like he could just flash money around last week so obviously he's hooked up with someone."
"You wanna know who."
"Yeah, obviously, and I wanna shut that shit down," he says. "Because like Paulina said if it's not Karen it's one of the other girls. If it's not Riley then it's someone else. Probably lots of other people. So yeah I wanna know just who he's getting his shit from."
"Chen probably," you tell her. "Guy's supplying like half the school."
"Chen's hassled my girls a lot," Dane states. "Tried to get them to push his shit. Tried to get me to push his shit. He's dangerous and if he is then he needs to be dealt with."
"And how do we do that," you ask.
He looks at you and his lip curls. "Karen Beecher's going on a date with Dylan," he tells you. "Well, a Karen Beecher is. She'll act as my eyes and see what she can find about how big his operation in the school is."
"A Karen Beecher," you ask before realization dawns on you. "Wait a fucking minute, you were railing on me for this shit and now--"
"Now I'm playing with the hand I was dealt," he replies. "I'll tell Karen what's what, well you will. Put her under my mask because I sure as shit am not giving her Matthias' life and you go in her place and see what you can find. Besides, you know more about this mask shit than I do."
And she just finished yelling at you about doing as she does. But a promise is a promise even if you're on something resembling your third or fourth layer of extant promises.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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