Misled Chapter 2

I bolted down the street as fast as I possibly could, and for the second time that night I acted against my better judgment and glanced behind me only to have my suspicions confirmed that I was still being pursued by a madman! Turing my focus back to the direction I was running in I was relieved to see the underpass that lead out of New Coventry. I was getting closer and closer to the school, I knew if I could reach the campus then the hot pursuit would come to an end, surely he wouldn’t be crazy enough to chase me onto the campus! As I reached the underpass and made my way into Old Bullworth Town I suddenly had a change of heart, what the fuck was I doing!? Coming to a screeching halt I quickly pivoted on my heel to face the maniac that had been chasing me, ready to throw a punch to his face however, there was no one behind me. Standing there with my fist balled up and panting like a worn out dog I stood there looking around like an idiot. I turned around in circles a few times to double check but there was no one there. He was gone; he had disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. Completely dumbfounded I found myself unwilling to believe that someone who, mere moments ago, had been hell bent on beating me into a bloody pulp had simply decided not to do so. At that moment an eerie feeling overcame me as I realized that not only was he nowhere to be seen but neither was anybody else! The streets were completely deserted which was strange for a place like Bullworth because at any other given time there was usually all sorts of activity going on in the streets but at that moment I was the only one within viewing distance. There wasn’t a sound to be heard either, no dogs barking in the distance or car horns honking.  Letting my hands drop to my side I made the decision to get moving before someone else decided to step out of the shadows and give me a hard time. The rest of the way back to school I continued to look over my shoulder wondering if my unhinged attacker had really decided to leave me alone or if he was simply waiting in the shadows for me to drop my guard so that he could ambush me. I found myself feeling a bit disappointed about the boy’s disappearance. At first I hadn’t wanted to fight him, but out of nowhere I had changed my mind, only to find the he had apparently changed his mind too. Rounding the street corner after I passed the motel, I was a bit relieved to see another person making their way down the sidewalk. Sure it was only a harmless old man but the sight of another person helped to fade away any remnants of my uneasiness. As he hobbled past me we made eye contact as he pitched his opinion of my appearance at me, “You can’t be up to any good this late young man”. Ignoring him like I did everyone else who informed me of their unwanted personal opinion I continued on my way simply wanting to get to my room and go to bed.

  I managed to reach the campus gates well past curfew hour, so it was no surprise that the prefects were on me like white on rice as soon as I set foot on the school grounds but I didn’t really care. I was too tired to put up a fight or even flee from them so I allowed them to haul me off to the dorm all the while tuning out their lectures about me being an evildoer, law breaker, and how I needed to learn how to follow the rules.

Before going to my room I grabbed a soda from the machine and then headed for my bed. I kicked off my shoes and quickly removed my uniform leaving only my boxers. I plopped down on my bed and took a sip of my soda. Images of the nameless boy I had met not even an hour ago flashed in my mind. Surely I would see him again, or would I? I had been there quite a while before seeing him for the first time, how long would it be before I saw him again? Shaking the thought of him from my mind I chucked my soda can into the trash and lay down to go to sleep.

  The next few days were some of the most uncomfortable of my life. Everywhere I went I kept getting the strange feeling that I was being watched! I found myself double checking over my shoulder every five minutes, even during class I kept glancing towards the window feeling as though someone was staring at me. I ended up having to mow every patch of grass on campus that week thanks to my unusual bout of paranoia! A number of times someone had come up behind me and tapped me on my shoulder to get my attention only to have me whirl around and punch them square in the face! Retards! Why didn’t they just call out to me to get my attention? Apparently though neither the prefects nor Dr. Crabblesnitch took anything I had to say as a valid excuse for punching Eunice Pound, Pedro De La Hoya or Beatrice Trudea in the face.  All the while thoughts of the boy I had an encounter with a few nights ago, continued to plague my mind.

Once the week end rolled around the corner and I was set free of my slave labor I decided to take a little trip to the Industrial Park. I wanted to see him again, in hopes of straightening things out from our first encounter and if he wouldn’t listen to logical reason I had no problem beating him into submission, not this time anyway. Upon arriving there I casually strolled up and down the streets glancing around for any signs of him, I looked everywhere and there wasn’t a trace of him to be found. Not willing to go on a wild goose chase with no leads I took the liberty of asking the other townies if they had seen him. Luckily they all knew who I was talking about and were able to point me to several locations where he normally could be found. Unfortunately though, not only did they fail to give me his name, each lead led me to dead end. To make a long story short, my first day of searching for my unknown attacker ended in vain, I laid down that night slightly pissed and highly agitated. Every chance I got after that I went looking for him, trying my hardest to hunt him down not only searching Blue Skies and New Coventry but the old part of town as well but still nothing. One week went by, then two, and finally three but there was still no sign of him anywhere. Believe it or not the fact that I couldn’t find him was really starting to get to me. At the end of the three weeks I had been searching for him I finally decided to call it quits one night. Heading towards the bridge that led out of the industrial park and into New Coventry I suddenly found myself lying face down on the ground just as I had three weeks earlier. Quickly scrambling to my feet and in a whirlwind of Déjà vu I turned around to glare at my attacker, only this time my angry expression was quickly replaced with a surprised one as I caught sight of the perpetrator. It was him, the guy I had been looking for! He stood there with that same creepy grin on his face that he had during our last encounter. Before I could say anything he spoke first.

“What are you doing here school boy?!” He barked in a dangerous tone.

Realizing where the situation was headed I briefly considered trying to correct him but decided not to.

“Why do you care?” I replied blankly not realizing how snobby I sounded until it was too late.

“Because you don’t belong here!”

“Says who?”

“ME!”

“YOU!?”

Our meeting was slowly starting to turn into an argument.

“Ahh you think you’re funny don’t ya rich boy?”

“Look man I already told you I’m not rich! I hate the rich kids!”

“Not as much as I do, I really hate them!”

I stood there staring at him as he grabbed a brick from the ground and launched it at a window smashing it to pieces. Cocking one eyebrow I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “Man, you’ve got issu..”

“Are you calling me crazy!?” He snapped barely letting me finish my sentence.

“No Man!”

“Because I am!”

“Alright fine you’re crazy!”

“Damn straight school boy and you are starting to annoy me…Therefor someone is going to get beaten…Rich scumb…” He looked at me with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Ah damn it! How many times do I have to tell you I’m not rich!? I don’t like the rich kids either!” He continued to glare at me with those dark piercing orbs and I felt my temperature start to rise under his heavy, heated gaze. I stared back at him as he took a moment and gave me the elevator eyes as in when someone lets their eyes travel down your body and then back up to your face again. Noticing this I glanced down at my attire… Oh shit I was fucked! Black Aquaberry Slacks with an LS shirt and matching shoes, to make matters even worse I had recently gotten the ‘Smart’ haircut in the vale. Oh the irony, Oh the fucking irony! What the hell had I been thinking when I got dressed that morning!?

“Not rich huh?” He hissed as he took a menacing step forward tapping his bat in the palm of his hand. I took a step back, “This isn’t what it looks li….” Without warning he swung his bat at me, but unlike last time he didn’t miss, as for some strange reason my dodge reflex failed me miserably. The bat landed square upside my head and I was sent crashing to the ground with stars filling my vision. Unable to see clearly my attempt to rise to my feet didn’t go as planned as he landed another blow to my body with his bat this time catching me on my left shoulder.

“Serves you right rich boy! For prancing around here like you own the damn place!”

There was a level of euphoria to his tone as he seemed to be enjoying hurting me. However before he could land a third blow I managed to roll away from him and hop to my feet, he wasted no time in charging at me. Luckily though this time my dodge reflex seemed to work much better than the last time and he missed his mark by a long shot. He swung so hard he nearly threw himself off balance when his bat went whipping through the air, I took the opportunity to club him on the back of his head with my hands locked knocking him to the ground and disarming him in the process. Without hesitation I grabbed the bat as it rolled across the ground, he went to get up but I was quick to put a stop to it, raising the bat above my head I sent it crashing down on his back. He yelped in pain as he fell back down, and lay there squirming around for a moment. As he did so I glanced around to make sure I wasn’t about to be tag teamed by a group of townies. I had already learned the hard way that when it came to the cliques in this town that if you mess with one you mess with all!

Seeing no one around who looked like they would jump in to help him I turned my attention back to the deranged boy, he was just rising to his feet and threw his hands up in a fighting stance, despite the fact that he no longer held a weapon he was still more than willing to try and take me down.

Admiring his determination to kick my ass, I cast the bat aside and assumed the position of a fighting stance showing him that I was all game for a fair fight! At first glance it was obvious that he was a bit unsteady on his feet but still, he refused to back down. Not willing to wait any longer I took the liberty of throwing the first punch which landed right on his jaw. He was knocked back a few feet but managed to stay standing. Regaining his composure he quickly swung at me, I blocked and wasted no time in throwing a 5 hit combo at him. I landed every blow not missing a beat, he quickly countered with his own combo but only managed to land half of his attempted hits. I caught him off guard with a roundhouse kick and an upper cut. Without warning he went down landing on the ground with a thud. I could tell he wasn’t completely out and I was glad he wasn’t, I didn’t want him to be KO’d. I wanted to talk to him. Seizing the opportunity to get him to listen to me I walked over to him and stared at him for a moment. Apparently he thought I was going to attack again as he was quick to get to his feet. To my surprise he came at me again, I could tell he had very little fight left in him… I grabbed him by his wrist and managed to fling him to the ground, I landed on top of him and stayed there pinning his arms above his head. Again we simply stared at each other for a moment before I spoke.

“Wait a minute now hang on a second, just listen to me!” We were both panting and out of breath and I can only image how our position must have looked to anybody who could have been watching, but I didn’t really care… “I’m not one of the rich kids. I told you that the last time we met okay, I don’t like the rich kids either.” He laid there staring at me nonchalantly for a moment I stared back waiting for a response but nothing.

“Look man I don’t want to fight you okay, I’ want us to be friends” Releasing my grip on him I rose to my feet and held my hand out in a gesture of peace

His eyes widened at hearing this and he cocked his head to the side from his position on the ground and looked back and forth from my hand to me before he gave me his final answer.

“Okay” he replied while taking my hand in an enthusiastic manner. As I pulled him to his feet I felt a bout of excitement rise inside me now that I had received an okay from him. An awkward silence fell between the two of us before I decided to break it.

“So, what’s your name? I’m Jimmy, Jimmy Hopkins.” He stood there with a childlike expression on his face as he swung his large arms back and forth. A streak of blood running from his head down his face, most likely matching the one on my own

“I’m Clint” He told me without giving me his last name, as bad as I wanted to know what it was I didn’t complain or press on ‘Clint’ was good enough for me.