Chapter 6: Showdown at Lunch

It’s now Wednesday morning. While walking to the bus stop, I replayed the conversation I had with Mr. Mister yesterday. Despite the conversation and confronting my dad’s ghost in the file box, I had a pretty good night with my mother and playing with Tommy online. This morning I decided to start wearing my dad’s watch and my mother had commented on how sophisticated it made me look with my school uniform. I now had 13 days to locate a man I didn’t know and kill him. A pretty significant task for a 16-year-old boy. I decided to put it all in the back of my mind until I talked to Uncle Rory tonight at training and focus on school today. Semester finals are next week, and I need to ensure that I ace them. I arrive at the bus stop and to my shock, Kristy has beaten me. Kristy is focused on her cell phone, and I decide to have a bit of fun with her. I slowly walk up behind her and do my best to stay quiet. She doesn’t seem to notice me as I draw closer and an evil grin forms on my lips. “RAWR!” I yell as I gently grab her shoulders from behind. “EEEK!” she responds as she leaps up from her seat. “Sebastian Cady!” Kristy says as she fixes me with a glare. I hold my hands up with a smile and do my best to look innocent. She holds her glare as she looks at me before she finally crumbles into a fit of giggles. “That’s no way to treat a lady!” Kristy fake pouts as she sits back down. Kristy gives me one final, playful glare as she sits back down and pats the spot next to her. I sit down and playfully bump my shoulder into hers. “My bad, just wanted to have a little fun with ya.” I say. “It’s okay. I’m glad you seem to be in a better mood today.” She says with a bright smile. I smile back at her and she listens while I tell her about my night and show her my dad’s watch.

We arrive at the bus stop near the school and start walking side by side as we continue to chat. Tommy sees us arrive and makes his way towards us. I look over to Kristy and wink. I casually run my hand through my hair with my left hand to ensure Tommy sees my dad’s watch. “WHOA, is that an Omega?! Where in the world did you get that?” Tommy exclaims. “It was in my dad’s old stuff. I decided to wear it.” I respond back. “You should come over some time and let my dad look at it. He’d love to check it out.” Tommy says. As we wait for the school to open, I let Tommy move my wrist around as he examines my watch.

We walk into our homeroom and take our seats. The first bell rings and Ms. Ferry walks in and begins class. “Today your instructors will be handing out practice tests to help you all review everything from the semester. It will help give you an idea with what will be on the tests and show you any weak areas you may need to work on. Please take them seriously.” Ms. Ferry says after she had taken attendance. Ms. Ferry continues to give us more information about what to expect next week but then she surprises us with unexpected news. “The tests will be given Monday through Thursday. To help alleviate stress from finals and as a reward; the faculty has decided to have a dance on Friday at 7 pm.” Her announcement causes waves of excited murmuring and whispering throughout the class. I glance at Kristy, and she has stars in her eyes. “Uh-oh” I mutter to myself. “Settle down. I’m sure you all will do your best and I hope you enjoy the dance. Your first instructor will arrive shortly and start the practice tests.” Ms. Ferry finishes with.

The bell for lunch rings and my fellow students rush out the door. Kristy is grabbing her lunch out of her backpack and I’m bending down to put a book into mine when a pair of black flats enter my vision. “Excuse me, Sebastian.” A voice accompanies the pair of shoes. I look up into the eyes of Victoria. I notice she has a Japanese style Bento box held in her arms. “For helping me study this weekend, I would be thankful if I could share my lunch from home with you today. I had the cooks make extra. I hope you enjoy sushi.” Victoria says. I glance over towards Kristy and notice that she is watching me like a hawk. I raise an eyebrow at her, silently asking her opinion. Kristy puffs out her cheeks but reluctantly nods back. “Sure!” I say with a smile. I notice Tommy behind Victoria grinning at me and giving a thumbs up. Unfortunately for Tommy, Kristy also noticed his grin and it earns him a swift kick in the shin as we walk out the classroom.

Our group which consists of myself, Kristy, Tommy, and Victoria walk over to my favorite oak tree. Well, we are walking except for Tommy, who is favoring his right leg. I also notice that Kristy has a smug look on her face. We are about to plop down on the grass, but Victoria stops us and places a blanket on the ground large enough for all of us to sit on. Kristy immediately takes the spot on my right and despite the hints from Kristy, Tommy takes up position opposite of me. His smug grin seems to scream, “payback.” Victoria to my surprise sits to my left without any hesitation. Kristy and Tommy dig into their homemade lunches as Victoria starts to unpack her Bento box. “Okay, I admit that I’m jealous.” Tommy states as he looks at the food in the Bento box and then down at the ham sandwich in his hands.

“Ooh, fancy!” Marie proclaims as she sits down on the blanket next to Tommy. “Yeah, Victoria brought extra today to share with me for helping her out with studying this weekend.” I say in response. “You have no shame Sebastian, leading on two helpless girls at the same time!” Marie says nonchalantly while opening up her lunch from home. “Don’t you start, Marie!” I shout back. “Uh-huh….” Marie says back skeptically. “She’s just showing gratitude for my help.” I say while glaring at her. “Kristy doesn’t seem to think so, that’s why she’s sitting as close as possible to you without touching.” Marie says with an evil grin. Kristy gives a little jump at being noticed and quickly scoots away from me. “If you're just going to cause trouble, why don’t you go bother Jimmy-boy.” I say as I motion Kristy back to where she was. Kristy gives a little smile and scoots back to her original spot. “What about me?” A voice says behind us. I close my eyes and sigh as I realize to who owns the voice. James is standing behind us with his two cronies slightly behind him, flanking either side.

“Jimmy-boy, what can I do for you?” I say. “James. J-A-M-E-S!” He spells it slowly for me. “Victoria, why are you sitting here with this trash? He’s beneath you, do not waste your time with him.” Victoria calmly places her chopsticks down and then looks at James with a flat look. “Who I spend my time with is none of your concern, James.” She says coldly. “Che…. come with me, I’ll show you where the students who are worth something, eat.” James says as he reaches for her arm. “I think the lady has made her decision, Jimmy-boy.” I enunciate “Jimmy-boy” as I stand up and place myself between James and Victoria. “Stay out of the way trash, before I pound you.” James says as he takes an aggressive step towards me.

“Don’t.” I say as James takes another step towards me. Minions 1 and 2 sneer and try to flank my sides. I step away from the blanket and place my back to the oak tree to protect my back. “You knock this off right now, James!” Kristy shouts from the blanket. “Your girlfriend gonna fight for you?” James says with a derisive snort as he reaches for the sleeve of my school jacket. “Last warning, Jimmy-boy.” I say in warning. “It’s time you learned your place, trash. You are beneath Victoria.” James says as he continues to grab at my jacket. I normally try to talk my way out of fights. My Uncle Rory told me the training he gave me was not for “schoolyard shenanigans” as he put it. But this situation devolved faster than I could try. Still, I was only going to use defensive moves. This would also strengthen my argument that it was simply self-defense for when the teachers inevitably showed up. As James reaches for my left arm, I swat his hand away with an open palm. James stumbles a bit before he catches himself. I eye minions one and two to make sure they didn’t move positions on me. James recovers and his face takes on an alarming shade of red. “TRASH!” James yells as he throws a sloppy right-handed punch at my face. Boy, James must not really train at all! The punch is sloppy, and I can easily telegraph it. My left hand comes up open and intercepts his wrist. I use the momentum of his punch to push his arm to the right and across his own chest. As he stumbles, I decide to help him out and I use my foot to tangle up his feet and James goes down in a cursing heap. Minions one and two go to move towards me when we all here Ms. Ferry’s voice. “What do you students think you are doing? Mr. Cady and Mr. Weatherton, come with me.” “Well, shit.” I think to myself.

James and I walk quietly behind Ms. Ferry down the halls towards the headmaster’s office under the stares of whispering students. “Great.” I think to myself. “I can just imagine the rumors that’ll be floating around the school by the end of the day.” I groan at this and catch James glaring at me out of the side of my eye. “This isn’t finished.” He harshly whispers to me. “It is to me.” I grin back at him. He angrily turns his head back to the front and continues walking down the hall.

We arrive at the headmaster’s office and a secretary outside of his door greets us. “Good afternoon Ms. Ferry, what can I do for you?” The secretary asks she eyes both James and me. She’s a short mousy woman who looks to be in her early 30’s with brown hair in a short bob cut. “Good afternoon, Ms. Penny. Mr. Cady and Mr. Weatherton were involved in an altercation during lunch. I brought them to the headmaster so he could address the situation.” Ms. Ferry replies. “I’ll inform Mr. Brighton right away. You can leave the boys here and I’ll send them back to class when they are finished.” Ms. Penny says as she hits the intercom button on her desk. “I expected more from you Mr. Cady. You are a diligent student with a bright future.” Ms. Ferry says with disappointment. “I can’t be handsome AND smart. Gotta give the guys at this school a chance and all, yanno?” I say with my signature grin. “Don’t attempt to charm me, Mr. Cady. I know your tricks. Return to class as soon as you finish here.” She says as she turns and walks away. Did I see a small smirk fight its way onto her face for a brief moment?

“Mr. Weatherton, go in. The headmaster is waiting.” Ms. Penny says without looking up. James scowls at me and walks into the headmaster’s office. “Great. Jimmy-boy gets to tell his side first. I doubt he’ll tell the truth and I’ll be stuck on the back foot explaining things.” I think as I sit on the leather couch and daydream. Eventually James exits the headmaster’s office with a grin and grabs a pass from Ms. Penny. As he walks away, James looks at me with one last chuckle before disappearing out the door. Mr. Brighton sticks his head out and motions me into his office with a crooked finger. With a sigh, I get up and head into Mr. Brighton’s office.

“Before you start Mr. Cady, I’m pretty sure you weren’t responsible for the fight.” Mr. Brighton starts without preamble. He continues to make his way over to his chair and sits down with a groan. He then motions to the chair opposite his desk, and I take his cue. Mr. Brighton is a short, balding man with an amicable disposition. As far as headmasters are, he’s pretty chill and so is decently popular with the student body. Mr. Brighton fully enjoys the education of young minds. He told us so at my freshmen orientation when I first started attending. “You are a diligent student and have never caused trouble. Mr. Weatherton though, has graced my carpet numerous times. So, sit here for a moment and pretend that I’m scolding you, hmm?” Mr. Brighten says with his eyes over his spectacles. “Erm, yessir!” I say back with a shock. “I will remind you however to avoid trouble with Mr. Weatherton and will unfortunately have to inform your mother of today’s altercation.” Mr. Brighton says as he leans back in his chair. “I understand sir.” I say back worriedly. I’m not worried about myself, I’m worried that my mother will storm this school and demand Jimmy-boy’s head. I’m going to spend the rest of tonight talking an angry tiger mom down. After a sufficient amount of time passes for a fake scolding, I leave the office with my pass and head back to my classroom and grab my clothes for Gym. I run to the gym, get changed and join the rest of my class after handing my pass from the office to our gym coach. I focus on the rest of gym class despite the whispers and looks. Tommy and Kristy tried talking to me about lunch, but I just told them that we would talk about it later.

Thankfully, gym passes without much incident and we all shower, change and head back to our class where Mr. Sanders; our math instructor, hands out practice tests to us. Mr. Sanders informs us that we have till the end of class to complete the test and then we would review it tomorrow. I look at the test and breathe out a sigh of relief. The test is on material that I’ve been studying on, so it won’t be difficult to pass. I glance at Kristy though and she’s chewing on her eraser. Hmm, I should probably offer her help too. It’s only right since she’s my best friend and I feel like I owe it to her for the Victoria situation.

Mr. Sanders calls time on the test and informs us to pass them forward. Kristy slumps in her seat and I turn to her with a questioning look. “I’m not going to lie. I’ve studied but those questions gave me trouble.” Kristy says with defeat. “Tell you what, it’s not fair for me to help Victoria and not you so how about we set up some extra studying.” I say to her. Kristy perks up and smiles at me. “That’d be great, Sebastian! Thankyou!” “No problem, Kristy, I’ll look at my schedule and text you when we can meet up.” Our conversation is interrupted when Tommy turns around from his desk. “Dude! That was crazy what you did at lunch!” He says while shadowboxing from his desk. “Nah, I was just defending myself.” I say while scratching the back of my neck. “Still, I’d watch out if I were you. James thinks he runs this school since his dad donates so much money.” Kristy says. “I’m not worried about Jimmy-boy.” I reply with my signature grin. The last bell rings and we all leave the school. Tommy says his goodbyes as he hops in his mother’s car and Kristy heads off home. I grab the bus to my uncle’s and enjoy the peace and quiet of the bus ride. Unbeknownst to me, there’s a man with a hoodie on sitting in the back seat of the bus, watching me.