6/16 - NewPort Island - boys' dormitory - morning

I exit my dorm room to begin another day of classes. The 23rd is when school lets out, so with the halfway point almost here, I don't feel stressed about classes. By now, Proxy would be in the dorm's lounge waiting for me while talking to the other guys. But he isn't here.

"Where is he? Is he still asleep?"

While I speculate things, I see the student in charge of mail delivery making his rounds. He was passing down letters from a white bin. He waltzes over to me with it in hand.

"Hello, Richard. Here you are."

"Thanks."

"It's pretty weighty. What is it?"

"Just some money."

"Ah, guess that's normal for parents to send in money." He shoots a glance at the others in the hall. "Oh, dang, what am I doin'!? I gotta jet. Don't want folks gettin' angry at me!"

"Sorry for holding you up."

"Not a problem. See ya later!"

He runs off to finish his deliveries. My delivery is a plain white envelope. There was no reason to use a decorated one when it's only to send money. I'm hesitant to open the envelope. I know what is inside, so there is no reason to be scared, even so…

"Hm?"

The morning bell sounds off. All the boys in the dorm are running off for morning class. The school is strict about attendance, even on the last day of school.

"Oh, crap!" I stuff the envelope in my bag and run for today's class as well. I was thinking of calling Proxy, but I'm not going to bother. He's probably playing hooky, just like some of the other guys in the dorm. . .

NewPort Island - downtown - afternoon

Strolling down the street used to be a fun pastime. I got jumped by delinquents, gangs, and many other idiots; especially a certain pain in my ass. But I beat their asses until they gave up on trying to ambush me. After that, it got pretty boring.

"I'm so freaking bored! Where the hell is Richard when I need him, or even. . ."

Something hit me hard in the butt out of nowhere. Immediately, I turn around to see who has a death wish.

"Proxy, I see you're still just as jumpy as ever," says a girl, who is wearing my school's uniform. She's wearing a black coat that's slouched on her shoulders. Her hair is jet black hair, it's tied back neatly except for her loose bangs. She has oval glasses that covered the bags under her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Lauren? Better yet, why are you in your uniform?"

"Just left school. What, you didn't know?" she answers with a snarky yet curious tone.

So today wasn't the last day? Go figure. No wonder Richard wasn't answering my calls.

"How did you find me? Did you place a tracker on me or something like that?"

Lauren snorts at the mention of trackers.

"No, that's just a waste of resources now. I just asked around, simple."

"What are you, an overprotective mom?"

"Shut up." She takes something out of her pocket and throws it at my chest. It's an envelope. "Open it."

"Is this some sort of weird confession letter?"

"Open the damn envelope before I take it back," she sneers at me.

"Okay, okay, don't throw a hissy fit."

I open the letter. I'm about to pull out what is inside until...

"Proxy! There you are," a thunderous voice roars through the street. I turn around to find a brown-haired kid running toward me. His fist reeled back. "This time, I'm gonna knock you flat," he declares as he charges for me. When he comes close enough to take a swing at me, I duck down, and I then drive my left fist to his chin, knocking him a few inches off the ground. He lands flat on his back.

"Boss!"

This punk's goons rush over to see if he's alright.

"Shit, not again. Boss, wake up." Their boss was still conscious, but barely.

"Heh, heh, I...didn't get knocked out this time...heh heh," he proudly rambles.

"Yeah, fat lot of good that does for you," I tell him

"Hey, he just wasn't feeling it right now!"

"Yeah, he'll beat you next time," one goon promised.

"Didn't you guys say that yesterday, and the day before that, too?" Lauren reminds them as she's playing on her phone.

"Um, no!"

"No, you did," I correct them.

The goons pick up the boss by the shoulders.

"No...I can take him, guys."

I crack my knuckles. "Good, cause I was getting bored with knocking you with one hit all the time."

"That's unlikely, plus it would be like hitting a child," Lauren says.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. All right, all of you get the hell out of my face, and tell brown hair to take it easy."

The brown-haired punk gets dragged off into a nearby alleyway. With any luck, he'll take it easy for tomorrow and the day after that. But with my luck, he'll scour the streets for me tomorrow and so on.

"That was eventful," I say, picking my ears for gold.

"Earth-shattering, if you will," Lauren adds on.

The envelope is still open in my hand.

"You gonna look inside it?" Lauren asks me.

"No, I'm gonna open it in the safety of my own home."

"Fair enough."

Lauren walks ahead of me, along with the crowd of people coming home from school or work.

"What's in here, anyway?"

"Why ruin the surprise? You'll be happy I didn't."

She walks off further down the street. Soon after she's out of my sight, my phone receives a notification. Opening up my messages, Lauren is the one who just texted me.

"Also, Proxy, I can spam your phone whenever I want."

"Weirdo," I text back to her.

"Bigger weirdo," she texts. We went on with our little text war for a while until I stopped replying. Glancing at the envelope in my hand, I'm growing even more curious about it. I wonder what's in here.

"Well, one look can't hurt." I take out what is inside the envelope. The thing that I pull from the envelope shocks me to the core of my soul.

"OH...MY...GOD!"