CHAPTER 28

The Wild Dexterities

♧

It was a momentary relief, and coming out from a Fire-hole in hell was something he had to go through every living day in his life. The noises from his head pierced through his ears and not for long, it ebbed far from there until it was gone.

Kenneth planned to go out at the arcade. He pined for entertainment, he pined for something to ease his sudden loss. He needed to sort of kill his time. It all began because of his father's unstable ways of controlling the family and his drunken mother who couldn't be the ideal mother at home. He was truly slipping away from his family and reality. He was on his way for solitude but the nightmare followed him behind. But it was not just a nightmare, it was real.

"Hey there, social slacker. How are you doing, my lil buddy?" accosted a guy's voice from the corner of the street when he came out of the shadow. Within the distance, his rubicund complexion were conspicuous and his set of teeth glowed under the shadowy buildings.

Kenneth looked up and found himself looking straight at one of his seniors from school.

Apparently, he was Aiden Cliff and he brought along his gang with him.

The pack of seniors gathered around as if it was their own territory, and it was beginning to picture it like predators on prey. The leader of the gang, Aiden Cliff, who had curls over his forehead and a ruddy skin, managed to block Kenneth. But Kenneth stood and steadied his voice without trembling.

"Get out of my way."

No doubt, he was tall for his age, but the seniors were a few inches taller than his boyish height.

"Want to fight?"

"No fear of that."

"Huh. You seem to be on fire today. Correct me if I am wrong, lil buddy— last time when we met, you were left with a red mark on your face while you were down on your knees."

"You didn't play fair."

"I didn't know there were rules." The senior or the leader of his gang raised his hands in the wind.

Kenneth stared squarely into the cold eyes of his opponent. "You guys outnumbered me. There are rules in this life, Aiden."

Aiden twisted a smirk as he ran his hand through his blonde curls over his head. He was enjoying this immensely, playing the game and all.

"Fine. Now that you've mentioned it, I'd like to consider it and I'll be generous just for your own sake. We'll do one on one this time. What do you say, eh?"

He extended his ruddy hand which Kenneth returned it with a shake. They both stumbled back and held their arms up as they began to clench their fists. Both were shooting a glare almost in a grave killing look.

Aiden's gang stepped back, and watched them for the out-coming fight that was about to begin. They waited as audiences, so did the sky above when they knew the creatures below were up to something. No one had spoken a word and it was as if they were the only existence on this earth. For a moment, the silence held on and the fierce touch upon their brows were curved harder than it was.

Not another second, both of them fought against each other. Kenneth made his first move by wrestling Aiden until he was pushed against the wall. The two were struggling to beat the other up until Kenneth attempted the punch but he missed it, and though he did, he did it again until he gave a knockdown blow to Aiden Cliff. He fell down to his knees, and was painfully struck on the nose where blood began to form.

"You're not gonna get out of this, Lambert." He said in a raspy voice and deliberately cast a sinister look at his group almost as a signal. "It's time for you to learn your lesson." Aiden said and lifted a malicious smirk.

Out from the shadow, the seniors cornered him. Kenneth found himself surrounded again and it was apparent they were about to break the deal.

"Y-you promised, Aiden."

"Did I?"

One of the gang pulled Kenneth by the collar and all were ready to tackle and flung him upon the ground. Aiden was in full satisfaction and marveled the scene before his very eyes when Kenneth was already pinned down by the seniors.

The leader rose to his feet, and did an abrupt kick almost repeatedly on the stomach where the boy hadn't any faint of energy to fight in return.

He coughed out a few blood from his mouth and it cascaded down to his neck and even below. The gang traced the atmosphere with laughter as they were about to leave, and the poor boy lay there under the cloudy sky where his swarthy face was half hidden on the ground until he was left unconscious on the spot.

After what seemed a long time in this awful state, heavily beaten, awfully bruised, he finally awoke. Of course, he was betrayed by the very same treacherous bastards, and he knew this would go on if he still remained silent about it. He didn't want to admit to himself if he was being bullied. Kenneth thought it was no use for him to talk because he feared his family would be involved in the situation, and even if there were witnesses, the town would make a fuss over it instead of helping him out.

Few moments later, Kenneth could hear a distant sound, and it drew nearer until he knew those were voices. He was exactly in the same position, partly weak but he got on better soon once he had managed to stand up on his feet. From where he was, the voices were getting nearer and here he was limply trodding his way out from the corner of the street.

He soon recognized them as his peers when their faces stood out in the light. No wonder the voices were familiar to him. Knowing they were playing in a band, they called themselves The Wild Dexterities.

One of them, who was called Evan, approached him on the pavement.

"Kenneth? Is that you? You're—wait a second are you okay?" and with a look of concern written all over his face once he noticed, the pity in his eyes bothered Kenneth a bit.

"I'm fine," He answered tersely, glancing down at his shirt. "Don't worry."

The rest of his friends were catching up on them, and Evan immediately put his arms about Kenneth in a brotherly comrade. He was slightly stunned by the sudden gesture he received, but later he soon realized Evan was just trying to hide the blood that was staining on his collar.

"Hey, guys. Remember Kenneth?"

A blank countenance shot out from either one of them.

"Ha-ha, that's really funny. As if we do not know him." came the sarcastic Jerry when he joined them saying,

"For Pete's Sake, he goes to the same school with us, Ev." He was flat when he said this, plain and straight just like the bridge of his nose and his mouth was much bigger than his eyes.

"Right—" He admitted and made a fool of himself as he rubbed the back of his neck while his cheeks were deepening in color.

"So you are one of Mr. Lambert's sons?" followed by another voice, but this time it belonged to a girl whose name was Janet. Her goldilocks hair and blue irises made her an image similar to a barbie.

"Janet Hughston," cut in Jerry. "It's just like asking if any of our classmates knows us. Go take a good look at his shoes and you'll see." Jerry was implying the shoes were only reserved for the privileged.

"Oh, right!" Janet's shining locks were loose behind her elbows, casting an awe look at Kenneth. "My uncle admires one of your father's companies. What's the name of the company? Oh, yes, LamCo. Ever since the town's news last week, you became famous. I bet it's good to be rich. Ah! I wonder what it feels like to be the son or daughter of a rich person." She added in the most dreamiest and rapturous tone.

"If you read the newspapers, you'd already know I'm raised as an only child. I'm sure you heard, and you look as if you are fond of the drama like everyone else here." Kenneth retorted and shot a look at her rather icily, not really in the mood of talking about the subject.

She was a little stunned at his bitter remark. "Well—don't point fingers accusing me like I'm the same. I'm not like everyone else. Anyway, I shouldn't rely on what the television or newspapers said. In fact, I thought it was very brave of you. You seem like you don't care about what others think and I'm sure you're not like those kids in school who are a fake. You do it because you love it and you share your talent just like the rest of us in here."

A laugh burst out from Evan without any perfectly valid reason and wasn't even the right reaction. His two other friends exchanged queer glances because such a funny laugh made their friend hardly breathe that he slapped over the back of Kenneth's shoulder, announcing, "Great! Why don't we all invite Kenneth to our music room? It'll be fun, yeah?"

"Some other time," said Jerry flatly, without an excitement in his spirit.

"Sure, he can. Today will do! Uncle will be so delighted if he finds out that you're the son of his idol." Janet agreed heartily.

When the rest was about to leave the place and invite the newcomer, Evan nudged Kenneth by the side and leaned closer to whisper, "You tuck that collar of yours or else they'll find out." Kenneth nodded and thoroughly did under his request.