“How was Mr. Tart?” Lily asked. “I heard he was a hard ass.”

“Neither of you has him?”

“Nah, I got Ms. Alermda.”

“I got her too.”

“Mr. Tart is alright. He just cares about English a lot more than the students.”

“So… He’s a hard ass, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“I knew it!” Lily cheered. As she threw her arms up in celebration, her fists smacked into someone standing right behind her. It was a big, athletic-looking guy, maybe standing a centimeter taller than Sevs. He did not look happy.

The guy’s face was screwed up into a sneer. It didn’t help that his eyes were just a bit too close together. Eyes that were also just a little on the small side. This probably made him look permanently angry. Top it off with the overgrown, thick, bushy eyebrows and downturned lips, and he looked like a real piece of work. His nose was slightly crooked as if it had been broken at least once.

Hank looked up, saw the guy, and immediately stood up, fists balled at his side. Lily turned around to see what she had hit. Seeing the guy’s face, she quickly moved to the side so that he wasn’t directly behind her. Slightly surprised, in a wary tone, Lily said. “What do you want, Jerome?”

Jerome didn’t even acknowledge her as he and Hank were locked in a staring contest. Hank was much shorter, but compared to Sevs, Hank was muscled and didn’t weigh that much less. Jerome was not slender like Sevs. He was stocky and looked like he could be a senior. He could be at least fifty pounds more than Hank.

After holding eye contact for a solid twenty seconds, Jerome finally spoke. “I’ve not forgotten Hank. I hope you haven’t either.”

Hank laughed; it was not a friendly thing. It was cold and mocking. Sevs didn’t know such a sound could come from Hank. Hank did not even look at himself right now. His expression matched Jerome in anger, but unlike Jerome, his face was not made for it. Hank was a rather intense guy and always had been as long as Sevs had known him, but he was never aggressive. Hank didn’t come off that way at first. Interacting with someone new, they would find Hank light-hearted and have a laid-back personality. Sevs had never seen this side of Hank, even in fights he had lost.

Once Hank finished the faux mirth, he responded. “How could I forget. Your sorry face was too memorable. I’m pretty sure there are still videos going around somewhere. If you need a reminder. We can watch it together, and I can give you pointers.”

Sevs wasn’t really sure what was going on, but he was starting to piece it together. It seemed that the fight that had everyone in the school stepping lightly around Hank had something to do with this guy. But, if that was the case, then Jerome must also be new to this school. Sevs wasn’t ready to believe this guy was 14 as well.

Hank continued. “Don’t think just because you grew a little and got fat over the summer, you have an advantage.”

“I'm ready this time.” Jerome challenged. “Tonight by the…”

Sevs felt like he had walked into a bad TV drama program. But right at that moment, he got a system notification.

New Quest (Mandatory): Resolve the conflict between Jerome and Hank without permanent consequences for either.

Rewards: New skill Diplomacy, additional rewards scale with quality of the outcome

“Woah, Woah, Woah. Let's calm down here. I might not know what’s going on right now. But I am sure there is a better way to handle it.” Sevs also stood up and put his hand between Hank and Jerome. Jerome turned his head slightly to look at Sevs, slightly confused. Like he was wondering what Sevs was thinking.

“You don’t need to get involved in Sevs. I can fight my own battles.” Hank broke in, clearly not appreciating Sevs help.

“It’s not even your battle,” Lily muttered under her breath. No one seemed to hear her. Jerome didn’t say anything and just kept staring.

Sevs mind spun. It didn’t seem like either party would even consider backing down. He didn’t have any context on whatever was causing the animosity between these two. Seeing that Hank wasn’t even going to listen to him, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to resolve that peacefully. Even ignoring his quest, if Jerome and Hank were caught fighting even off campus because of something that started at school, they could be expelled. Sevs couldn't have that for his friend. Even worse, Sevs knew what Hank was capable of, and if Hank was not going easy, it would become an issue. The only way Hank was in danger was if Jerome got in a lucky shot, and that might have some permanent consequences for the brain. So how could he solve this?

“Listen, I’m not going to stop you. But I got an idea you might both agree to.” Sevs continued, speaking quickly. Hank snorted.

“Okay, so you are both willing to wait till later cause you won’t get in trouble…”

Jerome cut him off. “No, I’m waiting so there will be no one to stop me before I finish beating the crap out of him.”

Hank nodded.

“Okay. Still, if either of you gets seriously hurt, cops could get involved, and neither of you wants that, right?” Both sure of their victory, the thought of having police troubles got their attention. They each nodded reluctantly.

“So you two can fight without consequences. It should be okay?” Sevs continued. Lily seeing where Sevs was going with this, started laughing into her hand. This got both angry boys to shift their ire over to her for a second. That didn’t last long as Sevs continued. “How about we make it an official bout this weekend? We put you both in a cage, and you got 15 minutes to work out your differences. No legal issues, no permanent injury, and no school involvement.”

Hank looked at Sevs, relieved that he hadn’t stopped him, and nodded again.

Jerome thought for a solid five seconds. “Where and what time?”