As Jerome walked away, Hank turned to Sevs. “Hey, not a bad idea. Now I don’t have to worry about dropping his head on a curb and going to jail. Thanks.”

Lily just bonked her head on the lunch table. Hank sat down and continued eating.

Sevs just looked around, meeting Hank’s eyes, and just looked at the top of Lily’s head as her forehead was still resting on the edge of the table. “Anyone want to fill me in on what just happened?”

Hank nodded, finished chewing, and swallowed his food before speaking. “Yeah, that was Jerome.”

Lily stayed silent. Sevs exhaled, “Yeah. I kinda picked up on that from context. Why was he so angry?”

Hank just shrugged. Lily raised his head to give Hank a glare. “'Cause Hank broke his nose last year. He knocked out one of his lackeys and broke the other’s arm. I haven’t seen them this year so far, though.”

Sevs sighed again. “Why?”

Hank grunted, “They were being turd-wads.”

Lily looked exasperated. “While that was true, I asked you not to do anything. I was going to take care of it!”

Sevs was starting to build a picture of what had happened last year to make everyone wary of Hank. Before he had a chance to speak up again, Lily continued. “Jerome was not nearly as big as he is now, but he has always been a bit of a bully. Though not nearly as bad as everyone thinks. Hank overreacted. The real issue was his friends who goaded him into doing some mean things.”

“Don’t defend him! Just cause you were friends as kids doesn’t mean he is a saint!” Hank exploded.

Lily was starting to get angry too. “I’m not! I'm just trying to give Sevs context.”

“That’s some biased context right there. That’s bull.” Hank shot back. “Just because you wouldn’t stand up for yourself doesn’t mean I won’t."

Sevs figured that he now had a good understanding of what had happened. Before things got out of hand, he would need to settle things down here. Quickly changing the subject, Sevs cut into the developing argument. “So, is fighting him going to be an issue? He’s got lots of size but any skill?”

Hank looked affronted that Sevs even had to ask. Lily deflated. “No, he has no idea what he is doing. He likes to act tough, but that's because he doesn’t know any better. He doesn’t really want to hurt anyone.”

Sevs had some doubts. That didn’t seem right, judging how Jerome had acted. Hank seemed to agree. He let out a snort of laughter to tell Sevs how he felt. “He doesn't know how to fight. He’s a kid who watched Karate Kid once.”

Thinking back to when he had first started learning how to fight, Sev remembered how easily Markus had been handled by Father. Father had actually known what he was doing, whereas Markus did not. There wouldn’t be any problems for Hank if Jerome didn’t really know how to fight. It was only now that Markus was starting to hold his own against Father. He only got the best of him one in four times, but they had been training for almost a decade at this point. Only now was it starting to level out. Sure Markus was now better than Father was when he began, but Father had got better too.

Lily agreed with Hank. “It’s true, don’t worry for Hank. Jerome couldn’t even beat me.”

Sevs nodded. Even if Jerome had been training nonstop since the end of last school year, it wouldn’t make a difference. Besides, that’s pretty much what Hank had done as well. The only thing Sevs was worried about was permanent damage to Jerome. If they were outside on concrete or asphalt, the consequences would be much worse. Of course, there was always a chance of a fluke shot. Doing this in the gym drastically lessened the variables and put Hank at even more of an advantage. With that taken care of, they continued eating their lunch. The mood had slightly turned quiet. Not much was said as they made their way to the next classes

***

In the afternoon was when Sevs had his fun classes. As a freshman, Sevs had to take Physical Education. But he was lucky enough to have that last. Before, he had Ceramics and Creative Writing. Both of these classes were pretty fun. He could learn as there wasn’t any way to completely master these classes. Also, he could always create something new.

These classes were more fun; he had ceramics with Hank and PE. Lily was in his creative writing classes, so overall the second half of his day went much faster than the first.

On the bus ride home, Sevs pulled up his stats screen to check on his progress.

ID

X77

Progress

Tutorial: Lvl 15

Titles

STR

-10%

DEX

-10%

INT

-10%

AGI

-10%

WIS

-10%

CHA

60%

CON

-10%

The main stats hadn’t changed, but that was expected. Sevs level was still 15, only a little above his age. Since he had received his first mandatory quest, that would start going up quickly. Previously he had ignored quests that didn’t give a good skill as a reward. He had avoided the EXP for the most part, and that had extended this playthrough more than almost any recent ones he had. But now that he was forced to accept quests, he would be forced to gain the EXP. Sevs had mixed feelings about that. He would be sad; he would miss Father and Markus. And Susan, Hank, Lily and all his friends from the gym. On the other hand, Sevs was excited. He was more prepared than ever before. Not only did he have a solid foundation, but he had also grown and changed as a person in a short fifteen years. That is not to mention that he had skills he should not have. These skills would have been respectable even as a mid-game player. Either he would be OP or the system would make his playthrough a nightmare, maybe both.