The Joining: The Cycle of the Shards Book One

5: A Day in the life

Kyle Edison preferred quiet days. Days with nothing to do, no major requirements upon him, and as little strife as possible. Unfortunately for him, this Tuesday was not shaping up to be one of those days at all. The morning had passed without much interest. His father had went back into work early, leaving him alone to face the day. As usual, this was what he preferred. The morning classes went as well as he could expect, with nobody calling on him, and nothing of any great challenge to accomplish. Then it was time for lunch, and everything went to hell.

He had went through the lunch line and for once, he hadn't seen Brian Boyd at all. Which was fortunate for the extra reason that he was pretty hungry and would enjoy actually eating his lunch for a change instead of seeing someone else eating it.. Once past the very nice underpaid lunch lady, he found an empty table outside to claim for himself and whoever else from his small circle happened by, and settled in with his tray of square pizza, milk, and a vegetable that he couldn't quite identify, and went to take his first bite when suddenly he felt a strong push and found himself on the concrete ground. The momentary pain was replaced with dread as he looked up at his attacker. It looked like Brian Boyd was at school after all.

"You forgot me? Started eating all by yourself? I'll forget this time, but I'll need enough to get my own lunch. Hand it over." Kyle slowly rose to his feet. The money he had used to pay for his lunch was all that he had.

"You're too late, I don't have any left." Kyle felt a little rebellious all of a sudden. He knew facing off with the bully was a mistake, but he almost couldn't stop himself. Maybe it was just the angry rush from being pushed down unexpectedly. "You're just going to have to go after some kindergartners or something."

"Heh." Brian wasn't used to someone talking back to him. "Well, I guess nobody's eating today." With that, he took one of his large hands and swept the lunch tray to the ground, scattering its contents across the hard concrete.

Kyle would never know why he did what he did, but instead of backing down from the larger boy's challenge, he actually took a step closer to him. He was fed up. Tired of dealing with Brian's nonstop aggression, tired of putting up with all the nonsense that came with growing up and school and everything else. Inside he had been slowly building an anger that had no real reason for being other than the regular injustice of being who he was and where he was in life. Now it was all bubbling to the surface in an arena that he was unfamiliar with. He stared Brian straight in his eyes, despite having to look up six inches. "Why did you do that? Why do you always do this?"

Brian wasn't used to being questioned by his prey. He wasn't smart in the sense that would have helped him succeed in school, but he did know enough to look out of the corner of his eyes to make sure there were no teachers close enough to see him shove Kyle back, almost knocking him over. "Get out of my face, ass."

Kyle, however, was not smart enough to assess his surroundings, and so when he inadvisably stood up and delivered a return shove to Brian, Mrs. Smith had glanced outside at the unexpected motion and saw him deliver the push. Brian was surprised at the shove, and at the same time he caught the teacher with a glance. He quickly decided to fall backwards, selling his fall to make it much worse than it actually was.

Brian's ploy worked as Mrs. Smith moved briskly through the double doors that led to the courtyard. "What's going on out here! Explain yourself!" She sounded as if she was addressing both combatants but she was staring straight at Kyle.