Paw Patrol: Friends, Family, And Firearms

Chapter 2

   "Sooooooooo. . . where'd you learn to fight like that," The brown-haired boy asks, giving a sideways glance at Simon, who just shrugs.

   "Dad taught me most of it. I picked up some on my own, though" he replies.

   The brown-haired boy winces, holding an ice pack up to the large bruise on his forehead.

   "Anyway, what's your name?" Simon asks, smiling.
   "It's Chase. Chase Daniels"
   "Simon MacTavish"

   "Well, thanks for standing up for me back there. Not many people will do that" Chase picks up the lunch tray off of the rack with one hand, but almost drops it.

   Simon grabs his own tray and takes Chase's from his hand. He walks to the line of kids waiting for food but turns back to Chase for a second. "Go find somewhere to sit. I'll meet you there"

   Nodding, the brown-haired boy starts to look around for an empty table. Unfortunately, most of the available seats were taken, but there was an open table with only one person sitting at it. He had a green hoodie on, and the hood was over his head, casting a shadow over his face.
 
  Despite being a bit unnerved, Chase sucks it up and sits in the chair across from the mysterious boy. There's a moment of silence between the two as Chase tries to find something to break the ice, but his eyes perk up when he notices the book that the boy was reading.

   "Harry Potter fan, huh? I've read most of them. I'm almost finished with The Half-Blood Prince, but I keep getting hung up on when Harry and Dumbledore are going through the cave. I get to where they reach the island, and then I can't seem to remember what happens"

   The hooded boy doesn't say anything, before setting his book down and raising his head. "Well, the Horcrux is in a bowl in the middle of the island, and the only way to get to it is for someone to drink the potion that it's in. Dumbledore drinks it all, starts hallucinating, and asks for some water. The only problem is Augamenti won't work, so Harry tries to get some from the river. A bunch of Inferi attacks him, but Dumbledore uses flames to scare them off, and they manage to leave the cave and Apparate out"

   Chase nods, pretending to be thinking intently even though he had already read the book all the way through.

   "Thanks. I appreciate it. What's your name by the way?"

   The hooded boy freezes for a moment but relaxes when he sees how casual Chase is acting.

   "My name is Rockland. People just call me Rocky"
   "I'm Chase. It's nice to meet you"

   "Hey, are you alright?" A female voice asks from behind Chase.

   He turns around and sees a girl with blond hair and a worried look on her face.

   "Yeah, I'm fine. Got a bit of a headache, though"

   "Hey, it's you" Simon walks to the table, two full trays in his hands. He looks at the girl and nods his head in greeting.

   "Um, hi," she says nervously.

   Simon just sets the trays down, one in front of Chase and another in front of an empty seat, which he sits in. Turning to Rocky, he opens his mouth to speak, but the boy beats him to it.
   "The name's Rocky"
   "Simon"

   A loud growling noise comes from Rocky's direction, and the hooded boy can be seen blushing slightly.
   "You hungry?" Chase asks, seeing the boy not have a lunch.
   Rocky just shakes his head. "I'm not that hungry" Almost on cue, his stomach growls again, and Simon gives him a sideways glance.
   "Your body says otherwise," He says, sliding his lunch over to the other boy. "Take it. You need it more than me"

   Seeing them distracted, the girl starts to walk away, but Chase grabs her wrist, stopping her.
   "If you want to sit here, you can. We don't have a problem with it" He says, and the two other males nod simultaneously.

   Though nervously, the girl slowly grabs one of the empty chairs and sits down. "I'm Skye," she says quietly.

   "Ah. Skylar. Great name" Simon says nonchalantly

   Almost immediately, the girl gets a dark look on her face. "Call me that again and I'm ripping your throat out"

   Simon just laughs. "Oh, Skye, I'd like to see you try" he replies with a taunting smirk that had a hint of amusement in it.

   The blond girl gives him a glare but doesn't say anything. She saw what he did to Ethan earlier today, and didn't want to get on his bad side.

   "Anyways, what are you guys doing later today?" Simon asks, not looking forward to the rest of the day.

   "Not much for me"
   "Me either"
   "Yeah, I've got nothing"

   Simon almost immediately perks up. "Hey. Want to come to my place. I've got the room in my truck. Plus, Dad always loves seeing new faces"

   The three start to smile, though just a little bit. "Well, I could ask my folks," Chase says, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He pulls it out, but Rocky and Skye were already on the phone. Skye talks for about a minute, before smiling.
 
  "Thanks, Mom. I'll see you later today" she says, hanging up.

   Rocky, however, doesn't even start talking. After a few seconds of the phone ringing, he hangs up and puts it back in his pocket.

   "Didn't answer. Not surprised. Welp, if they aren't answering, then I'm taking their silence as a yes"

   Chase places his phone back in his pocket and smiles. "My parents are fine with it. Let's just hope we last until the end of today"

   "We'll be fine. But Rocky, I've got something to ask you. What's the hood for? It must be horrible with that thing on. It's hot enough here as is" Simon says, a small look of worry on his face.

   Rocky hangs his head, but eventually just nods, more to himself than to anyone else. "Alright, but don't tell anyone about this" He reaches into the hood and pulls out a tuff of grey hair, before stuffing it back quickly. "I was born with it. I've tried dying it, but nothing seems to stick"

   "Why hide it? I don't care what color it is. Hell, I wouldn't care if you didn't have any hair at all" Simon pats Rocky on the shoulder a couple of times, and Skye and Chase nod in agreement.

   Rocky doesn't say anything but seems a bit more cheerful than before. He finishes the rest of the lunch Simon gave him and slides the empty tray to the middle of the table. "Thanks," he says, full for what felt like the first time in forever.
   Simon just nods, smiling.

   A loud bell rings from one of the hallways, and the lunchroom starts to empty out.
   "What classes have you got?" Skye asks the three boys, and they quickly grab their schedules from their bags.
   "We've got the same classes!" Chase says excitedly, but Simon shakes his head.
   "Not me. I'm not sharing classes with you guys. That sucks"
   Rocky just shrugs. "It's fine. Where should we meet you after school?"
   "Just by the entrance. I'll show you my truck and we'll get going"

   The bell rings again, signaling that they have one minute to get to class. After a quick wave, Skye, Rocky, and Chase walk off into one hallway, while Simon goes into another.

   All four couldn't wait for school to end