Do What You Gotta Do

Understand this ~Chapter 12~(final)

"So, what's going on?" Mr. Tep said.

"It's a lot really." Charles sighed.

"Okay, try me." Mr. Tep said.

"I have a friend, Brandon, that's caught up in some gang and I'm trying to get him out. My other friend, Lee,  used to be caught up in it too, but he was kicked out and hurt badly. They gave him a black eye and a busted lip. I just want to get Brandon out before something happens to him. Like what happened to Lee." Charles said.

"Were your friends caught up in this gang from before?" Mr. Tep said.

"Uh yeah." Charles replied.

"So, I wonder if you feel guilty." Mr. Tep rubbed his chin.

"Guilty?" Charles said.

"Well, you could feel that way for one, you blame yourself for not being as much help for Lee when he was still with the gang. Or it could be, your life is a bit more different than theirs. How long have you been friends with Lee and Brandon?" Mr. Tep said.

"We've been friends since we were little kids." Charles smiled to himself.

"And since you've started high school, how is your communication with them? Mr. Tep said.

"Well, they don't really talk with me as much about anything. I think Lee is warming up to me though, but not really Brandon. When they both were in the gang, I did notice that they kept things away from me...even lied to me. There could have been a reason though." Charles said.

"What reason is that?" Mr. Charles questioned.

"Lee always told me he thought I should never get caught up in that gang stuff. It might have been to–"

"Protect you." Mr. Tep cut Charles off.

"Yeah, but why. I can fight if I need to." Charles stared.

"Really, you can fight? How long have been fighting or learning to fight?" Mr. Charles scoffed

"Well, of course, I've never fought someone before. But my dad's been teaching me for like five years and I'm sixteen now almost seventeen." Charles said.

"Wow, I was twenty-seven at the time. Do you think you could take me?.. Well, that probably wouldn't be a fair fight." Mr. Tep sighed.

"You're right, it wouldn't be a fair fight. Wait, you're thirty-two?" Charles exclaimed.

"Yea." Mr. Tep nodded and drank some of his ice tea.

"Either way, you don't need to fight them. I'll take care of it."

"Wait, what do you mean? I thought–"

"Listen to me, Charles. You didn't have a say in anything and shouldn't be dealing with this problem. I understand Brandon is your friend, but you're gonna risk yourself trying to fight with them. Alright?" Mr. Tep cut Charles off, again.

"Uh, yeah. Ok."

"Good. Nice talking with you. See you on Monday." Mr. Charles got up, left money under the glass he was drinking out of, and walked out.

Charles got up shortly after and made his way to the abandoned building he knew the gang would meet up sometimes. I'm sorry Mr. Tep but my friends matter a lot to me. Brandon's not gonna get hurt. Charles thought. 

"Yo, what you doing here?" A man called out to Charles.

Charles didn't answer, and instead started punching the man. The man struggled to fight back as Charles had been hitting him numerous of times. Once the man stopped trying to fight back, Charles made his way into the building. He saw Brandon and like five other dudes walk up. Charles grabbed a rusty rug and hit all of the men with it, circling around Brandon, and they disappeared. 

"Where did they go? You a lil magician?" Brandon backed up, looking around.

"Come on." Charles demanded.

"Nah." Brandon shook his head.

"Why not? You don't need to do this anymore." Charles walked up to him.

"You don't know what I need. Leave, unless you wanna fight me." Brandon said.

Charles knew he wasn't going to fight Brandon, so he just stared. Seconds later, the door fell down. Charles and Brandon looked back and saw Mr. Tep. Silence filled the room.

"Who knocked down the door?." A tall man came from behind Brandon.

He looked Brandon dead in the eyes, then me, then Mr. Tep.

"I'm gonna need to both of them." Mr. Tep walked fully inside.

"Where is everybody?" The tall man looked around and hit Brandon in the chest.

Charles put his head down, facing the floor.

"Aye, what you need B for?" The tall man walked up to Mr. Tep.

"He doesn't belong in this kind of environment." Mr. Tep said.

"Well, he works for me so y'all can leave." The tall man said.

"He's just a kid, still in highs school." Mr. Tep said.

"With my money, he won't need to be in high school." The man said.

"What about my money?" Mr. Tep suggested. 

The man looked at him and laughed.

Brandon and Charles were riding in the backseat of Mr. Tep's car. Mr. Tep was driving them back home.

"How'd you know I'd be there?" Charles asked Mr. Tep.

"I followed you after we met up. To see if you really cared about Brandon." Mr. Tep looked at him through the rearview mirror.

Charles looked at Brandon and Brandon looked at him.

"Brandon, you can see that he does, right?" Mr. Tep said.

"Yeah." Brandon replied.

"Okay, good then. You can come in with Charles this Monday coming up. I'll show you around and you might even get a job, if of course, you're interested." Mr. Tep looked at the two of them in the back.

Charles and Brandon smiled at each other.