A Kingdom of Our Own

Chapter Thirty Two - Convert

The tiresome morning-long wait for the arrival of lunchtime seemed to drag out even longer on the second day of school than it had on the first. They weren’t due to have another sports class until the end of the week and now all the sense of mystery and excitement from starting afresh had started to wear off, everything was beginning to appear rather boring and routine. With every minute that passed in Basic Arithmetic they could literally feel their IQ’s lessening by the second, while when they moved on to German later on that morning they found themselves as clueless and far less motivated than the third graders were. Why do we have to learn this?! Harry cursed hysterically to himself. We live in America Goddamn it, where people speak English, not some archaic European language.

Consequently, when Mr Foltrigg did finally call recess, everyone burst out of their seats without the slightest hesitation, eager to get to the front of the line for lunch. Naturally, Harry and Dalton were beaten off the mark and ended up being two of the last to collect their meal – mashed potato and sausages on this occasion. Normally they got given vegetarian meals, so Dalton was particularly happy to be getting some much needed protein. His father had always told him when times seemed hostile and uncertain “It is best to keep your strength up.” And since then it had been a philosophy he’d lived by almost wholeheartedly.

Dalton had already taken a seat at the last free table situated in the far corner of the lunch room, when Harry started to make his way over with his tray of food. Being so tired and eager to eat, he failed to take note of where Mason and his friends were sitting or to make any effort to divert away from them. It was a relatively minor mistake, but proved to be a costly one. As he passed by, Mason stuck his hand out and tipped the tray from his grasp.

CRASH

The tray clattered to the floor, the plate shattering on impact, the sausage and mash scattered across the wooden floor. A moment earlier the room had been loud with conversation, but that sudden sound was all it took for an awkward silence to fall across the room.

Harry turned to face Mason with a furious glare and yelled aggressively – “Hey, what the fuck did you do that for?!”

Mason turned slowly from where he was sitting to look up at Harry with a slight smile. “You got close to me,” he replied simply, as if this justified his actions completely.

“So?” Harry scowled.

“It bothers me,” Mason said in a much firmer tone this time, placing his hands on his hips and rising from his seat. He was looming over Harry now, emphasising the physical superiority the three-year age gap gave him. “I don’t want to be near you or your creeped-out friend.”

From where he was sitting, Dalton began to rise to his feet shakily in anticipation of what Harry was going to do. Harry’s initial reaction was a slight shrug of the shoulders as if he hadn’t been offended by the remark and began to turn away, which came much to Dalton’s relief. The last thing they needed was a brawl on their hands. In no shorter time than one could blink though, his relief turned to dismay when Harry sprung back around without a moment’s notice and threw the best punch he could muster at Mason’s face. Given the great hatred he felt towards the boy, it was one of his better “best” punches, but still, Mason was a big guy and so it would take more than one well executed hit to achieve a KO. If only life could have been easier.

Mason was certainly shocked by Harry’s sudden offensive, but was still quick to retaliate from the blow. Gripping Harry firmly by the front of his shirt, he hauled him onto the cold wooden surface of the table he’d been eating at moments earlier. Plates and cutlery clattered to the floor as Mason began his counter-offensive, punching Harry in the face over and over again, seemingly without an end. Harry struggled under the superior weight of his nemesis and eventually they found themselves rolling off the table and onto the floor where their feud continued.