Margyn D. Warrior

Chapter 10

“There, look.”

“Where?”

“It’s Vero, what’s the big deal?”

“Well, did you hear?”

“What?”

“Vero had a run in with the Harlem Knights last week.”

“Say what?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I heard his grandpa got jumped by a bunch of them and Vero beat them to a pulp at a night club.”

“I heard about that. Apparently a lot of them got sent to a prison hospital to get treated.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Whispers followed Vero from the moment he went to school the next day after a full week had passed. People lining up outside classrooms leaned against the window to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the hallways again. Vero wished they wouldn’t, because now it was starting to become very annoying.

The following week didn’t go well for Vero. Somehow the news of what happened to Vero’s grandpa had reached the school and almost everybody knew about it. Not only that but Vero had become more distant from everyone and kept mostly to him. Even when some of the students tried to offer their support or comfort him, he would coolly brush them aside. He stopped eating in the cafeteria and would prefer sitting alone at the rooftop.

One time, Seamus and his best friend had found Vero sitting dangerously on the ledge of the school building. Seamus had tried to make Vero eat something insisting he needed to stay full while Dean expressed his concern by suggesting Vero sit further away from the ledge. A cold, nonchalant stare from Vero was enough to scare them away.

This habit led to him even stop attending some of his classes which got him detentions and a bit of trouble, though the other teachers let it slide due to the state he was in.

Due to the negative state of his emotions and his magic affecting the atmosphere, it was still raining from morning till night ever since that night. One day, Vero was minding his own business until he heard the last person he wanted to interact with call him, “Hey, Yeager?”

Vero shook his head then replied by saying, “Not today Lewis. I’m not in the mood for anyone right now. So please leave me alone.”

“Come on, man. I just wanna talk to you…” He tapped Vero’s shoulder which proved to be a mistake when he instantly pinned Lewis against the lockers, his feet slightly off the ground. One of Lewis’s friends to tried to help but Vero smacked him back with his elbow, the other followed but stopped when Lewis motioned with his finger for him to stop in his tracks. “Don’t do it. This is between me and Yeager right now. Everybody else stay out of this.”

“I bet it feels good, don’t it? Shoving me against me wall to show your bad-ass and hitting one of my boys even though he didn’t do anything. I get it, your grandpa got jumped and sleeping in the hospital fighting for his life. All I came here to do was to say I’m sorry, OK? You can believe me if you want to or not, but I know that feeling. I lost my pops when I was six years old.” What Lewis said shocked Vero who didn’t notice his grip loosening on Lewis.

“Yeah you heard me. I lost my pops when I was six years old, still living in Queens. It was a Sunday. Me, my mom and pops eating one of favorite Sunday dishes when some thugs busted in and tried to rob us. My mom and I lived but my pops not so much. Ever since that day, I was angry, I wanted to take out my anger on anything and anybody I could find. But the pain never healed. It’s there in here.” Lewis tapped the spot where his heart was before continuing. “I’m here to tell you shouldn’t hold onto that pain that hate and isolate yourself from your friends. Trust me, if you do that, you’ll end up all alone. And before you know it, you're gonna hurt a lot of people. People who don’t deserve it. Check it out.” He pointed at the young man Vero smacked with his elbow, his appeared broken and bled. “My boy didn’t do anything to deserve that but you pounced, something you would never do. That pain-that-hate-Its time you let it go.”