A Commitment to Hooligans

Chapter 3

  "Oh my gosh, Drew," Livvey snaked through his bedroom window, just like the day before. But today her bright eyes were painted with astonishment. "Aphrodite was there again today! And do you know what she did?"
Drew blinked. "What?"
"She came up to me and asked me where you were! Isn't that totally crazy!"
Drew rolled his eyes. "You're making this up."
"Am I?" She bit her glossy lip. "Yeah, she was even prettier up close. She came up to me in the hall and was like, 'So, you're that guy Drew's girlfriend, right?" And I said yeah and she asked me where you were and I told her you were suspended. She looked really, like, excited when I said that, and she left the school. I didn't see we again all day. It was weird."
"Mm," Drew changed the subject. "We should go out for pizza. You want to?"
Livvey stared at him blankly, still perched in the window. "About that, um, I'm kind of involved with Justin Watts. We hung out last night and then we... Yeah."
Drew flinched. What? Why hadn't Livvey told him? Was it a joke? "'Scuse me?"
Livvey shrugged innocently. "Come on, Drew. Justin's really cute and I'm kind of over you. It was fun liking you from a distance, but you're actually really boring up close." She chuckled like a little girl. "It's not like you didn't expect this, right?"
Drew swallowed. "No. I didn't. I expected you to dump me before you went and slept with Justin instead of telling me now."
Livvey held up a hand. "Hey, I never said I slept with Justin, you're just being defensive."
"Okay, okay maybe I am." He looked at her with raised, accusing eyebrows. "Why are you still here?"
Livvey rolled her eyes to the floor. "You know, if you stop allowing people to walk all over you like a doormat and got a real personality, maybe you would get more girls, and not just a nobody."
She crawled back out the window and slammed it shut.

                             *. *. *.

  Drew's alarm clock read 11:58. He had been staring at it since 10:30. The glowing read numbers were beginning to burn themselves into his corneas. He blinked quickly; sure enough, bright, flashing insignias flickered under his eyelids. He pursed his lips and sighed through his nose, producing a deep, whistling, rushing sound. It was quite satisfying. He shifted to lay on his back in bed. Livvey had said something earlier about being a doormat. Was Drew really a doormat? Was he a push-over? He didn't want to be. But he knew he was. He could feel his eyelids getting heavy. He had the slightest urge to let them slide over his tired eyes, but he didn't feel like sleeping. He felt like moping. Doormats don't sleep. The sit there and wait for someone to walk over them. They think it's a pleasure to be squished beneath someone's shoes.
  When he heard his window pop open with a hollow wooden Rick, he snapped out of his lazy state. He looked up to see a black figure creep through the window, lower to the floor silently.
"I assume you're here to apologize," Drew muttered, thinking it was Livvey (She had a hobby of coming into his room at night).
He heard a deep chuckle. A dude's chuckle. "Why should I apologize, I don't even know you!"
Now Drew was scared. He leapt out of bed, still in his clothes from earlier. "Who are you?" He couldn't see under the hood, but he sensed the guy's sly smile as it sprawled across his obscured face.
  "I...Would like to talk with you, Drew."
  "H-How do you know my name!"
  The guy brought up a hand and whipped the hood from his head- he was older, maybe nineteen, with brown hair and bright, mischievous eyes. Even in the darkness Drew could see the playful, crookedly cunning fire that burned hot in them. "I've been watching you... Actually, I should say I've been hearing about you. Little miss 'Aphrodite'," He used his fingers to emphasize the quotations, "Is very intrigued by you. She says you'll be perfect."
Drew's head was pounding with jittery questions that buzzed in his ears like vicious bees. "Aphrodite is intrigued by me? Why? Who are you? Why are you here? Why and what am I perfect for?" The words flew off his tongue like a mudslide.
The guy chuckled through his nose. "Yeah. I like you already. So interested in learning more. Now, I know this is going to sound creepy, but I need you to come with me." He moistened his lips. "Oh yeah, where are my manners? I'm Skrakken."
"What's a Skrakken?"
"Not a what. A who. And that who is me. Now come on."
"Why should I?"
Skrakken smiled. "Because I'm just like you. Let me guess, you get in a ton of fights and are actually innocent, your friends are only friends with you because you're a 'bad boy' and that's the same reason you attract all the popular girls. They don't care about who you are, they just want your acquaintance on their reputation. Am I wrong?"
Drew shook his head, realizing how right Skrakken really was.
He smirked. "Yeah. Spitting image of me. Don't worry, I'm not interested in... Hurting you. I want to show you something."
Drew was beginning to falter. Maybe this dude could be a good guy...
"No." He said firmly.
Skrakken' bottom lip puckered into a pout. "Too bad, I was going to take you to meet that aphrodite girl. She was excited to meet you... Oh well. I was just trying to help you. I know you've gotten into some trouble and you want to make it up. An that's what I do. Take the trouble makers and the misfits and turn them into heroes. I really wanted to show you. And I swear to God I would never steal you. And plus, if I tried, you would put up quite a fight. Am I right?"
Drew nodded. "Fine. You'll take me to wherever you're going to take me, then bring me back by 7:00. Okay?"
"Just what I wanted to hear. Follow me."