Drawing the Wildcard

Chapter 6: School Daze

"Seriously, Jake. What you did to Thompson was awesome." Kit says as the trio walks to their first period class. Jake rolls his eyes at this.

"I get it, Kit. It was awesome. I heard you the first 10 times." He snarks back playfully.

"Hey, guys? Remind me again why we have to take science class?" Ari asks as they walk into the classroom and take their usual seats in the back of the room.

"Because reasons," Jake replied as he leaned back on his chair, propping his feet up on the table. "Very stupid reasons."

"I'd rather be at the arcade down the street. I need to defend my high score."

"For what? 'Dance Dance Revolution?'"

"No, you annoying arachnid. For 'Asteroids.' I know that redhead is trying to beat it."

"Hussy." Ari mutters under her breath, although both Jake and Kit caught what she said. Jake cracks a small smile.

"She's not so bad, Ari. Little competitive, but who isn't these days?"

"She's trying to steal my boyfriend."

"Guess you don't know about her groping him, huh?"

"Excuse me?!" Ari turns to Kit, a scowl on her face. Jake snickers lowly at Kit's panicked expression as the teacher walks into the classroom.

"Alright everyone. Settle down. Before we begin the lesson, I have an announcement to make."

"You're finally going to retire? Oh wait! Is it Pizza Day for lunch? Please let it be Pizza Day." Jake says while crossing his fingers, making the class laugh slightly.

"No, Mr. Parker. What I was saying is that the school is going to hold a school-wide talent show in a couple weeks." the teacher says, making the class murmur in slight interest. "Now, open your textbooks to page 230."

"Talent show? Could be fun." Jake mutters under his breath, tuning out the entire lecture. He could always borrow the notes from Peter after school. After an hour of boredom, the bell rings. Jake grabs his bag and walks out of the class, heading to his locker with Kit and Ari.

"So, what's the plan? Stay here and be bored to death by educational overlords? Or head to the arcade for games and unhealthy junk food?" Jake asked?

"I propose arcade." Kit says. Ari rolls her eyes.

"Probably want to see that hussy."

"Babe, come on. It was an accident. I've told you that numerous times." Kit replies, slightly annoyed with Ari's jealousy. Ari only huffs and crosses her arms under her chest. Kit looks at Jake.

"How did you handle her when she gets like this?"

"Simple. I fucked her senseless." Jake replies casually, smirking at Ari's blush and death glare. Kit only nods in understanding.

"So it's unanimous. Arcade, here we come." And with that, the trio grab their things and stealthily make their way to the school exit. They managed to escape without a hitch, even stopping to talk to the janitor.

"I like Stan. He's a pretty cool guy. You know, for a janitor." Jake says as they walk down the street.

"Yeah. Plus, he gives us pretty cool nicknames." Kit adds, wrapping an arm around Ari.

"True. Personally I like it when he calls us 'True Believers.'" Ari says, unconsciously snuggling up to Kit. Jake nods in agreement.

"Me too. Makes us sound like we can do anything." He says, suddenly stopping and clutching his head with one hand, groaning as it began to tingle.

"Jake? What's wrong?" Ari asks

"Danger. Danger coming." He groans, shaking his head to get rid of the tingling.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" Kit asks. His question is answer when several teens approached them from all sides.

"Well, looks like we have a trio of trespassers, boys." the leader says with a grin, eyeing Ari with a lustful gaze. "Although the goth chick can pass, provided we "work out" an agreement."

"Congratulations, you know two big words." Jake mutters with a smirk. The leader sneers and walks up to him.

"You got something to say, freak?" He growls, pulling out a switchblade and resting the blade against Jake's throat.

"Already said my piece, buddy. Though could you cool it with the blade? Doesn't exactly inspire trust between us." Jake says, a hint of nervousness in his voice despite the smirk on his face.

"Yeah. Let him go. We were just passing through." Kit says, hoping to avoid a fight.

"Shut it, mutant!" One thug says, yanking Kit away from Ari by his tail, making Kit yelp in pain as the thug began to bend and twist it roughly.

"KIT!" Ari yells out, going to help him only to be restrained by two thugs. "Let me go!" She struggles to get loose.

"Buddy, you and your friends are making a huge mistake. Let my friends go, or else." Jake says coldly. The leader only laughs.

"Or else what, loser?" He asked cockily.

"Or else, THIS!" Jake gripped the hand holding the switchblade at his throat and squeezed hard enough to break bones. The leader shouts out in pain and surprise, only to be cut off by a punch to the jaw that sent him flying into a trash can.

"Get that asshole!" he says through a broken jaw and shattered teeth. One thug rushes at Jake throwing a punch that was caught by Jake. He squeezed the fist, bringing the thug to his knees before violently smashing his knee into his face, breaking the thug's nose.

"Knee of Justice. Thanks, Captain Falcon." Jake smiles, before spinning around and kicking another thug in the face, sending him through a brick wall. The remaining thugs rush at Jake, hoping to overwhelm him with their numbers. Jake's eyes widened slightly at this.

'This might hurt a bit.'  Jake thought to himself, his eyes darting from thug to thug.

'It doesn't have to, young Guardian. Listen to me and victory will be yours.' A voice echoes in Jake's head. He nods, absently noting that the voice sounded feminine. To Kit and Ari's shocked eyes, it looks as if Jake just disappeared. Suddenly, various after-images of him were darting around in different fighting poses. Each thug was surrounded by at least two and looked like they were being knocked back.

'This is amazing!'  Jake thought to himself as he delivered two powerful blows to one thug's face before back-flipping twice and slamming his feet into another thug before leaping across the street and elbow-dropping another. Using his momentum, Jake pushed off with his elbow and spun countless times in the air, slamming his knee into the last thug's face. Jake lands on his feet and surveys the damage.

"That was awesome, guys, We should do that again." He says, walking up to Kit and Ari, both of them staring at Jake in awe.

"So, arcade anyone?" And with that, the trio continues their journey to the arcade.