Through the Gate

Chapter Two - Dirty Pool

"Yo, JD!" A familiar voice caught the attention of Julian Dermot Fletcher III and he glanced over to see Tyler, St. George's resident ladies man and the only son of an A-List power couple. JD didn't much care for him, but he was a part of the group.

"What's up?" JD acknowledged him with a nod and opened his locker.

"Nothing, just checking out some of the new talent," Tyler's eyes fell on a group of freshmen girls who were giggling across the corridor and he flashed a quick smile. The giggling stopped abruptly when Walker came around the corner. JD noticed a dark look pass between Tyler and Walker as he went to his locker. Liam rounded the corner a few moments later, a piece of paper in his hand and joined his two friends. They greeted each other and Tyler inquired about the paper, "Another 'A' Liam?"

"From last week's English assignment," Liam answered nonchalantly.

"Don't get too excited," Tyler laughed.

"It wasn't a difficult assignment Tyler, what did you get?" JD asked.

"Let's just say that I may be seeing more of Miss Silva after school." Walker passed by again and Tyler's lip curled. "That guy really pisses me off."

"Walker, why?"

"Never mind," Tyler relied quickly. "Come on, let's find the boys."

The trio made their way out the side door to the breezeway connecting the main building and the laboratory wing. There were willow trees on both sides of the walkway and benches beneath them. To the left were a group of senior boys who called out to them. Other students that passed through the area moved on quickly. One of JD's fellow diplobrat's, Czar Stasevich, was in the middle of a particularly rude re-enactment of his last conquest. Of the group, Czar was easily the most irritating to JD. With a weighty name mirroring the emperors in his culture, it was no wonder he acted the way he did. He flouted his diplomatic immunity and skirted the law whenever opportunity arose. Girls were more obsessed with him than Tyler and he used all of it to his advantage. There was even a rumor floating around that Czar was particularly skilled at acquiring questionable items for a fee.

Tyler all but ignored Czar and it was no secret that they hated each other. Ever the indifferent one, Liam twisted his silver band around his middle finger and commented that the bell was about to ring. No one seemed to care and the question of what everyone was doing after school was posed. There were various answers but nothing JD found interesting. Liam mentioned having to work on some report for new tech his father's company was developing and Czar asked about tester products. Liam was known to give out products that hadn't even hit the shelves to his friends, but before he could answer, one of the younger kids sprinted past the group. He knocked Czar on his way passed.

"What is your problem?" Czar spat out and grabbed the kid by the collar and punched him.

Tyler jumped in the middle and squared his shoulders. "It wasn't on purpose, leave him be."

Czar pushed the kid and faced Tyler down, "The little punk has no sense of respect. Lack of respect can only mean that he's scum. Scum that doesn't even belong is this school. He's probably a scholarship case. Worst kind of scum you can get, which means he should be taught a lesson. Don't you agree boys?"

Whether afraid to lose their connection to unlimited party pills or unwilling to get between Czar and Tyler, most of them simply backed away or mumbled incoherently, but JD didn't move. Maybe he had been wrong about Tyler, and that he was actually a decent guy. Up until now, all JD had ever seen of Tyler was a nouveau-riche, womanizing lecher, a cad of the worst sort. He was not the sort of person a Fletcher was supposed to associate with. JD had been left little choice in the picking of this particular group, as Liam, his only real friend, was already one of them. He had yet to figure out why they spent any free time with these boys, but since Liam was the type of person who thought six steps further than everyone else, surely, there was a reason.

The kid tried to scramble up and JD side stepped to block the boy from Czar's field of vision. Liam was still twisting his silver ring around. Czar looked past JD to stare down the kid and then raised his hands towards the gathering crowd. Tyler turned his back to Czar and went to see if the the kid was okay.

Czar struck out at Tyler, but never connected because JD tackled him. JD shook his head as he stood back up. "That Russian prep school must not have been big on fair play, comrade."

The bell rang and Liam glanced over. "Is this over yet? We have a class to get to."

Czar spat blood out and snarled. "Scum must be catching. I thought you Brits had better sense than that. This isn't over, mate."

Tyler's eyes narrowed and Czar just laughed and pushed his way past. Most of the group followed. Tyler turned back to the kid. "You should go to the nurse's office kid, that's a nasty cut lip."

"It's not 'kid,' it's Ray."

"Well Ray," Liam smiled. "You can hang with us some time if you want to."

The boys dispersed to their various classes and soon the school day was over. JD made his way to his car and saw Liam sitting on the hood. He clicked the alarm off and Liam slid in. JD was about to get in as well, when he saw a little girl out of the corner of his eye. Her long white dress trailed behind her as she jumped, impossibly, over the school fence and disappeared out of sight. He finally sat down, "Strange."

"What?"

"Oh no, it's nothing," JD shook his head. "When is your car fixed?"

"Maybe not until next week," Liam answered. "Hey what was that with you and Czar earlier? I mean, I get Tyler jumping in, he hate's Czar's guts, but what about you?"

"Czar has no sense of honor. Hitting a boy half his size and then turning round to attack a mate when his back is turned? It's dirty pool."

"Must be your British sentiment kicking in because it's not the first time Czar has attacked a scholarship kid and it won't be the last. He'll probably go after Walker some time soon."

"That would be something." JD smirked and peeled out of the parking lot. "Where are we off to?"

-

Author's Note- Julian Dermot "JD" Fletcher III is pictured in this chapter, played by Luke McClure.

So there are some British-isms in this chapter, should I post explanations of them or did you guys guess/know them?

Also, everyone know,  what a "diplobrat" is?

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