Cole

Rick

The next day I decided that I needed to find out more about this Rick guy. He was definitely interfering with my girl and my life. I suppose if we were cave men I would have just ripped his head off and I'd be done. Then I thought, 'wait, the terrorist half brain of mine knows how to remove a head easily with a hunting knife - maybe I should just use that special skill'. Nope. It was clear I needed to find out about him so I could keep an eye on him and learn his vulnerabilities.

The ride into school went okay. The good part was that I always loved checking out my girl each morning. Manda was cute in her skinny jeans and body clinging T-shirt that day. One would have to be a moron to not notice how perfect her figure was. I was sure she was driving Rick wild. This was a big problem. If Manda looked good for me she would also look good for Rick or any other guy that was interested. I had taken care of the football players that wanted to rape her and nearly destroyed Tom's balls after he put her in that situation, but so far Rick had not given me enough just cause to attack him. He was clever. He went after Manda just enough to enrage me but not enough for me to put him in the hospital.

When I met Manda on the bus that morning she seemed a little different. She looked at me in a kind of knowing way but was much more mature and older looking. I wondered if my disclosure about neurosynths aged her a bit and took away some more of her innocence. If that were true I would be truly sorry. I loved it when Manda was playful and innocent. I did not want the burden of knowing about me to dampen her embrace of life, art, and the beauty of life. Hopefully she would look at my situation eventually as some kind of special gift of life, and be happy about it.

When I entered the school and walked into home room I pulled Lenny aside and told him about Rick and asked if he could help me. Even though I had been in school almost a whole year I was still quite shy and not anywhere near as connected as Lenny. Lenny was a good friend ever since I saved him from Kyle, and he seemed to enjoy working his connections to find out information on kids to help me.

Unfortunately, when I explained my problem with Rick I was surprised to learn Lenny knew nothing about him.

"Cole, this blonde kid, Rick, I don't know. What does he look like? Where can I find him?", said Lenny.

"I see him at Lunch sometimes. He always makes a beeline to Manda. He's a fairly nice looking blond guy, probably too nice looking."

"Who else does he talk to that you have seen him with?"

"Good question. Nobody. I don't see him anywhere talking to anybody. I do know Lance saw him one day I was there because Lance challenged him, but then he just left."

"Cole, I will try to find out information but you should also ask Lance since Lance knows everybody and he has seen him".

"Alright, I will."

When lunch rolled around I spotted Rick right away standing by Manda and talking to her. I noticed Manda was smiling some of the time which made me upset. I strode right up to them. Manda looked up at me and then down at the table and Rick ignored me.

"Let's get something to eat, Manda," I said.

"Err, I already ate, Cole."

Manda looked up at Rick briefly.

"She already ate with me, Cole. We finished up about five minutes ago."

"Cole, Rick brought the tray over for me. He already got me my food. I'm sorry."

I looked Rick in the eyes. I don't know exactly what I was feeling right then but Rick suddenly lost the smart ass look on his face. I knew the terrorist half brain guy in me was in a rage. It wasn't like the last time. I really wanted to kill him. I must have given him a cold look of death. I could see his face go white, he then looked down a bit shaking, and I noticed he wet his pants just before he ran off.