let's kill tonight // phan [ON HOLD]

one

DAN'S P O V

"Give me your fucking money!" The kid I was holding in my hands was trembling in fear, as one of the toughest guys in school threatened to beat him up over five dollars. "Here! Take it! I-I j-just don't w-want any trouble," the kid squeaks out, stuttering with almost every word from his mouth.

"Hey! Let go of the kid!" I hear from behind me. Him. I turn around to see Phil Lester, the only other feared kid in this entire school. I let go of the kid and throw the money on his face, walking away. Phil shoves me and I give him a dirty glare as he helps the kid up.

His loss, his rep will definitely go down. I look over again, and as Phil is patting on his back, he pushes the kid into the lockers, his books flying everywhere. Phil spits on his face and picks the money out of his hand, walking away as the whole school stares in shock, too scared to do anything else.

"Beat you once again, Howell," Phil says as he walks by, in a monotoned deep-voice. I sigh as I walk towards my next class and sit in the very back, pulling out my earbuds and plugging them in to my ears. After another few minutes, our teacher, Mr. Franta, pulls up a chair and gets to his lesson on something about algebra.

After about ten minutes, I hear the teacher repeatedly calling my name. "Dan, you seem to be paying attention. Why don't you solve the equation on the board?" Mr. Franta says. I take a quick look at the board, and I walk up, solving the equation in a matter of minutes before sitting back down again. "Very impressive, Howell," I hear Mr. Franta say.

What? Just because I'm tough doesn't mean I can't get good grades?

I plug in my earbuds once again, before the door opens and a beautiful girl walks in, looking down at her feet before handing Mr. Franta a sheet of paper. "Uh huh, I see," he says to himself. "Alright, students, it seems we have a new one coming in. This is Tonight, she just moved in from-" he squints at the paper and continues, America."

"Ah, so we have a foreign student right here, eh?" I say out loud, as she stares at me. "Well, foreign wouldn't exactly be the word for it, but I guess so," she says. I'll admit, she is pretty. But she seems off, like she's hiding a deep secret. One that I want to know.

She looks around the room for an empty seat, and I motion my hands to the one next the me. She walks towards the desk, and immediately sits down and engulfs herself in the fun activity that is schoolwork. She looks at me for a moment, and I take the opportunity to wink at her and flash a smile. She quickly averts her gaze back to school work, and I go back to listening to my music.

While Mr. Soda isn't looking, I jot down a note saying: number? and hand it to her. She looks up and reads the note, before writing a reply, and handing it back to me without a word. I open it up, expecting a number with hearts around it and a call me ;) in cute handwriting, but instead I crumple up the paper and throw it at some kid's head, earning a glare.

im taken, the note said.

Taken already? On her first day here, she already has a relationship? I rip out another slip of paper and write down in my terrible writing, who?. I hand her the note and she rolls her eyes, obviously annoyed by my persistence. She jots down more words, before handing the note back.

who?

phil lester

I scrunch my face in disgust at how fast Phil obtained a pretty girl, and how he did it in the first place. I mouth an okay to Tonight, and I walk up to Mr. Franta's desk, asking to go to the restroom, and walking out before I can get an answer.
I walk to the restroom and look at my complexion in the mirror. I had no tattoos, dyed hair, or face piercings.

Phil and I were alike in only this way. My gang suggested that we keep our looks normal, as it attracts less people to thinking you're, you know, criminals. Obviously, Phil's group stole that from us, but what haven't they? Our original name, the team members, they have even stolen some of our own recruits for themselves.

I stayed in the restroom until the bell had rung, indicating the end of school, and I trudged out with my bag on my shoulder. I felt a bump in my back, and I turn around to see Connor Franta, the son of our Maths teacher, and Phil's best friend. "Watch it, soda," I spit in his face. "Dude, you have to stop calling me soda, it's fucking annoying, asshole." I immediately turn around and I pushed him against the wall, suspending him by his own shirt collar.

"What did you say?" I ask. "I called you an asshole, asshole," he replies in a cool-toned voice. "You asked for it," I say,  raising my arm for a punch. Before I get a chance to actually swing it, however, someone grabs my arm firmly. I turn around to see Phil, with angry scowl on his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asks. I reply, "He called me an asshole, I need to teach him a lesson." "Get over it, Dan. Everyone calls you an asshole. At least I know people have sense." I let go of Franta and he walks over to Phil, giving him a short hug before hiding behind his back. He's so short that I can barely see him behind Phil.

Phil pushes past me, through the exit. I watch as they scurry away with a smile on Connor's face and a scowl on Phil's. Nobody knows why they're actually friends. There have been rumors of Phil paying Connor to be his friend, but why him? Franta was a bubbly kid with terrible grades and a permanent smile plastered on his face. Phil was, well, the complete opposite.

I walk outside to my old, broken down car, and I attempt to start the engine, failing miserably. "Fuck!" I kick at my car. I take the keys out of the ignition and stuff them in my backpack, making my way home. I ignore the funny looks people give me as I leave my car in the parking lot, but I go on.

After about ten minutes, I arrive home to see my mom home, cooking dinner for once. I go upstairs to see another stranger in my mom's bed, watching TV. I roll my eyes at my mom's habit of fucking a different guy every week, and I continue to my room where I quickly change my clothes and grab my other bag.

I open my window to feel the cold breeze on my face, and I climb out the second story window. I plop on to the grass and sneak behind my house, before finally breaking into a sprint towards the alley. After a few turns and odd looks, I arrive at the building and I sneak behind to meet the rest of the members at the back. I walk over to Caspar, another bubbly guy that nobody knows why he's here. He goes to the same school as we do, and nobody would expect him to be in a gang, or even be associated with somebody like me.

"Uh, Hank recruited a new guy," Caspar whispers to me. Hank was the leader of this whole thing, and every month he comes back with a new recruit. "I think his name is Joe, Hank seems to really like him." "Let's just hope he looks the part. Our gang is starting to look more like a book club than a dangerous gang," I reply. Hank finally arrives with his arm slung around his girlfriend's shoulder. Caspar and I join the others, and we watch a guy emerge from Hank's back.

He definitely didn't look the part.

He had a clean-cut face and perfect hair, and we stared at the new addition. He walks up to us, and we look at each other when he politely holds out his hand, introducing himself. "Hi, my name is Joe," he says with a smile. "We're Dan and Caspar. Now, if you'll excuse me," I say, pushing past Joe. I walk up to Hank and tap on his back, motioning for a talk.

As soon as we are separated from everyone else, I ask in a panicked tone: "Who the fuck is he? He looks nothing like the guy you described!" I spit in Hank's face. "Calm down, Dan. I needed someone who could fight with their hands, not a gun. He knows martial arts, and he has these mood swings, you see. One reminder of his lost sister, Zoe, and he goes mad. I have a plan, Dan. You have to trust me," he replies, reassuring me. Although I hated him at first, Hank somehow became like a big brother to me.

I walk back to where Joe and Caspar are laughing about something, looking so out of place. I go up to Joe, patting him on the back, asking: "So, who's this Zoe?"

I immediately regretted asking him that.