Amity

Chapter 6: Gladestone X Wolf

"About time you made it out here," Megumi said as he walked down the steps.

Dré stopped and looked at her in indignation. "I just got strangled by my hopefully ex-principal, but whatever. How do you know where my parents are again?" Dré asked Megumi as they walked through the parking lot. He could feel the hoarseness in his voice begin to go away.

Megumi sighed. "Daddy told me that my parents are pretty good friends with your parents and figured it would be a good time to catch back up." She looked around for her car. "You'd never see me up at seven in the morning to see some old friends, but to each his own, I guess. Ah, there you are-" she cut herself off as she approached a glossy, blue and white Ford Shelby. "But, yeah, so I'm going to take you to my house. You can tell them what- Dré?"

Dré goggled at the car behind her, mouth agape. "Whoa. Is this yours?" he asked her, sounding awestruck.

"Yep. This is my pride and joy. Getting in?"

"In a... In a second. I want to marvel at its beauty for a few more minutes."

Megumi made a sound of frustration as she swung the door open and threw her satchel in the back seat. "Okay. That's fine. Stay out here for all I care. But if you aren't in this car before I crank it up, you will get left behind."

"Okay, okay, I'm getting in," Dré said as he carefully opened the door and slid onto the seats plastered with anime characters. The insides were as clean as the shining paint job.

Once he shut the door, Megumi plugged her cell phone into a radio that looked more like a television screen and began playing a mixture of alternative rock and old-school video game music. "What is this?" he asked her as she pulled a pair of white sunglasses from the sun visor.

"This, Dré, is chiptune, the music of the gods. More specifically, the band playing now is Anamanaguchi, the best band since, like, ever," she added as the Shelby roared to life, passing the Elementary school across the street from the high school and speeding down West Elm Street.

"How can you guys afford all of this?" Dré had to raise his voice over the music.

"My daddy was sort of a big thing in Japan a few years back. He's a fan favorite there when it comes to Mixed Martial Arts."

"So, if your family is rich, then why come to a one-horse town like Prescott? I'm sure that someone who is a successful MMA fighter could basically live anywhere they wanted to, right?"

"Donno, actually. Daddy just says that he misses the southern hospitality and his friends. Not surprising coming from him, though. He always complained about it when we lived in New York."

Dré shook his head as they sped through Olive Street to the outskirts of town. This was so surreal. He was almost killed by Principal Dixon and his parents were apparently at this girl's house, someone whom he had never met.

Not to mention the boy who was behind Dixon, apparently controlling him. And McManus using that water and that fruit to heal him. He placed his hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. This was a fever dream. It had to be.

Then, he suddenly realized what was going on. He was being taken care of by a girl, the same girl that was currently taking him to her house. He could feel his face heating up again; he'd never been to a girl's house before.

Minutes later, Megumi turned into a long driveway, leading up to a large and elaborate two-story red-brick house. In the driveway was a black Corvette, a cherry-red Mustang GT, and a stone-gray Ford F-150. The wolf sticker on the back window was proof enough that it was his parents' truck. "This is where you live?" Dré asked, awe-stricken.

Megumi nodded. "We just moved in a couple of days ago. Not too bad of a house, isn't it?"

"Not too bad?" he repeated. "Dude, this makes my house look like a shack."

She giggled as she parked the car in front of the Mustang, where two women were working under its hood. Megumi looked at Dré and placed her finger over her lips before she unplugged the cell phone and got out. An impish smile crept across her lips as she snuck behind the women. "Hi mom!" she yelled as Dré got out.

The two women quickly turned around, looking as if they had not heard the car drive up. "'Gumi? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" the woman on the left asked with an expression of happiness and confusion on her face. She looked to be about as tall as Dré, with a slim, athletic figure and her hair, about as long as Megumi's, tied in a black braid.

"I was, but we got out early," she said as she rushed into her arms.

"Oh! Megumi, this is my good friend, Abigail Wolf," Megumi's mom said as they released themselves. "We went to school together when we were younger."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Wolf," Megumi said politely.

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Gladestone," said Abigail through a bright smile. Abigail was just as beautiful as Megumi's mom. She was a few inches shorter than Dré but had the same mahogany skin tone as he with black, shoulder-length hair. She had a slightly less athletic figure than the other woman, but it was still easy to see that she was the last person anyone would want to enrage.

"And you must be the famous Ke'Undré," her mom implied with a warm smile. "Your mother has told me much about you. I'm Tiffany Gladestone. Feel free to call me Tiffany if you'd like. Hm? What's that around your neck?" she asked Dré, who flinched as he tried to hide the bruises with a hand.

"Uh... It's nothing, Mrs. Gladestone-"

"Dré got strangled by Principal Dixon," Megumi interrupted.

"He what?!" Abigail cried out, wielding a monkey wrench as if it were a knife. "Tiffany, we'll have to work on this later! Come on, Dré. We're about to show your little principal what happens when he messes with my baby boy!"

"Mom! Wait!" Dré pleaded as Abigail made her way to her truck. "Principal Dixon has already been picked up by the police."

"From the way these bruises look, he looked like he tried to kill you," Tiffany said, no doubt making his mother even angrier. "What made him snap?"

"Well-"

"Dré fought a bully who kept trying to hit on me," Megumi interrupted. "The guy was huge. Huge and ugly, and Dré knocked him out with one punch." Dré looked from Tiffany, to Megumi, back to Tiffany, in shock.

Tiffany's thin eyebrows arched for a split second as she said, "Risking your neck for someone that you barely met. I must say, the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. Thanks for showing so much bravery for my little girl." She beamed at him as she held out a gloved hand.

Dré was conflicted within himself. He couldn't act as if he was the one who saved Megumi from Peewee with a good consciousness. Then again, he couldn't just make Megumi seem like a liar to her mom as well as his.

He hastily shook her hand, trying to fake a smile.

Being the nice guy is such a chore.

"The guys are in the house. You two should go in and introduce yourselves," Abigail said, turning back to the Mustang with a big grin on her face. "I'm so proud of you."

"Yes. Proud," Dré mumbled as he glared at Megumi out of the corner of his eye. "Shall we go in?" he added with a touch of anger as he gestured to the door. Once they were out of earshot, he quickly whispered, "Why did you just lie to your mom like that?"

"Because mom would be pissed at me if I got into a fight on the first day again," she whispered back.

"Again? How many times did you do this?"

Megumi only winked as she put a finger over her lips.