Once Upon A Time in 2016

Into the Hood: Chapter 2

                  

It turned out that if you wanted to hang out with Eric, standing and watching didn't work. Eric himself never pressurised Sam, but his friends on the other hand were not too keen with the group's newest addition. "Why don't you support us when we need to sort people out?" Josh asked Sam in the cafeteria one afternoon. "Let me guess, you're a 'pacifist'. Don't care when people walk all over you."

"Leave him alone!" The boys turned to see Kim, the school council president, and the school's resident do gooder glaring at them. "You don't need to listen to them. They aren't your friends. Friends don't tell you to bully others."

Eric mimed being shot to the chest. "Kimberley! You've hurt my feelings! We have never bullied anyone in our lives! We just make sure that no one pushes us, or anyone else around!"

"So basically you're stopping other bullies from bullying your victims."

Eric glared at her. Most people would have withered under his stare, but not Kim. She glared right back at him. Sam wished she wouldn't, he had a very bad feeling that something was going to happen to Kim. Kim was one of the few people who had made an effort with Sam when he had first joined school, but her numerous amount of extra-curricular activities prevented her from getting to know him more. She was not impressed when she had found out that Sam had been adopted by Eric and his gang.

"Stay out of this Parker. Mind your own business, and keep walking. Just like the rest of the kids. I'd hate for anything bad to happen to you." Kim narrowed her eyes at Eric. "Are you threatening me, Eric Smith?" she hissed as she closed in on Eric, the top of her head grazing his chin as she glared up at him. Eric opened his mouth to reply, only for Kim to grab his arm and drag him down to her own eye level. "I hope you're not. Because you don't scare me. Not. One. Bit." And with that she let him go, and stalked off.

"She's crazy", Daniel said, shaking his head. "You've got that right. Imagine talking to Eric like that. She's mad if she thinks she's going to get away with it. Isn't that right Eric?" Josh asked.

The boys turned to look at Eric. He was still glaring after Kim, his face a stone statue.

"Forget her", Daniel said quickly, changing the subject, "No one likes her anyway. She's a nobody." "Yeah forget her", Josh chimed in, before remembering that Sam was still there. "So Sammy. How come you didn't stick up for Eric when the Crazy Bag was going for him? Just wanna hang out with us for all the perks, and it's adios amigos when there's trouble, is that it?"

"No! That's not it! I-"

"I what? Am a crap friend? Don't care about others? Because that's what it looks like! Why do you never help us out?"

"I just, erm, well...I..." Sam stuttered.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Daniel leered at him. Sam looked at the group, the colour slowly draining from his face. He caught Eric's eye. Eric looked back at him expectantly. "No...I don't have a problem", Sam said, his eyes down cast. "Well then, you'll join us next when we give out lessons, won't you?" Josh asked grinning. "Y-yeah, of course."

Unfortunately, the next lesson came sooner than Sam intended. It was the end of the school day and a boy named David had the bad luck of crashing head first into Eric's back. "Oi!" Josh and Daniel grabbed hold of the smaller boy as Eric turned to face him. Just as Eric was about to land his first punch, Josh turned his head to look at Sam and said, "Aren't you going to help? Dude, this guy just pushed your friend!" Eric stopped mid-way, and once again looked at Sam. Sam faltered. He really did not want to hit David. He liked the guy. He was in his math class, and was as nice as they came.

Sam looked at Eric, and cast his eyes down. Eric gave him a small smile, before lifting his fist up to finish what he had started. "I don't even know why we bother with him. He hasn't even got our backs", Daniel said, his face twisted with disgust. Josh nodded, "Pathetic."

And finally, something inside Sam snapped. Not a neat clean snap, but a horrible, jagged, loud snap. His reached out and his fist connected with David's jaw, just before Eric could punch the poor boy. There was a collective gasp from on lookers, including Josh and Daniel. David collapsed in a heap on the ground. Sam looked around him. His eyes met Eric's. Eric was smiling back at him, satisfied. Sam looked around again. People cowered away from him. Josh and Daniel were in shock, and they looked at him with something new in their eyes. Fear. And hell, did it feel good.

Guyssssss!!!! I'm baaaaccckkkkk!!! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long, personal life caught up with me and dragged me dowwwwnnnnn. But I'm back, and am hopefully going to catch up on my reading finally. I want to also thank every single one of you too, as Once Upon a Time in 2016 has hit 70 votes!!! Thank you soooooo much!! It really means so much to me, and so to thank you guys I'm going to do a little give away. I'll upload how to enter in the next couple of days, and the prize is the necklace Ana wore to the Festival Ball at the end of The Beast. I'm making it myself, and I'll post a picture of it with the next update. Remember my instagram page is up and rolling, I have teasers for my books (like the one added on to this update, she's someone who's going to appear in the next chapter, any guesses as to who she is ?😉) and what I get up to on there, so feel free to pop by the page: kittyinbookworld. Also a big shout out and thank you to ChasingMadness24 , who very kindly added OUATI2016 (I know, it's a mouthful, hopefully I can come up with something better) to a bunch of reading lists!! Thank you sooooo much! I hope you guys liked the chapter, if you did please comment and vote, and as always constructive criticism is very much welcome.

Kitty

xxx