High School Adventures

Chapter 1

It was a pleasant afternoon. The sun shone with a red hue, lovingly stroking my skin. A pretty flock of swans flew across my peripheral vision. Trees were casually swaying to the wind as if they were dancing to their own tune. Stones on the pave way crunched  pleasantly with every step I took. It was all so pleasant I almost missed the 'Swoosh' sound that came up behind me.

Almost.

Reflexively, I jumped to the side and landed in a crouch, just in time to spot a rock fly through the the place where my head should have been. "Heck!" I stood up and traced the rock's projectile back to the source.

A large, beefy teenager stood about three paces behind me. His clear brown eyes bore into mine, a look that was accentuated by his red hair that glowed under the rays of the sun. His freckled cheeks were flushed red in anger. 

"Nice dodge Steve," the teenager rasped, definitely not in a complementary tone. I was in deep trouble.

"You could have killed me Ray," I observed casually. Too casual for one almost bashed in the head by a rock. Ray took two steps forward. He was now towering over me. He took a deep breath, which made him appear even bigger.

"You stole my girlfriend!" He shouted. 

Damn! Now he had to draw everyone's attention too? I took in my surroundings. Ray and I were having our standoff in the school courtyard. At his enraged bellow, everyone had stopped their activities and were now watching us. Albeit, they hadn't moved from their spots, but one could sense their anticipation for violence. 

"She wasn't your girlfriend," I dismissed him, "And the fact that you say she's interested in me doesn't mean that the feeling is mutual from my side." I turned to walk away, but I froze in my tracks.

Ray's so called minions had taken the advantage of my distraction to encircle me. Now I had five miniature versions of Ray blocking my path. I turned back to him. His smug face told it all. This was planned. He smiled, revealing a set of white teeth, and cracked his knuckles. 

Almost by pure instinct, I jumped back just in time to miss a fist to the nose by a hair's breadth. In the same motion, I grabbed the fist and brought it down with one hand, using the other to push Ray so that he followed the momentum he had taken to while throwing his punch. He fell face first into the pave way with a loud thud.

His hand, which I was still holding was now pointing towards his back. I stepped on his shoulder blade and pulled on his wrist. There was a sickening crunch. In the corner of my eye, His friends were rushing to his aid. At that moment, Ray let out a howl of pain so deep it sounded more animal than human. His friends hesitated. After some thought, accompanied by the whimpering of their friend, they decided that it was not worth it and took a few steps back.

I let go of Ray and left him in a writhing ball of pain. I had barely taken two steps away from him when a voice filtered throughout the courtyard, "What is going on back there, kids!" 

I let out a sigh.

Day one in high school was going to suck.