The Bullet Maker

Chapter One: Two Separate Ways

Never were two loving brothers this close before; Josh and Ricky have always laughed together, played together, hurt together, and cried together. Never were there any two brothers more alike than those of the McFellr household, for they are indeed the same person, three years apart.

And never was there a man in more despair than the young man: Victor James. He is known to be the perfect student, a perfect youth, and yet such a lamentable fate has been sewed into his heart.

Joshua McFellr, a youth none older than seventeen, a senior at Mariana High School, has brought himself a grand honor: he will swear in his brother, Ricky McFellr, into one of the school’s most powerful and elite cliques: The Modests. It is built on the principle of humbleness, and frequently brags about its triumphs over the other elite clique: The Ruizi’s.

“Ricky, repeat as I say, and thou shalt be sworn in as a Modest.” Joshua starts, opening The Book of Modesty, “I, state thy name,”

“I,” he pauses, “Ricky McFellr,”

“am here to swear unto my sacred honor,”

“am here to swear unto my sacred honor,”

“to remain humble, to spread justice,”

“to remain humble, to spread justice,”

“and to peacefully combat our enemy: The Ruizi’s.”

“and to peacefully combat our enemy: The Ruizi’s.” Ricky Smiles. He has just been sworn into his very own clique, his new family, one created by none other than his older brother: Joshua McFellr.

“Hold it!” He pauses, “Now that thou art a member, thou shalt upheave the spirits left from the soon parting generation of Modests. And if thou wilt fail, O, Fortune’s Fool wilt thou become!” Joshua snaps shut The Book of Modesty.

Deafening cheers drowns out any emotions other than excitement and happiness; the party has begun. It most certainly isn’t the biggest in the world, it’s about a modest twenty-person party. Ricky wanders about with a wide, genuine smile on his face, looking for somebody about his age.

He clumsily bumps into two girls; and of course, they are twins. Clearly, nobody can keep them straight, they just look too damn similar. And they know it.

“Hey Ricky!” They already knew his name. “We can’t wait to officially join. Y’all are so sweet!” one exclaims. “I’m Amy, that’s Mabel,” she points to her twin, “you can tell the difference because she’s an idiot.” She softly whispers.

“I can here you!” Mabel angrily states. “Besides, you can tell us apart because I’m the one that didn’t flunk the big math test last year.”

“Shut it!” Amy growled.

“Just… just stop,” Ricky laughs, “I’ll never get your names right.”

“You have four years,” one blares.

“We’re freshmen too!” the other cheers. Ricky already can’t recall who is who.

Joshua startles everybody from behind, “Are the Bagleys ready for their entry-ceremony?” With his arm around some mind-bogglingly tall girl’s waist.

“I am, dunno ‘bout her.” One of them snaps, her hands on her hips.

“And who’s that?” The other asks.

************************************

Ne’er was there a day of more fright than the onset of putting one’s mind into turmoil. A high school like this is no place for a well-govern’d youth: only people of deadly proportions should reside here, for I am not ignorant of what occurs in this facility.’ He thought.

Walking into a new school, especially Mariana High School is very scary and intimidating. The building was a large brick building in the shape of a boring square. Standing at the entrance and looking up, the school seems massive, such like massive prisons. Inside, the bricks line the inner walls, leaving little insulation from the hot weather outside, just returning from summer vacation. Sweating from heat, he quickly looked for someone his age he recognizes: Nobody.

Wait...

Her.

That girl who just walked in the door: who is that?

Nervously, he walks around to get nearer. A large crowd of people blocked her from his sight, he frantically jumps and peers around people to simply catch a glimpse of her. She was short, very short; and her eyes were emerald green. Her long, smooth hair makes her seem like a gentle, kind person: and she was.

“Lost?” She notices him and giggles, “I’m a freshman too, I’m Joyce!” Her perky enthusiasm is very soothing to him. His rational fears about this school begin to diminish.

Blushing, he manages to speak, “I’m Victor.” And smiling some more, all words from him are muffled and inaudible.

She chuckles, “I’m sure by now you know how this school works,” she nudges Victor playfully, “I can get you in one easily, just be nice and Clyde will let you in.”

Victor just smiles and nods, he knows he needs to evaluate which “clan” to join, but how can he say no? “Thanks,” he says, continually blushing, “what could go wrong?”

“Exactly!” She jumps, “This way!” She then dashes down the academic wing of the school and he ran right after her. “Hurry! We don’t have much time!”

‘She’s right,’ Victor glances at a clock, ‘class starts in 5 minutes.’

Finally, they reach the senior’s wing. “Hey Clyde!”

“Hey Joyce!” he picks her up and bring her to his lips; the two are locked together in sweet and sour, teenaged love. Victor’s heart crumples, but maintains his “normalness”. “So,” he begins, “who’s this?”

“That’s Victor, he’d like to join us.” She says, clinging to his side.

“Okay, welcome to the Ruizi’s,” he reaches to shake Victor’s Hand, “Named the group after myself!” The bell rings for class to start.

“Hey I gotta go!” Victor panics.

“Calm down,” Clyde Ruiz exclaims, “meet us at lunch, we need to talk about this, skimpy Freshman.”

Victor starts to back away, “Consider yourself a Ruizi, Victor, welcome to the family!” Clyde says.