Speed Kills

Little Wuss

2 - Andre - Little Wuss

It’s been a week since the first day of school and its felt like the best week and worst week of my life at the same time. On one hand I have spent this whole week hanging out with the most important friends in my life. Jamie and Nick are getting along and they’re both my best friends. Monday we studied at Nick’s house. Tuesday we went to the movies. Wednesday we went to the mall but today on Thursday, we took a walk through the park and dropped Jamie off at her house because, she’s having a sleepover at her friend Sarah’s house. When we get there Nick walks ahead so Jamie and I have a little time to ourselves (Coolest friend ever). I put my arm around her and start walking up her steps. 

She says," I really like hanging out with you Andre, I’m so comfortable with you. It feels like I can tell you anything. "

I don’t know how to respond to that so I reply, “I feel the same way about you Jamie.” Then I realize how lame that was and we both giggle. 

“So um, I guess this is bye ‘till tomorrow” she says. 

“Yea, bye.” I close my eyes and lean in hoping that I’m caught by her soft lips. It takes an eternity but, eventually feel her hair brush my face and then her nose touch mine.

“Hey wuss! Whatcha doing?” I hear and I already know who it is. Jamie and I look up and we see Mark. 

Nick

“Dre! Don’t do it he not worth it.” I scream. Andre and Mark and standing face to face now with no emotion in their face. They have their hands down by their sides with their fist clenched but it doesn’t look like they’ll be there for long. I’m behind Andre and I’m trying to pull him back but he’s stronger than he looks. 

Mark asks,” So what’s it gonna be?” Andre just stares at him with fire in his eyes. He looks like a different person now, like a killer. Mark is staring at him with that same smirk on his face that he always has when he annoys Andre. What did Mark do to him? Andre doesn’t answer. Mark says,” I knew you weren’t going to do anything. You little wuss.” and he starts to poke Andre on his forehead for every syllable. “You! Lit-tle! Wu-” and there’s a loud pop. 

Everything pauses for a second and Andre glows a blue light. With incredible speed he grabs Mark’s finger, twist, and pulls making Mark flip over his back. Mark slams on the concrete with a yelp. Andre kicks Mark in the side of his head with blinding speed making Mark scream. I can’t really see how but Mark flips back on his feet in a blur. 

I shout, “What the-” Guys on the other court look over and see it's a fight. They rush over and start cheering for either side. Mostly Mark though. 

Mark attacks lunging at Andre with blinding speed. He swings or at least I think that was his arm. Andre ducks and tries to kick Mark in the back of his head. But his leg passes right through.

 Then I see Mark behind Andre. I yell,"Andre watch out!" But It's too late. Andre gets hit twice. BANG. SMACK. He stumbles backwards and looks at Mark. His eyes stone cold. 

He rushes at Mark. Mark yells," Take this Wuss!" He starts to punch Andre in the face. It goes straight through! The crowd gasps. 

Mark looks around and Andre appears behind him and taps him on his shoulder. Mark turns around and Andre uppercuts him with everything he's got! 

It makes a big gust of wind. It makes hats fly off and balls roll away. Mark flies a foot in the air and lands hard on his back. Everyone looks at Mark. Then at Andre. And back at Mark. Andre looks over at us.

I barely have time to think it happened so fast but I know by the look in Andre’s eyes that he isn’t even close to finished with Mark.

 I have to break this up or someone might be going to the hospital in a stretcher (not pointing any fingers). I reach for Andre’s arm but i get nothing but air. He’s already straddling Mark and punching him in the face.

 My jaw drops. I can only watch at this point.  I wince when every punch connects. After the seventh punch, Mark is out cold. 

Andre stands up and looks up at me and the crazy look fades from his eyes. He sees my expression and he looks back down to see the bleeding Mark. He stands up and a look of guilt passes his face. “Meet me at my house in 15 minutes” Andre says and walks off. I watch him and then I hear Mark groan," You better run away." So I kick him one more time for good measure and say," Shut up wuss." He whimpers and goes back to sleep. I walk away to the sound of Mark snoring.

Andre

The walk home was difficult. I kept thinking about how I not only knew exactly what I was doing, but I liked it. Hey you can’t blame me! He’s made my last week Hell at Williams High. I’m walking and thinking. Thinking….thinking….thinking. 

Three blocks left. Could I have just walked away? Would he have left me alone if I did? 

Two blocks left. No. It wasn’t going to end. He was going to testing me until I snapped. 

One block left. Well, he got what he wanted. He deserved this.

In front of my door. I hold the key in my hand. I’m not ready to go inside. I just need some time to think. I sit down on my porch chair and think about what made me lose my cool. Not that I ever had any cool but you know what I mean. I look up and I see Nick at the end of my block jogging towards my house. He sees me on my porch and he starts his way up my steps. We look at each other. I can’t quite place the expression on his face. It’s a mixture of awe, confusion, and fear. I’ve never seen Nick scared of anything and the fact that he could be scared of me, makes me scared.

“Dude. How did you do that?”, he asks. “Do what?”, I reply. He says, “You know! That. What happened at the basketball court.” 

“Oh…”

“Well? That wasn’t normal Dre.”

“ What did you think was gonna happen! You thought I was just going to let this go on longer? I had to end it.”

Nick starts shouting,“How do you know it’s over! How do you he won’t bring more people?” 

I start shouting,” Then I’ll handle them too! You saw how fast I moved, they won’t be able to touch me. ” 

“Listen, I don’t know how you did that, but that’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about. That was Amazing!” Nick jumps up. “I couldn’t even hold you back! It’s like you had-” We say in unison,” Super-Speed!” We both gasp. Nick says, “Well It’s more like Super-Agility.” I give him a challenging look. " Same thing! But um, you can’t say anything about this yet, ok?” 

“I know Flash.”, Nick says, rolling his eyes and smiling.

“Don’t call me Flash!”