The Corruption ✔️

Chapter VI

I'm Scared of Heights...But I'm Terrified Of Being Beaten

Tyler Foley

Andrea fit in perfectly with her posse of 'badboys', she knew when to offer a snarky comment and when to butt in with her opinions on sport. She was in the eye of the storm as they argued back and forth about the upcoming season of ice hockey. I knew what she was doing. The wall of lads around her made it nearly impossible for me to get to her.

I quickened my pace to a brisk walk until I had caught up with Trevor who was speaking passionately.

'Hey you pussies, instead of talking about who would whoop who's ass in ice hockey why don't you show it?'

As expected the boys looked at me like I was the idiotic Californian boy who didn't understand Alaskan culture.

'Pussies?' I heard a handful of bewildered echoes of my words.

Half of the boys either dismissed me as an uncultured Californian while the other half were too shocked that a stranger had called them a pussy.

'What? Are you too scared that the guy who's never played ice hockey in his life would completely obliterate you?'

That was the last straw. A couple of faces scrunched up angrily. The crowd of boys seemed to be holding a collective breath. It was the calm before the storm. All hell broke loose soon after and a string of profanities were spat at me in rapid-fire. One boy's face had reddened and his features contorted until it looked like he had bitten into a lemon. He started cursing me to hell like I had called his mother a whore. It seemed that my comment had personally offended him. Hook, line and sinker. They had easily taken the bait and rose to the challenge.

'Woah, woah, woah.' Brent (of course he would be the peace-keeper) hushed the boys. 'Come onnn! It's his first day, you bunch of hooligans! Have you got no manners? You can show him who's boss later. Today, we'll do some light-hearted sledging. Yeah?'

He was answered in disgruntled murmurs. The boy who had reacted the most explosively was trembling in rage. I made eye contact and instantly regretted it. He started making violent gestures and mouthing frantically. I looked away quickly but I could still see a red figure gesticulating furiously from the corners of my eyes. I fought the shudder that washed over me.

I hadn't been paying any attention to what he said and had turned to gauge Andrea's reaction to how he flawlessly alleviated the situation. She gazed up at him with a dreamy smile like he was an angel sent down from heaven just for her. She had never given me that look. I settled it there and then with no doubt in my mind. Brent was the competition.

'Jesus Christ, I'm friends with a bunch of thugs.' He muttered under his breath like a weary parent. 'Come on, lad.'

Brent attempted to throw an arm over my shoulder but I noticed quickly and rose to my full 6 feet so that his arm fell limply at his side.

Ha.

I saw Andrea's dreamy smile falter. Brent recovered quickly and cleared his throat.

'So, Tyler, have you got a sledge?' Brent asked lightly. 'If not you can sledge with me.'

I wracked my mind but I couldn't remember what a sledge was for the sake of me. I highly doubted I had one. And even if I did I hadn't brought anything with me.

'No, I haven't.'

I had barely got the words out of my mouth until Andrea cut in.

'You can sledge with me!' She cried enthusiastically.