Red Room

19

That afternoon, Moloch went to Ursvik to hang out with his buddy, who most likely couldn't wait to hear how the prank turned out. Just as he expected, Juho was impatient to hear about Erik's reaction.

"Well? How'd it go?", Juho questioned as soon as he opened the door, not even giving his younger friend the time to catch his breath and make himself comfortable.

"The principal is trying to sort this shit out.", the albino started to explain.

"Not gonna happen.", the older boy dismissed the idea with a nonchalant hand gesture, "School staff never really helps. He's probably forgotten about it by now anyway."

"Maybe.", Moloch shrugged.

"Anything else?"

"Actually, me and Kata would have got our asses kicked if it weren't for the principal who showed up at the right moment. So, it seems school staff does help a bit after all."

The older boy let his face fall in his hands and sighed. Erik must have guessed it had been them, since he couldn't have been in the building at that time. Nobody was there. Or he could have recognised Moloch's handwriting, altough Juho doubted that. But who knew? Nevertheless, it was clear that none of the two sides was willing to make peace anytime soon. And seeing the outcasts weren't able to put that pain in the ass of a guy in his place on their own, Juho decided to step in the "war" on their side.

"Okay then!", he concluded, "If the dickhead wants some ass whooping, we'll give him some ass whooping."

The younger one narrowed his eyes, not quite sure how to react to his friend's idea, and questioned, "You're not seriously planning a school yard fight, are you?"

Juho 'pff'-ed, "Of course not. Then all of us would be in shit. But...", he threw an arm around the high school boy's shoulders and smirked devilishly, "You can't get in shit with the school if you fight outside of it."

Still doubtful, the albino removed his friend's arm from his body and countered, "No, but we'll still get in shit with him. The fucker's not blind, y'know? He's gonna see us."

"Whoa, wait a minute! You don't think we'll randomly jump him in the middle of the day?"

"Yes?"

"Nope! That'd be dumb as fuck. It's like you'd sign your own death sentence."

Moloch was puzzled. What exactly did he have in mind?

"What do you wanna do then?", the newby wanted to know.

"We'll jump him at night."

"What the fuck?"

"What you've heard: we're kicking his ass tomorrow night. It'll be Friday, so you won't have to go to school the morning after. Plus, he's surely gonna be fucking wasted by that time. He'll have no ideea who beat him."

Moloch was still skeptical about this plan. If Erik accused him and Kataleya for the vandalism without any evidence, he could act the same way about the beating. But since there seemed to be no better, or at least a more peaceful alternative, he ended up agreeing to play along. Still, something told him that he was going to regret it.

"Oh! Bring your girl along!", Juho randomly added.

"Kata, you mean?"

"Yeah, her."

The other one rose an eyebrow in confusion. His friend was making less and less sense. The plan hadn't even started yet and Moloch was already beginning to regret agreeing to take part in it.

"Why?"

"To impress her, duh!", the older one explained, "Show her what a badass you are! And if that's not gonna be enough to make her suck your dick, then I don't know what else will."

Should Moloch mention that said girl was 15? He couldn't imagine somebody so young have pornstar skills. But whatever. At that moment, it didn't really matter how good Kataleya was in bed. His problem was something else: he was anything but badass. Up to that point, he always needed somebody who had his back: sometimes Juho, other times Kataleya. How did Juho imagine he could have a chance against a bully?

"Uhm, Juho?", Moloch spoke, "I'm not even able to defend myself alone. How the fuck do you expect me to kick Erik's ass?"

"I know that. We'll beat him together, no worries. And, since Kata's gonna be there too, she'll keep an eye on the street to make sure nobody catches us. Got it?"

"I guess.", the albino sighed.

It was too late to back out, wasn't it? Not that his buddy would let that happen anyway.

The following day, Moloch tried his best to avoid Erik. Whenever the bully would look his direction, he'd turn away. He didn't want another scandal.

The more he thought about Juho's idea, the worse it sounded. A prank that involved vandalising a locker wasn't that serious. It got cleaned by the next day, the principal soon gave up on the search for the vandal and even Erik seemed to have calmed down. For sure, he hadn't forgotten about it, but at least he stopped fussing. However, an action that involved physical harm was graver. What if he'd recognise them? Or what if a neighbor saw them? Or what if there would be other people with him? And even if the plan would go smoothly, there had to be consequences. Erik could attack them randomly as well.  If he could do it for the locker affair, then why wouldn't he do it for the fight? Was it really too late to back out?

Moloch hadn't said a word to Kataleya about the "prank" she was involved in without even being asked. Not only would she never agree, but she would also turn him in if that was what it took to make him stop getting himself and her in any other stupid  fight. Consequently, his plan was the following: simply wake her up and drag her to Juho's car when he'd arrive. She couldn't fight back if she had no idea what was happening. Sure, actually doing this was going to be much harder, but he couldn't think of a more efficient solution.

It seemed he started to follow Juho's conviction: if something wouldn't work the nice way, then make it work by force.