Red Moon, White Moon

Chapter 9: Payback

First thing in the morning, I jumped out of bed, turned on the news channel and surfed the web to see if there were any attacks last night. I was sickened to discover that twenty people had been killed throughout the city by so-called wild dogs, but I couldn't find anything that supported a central location. I leaned back in my chair and sighed deeply. Perhaps Hayden hadn't been able to find out where the meet was going to be held. I welcomed that thought; I knew it meant that the others would be safe. Looking at my desk, I remembered the piece of paper Jack and his cronies had been yapping over. I picked it up and read it again. Still with no clue about what it meant, I fell back on to my bed and rubbed my chin. I had to make a difficult choice: did I go back down to Horror and Things and give this information to the guys or did I just forget about it? I went back and forth as I got ready for school, and, with each decision I made, I was committed to it for at least a minute. When I was ready to go out, still undecided on which route to take, I snatched the piece of paper from my desk and shoved it in my pocket.

Waiting for the bus to arrive with its obese, hairless sap of a driver, I thought about the piece of paper and what I should do. If I gave it to the group, I would be saving lives and perhaps get back in good standing; if I didn't, I would be saying goodbye to them and Andie Rae forever. I propped myself against a tree and ran my hands through my hair in frustration. The big yellow casket of death was approaching, and I could see the driver's grin. I shook my head and boarded the bus without making eye contact. I made my way to my seat and dropped down next to Xavier.

"Hey, man, how's it going?" he asked as he finished his math assignment.

Taking off my backpack and dropping it between my legs, I answered, "It's going—I mean we're going to school, right, so how good could it be?"

Xavier stopped and stared at me. "Man, I wasn't talking about school, I was talking about that," he said pointing at my arm.

"Come on, Xavier, you know that's a bunch of nonsense," I snapped back cynically.

He turned back to his textbook and simply said, "Whatever you say, dude."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I just thought you and I were going to be tight, but if you don't want to open up to me, I can't force you to," Xavier said, turning the page in his math book.

I thought about it for a second and responded the only way I could at the moment. "Look, I know you're a smart guy and I do trust you, but I need to just figure me out first. Just give it time."

He looked up and smirked at me. "Connell, take all the time you need. I just hope you know I'll be there if you need me," he said, packing up his bags as we pulled into Chamberlain.

"Thanks dude, I appreciate you getting it."

I surveyed the lot for the pride of pukes. With none of Jack's group in sight, I picked up my backpack, confused. Every day, they were here without fail to pick on someone and today—nothing. As we piled off the bus, I felt a sense of relief from the crowd as they leisurely made their way towards the Chief's Head. I continued to look in every direction, waiting for an ambush, but it never came. Taking a seat under the mighty Chief, we could see the entire parking lot, and to my delight, it was very empty today. The spot where Jack and his crew hung out had zero cars around it. The rest of the outcasts were as perplexed as I was. There was a lot of murmuring amongst the crowd, some of them pointing to the spot the pride called home.

"What do you think is going on?" asked Xavier.

"Not sure, but I don't like it at all," I answered, continuing to scan the area.

"¿Hey, chicos, donde estan los matones este morning?" Santiago asked, joining the group with Greta and Prisha in tow.

"He wants to know where the bullies are," Greta translated, slumping down onto a bench.