Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ARVIN'S HEATED GAZE STAYED FIXATED ON YOUR BACK AS WILLIAM PULLED YOU AWAY FROM THE SCENE. He didn't miss the warning glare the other boy made to Arvin when he noticed his stare on you, but he just couldn't look away from your retreating back. He hadn't notice you when he first walked into the building most students called hell, his mind was too focused on trying to blend into the background like a Chamaeleon in a forest who tries to hide from the predators who roam his home. His little sister Lenora had missed her bus so his grandma made him drive her to school. Arvin always showed up to school earlier than any other student to avoid others, his teacher normally keeping their door open knowing the boy would just find a way in if he didn't. But his sisters problem became his the second he noticed Gene Dinwoodie's car was in its parking spot acting like a flag of death waving in the air to unsettle his own prey.
He had heard your laugh when he landed his first punch but the anger that grew and burned in his veins blinded his sense to reality, the only thing set in his mind was beating the shit out of Gene. To feel his bones crack and bruise underneath his knuckles as he slams them into his face. His daddy taught him to never let any other man talk down to you and your family, to spit on their names and think they could just laugh in his face and walk away like they accomplished something. No, they gonna get what they deserve like the man who talked bad about his momma behind him and his daddy's back that day. He just needed to wait for the right moment, switch the role of predator and prey. And no predator fills their belly without waiting for the right time to strike.
"-Now I know you've been having a rough time Mr. Russell," Arvin blinks. He hadn't even noticed the teacher was talking again, only blinking back to reality when you turned the corner without looking back but he caught the little smile on your lips. It wasn't filled with joy or happiness. No, it was filled with the revenge he befriended the first time he had met the luxury of Gene and his idiot friends, Tommy Matson and Billy Conner. Two football players who have their heads far up their ass. That smile made a curious bud in his head to bloom. If you were like him then he wondered who were the ones to spark that revenge. "-But that don't mean you can go hardwire like some crazed boy. For now, you'll have lunch detention. Maybe then you could get God to forgive your sins for today. Now get to class."
Arvin rolls his eyes at the teacher before picking up his bag and walking away. It was bullshit that he was the one to get into trouble when Gene started it by saying those nasty things. But if there was one thing Arvin Russell knew about life, it was that it was unfair to the good hearted. If there really was a God you would think he'd favor the good and not the bad in the world.
Well, to Arvin God could go fuck himself for all he cares about.
_______________
"Hey Matson, you hear what Will's girl gonna be doing today?" Arvin stops his writing, his attention quickly swinging away from the work his teacher gave the class and towards the two students who sit two rows in front of him.
