Schoolyard Blues

Chapter Four: Too Late

M.C. sat outside of the school on Monday, puffing a cigarette and avoiding eye contact with anyone.
He had been like this since yesterday, in a generally mad mood and constantly fiending for nicotine.
"Look, Matthew," I said as I walked up to him and he gave me a weird look, "I don't mean to call you that in an offensive way. This is Xavier to Matthew, not X to M.C."
"What's the difference?" M.C. asked me, before I replied, "X is a character. Deep down I'm the same as you, just dumber."
"You've got a relatively good head on your shoulders, Xavier," Matthew told me, "Compared to Slim, Lucky, CJ, and Ajax at least. Michelle's head is prolly better."
"I'm sure you think about Michelle's head a lot," I joked, "Maybe I don't think about mine enough."
"You don't, to put it bluntly," Matthew replied, "You make irrational decisions and get yourself into trouble. But you've got a good heart."
"I want to change," I revealed to him, "I really do."
"So do I," Matthew remarked as he hit his cigarette, "Sometimes I wish I was just a normal kid. None of these addictions, no illegal shit, just a normal kid who goes to school, maybe a little popular."
"Get rid of those glasses and cut your hair," I advised to him, "Maybe you'd get some bitches."
"Maybe I will," Matthew told me before blowing out smoke, "Maybe it's too late."
"Don't be such a... what's the word?" I began, before he answered, "Nihilist."
"Yeah, you should look at things like the cup is half full," I proposed, then he proceeded to respond, "The cup isn't half full. In all technicality the cup is half empty if you drank half of the cup. If you fill it half way then it would be half full but who fills a cup half way?"
"You're thinking too deep into the metaphor," I joked, "I'm just saying be happy with what you have."
"How can I be happy with what I have if what I have is a nicotine addiction, some gangbanger friends, and Ajax on my dick?" Matthew asked me.
"I guess by pretending it's okay," I responded,
"That's how I do it."

Inside, our U.S. history teacher, Mr. Neil continued to yap, saying, "The Smiley Murders were a series of killings which happened in our city of Dirtville, Oklahoma, throughout the year of-"
"Oh my God, man," Slim complained, "When will this dude shut up?"
"Never," M.C. said from behind me, as we shared this class with him, "He doesn't stop until the bell rings, I don't think we even do work in here he's just obsessed with serial killers."
"Guess you and Mr. Neil have something in common," I joked, "Have you read up about the Smiley murders at all?"
"I have, actually," M.C. informed us, "The dude, his name was Darrell I think? No, Dale! His journal was left in his apartment and he talked about some sort of creature following him. Creepy shit."
"Oh no the Smiley man is gonna make us kill people," Slim replied in a sarcastic manner, "That's bullshit, the dude was insane."
"Who knows," M.C. responded, "Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't."
Suddenly, the bell rang, and it was time for lunch.

At the lunch table, M.C. blew bubbles in his strawberry milk and Slim peered at Ajax behind his back.
Ajax kept glancing at us, then trying to move closer, and honestly it was making me uncomfortable.
The tension was rising, and as I was about to get up and dump my tray, M.C. shouted, "Look out!"
Suddenly, I felt a throbbing pain in my head after a hard impact from something plastic.
I turned around to see CJ, with a tray in his hands, before he hit me in the face with it.
M.C. lunged out of his seat and charged CJ, taking the tray from him and slamming it against his face, then tossing it to the side and punching him in the throat.
Ajax grabbed Slim, but Slim elbowed him in the nose and started to throw punches wildly until he fell to the ground.
I slowly rose up, and I noticed someone I didn't recognize coming up to me.
It was a boy, a little older than me with curly brown hair and a small mustache.
The boy grabbed my shoulder, before headbutting me onto the table and getting on top of me.
M.C. tugged the unknown boy's leg, and made him slip down, cracking his forehead against the table.
I threw the strawberry milk at the boy's face, then I kicked him twice.
"This your final warning," Slim told Ajax as CJ lay unconscious from being hit in the head so many times, "Get the fuck back, my guy."
"I ain't your guy," Ajax said to Slim, "And it's too late to back off now."
Out of nowhere, M.C. threw a right hook straight to Ajax's face, busting one of his teeth out and physically stunning him.
"Short life, motherfucker!" Slim yelled before swinging at Ajax, knocking him out, "You don't know who the fuck you messin' with!"
The curly haired kid slowly got up, but Slim grabbed him by the shirt and said, "You're coming with me."
Slim dragged him into the kitchen area, and from that point on I had no vision of the two.
I heard yelling and banging, then silence and suddenly the door swung open, revealing the curly haired kid badly beaten and Slim without a scratch.
"This right here is Dirk," Slim told us, "He's gonna be our informant or we're gonna hurt him real bad."
"I didn't agree to this-" Dirk began, before Slim punched him in the back of the head, throwing him on the table and stating, "Run along now, kiddo."
"What the hell just happened?" I asked Slim, to which he replied,
"We got jumped."

In the shed by the train tracks, Slim, Lucky, M.C. and I sat, smoking cigarettes.
"So you're telling me you fought Ajax," Lucky asked, "And won?"
"Short answer would be yes," M.C. replied, "Long answer would be no one truly won because the situation has only gotten worse."
"Shut up, wildest," I incorrectly said, before M.C. corrected me with, "You mean Nihilist."
"Same difference," I responded as I hit my cigarette, and he said, "It's not the same at all but very different."
"Can both y'all shut the fuck up?" Slim proposed before taking out a blunt, "Just chill the fuck out.
There's a party tomorrow, and we gon' skip school to go and avoid Ajax."
"What kinda party?" I questioned, and he answered, "Senior party. I'm chill with the dude throwing it and he said I can bring some friends."
"Freshman crashing a senior party?" M.C. asked, "Fuckin' bet."
"Can I come?" Lucky asked as he hit a cigarette.
"Fuck to the hell no," Slim said bluntly, "Nah I'm just playin' you can come."
"Party on a wednesday?" I continued, "Sounds weird."
"I don't fuckin' know don't question it," Slim replied,
"Just have fun."