Why I'd Rather Be Wrong

Chapter 10, Part 1: Unexpected Ones

Jaze D'Angelo

     School just finished and I am already walking my way back to Chase's house. He said he was busy and stuff so I had no choice but to walk since we used my car last night and I forgot to fill up the tank that's why I'm unable to bring it, even though. Good thing that Chase made a convincing excuse for my absence yesterday because I actually missed a test, so they let me have it earlier at break which is totally fine for me since I also don't do anything in my spare time in school.

     Ian visited me earlier in my class just to say hi, I just like how he tries to initiate on me like he's already longing for my company. Well, I do too, actually, but that's just so bizarre of him.

     My school isn't that far away from Chase's house, it's just like an 8-minute walk, compared to our apartment, that's why I chose to just walk my way back. It's already dusk and I could already feel the chill in the air, but it's not that much of a hindrance to me, yet.

     A familiar car that I always see in school just pulled over and drove alongside me while I'm walking on the pavement. He advanced a few meters away then stopped. The car was completely still, and everything seemed so quiet as of now. I just stood there for a moment, blankly staring at it as I feel something weird about that car. When I was already compelled to continue walking and get past it like nothing, three masked guys quickly went out of the car and charged towards me, and suddenly made me flee. I immediately walked backward after they exit the vehicle, and as I faced the road behind me to run already, I bumped into someone. Our chest collided as we bumped to each other and then he immediately grabbed both of my hands and pinned them up against the wall at the side. I got afraid for a second because no cars are passing by and the sun has already set. There's no freaking way that these dudes are the ones we have gotten into a fight before, I barely even recognize their physique. He's wearing a mask that has his whole face covered except for his eyes, he glared at me and there I figured out who this might be. The other ones are just staring, kind of like letting this dude do what business he wants to do with me. From the way he gazed at me, I already had this gut feeling - that this might be Jansen. Because no one ever has and stares at me with such killer eyes like that except for that bastard.

     I hit his crotch with my knee as I could actually move them freely, how dumb, that's exactly how I outwit Jansen and he never really learns. He let go of my hand as he touched his down there while he groaned, and there I confirmed that it is Jansen, I recognized the voice now too. I attempted to run but the other dude managed to swing his bat to my feet which made me stumble and fall to the ground. I glanced at their car and realized that it was actually four of them, the other one stayed in the car, that one must be their driver. He also looked at me while I'm struggling to get up from the ground. When our eyes met, he flinched and moved closer to the window to take a careful look at me. I felt something as if that wasn't the first time I saw those eyes.

     The dude with a bat grabbed the back of my uniform and then dragged me back. "We're not done with you yet," he taunted, then dragged me back to Jansen that already recovered, and I could already feel his anger. They sat me up against the wall and guarded me while I glared at them.

     "You've always been a bastard," he said as he clenched his fists.

     "And you've always been a retard, Jansen Stephenson. Why don't you take off that mask? You don't need that anymore," I mocked. He punched me in the face, furiously. "If I make this out alive, you're not getting away from this. And if you're going to kill me, the whole school knows that you're the only one I always get into a fight with, so, what are you gonna do now?"

     "I don't care, I'd even spit on your f*****g tombstone," he said. "Give me that," he asked for the bat and the other guy gave it to him. He looked at it "Hmm, what a delightful way to die, isn't it, D'Angelo? Slowly and delicately," he said, then already attempted to swing it on me.

     "Stop!" said the dude from the car as he went out. Jansen looked at him while he stopped the bat mid-air. "He's mine," he said as he entered the scene and grabbed the bat from Jansen, and shoved him aside. "I'll just give you the final blow, couz, don't worry." He moved closer to me, prepared a stance, and attempted to swing the bat while I closed my eyes as I accepted my fate.

     "Agh!"

     I opened my eyes and I saw him kick Jansen down then hit the other dudes with the bat.

     "Run!" he yelled at me.

     I stood up slowly as I struggled. I think running away isn't the right thing to do in this situation, I gotta get my revenge on that b***h and help this guy that had the conscience to get me out of this. I flounced towards Jansen that's knocked down on the ground, I picked him up by the collar and punched him right at his freaking face, then recklessly let go of him and watched him fall to the ground.

     "HEY!" someone yelled from a distance, I looked in the direction of where the voice came from, and there I saw two people heading towards us. It was so dark I couldn't even figure out who they are from a distance.

     The guy who saved me already knocked the other guys down, he removed his mask, and yes, I've seen him before, but I couldn't point it out yet. He dropped the bat down "You're welcome," he said while he panted, and knelt on the ground due to exhaustion.

     The two guys arrived at the scene, and I realized that it was actually Flynn and Ian, I guess they went out for a jog, just by judging their outfit. Ian looked at me and the guy that saved me back and forth then looked at Jansen and company that are knocked down unconscious. He's obviously confused about what happened.

     Flynn charged towards him "WHAT THE f**k DID YOU DO TO HIM?" he said then kicked him down and grabbed him by the collar then clenched his fist, preparing to punch him.

     "FLYNN, STOP!" I yelled. "He's an ally, he helped me, it was a s**t show," I said, he stared at me for a second and already let go of him.

     Ian approached me and put both of his hands on my shoulders "What happened here? What happened to your eye?" deeply concerned, he asked.

     "These idiots wanna mug me, thankfully this guy - he's supposed to be one of them but he betrayed them for some reason to help me."

     "I have a name, you know," he said as he stood up and brushed the dirt off of his shoulder. "My name's Lawrence, Lawrence Stephenson. Jansen is my cousin, I just tagged along because I thought about letting him have his revenge on this 'someone' that he said 'assaulted' him, when I saw that it was you I doubted what he said, so I thought about getting you out of it."

     "Why?" I asked. "Just by judging my appearance, you think I'm nice as heck? Do you think I can't really assault that bastard? Well, I'm not actually gonna do that, but I could."

     "No, because...nevermind... I just wanted to help you, just be grateful," he said then already picked Jansen up and carried him into the backseat of their car. "I've already helped you take them down, please don't report them anymore, I'm gonna make sure this won't happen again. I'm not actually gonna help him, he just forced me into this, that's why I tagged along as their driver only. His mother is ill, she has cancer and he's the only one helping her, and that's why he wanted to be the number one in class, just to make her mom proud even in her last days. But I guess you were his rival, that's why he's doing this to you, he also has anger management issues, that's why he's always like that. All that I'm telling you is true, I'm not just making excuses just for his own sake. If you're gonna report him, just report me instead, I'd rather take all of the blame for this."

     Pissed off, Flynn approached him "Are you crazy? Yeah, sure his mother would be proud of his f*****g son mugging someone, huh? Do you see what happened to my best friend? That guy deserves to be in -"

     "I understand," I cut Flynn off as I replied to him.

     "You're just gonna let them get away with this? Are you out of your f*****g mind?" Flynn said while he immediately walked up to me, irritatedly. "Man, that guy has to pay!" he bared his teeth at me.

     "Just let them be, Flynn, I already had my revenge anyway."

     "Thank you, I thought even your manners changed, but I was wrong, it's still you. Also, I never thought that this is the place where I'm able to see you again," he said, and left me all confused.

     "What do you mean?" I asked, but he already turned his back on me and woke the other dudes up and they already went in their car.

     "We'll meet each other again, I also just transferred to the school you both were attending. I'm gonna make you remember, I will," he said, then already went in their car and we watched them drove away.

     Remember what? Did he just do that to me to distract me so that they could flee? Or... was that supposed to be taken literally? I don't know, but I was actually compelled to let them go. Some part of me just can't resist him, like what the heck. What's wrong with so many guys these days? I've never been bothered this much with guys.

     I gazed upon them "Why are you guys here?" I asked.

     "We just went out for a jog before dinner, then I saw the fight from a distance. Are you sure you're okay?" Ian asked.

     "Yeah, I'm okay, I'll live."

     Flynn was just staring at me, I couldn't even tell if he's gonna speak to me or not, but I could feel that he's actually concerned.

     "Aren't you going back home yet? Seeing you last night wasn't enough, we miss you. Ever since you left us there, we also don't talk that much to each other anymore," he said while he looked down as if he were actually telling the truth but was embarrassed to say it right in front of Flynn.

     "I uh...I'll think about it..." I replied with a smile. I whipped out my phone and contacted Chase to drive me back to his house. "I'm gonna go now, thank you, guys, no need to worry about me anymore," I said, then already turned back and started to walk away, coldly, but merely against my will. When I told them I'll think about it, I'm actually uncertain about that. I don't think I could go back there already, but, I don't know, I might suddenly change my mind, now that Ian's begging for me. I feel like the others really want me there already.

     I just kept walking away, trying my best not to look back just to check if they're already walking away now too. I just sighed, as I feel like there's still a certain amount of guilt inside of me that makes me turn my back on them at this point. I walked off like a corpse, as my right leg hurts because that bastard had the literal audacity to hit my knee with a freaking thick and hard bat. I know for sure that it'll have a bruise soon, but I'm thankful that that's the only thing that I'm gonna be worrying about. To conclude what just happened, I can't even think of an exact and valid reason why that guy decided to help me. I know, it could be just his pure conscience and consideration to people that immediately just hit him and made him feel bad for tagging along to something awful. He spoke like we've been really close before, not just acquaintances, and I felt that. He said that he's gonna make me remember too. I mean, I'm actually looking forward to that. Maybe he's the answer to some of the questions that have been bothering me lately? I have a feeling, but I'm totally clueless.

     "Wait long?" he asked sarcastically as he pulled over right in front of me on the sidewalk. "Hold on - what happened to your face? What happened to you?" he said then panicked as he exits the car to approach me. He walked up to me and held my face then made me look up to him while he inspected every part of it like it's some sort of property of his. His face started to show bits of anger, frustration, and worry, all at the same time. "Who did this to you? Your friends?"

     "No, no, calm down, it's not them," I replied, rapidly.

     "Then why the hell did I saw them on the street on my way here?"

     I facepalmed "It's actually that one asshole who gathered his peers and try to mug me. I'm referring to the guy that I always get into a fight with at school, Jansen, luckily his cousin's conscience immediately hit him and helped me by betraying his cousin from doing what he wants. He just punched me in the face and pretty much beaten my knee, that's all, not really a big of a deal," I explained and he glared at me for some reason. I didn't mind explaining furthermore details about that guy that helped me, as I couldn't really take something out of my tongue and say it to him. I might just end up making the both of us wonder about him. "And yeah, my friends, uh - they witnessed the fight from afar when they went out for a jog, they reached the scene but it was already over."

     "Not that big of a deal? Really? What if something else happened to you and not just a damn black eye and bruise? You could've just asked me to drive you back to my place, I could put my freaking paperwork aside just to make sure you're okay, you know?"

     "I've already been a bother to you, and I don't wanna make that as a habit, and your place is not that far from here anyway that's why I just decided to have a walk..." I replied. I looked away while he's still holding my face. It's weird how ridiculously fast things were progressing. I was just talking about how we act like a couple so fast and now we're like a couple fighting over something irrational.

     He closed his eyes then just sighed, tremendously, and I literally caught every air he emitted. "And what are your plans about those guys?" he asked.

     "I already had my revenge anyway, so I chose to let them go. I could always do something when that bastard initiates to do something to me either way, so, no worries," I said in a convincing tone, trying to put him on my side as I don't want him to oppose because I don't really know what this man could do to avenge me. To be honest, I am not really fond of having revenge, I'm just letting them have what they deserve, a result of messing with the wrong person. "Let's just go back to your place now, shall we? I still have something else to tell you though."

     "Alright, fine. Ugh, I don't really understand why are you so kind but in a rude way..."