New Places, New Faces Pt. 3 (Edit)

This is simply a fictional story. Any similarities between real people and the characters are purely coincidental.

Enjoy!

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Edward’s day started very poorly. He got out of bed at 05:00 AM, his stomach a bottomless pit from the lack of dinner the previous day, his muscles sore from the violent movement he did without properly warming up first, and his wound still throbbing.

‘Jesus, if I won the fight and I feel like this, I imagine how the other guys feel like right now.’ Edward thinks before chuckling to himself. Sure the others hadn’t faced 6 people at once and almost get cut open, but he was sure he felt some bones give away under the strength of his blows. Maybe that’s why his fists hurt even more?

Even with the mental self-amusement, Edward was pretty much having a bad day. He felt like a blade of grass chewed on by a cow for hours, only to get swallowed, then regurgitated to be chewed on again. He shook this mildly disgusting thought out of his head while getting his usual exercise gear. He put on a t-shirt before putting on a grey hoodie, both to keep the heat inside and close to his body, and to hide the wound.

He tip-toed his way downstairs while still barefoot, deciding on quelling his hunger and quenching his thirst before his work-out. He scarfed down a few pieces of fruit like a rabid dog that had been starving for weeks, but managed to hold himself back to drinking only one glass of water. He didn’t need a full stomach while exercising, it only weighed him down. He made his way to the door, putting his sneakers on only outside.

The air outside felt very cold and he immediately regretted not putting on a thicker coat, or maybe even a warm sweater, as he could see his own breath in the dark, morning air. He decided to just go with what he already had put on, figuring he’d get warmed up plenty with his workout, stretching to the best of his ability at the moment, feeling some of the muscle’s soreness fade away. Still he had to be very careful about his upper body, because of his wound. ‘Don’t need it to start bleeding mid-run’ He thought before going off in his daily ritual, running down a few blocks. For some reason he found himself heading for Kelly’s home, maybe because it was the only place aside from school that he learnt how to get to on foot. He stopped a couple of blocks away, turning for the uphill run back home. He didn’t feel in a good condition for doing pushups, so he settled on doing a few sets of squats and sit-ups. He built up quite a good sweat before going back inside.

He felt the tiredness catch up to him as his body cooled down, looking at a clock on the wall to see it’s 05:45. He walks into the kitchen while following the delicious scent of freshly brewed coffee, finding amber still in her nightie drinking a cup of ‘wake the hell up’ to get a proper start to her day.

“Morning” she greeted, her brain already alert and her body getting kick-started by the brown brew “I didn’t see you at all yesterday after getting home from work.” “Yeah, I was pretty tired. I slept right through dinner, that’s why I woke up earlier today. Speaking of which, this workout awakened a monster in the depths of my stomach, and I doubt you’ve had your breakfast yet. I could whip something up for us if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes for me to take my shower” Amber simply nods as Edward makes his ways upstairs to his room, still trying to be as silent as possible. He takes off his hoodie and tosses it onto his bed before walking out to the bathroom with his towel. He brushes his teeth and then takes a cold water to wash away his tiredness before heading back to his room.

He took less than five minutes to dry himself off and get dressed in the usual tee and jeans plus boots attire, and he left his room, noticing the bathroom door closing. Amber probably went to take her own shower, so he made his way outside and started cooking breakfast in large amount for the entire family. He made eggs, scrambled for the rest of the family and egg whites for him, hash browns, toast, bacon and sausages. He debated on whether he should make pancakes or not, but he felt that’d be too much. Soon the delicious smell of the various foods, plus the coffee Amber had brewed filled the household, commanding the inhabitants to get out of bed.

James Anthony made his way into the kitchen expecting to find Amber cooking breakfast, but makes out a surprised half-grunt when he finds Edward behind the stove instead.

“Hey Ed” James greeted as he got to the coffee machine, pouring himself a cup. “Hey James” Edward greeted back as he set the table for the family. They didn’t force a conversation, just reveling in the pleasant silence as they both sat down at the table and started eating. Edward just lazily swallowed down his egg whites with a glass of orange milk as James enjoyed some bacon with sausage and scrambled eggs. Lord, did the large man have a large appetite. Soon they had Amber joining them at the table already in her jacket and suit pants, her dyed black hair caught up in a businesswoman-like bun. She enjoyed some hash browns in silence as well.

Soon they had the rest of the family join them at the table to eat. “Dad really went all-out today on breakfast” Lisa said between forkfuls of scrambled eggs as James answered “Actually Ed made breakfast today, not me. He woke up really early for it too.” “Really didn’t see Edward as the type to cook” Caddie teased with a smirk before Edward shot back “Well, just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean others are forced not to.” “Wow, burn.” Lucas said with a small chuckle as everybody put their plates away getting ready to head out. Amber quickly kisses her family goodbye before hopping into her car and driving off for her office, as James hits the kids with something unexpected “I will be out most of the day, I have some matters to sort out so Lisa today you will take Edward and your siblings to school, and then pick them up” “Wait what do you mean? I was heading right back to bed, I only got up because of the smell of Ed’s food!” “Well, then I guess you’ll have to postpone your beauty sleep as I’m very busy today. Be good.” He says before also heading out into a Taxi, having left the keys of his own car on the counter for Lisa. She quickly brushed her teeth and put on a pair of Yoga pants and a shirt to be presentable as she drove them to school.

As soon as the car pulled over in front of the school the three hopped out, Edward quickly making his way to his first class. As he made his way to his seat he had his attention drawn when someone cleared their throat. He looked back to see Hannah, the redhead giving him a harsh look.

“Edward Ramos you are a jerk!” “Well good morning to you too, Hannah.” “Frankly, do you think that having someone three times your size and with half your brain power strip you with his eyes is equivalent to a good morning? Ever since that little ‘date’ Monday and the tour yesterday he’s been hanging around me with a puppy face as if he expected me to acknowledge his statute as a saint!” “Well, at least it shows how beautiful you are.”

Hannah is caught off guard by the compliment, not knowing if she should be thanking Edward or cursing him, but before she could make the choice the bell rings and class starts. Josh doesn’t take long to interrupt Edward’s focus on the lesson though. “Hey Edward, did you know that that punk kid Bosh and his friends got their asses handed to them pretty badly yesterday, right in school grounds? Some people say that it was a turf war with a different group or something, but…” he hesitates before saying the last part out “There’s a rumor going around that you did it. Crazy, right?” he said hoping that Edward would deny his accusations.

“Nope, I did do it. I’d prefer it if you kept the rest of the school ignorant about it though.” He whispers back. ‘No way, he took 6 people all on his own and he doesn’t have a scratch? That can’t be true!’ Josh tried to tell himself, but he saw just how serious Ed’s eyes looked. Then another realization hits him “If I had gone back on my word and tried to mess with you again you’d have done that to me too, right?” “Oh dear god no, Josh!” Edward said as if it was the most outrageous thing in the world before letting a malicious grin split his face in two as he spoke “I’d do something much, much worse.” Then, as fast as he said that he motioned for Josh to quiet down and turned back to the class. Josh just sat there stunned, those few sentences repeating themselves in his mind for the rest of the lesson.

As soon as the bell rings Edward rushes out to the cafeteria. He had once again forgotten to pack his lunch at home, so he had to make do with Spaghetti with meatballs that smelled more of shellfish than anything. He loaded up his tray and made his way to Caddie’s table, not wanting anyone to interrupt his lunch like it had happened before. He sets his tray down, greeting Debra, Kelly and Cameron, but before he can take a bite out of his food he feels a heavy hand placed on his shoulder. He doesn’t even bother trying to eat on, turning around to face the owner of the hand. He finds Ethan there, a look in his eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher as he speaks “Edward, would you step out with me for a second?” Edward isn’t very inclined on the invitation, but he decides to get things over with as soon as possible to go back to his, quickly making his way out of the cafeteria. He follows the corridors that he had already become accustomed to, making his way out to the large football field, sitting on one of the bleachers, Ethan sitting a couple of feet away from him as he spoke “Come on man, I thought we were cool about my bro. He tried to throw shit your way, you threw it back, shit’s even and all is good in the land of the lord or something like that.” He says before placing a hand on each of his knees as he keeps on speaking “Then why did you feel the need to get a gang to blindside my boys and fuck them up for no need? Sad thing is that I really felt a good vibe about you, so I didn’t want to have to fuck you up. I mean, if it were a fair one on one that’d be one thing, but fifteen people suddenly assaulting six people, that’s a whole entire thing. Plus, family is family.”

Edward chuckles softly, but then that chuckles progresses into an aggressive laughing fit, causing him to actually lose his breath for a while as he gasped for air, his wound opening anew. Evan seemed pretty pissed off at his attitude, about ready to break a pickup truck or two in half before Edward halted him with his words “Is that what he said? That we sprung him on a fifteen on six? Oh I can tell you the odds were greatly unbalanced, but it was six against one for them. Do you really think that if it really were 15 people jumping the six of them, even more, unexpectedly, their bruises would be so few? I mean, I did go a little bit aggressive and broke a few bones, but I didn’t do any permanent damage, no internal damage. In exchange, look at what your brother did to me” Ed said before pulling back the short sleeve of his tee, revealing the wound on his upper arm, opened by his laughing fit.

Evan stopped and Edward could see the gears turning inside of his head “It really doesn’t make sense, if you wanted to jump them why would you do it at school, where you could be caught and get expelled? Plus, how’d you manage to get such a large gang of non-students within the school grounds? Well maybe that’s that, but I don’t believe you’d really beat six people in a head-on fight, so you probably started the fight by attacking them dirty by surprise!”

Edward gave Evan an eerie smile, which morphed into a maniac grin before he spoke “Nope. Head on. Your boy threatened a dear friend of mine with that knife of his. He threatened to hurt her, then to rape her with his five friends, and then to go after my cousin and her friends to do the same. Do you think I’d just let that slide? He’s lucky he didn’t get more than I gave him. I’m actually questioning my call about breaking his elbow, though his arm must be hurting quite a bit from the vigorous twisting I gave it. And never again presume that you’ll just beat me up and I’ll take it lying down like a good girl. Don’t try to threaten me again Evan, or you’ll regret it” Edward said as he jumped down from the bleachers, not waiting for a response as he made his way into the main school building to the ring of the bell.

He decided to swing by the nurse’s office, having her check out his wound and giving him an excuse for being tardy for his teacher. He shows her his wound, claiming to have gotten another of his shirts snagged on a nail still at school. She disinfected the wound, applied a few stitches and gave him some antibiotics before sending him off for class with a note. He knocked on the classroom’s door before entering, finding his history lesson already in progress, being given by a rather jovial-looking 42 year old man, his name plaque reading Mr. Johnson Neel.

“Well Hello mister Edward, decided to grace us with your presence?” He said in a half-joke, half-sarcasm “So, to what do we owe the tardiness?” Edward doesn’t even flinch as he hands him the note, then pulls his sleeve up to emphasize the point, his back turned to the class causing the wound to not be seen by them. The color on the teacher’s face drains out as he sees the long, stitched wound. It appeared worse than it was from Ed’s earlier laughter fit, and it seems to be enough to cause him to get sick. He quickly excuses himself, telling everybody to study the book from pages 32 to 56 until he got back, rushing out to probably seek a toilet or head to the nurse himself. Edward shrugs before heading back to his seat, most the class soon goofing around in the absence of a teacher.

“Hey Edward, what did you do to make Mr. Neel so disturbed?” Hannah asked, and Edward decided to give out the most amusing answer he could muster “Well, by his joviality he looked much like a Warrior, The Animal, young, strapping, But his morals were in Decadence, proven by the fact that he tried to show me Hell by mocking me in front of my peers, but I decided to Fire It Up and change him from a joking mood to The Sound Of Silence, since I am The Vengeful One, so I showed him The Light in an image that is now Indestructible and Immortalized in his mind. I told him ‘Open Your Eyes’ and ‘You’re Mine’ when I showed him Pain Redefined , which sent him to the Land Of Confusion and got him Stricken and Down With The Sickness, probably caused him to utter a Prayer.”

“Huh?”

Was Hanna’s confused answer to Edward’s tirade, before he sighed and shook his head as he spoke “I don’t know why I even bother when people don’t have the good taste to recognize it, long story short I showed him something he didn’t want to see and he felt sick to his stomach” Before a third, female voice intervened into their conversation, directing itself to Edward in an amused tone “Funny and got good taste in music, yet not stuck up on it. I like that”

Edward turned his head to the side he heard the voice come from, spotting a punky, trashy-dressed green-eyed blonde with her loose hair reaching her waist , her eyes heavy with black eyeliner which contrasted from her fair skin, a pretty, rounded face and a small, cute button nose. She was wearing a spiked choker, her ears were pierced all along their height, yet her face was devoid of metal. “My name’s Naomi” she introduced herself before leaning on her seat and addressing the stunned man “And you’re Edward. I thought that wordplay really rad. You got good tastes in music” “You already said that before, what I don’t understand is why. And it’s pretty rude to just intrude into other people’s conversations” Hannah shoots at the girl before she rolls her eyes in an exaggerated motion “You said the teacher was Disturbed, which is the name of a band. He mixed the titles of some of their songs into that sentence.”

“You lady are correct” Edward says with an amused look, he thought the entire punk population of the school should hate him by now. “How about we discuss your taste in music later?” Naomi tells Edward while giving him a suggestive look, which he returns to her confidently as he answers “Nope.” Before turning back to his book and focusing on it. She was visibly pissed, and Hannah was visibly pleased, but Edward was just concentrated on doing as the teacher told them. Meanwhile Josh was behind him, his mind too focused on the things that had been said earlier to actually notice the exchange. Soon the teacher gets back into the classroom; visibly more balanced, but his face still a few hues paler, resuming the lesson with no delays.

Shortly after the bell rung, and Edward made his way to the cafeteria, getting his lunch and instead of trying to eat in the cafeteria he vacates directly for the field, avoiding anybody possibly looking for him. He feels like he succeeded, ready to take a bite out of his food until…

“Hey asshole!” sounded Naomi’s angry voice from below as she climbed up the seats “Am I not good enough to go out with? And did you need to refuse like that in front of everyone?” “Actually I’d say you’re pretty much an interesting person. Although I don’t know much about you I can say you’re fiery from the way you tried to ‘aggressively’ ask me out on a date. You don’t care about that ‘Guy has to ask first’ thing, and you were capable of quickly tracking me when I was purposefully away from the rest of the people. I’d love to go on a date with you, honestly, if you’d give me the honor” Edward says with a slight smirk.

Naomi pauses. Not 30 minutes ago this clown humiliated her in front of the entire class, when now he’s acting like she’s the most perfect girl in the world, and asking her for a date she’d already asked him on “Okay, what the fuck? You first say no, then you ask me out yourself. Are you crazy or what?” “I’m not crazy, I simply focused on what the teacher told us to do before he came back. I read the book. Education is no joke” Edward says before laying down on the bleachers, placing his lunch aside as he thought a bit “So, where do you want to go? I’m new to the city, so I don’t know many interesting places. That is, if you’re willing to go with me on a date.”

Naomi shrugs, telling herself that she simply wants to know how fucked up Edward was, and that’s why she accepted this after her humiliation before handing him over her phone and holding her hand out for his “Gimme your phone. I Type mine into yours, you type yours into mine, I tell you where we’re going, and when.” Edward hands her the phone, punching his digits into her phone and saving under ‘Enigmatic, Charismatic, Very Fucked Up Lunatic’. He took his phone back, noticing she typed her number in and saved her number as ‘Hot bitchy punk from class’ with a chuckle. He hops off the bleachers, walking off and leaving her behind.

He walks through the corridors, actually walking into Kelly. “Owww, look where you’re walking at you fu- “She says before noticing it’s Edward. She actually smiles as she notes this, putting her hands up which he takes to help pull her up onto her feet “Hey Edward, I was really looking for you” “Really? Why?”

Kelly smiles widely like an excited child before putting her hands up in a boxing stance, hopping in place and throwing a few bad jabs “I’ll take you to my gym today. It’s MMA, so don’t worry about not knowing tae kwon do or anything like that. You’ll meet my trainer when dad’s out of the country” “Ok, sounds cool. Can we do it in early noon though, I have another thing later on”

“Sounds perfect.” She says before turning around and walking off to her class. Edward walks off, bumping into Arturo in one of the hallways being followed by a tall woman, about 5 feet 7, with sharp, Hispanic features. She had wavy, silky black hair, a beautiful angled chin and soft jawbone, while her eyes were sharp. She could certainly shoot daggers out of her eyes, he thought as he kept taking in her features. They were emerald green, her skin was tan and flawless, and she had a firm but curvaceous body “Hey Ed” Arturo says with a smile as he holds his hand out for a firm handshake, which Edward responds to with the same intensity. “Hey Art. And hello miss, who could you be?” Edward smoothly asks. The woman simply answers “Esmeralda” before briskly walking off. Edward turns to watch her as she walks away, watching the sway of her curvaceous hips and her full ass, the defined but not overly-worked leg muscles rippling under her skin with each step she takes.

“Sorry man, that’s my cousin Esmeralda. She’s not a very social person outside of familiar circles” “Well, sociable or not, and excuse me as I know she is your cousin, but she is hot as hell.” “Hey, settle down or she could kick you around a bit. She doesn’t look like much, but she kicks some major ass.” “Duly noted” Edward says before walking to his next class, but he didn’t have the class in mind at all. He had way too much to do, yet he didn’t even touch on the Tyler subject. No, he would first deal with Josh before fucking him up. He’s a priority. So I guess today is going to just progress at it’s own pace with the plans he already has.

He headed into the classroom, plopping his ass down on a chair and watching the teacher blabber on, though he didn’t know what they were saying. He just mostly stays like this through his class, waiting for the final bell before rushing out to meet Kelly at her car. He shoots a text to Lisa telling her he’ll be home later, hopping into Kelly’s car before she pulls away “Mind stopping somewhere so we can eat? I haven’t had anything since school!” Kelly nods and pulls over near an Italian place, where we have some lasagna before making the rest of the drive to her gym, spending about 45 minutes inside the car making chit-chat.

After a long drive Kelly parks her car in front of a large structure, a big green banner up front reading ‘Adam’s Martial Arts Gym’. Kelly walks inside, and Edward follows after her with no worries. Inside they find several people training. Some were doing physical training like lifting, jumping rope and doing sit ups, others were working on bags, some were shadowboxing and some were on the various rings fighting. Kelly quickly pulls Edward along to a large, bald man. He was tall, solid-looking and wide shouldered. His muscles were visible as he wore only a gym Tee and a pair of trunks, and they looked nothing short of dangerous. They were visible, strong but not cumbersome and rigid, like Edward’s, being very flexible and resistant, yet having many more years of tests and training.

“Edward, this is Fist.” Kelly said while introducing the two, the man taking off one of the mitts he was helping a younger man train with to shake Ed’s hand. Edward takes his hand into his, giving him a firm grip, but feels as if the man is trying to crush his hand. He puts out more strength, enough to cause his own arm to tremble as the man apparently does his best to break every bone in his hand and every future chance of right-handed handwriting, before he releases his grip from Edward’s hand and speaks.

“Solid. He did his best not to show it hurt and tried to answer in kind with his earnest efforts, I like him.” He says to Kelly before turning to Edward again, formally introducing himself “My name’s Adam, but people around here call me Fist.”

“I’m Edward. Nice to meet you.”

Fist nodded before Kelly spoke up “Edward here is very good. I saw him fight personally and he’s like a mad beast, it’s impressive and terrifying all at once. I’d love to see him face off against people from the gym.” “Yes, that does sound like a good idea, are you up to it Edward?” Fist asked, met with a nod from Edward “As long as It doesn’t take too long I’m okay with whatever.” He was walking around behind Kelly, watching the fights inside the rings, seeing some interesting and intense ones, and some boring. He then looks forward as Kelly stops in front of one of the smallest rings in the corner, giving both fighters less distances to move across, but also less breathing space. Made perfectly for a short and intense combat, where two are supposed to go all out since the first moment

Inside was a girl measuring up to roughly 5 feet 3, her blonde hair tied in a waist-long ponytail, her build light as she had small b-cup breasts and a behind that while shapely and no doubt worked on to perfection, wasn’t very big, but it all matched her thin frame pretty well, only making her look even prettier. Her arms were a bit on the thin side, although her muscles were developed. She simply had a low percentage of fat. She was throwing a flurry of punches and kicks at a brown-haired boy wearing headgear and gloves. Suddenly she made a feint for a high kick, turning it into a low kick to his knee, bringing him down to it as she sidestepped behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso in a tight hold. He soon had to tap out, otherwise he’d lose consciousness.

“Jesus” the girl started “Won’t I ever find someone fun to fight that I haven’t gotten used to already?”

“I might have the solution to your problem!” Kelly said, mocking an infomercial as she pointed at Edward. “Sheila, this is Edward. Edward, Sheila.” Kelly says as the girl jumps over the ropes to outside the ring. As Edward held his hand out to shake hers she let her fingers slip upwards, gripping and kneading his forearms “He does have a good build. Strong and sturdy, yet flexible and fast; if his arms are built like this then the rest of his body also probably is” She speaks to herself to the amusement of Edward, and obvious annoyance of the boy who had been sparring with her “Sheila, what’re you doing? Didn’t you say you want to spar?” “Well Ryan, I found another sparring partner.” “You can’t just find another sparring partner! And what guarantees he’s on your level anyway!?”

“He’s right” Sheila mumbles “Even if his physique is on point, the technique may not be” she says before slapping Edward towards the ring “How about you and Ryan have a light spar first? Headgears on, of course” Kelly stared at Edward waiting for an answer, while fist watched from the counter of his eye “Well, I’d love to fight, but I have no clothes to do so in.”

I saw Fist walk over to me after whispering something into Kelly’s ear “If you really are willing to go ahead with this spar, you can use one of the new trunks. We sell them when people join the gym. It’d be for free though, seen as you’re doing us a solid. Ryan here has needed a good eye-opener. He’s been stagnant by constantly fighting the same opponents, and needs someone new to jolt some life into him.” Edward just nods, being handed a two pairs of tape, going into the locker room to change from his jeans into the trunks, and from his boots and socks to tape. He also taped up his fists, feeling them before stepping out onto the arena, a headgear being placed over his wavy/curly hair.

As soon as the bell rings Ryan rushes at him, throwing out various punches and kicks. While Edward could normally easily see and counter them, he has to block the most dangerous ones and let himself get struck with the light ones. For some reason he can’t properly judge distance? After getting hit with more blows than his patience and pride could let him stand, he decides to go on the offensive. He tries getting a few jabs in, but he comes up short on, before noticing the problem. The Headgear he was wearing had a see-through plastic panel, and it was screwing up his vision. He was used to fighting without glasses, but this panel warped his accuracy just a bit, but that bit was enough to make him fall behind.

He takes off the headgear, throwing out a few sharp jabs at Ryan which he blocks with some difficulty. Edward had reinstated his range. Feeling his blows hitting where he wants them to he decides to rush his sparring opponent, throwing out many heavy jabs which he struggles to block properly, before being surprised by a knee to the body, knocking the wind out of him. Ryan doubles over gasping, Edward standing over him with a smile before punching the side of his head, causing him to pass out.

“Somebody check Edward out” Fist said while he grabbed Ryan, taking him over to one of the benches to check on his condition. Sheila quickly steps up, removing the tape off Edward’s fists and legs.

“That fight was kind of weird” she said while checking on his knuckles for any bruises “you started being pushed back and all of a sudden you turn it around in an instant. How did that happen?”

“Well, the reason the fight started out poorly for me was because of the gear. If it was simply foam at the sides and forehead it’d be okay, but the lack of glasses and the plastic screen together screwed up my perception. I was either coming up short or going too long with my blows. Took off the headgear, that disadvantage disappeared. Then all I had to do was press him. He’s easily overwhelmed if your attack is intense, I saw the same when he fought you. He was wearing headgear so I wouldn’t be able to knock him out by hitting his chin, so I went for the temple. A properly administered blow can cause your brain to get shook inside the skull. I hit softly, so there shouldn’t be any damage, only temporary loss of consciousness”

“So, you gave him a mild concussion?” Sheila asked, to which Edward nodded before walking over to the recently awakened Ryan “So, what’d you think of my skills?” Before Ryan could respond, however, Fist spoke up “They’re the real deal. It’d be great if you joined the gym. No need to spend countless hours here unless you want to, just knock around a person or too like our Ryan here” Edward smiled and nodded before answering “I’d like to join. I enjoy the mood here, and I’d actually have some place to polish my technique. I’m feeling kind of rusty from the lack of proper training”

Fist showed Edward a participation form which he filled out before handing it back. Soon Edward was officially part of the gym.

“That’s great, it means I’ll get to fight you” Sheila says excitedly from behind him, before Kelly responds “Don’t be so sure. Our golden boy here doesn’t fight ladies. That doesn’t bother me in the least honestly because I don’t ever want to fight him.” “Well I do, so that won’t do!” Before Edward could say anything his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen, seeing that the call was coming from ‘Hot bitchy punk from class’ , to which he answers.

“Hello miss Hot bitchy punk, how can I help you?” “You could help me by getting your ass to school where I can meet you” “Sure, be there in twenty” Edward said before ending the call. He checked the time, noticing it was five thirty in the afternoon already, packing up his things, the trunks and tape having been offered to him by Fist.

“Kelly, mind dropping me off back at school?” Edward asked as he walked out of the gym “Yeah sure, but I was thinking you’d like to come back to my place… So I could see how your wound is.” She stammers a bit on the last statement, and Edward understands why “Don’t worry Kelly, I think we’ll have plenty of time to nurse my wounds tomorrow or sometimes later in the week” he says before thinking for a bit, and deciding to have a serious talk with her as she drove him to school grounds “Kelly, you know we’re not an item or anything right?” “Yeah, I know that.” She says as she pulls over in front of school. Edward takes a hold of her face, turning it so her eyes met his “We’re friends. You get me, I get you. We don’t judge each other. I need that. We’re just friends that occasionally do it. You do understand, right?” “Yeah I do, I just… I wanted company today.” Edward hugged her softly “I understand. I would stay with you today if I could, but I already made a promise. But I could hang out with you whenever we’re both free.” “I guess that’d be nice”.

Those were the last words said before Edward exited her car, texting James to let him know he’s safe and that he’d go home later. Soon his eyes fall upon the trashy, punky girl in a tight black top and black miniskirt. She was wearing a pair of striped, knee-high socks, a pair of worn boots, the same eyeliner on her eyes but a smoky shade around her eyelids. She was still wearing the spiked choker from earlier, but there were a few additions now, like a skull ring on her finger, and a shiny, chrome piercing on her tongue.

“So, you ready to go?” Naomi asks, to which Edward just nods before fetching his jacket from inside his backpack and handing it over to her. “What’s this for?” “Well, I thought you might be cold. Plus, it still goes well with your punk visual, so what’s the harm?” She thinks for a while before shrugging and putting it on. They walk for about fifteen minutes before reaching an old parking lot. Loud music was heard from within it, something raw like punk rock with a faster beat to make it danceable too, and turn it into ‘party music’. Edward went inside after Naomi, finding several different people. There was a DJ table on a higher altitude, while down there were several people split into different groups. There were some people mingling from what could be seen as different social circles. He could recognize some people from his school talking to people he had never seen before, not that it worried him.

He walked after the punky girl, not giving a second look to most people in their way before his eyes fell onto someone familiar. He happened to be looking just at the right time and he ended up meeting the gaze of nobody other than Esmeralda, Arturo’s cousin. He flashed her a genuine smile, but she simply turned back to the conversation she was having, effectively ignoring him. Ouch.

Soon Naomi had gone out of view, causing Edward to just wander around on his own, checking out the individual activities within certain groups until he heard some loud cheering coming from a circle of people. He decided to go see what that was all about, not really having anything better to do, making his way through many people to find two guys duking it out, and a tall, lanky dude taking bets and all. He kept watching as the two pummeled each other, thinking about any reason that they could have to fight like that, his mind automatically pulling up the images of Bosh and Tyler. Oh, he had reasons to fight like that as well. Just not that night.

He backed away from the circle, but ended up walking into somebody. It was one of the guys from the football club, one of the walls of flesh that flanked him when Josh, and then Tyler tried to intimidate him. Unfortunately he wasn’t alone nor barehanded, spilling his drink all over himself and his girlfriend from the cheerleading club, a dyed blonde with long pigtails and massive breasts, which made him wonder how she could do all those flips and jumps for her club.

“Oh, I’m sorry dude, my bad. Didn’t see you back here” Edward said, pretending not to recognize them. Unfortunately neither the beast nor the bitch had the same idea, the girl speaking in her annoying, snobbish tone “Oh my gosh you totally got my dress all wet! My tits are all showing! You probably did that on purpose, you pervert!” This attracted the attention from several people around them, and a furious look from the half-drunk castle of flesh. But her insults didn’t stop there “Wait, you’re that guy Edward right? The one Evan beat up?” So that’s what people are saying? “You must be really desperate to try and get a free show like this. You’re disgusting. And here I thought only the cool people knew about this place.”

Edward felt as if he should be offended, but he wasn’t. He felt a hundred percent calm, knowing that she was doing her best to humiliate him. Instead he just watched her, and him, looking over to try and pick up anything that he could use. She walked with the guy as if he was her bodyguard, and his posture was one of protection, but he was also very casual. He thinks he’s dating her, but she’s just using him as a bodyguard. The more she spoke the angrier he looked, so aside from the fact that he was almost drunk-stupid, he was also love-stupid, believing everything she said, especially the part of her being offended about someone trying to cop a hypothetical feel off of her. In fact, he had seen her earlier getting very physical with some classmates when he wasn’t near… Got her.

“Apparently not only the cool people I guess.” Edward said calmly before looking her in the eye as he spoke “I guess the sluts and floozies are also allowed in. I shouldn’t generalize that though, seen as you’re the only one I’ve seen up until now” her eyes flashed panic for a second, but she played it off as outrage, spouting out “The only slut here is that punk bitch you came here with!” then turning to her ‘boyfriend’ and addressing him “And are you just going to let him talk to me like that?”

By now Edward noticed the flash of several cell phone cameras, so he decided to take the time to bring down the morale of one of Tyler’s cronies, get the bitch’s attitude in check, though he barely even knew her name, and show that he’s capable of fucking you up if you mess with him. “Of course he would if he knew what’s best. I guess he thinks you’re going out, but I can bet my life on how you two haven’t fucked yet. He thinks you’re a good girl, you’ve given him a handjob, maybe even a blowjob, but nothing more. I know that much to be true. I also know that she’s currently sleeping with more than half the football team, and some guys from basketball too. For them she doesn’t close her legs. She seemed a bit overly-familiar and openly touchy feely a while back when you were getting your drinks. What’s more, she did this on purpose. She saw me getting in, but she didn’t think I saw her, so she kept watching me. Otherwise she wouldn’t know who I came here with. She wanted me to walk into the two of you to make fun of me and such. Well I guess it backfired. Slut.”

Edward didn’t bat an eye before turning around and walking off, leaving her back there speechless. What happened next he should have been expecting, but wasn’t. He was tackled to the ground, the air driven out of him. He quickly turned under his assailant, the half-drunk, teary-eyed jock. He looked as hurt as he was mad, but he was also quite drunk, so his reaction was sluggish. Edward made use of this by punching him in the face, and as he tried to shake it off he pushes him off of his body, then quickly gets to his feet. Before the fight can progress any further though, the tall, lanky man walks between Edward and the nameless jock.

“No fights outside of the circle. Those are the rules here. If you don’t want to follow them, either break it off or go away and never come back.” Edward liked the vibe here, so he relaxed his stance and was ready to walk away from it, but the jock apparently wasn’t. “You and me Ramos, in the circle, right now. Or are you going to run away?”

Edward wasn’t very controlled right now. The jock was the one that drank, but Edward also felt drunk. He was drunk on the thrill, the adrenaline. He had to fight.

“You’re on.” Edward was directed to an old trailer which acted as the changing room, taking off his jeans and putting on the shorts and tape Fist had offered him. He didn’t think he’d need them so soon. He decided to keep his shirt on, not wanting his wound to be seen. It was a miracle he didn’t open it at the gym, or when he was tackle to the ground. He got out of the trailer ready for the fight, when the jock simply took off his jacket and shirt, hoping to scare Edward with his muscles. Before either of them could set foot in the circle however, the tall man said “Bets?”

‘Well shit’ Edward thought ‘Wasn’t expecting this. Didn’t bring any cash.’ The guy just opens his wallet, dropping a few stacks on the table.

“Great, we have two grand on this side, how will you cover it?” But before Edward could speak Naomi piped up, placing a stack on the guy’s hand and saying “Lar, I’m covering calling even on those two grand for him”. ‘Lar’ counted both stacks, nodding before the two could step into the circle.

Edward once again felt that familiar sensation. The world around him started fading, his vision twisted. He couldn’t see anything but the ground under him, his fists and his opponent. He couldn’t hear anything but his heartbeat and his breathing, but he felt as if he could hear a joyous chorus from his adrenaline-filled blood rushing through his muscles, making him forget any potential pain and soreness, even from his wound. He wasn’t angry. He actually felt sorry for the guy, being deceived. Shame he’d have to break him.

He saw the big guy rush his way, but it felt as if he was moving really slow. His muscles were probably heavy, and the fact that he was drunk didn’t help. He was going for a tackle, probably his instinct as a football player, but Edward could see that from miles away. He stepped back from the big guy, then stepped around to his side before sweeping his foot from behind, causing him to fall down. Instead of just going for the finisher, Edward got back and put his fists up in a defensive stance as the big guy got up painfully from the concrete. Edward parted his arms just enough to show him a smirk, causing him to snap and go at Edward with skills that he lacked. He just swung his balled fists around as if they were sledgehammers.

While it was true that if they hit him they would deal some damage, it was also true that the trajectory was easy to foresee, making it easy to evade, before he threw a heavy right to his nose, causing it to snap under the pressure, before he kicked his right knee causing him to fall onto it, trick he’d seen from Sheila, then to end the fight in the most dramatic fashion possible drop-kicking him on the face, causing him to fall back unconscious.

Edward slowly felt the world around him return to normal, the sound of his heartbeat replaced with the sound of a cheering audience, the blackness around him changing to the people who made up the circle. He could see Naomi’s amazed face in the middle of the audience, and he could also see the cheerleader girl walking off on her own, leaving her ‘boyfriend’ behind. Edward walked to the big guy, waking him. He turned his face, some tears rolling down his face as he spoke “Go ahead, make fun of me. Do it.”

Edward was not planning or expecting this. Instead he stepped back, helping the big guy up and putting his arm over his shoulders, carrying him off from the large audience as Naomi collected his winnings in the fight, plus her own money that she had earnt by betting on Ed.

Edward carried the big guy back into the trailer, easing him onto a crappy plastic chair. He in turn just stayed there looking down, looking hurt and probably feeling hurt as well. Edward felt sorry for him. Although he was part of the group after him, he didn’t actually go after him directly for it. In reality he was fighting to protect the honor of his girlfriend, and Edward understood and respected that.

“What’s your name?”

“Avery. Why do you wanna know? Want to know what name to say tomorrow at school when you make fun of the guy you beat up?”

“No, Avery, I want to know the name of the person that was wronged and cheated on by a self-righteous bitch, and that as far as I know isn’t a particularly bad guy. To be honest, I feel bad about fighting you. You were ignorant about her”

Avery looked down, his face showed pain as he said those words.

“I wasn’t. I wanted to be, I really wish I was, but I wasn’t. Sometimes people tried to warn me, but I just thought they were jealous about my girlfriend. But I overheard some guys talking in the locker room about her”

Edward knew that it must hurt Avery’s pride discussing this with the person who just beat him, but kept listening.

“They talked about how they fucked her, the way she moaned and squirmed like a slut. People that I thought were my friends. And I couldn’t do anything but listen. I tried confronting one of them, Andre, but he said that if I tried doing anything everybody that didn’t already know about It would discover it somehow. So I couldn’t leave the football club, I couldn’t say or do anything. All I could do was just follow orders and act happy, otherwise everybody would know about it. Well I guess they do now.”

“Hey man, I’m sorry for you. Honest. You’re one of the few people from Josh’s crew that I have never seen harassing anybody. Even when Josh, and Tyler, tried to do something against me you kept out of it. You just stood watch because you were afraid of what would happen if you didn’t. But I can help you.”

“How? My rep’s already as dirty as my pants” He said while dusting himself off. “Everybody already knows about it probably. I’ll be the laughing stock of the school, the one poor sap that got cheated on by all of his friends”

“Well, you did get cheated on. By yourself. You tried to anchor yourself to her even when you knew what was going around when you should have dumped her. It’s not your fault she’s a slut. But it is your fault you let things keep going on. I kinda like you dude, you’re not an ass like the rest of your teammates. If you want, I could help you get even with them. But you’ll also have to help me.”

“What can I possibly help you with?”

“Well, by considering me a friend. Don’t have many guy friends. You’re a good guy, but you’re also strong. Just look at those chunks of concrete you call muscles! You shouldn’t have to put up with other people’s shit. I could help you change.”

“You don’t understand. It hurts being cheated on, mainly by those you think were your friends.”

“You were cheated on by your friends, I get it. But I was cheated on by life, bad. I know how it feels to be cheated on better than anyone, believe me. So what do you say we put everything behind us and turn over a new page?” Edward said while holding his hand out, which Avery takes and grips in a solid handshake.

“Man, you fucked me up good” Avery said as he tried to get up and felt his knee give out instead, placing his ass back on the chair.

“Don’t worry, it’s a slight sprain. I know you play football, so I didn’t want to give you a career-ending injury. Now let’s get out of here before people think we’re fucking” Edward says before the door to the trailer is opened and Naomi steps inside.

“Too late, I already thought of that.” She jokingly said before looking at Avery’s figure and at Edward’s “So what, you fought and now you’re buddies? That’s it?”

“Well, I don’t really have a reason to dislike him, and he’s a cool guy, so why not?” Edward says as he helps Andre up to his feet “Did you bring your car?”

“No man, I came here with some friends. At least I thought they were friends.” Edward thought for a bit before looking over at Naomi and holding his hand out. Naomi quickly handed Edward $2000, which he handed back to Avery.

“Call a cab man, I have to bail. It’s still a school night and you don’t fuck up your education and expect to go far in life” He says, pulling a $100 bill and from the stack with a wink before hailing a cab for himself. In less than 15 minutes both cabs were waiting outside, Edward helping Avery into his before slipping into his own and going away. He told the taxi driver to keep the change, heading into the Anthony household. What he didn’t expect was finding James waiting for him on the living room couch.

“Hey James” Edward said as he locked the door behind him, slipping past him into the kitchen for a drink of water. James soon followed him into the kitchen.

“You smell of alcohol and sweat. Where were you Ed? And on a school night! Do you think your dad would like this for you?”

“James, don’t do this to me, please. You’re one of the only people aside from dad that treated me like a man, even back then. You need to trust me. I’m the one most concerned about my future!”

“I’m just worried. I thought you were responsible enough to respect school nights!”

“I am, that’s the only reason I’m home right now! If I didn’t I’d get home later and just skip! And for the record, I didn’t have a drop of alcohol. Some spilled on me when I walked into somebody.”

“Ed, if you want me to trust you, you need to start telling me things. I know you’re mature enough to know what you want to do, but I worry too. Me and your dad, we go way back. I owe him heavy. And I’ve known you since you were little. You’re family, even if not by flesh! I truly worry about you, mainly after-“

“I! DON’T! WANT! TO! TALK! ABOUT! IT!” Edward snaps at James, distressed. James wasn’t expecting this, hurt showing in his eyes, but he just heads to his room. Edward gives up on eating, just heading straight to bed. He doesn’t even change, tossing himself right on the covers. His hand started trembling, like it did whenever he thought about the past. But he couldn’t let it tie him down, at least not until he could help her. He had to help Cecilia. But for that he had to be successful. He then feels the fatigue of all the day’s events creep up on him, darkness filling his vision until he fell asleep.

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