"Hey, Jeff wait up!"

Jeff stopped in his tracks as he turned around, being met with his younger brother rushing up to him. He smiled a little as Liu came by his side. Once they were beside each other the two started to walk down the sidewalk.

"So, am I going to get an update on your freshman year?"

Jeff shrugged a little, truth be told his first few weeks in high school had been a bit of a struggle. The adjustment from grade school to his freshman year was already enough to handle, but on top of that, the events that took place early in the summer didn't make things any better. In addition, not having Liu in the same school was another blow. "Umm, it's been alright. You know, the classic 'minor niner' shit that all the freshmen get called in the halls. It's been really weird not seeing you at lunch though."

"Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing. But it's ok, I'll be in grade nine next year so we'll just have lunch then."

Jeff kept that same small smile and nodded, keeping a hold of the straps of his backpack. "So, how's grade eight been?"

"Exactly what you told me, teachers putting too much stress on the high school adjustment."

"Heh, I told you. But don't worry, you'll have a good year, Mrs.Lockson's a good teacher."

The two brothers continued to walk down the sidewalks of each block and street they passed as they got closer to their home. It was probably around a ten to fifteen-minute walk to their house, for the high school and junior high were relatively close. They were probably a good five minutes away from their house, as they walked down a strip of houses with a park across from it. On the weekends it was usually bustling with children playing, but right after school, it was merely dead. However, something stood out to the two boys, especially Jeff. Three teenagers stood by the jungle gym, laughing up a storm. That wasn't what mainly caught Jeff's attention though. That sight of the teenager with bright red dyed hair and cigarette in hand did. His hair is what caught his eye the most.

The longer haired brother immediately stopped in his tracks, staring at the teen in shock, his jaw dropping slightly. "It can't be..." He muttered quietly.

Liu stopped in front of Jeff, tilting his head a little as he looked at him in confusion. "You alright?" He questioned quietly, before looking at Jeff's view. "Oh, isn't that the kid from the 'crazy house'? You know, the one where the police are always called to? Why is he here though? He doesn't even live oh this block."

Liu's older brother turned his head to look back at him, his eyes burned with anger and rage. "T-that's Randy. Why isn't he in juvie? This isn't right, this is fucking bullshit." He muttered in anger. His hands balled up into fists, him walking over to across the street.

Liu's jaw dropped as he stood there in shock for a few moments. After snapping out of his trance he rushed over to Jeff who was already halfway to the park, grabbing his wrist immediately. "Jeff what are you doing?" Liu whispered.

"I'm setting things straight." He replied without looking back, tugging his wrist out of Liu's grip as he continued his angered walk.

All Liu could do was just stare at his older brother as he made his way to the three teens. He knew Jeff's anger was going to get him hurt.

On the other side of the street, a teen with long black wavy hair sat at the top of the playground, looking at Jeff as he walked over. "Randy, Troy? Do you guys know that kid?"

Troy, the bigger teen that sat at the bottom of the slide shook his head, gulping down the rest of his soft drink.

The bright red haired teen took a puff from his cigarette, exhaling a cloud of smoke afterward. His eyes narrowed on the early teenaged boy walking towards him, letting out a sigh immediately. "Oh shit, it's this kid again." Randy muttered.

"What? You know him?" The black haired teen questioned. He jumped off the platform he had previously been sitting on.

"I'll handle him, Keith." Randy replied, keeping his eyes fixed on Jeff.

Jeff now stood a good meter in front of Randy, his blue eyes flaming with anger and fist quivering by his side. There was a few year difference between the two, which made this encounter a little intimidating to Woods. Jeff was 14 where Randy was 17 and in his senior year of high school. It also didn't help that the red-haired teen had a bit of facial hair, which made him seem a lot older than the reality.

"Why aren't you in juvie?"

Randy sighed as he rolled his green eyes. He brought his cigarette back to his lips as he inhaled, moving the paper roll of tobacco and other harmful chemicals away from his lips, exhaling in the young teens face. Young Jeff immediately coughed the moment fumes entered his system.

"You know why I wasn't arrested, I didn't fuckin' kill him"

"You-" Jeff started but was interrupted by his own bodily reaction to the puff of smoke. He coughed into his elbow before continuing his sentence. "Y-you pushed him! What did you expect to happen!"

"I didn't know that he couldn't swim, you dumbass!! If the cops didn't think it was my fault, then it wasn't my fault!"

A big frown curved into the blue-eyed teen, his breathing instantly starting to speed up a bit as he felt the rage growing inside of him.

"Not replying now, huh?"

A small smirk crept onto Randy's face, Keith stood by the structure as Troy stood up from the bottom of the slide, tossing his can over his shoulder.

Liu rushed behind his older brother, grabbing his arm as he tugged on it a little, gesturing for him to turn around. Jeff felt his brothers hand quivering on his shoulder, indicating that he was anxious. "Jeff come on, let's go" Liu explained quietly, as he started to walk in an attempt to pull the longer haired teen with him.

At first, Jeff showed no resistance to his brother, allowing him to pull him away from the three as if he were a ragdoll. However, the teen's stare was fixated on Randy, his icy blue eyes continued staring into his very being.

"Heh, if I knew this emo lookin' fucker was going to be like this I would've pushed him instead."

Jeff immediately stopped in his tracks as he stood still as a statue. His eyes widened, as his pupils and irises appeared to shrink.

His younger brother caught onto that immediately, letting go of his arm, looking at him in concern afterward.

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to get to you. Just breathe." Liu reassured him quietly. However, Jeff was completely spaced out. He looked out into the distance with a blank yet shocked stare. The younger brother gulped nervously, patting his older brother's cheek to get him to look back at him.

"Jeff!" He whispered.

Jeff snapped out of his sudden trance, him instantly starting to breathe rapidly as he could practically hear his heart pounding in his chest. However, he barely even acknowledged his brother. Without warning, Jeff rushed over to the blood red-haired teen, going into what felt like a blind rage.

A cigarette bud and backpack dropped to the soft ground. Randy stumbled back with a groan, his ears ringing as he felt a warm substance quickly leak from his nose and into his mouth, tasting its warm metal-like properties.

Jeff recoiled his fist back, which now had a smudge of blood on his knuckle.

"You son of a fuckin' bitch."

Jeff nearly choked as he felt the collar of his t-shirt being tugged violently.

"Jeff!" Liu screamed out as his older brother was thrown to the ground. He went running at Randy, but he felt two people get ahold of him. Keith and Troy had run at Liu, grabbing his arms to hold him back from being able to help his brother.

"Let go!" Liu yelled out as he struggled against the twos grip.

This was Jeff's mistake, not his.

Jeff let out a whine of pain the moment he felt another hard kick to his side. He attempted to rise up but was instead greeted by another sudden restriction of his breath.

Randy kept his grip on the collar of his 'Friday the 13th' shirt, as he plunged his fist into the teens face.

Jeff let out a shriek as his head whipped back violently. His vision blurred as he felt his ears begin to ring, his whole head began to throb. Before he could recover Randy recoiled his fist back.

Jeff's upper body fell to the ground as the collar of his shirt was released. He moaned in pain as his face started to sting. He could taste blood in his mouth as his vision cleared, watching Randy stand back up.

"You gotta start choosing your fights better." The older teen wiped the blood gushing from his nose. "Just wanna let you know that you're the one to blame for this, not me. You came at me first."

The younger teen lay on the ground, the ringing in his ears only grew louder to the point where it consumed his hearing. He felt extremely light-headed but felt burning strength and hatred grow inside of him. He felt as if he wasn't in reality, but in a dream for a little.

"Ugh fuck!" Randy yelled out the moment he felt the sharp stinging pain in his shin. He staggering back and hunched over slightly.

Jeff moved his foot away, he wasn't done fighting yet. He stood up, the ringing in his ears was the only thing that he was able to hear.

Randy wheezed and hunched forward, Jeff drew his fist back after jabbing it straight into his stomach.

They were at the same height level now, all of this happening too fast for the older teen to comprehend, he was losing.

He grabbed a handful of Randy's dyed hair, Jeff bringing his knee up with brute force.

Randy fell to the ground with a groan, holding his face as his nose squirted out blood again. The metallic-like odor started to fill the air.

Jeff stood above him, his mouth gushing blood as it poured out onto his chin. He finally felt the ringing in his ear subside, his eyes widening in horror at the realization of his actions. He stumbled back as he stared at Randy in terror, who had an angered look on his face as he began to sit up. "Oh no..."

He felt a strong tug on his arm, which instantly pulled him out of his horrified trance. It was Liu, who had been able to tug his arm out of the other twos grip, who had just been staring at Randy in shock.

Jeff knew that it was time to go, he grabbed his backpack off the ground as him and his brother booked it out of the park.

"Why are you two shit heads just standing there? Ugh, why do I always have to do this myself! Don't think you can run away ass-wipe, I'll kill you!"

The two brothers didn't look back but only continued to run down the sidewalk. Jeff breathed heavily as his breath hitched the moment he heard Randy's hollering threat. He wouldn't have taken it so seriously if what happened in the summer didn't occur, where the red-haired bully had actually killed someone, Jeff's best friend.