Tuesday: Drugs, Glass, and Blood...The Breakfast of Champions?

Sherri woke him up at 5am, to practice throws, blocks, and sparring, and now due to him missing the bus, he had thirty minutes to jog the two miles to school.

He had been worried at first when Sherri had told him that she would be stepping up his training, but between the three hour morning workouts, the two mile run to and from school, and the two hour workout after school, he barely felt any fatigue.

"So what's the plan for that Rowdy Roller ring crap you were blabbering about yesterday?" Sherri asked as Alex finished putting on his school uniform.

"I don't know, I can't exactly avoid detention like I used to do because Ivan will just get me thrown in there every day. At least it's not recess..." Alex sighed as he took in the irony of his words.

"It sounds like you can't avoid a bad situation. If worst comes to worst, you can either lose your teeth like the rest of those gutter kids who fight or you can defend yourself," Sherri nodded matter of factly.

"Gee, thanks..." Alex grumbled.

"Hey, Alex... Are you...okay...?" Sherri suddenly asked as they walked to the front yard.

"Yeah, why?" Alex responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing... You aren't tired...or sick...?" she continued.

"Noooo...?" Alex answered, feeling slightly offput by the uncharacteristic concern.

"Good, now behave at school. If you join fight club, don't forget to wrap your girly hands, and I sewed some extra armor into your uniform in case some of those kids decide to stab you," she said, sending Alex on his way. "Oh, I also put some pens in your pocket. They have those ridges in the sides just in case you wanna stab back!"

Alex was incredibly confused by her behavior, but left jogging down the road.

• • •

Alex slowed his pace as the school came into view. He checked his watch and his eyes went wide in shock.

'It only took me ten minutes?!' he thought as he looked ahead to the empty front of the school.

'They must be in class. If I hurry, I should be able to grab my books and get there before the bell rings!' he thought.

That's when he noticed a single child around his age walk past the flag pole before three other figures stepped in front of the kid, blocking his path.

Alex couldn't hear what the children were saying, but he recognized Ivan and Randy as two of the three.

Suddenly, Ivan and his friends pulled knives and the unknown kid took a fighting stance that Sherri had taught Alex. It was from karate or maybe Tae Kwon Do.

Alex ran to the kids aid, but as fast as lightning, the kid performed a spinning kick that knocked Ivan to the ground. Before the kid could recover and launch another attack, he was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground where Ivan and the others stabbed him multiple times.

"HEY!" Alex yelled, drawing their attention from the bloody mess onto him, instead.

"I've got this, finish him," Ivan commanded as he pointed his knife at Alex, but before he could do any more damage, Alex swiftly kicked Ivan in the chest, sending him stumbling to the ground.

Ivan's eyes grew wide as did all the others', including the victim.

The bell soon sounded along with police sirens, causing the three kids to run back into the class.

Alex knelt down and looked at the child who was bleeding profusely on the ground.

"It's okay, the police are coming!" he said, reassuringly.

"They won't stop here, they don't care about this school anymore..." the kid whispered with difficulty, spitting blood with every word.

"What do you mean? We are in a rich neighborhood and in a private school!" Alex argues back naively.

"Not for long... Ivan and his dad are pumping drugs through this town like there's no tomorrow... This neighborhood is dropping in value quickly and this school started blaming its poor kids for the crimes and drugs, so soon they will open our school to the public and let all of Ivan's friends in. He will have the whole school under his thumb..."

"Why did they do this to you?!" Alex exclaimed, peering at the kid helplessly.

"I have a black belt in karate. When things get bad around here, I would brag about it so none of Ivan's goons wanted to fight me...except Randy Theraper. When I told him no, he told his little butt buddy, Ivan..." the dying kid answered, looking down at his mutilated stomach.

"This is nuts!" Alex cried, beginning to slightly panic.

"You don't know the half of it...and now that you made Ivan look bad...he will be after you..." the child said as his eyes fluttered shut.

• • •

"Come on, Alex! You expect me to believe Ivan and his friends stabbed a child right in front of my school?!" Mr. Travis scowled from behind his desk.

"It's true, Mr. Travis! You can't keep Ivan in this school or he is going to ruin it!" Alex exclaimed, his arms flapping frantically in attempt to get through this man's thick head.

"Enough, Alex... What happened to Kevin was a tragedy, but it was not Ivan...and I know it wasn't you, either..." Mr. Travis said in a calmer and more relaxed tone.

However, he still sounded beyond stressed.

Alex listened, shocked that he was seen as a suspect in the first place and not Ivan!

"But it could have been another student. Just try to think Alex. Are there any kids you can think of that might have wanted to hurt Kevin...?"

As Mr. Travis asked this, he pushed a list full of names across his desk towards Alex, as if he was a detective attempting to get a confession.

"Mr. Travis...all these names here are scholarship kids!" Alex said horrified after taking a few minutes to look them over. Several of them were familiar, leading him to the conclusion.

"Well, they are the most likely suspects. Low test scores, bad home lives, criminal records... Look, Alex, just pick three names at random. I'm sure you'll pick three bad kids, but even if you don't, who cares? I'm sure each and every kid on this list is guilty or something," Mr. Travis shrugged nonchalantly.

"No," Alex refused, knowing that if he allowed himself to say more, he would be in even bigger trouble than he already was.

"Is that your final answer...?" Mr. Travis asked with a heartbroken look.

"Yes, it is," Alex answered confidently, pushing the paper back across the desk.

"Fine. You were late to school today and you missed all of your classes. You have after school detention and have to take this note home to your parents."

Alex didn't argue, but instead he got up without a word and exited the office, making his way down the now familiar hallway to detention.

• • •

2:25 is what the clock read and if Alex had any doubts about his previous experience in detention happening again, Mr. Rodriguez's shaky expression glancing at the clock would confirm it.

2:28 is when Mr. Rodriguez pulled a pack of cigarettes from his drawer and lit one in front of all the kids in detention.

He took a few long drags off of it before the timer sent him into a fit of shakes. He sprang up as Randy walked over to take his place at the head of the classroom.

"B-But it's only 2:29!" Mr. Rodriguez basically pleaded to the young boy.

"Good things come to those who wait, old man, but I ain't waiting!" Randy sneered as he snatched the pack of cigarettes from the man and then firmly punched the teacher straight in the nose, sending him stumbling backwards into the hallway.

"Yo, Phil! Happy Hanukkah!" Randy snickered as he threw Phil the pack of cigarettes.

"Aw, thanks, man, but I stopped doing that shit, it's bad for you!" the kid, now known as Phil said, pulling out a bag of white powder and beginning to spread it into neat lines on a desk.

The other kids began pushing the desks into their makeshift ring while Randy began taking off his shirt and flexing his unusually defined muscles for the class.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Rowdy Randy The Ripper's Ruthless Ruleless Rumble!" Randy announced as the kids went wild.

Alex could have sworn the name had changed since last time...

Right away, two pudgy, scarred children jumped into the ring and started to exchange barbaric blows.

"I like the enthusiasm and I'm glad we could get the undercard out of the way this evening because tonight I have a special event planned from Ivan himself!" Randy announced with an evil smirk directed right at Alex.

After the two pudgy kids' fight was over, the slightly larger of the two having stomped his opponent's skull in, Randy stood on the teacher's desk yet again to speak.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, the main event from Ivan, guaranteed to wet your fucked up appetites for blood and gore!" Randy waved his arm like a king giving a wordless order and almost immediately, two bulky kids from the football team walked in.

Alex was worried about what orders Randy was going to give them...

"Hey, guys, I don't think Alex can see from that angle! I want him closer..." Randy snickered, clearly enjoying the power rush.

Without a word of protest, Alex was picked up and carried to the front of the room.

"I'm not going to fight anybody, Randy..." Alex huffed, making Randy and the other kids laugh.

"Fight? A pipsqueak like you? Naaaah, Ivan wants you for himself. He just wanted me to show you what he has in store for you," Randy grinned evilly as the two football players walked out of the room only to return a few moments later with a young underclassmen around Alex's age.

The small boy kicked and struggled, but was less than half the size of both of his bulky escorts, soon being thrown into the makeshift ring.

Randy gave a nod and in an instant, the boy's shirt was ripped off, revealing a skinny body littered in scars. It went to show that this was probably not the first time he was used as an example.

Randy began wrapping his hands in some sort of hemp bandages before walking over to a bottle of honey on the teacher's desk, squirting it over the bandages.

"My stepdad from Thailand taught me how to do this..." he giggled coldly as he walked over to a group of drunk kids in the corner who gladly handed over their empty bottles.

Randy threw the glass bottles down, shattering them before stomping the pieces to dust. He then began dipping his honey covered, bandaged hands in the dust, making them glimmer like fresh razor blades.

"Randy, stop this!" Alex shouted, finally realizing what was about to happen, but Randy only gestured for him to watch closely. The child tried to cover his head, but that only sent Randy after his small torso.

With a few large hooks, the boy's ribs were torn open and blood splattered all over the front row, including Alex.

The pain in his sides caused the boy to lower his arms from his head, which was exactly what Randy was waiting for. He punched the child firmly in the jaw with a loud crack.

When the boy turned his head to the crowd, his jaw appeared to be broken and hanging by a bloody thread. Teeth dropped to the floor as the kid shed tears of pain, attempting to reason with Randy, but was quickly met with a jab that broke and tore part of his nose off.

Randy saw the kid was barely standing and went for the kill, but as he wound up his sharp first, Alex appeared in front of his punch and flipped Randy over his shoulder within seconds onto the glass covered floor.

He slowly got up, small cuts littering his body.

"Ivan said he wanted you for himself, but he didn't tell me in how many pieces!" Randy snarled as he charged Alex like a rabid animal.

Alex stepped out of the way of the first punch and as the second punch came his way, he instinctively grabbed Randy's arm and brought his own forearm down to break Randy's, all in one fluid movement.

As if on queue, the music, laughter, talking, cheering, everything, stopped.

The room was silent except for Randy's screams of pain, who suddenly began to run off pure anger, swinging his good arm at Alex.

Alex again caught Randy's arm and snapped it with his knee quite effortlessly.

A group of teachers ran into the room, but each one pretended not to notice anything as they carried Randy away like he had merely slipped and hurt himself.

"Ivan will hear about this, Alex! You are fucking dead!" Randy yelled, still in tears.

"Good! Tell him I want to talk to him!" Alex called back, completely unhurt.