█▓▒▒░░░ FIGHTING FRIDAY ░░░▒▒▓█

Everyone walked into the dojo, giggling and laughing, Jack's pinky finger was locked with Olivias. He had noticed her odd behavior since 3rd period and—despite how distant she had become—he wanted to be by her side, even if it was through the smallest action.

They had just changed but stopped short when they noticed the new training equipment with a big red bow.

"Whoa, what's this?" Jack asked with a confused smile. Arthur was quick to jump up from the bench he was on and speak, "It's a gift. I know I've been a little bit of a jerk."

"A little bit of a jerk? It's like saying Jerry is a little bit confused." Jack sneered.

"What?" Jerry asked, looking between Jack and Arthur. "Wait, what'd I miss?" Olivia chuckled and shook her head, her red ribbon brushing her cheek from the movement.

"I'm confused." Olivia loudly laughed as Jerry practically shook his head.

"Look, to show you that I'm not all bad, I got you guys this brand new, state of the art punch dummy!" He grinned.

"You know what, Arthur? Maybe I had you wrong. That's a pretty cool move." Jack admitted with a head nod. Olivia muttered an "𝘦𝘩,” in protest, not believing his pure intention.

"Alright, that's more like it. Now, I think I should be the one to break this bad boy in." Jerry grinned as everyone backed away.

Jerry cheered and took a swing at the dummy's face. Everyone but Arthur gasped as a red boxing glove sprang out and punched Jerry in the stomach.

The air left Jerry as he slowly collapsed on the floor. His eyes crossed, and Arthur laughed as Jack, Eddie, and Olivia tried to help him stand up.

"See, I told you guys it was a punch dummy! You get it?" He laughed.

Olivia stared at him in shock and shook her head, "That's messed up." She whispered as Jerry crawled away.

"Sorry, what was that? Oh, right, you don't talk." Arthur grinned.

"That's it!" Jack glared as he moved forward. Kim was quick to intercept and hold him back. "Jack, you can't do this. You promised Rudy."

She slowly turned around, giving Arthur the side eye. "But I didn't."

"No, Kim, this one's mine." Ediie stopped her.

"No, Eddie, this one's all me." Milton jumped in. He quickly turned around, his arms pointed out like a square.

He spun back around after a second. "Wait, why can't Jack do this?"

"Guys…. Let's just start practice." He muttered. It made Olivia frown, but Arthur bumped into her. She slightly stumbled, Jerry catching her by the sides.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jack. I got this." Arthur bragged, making Jack sarcastically smile.

"Since Rudy’s not around and I outrank everyone, I'll lead the class."

Olivia didn't have the courage to speak out, seeing as her throat was starting to burn, but Eddie did. "Are you nuts? You don't outrank Jack or Liv."

"See, if you haven't noticed…. But I'm a green belt!" He laughed.

"Yeah, because you daddy bought it for you." Kim sassed, making Olivia smile.

"Jack, you don't know anything about karate. You're nothing but a scrawny little skate rat."

Jack rocked on his feet, looking at the ground in amusement.  His lips were pushed together as he looked up and smiled.

"And you're nothing but a spoiled little poser." Jack walked forward, making Arthur back up. Olivia grinned as the rest giggled.

"Poser, huh?" Arthur asked as Jack walked away, muttering a quiet “𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩”. Arthur looked at the people laughing around him, jaw clenching before rushing Jack. "That's it!"

As if he could see it, Jack turned around and tossed him. Olivia gasped as Arthur landed in the wall.

Not crashed into. Not bumped into. 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥. As in, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭.

"You're going to be sorry you did that!"

"What is going on?" An older voice yelled. Olivia's blood ran cold as Arthur's father walked in with Rudy. Arthur's eyes bugged out as he whined and complained.

"We had a deal, Rudy. You said this was a warm, safe environment where Arthut could learn karate and make friends."

"Jack… did you throw Arthur into our wall of friendship?" Rudy walked over and helped Arthur out as he kept talking. "They don't do that to anyone. They must really like you."

"Don't you, Jack?"

"Rudy, I didn't want to fight him! He just came right at me!" Jack defended. Rudy spewed off, something about an 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 party.

"All right, back to practice, you loveable scamps." We quickly rushed a few feet away, stretching their legs and arms.

"Rudy, this is unacceptable. I want Jack thrown out of your dojo."

Everyone gasped as Arthur grinned. "Bye-bye, Jack."

"Be quiet! You've done enough!" Olivia whined as everyone turned to her.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Turner, but that's not gonna happen."

"Okay then, you have 2 hours to get out. " Mr. Turner poked him in the chest. "You're standing on the site of my new parking lot."

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Jack, put your stuff down. You're not leaving." Rudy demanded. Everyone was crowded around Jack as he held his blue, red, and white bag.

"If I don't leave, you're all going to lose the dojo. I'm not gonna let that happen."

"No, no, no, you're not going." Rudy lightly pushed him back, "Sometimes in life, a man has to decide what's really important."

As if on cue, two men in blue walked out, carrying a toilet.  "Hey, not my toilet! Take the boy instead!" Rudy yelled as he shoved Jack forward.

"Rudy!" Olivia scolded in astonishment.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you've never sat on her!"

Olivia curled her nose in disgust, muttering a "𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴" under her breath.

"We're not gonna take this, man!" Jerry snapped. "We gotta fight the power, yo."

For once, Olivia was impressed by an idea of Jerry's.

Jack looked over and dropped his bag on the ground. "Jerry's right. We've gotta fight back. Like that guy on 𝘔𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 who chained himself to that old oak tree so they wouldn't cut it down."

"He stood his ground and saved that tree!" Kim grinned.

"Until it fell over in a storm, destroying my Aunt Verna's house, and she had to move into my room." Milton complained as he shivered. Everyone looked over in confusion.

"I've seen things no boy my age should see."

"You know what," Rudy nodded, "you guys are onto something. What Turner’s doing is wrong, and we gotta fight back!"

"What are you saying, Rudy?" Jerry asked.

"I'm saying he can't tear down the dojo if I'm chained to that post."

"Rudy, what was just a metaphor–" Olivia tried.

"And I will fight the good fight as long as it takes! So chain me up."

"Yeah!"

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Get these things off me! I can't take it anymore! I'm going crazy!" Rudy yelled as he struggled against the silver links.

"Rudy… it's only been three minutes." Jack smiled sarcastically.

"Yeah, you know what would be such a great story? Why don't you cover it yourself!" Kim yelled into her phone as she walked in the room.

Seeing everyone turn to her, Kim flipped her phone and rolled her eyes. "That was Margaret, trying to give me another lame story to tell."

Olivia smiled and ringed her hands together. She wanted to tell Kim something nice like 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘣! Or 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳! but when she opened her mouth, the words got caught in her throat.

Heat burned her skin, around her eyes and cheeks as she went to try again, her mouth only remained open. By the time she had worked up the courage, the conversation had changed, leaving Olivia to decide to just give up.

"What was it this time?"

"Big news in the cafeteria, apparently Taco–Tuesdays are becoming Fajita–Fridays!" Kim said, switching her passive-aggressive tone to a joyful and perky one.

Miltion cheered, talking about how he bribed the lunch lady with cat calendars. "All this talk about food is getting me hungry." Eddie chimed in. "I'm going over to 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘉𝘶𝘯𝘴 to hook us up."

"No, no, no. You can't go out there, man!" Jerry called as he grabbed Eddie by the shoulders. "That's just what they want. You go out that door. It's like we've given up!"

"Well, eventually, we're gonna need something to eat." Kim said.

"You know, our air vents connect with the nail salons–"

"No, you guys can't be serious." Olivia chimed in. Everyone turned and looked at her. She sighed and shook her head, "I'll run out and come right back. It's not that big of a deal."

"But brother…" Jerry grabbed her shoulders, his pronunciation of the family role dragged out and dramatized. "Think of all the eyes that'll be on you…. Watching, waiting… thinking."

Jerry walked around her, whispering in her ear, “Judging.”

She didn't notice how Jack was glaring at her friend for his use of manipulation, purposely  playing on her anxiety to persuade her choice of the matter.

Olivia blinked a few times, considering her options. "Alright, but who's skinny enough to fit through the vents?"

One by one, heads turned until they were all looking at Milton. The red head looked over his shoulder before turning back, realizing there was no one else. "Oh."

Silence.

"𝘖𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘩.”

░▒▓▆▅▃▂▁𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘▁▂▃▅▆▓▒░