RULE

[BloodChuckZ]

RULE

A Short Story

“Hey, Um...Lenny ?”, the Kid said.

“That’s MISTER Lenny to you, Shithead”, I snapped back.  “Want your face re-arraigned ?”

The Kid, whose name was Willie, gulped.  “Um...Uh, sorry, Ok ?  I didn’t mean no disrespect !”

“Whadda want, Shrimp ?”, I said back, letting it pass, for now.

“Uh....Did’ja meet the New Kid ?”, Willie said in a rush.  “Says his name is Dallas....”

I got angry in an instant.  “This some kind of JOKE, shit-for-brains ?  It ain’t a very funny one !”  I pushed up against the smaller seventh-grader, fists clenched.

“No, No, Really !”, Willie said, covering his head fearfully.  “It’s true, that’s what he said !  I wouldn’t lie !!”

I considered, ready to punch the little weasel’s lights out.  He had no reason to make this up, let alone approach me with it....So, it must be true.  Another Kid had joined the school over the Christmas break with the same name as our departed friend.

It had been Dallas and Billy and Me since almost the beginning.  It had taken years, but we ruled the school.  Now, as eight-graders, we controlled everything....The School Newspaper, rigged Class Elections, selling Homework and Test Answers, a Hall Passes Racket, a Lunch Ticket Scam, School Gambling in the form of a Numbers Game we called a Lottery....We even had a Vice Racket going, Pimping out the prettier girls on dates with the Joe Losers who couldn’t get a girl to even look at them otherwise.  We had our fingers into every social aspect of this place, and then some. 

But Dallas had gotten himself killed on Halloween night, riding in a stolen car with a drunk teenager he knew.  The road was straight but that Asshole had found a way to run off it anyway, rolling the car and killing our friend.  The Teen survived, sentenced to Boy’s School.  Now, it was just Billy and Me running the show.  It had been rough going....Each of the three of us had talents in different areas.  Dallas’ specialty was sweet-talking those pretty Girls into going out with those socially inept Morons just entering puberty.  We charged the poor Bastards huge sums for our services, and the Girl would get a cut, depending on what she was expected to provide....Anything from just hand-holding and French kissing to Blow Jobs and going all the way.  I had to take that racket over, but I’m no sweet-talker.  I did a more direct approach, threatening to expose the Bitches as Sluts and Whores in the School Newspaper if they didn’t comply.  It had taken only one time and a ruined reputation to get that point across, and for the rest to fall in line.  They still got their cut, so they had no real reason to complain.

We three had naturally reserved the best ones for ourselves.  Billy was all enamored over this hot brunette named Becky.  She was the school’s ultimate Ice Princess, but she swooned over Billy.  He could play her like a Puppet.  Dallas’ squeeze had been Phyllis, a slim saucy brown-haired girl from downstate who had joined us in the sixth grade.  Me, I fooled around with Sara, a blonde who had a real quirky sense of humor.  But I had always had a secret longing for Phyllis, even though she belonged to Dallas.  I would never betray my friend and associate, however, so I never acted on my impulses towards her.  Now that Dallas was gone, though, I was starting to work my way closer to Phyllis, who had been withdrawn and despondent since her boyfriend’s untimely demise.

I mentally shook myself to clear my thoughts.  Wee Willy was was still standing there, hands up in front of his face, gawking at me fearfully.  “Bring this new Kid to me, my table, at Lunch”, I told him gruffly.  “I want to talk to him.  And don’t keep me waiting, understand ?”

Willie nodded and squeaked out an affirmative reply, then scurried off.  I wanted to know more about this kid with the same name as our departed Friend.  Something was either too fishy or too karmatic, and I had to find out which.
___________________________________________
.. (to be continued)...
Put Comments in the Comments Thread,

[BloodChuckZ]

Willie approached the table Billy and I were sitting at Lunch.  We had finished our meals and pushed the trays aside.  A little money passed hands every week to the servers in the lunch line to ensure we only got the best food, so our meals didn’t suck near as bad as the rest of the kids.

“Um...Here he is, just like you wanted”, a nervous Willie said.  We looked at the New Kid who was calling himself Dallas. 

I pushed out a chair.  “Sit down, Kid.  We wanna talk at you.”

Willie was still standing there looking like a fish out of water.  “Get Lost, Numbnuts”, Billy told him, “Scram !”  Willie made like a Jackrabbit running from a Fox and was gone.  The ‘New’ Dallas had sat down in the chair I offered, looking mighty calm and unafraid.

“What’choo doing here, Kid ?”, Billy asked before I could say anything.  “Why you using our friend’s name ?”

“It’s really my name too”, the New Dallas said calmly.  He pulled out his wallet and took out a card, flipping it across the table to Billy.  “Here’s my School I.D.”

Billy picked up the card and squinted at it.  With a grunt, he handed it over to me.  Sure enough, the first name on it was Dallas.  I flicked the card back to the Kid.  “So whadda you doing here mid-year ?”, I asked.  “Hardly anybody does that.  What’s your story ?”

“It’s really quite simple”, the New Dallas said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.  “I had my Mom enroll me here after I read about your friend getting killed.”

A look a amazement was plastered on Billy’s face.  I suppose mine didn’t look much different.  “You’d best explain yourself, New Kid”, I said, my fists clenching, “And it better be good.”

“I had to wait until the Fall Semester was over, naturally, before I could start here”, the New Dallas continued, unperturbed.  “It was kind of strange to me, reading about someone getting killed who had my name, and almost the same age.  Hardly anyone has my same name, it’s kind of unusual.  So, I decided to come here and offer my help.”

Billy’s eyes were bugging out of his head.  He looked ready to reach over and grab the little 7th grade twerp by the throat and gag him.  “HELP !?”, he sputtered, “We don’t need no fucking help, yuh Stinking Noob !!  Who do you think you are ??”

I laid a hand on Billy’s arm.  “Let’s hear him out before we kick his ass.”  To the New Kid, I said, “You better explain real good.”

“Where I come from is Public School, whereas you fellows are in a Junior Academy here”, the New Dallas related.  “At Public School, there’s just a mass of kids with no organization whatsoever.  It’s like a Jungle, Dog eat Dog, that sort of thing.  Only the brutish Jocks and Bullies prevail, but they are too stupid to take advantage of their power.  There is no chance for those who could truly capitalize on their organizational skills, the Nerds and the Brain kids are too busy keeping their heads from getting busted.  So, when I read about your friend in the paper, it got me curious.  The paper said that your friend was 'Active and Popular’, and that he was 'Held in High Esteem’ by his classmates.  So, I asked around, and to my surprise, he wasn’t a Bully or a Jock, just a ordinary guy.  After that, I found out more about this place, and discovered the set-up you have here....It’s really a sweet deal.  I want in on that.”

Billy sat staring at the New Kid like he was a species of an unknown bug.  “We don’t just let anybody ‘In’ on our operations, Jackwad”, he said in disgust.  “Whatta you pullin’ here ?”

But I was intrigued that this Kid had apparently gone to a great deal of trouble to find out about the Academy, and about us.  “Let him finish Billy”, I said, and nodded to the Kid.  “You said you wanted to help.  How is that exactly ?  What can you do for us ?”

Just then the bell rang, putting an end to the Lunch Period.  I looked up at the clock.  There was still three hours to go in the school day.  “Tell you what, Kid”, I said, still unwilling to call him Dallas, even if it really was his name, “Meet us after school....Behind the Parking Lot, there’s an old gravel road we call the ‘Coal Road’ that leads into the woods.  Walk down it a ways, and you’ll see an old shack.  That’s where we hang out after school.  Come see us there....Unless you got better things to do.”

The New Dallas rose from his chair.  “I’ll be there”, he said, “Looking forward to it", and then he walked away without any trace of anxiety that I could see.  I could tell Billy wasn’t exactly enthused about the prospect of hearing more, but I was.  In fact, I had a feeling we were on to something.
_______________________________
.. (to be continued)...
Put Comments in the Comments Thread,

[BloodChuckZ]

A knock was sounded on the door of the Shack.  “Come in, kid !”, I yelled.

The Shack was really just an old abandoned outbuilding along the Coal Road.  It may have even been a Garage of sorts at one time.  There wasn’t much else back here in the woods, all the other buildings that had once existed back here were either caved in or had nothing left of them but foundations.  The Shack itself was in pretty sad shape, it was leaning and weathered gray.  Various holes in the roof meant you had to watch where you sat when it was raining.  There was an old rusted wood stove within that worked half-assed, one have to be careful since the stove-piping was full of holes.  It was always a good idea to make sure any fire within it was put cold out before we left the place, otherwise there probably wouldn’t be a Shack to come back to. 

It wasn’t much, but it was about the only private place close by we had to get together for the three of us to talk, make plans, and strategize how to make sure we stayed in power throughout the Eighth Grade.  There was a few old easy chairs in the place, gathered around a large empty wooden wire reel we used as a table.  A lot of time, we just played cards there, or matched wits in the ultimate brain game of Chess.  Now, it was just the two of us, me and Billy.  The other kids knew not to ever come down here, unless we ‘invited’ them for one reason or another, and it usually wasn’t for a friendly talk.  Lately, we would sometimes have our Lieutenants, Mark or Greg, come down to keep us company and play cards with.  The other kids never told the School Administration about the Shack for fear of a beating, but the Shack wasn’t on School Property anyway so there wasn’t much they could have done about it anyway.

“This is a bad idea”, Billy muttered as the New Dallas entered through the squeaky door.

“What’s the harm ?”, I said, motioning the new kid to approach.  “We hear what he’s got to say, if we don’t like it, we kick his ass and send him home bleedin’ to his Mommy.”

“Sit down, kid”, I said, motioning him to an old chair, which ironically used to be Dallas’ chair.  I still couldn’t bring myself to call the kid ‘Dallas’ though, it seemed disrespectful to our friend.  But the New Dallas didn’t seem to mind, it was almost as if that were what he was expecting. 

“Continue with what you was about to tell us at Lunch”, I said.  Billy looked a bit disgruntled, but said nothing, just crossed his arms waiting.  “How is it that you think you can help us ?”

The New Dallas sat rather primly on the edge of the chair and began to talk.  “It’s like I was saying, it’s about organization.  Now, you’ve got a real good setup here, you are the Kings of the School, isn’t that right ?”

“And it’s gonna stay that way”, Billy growled, “Cause we share power with no seventh-graders.”

I held up my hand.  “Let the kid talk, we’ll know soon enough”, I said.  To the New Dallas, I said, “Continue.”

“Of course it will stay that way”, the New Dallas said, unruffled.  “But only until June, when you both are done with Eighth Grade, and this School.  What happens after that ?”

I looked at Billy.  He wasn’t saying anything.  “Well”, I began slowly, “I’m going on a big camping trip out West this summer...Been looking forward to it for quite awhile.”

“You’ll come back, though”, the New Dallas said, “So won’t you be going to the City High School for Ninth Grade ?”

“Yeah, So ?”, I said, not quite following.  “Everybody in the Eighth Grade in town will.”

“But you won’t be Kings of the Ninth Grade”, the New Dallas said.

I shrugged.  “From what I hear, nobody is.  Everybody has to start at the bottom, all over again.”

“Right”, the New Dallas said.  “That’s the way it usually is.  But what if I told you that you could still Rule, by organizing the Ninth Grade ?”
__________________________________________
.. (to be continued)...
Put Comments in the Comments Thread.