After lunch, the boys went to a small park that seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago.

The park was about a 15-minute walk from the school, in the middle of a district of degraded buildings, where no one had lived for years and where the wild vegetation pierced the concrete and towered over the rusting lamp posts. 

The whole area was off-limits because there was a strong possibility of a building collapsing and hurting someone, not to mention that the ground was unstable and could cave in at any moment. However, the fence that was supposed to prevent people from getting close had a hole large enough for an adult to pass without crouching. So yeah, it wasn’t stopping anybody.

They used to go to that park in the afternoon after Friday’s classes and spend the rest of the day talking and chilling next to the rusty swing. But today, they had some unexpected visits.

Three older teenagers were sitting near what was left of the wooden structure of a slide, smoking, and drinking while listening to family-unfriendly rap music. They were all wearing Adidas tracksuits. Their heads were adorned with irregular fades and poorly made tribal partners. Their pants were hanging low, revealing their tacky underwear. 

Adam examined the trio. None of them seemed to be in good physical shape; they all seemed to be quite overweight. They would probably run out of breath after trying to land a single punch and looked slow.  But they were still pretty tall and could have guns for all the orphans knew, so they could still be troublesome if they were to get into a fight. Best to not risk it.

David let out a sigh.

“Looks like we’ll have to deal with some losers today, but that doesn’t bother you, does it?” he asked, with a forced smile. But Adam was already power-walking away from the scene, dragging him along “Where do you think you’re going?!” David asked rhetorically, digging his heel into the ground.

“Forget about it, David. We’re going back to the orphanage.”

“Hell no!” David interrupted abruptly “If we do nothing, they will be back tomorrow! We have to show them that this place is ours!”

“Let’s break their legs!” Spice suggested.

The teenagers got up and started closing in on the two boys.

“David, fighting these guys just ain’t worth it, ok?” Adam said calmly “Come on, let’s split.”

He pulled David’s arm and tried to get him out of that place. However, he refused to move, which gave enough time for the ruffians to close in on them.

“What do we have here?” asked one of the junkies, trying to seem intimidating by tilting his head.

“Wow, so scary! I’m about to piss myself!” Spice said with a baby voice.

“Looks like these brats are trespassing in our territory...” said another one of them, with a malicious smile.

“Your territory?!” David snapped “I’ve never seen your bubble wrap skin excuse of a face around here! This is our place!”

The tallest of the ruffians let out a laugh that made Adam cringe. Was that supposed to be an evil laugh or something? God, they were so pitiful...

“You don’t understand, do you, kid?” asked the ruffian in a mocking tone. “We are bigger than you and your little girlfriend, so you can either turn around and not come back, or you can risk being in a coma. Is that clear?”

“I’m a boy,” Adam clarified, with the deepest voice he could muster, looking him in the eye.

“That’s a dude?” the smallest of the ruffians asked the alpha dumbass while pointing at the orphan.

“Look, we don’t want trouble. We’ll just leave, ok?” Adam said calmly. He didn’t feel like fighting a bunch of tough-guy wannabe drunks.

“What’s clear is that you’re a bunch of wannabe ghetto, fatherless, white dudes, who listen to commercial trash rap music, and smoke because you think that it’ll give you some coochie! But guess what? My neighbor was a prostitute, and even she wouldn’t have given you micropenis having cunts a ride, even if you paid for her college tuition on the spot! And go take a bath, you fuckers smell like shit!” David yelled, pointing at the junkies.

An unsettling silence fell between the two groups. The wind whistled, sending newspapers and leaves flying away, waggling the branches of the nearby trees, and sending a tumbleweed rolling between the fronts. 

“I didn’t know New York had those rolling grass thingies...” Spice commented.

“For fuck’s sake...” Adam whispered. 

“You little shit!” The tallest junkie roared.

The ruffian tried to hit David with a bottle of beer. However, Adam pushed his friend out of the way in time and took the blow instead.

“Adam!” called David, seeing his friend lying on the ground.

“Motherfuckers!” Spice roared.