What kind of school taught wrestling. He and the rest of the class were in jerseys and shorts. The gym was heated but probably badly because most of the students were shivering and some of them were still with their jackets. Jason himself wasn't cold even though he had spent most his life in the south. A tall blonde man walked in and the gym quieted down. Jason assumed he was the teacher . He looked like he had just dropped by from an advertisement for healthy living or from some teenage soap opera. His chest was ripped and his polo shirt could hardly keep up with the bulging biceps.
"All right listen up. Today we're doing something different". And that's how Jason ended up facing Kevin McCallister in a ring surrounded by teenage boys.
"What do you think?", A bystander whispered. " Kevin or the new kid?".
"20 bucks the new kid gets his ass whooped"
"50 bucks he gets his ass whooped badly". Just what Jason needed. A beat down from the school's elect".
"Okay girls listen up ". The teacher yelled. He was loud and his voice carried far, Jason had heard that the teacher's name was James Hayfield.
"Before this I explained the basics of wrestling and I expect you to have at least picked up one or two things. You win when you pin opponent for three counts. Start! ".
Kevin dropped into a weird stance with his left leg behind him and his right leg in front of him taking most of his weight. Jason bent his knees to reduce his center of gravity and waited for Kevin to make the first move. He didn't have to wait for long. Kevin dove for his right leg. He tried to dart away but it was too late, he felt Kevin's firm grip on his leg lifting him up, he panicked, the voices dimmed and he punched Kevin.
* * *
James Hayfield was a man of few pleasures. A drink at the Smoky hat, a good football match and his wife Mary with whom he had spent the past twelve years With. All other things seemed dull and empty and his job was the dullest.
Surrounded by post pubescent teens who thought they had the world at their feet. Their heads filled with ideas of grandeur. Only to head of to community college and then to dead end jobs. Some of them would drop out and tie themselves up in chains of addiction and probably amount to nobody. At first when he saw a teen acting bigger than he or she actually was he immediately cut the child down to size or at least tried to. Then he realized that it was pointless. He had been the same at their age. And no matter what he did they would remain the same no matter what he did. His rage had dulled into indifference, he didn't care what the children did with their lives anymore, they could go get AIDS or get stoned or something. He couldn't care less, he himself didn't have any children.
But when he saw the red headed kid punching the other one in the face, his lips stretched upward in a smile. He had seen the black kid around he knew that his name was Kevin, and that he was the mopey emo type. The type who ended up getting addicted smoking pot or heroin and dying of overdose a few years later.
Kevin had attempted a single leg takedown on the Red haired kid, the Red haired could have just sprawled but he didn't know that, he couldn't have known that because he wasn't paying attention when James was glossing over the basics. instead he had panicked and did what he would have done normally in a fight. he had punched Kevin square in the face. Kevin flew, literally flew backwards, about five yards and landed there . At first he didn't move or say anything, he was as stunned as the rest of the class including Jason. then he sat up, touched his face and smiled.
How the Red haired had managed to generate that amount of force with only leg on the ground, and about to be toppled for that matter. James didn't know but he felt good, and hot. A bead of sweat dripped down his face. He looked around, most of the kids had already taken their coats off. Which was Weird since the weather girl from channel 5 had said the temperature for today was 55F⁰. Maybe the heater was on Overdrive or something. He would see Fred the janitor about that. He looked at his clipboard were he had separated them into pairs. The red haired boy's name was Jason.
"Jason, punching isn't part of wrestling. Kevin you might want to put some ice on that" he turned towards the rest of the class,
" Your dismissed".
* * *
He had messed up badly, first day and he had already gotten into one of The Elites bad books. Kevin walked into the locker room, he had a band aid on his cheek and a small smile played hide and seek on his lips disappearing and appearing, like he didn't know what facial expression he was trying to make. The locker room was mostly empty and was the perfect place for a beat up. Kevin stopped in front Jason's locker and smiled again.
"Nice punch back there" .Kevin said. Jason swallowed, he had expected anger and screaming, he knew how to deal anger. What he had not expected was Kevin smiling or at least trying to, that was unnerving. His head itched so he scratched it . He didn't know if Kevin was the type of person who liked to play with his food before eating, but he knew he didn't like to play with his food. He hadn't noticed before but Kevin's eyes were a kind of bright blue.
"Look I'm sorry about the punch, I panicked and well now I wish I hadn't. So can we skip the formalities and get to the enmity part?".
" And why would I want to be enemies with you? It was an accident and besides I find you interesting". He said as he ripped off the band aid from his face. The skin under there was oily probably from Vaseline, then he noticed that he wasn't looking at a bruise instead he was looking at a burn mark.
"And I get the idea that this kind of thing happens a lot". Jason remembered the burnt bedsheets, the weird dreams, the awkward incidents.
"I have no idea what your talking about. Maybe it's friction burns or something". He knew his excuse sounded dumb, even to his own ears, but it was all he had to work with because honestly he didn't know what was happening to him and he didn't want to find out he had enough problems.
"Well if something happens a lot it's got to have a reason". Kevin continued like he hadn't heard him say anything.
"And if you want to find that reason why don't we meet up here". He gave Jason a piece of paper with an address written on it.
" And I should believe this isn't just some scheme to get me in an isolated place so you can beat me up? ".
" Of course not, I'm not a thug and besides I don't need one".
Kevin walked away. Jason thought about it. Was he going to meet Kevin, who he had just punched, in a place of his own choosing, Especially after being warned by his personal tour guide Chuck? Of course not. He threw the piece of paper into his locker and walked away.
Author's note: I'm very sorry for any typos, I'm an amateur after all.
...He walked towards her. Body on fire. Hair singeing. The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh, his flesh... She could die for him but as he walked towards her it dawned on her that maybe that was what he wanted...
While trying to discover himself, Jason Pierce is forced to move to the quiet town of Brentwood, but with one freak accident after the other Jason is pulled into something way bigger than him.
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