The fact that the captain had told me that personally made a warm fuzzy feeling emerge in my chest, the feeling of validation. Nick didn't seem at all like a bad guy, unless he was messing with me. Oh well. I'd figure it out tomorrow when the tryout results were posted.

At the end of the day, I swung my black backpack over my shoulders and began to walk my way home. The sky was clear, a refreshing contrast to yesterday's grey and cloudy weather. As I tried to figure out where I was going, I paused to open google maps on my phone, leaning against the closest brick wall when who did I see in the corner of my eye, slumped down against the very same wall, a figure with red hair. Yup.

It was Nick.

There was a sharp purpling bruise draping over his right eye, a violet which contrasted to his pale skin. He also had a split lip: a jagged cut down the middle of his mouth, the kind you get when you're punched.

This must be the gang rivalry Ryder had mentioned. But it was hard to tell whose fault it was. When Nick finally noticed me, his hunched posture unfurling, he laughed. I flinched in surprise.

"You should see the other guy." I pursed my lips, not wanting to say that he shouldn't have been fighting at all. But I didn't know the situation, I couldn't make assumptions like that. 

I crouched down to get on his level, reaching out a hand to touch the bruise starting at his right eye and blooming into his cheek. He slapped my hand away before it could touch his skin.

Right. That was not a normal thing to be doing.

"Are you alright?" I asked, grimacing at the stupidity of my question.

"What's your name again?" he replied, no doubt a tactic to get me to leave.

I mustered up my courage. "Just because you're part of a gang, doesn't mean you have to fight all the time." Nick squinted his eyes at me.

"Now, baby, who told you that?" I flushed at the pet name --- even if it was condescension, I couldn't help but be embarrassed. Oh shit. Was this why Ryder had been talking in hushed whispers all the time?

Nick stood up, chest puffing out. "No one knows about that." Weird. To Ryder, it had seemed obvious. Maybe he had some kind of personal connection with the gang?

"I didn't mean like, a gang," I stuttered. "Just like a group of..." Nick whipped out a knife from his back pocket, pointing the tip of it to my neck, forcing me to stumble back a few steps. "Who told you that?"

"Um, uh... RYDER told me! Okay?" Nick sighed, lowering the knife and slipping it back into his pocket. I felt a bit bad for betraying my friend's name, but in my panic it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Okay." Okay? What did this mean? Were Nick and Ryder actually friends even though Ryder had constantly warned me about him? More likely they just had some history.

"Don't think this is over!" he yelled, as we parted and I began to walk the rest of the long stretch home. This time with an actual sense of direction.

The next day at school, I was hovering by the bulletin board when coach finally came along. I wasn't the only boy eagerly waiting, and when he pinned it up I quickly scanned my name for Alex. Yes! I'd gotten in.  When I turned around, I saw Nick in the hallways. He was crowded by a group of boys, who were evidently part of his clique. I recognised a few of them from the swim team, but others I had no clue who they were. The strange thing was some of them also had bruises. Maybe they were all a part of Nick's gang. I was glad for what Ryder had told me, because otherwise I would be confused as fuck. Still, how did Ryder know what most people didn't? Nick was leaning confidently against the lockers until we locked eyes. He tilted his head at me, lips curling into a wide grin, teeth showing like a predator. I flinched at his exaggerated expression, looking away.

And then someone I hadn't seen before came walking right up to Nick. He had a certain swagger to his gait, as if he thought he owned the whole world. His platinum blond hair was dyed pink at the ends, and his dark blue shirt had a few holes in it. I heard a few murmurs in the hall, and quite a few stares, girls turning away or dragging their friends off to a different part of the school. I didn't quite understand why, but I guess I'd find out soon.

"Hey bitch," I heard the sound of blonde guy talking, my head whipping around at the audacity this guy had. Nick and his group of friends laughed.

"What, you think you're hot shit because your big bro had a fight with Nick here last night?" one of the more muscular guys said to blonde guy (I really needed to figure out these people's names).

So that was who Nick was fighting, the blonde guy's big brother. Perhaps he didn't go to our school, because if he did, I assumed that he would confront Nick again, not use his little brother to do it.

"Ya, I know I am." He responded, tilting his chin up to await their reaction.

Nick looked up, crossing his arms and grinning at the blonde guy. This seemed to make him slightly uneasy (at least I was not alone in being weirded out by Nick's creepy smiles).

Nick swung fast before I could even process what was happening. Now the blonde guy's nose matched Nick's, But that sickening crack, it seemed like Nick had broken the guy's nose, while Nick's nose was otherwise intact.

"Fuck, fuck you!" the blonde guy yelled.

"Should have seen it coming, Asher."

Asher.

-----------

Ryder wasn't at school that day, so I simply wandered around the bleachers outside, peacefully eating lunch by myself. While I was not a huge flower guy, I had to admit that the dandelions beneath the hard benches were kind of beautiful. 

I closed my eyes, breathing in the soft scent of nature and trying to think more logically about this situation with Nick. He was a weird guy, but I didn't hold anything against him. I didn't really appreciate violence though. That was kind of my thing. No violence. However, seconds after I closed my eyes, I felt hands on me, one pushing into my stomach and the other shoving forward into my mouth so I couldn't scream. I opened my eyes in shock to meet the blue eyes of a masked masculine figure. It was one of those stupid black masks, like robbers had in TV shows. His hands immediately moved to my throat, squeezing lightly as if testing something, and then going harder. I counted the seconds, trying to compare them to how long I could hold my breath for. Five, six, seven, eight. I was starting to get dizzy. 

"Hey!" I heard a yell. The figure looked around, before deciding something and taking off. What the hell? Who were they so afraid of that they would stop attacking me immediately? 

I gasped for air as soon as my neck was released, exhaling as if I had been held underwater for a long time. I looked around, trying to figure out who the other person was, and as I began to process my surroundings more clearly, I felt the sensation of a warm hand in my hair, and I looked up to meet forest green eyes. Nick. Again. Why did my life seem to revolve around him?

"I don't know why you're a target, we usually have the decency not to go around jumping randoms, but they seem to have broken this rule. On school grounds, no less." He huffed. "I have no choice but to take you in."

"Take me in..? Um?"

He sighed heavily. "Did you see anything?"

"Um, it was probably a guy, and he had blue eyes." I responded. He simply shook his head.

"No clue."