章 15: Fear was Power

The following day at school was such a drag. As always Amalia slept through most of it. The night before had been rough and emotionally exhausting. Not that she had been overly stimulated. It's hard to awaken feelings in someone who is determined shut them out. She had no need for them, they would merely get in her way.

That being said, going to bed angry had left her sullen and doubly agitated. So agitated that the usual titters of her fellow classmates was wearing on her last nerve. Her curled and uncurled her fingers at her desk tapping her toes idly.

Her right hand reached for her the volume on her Ipod. She needed loud enough to tune out her anger so she could distract herself from the urge to punch. She didn't need to fight in school, she had enough on the streets.

Maybe, she thought, after school she would visit the warehouse. She had yet finish her challenge with Hunter and the thought alone was enough to build anticipation. To this date the only one that could hold their own against her had been Charlie, partly due to the fact he had trained her, mostly though it was because she couldn't really bring herself to hit him. Last night had been the first.

Amalia forced her mind away from it, the more she thought about how he had interfered in her fight the angrier she became. She wasn't weak. She couldn't possibly be. She wouldn't allow it. She had worked hard to be able to fight as viciously as she could. She was NOT OK with being protected. Like hell would give away her hard earned street cred like that.

Her thoughts continued on much in this pattern throughout the day, it was only when the final bell went that she could breathe a little. Before the other students had their books packed she had raced out the door.

Moments later a block away from the school, a young dark haired youth appeared from the gas stations bathroom. He had spiky black hair, piercings, and he wore a look that could kill.

......

Luke didn't wait for Charlie this time.

He didn't know if he would show up nor did he really care. He still hadn't managed managed to shake off the anger from the night before so the first thing he did after stashing his backpack was head toward the clubhouse on foot.

The warehouse was about a mile or two from Luke's school. It was a bit of a distance but the walk gave him time to think. Time to plan and more importantly it helped him hammer down his impatience.

With the first challenger at the initiation his impatience had really hurt him, he was plenty able to think through his moves and watch his enemies attack. He had had clarity of mind. He had to admit though when facing off with Hunter the previous night, he had been so impatient that if Charlie hadn't intervened it may not have ended well.

Not that it mattered. Luke was still not yet at a point where he could view Charlie objectively in that regard. In fact he had been brushing off his anger all day.

When it came to Hunter on the other hand Luke began to analyze his movements in his mind. This he could do objectively, from Hunters pivot to his jump and punch Luke took apart each action one step at a time and began to work a strategy. He didn't need to take Hunter down. He just needed to been seen as equal to build his cred in the gang. He needed to be feared.

Fear was power.

Power would help him bring his enemies to his knees.

While Luke had started walking to the clubhouse, Charlie had pulled out about a mile away a the usual meet up place. He waited the space of a few moments pondering if he should visit the school.

He knew Luke attended a school nearby but Luke had strict rules about his street life and he school life. It was understandable. Luke was so violent outside school it was no wonder he didn't want the violence leaking into the school yard as well. He was a bit of a hard ass but not enough of a jerk that he would innocent kids brought into his brawls.

A half hour had already passed as he waited and Charlie was becoming impatient. He raked a hand through his hair anxiously, worried that Luke may have gone back to face Hunter after they had left. He couldn't check up on him at this grandfathers as Charlie did not know yet where he lived.

After thinking for a few moments he decided to take a chance. He wouldn't go right into the school grounds but he could at least cruise around right? Maybe meet him halfway?? It's not like he was deliberately disregarding his friends privacy. At least not completely.