Gary didn’t want to have secrets from Tom, especially after everything he had done to help him, but at the same time he didn’t want to drag his best friend into an even deeper mess. It wasn’t fair of him, and it was likely that it could endanger his life as well as that of his family, more so than he already had done.
“Oh this thing? My regular phone has been playing up a bit recently. You know about our financial situation, so I've used some of that money I had earned from that part time job to get myself that brick for emergencies. You know how those old phones can never die, and the battery lasts on them forever.” Gary smiled, still feeling hurt inside.
As for Tom, he didn’t know how to feel. Gary had shared one of his biggest secrets with him, so why would he need to lie about a second phone.
“What about the police report? Did you say anything about me?” Gary asked, changing the subject.
“Actually I wanted to ask you about that. The whole thing was strange. You know that rich upperclassman Kai Hemper? He went ahead of all of us, but after he talked to them for a while, they all just let us go home. I thought he was just some rich kid, but just being rich shouldn’t get you out of a situation like that. By the way, how do you know him?”
Scratching his head, Gary felt like he couldn’t lie two times in a row, he was a bad liar in the first place, so he chose to stick to mostly the truth, without revealing anything extra.
“He was actually the one who introduced me to that part time job.”
Things were starting to add up to Tom, but he still didn’t know why Kai, who couldn’t have known Gary for too long, was so interested in him that his entire group, which seemed to include that sudden transfer Innu, had been willing to look for his best friend in the middle of the night.
A short while later and other students started to enter the classroom, unaware of the horrors Gary and Tom had lived through.
“Hey Gary, you did a great job in the first half of yesterday's Rugby match! I never knew you were that strong.” One of his classmates congratulated him. “Oh and Tom, how are you? I can’t believe the referee didn’t punish those bastards for clearly stepping onto your hand!”
Tom and Gary recognised him as one of the more popular kids of their year, meaning he was someone who would usually never associate with either one of them.
“A shame Gary didn’t punch them out. Seriously, when you jumped those Eton High students I was rooting for you, they would have deserved it. I'm still surprised you did that with their bad rep. I thought they were all going to jump you!” Another one added.
The compliments didn’t seem to stop, and after the day that Gary had, it was a nice change of things. He thanked them all and just smiled back. The last ones to arrive were a teenage girl and boy, both resembling zombies. They were drained and dragging their feet along the floor.
‘I guess both of them didn’t get a good night's sleep then.’ Gary gulped, feeling responsible.
Xin, sat down in her seat and didn’t look towards anyone with her head sunken in. Gary wanted to go talk to her, apologise for getting her into the mess, but it would have felt strange and given things away.
As for Innu, when he tried to talk to him, the other didn’t even let him utter a single word.
“You! I really don't want to talk to you...” Innu sat down in his chair and placed his backpack in front of him, proceeding to use it as a makeshift pillow. “Do you know what happened to us yesterday? Actually scratch that, do you know what happened to ME?! I almost got killed like five times, and it was all because we went searching for you!
“Then, I have this psycho here, shouting your name all the time, trying to talk to some possessed Altered. Bad luck! That’s all I have since I started following you!”
With that Innu just lay there. The truth was that he knew it wasn’t Gary's fault that this had happened, but he needed someone to blame all his frustrations on.
Lessons went on as normal, but as was to be expected, Gary couldn’t focus on the classes. Billy was the main worry he had in his head. Even his Werewolf form couldn’t beat the other Werewolf. Gary had no idea how to beat the other, especially since Billy had already killed and consumed humans, making him even stronger. The longer he waited, the worse his chances of dealing with him became.
‘Maybe the best option would be to get him before the full moon. Then I can worry about myself as well…but it means I have to be prepared…prepared to kill him.’ Gary thought.
A little while later, he felt his phone vibrate, and it was coming from his secret phone. Tom, who had been keeping an eye on Gary, took note of this. When it was finally time for lunch, his best friend asked him if they could go and grab a bite to eat together.
“Sorry, I have to make a report to Mr Root about the game. He said he wanted to talk to me about something.” Gary lied again.
‘“... Okay, I understand. I might just stay here and catch up on some sleep.” Tom replied.
Watching carefully, Tom soon saw that Innu also looked at his phone, one that looked eerily similar to the brick model his best friend had, and went off in the same direction as Gary.
‘That phone and Kai, something is up with all of them. I wonder if this has something to do with how Gary was making money. Gary…I just hope you're not getting yourself in another mess.’
Tom's guess was spot on. The high schooler had headed to the roof, where Kai and Marie were both already waiting for him. A little while later Innu joined them as well.
“It looks like everyone is here for our meeting.” Kai said after Innu closed the door behind him. “We had quite an eventful evening yesterday, looking out for you, Gary. I’m sure your friend already caught you up on everything that happened.
Anyway, regardless of this, tomorrow is the big day for you two, it's your first match, and it's also our first debut as a gang. The reason why I called you all here today was because I wanted for us all to come up with a name, as members.”
This came as a surprise to Gary. He had seen Marie interact with Kai that one time he had followed after her, yet he had never thought that she would also be involved with this whole gang business.
“How about, the Unbreakable Iron Group? Or I know, the Black Flames!” Innu suggested while pretending to wield the power of fire. It was when the group noticed that Innu had quite the childlike side to him... and that his naming sense was horrible, yet Gary didn’t have any better suggestions himself which was why he decided to keep quiet.
“After what happened yesterday, I actually felt inspired by those creatures. What do you all think about, The Howlers?” Kai suggested, looking at Gary in particular.
“I like it.” Marie said, while Innu shivered a little bit thinking about the howls he had heard form the Altered yesterday. However, he had to admit that it was a good name. A gang name should send fear into whoever heard their name, though usually their own members should be exempt.
“I think…it's good as well.” Gary answered, really not having any better ideas.
After that, Kai reminded the two to keep out of trouble until their fight, before giving them the meeting place on the day of the match. He also advised them to stay inside as much as possible due to the recent events that happened.
Since lunch was coming to an end, Gary was heading back to his classroom, and it was when going through the hallways he stopped dead in his tracks, and so did the other person opposite him.
“…Blake...”
‘Damn it, I completely forgot about this..’
*****
Top 25 golden ticket = 3 Chapters a day
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