One Wrong Move
Blake had been pretty much minding his own business laying out on the grass a little bit away from the door to the school and reading one of the Star Wars books that Sha had lent him. It was just after classes and after spending time cooped up inside all day it felt good to lay down directly on the grass. It was comforting. However suddenly he felt a deep feeling of dread... a feeling he knew to be a warning of something dangerous headed his way. He quickly shut the book and shot up into a sitting position, looking around as he did so. No one and nothing seemed to be around but... the last time he felt that he'd had a close encounter with one of the other kids at school, a kid named Hunter. Hunter had threatened to actually rip the hair out of his good friend Trae's head. The door to the school swung open and in a moment of panic Blake dove into some bushes nearby and he tried to slow his panicked breathing. It was hard though with the warning bells going off in his head.
Sure enough the one to walk out that door was Hunter. This time he was alone. His day at school had been extremely boring, and so he was in kind of a bad mood, coupled with the desire for something interesting to do. Now he was looking around like he was looking for something, and he was. He'd heard something rustle in the bushes right as he exited. It had sounded too big to be a bird or squirrel and his curiosity was peaked. Tilting his head slightly to listen for any more sounds, Hunter headed closer to the bushes.
Seeing this made Blake panic a bit more. Why had he dove into the bushes? Now he was trapped. Running away and around the building would have been a better idea. He had no idea who it was yet, but they were heading closer and the warning bells just got louder and louder.
Hunter began pulling the bushes apart, searching for whatever it was he heard. Finally he pulled one aside and found a boy huddled there with strangely familiar pink hair. Oh yes, Hunter remembered, this was the boy who had tried to stand up to him at the swing sets not too long ago. He had been intending to teach him a lesson, but his aggression was bothering his sister too much so he'd had to put that mission on hold. A smirk spread slightly over his lips.
"I see I've found the little pink hero. But this time he's all alone and cowering in the bushes." Hunter sneered slightly.
Blake didn't even have to look up to know who it was, he remembered that voice, and the face and name attached to it. His heart beat faster in his chest and his mind raced trying to think of what he should do, or if there was any way out of the situation at all. He peeked up at Hunter's face and almost felt sick at the expression he found there. He wasn't stupid, he could see Hunter obviously intended to pay him back for last time.
"Get up. Stop huddling in the bushes like a wussy little girl." He snorted a bit.
"Though with hair like that.... maybe you are nothing but a weak helpless girl.At that Blake shot up and glared at Hunter.
"I am not a girl. We've been over that. You must have a bad memory.Hunter looked nothing but amused. He was enjoying pushing this boy's buttons. His reactions were just too great, besides, it was empowering in its own way that he was able to make Blake react like that just with a few words.
"I don't know....I think it's you that might have the crappy memory." He allowed himself a swear word he'd heard his father use while yelling at some idiot on the phone. Of course he knew swearing was very low class, but it was ok sometimes in reference to someone else.
"I can see I'm definitely going to have to put you in your place. Let's get to that shall we?'"No I think we ought to just skip out on that. Maybe you should just stop being a jerk and leave me alone. Even as he said it Blake knew he was just adding fuel to Hunter's fire. He couldn't help it though, Hunter was just making him so mad. He'd been picked on before at his old school for his hair color and for the pink markings on his skin. No one had ever gotten physical with him though because Blake always stood up to them or ignored them. It also helped that he had powers and they didn't. But in this case Hunter had them too... so Blake knew that wasn't going to work out that way this time. He figured maybe if he just kept talking Hunter would get mad enough and slip up, giving Blake time to get away.
Unfortunately for him though, Hunter was just as cool about this as could be. Even if Blake just got under his skin and annoyed him in ways he couldn't even put a finger on, everything about this moment was detached and calculated.
"You really don't get it do you? This is happening no matter what you say. This is happening because I've made my mind up it is, and because I want to. And I, being better then you, get my way when I want it. That's the way the world works, and the sooner you learn that the better." With that Hunter unleashed his force attack on Blake.
Suddenly Blake felt like someone had kicked him in the gut as hard as they could and he was flying backwards. He only stopped when he met with the brick wall behind him. Having good instincts he managed to curl his head forward so he didn't slam his head into the wall, but that didn't help the rest of his body. He fell to the ground and curled up both in pain and in an attempt to shield himself from any more invisible blows that might be headed his way. It was that moment he wondered why he didn't have any useful powers for fighting this guy. Sure he had accelerated healing but that didn't help him now.
Hunter smirked as he watched Blake slam into the wall and then fall to the ground. That ought to at least start out teaching him not to backtalk. He moved closer and prodded Blake with his shoe.
"So have you wised up yet?"Blake glared up at Hunter, feeling rage through his pain.
"What was I supposed to learn? I guess my crappy memory is getting in the way of this valuable learning experience." Again, he knew what he was saying was a terrible idea, but he couldn't help himself. Maybe it was all the time he'd spent lately with his friends Sha and Trae who both tended to be a bit snarky.
Hunter merely raised an eyebrow at Blake. Part of him admired Blake's spirit, but he concluded that Blake must be very stupid, or maybe just stupidly brave.
"Well I guess if you're a slow learner I'll just have to try harder to get the message through.' With that he gave Blake a solid kick aimed for what bit of his abdomen he could get at. That earned him a satisfying gasp of pain from Blake.
"The lesson is. You better respect me.' Hunter gave another kick to Blake even as the pink haired boy curled up more.
"If I ask you to do something, you better do it, and you better not talk back to me. All of this was delivered in a matter of fact tone.
"Just generally you better do everything you can not to make me mad. He tilted his head squinting at Blake and wrinkling his nose like he'd gotten a bad taste in his mouth before kicking Blake again harder then he'd done before.
Despite his best efforts Blake couldn't help crying a bit out of all the pain and frustration he was feeling. He curled up and much as possible, trying to make it harder for Hunter to kick him effectively and covered his face so Hunter couldn't see him cry, that would definitely make things worse.
"Unfortunately that's going to be hard for you because just looking at that stupid pink hair makes me sick. Anyway... Hunter backed up again, he could tell Blake was crying so he was sure he'd gotten the point. Besides he didn't want there to be any lasting damage for Blake to show off to anyone.
"Do we have an understanding yet?"All Blake could do was make a nodding motion into his arms and hope that Hunter would go away. Luckily for him the nod was enough and Hunter headed back off towards his dorm feeling satisfied and empowered. Blake remained curled up riding out the pain and the fit of tears before slowly uncurling and rolling over onto his back and staring up at the sky. He felt a stray tear move down the side of his face to the ground. It tickled and made him mad at himself. He was mad at himself for being so stupid, for talking back when it didn't help anything. He was mad that he was so helpless, and he knew his powers weren't to blame. he'd seen heroes get out of sticker situations with even less powers, it was a matter of being creative and smart enough to use the tools you had. He was especially mad at his hair color though. Why did he have to have pink hair. It made him into such a stupid walking target for bullies like Hunter. It made him feel insecure and he hated all of it.
Wiping angrily at his last remaining tears Blake sat up suddenly. The pain had seemed to pass mostly besides where he'd already begun to bruise. He forced himself to stop dwelling on things for now though and decided that maybe a long hot shower to wash it all off was in order. Standing up with a wince, he brushed himself off and located his book that he had dropped. As he headed back to the dorms to grab a shower he vowed to himself this wasn't going to happen again. He was going to get better, he was going to get stronger and smarter, and one day he'd be the one to teach Hunter a lesson.
