Paul leaned back and said nothing. A few minutes later he mumbled, “I can respect that.” Another long pause later he added, “Thanks.”

“For what?” Michael asked.

Paul ignored his question and turned his attention to Wade, “You’re one tough, friggin’ Aussie. That punch would have knocked out a lesser man.”

“I saw bloody stars, Mate.” Wade laughed. “That would have been bloody humiliating, to stand up to you and get knocked out with one punch. No worries about deporting me, I would have swum all the way back to Australia in shame.”

They all laughed.

Paul rubbed his jaw, “You gotta mighty mean hook yourself.”

“I didn’t think you even felt it,” Wade said with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, I felt it,” Paul smiled.

“For the record,” Wade told Michael, “hitting him is like punching a tree. What the hell do you have in your head?” he asked Paul.

“Just concrete and stuff,” Paul answered with a grin.

They all laughed again; more awkward silence followed.

“Everyone probably thinks we are going to finish this after school,” Paul finally said, and Wade nodded in agreement.

“I think it’s safe to say,” Paul continued, rubbing his jaw, “if we go at it again, we’ll both probably land in the hospital.”

“Bloody oath, Mate.”

“What?” Paul asked.

“True enough.” Wade explained, “So…we good?”

Paul nodded, “We good.”

And, from that point on, they became good friends. It wasn’t every day that Paul met someone who not only stood up to him, but would have actually given him a run for his money. He wasn’t afraid of Wade, but he knew it would be one a hell of a fight, and win, lose, or draw, he would have been hurting for many days. Wade was tough and stood up for someone, and Paul respected him for that.

He still disliked Michael, but he did respect the fact that even though Michael knew he didn’t have a prayer against him, he still stood his ground. And more importantly, Michael could have easily had him expelled but had been willing to take the blame for the better of the entire school. He had to respect someone who put other people first. Michael still got on his nerves, especially when he caught him staring at his girlfriend, but he respected what Michael did and decided to leave him alone.

Wade and Michael also became good friends. Wade started to attend Paul’s football games and always invited Michael.

Over time Paul learned to tolerate Michael, and though he would never admit it, he occasionally enjoyed having Michael around. They still disliked each other for the most part, one good deed was not about to undo years of torment and hatred, but they could at least be civilized to each other.

Paul still made the occasional dig at him, but it was more in jest than to be mean. Paul learned that Michael was pretty quick with the come-backs and wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion.

Paul jokingly challenged Michael to a game of ‘knuckles’, fully expecting Michael to be wincing like a little girl within a few minutes, and quickly learned that Michael had more than just a quick mind; he also had reflexes like a cat, because it was Paul who was getting the sore hands from the game. Even Wade tried, and Michael beat him at the game too. What Michael lacked in physical size he more than compensated for with quick wit and lightening-fast hands.

Paul and Wade started teaching Michael how to defend himself, not that Michael would ever need protection when he had those two around, but they both insisted he learn how to defend himself and start lifting something other than school books. It took some doing, but they finally managed to get his nose out of the books and into the gym.

“If he ever decides to put those fast hands of his in a pair of boxing gloves,” Wade told Paul, “he’d be bloody dangerous.”

“He already is dangerous,” Paul answered on one of those rare moments he was actually being serious. “The rest of his body just doesn’t know it yet.”

Other than that one, brief interlude of giving Michael a compliment, Paul constantly complained about Michael to Lucy. He told her that if Wade insisted on dragging that geek along, he at least had to try to make him less ‘geeky’; he had his own reputation to protect. Lucy just laughed.

An outsider might have believed those two were actually becoming friends, but Lucy was not an outsider, and she fully expected that little house of cards to come crashing down.

Lucy knew how much Michael irritated Paul, especially when Paul caught Michael staring at her. She didn’t like the way he sometimes looked at her either, but she would be the least of Michael’s worries.

Paul had a nasty jealous streak, and even Wade would not be able to stop him from stomping Michael into the ground if Michael did not learn to keep his eyes to himself.

Paul and Michael’s friendship, for the lack of a better term, was putting extra pressure on her, and she did not like it one bit. She had to be constantly aware that she did not say anything to Michael that Paul might misinterpret.

It was all quite exhausting, and even though she was glad Michael was no longer subject to Paul’s constant bullying, her life was a hell of a lot simpler when he was.

CHAPTER 2 – Road Trip

“Whose van?” Lucy asked as she threw her duffel bags into the blue Chevy.

“My sponsor family said I could borrow it so we could come support our school. Team spirit and all,” Wade smirked.

Lauren spoke up. “Team spirit hell, you came here to see tits and ass.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice,” Wade’s smile broadened. “There were Sheilas there?”

“You didn’t notice?” Emma laughed. “Than why were you tripping over your own tongues? The three of you looked like a pack of dogs in heat.”

They all laughed.

“So, why are you driving?” Lucy asked Paul as he slid behind the wheel.

“He drove up, I’m driving back. Hey, Emma,” Paul snickered, turning his head to the back seats, “what does a blonde say after sex?”

“What?” Emma asked, never knowing what lame blonde joke Paul was going to come up with next.

“You guys all play on the same team?” Paul laughed.

All three girls groaned and rolled their eyes.

“Speaking of playing on the same team,” Lauren announced excitedly, “did you hear the latest about that slut, Kelly Gets?”

“What’s your beef with her anyway?” Emma asked. “And why does everyone call her Kelly Gets? Her name is Kelly Peterson!”

“Oh, my God, Emma, I can’t believe you’re that naive,” Lauren answered.

“What?” Emma asked.

“Gets, as in every boy ‘gets’ whatever he wants,” Lucy explained.

“Really?” Emma’s eyes opened wide in shocked disbelief.

“I heard she took on the whole football team,” Lauren said with more than a hint of disgust in her voice. Lucy shot a dirty look to Paul.

“I never touched her,” Paul said defensively. “I wouldn’t fuck that skank with Mikey’s dick.”

“I wouldn’t let you,” Michael answered. Everyone laughed.

“Well, most of the team. Same diff,” Lauren added.

“Why would she do that?” Emma asked. “It’s not like she’s ugly and couldn’t get a boy to notice her.”

“My dear little Emma,” Lauren laughed, “it has nothing to do with getting boys to notice her. Kelly Gets is just a slut, plain and simple. And apparently, it takes a football team to satisfy her.”

“Wow,” Emma was confused, “if she’s that easy, why would boys even have anything to do with her? Aren’t they worried about STDs?”

Lauren placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder and explained, “Because men are pigs, sweetie. They can only think with one head at a time, and the little one is the one they usually think with. They will stick it in anything that opens their legs for them.”

“Not everyone,” Michael corrected her.

“Bullshit,” Lauren argued. “You’re all alike. You’d screw a hole in a tree stump if you needed to get your rocks off.”