Naturally, we don't have to wait too much for that. By the time we're done with our math study session, Rude's waiting for us across the street, sprawled comfortably over a park bench, like a king in a throne. This is clearly an official visit; once he's sure we noticed him, he lifts his index finger to get my attention.

"What's this dung all about?" Lyle finally asks. "What did you do, John?"

"Nothing," I say, which is probably a lie. "But just in case, walk Corrine home and let me handle this."

"What? No way," Lyle replies, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You'll just get in trouble if I'm not here with you."

"It's probably about that rumor," Amanda explains, turning to us and smiling. "Don't worry. I'll get rid of him."

"What rumor? What the hell is going on here?"

"Is it about you and Abigail being... you know..." Corrine says, and then trails off when we all turn to her. "I heard about it today at school."

"Who said that?" Lyle presses, and Corrine flinches slightly.

"I heard it from Terry," Corrine says. "He was talking about it to one of Rude's friends at the cafeteria."

Fuck. Did Lyle spill the beans to him? I don't think he would, but they're friends, after all.

"I'm gonna split his skull open, I swear..." Lyle himself says through gritted teeth. "That little dung is making stuff up again."

"It wouldn't be the first time that little piece of dung starts gossip to save his greasy ass," Amanda says, dismissive. "That's why nobody likes you, Lyle. You get along with him."

"Anyway, I'll go talk to Rude," I say, already bracing myself for what's coming. If Rude decided to believe these rumors, then I'm in for a fight. One I hope I can avoid. "You and Corrine go home, in case things go sideways."

"I am not leaving without you, John," Lyle protests. "Stop trying to push me away."

"Nothing's going to happen, guys," Amanda says, already walking to his brother. "I'll clear this misunderstanding in a flash. Just watch."

In the end, the three of us follow Amanda across the street. Rude stands up and waits for us, fists tightly packed inside his hoodie pockets, like that one time we talked outside Aloha. He stands straight, and his ten feet of pure muscle stare at us like we're a bunch of garden dwarves.

"Rude, what's up?" Amanda begins, but Rude quickly pushes her aside as he walks to me. "Hey! What's wrong with you?!"

Up close, he looks fifteen feet tall instead of ten.

"All three of you can go home. My business here is with the Foster kid."

"I am not leaving..." Lyle tries, but Rude's voice is commanding.

"You want to be the next Newton, don't you?"

"I already talked to him about the rumor, Rude," Amanda says, trying to wedge herself between Rude and me, but neither of us budge. "It's all a lie."

"I'll decide whether Potato is lying or not."

"Oh, come on," Amanda says, scoffing. "You know you can't believe anything that comes out of his mouth."

"I already told you this conversation does not concern you. Walk away, now."

"Fine!" She finally concedes, and for a second I believe I'm on my own. But then she adds, "You be that way! Talk to John, beat the crap out of him just the way the fucking Fist would do. Meanwhile I'll remember that you decided to believe MOTHERFUCKING POTATO before your own flesh and blood."

Rude himself looks up at the sky, lets out a furious sigh, and licks his lips before turning back to me. "You're safe this time, Foster. But if I ever find out you're trying to make a fool out of me, and just so you're aware, you're going to beg me to fucking kill you."

"I'm not looking for a fight with you, man," I say, fully aware that my voice doesn't sound particularly clear.

Rude takes a fist out of his pocket, and his index finger pokes a hole in my chest. "And I'll be keeping a close eye on you to make sure that isn't just more dung."

"You don't get it, do you?" I say, now frowning at him. Lyle's eyes go wide in horror. "It doesn't matter if the rumors are true or not. You don't get to fight me over whoever I befriend or not. You don't get to choose my friends, Rude."

"Oh, so it is true, then!"

"That is not the point!" I scream in his face, and Lyle pulls on my arm, trying to stop me. "You can't boss me around like this, and I won't allow it!"

"Oh, it's going to be fun to see how you pretend to stop me," Rude says, shoving me, then Amanda and Lyle are standing between us, Corrine screams in panic, and Rude punches Lyle in the face, making him fall on his back. I stand up quickly to retaliate, but then a new figure is standing in the way, and everything goes still.

"I believe that's enough." It's Dad's voice, except more serious than I've ever heard it before.

"Mr. Foster," Rude himself acknowledges my dad's presence, looking down at his own feet. I glance at Lyle, but Corrine is with him, pressing a handkerchief to his mouth.

"I won't pretend I know you, your motivations, or whatever is going on here," Dad says, now with an even voice. "But I know for sure, the William Riggs I know would have never approved this."

"He wouldn't," Amanda says, standing next to Rude, and nudging him hard with her elbow. "Dad might have not been the best father in town, but he sure as hell didn't raise a bully."

"I'm sure he didn't, right Rude?" Dad says, flashing Amanda a smile. "Willy and I used to fight bullies back at Preston in our young days."

"Did he?" Rude asks, suddenly lifting his face to look at Dad. Maybe adrenaline is making me imagine things, but I believe there's a hint of childish curiosity in Rude's face.

"He was fierce against abuse. He never told you the stories?"

"No, sir."

"Then let's do this," Dad says, walking up to Rude and offering a handshake. "You come with me, I invite you something to eat, and I tell you all I know about your father. And then you tell me what's going on here."

Rude looks confused for a second, as we all are. I want to ask Dad what's going through his head right now, inviting the guy who wanted my head on a plate a minute ago for pizza and a chat, like nothing happened, like Lyle didn't just get a split lip.

"I guess I owe you an explanation, Mr. Foster," Rude says, accepting the handshake.

"I won't push you to tell me about it," Dad says, flashing him his usual smile. "But you're trying to beat up my son, you know." Then Dad finally turns to me. "Are you okay, Champ?"

"Eh, yes. Lyle did get punched."

"Dude! You have hammers in those mitts of yours!" Lyle protests, while Corrine tries to keep him still.

After that, we all go into Aloha, and Dad spends at least a couple hours speaking with Rude near the pizza oven. At some point Lyle agrees to walk Corrine home since it's getting dark, and Amanda waits for Rude with me while we do some more math. After a while, Rude leaves with Amanda, but doesn't speak to me. He just gives me a slight nod before going. I don't know if that means we're on good terms or not. Amanda herself apologizes in his stead, and departs with a smile on her face and the promise to see me in the morning.

And it's only after I make sure Rude and Amanda are gone for good that I stuff my things in my backpack and join Dad on the counter.

"You okay, Champ?"

"Extremely conflicted, but otherwise unscathed."

"That Rude kid... Too much going on in his head right now."

"Looks to me that the only thing in his head is bullying people."

"Yeah, he sure is angry, and with good reason, too."

"What?" I say, mildly offended that my dad is defending the school's bully. "I didn't do anything wrong to him!"

"I don't mean you, John," he explains. "Think about it. His 'Pops', as he calls him, was his hero. And then he went to jail for a murder he didn't commit."

"He was trialed and found guilty," I point out to him.

"Not the point," Dad replies. "Thing is, Rude sees his father go to jail, and of course he gets to be mad because of it."

"I suppose."

"Then there's this gang, which apparently set his dad up to go to jail. He gets to be mad at them, don't you agree?"

"He's part of the gang, just so you know."

Dad rolls his eyes. "Yes, he told me about that, too."

"And bullied some of my friends and their families as well."

"And that includes this girl, Scarborough?"

"She's not my friend," I lie, looking away.

"John?" Okay, I get it. I can't really fool my old man. Sheesh. "Scarborough is the girl you saw on that 'cinema' night, isn't she?"

"So what if she is?" I say, trying to defend myself. After all, it's neither Dad nor Rude's business if I'm friends with Scar or not.

"She did something really bad to Rude's sister, you know?"

"You just don't get it," I say flatly. I'm done with this conversation. I don't want my Dad going in that direction because I know what's coming, and I'm having none of it.

"We have time. Explain it to me."

But the thing is, I can't. I don't have an explanation, not even an excuse to justify Scarborough stabbing Amanda Riggs. Pretty sure Dad's convinced Scar is "the crazy chick with the scar", as she called herself the day we met.

"Rude also did something really bad to her. And his father most likely killed Scar's mother. And then there's also Newt," I say, defying my father now. I want to see how he justifies what Rude did to them, as well. "You don't know who Newt is, because Rude and his cronies bullied him out of fucking school, and even destroyed his mom's business. They live so scared now that they even look sideways before going out the door! Is that fair to them? No, it's not!"

"And you're right. That's also a poor choice," Dad concedes. "But that doesn't mean it's okay for you to hang out with a girl who's willing to stab people, John."

"You don't get to decide that!" I snap, kicking the counter.

"Matter of fact, I do," he replies, matching my tone. "Don't make me pull a Dad card on you, young man."

"Oh, like you did last December when you and Mom decided on your own to pull me out of Celadon Bay?"

"Yes! Exactly like that!" Dad barks back, immediately shutting me down. "You either stop seeing this Scarborough girl this instant, or I'll force you to. That's the choices you get, and I'm very sorry if you don't like them."

"So you're not happy taking just Veronica and Martin away from me. You need more."

"If that's the way you want to see it, John."

Well. Guess what? I'm done being pushed around. Pushover John is done pleasing everyone. I grab my stuff and leave Aloha without another word, dialing Scar as soon as I'm out the door. I don't care who's watching or listening.

But this time, she's not answering. It doesn't matter. I'm done with this secrecy bullshit, like Newt and Scar don't deserve to see the light of day. Like they're not the victims in this mess.

This bullshit ends now. And it starts at my own house, as soon as I walk in. Mom is doing her usual at this time, trying to stay awake while watching TV.

It's probably a good idea to set the tone right away, before she can actually say anything.

"I don't know if you talked to Dad yet, but just so you know, I'm not going to let you guys dictate what's right or wrong for me. Understood?"

Mom looks at me blankly, and blinks a few times. "Yikes. I guess so?"

"Good," I say, now unsure how to proceed. I kind of expected her to go full-Mom and scold me. Meanwhile Mom, now fully awake, examines me, also unsure how to proceed.

"Do I have to ask your dad what happened, though?"

"Yes. Wait, no."

"Which one is it?"

"If you do, you're going to side with him, and if you do, then I'm going to fight with you."

"Sounds drastic," she says.

"And you sound sarcastic."

"Well, John," she begins. "You just showed up throwing a tantrum, and apparently, ready to fight me over it. I don't even know what's going on."

"Dad became friends with Maple High's bully. Who, by the way, punched Lyle in the face earlier."

"I'm afraid I still don't know what you're talking about."

I sigh, ready to move on. If Mom isn't itchy for a fight, I might as well let her go. But not without a warning. "Once you talk to Dad, whatever I just said would be rendered invalid anyway, so don't bother."

"Well, that doesn't have to be the case, John," Mom says, patting the empty spot next to her. "What was that about Lyle getting punched, anyway?"

"School's bully was looking for a fight with me, and Lyle got in the way."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah," I say, scratching my neck. None of us say anything for a moment, while Mom tries to unlock the hidden message in my explanation behind her frown.

"Did you get in a fight?"

"Someone spread a wild rumor at school involving me, and this guy didn't like it."

"So he tried to fight you over it?"

"Right in front of Aloha. Would you believe the nerve?"

"And your father saw it?"

"Yes, and then he invited this guy for some pizza, and they became friends," I elaborate, but Mom looks more confused than before. "And now Dad thinks this guy is right, and I'm wrong. And when he comes back home, he'll gossip about it with you, and I'll be the bad guy with the unsightly friends."

"Unsightly friends...?" Mom repeats, like I'm an idiot who said something completely ridiculous. "Did your father say that?"

I roll my eyes at her. "He forbade me from seeing my friends after talking to Rude, so there..."

"Rude?"

"School's bully?"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I guess I need to have a conversation with your father, then."

I scoff. "Yeah, sure. So then you'll become part of Rude's gang to hate me."

"Okay, you're overreacting, now."

"You two have always been a team," I protest, and Mom slowly stands up and comes to me. "You two will just team up again and hate me."

Then Mom does something completely uncharacteristic of her, and pulls me into a hug. "Neither Dad, nor I, will ever hate you, John."

And, pathetic as this is, I crumble in her arms. "You do! Both of you hate me."

"Do you really think so, John?"

"Yes!" I scream, trying to squirm away from her grasp, but it's useless. And I really believe my parents hate me. Otherwise I'd be studying for mid-terms with Vee and Martin in the actual Aloha's basement right now, instead of studying with Amanda while her brother witch-hunts me outside Dad's knock-off Aloha.

"I'll talk to your dad later, all right?" That's the promise she makes as she exerts her uncanny Mom-powers on me, letting me hide in the crook of her neck, effectively soothing me, even against my will.

Mom-powers should be banned.

Later that night, when Dad arrives from his restaurant, I'm still awake, lying on my bed. It doesn't take long for the angry hisses from Mom to reach all the way to me, even from downstairs. Then Dad raises his voice, so unlike his usual self. And then Mom is full-on shouting at him. My name gets tossed around back and forth, and I wonder if I should go there and try to calm things down. It's the first time they get in a fight like this, at least that I know of, and it's happening because of me. But soon as it started, it also ends, and the whole house enters a state of slumber.