Chapter Fifteen: ❝ so you're going to choose violence? ❞

After fifteen minutes of waiting, help finally arrived. And in the form of a tow truck.

It was large enough. Not as big as a monster truck, but no smaller than an F-150. Its front half had a simple, chipped white paint job. The auto-repair shop name, Car Surgeons, sprawled across the driver's side door in bold cherry-red letters. In place of a regular trunk, its back half had a flatbed. A sort of mechanical ramp used to maneuver damaged cars onto it.

Hakeem had offered to let Manny use his phone so he could make the rescue call, mainly because he wanted to get off of the side of the road as soon as possible. Skipping school was already tearing Hakeem's conscience apart, and he didn't need to draw attention from nearby police on top of that.

Rashaad handled the situation better than Hakeem at that moment, stating that getting a flat tire made the trip, "more of an adventure and lesson to always keep tires away from sharp objects." Hakeem was severely tempted to slap him, but he held his tongue, rolled his eyes, and took deep breaths.

But out of the three of them, Manny was perhaps the most nonchalant. Was he kind of mad? Sure. A little bit surprised? Maybe. Did this stop him from sticking to his improvised plan? Not at all. That's why it was improvised in the first place. In the back of his mind, he agreed with Rashaad about this being an amusing "adventure". Not only that but an interesting detour.

Before the tow truck arrived, Manny took note of two very riveting things: first, they were only about nine blocks away from their destination. So if they walked at a good pace, they could be there in less than ten minutes. Second, he had Hakeem's phone.

He never told Manny exactly when he wanted his phone back, so during the wait, he succumbed to his curiosity and started scrolling through some of his apps. He would've also checked Hakeem's photos and messages, but he decided that was way too personal. After quietly critiquing his social media profiles and listing what needed to be fixed, Manny logged into his account —such as Instagram — and swiftly skimmed through his numerous notifications before the idea came.

The idea was, albeit ridiculous, but it could work. It would work. In fact, it did work.

See, once Manny's Mustang had been ready to be taken to the shop, he told Hakeem he'd need his phone still to message his friend that they were on their way. And, clueless as he was, Hakeem was fine with it. Luckily for them, Manny's friend, Morgan or "Moe" for short, was an eighteen-year-old high school graduate working as an apprentice mechanic.

Moe used to go to Pineridge High School, home of the Pirates, and biggest rival to their school, Whitney Hills High, home of the Knights. Manny met him through a string of other mutual friends at one of the biggest basketball games of the season last school year. They got along really well because of their shared interest in cars, hatred of school work, common attitudes toward life, and knowledge of the best "Weedman" in their area.

Since that fateful, late October evening of fun, they've been good friends and a great companion Manny could rely on whenever something went astray (as well as vice versa). Moe was ecstatic when Manny called him and immediately sent over one of his coworkers to help tow the car to the shop. Which also happened to be neighboring the boys' original destination. So it was a complete win-win.

Once Manny informed the tow truck driver that they'd meet up with him at the shop, he nodded cordially and whisked away with his car into the busy streets. Hakeem and Rashaad swiped their belongings up from the grassy knoll and followed Manny towards the sidewalk, both of them on either side of him.

"Well," Rashaad began, "this—"

"No," Hakeem cut in, giving him a flat look.

"Wha- I didn't even get to say anything!" Rashaad cried, frowning.

"That's exactly why I said 'no,'" Hakeem said and kicked aside a small pebble that was near his foot.

"Fine. Be that way," Rashaad spat and looked at Manny. "Hey Manny, how's your day going?"

Manny glanced up from the phone and grinned. He wasn't paying much attention to the conversation since he was finishing up answering some unimportant messages from his Instagram; specifically avoiding those from his friends asking about his whereabouts. "It's been... engrossing. You?"

Rashaad smiled and slowly tilted his head from side to side."Hmm... nerve-wracking and exciting. I'd say my favorite part was when we snuck out of ISS."

"Oh shit, yeah, me too. How about you Hakeem?" Manny asked him, playfully bumping into his shoulder.

Hakeem sighed, fiddling with the straps of his backpack. "Meh, you know, it's been... eye-opening. So far I've mostly been contemplating the dire consequences of our actions and how this could impact the rest of our school year and the year of those we come into significant contact with moving forward. Along with the very small, but highly potent, possible butterfly effect that coincidentally put us all into each other's paths. Thus causing some sort of strange rift into our daily lives that could end poorly or fantastic. Probably a little bit of both."

Rashaad raised his eyebrows at his best friend and scoffed, muttering to Manny, "Don't listen to him, he likes to overthink through things if you haven't noticed."

"I can still hear you dumbass," Hakeem said and shook his head.

"Oh no, I've noticed..." Manny muttered back as if Hakeem still couldn't hear them. "But I'm just glad you two were chill about this whole flat-tire and having to walk for half-a-mile thing..."

"Pfft, of course. That's what buddies are for," Rashaad said. "Through thick and thin, the highs and lows, there's nothing we couldn't do for you."

"Ummm..." Hakeem started, but this time Rashaad cut him off.

"I said nothing we couldn't do for you." Rashaad slightly scowled at Hakeem. "And though unrelated but still speaking of, who are you fighting tomorrow anyway? They didn't accidentally steal something from you too, did they?"Rashaad had been curious about the infamous fight for a while and heard some gruesome rumors about other brawls involving Manny in the past.

Manny lightly chuckled and tapped Hakeem's phone screen to keep it awake. "Not necessarily, no. Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"Long!"

"Short."

Rashaad and Hakeem glared at each other, but before they could argue, Manny chose for them. "Long version it is!"

The boys made a complete stop at a crosswalk intersection; Manny pressing the large yellow button multiple times and waiting for the white pixelated pedestrian to appear on the sign across from them so they could continue. The traffic was moderate for it being close to midday, the various cars, smaller trucks, mopeds, and motorcycles speeding by in countless different directions.

The day was also becoming brighter and hotter, giving Manny's cheeks and forehead a red glow while trickles of sweat were rolling down Hakeem and Rashaad's faces. The only thing battling the oncoming heat was the light breeze from the northeast, rustling through their dark hair or swinging around the tails of the boys' backpacks.

Manny cleared his throat and leaned against the traffic light pole, his arms folded across his chest while his right fingers kept tapping the phone screen awake. "So if you don't already know, Jared —as is in Jared Carter — and I don't get along. Like at all. Which is a whole other story within itself..."

"He's the baseball player, right?" Hakeem asked. He was vaguely familiar with him since he had a few classes with him last year and he was pretty well-known around the school.

Rashaad and Hakeem couldn't see it, but Manny rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Yes, and a total asshole for no unprovoked reason. Sometime last week, I was minding my own business and then all of sudden Jared started calling me all these names and talking shit behind my back to his friends. Another reason he hates me is that he thinks I've been 'seeing' his girlfriend, Lydia. All because she may or may not have sent me nudes."

"Wait... but did she? Lydia, I mean... Send you nudes, I mean," Rashaad asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

Manny groaned. "Eh, technically yes, but that's not—"

"Uh, wait, what?!" Hakeem exclaimed. "Were you- A-are you guys—"

"Um no, we didn't do anything like that," Manny responded. "She may or may not have been flirting with me for the last few weeks and I may or may not have casually flirted back. And then one day we may or may not have added each other on Snapchat and we may or may not have talked for a bit. Which may or may not have led to me asking for some pictures of her and she may or may not have sent them... Now did I technically ask for nudes? No. Could it have been read that way? Sure. Did I keep the pictures she willingly sent? Ehh..."

"Well no wonder Jared doesn't like you, you've been flirting with his girlfriend!" Hakeem pointed out.

"Hey, whose side are you on?! I was just having some fun. And she started it anyway..." Manny retorted, slouching his shoulders.

"Well you at least didn't show them to anyone else, right? I mean how would Jared know his girlfriend sent nudes to you unless you told someone else?" Rashaad asked, squinting his eyes from the sun.

Manny shrugged. "Ehhh... I may or may not have shown Chase the pictures and briefly mentioned them to O'Dallas and Annisa. And Chase may or may not have told our other friend Kit, who probably told Eli, who then most likely told Justin, who undoubtedly told Sabrina, and then maybe she told her friend Hailey, who told her boyfriend Nick... And then Nick is also on the baseball team with Jared and perhaps he told him which might've gotten back to me... But, again, all of that is not the point!"

Just then, the signal of the walking pedestrian finally appeared on the other traffic pole across from them, so they were able to continue with their stroll. Manny took the lead and Hakeem followed right on his heels, with Rashaad straying back a little so he could take large hops on every other crosswalk stripe.

As soon as they were on the other sidewalk and kept up the same pace of strides as before, Manny continued. "Anyway, I don't like him, he doesn't like me, you get the gist. But he would not. Stop. Running. His. Mouth. So this past Tuesday at the beginning of lunch, I confronted him about the name-calling bullshit and things got a little out of hand. I was about to punch him until Shardae, one of my other friends, stopped us and led me back to our group's lunch table. And you would think it would end there, but noo. After school, that son of a bitch dared to plop his ass on the hood of my car —"

Rashaad dramatically gasped. "No, he didn't!"

"But yet he did! He was going off at me and cussing me out or whatever the hell, and at this point, I just wanted him off my car. So I was like, 'you know what, fuck you. If you wanna fight, just meet me by Dewey Booster Park this Friday and we can settle this out once and for all.' And as you might expect, there were more threats from him, blah, blah, blah, and that much pretty is how it all came to be," Manny finished.

"Wow, that's so... awesome!" Rashaad squealed, and he gave Manny a cheerful high-five.

Hakeem scoffed at Rashaad and shook his head. "I mean I guess, but doesn't it seem a little silly to you to wanna fight someone over something that could've easily been avoided if everyone involved just talked it out?"

"Pffft, talk it out?! The fuck is this, the sixth grade?!" Manny said with a half-smile, half-preposterous look on his face. "Listen Hakeem, talking about our problems can be cute and simple and maybe easier. But guys like us should never take the 'basic' road. If you let someone like Jared Carter intimidate you, who's to say anyone else can? You gotta be able to show people who's really in charge, and we use our fists for that, not our voices."

"So you're going to choose violence?" Hakeem asked.

Manny and Rashaad glanced at each other and then nodded. "Yep," they said in unison.

"Girls love a guy who always leaves them on their toes and shows, not tells," Manny said, holding up Hakeem's phone. "They want mystery, excitement, and unpredictability. Which I shall demonstrate to you both with this example. You don't mind if I make another call again, do you, Hakeem?"

Hakeem raised a curious eyebrow but agreed to let him keep using his phone. He meant to ask for it back earlier, but he decided against it out of trepidation. He didn't want to rush Manny, but he also felt a little uneasy about how long he was taking.

Which he should, rightfully so, because in the next few seconds he'd gravely regret not asking for it back sooner.

Manny had been waiting for a certain point in time where lunch at school would be starting so he could put his idea from earlier in motion; something that would keep the boys from wasting time in the first stages of meeting Annisa and O'Dallas. A sort of "short-cut" he thought of it as.

After they crossed another small street, they slowed down their pace as Manny was dialing a number into the keypad and put the phone up to his ear— the vibrations of the buzz tickling the hairs on the back of his neck.

"Who're you calling?" Rashaad asked with a perplexed frown.

Manny smiled. "Ah, O'Dallas."

"Oh- Wait, who?!" Hakeem exclaimed, but before he could deduce what was happening, Manny made a run for it.

Rashaad immediately followed suit, thrilled, and even kicked Hakeem in the shin as payback before going. When the phone rang for at least the fourth time, O'Dallas finally picked up. Manny slowed down to a light jog to catch his breath before speaking.

"Hello?" she said.

He looked over his shoulder to see how far Hakeem was before replying, "Hi, bitch!"

"Manny?! Wh— is that you?!"

"No, it's fucking Ronald McDonald," Manny said in a mocking tone. Rashaad had caught up with him and leaned in close to his side to hear the conversation.

"I thought you got your phone taken away?! How did—"

"Borrowing from a... friend of mine," Manny said. Hakeem was starting to jog faster to catch up with them, yelling profanities that could be heard all along the block, but Manny signaled for him to keep it down. "Anyways, I need you to do me a favor and save this number I'm calling you on."

"W-why? I thought you were in ISS? When did—"

"Would you stop it with the questioning woman!? Just save the damn number," he demanded. Manny and Rashaad had to pick up their speed once more because Hakeem was gaining on them, his shouts growing louder.

"What's the name of the person's phone you're using?"

The abrupt honking of a car that sped by the cut off Manny's train of thought for a second. The pair of boys also had to shift to the left of the sidewalk to make way for another chattering couple that was passing by before he could answer. "Hakeem. It's spelled H-A—"

"I know how to spell dumbass," she said into the phone. "Now where are you?! Who's 'Hakeem' and why—"

"Ugh, I gotta go. But I'll explain later, promise," Manny said. He had glimpsed back to see Hakeem was no more than two strides away. "Oh, and don't tell anyone I'm not at school. Really, really important."

"But—"

"Bye, kiss, kiss!" Manny said and hung up the phone.

Just as Hakeem had come up right behind them, Manny tossed the phone into the hands of a giggling Rashaad and continued jogging away. They had arrived at their destination, or were at least sixty feet away from it, and he looked back to see the boys still trailing behind him.

Hakeem was chasing Rashaad and swinging his backpack at him until he gave the phone back to him. And it was only until he got it back that the boys eventually realized where they were, and how gullible they felt once they saw it.

It was right in between some small, local businesses and Car Surgeons, the auto-repair shop Manny's friend, Moe, worked at. The place was regularly crowded since it was one of the most popular parks in San Francisco, and a place they've driven past many times, but never actually visited.

When they caught up with Manny and stepped near either side of him, he put his arms over their shoulders and said, "Welcome to the Underbridge Skatepark bitches."

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And let's all just pretend 2020 never happened. Here's to 2021!

~  Robin  ~