Chapter Four: ❝ what is it, asshole day?❞

Manny had two missions: find his wallet and kill the person who took his wallet.

As a man of action, it was easier done than said. Shoot first, ask questions later type deal. Which is why he scoured the entire school campus top to bottom before making his way into the student parking lot.

Forget being an Olympic track star, Manny was a full fledged race car headed toward the finish line. The engine in his heart revved up and roaring, almost pounding against the hood of his chest. The motor oil coursed through his veins and leaked out from his skin like sweat seeping through his pores. His speedometer cranked up as far as it could reach, the exhaust pipe of his nose flared and heaved like a chimney. His legs were wheels that didn't know where to turn and left tire tracks wherever he skirted by— Left. Right. Straight ahead. U-turn. Backpedal. No matter where he went, he couldn't find his destination.

After almost ten minutes of retracing his steps around parts of the school that weren't locked up already, he headed towards his car in the nearly deserted parking lot. He constantly looked over his shoulder and examined every place he was going to rest his foot before putting another one in front of it.

It wasn't like him to lose things, especially things as precious to him as his wallet. He would've noticed if he lost it in the dean's office as he sat down or when he ran from the deputy and knocked into that football player. Which, to be fair, they both suffered a mild concussion and possibly severe headache. Which may have also given him slight disorientation at that time. But even in his toughest encounters, it was on his person some way or another. And since it's clear that he didn't drop it at those times, that means someone must have taken it from him.

But when? How? And most importantly who?

Deep in his conscience he knew it may have been the guys who framed him for all this, but there was only one other person who could tell him for sure.

And she would not be ecstatic to see him that day.

His grass-stained sneakers finally met the wheels of his 2015 Ford Mustang, the charcoal rims gleaming like stars in a football stadium with all the lights on and it nearly blinded him. He squinted his eyes as he reached into the front right pocket of his jeans for the keys, another thing he was thankful not to lose.

Since there were no other cars parked next to him, he swung the driver-side door as wide open as it could go and slid into the seat. He stuck the keys into the ignition and let the car roar to life, the air conditioning at full blast to battle the Californian heat.

The muggy and dirt-stained shirt he wore already wasn't making him feel comfortable and didn't help with his irritation, so he casually slipped that off his skin and tossed it in the passenger seat.

"Note to self, put extra shirts in the car," he muttered to himself as he shut the door and ran his fingers through his knotted, dark curls. It was rare for him to drive shirtless, particularly to the place he was going, but at this point he was too pissed off and exhausted to care.

To think that day could get any more frustrating was a thought Manny did not want to even conceive in his mind, but as he backed out of his assigned spot, it somehow did.

He abruptly stepped on his brakes just as quick as he did the gas pedal, the whole car halted to a stop. Just from his rear view mirror, he could see the person he almost hit with his trunk, her swears muffled from inside his car and deflected by his rolled up windows.

The girl threw down her paper coffee cup and marched towards the side of his car, hitting the glass of his window with balled up fists. Manny shook his head and pinched the skin between his eyebrows, taking a deep breath.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me..." he mumbled and slammed his hand on the center console. The girl of course wouldn't stop hitting his door and yelling if he didn't roll down the window, so to his dismay, that's exactly what he proceeded to do.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! What is it, asshole day?" the girl yelled right in his ear as Manny pulled his head further away from the window. "Learn how to drive would you?!"

Manny took a deep breath, his jaw clenched. "Oh please, I'm begging for your forgiveness. Now could you move, it's really not the time."

"Tell that to my notebook which you so kindly crushed with your batmobile," she said with a deep frown.

"Listen Susan, Katherine, Anne, dollface, gummy bear, sweetheart, or whatever the fuck your name is, I seriously am not in the mood right now. So if you could back away from my car, I would really appreciate it," Manny said with the best smile he could muster.

The girl rolled her pecan colored eyes at him. "It's Lily to you, dollface. And I am not going anywhere until you get your wheel off my notebook."

In a fuse of indignation, he quickly pushed the door open—nearly knocking Lily down—got up and around to the side of the car, squatted down next to the tire, and pried off the flattened pages from underneath the wheel. It turned out unsuccessful though as he ended up ripping it in half, its tiny white shreds littered the dark gray concrete. He didn't pay mind to it though as he tossed the damaged journal in her direction with a fake grin.

"Happy now? Great. So if you will excuse me, people to go, places to see. Have a—"

He was cut off when Lily threw the notebook right back in his face and slammed his car door shut in the process. She then stomped towards him and kicked him as hard as she could in his shin, which made him cry out, lose his balance and fall to the ground on one knee.

"You are unreal, you know that?! How fucking dare you?!" she screamed at him, her fists and voice shaking with anger. "That notebook was my life you fucking asshole! First I deal with Chase, now you?! I can't even leave this school in peace. You people are unbelievable. Just fucking unbelievable."

Manny let out a hefty sigh and stood up, using the side of his car for stability. It took everything in him to not scream at the teary eyed girl with flushed cheeks and frizzy, dark brown hair. So instead he just said the next cruelest thing his strained mind could think of at that moment.

"I couldn't give a ratsass about you, your goddamn notebook or whatever else happened to you today. You probably deserved it for acting like such a bitch. I also don't give a shit if I almost ran over you, because again, you probably deserved it. Now, please, I'm saying please, move or you will be moved."

Lily scoffed at him in disbelief, swiped her ruined notebook off the ground, and turned around to head to the other end of the parking lot before hot tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Manny jeered at what he thought was "pathetic crying" before heading back inside his car with another possible bruise forming on his shin. He continued the way he started as if nothing happened, the sound of the tires screeching against the asphalt as he drove away above the maximum speed limit one should drive in the parking lot. The other half of Lily's notebook flew right behind the car and got carried away like dust in the wind, the ripped half being left for someone else to stumble upon.

As soon as he entered the busy streets, he rolled up the window and punched his center console again, his knuckles blushing red. His foot pressed down harder on the gas pedal as he tried to beat the red and yellow traffic lights, his elbow leaned against the window frame while his reddened eyes were focused on the road ahead.

Besides the most popular girls in school, everyone knew who she was. Including Manny. He only pretended to not know her name as to spite her, but everyone generally knew who she was. They were, in fact, the ones who mess with her and whom she messes with back of course. It's not that he hated every molecule of her existence, but he definitely did not like her in the slightest. They've had two to three class periods with each other since freshman year; from English to Ceramics, Geometry to Debate, or even Biology to Finance.

Neither one of them spoke to or acknowledged the other, because why talk to someone you don't like? But the times they did speak led them both to getting referrals or even ISS. Everyone in that more "popular clique" at school knew that Lily was a menace, and Lily felt the same way about them. The history of the feud was a long and brutal one that began with O'Dallas Price and Annisa Abdullah, a tale for another time, and has since continued on till that day.

He never meant to get himself caught up in girl drama, but it soon became everyone's drama when in ninth grade Geometry class, Chase caught Lily cheating off of him. It's debatable as to who was really telling the truth, but in the end Mr. Horowitz believed the jock, Lily got a zero, Chase and the rest of his friends made fun of her, she called him a "despicable twat," referrals where handed out, and in the end, two guys got towel whipped and wedgied in the boy's locker room for defending her.

But it was better her than him anyways.

Manny's grip on the leather steering wheel tightened until the green veins in his hands popped up through his skin while he accelerated a bit faster. He now had three missions:

Find his wallet, kill the person who took his wallet, and get back at the girl who nearly sent him over the edge.

After fifteen minutes of weaving through numerous streets, climbing up the steep hills, and nearly running several red lights, Manny parked the black Mustang as close as he could to the entrance of the Heavyweights Boxing Gym.

The last time he was in there was nearly two summers ago with his friends and ex-girlfriend, a place where they mostly goofed off instead of worked out. Now she actually worked and trained there, the memories of those long nights reduced to nothing more than polaroid pictures and stories they would laugh about when they're older.

He hopped out of the car without a shirt on still—since it was too damp and dirty to wear anyways—and embraced the chilly air and dimming sun that calmed his temper a bit. Looking both ways and taking a couple long strides, he swung open the door to the packed gym and scrunched up his nose at the smell of leather, metal, and warm bodies.

At each turn, he kept an eye out for a five-foot-six, noisy brunette who may be wearing red, as he remembered that being her favorite color. He also recalled the large, rectangular boxing ring with the thick white ropes and black leather padding towards the end of the gym, the rows of punching bags in all different geometric shapes and colors connected to silver chains that were attached to the ceiling, the racks of weights and dumbbells going from five to three hundred pounds, and who could forget the multiple boxers and weightlifters who made it all come to life.

Manny shimmied his way past a skinny, ginger weightlifter who didn't hear him say "move" as he had his rock music turned at the highest volume while he struggled to lift the two pound weights on his bar. But it was right behind him that he saw her standing straight ahead and wearing red.

Her hair was in a high ponytail to be kept off of her damp, light brown skin, but yet it nearly reached her fire-engine colored shorts. Her smile was just the way he remembered it, gleaming brighter than the fluorescent lighting in the room, and even though her eyes were a deep muddy brown, they could hypnotize you from a mile away.

He cleared his dry throat for a moment before calling out her name. "Emma?"

Her side profile faced him, but as soon he called her name, her head whipped around so fast that her straightened hair hit her cheek. At first she looked surprised, but it immediately morphed into disgust and anger as he began to approach her with a small, cheeky grin.

"Long time no see. Do you have a minute?" he asked in a low voice as he drew closer to her.

Before she responded, she used her dominant hand to slap him across the cheek, a sound that could have reverberated off the padded walls, and scoffed.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Emma said, her thick eyebrows creased into a frown.

Manny stretched his jaw a little bit and narrowed his eyes at her, his cheek reddening. "Well, it's nice to see you too. I was just—"

"— you were just what? Wanting to talk?" Emma interrupted as she tucked her brown clipboard under her arm. "Do the words, 'I will beat your ass next time I see you,' not ring a bell? ¿O debería haberlo dicho en español perra?"

"There's no need to be snappy all right. I know I'm not supposed to be here, but I wouldn't be if it weren't important," Manny said with his hands up in defense.

"This gym is for paying members only. Plus we have a very strict policy about dress code," she said as she looked him up and down. "You smell and look like shit. Put on a shirt or get out."

"Wow, thanks. Every guy loves hearing that. And I have to wear a shirt but he doesn't?" Manny asked and pointed behind him to the thin, red-headed guy dying of thirst who he passed earlier.

"Si, ¿y tienes un problema con eso? You have ten seconds to get out or I'm calling the cops," Emma said.

"Look, the only thing I have a problem with is your brothers trying to get me arrested," Manny said and took a step closer towards her. "You can either tell them to back off or give me their addresses and I can tell them myself."

"¿Es una amenaza o simplemente eres estúpido? You cannot just walk up in here while I am working and accuse my family of shit you don't know about," Emma said, her voice shaking.

"That wasn't a threat, that was a promise," Manny said with a raised brow. "If you want to continue to be their bitch, that's fine with me. But after everything they put me through, put us through, I'm not just going to sit back and let this shit slide."

"Oh please Emmanuel, don't forget who broke up with who," she said, her waterline turning much pinker and her eyes glossier. "You can't be doing this to me right now. Not here, not like this—"

He decided to brush over the fact that she used his full name and shook his head. "¿Por qué? ¿Te estoy avergonzando ahora? 'Cause if I am, just call the cops Em and we can ask them."

"It is Emma to you, ¿Entendido? I am asking you to not fucking do this to me right now, please."

"Fine, you're right. You know what—" Manny paused and pulled out his phone from his back pocket— "Let me call Dario real quick and ask him if he knows, seeing as you guys are so close and all."

"Emmanuel, tienes cinco malditos segundos para salir de aquí o llamaré à la policía. Estoy hablando en serio. You can't keep doing this shit to me!" Emma pleaded, trying to swipe the phone from his hands but to no avail.

"And you can't keep doing this shit to me! Stop trying to protect them and just tell me where they are or I'll call Dario," Manny said as he raised his phone to keep it out of her reach.

Emma glanced to the side as the white of her eyes turned red and her small hands balled up into fists. She knew she had to do right by her brothers and not give Manny their whereabouts or pass on his message, but it was also better than having her ex-boyfriend and Dario rip each other to pieces because of this.

"If I do this, will you swear to leave?" Emma asked, looking back at him.

"If you do this, will you promise me it's not going to be a setup?"

"I will never promise you shit again."

Manny shrugged. "Then I swear not to leave."

"Emmanuel—"

"It is Manny to you, ¿Entendido?"

Both of them gave each other the death glares, their faces only a few inches apart. Emma knew it was better for him to actually see them than play the messenger in their little feud. So she gave him what he wanted.

"This way, asshole."

Sheesh, what a chapter. This went over my word count a bit, but who doesn't love drama and heightened emotions?

I got chapter five coming up very soon for all my current readers, a chapter I've been waiting to write for a while. This time it will be in the girls' perspective, so hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Appreciate ya.

~ Robin ~