Survival Of The Fittest

"Yeah, I'm kind of hungry too, so I'll come give you guys hand with bringing everything back." Steve said, as he rose and followed Gabe and Evan to the snack bar.

Nachos or a hot dog?

Sadly it was an important decision in Steve's mind, because the owner of Bryan's had made sure he served some of the best snack bar food Steve had ever had, and that is saying something coming from a football player, who had visited many a snack bar through his career.

"Dudes, I need to talk to you guys. This has been playing on my mind for a long time, and I really don't know how to to explain what I'm feeling here but here it goes," Steve paused for a second from dramatics, "Should I get the nachos, or get a hot dog?

Gabe let out a lighthearted chuckle as they made their way up the set of stairs to the snack bar. Ah Steve, always trivialising. "Go with the hotdog. I'm getting nachos, so we can trade if we get bored of em.... besides, I thought you loved sticking wieners in your mouth!" Gabe said, and then let out a look that screamed "burn!". Evan responded immediately with an "Oh shit! That was a good one".

As they climbed the stairs further, Gabe saw a familiar face in the bowling alley atrium. It was Brad and Troy from school. He saw Brad's eyes follow his movement, but tried not to stare. A perplexing and somewhat angered look crossed Brad's face as the trio made their way by them.

What's his problem? Gabe thought to himself.

Flora was reaching to grasp the rental shoes when she heard a girl call her name. Spinning round to face the boy and girl, she made a slight face as if she was confused.

"Uhhm, Carrie, right?" she pointed towards the girl, "I haven't gotten a lane yet, did you? I don't mind either way, though, it looks like the group we were with started without us."

Her eyes scanned around for Melissa, and she saw that she was leaned over watching the goings on with the other group. Flora shrugged.

"Let's get bowling."
-------------------------------

Melissa waved her hand towards the lane, "It's okay, Kara, I'll wait it out, looks like you need to knock some pins down more than I do."

Waiting until someone left one of the chairs, she slid on her shoes to land somewhat hard into the seat, nearly hitting Kara's cousin on the way.

"Sorry 'bout that. Who's winning so far anyway?"

She leaned back and stared blankly around the bowling alley, carefully noting the tension that seemed to be amounting, though she couldn't pinpoint the reason why. Melissa shrugged it off, thinking Courtney's nervousness around the boy she was talking to was the offset to the atmosphere. Either way, she decided to try to break some ice, as she began to glance at faces she didn't quite recognize.

"Who don't I know here? Names are good, I'm Melissa."

((Continued in Round One, Fight Three; Brad vs. Melissa))

Shit...

Brad felt his mind go numb. Gabe was coming this way, and both Brad and Troy were talking about his girlfriend. Honestly, his body shook a little. Brad wasn't exactly 'afraid' of Gabe, per se. From what he's seen, the boy seemed too calm to lose it suddenly. What Brad was afraid of was the football team in general. If you fuck with one player, you fuck with them all. This thought seemed to make Brad cringe. He REALLY did not want to get on the football team's bad side his first day back. That was the last thing on his to-do list.

Brad wasn't self-conscious of how he was looking at Gabe. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure that he was staring at him to begin with. Brad's mind was filled with "Act Nonchalant", so he wasn't thinking straight. Not to mention Brad's feeling's towards Gabe at the current moment were mixed between respect, fear and jealousy. If Gabe said something to him, Brad knew his answer would have a rude twist to it. He could just feel it. Could all of this be a huge coincidence? That he'd been talking about his night with Kara, and Gabe happened to pass by a few seconds later? Either this is fate, or coincidences must happen alot. All that Brad was sure for: That Kara didn't tell Gabe ANYTHING. I hope she... didn't tell him anything to Gabe... Jesus Christ, I hope she wasn't stupid enough to do that... He hoped to God that Troy didn't say ANYTHING at that moment that would make all of this turn out for the worse.

"You were Kara Holmes' first!?"

Troy didn't think Brad was any more scared as Gabe came over than he was when he first noticed Brad was actually scared. He certainly didn't notice Gabe until he was right next to them, and when that happened, Troy became about half as scared as Brad was. He'd just let the words right out of his mouth, probably when Brad was hoping they wouldn't. Now he'd probably dissed Gabe, which - like Brad also believed - was tantamount to dissing the entire football team, and Troy still didn't have Varsity Basketball to get his back quite yet.

"Aww, shit."

Steve laughed at Gabe, and gave him a sarcastic applause.

"Well done good sir, well done." He said with a mock British accent.

Steve noticed that they were getting close to Troy and Brad. Brad seemed to be getting increasingly nervous as they drew near, but Steve decided not to make anything of it. It wasn't worth pursuing something that he could be wrong about. For all he knew Brad was nervous about a date that was coming, that was unlikely, but still. That was one of the few downfalls he and Gabe experienced being stars on the football team. People were always challenging them to fight, or they'd find themselves in situations of violence off the field, yet they couldn't risk injuring themselves. A broken hand for Steve means his scholarship and future go down the shitter. Same deal with Gabe. Steve knew Gabe wasn't being pursued as hard as he was, but Gabe still had some damn good offers from some good schools, where he would probably be second string for a year, then start the rest of his college ball career.

"Hot dog with a Dr. Pepper it is."

Whilst Katie and Flora spoke, Simon deftly extracted his wallet and checked the contents. Running pretty low Sime-O, still, can afford a couple I guess... Simon smiled to the man waiting at the desk and paid him, then turned and spoke.

"What size are you?" he called to Katie, then told the waiting attendent his own shoe size. Katie, however, didn't seem to hear, so he simply shrugged and guessed the size as best he could for the rental shoes. It wouldn't matter too much would it?

You'd better hope so Simon... if it does then she's not going to be too pleased with you..

*

Katie smiled ruefully when Flora spoke to her.
"Ha! I wish it was Carrie, but no, my name's Katie," her smile brightened nevertheless. "I guess that you aren't in many of my classes though... Looks like a lot of our grade has turned up here tonight,"

Katie looked over at the lanes, and then back to Flora, before nodding.
"Alright, let's go. Take it easy on Simon though hey? It's his first time trying with his left hand,"

Gabe approached the concession counter, keeping Brad and Troy in his peripheral vision. He'd thought he'd heard Troy mutter something about Kara when he walked by, but wasn't sure if it was anything bad or just the usual "That guy's dating Kara" that he hears almost daily. He trned his attention to the concession counter clerk.

"Let's see.... I need a hotdog, a Dr. Pepper, two fries, two Cokes, uh... a cherry Slush Puppy..." Gabe said, as the clerk hurriedly punched the order into the cash register, "...uh, an order of nachos, and.. what did you want Ev?"

"I'll take a slice of pepperoni and a Sprite" Evan responded.

"And that" Gabe said, "Did you get all that?"

"Let me see... hotdog, two fries, nachos, pizza slice, and a Dr. pepper, two Cokes and a Sprite to drink?" said the clerk.

"Cherry Slush Puppy too". Gabe said.

"Ah right, and a cherry Slush Puppy. Ok your total comes to...let's see... $26.96" the clerk said as he printed out a reciept and put it on the counter to refer to while he gathered the order. Gabe pulled out a ten and a twenty, and handed them to the cashier, who gave him his change. The clerk then turned his back to put the fries into the grease vat and redied the rest of the order.

"Ok. Is it me, or did Troy and Brad seem weird?" Gabe said, turning to his buddies.

"Pfft, whatever. Troy's always fucking weird with his 'Yo yo' gangster shit. And Brad's just a fag. Both of em are huge losers, I wouldn't worry about it" Evan said, more so to calm Gabe down than what he believed in. Evan had heard what Troy had said about Kara, and figured Gabe didn't. The last thing he wanted was a fight. Evan didn't fare too well in fights. He looked like he could, but the truth was that Evan was always scared of some permanent damage being caused in fights. The last thing he wanted was a busted up face or a big nasty scar. "Forget em" he said.

That was fucking close.... Brad sighed a sign of relief. He actually thought for a second that Gabe had actually overheard them. He turned to Troy, shaking his head. "Listen, don't talk so loud," he whispered, looking over at the concession stand then back over. "The LAST thing I want is to start a fight. I know Gabe's a calm guy, but I have no fucking clue how he would react. This... I don't want this to break the two of them up, and I'm sure as hell that Kara feels the same way. I just... don't want to bother with her anymore."

Honestly, Brad had just wished he could have just told Gabe upfront. To get it off his chest, so he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. This seemed impossible, however. If Gabe would have taken this fact in with open arms, then Kara would have said it. Besides, It was apparent that she cared alot more about her own image than the people she hung out with, and did not want to see him anytime soon. Brad wouldn't want to be caught dead spending time with someone who was so shallow that their popularities dictate the kinds of people they socialize with. As far as Brad was concerned, he was over and done with Kara. Gabe, however, might not see it like that, and so Brad wanted to make damn sure it stayed that way.

"Yeah dude. Evan's right. Don't worry about those two. Like they'd have the balls to say something to you. They may look stupid, but they know they mess with you, then I hit speed dial #7 and call Nigel to get the D line over here and use them as the new tackling dummies."

Steve pictured that scene. Nigel and the D line walking in, grabbing both Brad and Troy by the collar and belt and bowling them down the lane

"Yeah, actually that would be fuckin' hilarious. Anyways, I think we need to talk to the coach soon. I noticed in our game on Thursday that the team we played were picking up on a lot of our plays, especially draws. Now we can't have you getting creamed cause they know our plays. You're half our damn offense man. We need some new shit. Tomorrow, you and Evan should come to my place, and we'll draw some shit up."

Troy tried to stand still and not look at Gabe as he passed, surprisingly without incident. He turned his head to look back and saw him buying something at the snack counter, and when he was sure the footballer was out of range, he sighed and tried to collect himself. Maybe those rumors about Kara were true. Eventually, he decided to lay down some pimp wisdom on the subject, adjusting his voice so it sounded calm and Don-Juan-sagely.

"Ay, if she's with someone else, tha's cool if its' her choice. All those fish in the sea and whatnot. If it's over, it's over. But if her new man decides to steal her away from you," and for some reason he'd put quite a bit of emphasis on that last phrase, "...and she don't like it, you can try to take her back." It was then that his voice suddenly dropped into a rather "encouraging" whisper, and he leaned in a bit, looking at the group over by the lanes where Kara was as if to scout someone out.

"I saw her in the gym today, she looked like she was cryin' cuz of somethin he did to her."

Brad stared at Troy for a while, the gears in his mind spinning. "Kara... was crying today? Because of something Gabe did?" He looked over at the football player again, a frown crossing his lips. Now, I doubt Gabe could ever do something to harm someone... right? It doesn't sound like him at all... Brad began to think; What if Gabe had changed during the time he was away? What if, god forbid, Gabe has become a forceful bastard who takes all his frustrations out on....

No. No, that just doesn't sound right at all... I mean, if he has been treating Kara like shit, then wouldn't one of her friends step in?

Brad looked down at the floor for a moment. He wasn't sure how to think. For one, Gabe wasn't the kind of person who would force himself on someone, or take out his angers on someone. For a football player, he was actually kind of a pushover. Nice guy, but rarely showed much backbone. It's unlikely he would do something to make Kara of all people cry. Then again, when was the last time Troy had ever told him something without knowing fully what he was talking about. It made Brad's head hurt just contemplating it all.

He turned his head upwards, making eye contact with Troy again. "No shit? You aren't bullshitting me, are you? You saw Kara crying?"

Simon handed Katie her shoes with a smile and ended up wandering back near to the entrance. She was still speaking with Flora, so it wouldn't be too difficult to head over there as the game began. Simon sighed. Despite Katie's reassurences, Simon was by no means confident of being able to bowl. It was nice of her to bring him along, but he couldn't shake off the nagging feeling it wasn't going to end well.

Well that's just plain neurotic... you really need to be a bit more confident.

Simon leaned on a railing; which served no apparent purpose other than some tactful decoration, and kept an eye on the door, and the other on the girls he would be playing with in a little while. A large chunk of their grade seemed to be around tonight, and Simon wondered if anybody else would be making an appearence before the night was over.

Simon yawned and looked down at his right arm, tucked across his stomach, then across, at the unfilled sleeve of his jacket, and sighed, flexing his left hand. It had been overworked, the last couple of years, but had developed a huge amount of dexterity as regards to typing. Nevertheless, it was still his weaker hand, and even now it showed. Simon watched his classmates move around, and smiled wistfully. Several played on the football team, but for the accident, that could have been him...

It was you Sime-O... no need to dwell on it though, you've moved on from there... football might be in the past, but there's more to come in the future.

Simon smiled as reason came through once again, and silently thanked his own mind for supplying the solution to his problem.

No problem...

"I don't remember everything they said, but it was pretty angry and Kara ended up storming out. Then they were probly in the parking lot for a bit before she came back in," Troy explained, trying to keep a straight face. "I think they kissed and made up or somethin...but I'm not sure 'bout that."

One vestige of Troy's former nerd-dom that had stayed was his ability to know pretty much what he was talking about. Now that he'd discovered his inner gangsta, he figured he could use THAT to his benefit. He'd be able to seek the right knowledge and use it to get the right stuff, namely the riches and respect. The problem was, he'd really had little experience with that.

"Y'all do whatcha wanna do. If you need my help, I'll getcho' back."

Gabe gathered the order, pasing the stuff for the guys off to each one of them. "I don't like the way Troy and Brad are looking this way. Either of you guys particularly cool with them?" he asked, in a hush-hush tone.

"Not me dude. Those guys are fucking posers. Did you know Brad's been going around telling people he was in jail?! Who's gonna be dumb enough to believe that?" Evan chuckled as he shook his head with a sneer at Gabe.

"Well, if they want to start something, they'd best not start it with me. I've been in a fight already today. I'ma throw some fists if they don't fuck off soon" Gabe said, in an unusually uncharacteristic way. gabe usually kept his cool. He could be immature some days, but for the most part he didn't go looking for trouble. The last real fight he'd been in was when he had to kick the ass of an older brother to a bully that was bugging Gabe's younger brother. Gabe's brother came home crying, so Gabe went over to the kid's house to sort things out when he was confronted by the kid's older brother, who had some very crass things to say about Gabe's brother. Needless to say Gabe's family is no longer a target of ridicule. He didn't stand for that. But when it came to other stuff in his life, Gabe was notorious for letting it roll off his back. But the situation with Brad was different. Gabe felt he wasn't getting the whole story here.

"Shall we head back down to the ladies?" he said, calm and collected in thought.

"Yeah yeah, let's do this" Evan and Steve replied. So the trio descended back to their alley, being sure to avoid eye contact with Troy and Brad.