Chapter 3: You Can't Have My Booty!
Corven made it to Jurupa Valley High School with time to spare. He hadn't even sweated once, despite it being 4 ½ miles from where he lived. It wasn;t so surprising to Corven, as it would've been to others, though.
Despite Corven's thin physic, Corven has had a record number of impossibly incredible physical feats happen to him throughout his life. There was that one time, in 7th grade, Corven was being chased by these bullies on bikes on his walk home. He closed his eyes one minute, running for his life, then the next, he appeared at his house, about three quarter miles away.
Another instance was once, in dodgeball in 5th grade elementary, Corven managed to dodge the whole opposing team's balls despite them throwing them all at the same time and him being the sole target. He still didn't know how he did it. He chalked it up to adrenaline and luck. He single handedly won dodgeball for his team that day, taking out the opposing team somehow with ease.
The physical feats alone should be alarming but weird things had a tendency to happen around Corven, especially at night…
There was this one time, he went camping with his cousins in the woods and they had gotten lost, but Corven used the stars to navigate the three of them back to town, which wouldn't sound weird typically, but the thing is, he's never once read anything about stars nor constellations, especially anything regarding them as using them to navigate his way out of a cold, damp forest in the middle of the night.
This doesn;t even scratch the surface of the amount of weird things that happen to Corven, specifically at night. He can see perfectly in the dark, which should be considered odd, as he had slightly average vision during the day, so why was he able to see flawlessly at night? He doesn't know, but he does.
There was no explanations; these things just happen. Corven had long come to terms with not coming to an answer for it — To just accept it as truths and go on with his day.
Anyway, his first class of the day was P.E, with Coach Paul…
Coach Paul was a sturdy built coach who felt that everyone deserves to stay fit and in shape… Something Corven learned the first 45 minutes of class when they were assigned to do constant workouts and stretches, under the coach's watchful gazes.
While not the most athletic of individuals, Corven did not lag behind. He did every workout given to him, surprisingly with barely any sweat broken. From planks to push ups to the thirty thirty five around the gym floor. Even the twenty five drills should have been draining, but it was surprisingly easy to do…. Something that hadn't happened. Ever. When it came to workouts, Corven would usually be the first one sprawled on the ground, heaving heavily mid-workout. It was like he woke up a completely different person today…
Still, though, Corven was thankful for the Coach's watchful gaze as he and the other students did their workout, because he noticed a group of sophomores who were watching him like prey the whole time. One of them even had the nerve to put his finger and slide it across his neck — the universal symbol for 'You're dead meat.'
Corven knew who they were. They were the Jaguar Gang — Or at least a part of it, anyway. In Junior High, they were the stars of every sport in school —- And his bullies.
Last year was relatively peaceful considering he hadn't had to encounter them much as they had all mostly been freshmen at the time, and Corven was still in junior high. It's been a year since he'd last had an altercation with them, but, considering their jerseys were numbered, they'd likely have mostly taken over the sports at the high school, too, which meant it was only a matter of time before Corven encountered them. And now, they were here, with him, and he wanted to be anywhere else, but there.
'Of all the classes I could have possibly been assigned, my luck would land me in one with these idiots," Corven thought Physical Education was a cursed course to have, as he thought bitterly. 'Just my luck!'
The Jaguar Gang members that were there were the worst too. Led by Josh Allen — A jockish brute with beefy arms that did not productively compliment his beady brain in any scholarly way. He was a sophomore with a brain the size of a pea, having muscles like he bought them on a discount and a horrible attitude towards anything academic. He would bully Corven into doing his homework in junior high so he could stay on the football team and not have to do anything when it got home —- Counter productive, I know, but it's what happened, and it seemed that something similar was going to happen in high school now, too. And the two idiots backing him were somehow even stupider than he was, both in looks and brain activity, if that were possible.
Though Coach Paul was watching the class, he couldn't watch the entire class the whole time, all at once. So, when he would go to assist someone struggling to do a workout, or in need of a spot, Josh and his gang would use his blind spots and glance at Corven, making strange hand gestures he didn't know anything about but knew their meaning: He was going to have a busy passing period.
Corven cursed his foster mom for picking first period Physical Education. He absolutely loathes this class and he wasn't sure what he ever did to piss off this gang, but he could guess. He's always been thin — They probably had noticed he was easy picking and was pretty smart —- Still it pissed Corven off that he was their sole target. Why couldn't they pick on someone else?
Then again, they are assholes without much thinking power, who bully those weaker than them to get by. Whatever they were planning, Corven was sure he could at least outmaneuver them. He knew they were all on the basketball, football and track team, so they likely knew the gym better than him, but, if he was fast and smart, he could outmaneuver them.
Sighing to himself, Corven took count of the various exits and entrances located throughout the gym. He began formulating a plan on how to get out of the gym without having to run into any of the Jaguar Gang.
'Hopefully, there's on these idiot three,' Corven thought to himself, as he counted four exits. 'If I hurry and if the other members of his gang are blocking the other exits, I can make it to my next class without walking into any of them in an ambush.'
When the bell rang, Corven quickly rushed to get his stuff and change clothes, before rushing out the gym in a hurry.
Sadly, the exit that he went out of had a smug Josh Allen and his goons waiting for him by the lockers.
"And if I turn around…," Corven turned and saw four more goons already coming his way from the other two exits. "Well, damn. Ambush."
Getting slammed into a set of lockers, held up by the shoulders, Corven could only sigh at the clicheness of this situation.
"Long time, no see, Orphan," Josh arrogantly said, his smugness cuttable with a knife. "What's the matter Orphan? Forgot about me? It has been a year since last you seen me, but I'm here to collect. You owe me a year worth of homework, so pay up."
Josh punched Corven in the stomach as he spoke, held against the locker by two gang members. The pain was nearly enough for Corven to puke up what little of his apple remained in his stomach. The wind getting knocked out of him in that instance was not planned for, but Corven wasn't too worried about his gut.
"Orphan, you're gonna do whatever homework I have for the whole of the semester and then some!" the jock stated.
The four gang members that arrived blocked the gym exit so that Corven couldn't escape, but Corven wasn't too worried. He had already began initiating his plan. He looked flat at Josh Allen, two goons backing him just as ugly and braindead as the leader.
"Really Josh? Are we doing this here?" Corven asked, causing Josh to scrunch his eyebrows. He had forgotten about Corven's venomous way with words. It had been a year, Josh thought. Then, raising his voice so other passing students could hear him, Corven spoke loudly. "What? You want me at your place tonight, Josh Allen? I don't think you're my type, dude!"
Some passing students who heard Corven turned to look at the group of jocks surrounding Corven, as Josh's face turned red, and he began to try to explain himself.
When no answer came, Corven looked at the passing students, and grinned to himself. 'I can't beat him physically, but I can definitely get away, and these students will make an excellent smokescreen for my escape. Maybe I'll even ruin some of this guy's reputation in the process.'
Then, taking a deep intake of breath, Corven shamelessly yelled at the top of his lungs. "It's barely the first passing period and you're welcoming me in such a way… I'm flattered but, again, you're not my type!"
Corven watched as Josh slowly, visibly, processed his words. Josh and his cronies' expressions paled, as Corven's words had caused some of the students walking by to eye them suspiciously. "What? Th-that's not… What? I-I don't—. That's not what I meant!" Josh's face turned red in embarrassment and rage.
"WHAT? You're homophobic and hate the gays?" Corven initiated shamelessly, causing Josh and his group to get pointed glares by students walking by.
"Wh-what? NO!" Josh stuttered, turning to face the students. "I love gays! I'm not gay, but I'm not that much of an a—."
"WHAT?! YOU"RE GAY AND WANT MY BOOTY?!" Corven's voice instigated as the crowd began to look at Josh and his peons in disgust. "NO! YOU CANNOT HAVE MY BOOTY! MY BOOTY IS MINE! IT BELONGS TO ME! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY BOOTAE!"
One of Josh's cronies, as stupid and idiot as they could be, whispered to Josh, making a face. "Boss, are we after his booty?"
"WHAT?" Josh asked, horrified. "Of course, not!"
The croanie looked at Josh skeptically, as if he didn't believe him.
As a crowd began to form around Josh, both curious and glaring, Josh, never being one to handle such a situation, began looking for a way out. He wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, but the uncomfortable looks he was getting from everyone only seemed to make him panic. "Where's Corven?"
By the time he realized that Corven wasn't talking anymore, he turned and, by that time, Corven was already long gone…