CHAPTER 2

Her Mom is still at work as I park the bike and notice Carl is working his magic in the kitchen. I say my hello and follow Kori upstairs where apparently she's not done with the lunch time discussion as she starts in.

"We need to get some more people, baby," Kori tells me sitting me down on her bed," there are just too many girls in the group."

"Babe I've been over this with everyone, I don't really want the group to be honest," I tell her, looking at the unpleasant woman in front of me.

"Okay, Guy, let me explain," Kori says sitting down in her computer chair," You had this great thing last year and you did nothing with it, then you went away for the summer and got really out of touch with things. You're back home now; you don't have to be someone else anymore, you can be you again."

"Kori, I got betrayed, I got mad, I got my ass handed to me and then I got revenge," I explain to her plainly," honestly I'm more interested in just getting all of us through the school year and then just getting out of school next year with a possible vacation at some point."

We sit in silence for a few minutes when Kori finally stands up and gives me a kiss on the forehead before getting out her homework. We spend an hour getting her work finished but she's not in the mood to play girlfriend right now. I barely get Kori to hug me before I grab my bag and head back home on my bike. Katy's on her phone at the table when I get in the door, I can tell she's talking to Jun about her class work and even Liz is looking over the work trying to help.

I drop my bag in my room and pull up my usual pages on my computer, mildly skimming through facebook and making a comment on Mathilda's page about her awesome practice. I caught a notice on the school site of the big guy getting bullied in the locker room. I ping a message to Jun asking if he posted it and he tells me his friends are clean. I shake it off as I get a knock on my door.

"Son, I'm coming in," my Dad says before entering.

I don't move from my spot and keep flipping through the pages as he steps inside and watches me for a second before starting a conversation I don't want to have with him.

"So I was thinking about you and me going camping thanksgiving weekend on black Friday so the girls can shop and we can have some guy time," Dad tells me laying out his idea.

"Do I have a choice in the matter because I'd personally rather stay home and enjoy the weekend indoors," I tell him without looking away from my screen.

"You can stay home. I just thought it'd be good if you and I had some bonding time since you've started working out on your own," Dad replies a little disheartened by my dismissal of his plan.

I've been distant with him since I got back from the summer down in Texas. I really tried to forgive him for not telling me about the court case and the visitation hearings. Ever since I got back I feel like everyone has this plan for what they think I should be doing. It's annoying to say the least but I turn my attention to my father who is still waiting for some sort of hopeful response to his camping trip.

"I really don't care what we do after Thanksgiving Day," I tell him plainly," You tell me to camp I'll go camp, you tell me to stay home and do nothing I'll do that too. Doesn't really matter much to me either way."

I see him nod a little and mention dinner at seven as usual before exiting my room and closing the door. I don't have much to do really once homework and my computer is a temporary distraction. I head back into the rest of the house and see Katy has her homework almost done and is off the phone. I move past it and head straight into the gym/garage and taking off my shirt and taping my hands start in on the speed bag. I'm keeping a good pace and I know that someone just entered the room but I don't really care until I lose my rhythm and finally turn to see Katy standing in a pair of green trunks and black sports bra with her hands padded up.

"Okay so you decided to go all MMA this evening," I say starting to move to the heavy bag.

"Nope I'm gonna kick your ass," Katy tells me smiling.

"Yeah, I don't fight girls and you know that. You win," I tell her starting with a few jabs to the bag.

"Well you need to talk to someone and either I kick your ass then you talk or you talk then you show me what Dad hasn't yet," Katy says bobbing around like a boxer.

Well that explains what Dad has been doing since he and I stopped working out together. The two of them have been showing Katy the finer points of self defense. I put on some punching pads and get a groan of disappointment from Katy but she puts her fists up and starts tagging my target hands while talking.

"Kori called Liz who told me that you're giving up on us," Katy says, almost swinging at my head.

"No I'm just not interested in this whole organization you seem so keen on me running," I reply ducking.

"Maybe this 'organization' is what keeps these three girls of yours around," Katy says tagging my right hand hard," Maybe it shows people that you can't fuck with the little guy and get away with it."

"Yeah, I'm some sort of anti-bullying role model. You don't believe that and I know it," I tell her, keeping the hand pads up as Katy continues her strikes.

"Fine, you don't want to be a role model, well what about your Dad," Katy asks, dropping her hands a moment," He is trying hard to figure out what happened between you two and honestly aside from him actually trying to be a good parent I don't know what he did."

I back up and take the hand pads off, it's becoming aggravating that every conversation I have is ending up with everyone questioning why I'm doing things my way and not doing what they think I should do. Katy wants to talk but I'm done as I exit the garage and decide to head out on my bike even though dinner is almost ready. I grab my coat and I can hear my Dad trying to call to me as I start up my bike but it does little to slow me down as I head out into the evening.