Understanding

The cafeteria was full as John Decker, the King of High School, was on the biggest table the area had to offer. It was rare for people to be on his table as it was filled with only students that John likes with Troy and Laura being next to him. People stared at him as if he was a god to everyone in the room. John was mostly those around him being fed by sushi by Laura adoring him until the very end.

"Oh babe, feeding you like a little doggy is always my biggest dream." Laura being seductive towards John. "Now open wide!"

John opened his mouth very wide until he was interrupted by someone running towards him.

"John John can I talk to you please." Andrew runs towards John waving his hands. "I want to talk about your situation."

People around were confused about the situation that John was in. "Situation, what situation." a student asking another. "Is John in trouble?" "Is he telling us something that we're not noticing?" "John might not be telling us something that we probably need to know."

John was starting to get nervous as he feared that his reputation was starting to have a negative outcome. Instead he tried to misguide the situation in a way where he can keep his reputation as a King.

"Oh about the situation, well since the homecoming dance is coming up soon, we were actually planning to know what theme it will be." John convinced the students. "We were either planning the dance to be either tropical rainforest or the wonders of Paris. I guess I spoiled the surprise." John made a smile as if this situation he was in was just about homecoming.

The students were now convinced as they were now not worrying about what's going on with John. Students were excited about the theme of the homecoming dance whether it's a rainforest or Paris.

"I'll be right back to you guys. I got to talk to Andrew for a moment." John grabbed Andrew's wrist really tight. "Come on Andrew, let's have a private chat outside of the cafeteria." John dragged Andrew out of the cafeteria.

Once they were out of there. John let go of Andrew's arm and looked at him. However, John just smiled at Andrew with his hand on his shoulder.

"Andrew the school's photographer and editor for the Sunshine Daily. What can I help you with today?" John kept smiling.

"Well John, I kept an eye out on Scott and this girl he keeps hanging out with." Andrew was sweating on his forehead.

"Okay and?" John is still smiling.

"It turns out that he's trying to avoid being spotted on the camera. No matter which monitor I look at, I can't find him." Andrew was scared as John might do something to him.

Instead, John wasn't angry or upset but was still smiling. "But have you at least seen him around this school?"

"No but I did see him earlier today outside eating lunch with that girl again. They were discussing having ice cream together and planning to meet each other at Scott's house." Andrew took a huge breath.

"Brilliant Andrew, you've done a good job." John patted Andrew's shoulder. "However, if you try to make me look bad again, I won't be afraid to hurt a freshman, so please try not to do that again." John hurts Andrew's shoulder with his tight grip. "Okay I'm going to head back to eat, so keep working hard." John left Andrew alone heading back to the cafeteria.

Andrew was now in a panic state as he felt his life was in the line if doesn't do what John wanted. Andrew was walking back to the newspaper room shivering with tears slowly coming down.

John heads back to the cafeteria with people still waiting for him, especially for Laura and Troy. "I'm back everyone. Sorry for the wait." John had his hands up high as people were cheering for his return.

"Oh baby I missed you." Laura kissing John on the cheek for his return

"Oh I missed you too babe. I was just gone for a few minutes." John sat back down to his seat. "For you guys out here, a flier will be sent out to every classroom to see your vote on this year's homecoming theme." What will it be? The Tropical Rainforest or the Smell of Fresh Croissants!"

The students in the cafeteria roared as they were excited to see the theme for the school's homecoming dance. But all the commotion came to an end when the bell rang causing many of them to head to their next class.

Before Laura and Troy were both heading out, John stopped Troy needing him for something. "Troy, I need you for something." John being behind Troy. "Can you look out for Scott outside his house and see what he's up to? I'm giving you a second chance after what happened a few weeks ago and you better not screw this up." John talked in a very dark tone.

"Yes. Anything for my King." Troy obeying John.

John left the cafeteria with Troy being the only one in the room. "Anything for my King, Anything for my King, Anything for my King, Anything for my King..." Troy repeating the same thing over and over again.

It was now Saturday and Scott was outside waiting for Ashley to pick him up. It was awkward for him to be by himself on the streets with barely any residents around him. No one watering their plants nor walking their dogs. It was weird that people seem to appear on weekdays but not on the weekends.

"No one on the streets like always." Scott told himself looking at the streets.

Suddenly a noise was heard far from Scott. It was the noise of an engine and it was getting louder. Scott assumed that it was a garbage truck passing by. But it gets closer and closer. It was not a garbage truck but instead a motorcycle. It was a black Italian motorbike assuming that it has 1000cc. The bike came close to Scott and stopped next to him. He didn't know who was under that black helmet and the leather jacket the person was wearing with brown pants and leather shoes. But when the person took off their helmet it was Ashley.

"Ashley I didn't know that was you. You look pretty badass in that jacket." Scott trying to suppress his blush. "I thought you're those soft hearted kind of people."

"You mean soft hearted because that's the person that I am, but I can also look cool." Ashley laughed at Scott's blush. "Anyway, ready to head to the ice cream shop?"

"Yeah." Scott got on Ashley's bike.

"Alright I don't have a second helmet so you're going to experience some wind turbulence." Ashley put back on her helmet. "Anyway, hang on to my stomach." Ashley hitting the gas.

Scott hung on Ashley's stomach as she hit the gas and they both went. However, someone was following behind them with their car. As they both left Sunshine Valley, the car was still following then. Ashley noticed the car from her mirror but decided to ignore it as it was probably somebody traveling somewhere. Half an hour later, they had made it to the shop Ashley mentioned. There was a large milkshake on top of the shop with the aesthetic being the 1950s. The parking lot was empty and the shop was surrounded by corn fields making it feel stranded.

"Here we are." Ashley took off her helmet and parked her motorcycle. "Welcome to Mikey's Milkshakes and Ice Cream Treats."

"Wow this looks really cool." Scott looked at the sign. "But why is this place in the middle of nowhere?" Scott looked at Ashley.

"Because this is mostly for people traveling on the roads. Basically think about a gas station or a pit stop. This store is basically like that but also a restaurant." Ashley got off her bike and headed to the door. "Ready to head in?"

Scott also got off the bike and also headed in. The wind blew his face really hard but he didn't mind his somewhat messed up hair. As they went in, the person in the car decided to park his car in a nearby bush fearing that Ashley would suspect the car if they also parked there.

Once inside, it felt like a 1950s diner with the red leather seats, neon old celebrity pictures and an old man handling the store by himself.

"Oh hello there, please take a seat. I'll be with ya." The old man was washing a milkshake glass.

Scott and Ashley sat down on one of the booths.

"Hi my name is Michael, but you can call me Mikey. Here are the menus." Mikey gave them the menus. "Holler at me if you need anything."

"Oh can I have my usual. The orange sorbet milkshake." Ashley gave Mikey her menu.

"Oh Ashley, I didn't recognize you there. I guess my eyes aren't functioning as they used to." Mikey smiling. "So who's that guy, your boyfriend."

"What no!" Scott and Ashley both said it together. "This is Scott, he's my first friend in my new school." Ashley introduced Mikey to Scott.

"Hi I'm Scott, I'm also new to the school." Scott raises his hand at Mikey.

"Hi Scott and welcome to my shop." Mikey shook Scott's hand. "Do you know what you want?"

Scott scrolled around the menu and found something he might like.

"Can I have a vanilla milkshake?" Scott gave the menu back. "Never had one in a long time."

"Of course coming right up." Mikey went back to his table. However, it wasn't even a minute and he had already set up the milkshakes for both of them.

"Here you are." Mikey put down both their milkshakes. "Enjoy!"

Scott and Ashley both slurped their milkshakes enjoying them. Ashley smiled while Scott just enjoyed it. But for some reason Scott looks upset looking at his milkshake.

Meanwhile, the person from the car came into the store just sitting at the booth behind Scott and Ashley. The figure though was Troy being in disguise. He had black sunglasses, a hoodie on, and mostly wearing dark clothes to not make him look out.

Troy sat down with Mikey coming towards him. "Hi, welcome to-" "Water, just bring me water." Troy interrupted Mikey. Mikey looked at Troy in confusion but didn't mind bringing him water.

"Okay Scott and weird bitch. What the hell are you up to?" Troy listens to Scott and Ashley behind him.

"You enjoying your milkshake Scott." Ashley being halfway done with her drink.

"Yeah I'm enjoying it." Scott stirring his milkshake with the straw. "It's actually really delicious. It kind of reminds me of myself when I was younger."

Scott's melancholy was ruining the mood of the area they were both in so Ashley tried to talk to Scott as she wanted to help him with his anger management.

"Hey Scott, I thought we were enjoying ourselves, what's going on?" Ashley is concerned for Scott. "If you want me to help you with your manager, then you gotta tell me about the situation you are in. Please Scott, why do you feel angry?"

Scott still stirred his milkshake being afraid to tell her about what happened to him at a younger age. However, Scott does trust Ashley as she was there to help back in Sunshine High. With the courage he gained, Scott was ready to tell her what happened back in Des Moine.

"Well Ashley, it all started back when I was younger in my old neighborhood of Des Moine." Scott remembered that he also had a vanilla milkshake when he was four years old. "When I was four years old, my dad would bring me to a Dairy Queen after school to let me enjoy some ice cream and milkshakes when the days were hot. I was actually a very happy kid. However, it wasn't until one day when I first witnessed my parents arguing about whatever they were fighting about." Scott looked outside of the window. "I never saw my parents fight like that as they must've tried to do it without me seeing it. Another thing is that even when I go out to the park or walk on the sidewalk, I always experience arguments and people getting angry at each other. Even when I watch television, I would see people arguing on tv shows and the news. All this anger that people put on each other makes me believe that this world is filled with hate and is untrustworthy, and that it's okay to be angry at the world." Scott sees the winds blowing the corn fields.

"Scott, do you actually believe in that?" Ashley tearing up hearing Scott's story

"Yeah even as a seventeen year old, I still believe that I can't trust the world as others like to fight one another." Scott is still looking outside. "One day, I was on my lawn playing with my toy car until a seven year old came to my lawn."

"Oh nice race car, can I have it?" The seven year old looking at Scott's toy car

"Sorry guys but my mom and dad told me to not let strangers play with me even if they are my age." Scott continues to play with his car.

"Oh but that car looks so cool." The seven year old is still looking at his toy car. "If I can't have it then I'm going to take it." The seven year old took his car

"Hey, that's mine, give it back." Scott stood up heading towards the seven year old.

"Yeah sorry but this toy looks like something that a seven year old should own, not a four year old drinking from a sippy cup." The seven year old pushed Scott to the ground. "Face it, four year olds are just a bunch of babies and they don't deserve MY TOY."

With him being bullied by a kid a few years older than him, Scott was staring at him. Then that was when his anger first hit him. With no hesitation, Scott ran towards the kid and tackled him to the ground, beating him with the toy that was in the seven year old's hand. He banged that toy so hard that it broke the kid's nose as well as his toy.

Scott's dad opened the door to see what the commotion was about. "Hey, what's going on over here?" But as his dad saw the lawn, he was too shocked to talk about what was happening.

Scott's hand was filled with blood from the kid's nose and was standing there looking at the kid. He then looked behind him to see his dad's shocked face.

"That was the day where I first experienced anger at a young age." Scott's hand was shaking. "Since then, my dad left me and my mom because of my uncontrollable anger. My mom couldn't afford me therapy as since my dad left, my mom was the only one to make money in the house leaving me alone. As I got older, my uncontrollable anger had caused many things with many people being afraid to go near me. My life was just filled with loneliness as I never made any friends and played baseball as a way to distract myself from friendships."

"Oh my God Scott, how does this not traumatize you?" Ashley is still tearing up from Scott's progressing story.

"Actually Ashley, I am traumatized from these things." Scott is now also tearing up from his story. "One day though, that was the day when my neighborhood had enough of me. After hitting the Baseball Varsity Captain with my baseball bat, I was detained at my former local police station for a week and when I came back, people were wanting me to leave the neighborhood after all the damage that I caused them ever since I was four. With no choice, me and my mom came to Sunshine Valley to start over with our lives. Mostly my life as it's my fault that we were banished from Des Moines. Even being in this town, I'm scared that my anger would ruin my reputation here and people would also want me to leave here."

Scott started to cry as the past memories he wanted to repress were coming back to him. "Ashley, I really wish that I wasn't an angry person like how everyone sees me. I'm just a monster."

As Scott was crying really hard, Ashley tried to comfort him by putting her leather jacket on him. "Scott, I don't think you're a monster. I think you're the best person I've met since the beginning of the school year. Without you, I wouldn't be talking to anyone at school."

"You really think so." Scott wiped his tears with a napkin

"Yes Scott, I don't think you are meant to be an angry person, but more of a person who still needs to find his purpose." Ashley commiserating towards Scott.

"Actually when I think about it, I think I can relate to you." Ashley is trying to show more empathy towards Scott. "It all happened before I moved near Sunshine Valley."