Chapter 2 - The First Assignment

"I'm sorry, say that again?!" Ronnie gasps as he grasps his mangonana with his left hand.

He along with Marcus are sitting inside a small Mexican restaurant by the name of 'Burrito Bistro', where the food is great and you don't have to wait. They were sitting on one side of a booth by the window of the restaurant, with another person sitting opposite to them. That person was a teenager the same grade as them with long messy black hair, brown eyes, thick round glasses, and half-Vietnamese half-Irish. She was also wearing an oversized green hoodie, red pants, and black high tops.

"I s-said that my name is Elizabeth Moore," the teenager replies, "And this is the normal investigations club, right? I need your help with something."

"Oh that was actually a typo, we're really the para-," Marcus begins to say but stops when he sees Ronnie looking at him.

The two teens look at each other and start whispering amongst themselves.

"What is it?" Marcus asks.

"If we tell her we're the paranormal investigations club, she's gonna go somewhere else," Ronnie whispers.

"Yeah?"

"She said she needed some help, so let's just go along until we help with whatever she needs," Ronnie suggests.

"True," Marcus whispers, "Alright let's-"

"I totally understand if you're busy & all," Elizabeth blurts out, "I just saw the poster in Amnestor's classroom and thought you could help."

Ronnie & Marcus quickly turn toward Elizabeth.

"No need to worry we were just chatting about some club stuff real quick," Ronnie explains, "We'd be happy to help you."

With that a smile appears on Elizabeth's face which she tries to hide before explaining, "There's this kid named Alex in my class who's- how do I put this- needs to be humbled."

"Humble?" Ronnie questions before taking another sip of his mangonada.

"Yeah, he's always getting into fights in class and it's really hard to focus," Elizabeth remarks.

"Can't the teacher deal with this?" Marcus questions.

"This is in math class," Elizabeth says before adding, "Jefferson is our teacher."

"Ohhh," Marcus says, "Sorry I should've thought this happened in Jefferson's class."

"No it's okay," Elizabeth apologizes.

"Though uh," Marcus asks nervously, "When you say you want to humble him… does that mean you want us to beat him up?"

Elizabeth laughs, "No no, if I wanted him beaten up, I could have done that all on my own."

Elizabeth then notices that the other two aren't laughing so she apologizes, "S-sorry, I'm uh- not really good at reading the room. I just figured you guys could talk him down."

"Oh don't worry about it Eli," Ronnie tries to calm Elizabeth down, "I'm just glad you didn't think of us as some sort of hitmen due to our reputation."

"Wh-what reputation?" Elizabeth questions

Ronnie quickly gulps down the rest of his mangonada before slamming it onto the table. Clearly just a way to change the topic of the conversation.

"Man that mangonada was good," Ronnie began saying, "Look, we can take this job but we have to first see just who this Alex guy really is. Okay?"

"O-okay," Elizabeth sighed.

"Great!" Ronnie said before standing up from his seat, "We'll meet up at school tomorrow?"

Elizabeth nods as the three get up from their seats and leave the restaurant.

THE MIRACLE CLINIC

The following day, the newfound trio of Ronnie, Marcus, & Elizabeth are sneaking through the halls towards a classroom.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Marcus whispers as he scans the halls for any teachers, "If we get spotted ditching class the teacher's our gonna be so pissed!"

"Don't worry about it, we're still pretty early into the school year," Ronnie insists, "If we get caught, we can just lie and say we got lost on our way to class."

"Okay," Marcus accepts.

Elizabeth stops in the hallway causing Ronnie & Marcus to bump into her before they can stop. After a quick apology, they look to see Elizabeth motioning towards a classroom door. The three walk to the door but make sure they can't be seen through the door's window.

"Right now, I'm supposed to be in there with Alex," Elizabeth whispers, "If you want to see what he's like then see for yourself."

Marcus & Ronnie looked at each other before peering in through the window on the door.

As soon as they do so they see that the students are all at the edges of the room watching a fight go down in the center of the room. The fight is between an extremely tall bald guy who is trying to tackle his opponent. However, just when the bald guy gets in reach of his opponent.

WHAM- BAM!

The bald guy falls to the ground unconscious, having been struck with two jabs by his opponent before falling. Standing atop him is the opponent in question who's a Hispanic freshman with messy black hair, blue eyes, and blue pearl earrings. The freshman is wearing a light blue hoodie with a black pouch, black sweatpants, and white cleats. Without missing a beat, the freshman cockily dusts off his hands.

"You see the Hispanic guy?" Elizabeth points out, "That's Alex Smith, he does this thing every day."

"I know Jefferson always leaves his class for long periods of time, but how are they getting away with all that?!" Ronnie whispers.

Several of the other kids walk over to Alex and begin to put some money into a white baseball cap he is now holding.

Elizabeth explains, "He gets away with it because he's clever with it. He has people place bets on the fights he has in class, and if he loses then he has to give double of the money back. He also allows people to place money that handicaps the opponents in the fight."

"So he just uses his fists as a way to profit?!" Ronnie asks.

"That's literally what I just said."

"Oh, my bad."

"No it's okay, you're all good."

As the trio stand there watching they suddenly hear the school bell ring. The group quickly scurry away as people begin to flood the halls, one of them being Alex with a smile on his face.

"Better luck next time bub," Alex says while walking out of the classroom, "And if anyone wants to challenge me, you know where to find me!"

As he walks down the hallway, Elizabeth, Ronnie, & Marcus turn to look at one another.

"So how are we gonna tell him to stop?" Elizabeth asks.

Marcus thinks aloud, "We should have a chat with him. Probably somewhere where we won't get anybody trying to interrupt it."

Hearing that, an idea illuminates from Ronnie's mind.

"Don't worry," Ronnie says with a smirk on his face, "I think I know a way to let him know without causing a scene."

______________________________

In the school's gymnasium, Alex Smith is playing a game of basketball against his friend Christopher Wrinkle. Christopher has brown eyes, tan skin, an extremely muscular body, and brown hair spiked upward. Both of them were wearing gym clothes which just consisted of a t-shirt and some shirts.

Christopher eyes Alex carefully trying to predict his next movement.

Alex, seeing this, decides to see if he can fake Christopher.

The teen fakes a left before going right, causing Christopher to trip up as he fails to catch the speedy freshman. Seizing the opportunity, Alex performs a lay-up.

As the ball hits the ground, Alex walks over to Christopher and helps him up off the ground.

"Bro you're too fast!" Christopher exclaims.

"Eh that was nothing," Alex replies, "Wait till you see me on the treadmills at the gym."

"Bro you're still going to Dawnbreak? That's awesome! Maybe you can spot me sometime"

"Thanks but besides Sundays, I go there for boxing lessons."

Alex & Christopher continue their conversation as they enter the changing room. As Alex unlocks his gym locker, a paper note falls down from it. Curious, he picks it up off the ground and turns it over to read…

'Come to the park next to the school right after school.'

As he looks at the note, Alex sighs before saying, "Well Christopher, it's been fun but it looks like I have some plans now."

"Oh, what're you gonna do?" Christopher asks.

"Oh I thought it was pretty obvious," Alex says before ripping up the note into tiny pieces, "I'm going to be getting some extra training done today!"

Christopher smiles as he pats Alex on the back before saying, "that's great bro! Make sure you have some protein before you get those sets in!"

"No- I didn't mean- oh forget it, you wouldn't understand."

___________________________

"So how long are we supposed to wait here?" Marcus asks, "he should've been here half an hour ago when school ended."

He along with Marcus & Elizabeth are standing in the middle of The Northern Starlight Park, which is right next to their high school. Elizabeth yawns as she looks at her watch.

"Don't worry about it, he should have gotten the memo," Ronnie remarks, "Even made sure my handwriting was neater than usual for the note."

"So it was you," A person yells.

Taken aback, the stunned trio turn to see Alex running over to them, and charging at Ronnie.

Alex makes a fist and is about to punch Ronnie, however Ronnie manages to catch the fist. 

"What is your deal man?!" Ronnie grunts as he holds onto Alex's fist.

"What's MY deal?" Alex questions.

Alex breaks free of Ronnie's grasp and the two teens take a step back from each other.

"If you wanted a fight you could've at least told me WHERE in the park you wanted it," Alex roars.

"Oh you're right, my bad man," Ronnie begins to say before realizing Alex's last words, "Wait fight you? Look I think there's a misunderstanding, can I-"

"I don't need to hear any explanation from you," Alex says, "All this wishy-washiness from you is just pissing me off now."

"Well then, if it's a fight you want, I guess it's a fight you'll get," Ronnie remarks.

Standing off to the side is Marcus and Elizabeth, who are unsure whether or not they should break up the fight. However their worries only increase when X Locke puts his arm over the two's shoulders while he starts to record Ronnie & Alex.

"Woah, there's a fight going on? How cool," X states.

"When did you get here?!" a frightened Marcus asks.

"Uh, I walked here you dumbass," X replies, "Wasn't hard to find with all that screaming they're doing."

"Shouldn't we break up the fight and not record it," Elizabeth remarks.

"Oh by all means go ahead," X insists, "Though if you do, I guess we'll never know if the rumors are true or not."

"Rumors?" Elizabeth asks.

"You haven't heard?" X asks, "Well-"

Marcus interrupts them by saying, "Fine we can watch but if things get bad then we'll have to break it up."

At the bottom of the hill, Alex & Ronnie glare at one another.

"Usually I'll ask if you want me to have any handicaps on for this fight," Alex begins before taking off his hoodie showing off the black t-shirt underneath, "But after what you did? I'm not cutting you any slack today bub!"

Ronnie tosses his jean jacket behind him before replying, "I don't mind getting my hands a little dirty so that's fine with me."

Alex rushes toward Ronnie, delivering the first official attack of the fight which is a right hook. Though before the hit can land, Ronnie raises his arms in a guard so they block the punch.

After taking a step back Alex smirks, "Not bad defense for a chump, but don't worry that was my warm up!"

"Oh yeah? Guess that makes two of us," Ronnie states as he gets in a fighting stance, "Because when it comes to a fight; I'm never the one to start one, but I'm almost always the one that ends them!"

See You Next Chapter!~