A setup

April 5, 2019

It is raining.The garçons français bleus are in an alley in Salies-du-Salut, waiting for the Chicos to come around.

8:57 pm8:58 pm8:59 pm

"Where are they?! Do they even know time management?"

"Probably not."

"I don't think they know anything."

All the garçons laugh together. The meeting was man on man. No women or ladies, none of them could come anyways, the chicas were taking care of Nieves, who has gotten sick and diagnosed with severe depression. And the garçon girls could be running about with rich men behind their partners backs.

Lionel checks his watch.

"If these imbicles aren't here I swear...."

All of a sudden, they could hear footsteps and loud chatter. They were here, and 15 seconds early. Fernando locked eyes with Lionel and gave him a dirty dirty look.

"I thought there were 10 of you, not 9."

"I would say that for you guys, there's supposed to be 10, not 11. You should give one of them to me."

He smirks.

"Do you wanna fight?!"

Pierre almost punches Fernando, Lionel has to pull him aside. Quincy takes Pierre's hand and holds him.

"And why are we here?"

"To end our rivalry once and for all."

"Knowing you, you wouldn't make it pretty."

"Only boys apologize. Real men with guts of steel fight."

"So, you wanna fight."

"Not now, wait a bit, a month I'd say."

"What do we win?"

"Do you expect life to be like a carnival game? When you win, you get a prize? Wake up you chico, this isn't dreamland."

"I guess you don't like the true pleasures of life. We are all happy, carefree, and we dare to define the odds."

"You wanna risk your identities and get arrested or killed?"

"Hell yes, we don't care."

All of a sudden, it becomes awkward, between them and all either could think is "Man, I wanna kill them right now if I could"Never put ice and fire in the same room, it can cause a whole lot of shit to go down.

"Anyways, let's discuss this plan."

"What pla...."

"Do you want me to kill you right now? Let me speak you impatient quesadilla."

The Chicos started to laugh so hard, some fell over, some walked away, and some had to lean on a wall to support them,

"That's NOT funny, that's not funny at all."

"Wouldn't you laugh if someone called you an impatient quesadilla?"

"No, I don't laugh at stupid humor. I don't have time for that. Look, we have to start planning or we'll be wasting BOTH of our times."

Everyone of the Chicos stopped laughing and put on serious faces.

"Ok, let's get planning."

They all got a little bit closer to each other, yet they were still far apart.

"Meeting spot?"

"In that forest where it's always dewing and the dew looks like Diamonds."

"You mean that forest up the hills?"

"Yes."

"Deal."

"Day?"

"May 31, it's a new month coming up, all of our sins would be washed away by a new month coming."

"Don't get too sappy about it."

"Time?"

"11:00 pm. It's late around then and nobody will see us do anything."

"Good thinking."

"And finally, weapons?"

All the Chicos gasped. The Chicos were peaceful, at the most, they would throw a few punches, never would they want to use weapons on somebody else, even their worst enemy.

"Weapons? Why do we need to use weapons?"

"We're gonna fight like real men do, maybe shut your happy jolly asses up. Ever heard of fear?"

Lionel pauses for a second, he feels like he sounds like a psychopath. But, what must be done, must be done.

"We're not doing anything loud, like guns."

The Chicos sighed in relief.

"How about sticks, cans, bottles?"

"This isn't no preschool fight, give me some real man weapons, think harder!"

"Bats."

"We aren't playing baseball!"

Ideas were shouted through both parties. Some were pretty good, others were stupid. Who fights with old 2008 TVs?

"Knifes."

"Yes, knifes, we'll be fighting with kitchen knifes, not butter, not long ones that make you look like a samurai, but the ones you use to cut your steak."

"But...."

"No buts! Listen to me, this will prove if you're worthy of being on French grounds. Fight against us, and we'll see."

Fernando clinches his fist and looks down.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Lionel smirks.

"Great, we'll see you guys the 31st of May at 11 pm SHARP."

The Chicos all look at Lionel and leave. After 5 minutes, Lionel leans against the wall.

"Haha, suckers!"

The garçons start laughing.