“SEE?! WHAT’D I TELL YA JERK-OFFS?! THE ‘J-MAN’ IS INNOCENT!!!” JIM HAPPILY ERUPTED as he proceeded to flick a quarter into the mall’s Water Fountain whilst nursing his already half-drunk Blackberry Slush in his left hand.

  “I hope Mitch the Bitch walks by and catches you again, Dingus,” Eric said whilst crossing his arms over his chest. “So he can call up a squad of Mall Cops to PEPPER SPRAY your ignorant ass into oblivion.”

  “FUCK OFF, ERICKSON!” Jim shouted back, causing Eric to nearly lash out at him.

  “Now, now, now… Erickson,” Sam said after stepping into between the pissed off stoner and Jim. “Wouldn’t want to cause a ‘scene’ now, would we? Mom might find out.”

  Sam then proceeded to giggle as she slurped on her own slush.

  Turning towards the tomboy, Eric slammed, “Let’s get one thing straight… BUTCH, she’s MY Mom and NOT yours!”

  Sam continued to giggle as Kyle asked Derek, “Think I should step in?”

  “Puh-Probably,” Derek stammered as he sat on the wooden bench in front of the coin filled Water Fountain.

  Rising up from his seat alongside Derek’s left, Kyle stood up to Eric and said with a stern, seriousness in his voice, “E, you need to chill out, bro… LIKE NOW.”

  “Ah, Christ.... STOP DEFENDING HER ALL OF THE DAMN TIME, GORDON!” Eric shouted in Kyle’s face after noticing Sam smirking at the blond-haired ‘leader’ of the Goober Gang. “It's starting to get REALLY old! Sam’s not gonna sleep with you, bro, so quit trying to impress her already! IT’S MAKING ME FUCKING SICK!!!”

  “Nah! Fuck dat shit, Ky-Ky!” Jim erupted from the side. “FUCK ERICKSON’S SISTER AND I’LL NAIL HIS MOM! HA-HA-HA!!!!!”

  Looking back over at Jim with widened eyes of fury, Eric said, “You’re SO fucking dea--”

  “ALRIGHT, ERIC,” Kyle slammed as he got more in the stoner’s face. “I think you need to sit and shut the FUCK up… RIGHT NOW.”

  Sensing the thick tension rising between his two friends, Jim snickered, “KICK HIS ASS, KY-KY!”

  “SHUT UP, JIM!!!” both Kyle and Eric shouted at the Dingus, causing him to snicker even more as he went back to slurping on his slush.

  Setting his sights back on Kyle, Eric stated, “You’re not my boss, Gordon… SO STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO.”

  “THEN STOP ACTING LIKE A FUCKIN’ PRICK, ERIC.”

  “I should beat your fuckin’ ass!”

  “Go on then! MAKE A MOVE, E! I DARE…”

  “SUP, GUYS?!” Josh cheerfully greeted as he came upon the gang of eleventh graders.

  (Temporarily) breaking their intense stare down with one another, both Kyle and Eric looked in the popular Senior Classman’s direction with confusion riddling their formerly ‘rage filled’ faces.

  “SO… How are things goin’ with y’all?” Josh then asked in an energetic tone.

  “JOSH FUCKING RUSSELL!!!” Jim cried out, thus forth making everything seem even more awkward than it already was.

  Josh then gave Jim a weirded out glance as he awkwardly replied, “Uh… Hey, Jim. What’s up, man?”

  “YOU KNOW MY NAME???” Jim asked with widened eyes.

  “Huh?” Josh huffed.

  “You know my name… HOLY FUCKIN’ SHIT-BALLS, YOU GUYS! JOSH FUCKING RUSSELL KNOWS MY NAME!!!” Jim excitedly cried out as his friends and the Star Running Back all looked at him like he was fucking crazy.

  “JOSH FUCKING RUSSELL, THE PRIDE AND JOY OF KEOKUK FUCKING IOWA, KNOWS MY FUCKING NAME!!!!!!” Jim continued to scream whilst failing his arms about his OVER-hair gelled covered head. “GOD! I feel like a rising celebrity who only got famous because they put out an iconic, but also very mediocre Sex Tape! HA-HA!!!”

  Picking up on Jim’s obvious sarcasm now, Josh distastefully remarked, “Heh… Funny.”

  Settling down, Jim snickered, “Heh, heh… I’m just fuckin’ with ya, Supastar. Heh, heh, heh… So, whaddup, brocheesus?”

  “Not much,” Josh said in a disgruntled tone. “Just hangin’ out here at the mall with some ‘friends’. Shopping and stuff. Y’all how it is.”

  Looking at the others now, Josh continued, “I just saw you guys a few minutes ago from up on the second level so I thought that I’d come down and see what’s happening. So… WHAT’S GOOD???”

  “YOU ARE, ALL-STAR,” Sam answered/informed in a sultry tone as she briefly admired Josh’s naturally built, physical frame and his handsome, All-American looks.

  Josh’s face started to redden slightly as he gave Sam a cheesy grin in reply.

  “NOT A LOT, JOSH,” Kyle said sternly as he stood up to the Star Running Back. “Just hanging out here freely… Since it’s the ONLY place we can come to without being PUBLICLY HUMILIATED.”

  Realizing what Kyle was insinuating, Josh’s energetic attitude instantly faded.

  “Ugh… ALRIGHT. Enough with the ‘fake smiles’ and ‘hollow greetings’,” Josh sighed as total seriousness now filtered upon his face. “The truth… The REAL TRUTH is that I wanted to come and tell you all how sorry I was… FOR EVERYTHING.”

  Kyle, Eric, Jim, and Derek all drew silent now as Josh continued, “I’m sorry about what happened to you all at the Burger Hut last night…. AND at Layla’s Party.”

  Looking at Jim directly now, who had a blank face, Josh said, “I wasn’t there, Jim… But I heard what happened to you. The whole ‘Statue Thing’... That was totally not cool.”

  “No shit, Sherlock,” Jim sourly barbed whilst crossing his arms and sticking out his chin to the well-meaning Jock.

  “Look, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Josh said more sternly to Jim and the others. “You guys can take it anyway you want it, but I just couldn’t keep all that regret ‘bottled up’ inside me. I felt like a bomb was about to go off in my chest or something. I… I just feel so awful about what happened and I…”

  “You duh-don’t have to be suh-suh-sorry, Josh,” Derek said whilst still sitting on the wooden bench.

  Josh and Derek’s peers then all looked down at the stuttering geek, who had a pale face.

  “You… You didn’t duh-duh-do anything wruh-wruh-wrong,” Derek continued.

  “Thank you, Derek,” Josh breathed in relief whilst smiling at the nerdy Eleventh Grader.

  Derek nodded back and Kyle said in distaste, “Derek’s right… I GUESS. It’s not your fault what happened to us… AND TO ME, Josh, so you don’t have to be sorry for anything.”

  This made Josh grin even more and Eric sourly spurred, “But that ASSHOLE Fuller does.”

  “DAMN STRAIGHT!!!” Jim shouted from off to the side of the group.

  With a stern look on his face, Josh replied, “Yeah… You guys are right. Brent shouldn’t treat you guys so shitty… But he just keeps on doin’ it. I honestly don’t know why. It needs to stop though… EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “THEN DO SOMETHIN’ ABOUT IT,” Kyle demanded as Josh gave him a surprised look. “Because we are sick and tired of being on the receiving end of that fucking DICKBAG’s ‘bullying rampage’ all the damn time.”

  “YEAH!” Jim spouted. “You should see what that duct tape did to my skin after it got ripped off in front of half the town, Josh! It ripped off ALL of my chest hair!”

  “All THREE hairs of it,” Eric crudely remarked.

  “FUCK YOU, ERIC!” Jim snapped.

  Eric, in turn, just snickered.

  Rolling his eyes, Josh sighed, “Ugh… Guys, I can’t obviously change the past.”

  “FOR REAL?!” Eric sarcastically asked. “DAMN, MAN! I thought with all of your ‘amazing’ athletic skills and HIGH Social Status you could ALSO change the past. Time travel’s not in your arsenal??? Dear God… WE’RE DOOMED!!!”

  Josh gave Eric a quick, glancing glare, to which the drug dealer just chuckled at.

  Looking back at Kyle again, Josh continued, “But what I CAN DO is try to make up for it.”

  “And how are you gonna do that?” Kyle asked with his brow scrunched.

  “Well, it just so happens that there’s gonna be a Bonfire tonight out in Shimmick around eleven… OF WHICH I’M THROWING AT MY PARENTS’ CABIN,” Josh said joyously.

  The five eleventh graders stood unenthused by this.

  In a bid to gain their favor, Josh elaborated, “And it’s gonna be massive… SUPER BIG. Everybody from school will be there. It’ll be SO fucking lit!”

  The group STILL seemed unimpressed with Josh’s proposal.

  “Ugh… AND there’s gonna be, like, two or three KEGS OF BEER,” Josh concluded with a disheartened sigh. “Five bucks for UNLIMITED CUP… Which I can ‘wave off’ for you all, of course.”

  Everyone's eyes then widened in immediate surprise, which made Josh feel a little more confident about the situation.

  “It’s the least that I could do in order to make some kind of amends for all of the shit that Brent has put you guys through the years,” Josh stated.

  “Heh, heh… EXSQUEEZE ME?” Jim asked as he rushed up to the front of his friend group like Sonic the Hedgehog. “FREE BEER, YOU SAY???”

  Josh nodded.

  Patting back his over-gelled hair, Jim said ‘smoothly’, “Well shiiiit, Josh! It just so happens that my plans for tonight have suddenly become clear!”

  “Jim, are you sure that you’re down to go to another party after what happened last night?” Kyle asked his moronic friend.

  “Yeah, Volbek,” Sam followed. “You and ‘parties’ don’t mix too well, it seems like.”

  “FUCK YOU GUYS!” Jim seared. “I was DRUNK, okay?! I'm also pretty sure that I got ‘roofied’ too.”

  “No, Jim. No, you didn't,” Eric quickly and firmly denied. “‘Buzzed’, possibly… BUT YOU WEREN’T FUCKING ROOFIED.”

  “Urgh… You guys are assholes,” Jim grunted whilst lowering his head in annoyance.

  “So yeah… Does that all sound like fun to you guys?” Josh asked the group. “You can decline, if you want. No hard feelings, if you do. I just thought I’d offer.”

  “Maybe,” Kyle replied. “It all depends on one thing…”

  “And what’s that?”

  “IS BRENT GONNA BE THERE?”

  Eyes widened, Josh let them hang whilst sighing, “Ugh… Unfortunately. He’ll be there… WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM.”

  “NO FUCKIN’ WAY,” Kyle snapped. “I ‘partied’ around those MONGOLOIDS at Layla’s last night and it ended up with Jim being KIDNAPPED and DUCT TAPED to the statue of the Chief.”

  “Take into effect, though, Gordon, that it WAS pretty funny,” Eric smirked.

  Jim then ‘flipped off’ Eric as Eric did the same in return about a half second later.

  “And that’s something that I don’t EVER wanna witness or SEE again, Josh,” Kyle continued with his eyes narrowed. “I don’t want us all showing up to your ‘shindig’ tonight and end up gettin’ messed with by Brent and his MINDLESS GOONS. If we show up, we wanna be LEFT ALONE and treated the SAME as everyone else.”

  Lowering his brow, Josh said in all seriousness, “If you guys come out to my Party tonight then I will PERSONALLY take care of Brent and the rest of the guys so that they don’t mess with you… ANY OF YOU. You have my word.”

  “Pruh-Promise?” asked Derek from down on the bench.

  Looking down at the wimpish eleventh grader with caring eyes, Josh nodded, “Yeah, Derek. I promise.”

  “I’ll cuh-cuh-come,” Derek replied.

  The others then looked down at Derek in shock.

  “You sure about that, Der?” Kyle asked his word-jumbling friend.

  Derek (thinking of Amber who was most CERTAINLY going to be at Josh’s Party) nodded.

  “So… Is that a ‘yes’ then?” Josh asked as Kyle now looked at Eric, Jim, and Sam.

  “You already know I’m game, Ky-Ky!” Jim said excitedly.

  Looking at Sam, Kyle waited for her response.

  “AYE-AYE, CAPTAIN GOOB!” Sam playfully erupted.

  Kyle smirked at her as he now looked upon Eric, who was still unsure of the whole thing.

  “So, Eric… WHAT’S IT GONNA BE?” Kyle asked his stoner/drug dealing friend. “You wanna go to Josh’s thing tonight or not?”

  Eric didn’t respond. He just turned his head away and scowled.

  Noticing this, Josh said, “ERIC, you haven’t got a thing to worry about, dude. Brent and the others won’t act outta line since it’s MY Party. Nothing bad is gonna happen to you.”

  Looking over at Josh again, Eric asked, “Ya sure about that, Chief?”

  Feeling somewhat ‘confident’, Josh replied, “Yeah… YES. I swear.”

  “Ugh… I’m gonna regret this later,” Eric sighed whilst shaking his head. “I just know that I am… BUT TO HELL WITH IT. Fine. I’ll come.”

  The resilient stoner’s willingness to go to his party instantly made Josh smile.

  “Ugh… Welp, there ya have it, Josh. You’ve got us all hook, line, and sinker,” Kyle said. “We’ll come to your party tonight.”

  “SWEET! Awesome guys! THAT’S GREAT!” Josh happily cheered. “The party starts around eleven and, AGAIN, it’s at my Parent’s Cabin, which is just off Old Moss Road. I’ll hit you guys up with the directions on SENDER if you have any trouble finding it.”

  “No need. We’ll find it,” Kyle said. “Thanks for the invite, Josh.”

  “Not a problem, man!” Josh replied. “YO, I gotta head on outta here and catch back up with my crew so I’ll catch y’all later tonight! PEACE!”

  “This better not blow up in our fucking faces, Gordon,” Eric gritted after Josh and turned to meet back up with Brent, Amber, Shaw, and Greenberg. “If it does… THEN I’M BLAMING YOU.”

  “It won’t, Eric. It’ll be fine,” Sam assured. “RIGHT, KYLER???”

  With Sam’s multi-colored eyes now turned towards him, Kyle wanted to agree with her… But he was still a bit unsure about the party.

  “It’ll be fuh-fuh-fine,” Derek said to his best friend.

  “FUCK YEAHZ IT WILL BE!!!” Jim blared. “We’re talkin’ about an ACTUAL, LEGIT POPULAR PARTY where there will be SMOKING HOT BABES, HOT JAMZ, BEER, and of course… SMOKING HOT BABES!!!!”

  “I vote that we ‘don’t go’ now since the Dingus is all riled up,” Eric stated.

  “Oh, go suck a chode, Erickson!” Jim shouted whilst waving off Eric before turning to Kyle again. “KY-KY, you’re the leader of this little fucked up bunch of misfits and geeks. MAKE A DECISION, BROSKI!”

  Kyle looked away from Jim and back down at Derek, who was still looking up at him.

  “‘Y’sure that you still wanna go, D?” Kyle asked.

  “Yuh-Yeah,” Derek replied as he continued to think about seeing Amber at the party.

  “Ugh… Alright, man. Whatever you say.”

  “So we’re going???” Jim asked Kyle.

  “Yep. Sounds like it,” Kyle nodded.

  “FUCK YES! THANK YOU GOD!!!” Jim victoriously cried out as he threw his fists up in the air over his head.

  “HUNTER!!!” cried out Jim’s FORMER Boss, Mitch, who had just been pulling away from a Hot Pretzel Stand up on the mall’s second level.

  “OH FUCK,” Jim blurted after looking up to see Mitch GLARING down at him.

  Looking at a few Mall Cops who were standing over at the SAME Hot Pretzel Stand, Mitch cried out, “HEY! GET THE KID DOWN THERE! HE SUPPOSED TO BE BANNED FROM THE MALL!!!”

  The two Mall Cops then dropped their Pretzels (which they had nearly eaten) and looked down at Jim.

  As they both headed for the escalator, Jim looked to his friends and said, “Well guys, I’ve suddenly had enough of this place… DEUCES!!!”

  Jim then sped away as the two Mall Cops hustled down the descending escalator.

  “I really hope he gets pepper sprayed,” Eric prayed. “That would make my whole fuckin’ day if I got a chance to see that shit happen.”

  “Urgh… Dammit, Jim,” Kyle growled. “Well, everyone, due to Jim’s UTTER STUPIDITY and POOR DECISION MAKING we must leave as well.”

  Derek then rose up from the wooden bench to stand alongside Eric as Sam turned to Kyle.

  “Lead on, Captain! Heh, heh,” Sam playfully snickered whilst batting her eyes at Kyle.

  “No problem… My Lady. Heh, heh,” Kyle snickered back as he led her, Eric, and Derek towards the Mall’s Front Main Entrance as Jim was still making a FULL ON SPRINT to escape the ‘salt and pretzel grease’ coated hands of the two morbidly obese Mall Cops.