You've got Problems?

Myer slammed the door to his locker hard. He was trying to get a hold on his anger, but ever since the dance Friday night, he had felt like his insides were on fire. There was just no way that he could get Lilly’s tear streaked face off of his mind. He hadn’t asked her what had happened while he had been gone. A part of him knew that she wouldn’t tell him, another just didn’t want to know what Tylor had done to her. He was afraid of what he might do if he found out. As he walked in brooding silence towards his final class of the day, Myer didn’t look at anyone. The whispers and the sudden silence as he passed was all he needed to know. With each new face he caught staring at him, he further regretted having ever talked Lilly into going to the dance with him. He was such an idiot for having ever believed that something good would have come out of it, that they could have just had a magical night together and that she would be happy. Everyone had talked about Lilly and stared at her like she was some king of sideshow freak. Like she wasn’t even human.

The weekend that had followed had been nothing but one continuous nightmare after another for him. When he had shown at the front door of Lilly’s house, her dress ruined with a blood stained bandage around her knee, her dad had nearly exploded. It had taken all of Lilly’s mother’s resolve to keep him from beating Myer’s face in. After he had clamed down enough to not hit Myer, he had forbidden them from seeing each other. Ever again. He wouldn’t take any more chances with his precious little girl getting hurt. Lilly hadn’t even tried to protest the decision. She had been off in some distant world, completely severed from reality. And before Myer had even a chance to explain, her dad had slammed front door in his face. Going home hadn’t helped at all. When Myer told his father, the only thing his dad had said to him was a sort of ‘I told you so’. All Myer’s attempts to try and get in touch with Lilly over the next two days had been total failures. And it hadn’t just been from Lilly’s dad, she herself didn’t try to make any kind of contact with him. In fact, she hadn’t said a word to him since that night. And as much as Myer hated to admit it to himself, her silence was justified. He had left her, and hadn’t come to her rescue when she had needed him the most. What kind of person could do that to someone they claimed to love?

The entire day throughout school had been like a dream. He was only there in body. His mind was far off. Aside from his anger at everyone around him, he found his mind increasingly coming back to a single thought.

Tylor.

The events of Friday night were beginning to become clear to him. Cynthia had said that it had been Tylor. As he thought more and more about it, the situation fitted perfectly. Tylor had been making his life a living hell since grade school. Myer’s face grew bright red with anger as he thought of all the horrible things that jerk could have done to make his precious angle of the night cry. The fire within his chest swelled up with such intensity that Myer was completely shaking in his chair. His hands balled into such tight fists that the pencil in his right hand snapped in half. Myer didn’t notice anything beyond the burning thoughts inside his head for revenge. No, not revenge. That wasn’t what he was going to do. He was going to avenge his princess, no matter the cost. When the final bell for the day rang, Myer slowly rose from his seat and calmly walked out into the hallway.

As he became mingled in with the teeming masses of other students that were estatic about being freed from their seven hour prison, he worked his mind over every important fact that would help aid him in finding Tylor. He knew that lots of jocks stayed after school, and that there were certain areas that they hung out at. Myer instantly knew where to look for Tylor, because normally people like him didn’t ever go to those places. Except today.

“Myer.”

Myer swung his head around and searched the quickly thinning crowd in the hallway. It only took him one glance to notice Cynthia’s wavy reddish blonde hair as she approached him.

“I’ve been looking for you all day.” she said. “I needed to talk to you.”

“Go away.” he growled in a low voice.
Cynthia appeared slightly hurt by what he had said. “Myer, will you just let me explain. I never would have asked you to leave Lilly if I had thought…”

“I don’t need your help.” he said harshly. “I’m going to take care of it.”

Cynthia frowned for a moment, clearly not understanding exactly what Myer had meant. Her green eyes suddenly grew wide with realization. “No, Myer. You can’t do that. You’re going to get hurt badly.”

“I’m going to take care of it.” Myer repeated, turning his back to Cynthia and walking away. She followed after him quickly, and grabbed his free hand.

“Myer, will you listen to me. Dillion overheard some of the other members of his team saying that Tylor was looking for you. He said that he was going to pay you back for Friday night. Don’t go…”

“Get off of me!” Myer snapped, jerking his hand away from Cynthia’s grip. “I’m not afraid of that shit for brains.” Myer’s face suddenly grew dark, more vicious. “You were there Cynthia, you saw what happened. What did he do to Lilly?”

“Myer,” Cynthia said nervously, “he’s not worth…”

“What did he do to her?!” Myer demanded.

“He…he…forced…” Cynthia stuttered.

Myer didn’t need to hear anymore. His ears had heard all they needed to know about what had been done. And the fire of anger deep inside Myer’s heart ignited into a raging inferno of hatred. He stormed away from Cynthia, throwing his backpack to the ground hard. Cynthia called after him several times, but didn’t dare to follow him. Which was just the way he wanted it. Angry as he was, Myer didn’t want his childhood friend to witness what was about to happen. He didn’t want her to see the dark side of him that even he hadn’t been aware of.

Myer marched outside near the rear of the school. The back parking lot was the unofficial territory of the jocks and other socially elite of the school. Myer knew that he would find Tylor there, and put an end to him. He waited, but only for a little bit, for the lot to clear out some. The less witnesses there were, the less chance there was that the fight would be broken up. When about half of the lot was empty, Myer invaded the asphalt territory of a class of people that were practically sworn enemies of people like him. It didn’t take him long to find where Tylor was. The big oaf had an equally big truck, and liked to show it off to anyone that would be impressed by it. Myer didn’t really pay attention to the truck beyond that. He certainly didn’t pay attention to the two other football players that were lounging against the truck with him. One thing was certain; it didn’t take Tylor very long to notice him. A stupid smirk spread across his face when he realized that Myer was coming his way.

“Well look here,” he told his two pals. “Can you believe this? Chicken legs is actually in our parking lot. What the heck are you doing here chicken legs? You know this is our turf.”

Myer didn’t say anything. He walked over until he was only a few feet away from Tylor, his face was bright red and his eyes glared daggers at the larger boy. Tylor, to say the least, wasn’t impressed. “Oh,” he said sarcastically, “got you all upset.”

“What,” Myer said in a dangerous voice, “did you do to her?”

“Her who?” Tylor asked. His eyes looked up to the sky as he clearly pondered what had been asked of him, then he looked back at Myer. “Oh, the ice bitch.”

“What did you do to her?” Myer snapped, his voice so loud that it caught the attention of several people standing nearby.

With a small audience now aware of what was going on, Tylor swaggered towards Myer. He stepped in front of him and puffed his much larger chest out. “I tried to show that skank what a real guy was all about. But look at it like this, I did you a favor. She obviously doesn’t swing that way, if you know what I mean. You haven’t got a chance with that dyke.”

“If you…” Myer said, looking down at his feet.

“If I what?” Tylor demanded, his voice suddenly getting louder and angrier. He shoved Myer slightly, knocking him back a step or two. Myer didn’t back down, so Tylor pushed him again, harder. “If I what? Say it, you little chicken shit.”

Myer looked up at Tylor and stared him straight in the eyes. “If you ever go near her again, I’ll kill you.”

For just one brief instant, a visible sign of fear twitched through Tylor’s right eye at the threat. He quickly regained his composure, though it didn’t sound nearly as confident as before. “Who the hell do you think you are, you little bastard? You’re threatening me?”

He shoved Myer for a third time, so hard that he tried to knock him off of his feet. Myer didn’t go down. Instead, he rebounded and took a wild swing at Tylor. The big jock must have expected such a move, because he stepped back slightly. Myer’s swing went wide, completely missing him. Tylor, on the other hand, drew back his fist and rammed it right into the side of Myer’s face. Myer staggered back, dazed from the blow. But to everyone’s surprise, especially Tylor’s, he recovered and attacked again. Myer threw another wild swing, and this time it connected. The knuckles in Myer’s hand slammed into Tylor’s large jaw, and his head snapped back slightly. Before Myer had a chance to follow through with a second punch, Tylor’s friends rushed forward and grabbed him. One restrained each of his arms and dragged him over to the truck, which they slammed him into. Tylor slowly turned to Myer, gently rubbing where Myer had punched him. He looked like he was hurting just a little bit, but more than that, he looked mad. Really mad.

“That…” he growled. “That hurt, you son-of-a-bitch!”

Tylor stormed over to him, his fists clenched tightly. Myer brought his legs up and tried to kick the bigger boy, but he easily jumped out of the way. The two large jocks on either side of Myer twisted his arms bad, sending jolts of pain surging through his limbs. Forced to being completely defenseless by their twists, Tylor rushed in and slugged Myer hard in the gut. Myer made a gasping sound as the air was rammed from his lungs. By now, a sizable number of people left in the parking lot had gathered to watch the fight, or rather, Myer getting beat up. There were easily over twenty of them now, not that Myer bothered to pay any attention to them. He knew that none of them would run to the principal, or even admit that a fight had taken place. People of the same click stuck together. Which was why Myer wasn’t at all surprised by the cheers some of the guys gave when Tylor punched Myer in his right eye.

“That little bitch of yours hurt me Friday.” Tylor spat, drawing his fist back again. “And now I’m going to take it out on your ass.”

Myer tried to brace himself for the next blow, but there was nothing that he could do to prepare for the explosion of agony that jolted through his face for the third time. He wasn’t going to come out of this well, and he knew it. Despite everything he was suffering, Myer wanted nothing more than to get a chance at Tylor one on one.

“What the hell’s this?”

Myer, Tylor, and his two buddies all looked up. Dillion was walking briskly towards them, Cynthia in tow. Tylor gave him a half hearted wave.

“Don’t need any more help on this one Dill.” Tylor joked. “This little shit head’s easy. We’ll be done in a minute.”

Dillion’s face twisted into a very clear expression of anger, and to everyone’s shock, even Myer’s, he charged them. “You’re a bunch of goddamn heroes when it’s three against one!”

Dillion broke through the crowd and did a perfect football style tackle into the guy on Myer’s right. He screamed loudly and lost his grip on Myer. As he went down, Dillion began pummeling him. Both Tylor and the other jock were completely stunned by the sudden attack. Myer didn’t hesitate. While the other two were occupied, Myer brought his foot down on the toes of the other guy that was holding him. Howling, he lost his grip of Myer.

The attack on Tylor came without the slightest hesitation. Myer threw himself wildly at Tylor, landing a well placed punch across the side of his face. The two of them went down in a heap, each hitting the other as hard as they could.

“Get the hell…” Tylor hissed before Myer drove a fist into his exposed ear. For the first time in the fight, Myer heard Tylor howl in pain. Instead of going down, he brought a clenched fist down on his neck. The blow knocked Myer off of him, and the two rolled away. Both were back on their feet at the same time. By now, everyone around were cheering on the fight, which was probably one of the few they ever got to see. Tylor glared at Myer and brought his fists up, fully aware that he was actually going to have to fight. Myer in turn grabbed the shoulders of his shirt. In one quick move, he threw his shirt off. He heard at least one girl in the crowd around him gasp. Even Tylor’s eyes widened. Clearly none of them had expected to see that Myer had easily defined chest muscles and the outline of a four pack abdomen. Myer never really worked out in his life, but he was after all his father’s son. And his dad was a big man.

Roaring like a lion, Myer charged Tylor. The bigger boy threw a punch at him, but Myer ducked slightly to the left and went in low. Leaping up, Myer planted a powerful upper punch to the lower side of Tylor’s chin. Tylor’s head snapped back and he stumbled slightly. Myer tried to punch him again, but he missed. The opening was all Tylor needed. Reaching out, he grabbed Myer by the wrist and swung him into his free fist. The blow felt like a hammer in Myer’s right eye. When he went down, he realized that he couldn’t see out of the eye. This was why he couldn’t see Tylor leaping down on him. Pinning him down, Tylor stuck Myer in his face again, and again, and again. The thick taste of iron filled Myer’s mouth as pain blacked out his vision. Reacting practically on instinct, he brought his knee up into Tylor’s gut. The jock fell off of him, hacking as he clutched his stomach.

Despite his injuries, Myer started to pull himself up. Spitting out a wag of blood, he rushed at Tylor again. Tylor was ready to meet him, and the two went into a fierce slug match. To the amazement of everyone, Myer held his ground against Tylor. The jock had physical size and strength on his side, so by all rights he should have already won the fight. However, there was one monumental difference between them. Tylor didn’t have as much heart in the fight as Myer did. Tylor was fighting because he was angry, and to preserve his pride. Myer, on the other hand, was fighting because Tylor had hurt the girl he loved. It was because of that one powerful reason that Myer wasn’t going to stop fighting until he couldn’t possibly stand anymore. And Tylor knew it, which was why Myer began to see a hint of fear in his eyes. The hesitation didn’t stop him from advancing, his fists up and ready.

It was when he was halfway towards Tylor that he heard Cynthia’s frantic pleas. Turning only halfway back, Myer saw her tugging on Dillion’s shirt, trying in vain to get her boyfriend off of the jock who Myer had stomped his foot on. Dillion, it seemed, was almost in a sort of frenzied state as Myer had been. Cynthia’s words were falling of deaf ears. Despite her failure, she kept trying to plead with her boyfriend to stop the fighting before he got really hurt. And that was why Myer was the only one who could see what was coming. From behind Cynthia, the first jock that Dillion had taken down was back on his feet. A slight line of blood trickled down his nose as he started to move towards Cynthia and Dillion, each with their backs to him. Myer didn’t waste another second thinking.

Running away from Tylor, Myer pushed his legs as hard as he could to reach them before it was too late. Before Cynthia got hurt. The same kind of immense desire he had to care for Lilly suddenly exploded inside his mind for Cynthia. He couldn’t let something bad happen to her, not from something that he had caused. Myer didn’t bother to shout out a warning to them, he knew that neither of them would react in time. The jock charged up behind them and raised a fist high into the air. He was clearly aiming to hit Dillion in the back of the head while he wasn’t looking, but something deep in Myer’s gut told him that he was going to miss and hit Cynthia.

His friend was only just becoming aware of the other boy standing over her, and his fist streaking down like a lighting bolt, when Myer reached them. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, he threw his hands out and leapt through the air. The contact was perfect, shoving Cynthia out of harm’s way as the fist came down on the side of Myer’s head just a split second later. That was the hardest blow of the whole fight to him. It was the one that sent his world into a wild tailspin and brought him down. He threw several wild swings, but there was no way that he could tell if he had hit anything. Things were so confusing that Myer was hardly aware of rough hands grabbing him and hauling him to his feet. Balling up his fists, Myer blindly swung at whoever was holding him. As his fist went up, he was roughly whirled around and had his arms pinned down.

“What the hell is going on around here?” Boomed a very authority voice.

Myer peered through his one good eye, and saw that it was Mr. Stickler holding him. Around him were two very large male teachers. All of them had a very serious look in their eyes. Suddenly everyone seemed to lose interest in the fight. The only thing that they were now worried about was not getting into trouble. Sticker glared at all of the others standing around. “You.” he hissed through clenched teeth, pointing at Tylor, Dillion, and the other two jocks. “My office, now. The rest of you, I want you out of this parking lot in 60 seconds. If you’re still here, a Saturday detention for every last one of you.”

No one dared to hang around to see if Stickler would make good on his threat. The surrounding crowd scampered away like a bomb had just been dropped. Myer watched as the parking lot emptied out in less than a minute. Once the last car had sped out of the lot, Sticker released his rough grip on Myer. “Let’s go.” he growled. One of the big teachers escorted Tylor and his friends back towards the office, the other picked a bleeding Dillion to his feet.

“It wasn’t his fault Mr. Stickler,” Cynthia pleaded to the vice principal. “Dillion was just…”

“Young lady, unless you feel like seeing me this Saturday, I suggest you leave.”

Cynthia looked at Dillion with pleading eyes. It was obvious to Myer that any further argument was pointless. Dillion motioned Cynthia to her car. “Just go babe, it’ll be alright.” With a sad look on her face, Cynthia gave Dillion a quick kiss on the lips before briskly walking away.

As Myer was firmly pushed back towards the school office, his shirt was thrust into his face. “Put your shirt back on.” Stickler said in a low voice. Myer did as he was told, not bothering to utter another word as he was taken to his inescapable fate. He wasn’t afraid of what was going to happen. There would have to be regret for that to be possible. The only regret that he had was that he hadn’t been able to land anymore blows on Tylor, which was a shame because the bastard certainly deserved a good beating. The five of them were shoehorned into the cramped office that Stickler operated out of. The vice-principal didn’t say a word until after the door had been shut and the two teachers stood behind all of them with their arms folded.

“Fighting.” Stickler said with a shake of his head. “There hasn’t been a fight on these school grounds in over two years. I can’t believe this.”

“It was his fault,” Tylor said, pointing a finger at Myer. “He threw the first…”

Stickler slammed his fist down onto the table so hard that it caused all of them, even Myer, to jump. “I give a goddamn who the hell started it! Fighting of any kind will not be permitted on this school’s grounds.”

“And to make sure that it doesn’t happen again, I’m going to make an example out of all of you.”

He stared at all of them in silence for a moment. “You’re all suspended for a week. No exceptions.” Then, unexpectedly, Stickler pointed his finger at Tylor. “You stay, me and you are going to have a little talk. The rest of you get out. I don’t want to see any of you in this school until next Monday. If you do, or if I find out you’re fighting on this school’s grounds again, you’re out of here. For good. Now get out of here. Your parents will be hearing from me soon.”

Myer, Dillion, and the other two left without another word. As they walked out of the door, Myer began to stumble as his head got light. Before he could fall down, Dillion caught him. “Hey,” he said, helping Myer limp out of the office, “you ok?”

Now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, pain started to course through Myer’s whole body. In another hour, he wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to be able to even move. “I…I think so.” he mumbled. Dillion took that as close enough for a yes.

“I want to thank you.” he told Myer through his swelling lips. Myer looked up at the larger boy with confusion on his face.

“What are you talking about?”

“Back when we were fighting.” Dillion said, as he practically carried Myer back to his car. “I saw what you did. You pushed Cynthia out of the way. You took a punch for her.”

“I…I didn’t really think about it.”

Dillion shook his head. “I don’t care why. You kept her from getting hurt Myer.”

Myer flinched slightly upon hearing the jock say his name. He hadn’t been expecting that. He glanced up at Dillion, and was surprised to see a genuine smile shinning through his bruised face.

“I can never thank you enough for what you did. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re a friend of mine for that.”

Hearing that, seeing the sincerity on his face, it all suddenly became so clear to Myer. He had always thought that Dillion had hooked up with Cynthia just because he had been so much better looking than him and he had been on the football team. When he had learned that they were dating, he had come to loath Dillion for taking away the last person that was really close to him in his life. Now he saw the truth. Dillion was a jock, but he wasn’t like the others. He didn’t think himself better than others just because he played sports and had muscles topped with good looks. He was a decent guy. And Cynthia certainly was very lucky to have him. It went almost without saying that he would do anything for Cynthia. Knowing how he felt about Lilly, Myer could see plain as day that Dillion truly did love Cynthia. Myer couldn’t believe it, but was so very glad that his old friend had found someone that was so good for her.

Dillion helped him into his car, which Myer was grateful for because it was getting harder to move with each passing second as the last traces of adrenaline wore off. Getting behind the wheel of his crappy vehicle, Myer was again surprised when Dillion offered out a hand to him. Myer stared at it blankly for a moment, then up at him.

“Friends?” Dillion asked.

Myer took his hand without thinking about it. “Friends.” he repeated. They shook hands, the silent commitment to their new friendship. No more words were spoken between them. Dillion left to go home, and Myer in turn had to go face his father. There was hardly any concern in him about confronting his old man. He knew in his heart that he had done what was right. He had made Tylor pay for hurting his princess. And with any luck, the idiot wouldn’t dare to try something with either of them again.

The drive home was hardly noticed. The pain continued to throb throughout most of his body, but again he didn’t give it much thought beyond the fact that he couldn’t see out his right eye. All thoughts were on Lilly. He really wanted to see her. He needed to see her. Just to tell her that everything was alright, that she didn’t have anything to be afraid of anymore. And more than anything, to just let her know that he loved her. But first, he was going to have to deal with his father.

The showdown happened a lot sooner than he would have expected. His father was waiting for him the moment he stepped through the front door. “Your school called.” he said disapprovingly.

“Then you already know?”

“I don’t need them to tell what happened. You’re all messed up.”

“Since when have you cared what happens to me?”

His father stared at him blankly for a moment, apparently trying to absorb what he had just been told. Then, he took a long, deep breath. “You’re grounded, you realize that? And it lasts as long as your suspension holds. You don’t call anyone. You don’t leave the house. No one visits you.”

“But I need to see…”

“No one!” he father roared, his voice vibrating against the walls. His eyes glared at Myer harshly. “And I don’t want you seeing that girl again.”

Myer stumbled back a step as if he had been punched. “You…” he muttered. “You can’t do that.”

“She’s been nothing but trouble for you.”

“She’s been…”

“Sneaking out at night. Running off when I tell you to come. Getting into fights at school. How the hell is that not a bad influence?”

“I…”

“No more discussions!” he father screamed. “Get to your room. And don’t come out until dinner’s ready.”

“I’m not coming out ever!” Myer shouted back. Before his father could get another word in Myer raced past him, up the steps, and into his room. He slammed the door shut as hard as he could. His entire body burning with anger from everything that had happened to him in just one day, it was almost completely overwhelming. Sitting down on his bed, wincing from the immense pain that jolted through him by such a simple action, Myer stared out of his window. There were so many leaves that blocked his view of Lilly’s house that he could only see a few spots of the building’s side.

“Lilly.” Myer sighed, folding his arms over the windowsill and rested his head on them. Angry as he was about his dad’s proclamation that they wouldn’t see each other again, Myer felt even worse because he hadn’t seen her. Being without Lilly brought back that old bottomless pit in the core of his very being. She was everything to him now. His princess of the night. And he was her knight. No matter what his father said, there was no way he was going to keep him away from her. Of that, Myer believed with every ounce of his soul.

**

Tylor growled heavily as he sat himself behind the wheel of his truck. Luke sat nervously in the passenger side, and Will in the back.

“Goddamn that Stickler!” Tylor shouted, smashing his fist into the steering wheel as hard as he could. “Goddamn him!”

“H…how bad was it man?” Will asked weakly, though the sever swelling of his lower lip helped to cut into his speaking.

Even through all the bruises he was now sporting, rage was clearly evident on Tylor’s face. “He had me kicked off the team. I’m out, for good. That scholarship I was supposed to get for state is gone. My whole future, down the fucking drain!”

“Tylor…” Luke said in a worried voice.

“I’m going to get that little son-of-a-bitch Myer for this if it’s the last thing I ever do!” He turned to his two friends, his eyes burning with near insanity. “And you two are going to help me, or I’ll put you both in the hospital.”

Luke and will both exchanged scared looks, but neither of them had the nerve to say no to Tylor. “First thing we do,” Tylor hissed between his clenched teeth, “we find out where that little freak bitch of his lives.”