Ring 3.1: Another Weekend

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Ring 3.1:

Another Weekend

With summer on its way, a Friday afternoon was like a breath of fresh air for even some of the busiest students. Sports were winding down for the most part, most of the performing-arts classes had already had their performances, and it wasn't quite time for everyone to begin cramming for finals.

Rolf was leaning against the locker, arms crossed, watching the crowd of students on their way out of the school, when he picked up a sound he didn't very much like.

"What's with you, nerd? You tryin' to look like a girl so people'll stop callin' you a wuss? Huh?" That sound was Morley's voice, and on closer inspection its owner was standing over one of the other students, leaning with his arms against the lockers and his would-be victim between them.

Would be, because of who had just noticed. "Hey." Rolf's voice carried where it needed to, and his feet carried him over to Morley. "Back off."

Morley stood up straight and turned around to Rolf. He was a wider, bulkier kind of guy than Rolf, who was a more streamlined kind of athletic. He could lift more raw weight, but he knew better than to mess with him, so instead he glared. Rolf scowled back. They had a brief staring contest like this before Morley threw up has hands as if he had no idea what it had been about, and said "Yeesh" before walking away.

Rolf glared at him until he was out of sight, and then looked with a more neutral expression at the person he'd been standing over. "Um, th-thanks," he said, looking kind of like he expected Rolf to punch him or something.
"No problem. Hey, are you.." He knew the other guy looked familiar, but there were enough differences from what he remembered that he took a minute to dredge up the name. He was a little taller than he remembered, and his hair looked like it had been dyed a more reddish and less dark brown, and he'd let it grow out to his shoulders. Even his clothes weren't quite the same as usual, but it was hard to place why..a little baggier, maybe. "Hm...Kevin?"
"Y-yeah."
"Your house far from here?"
"Um..n-n-ot too far. I usually w-walk."
"I'll go with you. Sometimes Morley doesn't know when to quit."

"Oh, th-thanks but, y-you don't have to."

"I insist. Go on and get your books."
"Ok-okay."

Akio had his last period with Sam, and managed to catch her a little bit out of the door of the classroom. "Hey, you game?" he said. He figured if he was going to talk to someone he hadn't really said much to before he might as well be direct to minimize awkwardness.
Unfortunately, the wording of his query confused her. "Huh? Game for what?"
"No no, I didn't mean are you game, as in ready to do some previously discussed thing, I mean do you game, like, play video games or anything like that?"
"Oh. Yeah, sure. Why?"
"Well, I thought you looked kind of like a person who'd be fun to play something with sometime."

"Maybe, but isn't it a bit awkward to ask me out of the blue like that?"

Well, now she'd invoked the A word, so there wasn't any way to avoid it. "Okay, well I guess I can't think of any way to introduce myself to someone who's seen me numerous times and knows my name but hasn't shared a conversation with me that isn't awkward."

Sam shrugged. "Fair enough. So I know you're Akio, and you know I'm.."
"Sam."

"Hah, well that's a decent start. Nobody calls me Samantha and gets away with it. Except for teachers. And my parents, but only if I'm trouble. And I guess if I'm ever called in for jury duty later in life I won't be able to correct the judge about it.."

"We might be getting off track here."
"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, you're lucky if you've got nothing planned this afternoon, because neither do I. What kind of game do you have in mind?"

On the sidewalk a little outside the school, it was pretty clear that Kevin wasn't going to say anything unless Rolf asked him something. So he did. "So, when did you start growing out your hair? I mean, just out of curiosity."

"Um..I-I never really d-decided to..I mean, since M-monday it's grown a lot f-f-faster than usual. I d-don't really know why. Are there any, um, any rumors g-going around?"

Rolf shrugged. "I dunno. Don't pay attention to that garbage. I guess if Morley thinks you're worth his attention there must be something, though."
"Th-that is a..um, a dubious honor."

"..Did you just tell a joke?" From the one or two classes they'd had in common in the past, Rolf knew Kevin to have a hard time talking to people, and especially in front of people. Once when a teacher made a joke in his general direction, he'd shrunk back in terror like it was going to kill him.
"Uh..m-maybe? I, I don't know. B-but um, the hair is-isn't the only weird thing that's been going on this w-week. I'm having some k-kind of weird growth spurt...m-my parents want to t-take me to the doctor soon to m-make sure I'm okay."

"Hm. Well, take care of yourself. Anything bad going on is worse with stress."

"I-I know."

"I know a great arcade we could go to," said Akio. Neutral ground seemed like the best idea, even if it was going to cost money.
"Hmm..neh. Too expensive."
"Well, I could pay for you if you want."
"I'm not so sure I want that. I've got some games at home, but my parents might think something's going on if I bring a boy home, you know."
"That's why I was suggesting the arcade."

"I know, I'd just rather think of every other possibility before going for the one that costs something. You've got games at your house, don't you?"
"Sure. My dad'll be there, so.."
"Akio, that's good ,but you don't seem like the kind of guy I have to worry about that with."
"Well then, I'm pretty lucky to give you that impression."

"Yes, you are. So lead on. I'll tell my parents I was at a friend's house, so they won't pester me about it."

Rolf and Kevin turned a corner, and the former nearly ran into a tall, dark-haired guy he didn't recognize. For a moment he wasn't sure whether to brace for some kind of attack, wondering whether this was someone Kevin had trouble with outside of school, and the other guy's expression displayed about the same amount of suspicion.

That didn't last too long, however; the stranger's expression turned to a wide grin and he said, "Heey, you makin' friends already, Kev?"
"U-um.."

"C'mon, introduce me, man! Whaddaya waitin' for?" Rolf wasn't sure what to make of this guy's tone: It was a weird kind of mock-angry impatience that made him unsure whether or not this qualified as bullying.
"Th-this is, uh, Liam, a f-friend of mine..Liam, uh, this is Rolf..um, he..ch-chased off some guy at my school.."

"Eh? Someone botherin' Kev here?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Rolf, arms crossed.
"Great! Whoever it is, you oughta give 'im a good punch next time, though." He was looking at Kevin when he said this.
"So..you're his friend, then?"
"Y-yeah," said Kevin. "L-Liam is..helping me b-be a little more confident."

"Okay, well can you make sure he doesn't run into trouble the rest of the way home? I have to meet a friend at the gym."

"Sure, sure. Wha's the guy look like?"
"A large idiot named Morley. All bark and no bite," said Rolf. "He'll back off without a fight with you around, since he has no idea who you are."

"Heh. I dunno, maybe I want to start a fight." Liam pounded a fist with his palm..which it occurred to Rolf was definitely backwards from the normal expression.
"..That's up to you. I won't be responsible if he knocks you down. But I haven't seen him yet, so he probably gave up anyway. See you later." Rolf started walking away.

"Hey!" said Liam, and he stopped and turned around.
"What?"

"When you're not busy with your friend, we oughta' hang out sometime. You an' me and Kevin. Yeah?"
"..Sure."

Akio's dad saw them on their way to the game room. He said hello, and not to burn the house down.

"That was a joke, right?" said Sam, once they were in said room.

"Yeah, of course. It's not like I ever did anything that might have burned down the house before, right?"

"..Sure. So what do we have here? A PS3 and..a computer?"
"Well, actually, that's the only console I actually have, and there aren't a lot of multiplayer games here..but the computer's hooked up to the screen so we can play some older games."

"On a computer?"

"It's this wonderful thing called an emulator." He handed her one of two USB controllers. "The controller's not exactly the same, but hey, it's still a controller."

Rolf walked, briskly, to the gym. He didn't want to give Cole the time to decide to back out. When he got inside, he found him sitting on one of the couches. "What took you so long?"
"Morley."

"Ah, he was after another one, eh? Who was it this time?"
"You know Kevin? Guy who's afraid to talk?"
"Oh, yeah, sure, that guy. Heard some rumors he's been looking a little weird this week." He stood up. "But gossip sucks, so let's talk about something else. Am I gonna have to pay for a membership or something? Because those look crazy expensive and I'm pretty sure I can't afford them."
"Don't worry about it. The premium membership lets me bring in a guest once a week."

"Oh, well, that's good." Rolf led the way into the gym proper, swiping his card along the way.

Cole looked around at the gym's array of machines the way a deer would look around at a lit headlights museum. "So..what should I do here?"
"You should start small. Maybe a slower pace on one of the treadmills or something."
"No quick leveling cheat, huh?"

"I guess if you want to get there faster you can use the magic ring that also makes you a girl."
"I know, but in addition to being pretty sure I like being attracted to girls and not a girl myself, that's kind of risky. There are a lot of warnings that come with that thing, and most of them are distressingly vague."
"I think 'becoming the mask' is pretty specific."
"No, it isn't. For all we know overusing the ring could literally turn a person into a mask which then lets people who put it on look like the disguise the ring was used to make. And even if it doesn't do that, it implies a serious loss of mental stability on par with what happens to actors sometimes. I'd like to at least try to get fit the normal way before I even think about any super-ambiguous magical solutions."

"Sure. Treadmill it is then. I'll find you some small weights to work on while you do that."

After a couple of hours, Cole declared he was tired and Rolf offered to treat him to supper, which he was more than happy to take up. “You know,” said Rolf on their way there, “it's actually easier for guys to keep weight off..so I hear. As long as you keep exercising, you don't have to worry too much about your diet..I mean, unless you've been eating nothing but potatoes and bacon.”

“I like eating, and I do love bacon, but I'm not stupid. Heart attack at 30? No thanks.”

“Well..it's almost time for supper,” said Akio.

“Mmh. You wanna go somewhere, or were you gonna eat at home?”
“Uh..I hadn't really thought about this, but it'd look kind of like a date if I took you out to eat, right?”
“Not if we go dutch. I know a good place.” Sam stood up and grinned at him. “Unless you're chicken.”
“Eh? No way, I'm just, you know, concerned about what your parents would think if, like, some kind of rumor got out or something.”
“Well, come on then.”
“Sure, sure.” Akio followed her brisk walk out of his house and all the way to the restaurant.

Did I mention they were all heading to the same restaurant?