by Terry Keys
Mark leaned in close to Blaze. “Hey bro, let’s just win this money okay? Screw them. I told you I need this money. I need you to focus.”
“One day I’m going to get them.”
“Yeah maybe, but not today. Today I need you to be laser focused, Blaze.”
The tournament director went over the rules. When he finished, the first teams on the schedule grabbed their joysticks and readied themselves to begin.
Mark walked around the different gaming stations scouting the competition.
“Blaze seriously, from what I just saw, I can beat a few of these teams by myself.”
The duo cruised through their first three rounds without a hiccup. It was a double elimination tournament and they had yet to lose once. So far, the matches hadn’t even been close.
“Now we wait,” Mark said.
Blaze nodded.
They looked up and saw Tre and Wayne heading for the door. “Guess they’re out,” Mark said.
“Good riddance.”
Over half of the teams had been eliminated by now.
“Three more wins and we get our pictures in the paper,” Mark said cheerily.
“Easy day of work.”
“Yeah well, it won’t be so easy in Houston in a few weeks.”
“I know.”
“Can you at least get five kills this next match please?” Mark said laughing.
“Thought you didn’t need my help?”
“Well I don’t but it’d be nice to know that in the event I did need you…”
“I’m ready for whatever. I hadn’t had to step my game up yet – relax.”
The team eased through the next two rounds and into the finals.
“Who do we got?” Mark asked.
“Looks like Masters of Destruction,” Blaze replied.
Mark laughed nervously.
“What’s so funny? You played against these guys before?”
“Yes. Many times. I won’t be able to beat them alone though,” he said nudging Blaze.
“You don’t ever stop, do you?”
At that moment the organizer was heard making an announcement,“Gentlemen, my name is Charles Collins and I am the director of the Fortnite Tournament for the south Texas region. Congratulations to both teams for making it this far. This round, any losses that either team has will be erased. And it’ll be double elimination or best out of three. I would also like to congratulate both teams on advancing to play in Houston for even bigger prize money in a few weeks. Good luck.”
Blaze and Mark high fived each other and then put on their headsets.
Thirty minutes later they were walking out with a check and a ticket to get in the next tournament.
Blaze pushed Mark. “Well?”
“Well – what?”
“Well, didn’t I tell you that I was ready? Oh, ye of little faith.”
“Don’t get the big head now. I still carried us.”
Monday, Aug 26th
Chapter 15
As the bell rang, Blaze looked down at the graded paper that had just been handed to him. He’d scored an F even though he’d actually studied for the test.
First his car wouldn’t start earlier and now this. All before ten a.m.
With his head down staring at the paper, he didn’t notice Tre and his teammates in his path.
Tre pushed him hard, nearly sending him to the floor. “Pay attention to where you’re going, retard.”
Blaze gathered his thoughts and realized what had just happened. He stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“Yeah retard, did you hear what he said?” Wayne added.
“What the hell is wrong with you guys?” Blaze yelled.
The group started laughing.
“I think you should tell him, Tre.” Wayne teased.
“About what? Nikki? Nah too soon, bro.”
Before he could think, he’d thrown his backpack off his shoulders and went after Tre. He punched him square in the nose and watched as blood shot everywhere. Tre grabbed his face with both hands and stumbled back. Blaze swung again wildly, missing Tre completely.
A jolt of pain ran from his head down his back. Wayne had blindsided him with a hit to the back of the head. Blaze stumbled forward. Tre threw a punch and landed a right hand into Blaze’s stomach that made him double over in pain.
And just like that, it was over. An officer had tackled Blaze to the ground and two more took down Tre and Wayne. All three were cuffed and being forced down the hallway.
“Blaze!” Someone yelled behind him.
He turned to look but the officer pushed his head back around.
“Blaze!” It was Nikki.
“Hey baby,” Tre said.
“Shut up, Tre. Blaze, are you okay?”
“Ma’am, you need to make your way to your next class, or you can take a ride with them,” one of the officers threatened.
“I’m just trying to see if my boyfriend is okay.”
The officer turned and gave her a cold, hard stare. “Listen, I’m warning you, kid.”
“Call me later, Blaze,” Nikki said with a tear falling from her face. “Call me later!”
The officers led the boys outside to two waiting squad cars.
“You some tough guys, huh? We’ll see about that.”
“Where you taking us?” Tre demanded.
“Do you know who my dad is?” Wayne asked. “He’ll have both of your badges for this.”
The officers laughed at him. “Unless your dad is one of the three judges in Kilwade or the Chief’s kid, I don’t think so.”
“You’re making a big mistake. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, steroid heads.”
Officer Ramos yanked Wayne to a stop. “Pull out his I.D.,” he told the other officer.
He reached into Wayne’s pants and took out his wallet. He thumbed through it until he found his school I.D.
“So, what’s his last name?” Ramos asked.
“Shit – it’s Kellerman,” the officer said.
“Like I said, you boys are making a huge mistake. Want to let me and my friend here go now?” He looked at Tre.
“What do you want to do, Ramos? You know Kellerman’s a freakin’ prick. And the kid’s already told us that’s his dad.”
Ramos scratched his head. “Schools got a new zero tolerance rule now due to the large number of fights. You know that. Who threw the first punch here?”
“He did,” Wayne and Tre said in unison.
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Blaze yelled back.
Ramos took out his handcuff key and started working on Wayne’s cuffs. “Well, I guess if you guys were just defending yourselves we could let you go this one time.”
After Wayne was free, Ramos went over and unlocked Tre’s cuffs.
“Off to class,” Ramos said. “And no more self-defense.”
“This is unbelievable. You guys have got to be shitting me?” Blaze cried.
Ramos pushed his head down into the squad car. “Nope, afraid not. Unless your dad is a judge too?”
“You can’t tell me you believe that pathetic story? Or you letting him go because you’re scared of dealing with daddy?”
“I see why they were about to beat your ass. You got a smart mouth, kid. I’d shut it if I were you.”
“Whatever. The school security cameras will show what really happened. And then you losers just let them go like I was fighting myself.”
“Security cams are down right now for maintenance I’m afraid. So looks like you lose again,” Ramos added.
Blaze gritted his teeth and decided to finally shut up and just ride this one out.
So now these pricks got to pick a fight and get off scot-free?
And what the hell had he meant by ‘tell him about Nikki?’
Ramos looked up in his rear-view mirror and smiled. “All of you tough guys cry in the end huh?”
Blaze wasn’t crying because he was sad. Anytime he got as mad as he was now he cried. And i
f he didn’t have the cuffs on he’d smash Ramos’ skull through the windshield. Prick.
Ten minutes later they arrived at the jail.
“Home sweet home, kid,” Ramos said.
Blaze didn’t respond. He knew it wouldn’t help.
They opened the door and pulled him out.
“Let’s go, cutie,” the other officer said.
Blaze leaned around to read his badge – Officer Redding. He smiled at him.
“What are you smiling at, punk?” Redding asked.
Blaze just smiled again.
“Get this kid outta my face, Ramos,” Redding said.
Ramos grabbed him hard and took him back to get fingerprinted and processed in. They took all of his personal belongings and put them in a Ziploc bag. They took mugshots from the front and the side.
“You get a phone call – want to make it now?” Ramos asked.
“Sure,” he said giving him his mom’s cell phone number.
“Hello, this is Steph.”
“Mom. It’s me. I need you to come and bail me out after my bond is set.”
She snapped to attention. “Excuse me? Blaze, where are you?”
“Listen. I got in a fight at school and I’m downtown. I need you to find out what my bail is set at in a few hours and get me out. I gotta run,” he said hanging up the phone.
“Wait Blaze-“ But it was too late. The phone was disconnected and he was gone.
Steph stared down at her phone.
She knew what she needed to do next.
She thumbed through the names on her phone and stopped at Ex.
As the phone rang, Stephanie wondered if this was a bad idea.
“To what do I owe the surprise?” John asked.
“I didn’t call to argue. Blaze just called from jail. He said he got into a fight at school. I need some money to help bail him out.”
“A fight?”
“Yes, a fight John.”
“With who?”
“John, I don’t know. Does it really matter right this second who he got into a fight with? Can you help me or not?”
“You’re right that doesn’t matter. Of course I’ll help. I’m in a meeting right now. I stepped out to take this call. I’ll meet you at the jail in twenty minutes or so.”
“Thank you.”
Steph disconnected. Now she needed to tell her boss that she had to go.
--
Blaze looked around the jail cell and over at the man he was sharing it with. He looked like a homeless man. It also looked like this wasn’t his first time here either.
Blaze laid back onto his bunk and closed his eyes.
“Hey boy, what’s your name?” The man asked.
Blaze pretended not to hear him. Maybe he’d just leave him alone.
“You hard of hearing or just stupid, boy?”
Slowly Blaze opened his eyes.
“You say something to me?” Blaze responded.
“What a pretty boy like you do to be in here with the likes of a fella like me?”
“If you must know – fighting.”
“Don’t look like much of a fighter.”
“Can you just leave me alone please?”
“You know I could, but a fella gets lonely in here.”
“Well stop getting arrested and you wouldn’t end up alone in here. Problem solved.”
“I gets free meals, kid. They can arrest me every day.”
“Great,” Blaze said closing his eyes again.
“A little short on hospitality, eh?”
Blaze sprung up to his feet. “Listen, I’m not in here to listen at your babbling.”
“Fine. Fine suit yourself. It’s a whole lot easier in here when you have friends.”
“Well I don’t plan on staying long. And I don’t plan on coming back so-”
“Suit yourself, kid.”
An hour later Blaze heard the main hallway door open and shut.
“UFC fighter, your ride is here,” an officer teased.
Blaze rolled over and slipped his shoes on.
The cell opened and the homeless man tried to walk out.
“Not you, Willie. Get your ass back,” Ramos said. “Let’s go kid. Unless you want to stay here all night.”
Ramos gestured for Blaze to turn around so he could be cuffed again. He roughly slapped the cuffs on him and grabbed his arm.
“All right let’s go, tough guy,” Ramos said. He was acting like Blaze had been arrested for murder.
When the double doors opened, Blaze saw his mom and dad.
What the hell was he doing here?
Steph ran over to him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m fine. What is he doing here?”
“Your mother called and asked if I could help get you out.”
“If I’d known, I would have stayed.”
“Well it’s not too late. We can still make that happen,” Ramos said as he unlocked the cuffs.
“Don’t worry, I’ll see you again,” Blaze said and smiled.
“I’m going to assume that was a threat to an officer.”
“Take it how you wish,” Blaze said. “Don’t think I forgot about the bullshit you guys pulled letting the other two go.”
John and Steph stared at each other.
“You mean Blaze was the only one that got arrested for this?” Steph asked.
Ramos said nothing.
“That’s right. One of the other kids was a judge’s son, so they let him go,” Blaze answered.
“Sir, I asked you a question. Is that true?”
“I can’t speak on other cases that don’t involve your son. He got brought here for his involvement in a fight at school.”
“Well he wasn’t fighting thin air now, was he?” John asked.
“I see where he gets the smart mouth from,” Ramos said.
“You will be hearing from our lawyer,” Steph said. “All of the kids involved should have been brought down here or none of them. And you guys wonder why we can’t get young people to respect you.”
“I didn’t even start the fight, mom. But they wouldn’t listen to me.”
“You guys have a wonderful evening and Blaze, don’t forget about your court date,” Ramos said smiling as he walked away.
The three of them went to processing and got Blaze’s personal effects. After a ten-minute wait, they’d gotten everything and were leaving the jail.
Before the door could even shut behind them John started in.
“What the hell are you doing fighting at school?”
“The guy pushed me first, dad. He’s a bully.”
“Yeah and why couldn’t you just walk away? You don’t even realize how big of a burden this will be for all of us.”
“What happened to standing up for myself? And we don’t need your damn money. Just give it to your whore. You care about her more anyways.”
“You’d better watch that tone. And not every situation calls for you to stand up for yourself. Sometimes you can just walk away.”
“Yeah well, you know all about that, don’t you?”
John stared hard at Blaze. “I warned you already, Blaze. You’d better be careful what comes out of that little mouth of yours.”
“Just speaking the truth – something else you seem to have a problem with lately. Something else you taught me too. Always tell the truth. I guess banging your secretary doesn’t fall into that category?”
John shook his head. “You just know it all, huh Blaze?”
“No. But I do know this. And I know you haven’t picked up the phone in weeks. I know that you just up and left us like we didn’t mean anything to you.”
“Well I’m here now. Your mother called and I’m here.
“You want a trophy?”
“Stop!” Steph yelled.
“No mom, he needs to hear it,” Blaze said fighting back tears. “He needs to listen to what we’ve been going through.”
John started to walk away. “That’s right, po
or you. Poor Blaze. It’s all about you, huh? Steph, the next time he needs bailing out, don’t call me.”
“I’m not sure why she called you this time. You made it clear who mattered to you.”
John kept walking.
“You’re really good at walking away from your family,” Blaze yelled.
John stopped for a split second.
“No, loser. Go ahead and keep walking,” Blaze continued as tears forced their way into his eyes. He wiped them away with his hands.
“Blaze, you need to at least give him a chance to explain his side.”
“Not interested. Can we go please? I don’t care what he has to say. And why the hell are you of all people taking up for him after what he did to you?”
Blaze headed for the parking lot and tried to determine where his mom had parked. Finally found her car and bee lined for it. He pulled on the door handle, but it was locked.
“Unlock it, mom,” he demanded.
“Blaze look at me. Despite who started the fight this can’t happen again. Your dad is right we can’t afford you doing this. You don’t think me leaving my job in the middle of the day was a burden? Or digging into my savings for bail money.”
Blaze froze.
“That didn’t come out how I meant it,” Steph said.
“Whatever. I don’t even care.”
“Just no more fighting, okay?”
“So, you want me to just get my ass kicked, mom? Would that make me less of a burden?”
Steph said nothing.
“Yeah, you think about it. Can you unlock the door please?”
“I’m making you another appointment with Dr. Smyrl.”
“Okay. Whatever.”
Steph unlocked the car and they climbed in.
“I’m taking you home and then I have to go back to work.”
Blaze didn’t respond.
They both rode in silence. Fifteen minutes later they made it home. When the car stopped, Blaze unbuckled, climbed out and slammed the door as hard as he could.
Steph knew that waiting another week for Blaze to see the doctor wouldn’t work. Why was he so damn angry? They couldn’t wait that long. Blaze needed help and fast. If he wasn’t going to talk to her, just maybe he’d talk with Dr. Smyrl.
Chapter 16
The weed that Blaze had hidden in his room was only two days old. Before he’d never felt like he needed it. That was before. Now it was the only thing helping him cope. He went downstairs and grabbed a beer out of the fridge.