Breaking Glass Book

## Breaking Glass: The Original Book

This is the first book of Breaking Glass. This will get updated frequently, that is until I finish it.

### Chapter 1: Autopilot

A sunny day, at VBL, Arizona. The bell rang, and the students went to class. It was the first day of 6th grade. Caiden Hatton was off to ELA. Caiden Hatton was a serious kid and was rough with people who angered him. He was kind and soft when he was in a mild or easy mood. He bumped into a smaller kid with short messy hair, who was wearing jeans and usually does wear them. His name was Archer. Archer Youngs had been his best friend since 1st grade, until the unfortunate event that had occurred between them in the 4th grade. Archer kept on starting fights with Caiden because he thought Caiden was “punking” him. They had not known that they were at the same school until they bumped into each other and exchanged rude glances. As Caiden got into line, he spaced out and a kid named Gus, who was behind him, yelled at him to go forward. He did and class started.

The ELA and Social Studies teacher was Mrs. Lotti, who had been teaching for a very long time. Archer doesn’t like school and likes hanging with a mix of nerds and jocks, but neither Caiden or Archer like ELA or Social Studies. They both keep trying to ignore each other. Caiden starts panicking for no reason and starts seeing things. He sees a girl named Charlotte wearing a huge oversized Dolphin slipper and a huge red boot on the other foot. He then sees her hair growing out wildly and her eyes bulge out. He wakes up from his slumber when the teacher yells at him, “Caiden! Caiden! Why are you sleeping in my class?!”. It takes Caiden a few seconds to come to his senses and realizes it was a dream, and replies “Sorry. Sorry Mrs… m m m m…. M. m- Mrs…… Mrs…..”. “Mrs. Lotti!” Mrs. Lotti finishes for him. “Sorry, Mrs. Lotti.” replies Caiden. All the students start laughing at him and especially Archer, who has the biggest grin on his face, laughing in his own weird and goofy way. Class continues, and almost everybody, including Archer, are whispering to their classmates about Caiden, making stupid jokes about him.

After class, Caiden walks to the Atrium, also known as the Learning Lab, or just LL. The school is very small and is just one building, with an outside area and a separate building which is for the online students in the back, just right behind a hallway that has Mrs. Lotti’s classroom on the left and the bathroom on the right. The Atrium is a huge, but still relatively small box room that’s composed of chairs, desks, tables, and garbage bins for the students to do their own work independently. They are assigned special online work to do that correlates to the material they’re taught in each of their classes, called Edmentum. They get 4 subjects at this school, Math, ELA, Social Studies, and Science. Science is Caiden’s favorite subject. Caiden’s seat is all the way on the side, where there’s a door on the right that leads out to the patio, which is for students that want to eat outside during lunch time and a staff room just in front of his seat where he’s facing. It has a fridge, tables, and other supplies for them. It’s also the room for the only lunch lady that helps serve the students there. Her name is unknown to Caiden. He only knows what kids have been calling her, Mrs. A. He knows this because he was eavesdropping on multiple students.

As he sat down, he saw Archer running away from a kid named Doofy, who was yelling “DOOOOFEHHH!!! DOOOOFEHHH!!!”. Archer slipped and fell on his face, and Doofy escaped somehow and went into the bathroom. Archer was badly bruised, and Caiden couldn’t help but laugh. The principal, Mrs. Murray, came out and yelled, “WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!” and Caiden told her Archer was messing around and tripped and fell. Archer was furious and swung his arms in the air and slapped them back on his thighs, saying “b- b- b- but- b- but”. “NO BUTTS!!!!” Mrs. Murray replied. Archer was scolded for his actions in the principal’s office and stayed there until the period was over. Right after, Doofy was seen walking out of the bathroom, skipping up and down with a huge grin on his face. A few seconds later, Doofy accidentally runs into a hand sanitizer dispenser and cries loudly. Everybody there tries not to laugh. A staff member runs out and gives him a Debees Organic popsicle, and he shortly quiets down, murmuring “Yummy…. Mmm yummy summy in mah tummy…”. Caiden burst out with laughter and the staff member runs at him, pointing her finger at him, saying “WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS, THAT IS INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR, YOU CAN’T LAUGH AT YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS LIKE THAT!”. Caidens keeps laughing harder and harder, until the staff member calls out for the principal. That’s when his huge smile goes away. She runs out and they talk to each other about what happened and Caiden gets sent to the principal’s office. When he enters the principal’s office, he remembers that “bastard” that he calls in his mind when he sees him is in the same room as him. He sees Archer snicker a little bit and Caiden gets furious. The principal says “Ohkay. You 2. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH BC WITH YOU-” “What does BC stand for?” Caiden interrupts. Mrs. Murray erupts into a huge fireball of flames. “DO NOT ASK ANY IRRELEVANT QUESTIONS, MISTER HATTON!!!

Caiden turned red in a matter of seconds. Archer tried his best to contain his self control and prevent himself from laughing. The room went silent and stayed like that for a minute. Mrs. Murray finally said “You 2 need to behave…. starting now.”. Caiden could feel his spine tingling, and felt like there was fire burning in his heart.

### Chapter 2: Business

On the second day of school, Caiden was already on the bus. In fact, he was just getting off of it. Since the school he goes to is small, he gets dropped off at empire. He has to walk on a path and go to the front of the school where kids are picked up and dropped off by their parents. As Caiden walks to school, he thinks to himself about how he can bring about change upon himself. No more normal school days, he wants to spend his time there and feel alive. After all, what worth does school bring to him? He sees himself having a different future, not being a doctor, an engineer, or any normal high level job like that. He wants to do his own thing. And what better way to spend time at school than feeling alive, is there?

He gets lost in his ideas, his thoughts, when his old cousin, Brayden, who was in 7th grade, shows up. Brayden Westmoreland, or “DK”, as he likes to be called, greets him in a familiar, goofy way. Caiden never knew he was going to the same school as him. His parents never told him about it. Nobody. Nothing. “What’s up my bluh? You remember me? Ya old cuz? Haha!” Brayden says. “Oh, hey! I never knew you were going to the same school as me!” replies Caiden. “I never  knew either haha. Guess our parents don’t like to tell us ‘bout each other’s existence.”.

“I could agree with you on that one.”

“Hey so, cousin Caiden, remember that time when I shot you with my water gun and you screamed and ran, then slipped and fell into the garbage bin?”

“Uhhhh… no?” replies Caiden.

“Nahhh, sure you do! Bluh don’t lie like that to me!” says Brayden.

Caiden started getting embarrassed. He noticed the kids behind him laughing. He noticed a weird kid next to him, who was snickering really hard.

“Hahahah!! HIH - LAR - EE - OUSSSSS!!!!!!!!!” the kid said.

“Calm down, Jonathan. I’m sure you have plenty of embarrassing moments in your life.” Brayden says.

Jonathan snickers and accidentally shoots a bunch of snot down his right nostril. Caiden wails hysterically and says “LIKE THIS ONE!”. Jonathan ran away and wasn’t seen for a while. “Don’t worry about him, he’s my partner against crime.” says Brayden. “Partner against crime?”. “Yeah, we like making sure kids who pass around or do anything with candy which they’re not supposed to have are punished!” replies Brayden. “That’s cool” says Caiden. Shortly after, a staff member named Mrs. Brown orders the kids to go around the back. The “back” is the small recess playing area for the students to run around during morning recess.

The 2 cousins walk to the back. “Why is candy banned?” asks Caiden. “Like, how much candy did somebody take for it to be banned?”. “Well it’s kinda a long story, bluh. So there were these kids who had a bunch of jolly ranchers and reeses, and went into the bathroom, cut the ranchies into pieces, melted the reeses, and snorted the ranchies and licked the reeses until they passed out. Math teacher found out, told the principal. Principal freaked out, called the ambulance, they were dispatched over here and took care of it. None of them were hurt, but they got this feeling of being high. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but yeah.”

“Dang”.

“This all happened… about a year ago.” Brayden adds.

They finally walk through the gate door and enter the small area. It was smaller than before, because they were working on a construction project. Apparently it was for a new building. “I gotta catch up with Johnny, see ya”. “Alright, bye” replies Caiden. Caiden found himself bored and decided to go find a place to sit at. He saw a circular tree bed made up with bricks and sat there for a while. He didn’t really have any friends or people he knew, besides that bastard, Archer, and that weird cousin, Brayden. Now that he thought about it, he doesn’t really hate Archer anymore. He felt like he was awkwardly getting along with him in the principal’s office. He knows what he’s gonna do. He goes and asks a random kid if all kinds of candy are banned. “Just every flavor besides purple” the kid says. “Purple jolly ranchers only allowed. It’s the stuff Mr. Sherwood likes to call it, "Science Vitamins.” He got the information he needed. He quickly tried to find Archer. He was near the door leading to the hallway, which had Mrs. Lotti’s room on the right and the bathroom on the left. “Hey-” “What the hell do you want?” Archer interrupts. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”. “I want to make a deal with you.” replies Caiden. “What deal? Spit it out.” Archer curiously replies. “Can we talk in private?”. Archer stares at Caiden for a few seconds, confused. He then looks back at his 3 shady friends and says “Guys, I’ll be a few minutes, just stay here.” The 2 kids walk back over to the gate door. “I was thinking….” “Thinking what?” says Archer. “Thinking I could do some business with you.” “What kind of business are you talking about?” says Archer. “Candy dealing business. You heard of it? The banned stuff?” “Hell yeah I’ve heard of it, who hasn’t, bozo?” replies Archer. Caiden continues, “I was thinking we could deal some jolly ranchers. I saw you handing one over to one of your shady bummy friends.” “Hey, are you crazy? I never knew you were like this, I never expected you to break the rules! You weren’t like this in-” “Quiet down, Archer. Listen. We need to figure this out.” interrupts Caiden. “So….. you wanna cook some jollies, huh?”. “Well, you know the business, and I know the chemistry.” replies Caiden.

### Chapter 3: 5 Pounds

Caiden and Archer quickly left to go to ELA. They had agreed to break the rules and make money. The day passed. It had been awfully long and uneventful. They were waiting. An hour passed, it felt like 3 hours. Days, and weeks. It was finally lunch. Caiden and Archer got their food and sat down at a nearby table.

“Why are you doing this? Are you crazy?”

“I need to make money. For my future.” replies Caiden.

“Look, if there’s something going on, something bad, I NEED to know. Like, that affects ME.” says Archer.

“You’re making a big deal out of this. One time, and I’m done. I expect 30 dollars or more. I’ll find some way else to make money after that.” replies Caiden.

Caiden took a scoop out of his mashed up baloney casserole. He gagged in disgust. Archer just stared at him for a few minutes. “I need to go. I gotta catch up to my-”. “To your bummy ahh friends, I suppose.” Caiden interrupts. “Yeah. Whatever.” replies Archer, who walks away, leaving Caiden behind, all by himself.

The bell rang, Caiden packed up his stuff, getting ready to go to DMS. He went into Mrs. Lotti’s room. Almost everybody was already in their seats. A kid yelled out “Hurry up, Caiden!”. The whole class laughed. Caiden in his mind told him to shut up. He sat down, and the teacher, with a disappointed look, gave him his paper and sat back down in her seat. “Let’s see… we’re missing somebody. One person! Lily….. Caiden…… Gus…….. Jayson…….. A-” the class went silent. “Archer? Where’s Archer? Anybody seen him?”. Just a second later, Archer quickly opened the door, and in a hurry, tripped over his untied shoelaces and fell, bruising himself yet again. Everybody bursted into laughter, not for long though. The teacher told everybody to quiet down, and Archer got back up with an angry look on his face. Caiden tried his best to control himself. When Archer got on his seat, the teacher gave him his paper, and DMS finally started.

After DMS, when the students were dismissed to their next class, Caiden grabbed Archer by his shirt and said “Why do you make a fool of yourself?! You know how many people aren’t gonna buy our product in the future now?! They’re making fun of you, because you’re silly and clumsy!”. “Chill out, Charlie! We haven’t even started making our product yet, ok?” yells Archer. “Oh please, when we start dealing the candy they’ll make a joke out of us! Because of you!” Caiden snaps. “Why don’t we just try it out, I’m sure there’s gonna be SOMEBODY that’s willing to buy!” says Archer.

It was 2:48 PM. Science was almost over, and the students were wrapping up. The science teacher was Mr. Sherwood, who didn’t have many flasks or beakers that you would usually see in a science room. Archer was very messy, he had papers, a notebook, pencils, and his computer charger on his desk. It was now 2:58. The bell was about to ring. Archer’s mess was still in disorder. Meanwhile, Caiden’s work space was as clean as a whistle. All his items were in his backpack and he was ready to leave. When the bell rang, Caiden quickly got off of his chair, as did the other students, and walked out. It was now reteach. Reteach is a thing the school does if the majority of the class didn’t master their formative from Thursday the week before. As of now, they were doing it because they wanted to introduce the new students to one of the teachers. They had to go to math first, which was Archer’s least favorite class. Archer was a few minutes late. Mrs. Hart, who was the math teacher, was upset but forgave him. Caiden gave Archer a dirty look as Archer was walking over to his seat.

When school was over, the 2 boys packed up. “Alright so when are we doing this?” asks Archer. “Your house. You have a basement, right?” asks Caiden. “Hell yeah I do! What time?”. “4:30 PM.”

And so Caiden biked to his house and arrived at 4:31. “You’re 1 minute late, buddy.” Archer says. “Go get the jolly ranchers. Now.” says Caiden. Archer runs upstairs, and comes down with a huge bag of green Jolly Ranchers. “Green. Perfect.” says Caiden. “Let’s start cooking.”

“Get a flask, and a beaker. We’re combining organic compounds and adding it to the melted Jolly Ranchers to make it more sweet and addicting. Oh and grab a metal lasagna container.” Caiden demands. Archer grabs all the containers while Caiden gets the extra ingredients. “I said METAL. Not GLASS, you fool!” yells Caiden. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Archer apologizes. Archer then makes sure to grab a metal container. He then puts it on the wooden table in the middle of the basement. “This big enough?”. “It should do.” says Caiden. “Get the bag of Jolly Ranchers.” Archer obeys his command and sets the giant bag of candy on the table. “Alright, so how do you want to do thi-” “Just shut up and watch me work my magic” interrupts Caiden. He sets each green Jolly Rancher perfectly in rows until the container is full of Jolly Ranchers placed evenly along the surface of the container. “Now we need to melt this up. Your stove should work.” says Caiden. “Yeah. Alright, alright. Follow me.” Archer says. They go upstairs and enter the kitchen. ‘Open the stove while I hold the container.” Caiden demands. Archer opens the stove and Caiden puts the container full of Jolly Ranchers inside.

“Heat it up to about 290 degrees Fahrenheit, we wait for 30 minutes.”

“Alright.” “Heating it up…” says Archer.

“When it’s done, we need to put it on the counter CAREFULLY, and combine sugar with white powder, then put corn syrup in, 16 ounces, and finally extra sugar, 6 cups. Mix the combination together and heat the pot up to 290 degrees fahrenheit. Archer, do you have a food thermometer?” says Caiden. “Yeah, uhhh… it should be in one of these cabinets…..” Archer replies. “Found it!” Archer exclaims. “Here you go”. Caiden takes it out of his hands without a moment’s notice. He then leaves it on the counter and starts the burner and boils the pot.

About 10 minutes later, Archer yells at Caiden, who’s sitting on the couch.

“It’s at 289… 290! It’s at 290 Mistah Hatton!”

“Then turn it off.”

Archer turns it off and grabs the pot.

“YOOOOUUUUUCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” he yells in pain. He dropped the pot on the counter and grabbed his burnt hand. He kisses and licks it, and runs over to the sink, putting water on it. “You idiot! You forgot to put oven mitts on!” Caiden yells in anger.

“Yeah I know! Ow ow ow ow ow OWW!” Archer exclaims with pain.

“Let me do it myself, because somebody is too stupid to know how to manufacture our product!”

“BS!” Archer yells again.

Caiden pushes Archer aside and grabs the oven mitts, turns Archer around, looks at him and says “Oven mitts. Ever seen them before?” then sets them on the counter right beside the pot, grabs a box of aluminum foil and a tray, walks back over to the counter, and angrily puts them on the counter with the pot and the mitts. “Let me show you how it’s done.” “I already know how to-” “Shut up! Just watch me so you don’t mess up next time.” interrupts Caiden.

Caiden grabs the oven mitts, looks at Archer in the eyes and says “Oven mitts.” turns around, and pours the melted jolly ranchers into the aluminum covered tray. “Now you have to spread it out evenly” Caiden says. “That’s what she said” Archer laughs. “That’s not really funny” Caiden says. Caiden then proceeds to spread the blue liquid across the tray. “Open the fridge” he orders. Archer opens the fridge and Caiden carefully puts it inside. “We wait for 30 minutes.” he says.

The boys were waiting for quite some time, which felt like hours. “So, you ready for November?” Archer says. “Yeah…. Sure” Caiden responds. “Well I’m not”.

“I do it everyday bruh, and it’s fun!” Archer exclaims.

“I don’t care, that’s weird.” Caiden says.

Caiden’s phone beeps loudly and Caiden turns it off, leaving to open the fridge and get their almost finished product. He lays it down on the counter. “Here wait, I got it. I know how to do this part.” Archer says. “No, you’ll probably mess up. I don’t want broken pieces of crystal jollies laying around.” Caiden says.

“Come on dude, just let me try.” “No” “Pleaassseee.” “No means no!” Caiden exclaims.

“Pwetty pweaasssee???” Archer begs.

“Fine! Just don’t mess up, alright?” Caiden says, clearly frustrated.

Archer takes a hammer, and lightly smashes the frozen Jolly ranchers. He does it with such excellence it surprises Caiden, who’s staring at the smashing motion Archer’s doing with the hammer on the Jolly Ranchers. “It’s….. It’s…….” Caiden hesitates with awe. “It’s perfect? Isn’t it? MISTAHHH HATTONN?!?!!” Archer yells. “It is! It is perfect! Good job Archer!” complements Caiden.

“You want me to scoop it up into a bag, or do you-” “No, you do the rest. Do what you do best.” interrupts Caiden.

Archer proceeds to scoop up the crystal Jolly Ranchers into a bag. “I’m assuming we should weigh it right now.” Archer says. “Yes, I brought the scale.” Caiden says. They put the bag of their ready product on the scale. “5 pounds. That’s good enough.” Caiden says. “It’s perfectly 5 pounds.” “Let’s get selling” says Archer.

### Chapter 4: The Deal

Caiden and Archer’s basement had turned into a sort of secret workshop where they had crafted their first “Green Jollies”. The lighting wasn’t great, just some dim fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, creating long shadows on the walls.There was a sense of tension and unease in the air, like the basement was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

Caiden sat on a wobbly chair, staring at the product he and Archer made. He stared closely between the lines of each small crystal shard, knowing full well the shards would change their lives. Archer was pacing nervously, looking both excited and worried. They were having their first “business” deal with a fellow classmate, Roanan, who had heard about their candy thing and wanted to buy some. They knew that getting caught could lead to big trouble, but the idea of making quick money and the excitement of the risky deal were hard to resist. Outside, there was a cold breeze blowing through the window, making the leaves rustle. The world above was going about its business, not knowing about the drama unfolding below. It felt like a suspenseful TV show, with high stakes, even though the “product” wasn’t really illegal.

After a while, there was a faint knock on the basement door. Roanan had arrived. Archer looked at Caiden, who nodded. The deal was about to happen.

The door creaked open, and Roanan came into the dimly lit basement. He was surprised to see the bag of crystal like Jolly Ranchers on the table and couldn’t hide his excitement. “You actually did it!” he said with a smile.

Caiden and Archer exchanged glances and handed the bag to Chris. “5 pounds, just like we agreed,” Caiden said, trying to sound confident.

Roanan checked the product, weighed the bag, and said, “Looks good to me.” He took some crumpled dollar bills from his backpack, counted them, and handed the money to Caiden.

“There you go.”

As the money changed hands, they felt the gravity of their actions sink in. The room was filled with a mix of pride and nervousness. They had successfully completed their first “deal,” and the future was as uncertain as ever.

Shortly after Roanan exited the house, Archer jumped with excitement, saying “YEAH BRO! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT!! WOOHOOO!!”. “Quiet down, we still got lots more work to do.” Caiden says with a smile.

“Hey, tomorrow, we make a batch. Tomorrow morning! Get up early!” says Archer. “Sounds good.” Caiden says.

### Chapter 5: A Rough Situation

It was the same as the first cooking session. The boys had cooked up another good batch of crystal “Jollies”. But this time they did not know who else they should sell it to. “We gotta get to school. Catch you later, Mistah Hatton!” Archer yells with a grin.

It was the same for a week. They had cooked and cooked, boiled and boiled, bought and bought, and mixed and mixed so much they had to buy more and more bags and ingredients from the local Walmart, and they got so carried away they had made 23 bags, and had gone broke. “We have to figure out a different way of making money. We need a plan.” Caiden says with a serious face. “You know what way in which we should approach this?”

“I don’t know, let me think…..” Archer says, scratching his head. “Well think quick, because I’m out of ideas and we’re broke.” Caiden says. “I got guys, a few friends, who can maybe distribute small amounts of our product to multiple hungry customers.” says Archer. “You mean those junkies?” Caiden says with an angry look on his face. “They’re not just JUNKIES, alright?” “They’ve been in this business before, they know how this works.” Archer continues. “I don’t know if I can trust them. They’ll mess up and get us into some deep trouble.” Caiden says, warily. “Oh come on, it’ll be legit. They won’t mess up. I promise!” Archer says, slamming his hands on the counter. “Alright. Fine. But if they mess up, that’s all on you.” Caiden replies.

Archer pauses and looks around, thinking about his plan. Caiden shortly after proceeds to exit the place and venture back to his house.

The next day, which was the 3rd and most chaotic day out of the previous days, a girl named Addison, or Addi for short, was walking down the hallway. She had been wearing a light multicolored striped sweater, with colors red, yellow, and white which had been covering it. She wore short beige shorts on her legs, complementing it with long pink socks, and sneakers. She had bright blue hair, which made her almost easily recognizable from a few hundred meters away. It was morning brunch time, and she had to go to the bathroom. As she walked down the short hallway, nearing the girls bathroom, 3 mean, ugly looking boys stopped her. One of them, who was the leader, put his hand out in front of her, leaning on the wall. “Hey girl, can I get your number?” he asks, creepily. “Ew, no! Get out of my way I need to go-” “Hush….. You’re not going anywhere until I get your number.” he interrupts. His mischievous friends, who were behind him, snickered and laughed. Addi and the leader were both silent for a moment, waiting for something to happen. The leader broke the silence saying, “So. I see you’re not a talker.”

“Why don’t you just leave me alone.” Addi demands.

“Or what? Hmm??????????????????????” he asks.

“Or….. or….. Or……” she hesitates.

“O - o- o- o-oooo - o-o -o o- o- o- o — Come on! Just spit it out!” he yells.

“Or I’ll kick you in the……”

He grabs her on the shoulder before she can say anything, but before he can do anything else, a figure behind him kicks him in the leg, just right behind the knee.

“What the hell was that?” the leader yells.

“You must have no shame, picking on girls!” Caiden yells.

“Caiden? You’re making a HUGE mistake!” the leader yells.

“Try me, Alex!” Caiden says with confidence.

“Get him, boys!” the leader demands. His friends ran toward him, but before they came an inch closer, Archer came out, spinning around and round house kicking them in the jaws and the stomachs. “Hee yawww!!” he yells. Both of Alex’s friends were shocked, but they quickly came back to their senses, and proceeded to engage Caiden and Archer with a series of blows and punches. Archer dodged their attacks with ease, rolling and ducking, and shortly after grabbing one of the enemies’ shirts by the collar, and slapping him in the face, sending him to the floor. The other kid was running straight at Caiden, and punched him in the face. Caiden’s head turned to the side, with a little blood coming out of his mouth. However, Caiden came back and kicked his enemy in the crotch, destroying his confidence and ability to fight back. He fell straight down towards the floor, gasping and groaning in pain. Caiden and Archer had defeated their opponents in a matter of seconds. Archer was clearly sweaty and red from battle, but they both congratulated their victory and high fived each other, but one second later, the leader, Alex, was charging straight for Caiden. He headbutted him and both of them came crashing down on the floor, with Caiden getting sent backwards into a bookshelf that was right behind him.

### Chapter 6: The Grugs

“This behavior is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Mrs. Murray yells. The room went silent for a few moments. Caiden could not help but feel awkward by the fact that he and his enemy, Alex, were sitting next to each other in the principal’s office. “HOW CAN I HELP KEEP MY ALREADY GOOD REPUTATION WHEN YOU 2 BRATS ARE FIGHTING?!?!?!” she yells again. None of them besides Mrs. Murray said a word. “DO I NEED YOU TO BE EXPELLED FROM THIS SCHOOL?! HM?!” she yells again, getting more and more upset. “N- no-”

“SHUT UP! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO! BOTH OF YOU!!!!!!!!!” she interrupts. Caiden, who had a bruise on his left cheek, quickly glanced at Alex, giving him a horrible look, and proceeded to look back at Mrs. Murray. He knew this was a bunch of B.S. Mrs. Murray kept on scolding them, and eventually forced the two boys to shake hands.

After the painful scolding session, the boys left the room and walked to their classes. Caiden walked to Science, while Alex, who was an 8th grader, walked to Mrs. Lotti’s room.

When Caiden entered the room, everybody stared at him until he sat down at his seat. “Open your Chromebook and take the formative, here’s your paper.” Mr. Sherwood, the science teacher says, who was giving Caiden a sheet of paper so he could take his test.

The questions were nothing he had seen before. Physics was not his strong suit in the field of Academics. Still, he went through and got the test done, but he was the last one. By the time he finished the test, the bell had rung and he was the only one in the class who wasn’t ready to leave the class. The students shot right out of the classroom in seconds, all of them running to lunch, trying to be first in line. All of them hurried but Archer. Archer stared at Caiden for a minute and left slowly. “You have to leave, Caiden. I need to eat lunch too.” Mr. Sherwood says, in a quiet but slightly joking tone.

“Alright, I’m almost done.” Caiden says.

Caiden quickly finished packing all his things and ran to lunch. Nobody was in the lunch line but Archer, who just grabbed his food and left. Now it was Caiden’s turn to get his food. He walked up and grabbed the best item on the menu, a deep fried spam sandwich and a couple juice boxes. He walked over to a nearby table and stared at his slop in disgust. Archer came over a minute later and looked at him. “Look. I’m sor- ""Don’t even apologize. It wasn’t your fault. I wanted to get revenge on him, you’re lucky you weren’t brought up.” Caiden interrupts.

“Thanks, but I know you’re mad at me. We just need to get our batches done and stay quiet.” Archer suggests.

“You’re right, but I’m in a bad mood right now. I don’t want to talk to anybody.” Caiden says.

“Alright, I’ll leave now.” Archer says, walking away.

Caiden sighs and continues to play with his disgusting food.

Lunch felt like seconds, and before Caiden knew it, it was over. They headed over to DMS and did the routine as usual.

After the rest of the uneventful day of school, Caiden walked to the bus stop, realizing all the kids who were getting picked up by their parents were staring at him, especially Addi. He couldn’t help but feel unsurprised. He waited for the bus to pick him up, got on the bus, went home, and sat down at his desk, where his computer was.

He shortly after ate dinner and went to sleep.

Caiden woke up, having dreamt an amazing dream. It was the dream of change. He wanted to become the best candy dealer at school. He would be popular, make a lot of money, buy a mansion and live there with Archer and his friends. It would be amazing. He could make his parents proud!

But he then realized that there would be many things that would try to stop him. His cousin, Brayden, is always on a mission to try and stop candy dealers. He doesn’t know why Brayden does this yet, but he needs to prevent him from ever discovering he’s in the candy dealing business. Caiden had everything to lose. His citizenship would fall, his grades would fall, he would become sad, and his parents would be disappointed. That would never happen. It couldn’t happen.

Caiden was on a mission. To his parents' surprise, he had already gotten ready, made his breakfast, got dressed, and packed his things to walk to the bus stop. It was a new day, and it would be a better day than before. This day he would change.

He arrived at school some 30 minutes later and met up with Archer. “So, how much did we get?” Caiden asks.

“We made 26 dollars out of multiple small bags of just one normal sized batch, we’re doing great.” Archer says, confidently.

“We need to change, do something different.” Caiden says. “Why? We’re doing just fine! We have a steady, constant cash flow coming in and into our own pockets! What more could we ask for?” Archer says.

“We need to be more professional. We need a big guy, somebody who’s willing to buy a whole lot of our product, daily, weekly, monthly, whatever. We just need an official, professional, partner that we can trust, who would buy our product.” Caiden says.

“Like who?”

“We’ll figure that out. Like I said, you know the business, you got connections, don’t you?” Caiden suggests. “I’ll think of somebody….” Archer says, putting his hand under his jaw, scratching it.

“Oh, what about a guy I know named Tristan!” Archer thought.

“Who?”

“I’ve heard from his friends that he’s been dealing candy for a while now!” Archer adds.

“Good. Can we ask him?” Caiden asks.

“Ask him? You don’t know this guy. He’s crazy-”

“I don’t care. We need the money. We need the money right now!” Caiden yells.

“Calm down, ok? If you really want me to talk to him, I’ll talk to him, but he’s crazy, and I’m not making any promises! This isn’t a really good idea but I-”

“Just do it!” Caiden interrupts.

Archer looked at Caiden, surprised, and said, “Fine. I’ll do it. At lunch.”

“Lunch it is. Don’t do anything stupid, and make it quick, but don’t sound like we’re in a hurry.” Caiden demands.

The boys had officially made another plan. They were going to attempt to deal with a popular and well known kid named Tristan, who was also known by his friends as a candy dealer. He kept his business quiet, but was apparently hot headed and a little “loco”. He ran a candy dealing group they called the “Grug Cartel”. Caiden had never seen this kid before, and didn’t know what to expect of him. He sent Archer because he was trying to be cautious of attracting unwanted attention. After all, he had been in a fight with that jock he called Alex, and didn’t know if he had good connections with Tristan.

Later during the day, Archer entered the Grug Cartel’s “Territory” as they like to call it. It was right by the entrance of the hallway, just next to a desk and a hand sanitizer dispenser that Doofy had run into on the first day of school. It was a green couch where all of Tristan’s friends sat. Archer never really saw Tristan’s face, so he didn’t know which one was him. In fact, he never knew or saw any of them who were sitting there. They were snickering and laughing about who knows what they were talking about until they saw Archer quietly standing in front of them, staring at them, trying to get a good guess on which one was Tristan.

“What do you want?” one of them said.

“I’m looking for a… a Tristan.” Archer says, hesitantly.

The group of friends were quietly whispering to each other, who looked confused.

“What do you want with him? You got a problem?” one of them said, standing up.

“I want to…. Discuss business…. with him.” Archer replies.

“Business? What kind of business?” the guy asks.

“The candy dealing business.” Archer whispers.

The guy got one good look at him for a second and burst out laughing, with his friends joining him. “So you wanna do it with Tristan, huh? HAHAHAHAH!!”

“Where. Is. He.” Archer asks.

The group kept on laughing, that is, until Tristan came right out of the bathroom, rubbing his hands together. The group fell into silence and looked at each other, then fixing their eyes on the ground under them.

“Que están haciendo, cabezas de aire?” he asks, in foreign tongue.

“What is going on? And who the hell is this stupid gringo?” he asks, in an angry manner.

“He wants to spea-”

“Shut the hell up, JJ! Let him talk for himself” he interrupts.

“Go ahead and talk, big stuff. What’s your business here?” he asks.

“I actually want to participate in doing some….. Business with you.” Archer replies.

Tristan laughs maniacally. “Did you hear this boy? He wants to “Participate in business” HHAHAHAHAHA!!” he laughs. “You know, you got some real nerve coming here talkin’ to me like that, kid.”

“Are you gonna accept my offer or not?” Archer says, looking at him straight in the eyes.

Tristan goes silent for a moment. He looks at his friends and looks back at Archer.

“Why should I trust you?” he asks.

Archer takes a good look at Tristan before he takes out his bag of shiny crystal and reaches it out to Tristan.

“Because you’re gonna want to deal with the best crystal Jolly Rancher manufacturers you’ll ever see at this school” Archer says confidently.

Tristan pauses for a moment, and soon snatches the bag of Jolly Ranchers out of Archer’s hands. “Give me my knife” he demands, looking at one of his friends.

One of them hands it over to Tristan, who snatches it quickly and slices the bag halfway. He then sits down at a table, takes one crystal shard out with his knife, sets it down on the table and stares at it, looking surprised. He then smashes it by hitting it with the butt of the knife until it breaks into smaller pieces of crystal, looking almost dust like.

Tristan takes a closer look at it, then snorts it up, instantly being shocked with dopamine and awe. He shakes his head up and down, and a few seconds later jumps out of his seat, yelling “BOO YAHHH!! WOAH!!!! THAT’S THE BOMB!! Where’d you get it?”

“I cooked it,” Archer says.

“Hahahahah! B.S!” Tristan yells, not believing him.

Tristan then walks closer to Archer, asking “Who you workin’ for?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it man, I mean I have a partner that I cook with but, that’s it.”

Tristan looks down and sighs, then walks backwards, away from Archer. “Alright…. We got a deal.” he says.

Archer smiles with surprise and looks behind him, then back at Tristan.

“How much?” Tristan asks after snorting more of the Jolly Ranchers again.

Archer pauses for a moment and replies with “35 bucks for the 5 pounds.”

He immediately takes the bag of Jollies and puts it on his nearby scale, which was in his open bag that was laying just on the floor in front of the green couch. It says 4.999 pounds on the machine. “Hey, you’re a little light.” Tristan says.

Archer looks at the machine and back at Tristan with both fear and disappointment. Tristan stares at him for a few seconds before interrupting the silence with “It’s alright, it’s alright, don’t sweat it” and laughs.

“It’s all good. It’s good, get on, get outta heah.” he continues.

Archer looks at him with confusion. “What? Where’s the dough?” he asks.

“You’ll get it. You’ll get it soon.” Tristan replies.

“You want me to float 35 bucks?”

Tristan looks at Archer more closely, saying “Do you trust me?”

“No- no, hey, it’s not that. I just, respectively, don’t do business that way!” Archer says, with anger.

“TOUGH CRAP, THE DEAL IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!” Tristan yells.

Archer looks at him with fury. “What the frick, dude?” “I expected cash up front!”

Tristan turns around. Archer looks at his friends, mouthing the words ‘What the hell?’. Moments later, Tristan turns back around and pushes Archer back a little.

“I DON’T NEED YOUR PUNK AHH TO DEAL WITH ME!!” Tristan yells.

Archer looked at Tristan and looked back at his product. He snatches the bag, clenching it with his fingers and quickly turns away and runs off, but not before one of Tristan’s friends, Isaac Williams, grabs him and pushes him back towards Tristan.

Tristan looks at Archer in the eyes with a smile, showing his bright and shiny gold braces. “You know what, you brought me some shiny, clear crystal!”

Tristan brings out 35 bucks from his wallet, handing them to Archer, who hesitates. “Up front.” Tristan says.

Archer pauses and takes a moment, then reaches out for the money in Tristan’s hands. However, Tristan quickly pulled his hand away from Archer’s and kicked him in the ribs, sending Archer to the floor. Tristan proceeded to stomp on Archer, preventing him from getting up. He unleashed a series of kicks on Archer’s already badly beaten body that was already whimpering on the floor.

One by one, more and more blood came out of Archer’s mouth. For every hit that Archer’s body tried best to sustain, he grunted loudly, trying not to cry. Tristan’s friends weren’t all that surprised, but looked to be a little entertained by the beating. They just sat there, staring at Archer’s almost lifeless body.

“NOBODY MOVES CRYSTAL AT SCHOOL BESIDES ME, KID!” Tristan yells.

The friend group then quickly ran away, acting as if nothing ever happened. Some kids told the staff members what happened, and Archer was sent to the hospital some 20 minutes later.

Nobody else ever knew it was Tristan and his friends, and even if they did get caught, Tristan would get the help from his friends to bribe the staff and principal to declare him innocent and forget about the whole deal.

### Chapter 7: Money Men

Caiden was soaked with fury and filled with rage. He could not believe someone would be this crazy. “I told you, man!” Archer exclaims. Caiden was having none of it. He ignored Archer’s comments, left his house, and biked over to his own house. When he arrived, he thought of a plan of revenge. It took him a while.

He thought and thought…….

Nothing came up yet……..

He finally got it! He needed something explosive. But he asked himself, “What do I have in my house that’s explosive?”. He thought he had gone crazy, but he figured it out! He quickly ran over to his dad’s closet, grabbed a plastic tube with strange materials in it, which had a label on it that said “Mercury”, ran back, and set it down on the kitchen counter. He stared at it with curiosity. He knew. He ran over to his backpack and grabbed a sample of his product that was in small amounts, set it down on the counter, and opened the fridge. “Now what condiment should I use?” he asked. He looked around, then saw the perfect one. Tartar sauce. It was the perfect tool. Caiden snatched the sauce out of the fridge and set it down on the table. He thought again, and again. He stared at the plastic tube that he had stolen from his dad’s closet, and immediately after dumped the whole thing into the sample bag, and then poured a decent amount of Tartar sauce in – not too much.

He marveled at his devious creation. He knew they weren’t going to expect this.

It was Friday. It was a special day because this school had a tradition where students didn’t have to come on these days, but still had the opportunity to. They called it electives, where there were 4 special periods (not including lunch) where you get to pick your own class that you go to. Caiden’s mom picked Academic support for the first period, cooking for the second period, STEM for the 3rd period, and Garage Band for the last period. Caiden’s mom thought these were the best ones for him. Caiden couldn’t agree with her for some of the periods, but still intended on going every Friday regardless. When he got to school, he didn’t see Archer. He thought he was just late, and went to the first period. First period passed. He texted Archer if he was coming or not. He got no reply, so he put his phone in his backpack and went on to the second period. Second period passed just like the first, and it was now lunch time. Caiden was hungry and couldn’t wait to eat lunch. He ran in line, and managed to get in 5th place. He waited and waited while people were being indecisive and slow, trying their best to pick the best option that was on the menu. He slowly drifted in his mind and his thoughts, thinking about how disgusting he thought cheese was, and Archer’s hairline, but then suddenly a kid named Caden yelled at him, telling him to move forward. He was now in first place. He snapped back into reality and walked up to the serving area. He obviously picked pepperoni pizza over the frozen broccoli and tomato soup. He walked over to a nearby table and sat down. He stared at Tristan and his friends, who were sitting at the same green couch they were sitting at yesterday. He gobbled up the cheese pizza in under a minute, his mouth being spoiled with actual decent school food. He swallowed with satisfaction, and soon after complemented it with a few gulps of chocolate milk. Minutes later, he got on his phone and scrolled through YouTube shorts. He came across this random minecraft YouTuber looking guy, saying “DO YOU WANT TO DEAL THE PLUG TO BABY VILLAGERS IN MINECRAFT? DO YOU WANT TO STICK YOUR END ROD IN A BABY PIG? WELL THIS VIDEO IS FOR YOU!” Caiden was shocked and surprised with horror, and soon after he felt a huge ache in his stomach that was impossible to ignore. He ran over to the bathroom stall, throwing up. After he was spilling his acid in the toilet, he soon came to a draw dropping realization. He threw up his CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSEEEEEEE!!!!!! The school had given him food poisoning! He flushed his stomach’s spillage and washed his hands, then proceeded to leave the bathroom and talk to the counselor, Mrs. Wrona about what happened.

He missed both periods 3 and 4 because of the incident that had occurred. He felt better talking to Mrs. Wrona, but realized school was just ending. Kids were coming back from a walk, and that’s where Caiden wanted to make his move. Shortly after he saw Tristan sit down, he walked over to him with his sample bag in his right hand, and his normal sized bag in his backpack.

As he walked over, Tristan looked at him and said “Who the hell are you?”

He took the bag of candy and tossed in on Tristan’s lap, still holding on to the sample bag in his right hand. “I’m the partner of the innocent kid that you just beat up yesterday.”

“Who?” Tristan asked, taking a moment to realize. “Ohhh! I remember that little punk that I beat the CRAP OUT OF!”

Tristan then looked confused for a moment. He looked at the bag of candy, similar to the one Archer had brought him. “Wait, let me get this straight. Your little punk that you call a partner comes to me, gives me candy and begs for money, I beat him up, and you come here and give me more candy?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he laughs. “Brilliant, ain’t it, Isaac!”

“Brilliant,” his friend Isaac says.

Caiden stares at Tristan, waiting for him to calm down. He then says “Except you got one part of that wrong. This, this is not candy.” he then winds up and throws his sample bag, which was in his right hand, at Tristan. As the bag comes into contact with his face, it explodes violently, spreading Tartar sauce all over the place, which causes Tristan to become temporarily blinded. Caiden quickly grabs the 5 pounds worth of candy that was sitting on Tristan’s lap and holds it in the air, threatening to throw it at any of Tristan’s friends, who all stood up and put up their hands. “ARE YOU CRAZY?” Tristan yells, covering his eyes with his hands. Tristan takes somebody’s water bottle and pours it on his face, pushing the Tartar sauce off of his eyes. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” he yells again.

He then notices the bag Caiden was holding up and thought twice about charging at him. “Now you’re gonna let me take the money you owe my friend for his pain and suffering, and you’re gonna let me leave safely.” Caiden says.

Caiden then took the 35 bucks out of Tristan’s bag, and put it in his pocket, still holding up the bag of candy, threatening to repeat the same actions he did to Tristan. He managed to leave, not getting hurt, never being beaten by Tristan’s friends ever. He walked to Empire high school, where his bus soon picked him up.

Because Tristan was crazy, he had gained respect for Caiden and continued to deal with him. Caiden kept selling his product alone for 2 weeks until his partner Archer got better and was forced to deal with him. Archer obviously didn’t like Tristan, but helped Caiden sell their candy to him anyway because Caiden forced him to.

5 weeks had passed since Caiden threw the explosive at Tristan. They had already made $1,225 off of selling their candy to him. Word eventually got around to multiple students at school about this new “Crystal''. One specific individual that had seen this candy immediately assumed it was Archer who manufactured it, but not Archer only, because he knew Archer wasn’t skilled enough to be able to cook the “Masterpiece” he liked to call it. His name was Elliott Norton. He had been friends with Tristan and the Grug Cartel for a while. He knew Archer because both of them used to go to school together, and they created candy at their elementary school. Like VBL, their old school didn’t allow candy, and unsurprisingly, Archer and Elliott sold many candies there. However, in 5th grade, the staff caught on to what they were doing, and suspended Elliott, while Archer never got punished. Because of this, Elliott didn’t have the most positive feelings for Archer.

It was a Monday, and Archer ran outside like a horse. In both of his pockets were small sample bags that held little rock like Jolly Ranchers, which were smaller than the crystal Jolly Ranchers that were found in the 5 pound bags. They just let the kids go outside for lunch recess. The crowd of kids hastily made their way out of the building, following Mrs. Brown, the leader. Archer was almost a minute late, and ran outside, trying to catch up with the swarm of middle schoolers. He was trying to find a dealer that he heard about on day one. Archer looking for this guy in the crowd was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. By the time they arrived at the field, he found his guy.

“Hey Julian, let’s meet up all the way in the back over there, right by the baseball field.” Archer said.

“Who the hell are you?” Julian asked.

“That won’t matter when I show you what I got.” Archer said.

Julian asked no further questions, and both of them ran over by the baseball field.

“Show me what you “got” Julian demands, sarcastically.

Archer takes out a sample bag from his right pocket and tosses it over to Julian. The bag swung from one hand to the other. Julian didn’t look surprised.

“You see that? PURE crystal! 96 PERCENT pure.” Archer exclaims.

“It’s pure alright.” Julian says. Archer was shocked.

“Alright? It’s… ALRIGHT?”

“Yeah. You sure as hell didn’t make it.” Julian said.

“I did make it! Me! I made it!” Archer says, furiously. Julian raised his eyebrow.

“I know for a fact you didn’t make that crap.” Julian says with a smirk.

Archer paused in shock. “Well, I have a partner that I cook with.”

“Remember that time when Elliott got punished?” Julian asks, changing the topic.

Archer pauses. “Well Elliott thinks you were punking him” Julian says, his smile going away.

“Wait, wait, wait! No! I wouldn’t do that! I didn’t know the staff would catch up to us that quickly! Listen, I would NOT do that to him! You know what, if he really wants to think that, I’ll beat him up! I’ll beat him up right now!!” Archer yells.

Once again, Julian didn’t look surprised. In a flash, Elliott popped out behind the bleachers, hopping over the fence. Archer immediately regretted saying that, and turned red in seconds.

“Well, he’s right here. You wanted to beat him up? Beat him up.” Julian says.

Elliott eyed Archer up and down, hungry for revenge. Archer, who had already taken a beating, couldn’t handle another. Archer was thinking about running, but just before he did, Elliott took a rock and threw it at his face. The rock slammed against his face, bouncing his head back, and forming a huge scratch above his eye. Archer grabbed his eye in pain, but Elliott came forward. Archer was sent to the floor before he could come back from the sudden attack. The grass itched his body, nudging him every time he moved. Elliott kicked and kicked, and wouldn’t stop. The beating felt like it took forever.

As if the pain wasn’t enough, Elliott picked up Archer’s feet and dragged him into the desert. Archer knew he couldn’t do anything. Julian was tired of Archer’s groaning, so he helped Elliott and picked up Archer’s arms. They successfully transported him to a nearby well. Archer swayed to each side every step Julian and Elliott took. Left and right. Left and right. Left and- they stopped. They dropped him carelessly on the ground. Thump! Archer grunted with pain, blood dripping in his eye. The sun glazed into his eyes. Julian took a bottle of water and poured it into his mouth. Archer drank some, but choked due to the excessive amount of water entering his mouth and throat. He kept coughing and coughing, and that lasted for a minute. When he was done, Julian took the half full plastic bottle of water he put in Archer’s mouth and dumped it on Archer’s entire face. They laughed and laughed while Archer gasped and gasped. Minutes later, Julian and Elliott set up a makeshift tent and all three of them stayed under the shade for the entire school day. The staff wondered where Archer, Julian, and Elliott were. Caiden did too. They all shrugged it off and went on with the rest of their day.

The bus just dropped Caiden off. He walked to his house, wondering what happened to Archer. He unlocked the door to his house, and closed it. He was very thirsty, so he grabbed a can of cherry coke and put it in a glass cup with a few ice cubes. As Caiden took the first sip, he heard a scream.

He looked out his window and saw two parked bikes, but there was only one person standing in between them. It was Julian. Caiden opened the door, and yelled out “What do you want?”

Julian paused for a moment, then took out both of the sample bags he stole from Archer’s pockets, and held them up with his left hand. “I heard you made this stuff.” Julian yells.

Caiden looked at Julian and the familiar stuff that was in the bags he was holding with surprise and confusion. “What do you want?” Caiden yells back.

“Your formula. We can partner up” Julian suggests. Caiden looks at Julian with confusion and suspicion, while Julian looks at him with curiosity and determination. Caiden’s legs soon began to feel like noodles, and his mind was moving swiftly like a cloud. Julian then takes out his airsoft gun and points it at Caiden’s head. Caiden gasped. Shortly after, a familiar face runs out of a nearby bush, screaming “RUN CAIDEN, RUN!”. Caiden realized it was Archer running, his hands tied behind his back, holding bruises and scratches on his face. Caiden quickly slammed the door shut and ran into his basement. He could hear the firing of airsoft pellets and soon after the beating of the door and Archer’s screams in the distance. He shut the basement door and hid under an old desk. Seconds later, he heard the front door being kicked open, and then footsteps. Slow footsteps. Caiden was sweating. The floorboards above creaked, and he could still hear Archer screaming, but less louder this time. The footsteps constantly hummed and bounced through the ceiling above Caiden. But then, the screaming stopped, and so did the footsteps. Caiden was both confused and relieved. Right when Caiden put his hand on his forehead, he heard not the sound of slow footsteps, but rather the swift pounding of running. It went outside, and shortly after came back. They were slow, again this time. Pat, pat-pat, pat. Caiden realized it wasn’t one person walking, but two. This conclusion brought more fear to Caiden. The footsteps were coming closer and closer. The closer they came, the more Caiden shivered. It stopped. The footsteps waited. And BAM! The basement door was kicked open. Caiden curled up as much as he could, sliding back into the cover of the desk he cowered under. He could hear the steady breathing of Julian and Elliott. The boys kept walking and walking. They wandered and searched through the basement. Caiden could hear his heart pounding, and put his hand in front of his mouth. He thought all hope was lost, until he realized he had a special banana gun in the drawer in the desk he was hiding under. He waited for them to look in the opposite direction he was in. It didn’t take long for Julian and Elliott to give up and turn around. As they did, Caiden quietly and quickly opened the drawer and grabbed the banana gun he invented in 5th grade. He held it, and put small potassium pellets in it. He aimed it at Julian, and said “Turn around you punks.”

Julian turned around just before Elliott did, and took a step forward, before seeing the gun Caiden was holding up. “Wait, is that…. A BANANA gun?” Elliott laughs.

“HAHAHAHAHHAA” Julian laughs with him.

Caiden then points it on the ground, right in front of their feet, and fires. It creates a bullet impact on the cement, shocking the boys who were just behind it. “It isn’t just any banana gun” Caiden smirks.

“You don’t have to do this.” Julian says.

“Drop. The. Gun.” Caiden demands. Julian hesitates, then drops his airsoft gun.

Julian and Elliott exchange looks with Caiden and his banana gun. Caiden hesitated. He could never kill somebody, or hurt them. He didn’t want to. He didn’t have the guts to do it. Just then, he saw Julian slowly taking what looked like a knife out of his back pocket. In fear, Caiden fired his gun. He fired and fired. His eyes were blinking. The gun did not fire. It was jammed! Julian and Elliott soon realized this, and Julian charged at Caiden, his knife pointed toward him, threatening to end his life. Caiden leaped back, but Julian still went forward. Using his survival instincts, Caiden dodged to the right, just before the knife could barely touch his shirt. Julian slipped and face planted the wall that was no longer behind Caiden. Caiden, taking advantage of this, pinned him and broke his kneecaps. But Elliott was still there, charging at him. He punched Caiden so hard the force of his knuckles bounced his head back, spewing saliva in the air. Both of them fell to the ground, wrestling and grappling, all the while Julian was screaming in pain. Elliott managed to get on top of Caiden, and started punching. Caiden then put up his arms, blocking the punches, and knee striked Elliott’s groin. Elliott immediately gasped and fell back in pain, his back facing the floor, and his hands clutching the area he got striked in. Caiden stood back up, and kicked Elliott, beating him until he spat blood and the sounds of bones cracking were heard. After Caiden stopped kicking him, he could feel a tight hand grasp his ankle, pulling him to the ground. Julian, who was resisting the pain as best as he could, pulled his knife out, and aimed for Caiden’s throat. Caiden quickly grabbed his hands, and the both of them struggled. The knife was inching closer to his throat. Just then, Archer busted in, grasping a hammer. Archer then saw Caiden struggling to save his life, and ran over. Archer slammed the hammer on Elliott’s head, knocking him out instantly. The knife fell to the floor. Caiden’s arms rested on the floor. Caiden looked at Archer, relieved.

Archer and Caiden sat down in nearby chairs, exhausted. Bruises and cuts were clearly visible on both of their faces. “We call the police.” Archer says. Caiden looks at him in disbelief “No! We do not call the police!” he yells.