White Space Season 1

home for one to three additional days. Hey, I’ll take that punishment! But Alex wasn’t too concerned about getting busted on his first day back. The dean was sure to go easy on him, considering the circumstance.
    Alex didn’t head straight to the hole in the fence, however. He sat far back in the corner of the racquetball court on the right, where the walls met. It had rained earlier, but the sun was out now, and the court had dried. He sat his backpack on the ground, then pulled his Moleskine notebook and his Pilot pen from the bag. He wanted to explore the story idea he had the other day in his father’s office, about inanimate objects mourning their lost owner. It was a unique idea, and writing about it might give him a chance to work through some of his feelings about his father.
    He was one line in, when footsteps paused his pen. Alex looked up, expecting to see Katie. But it wasn’t her. It was Jake Brewster, whose best friend Eddie Tarroza had been one of the victims. He was with Ray Wilson, another of Eddie’s friends. All three had belonged to the row team, and were pretty much the Unholy Trinity of royal assholes. Eddie was the one death Alex hadn’t missed a lot of sleep over.
    “How’s it going, Heller?” Jake said as the pair closed in on Alex, cornering, and hanging over him.
    “OK,” Alex said, keeping his eyes on the book, pretending to write, knowing shit was seconds from going bad, which was the very thing his mother had warned him might happen.
    Eddie and Ray were two of the only kids Alex ever had problems with back in middle school. They had bullied him for a few weeks until Alex’s dad said something to Eddie’s, and they finally backed off. Though they’d stopped outright fucking with him, they never passed Alex again without snickering. Jake was all to quick to join in the snickering, of course.
    Jake and Ray towered over him, taunting him in their silence. Alex stopped writing, wondering who would open their mouth first, or if they were just going to start hitting him. He wanted to look up, but didn’t dare tempt them. There were two of them, and one of him. Even if it had just been Jake, Alex would have had a tough fight on his hands. And there was also an excellent chance that Katie would be coming around the corner at any moment. The last thing Alex wanted was for her to see him getting his ass kicked, or worse, have her get caught up in the fight.
    That was assuming they only wanted a fight. Maybe they intended to spill blood for blood.
    Jake kicked Alex in the chin. It wasn’t hard. He seemed more interested in provoking Alex than actually hurting him.
    Alex looked up. He said nothing as he met Jake’s dark, beady eyes.
    Ray kicked next, without holding back. His foot landed on Alex’s arm, hard, knocking his moleskin and pen to the court.
    “Get up, pussy!” Jake said.
    “I don’t want to fight,” Alex said, trying to blink the pain, while bracing for another blow.
    “Too bad,” Ray said. “You’re gonna pay for what your father did.”
    “He killed Eddie!” Jake said, swinging a balled fist at Alex’s ear.
    “Fuck!” Alex screamed, trying to rise to his feet.
    Ray kicked him in the right ribcage, sending Alex reeling back, and into the wall hard. Pain tore through his right shoulder as Ray and Jake blocked his escape.
    Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, pushing a button which popped a blade from the black handle. The knife wasn’t large, though big and sharp enough to kill.
    Alex’s eyes darted between the thugs, weighing his options through the thin slivers of seconds. He didn’t want to fight, but the knife stripped him of the choice.
    Fighting might not be enough. Alex might have to kill.
    “Leave him alone!” a girl’s voice shouted, bouncing off the court walls – Katie.
    “Get outta here, bitch,” Jake said, turning to Katie. Ray turned toward her, too. This was Alex’s only chance.
    He ran at Jake, grabbing his right wrist with his left hand to keep him from using the knife, then Jake’s head with his right hand, shoving it backward into the concrete wall hard with a loud thud.
    Jake dropped the knife and slumped to the ground.
    Oh shit, I killed him!
    As Alex stared in shock at Jake’s motionless body, Ray grabbed him from behind and knocked Alex to the ground, falling on top of him with a fury of punches.
    Alex squirmed, trying to break free, putting his arms out in front of his face, as his arms were mercilessly