Blackmailed by a Bully

Once he'd arrived at the school gates Nathan didn't hesitate in joining Damon and the others. He'd had a good time last night at Chelsea's house and was glad to see her smiling face as he approached. She was so beautiful he felt his heart do

a weird flutter and had to remind himself again that the pair of them could only be friends.

"Want one?" Damon said after greeting him with a fist bump, offering his pack of cigarettes. A quick scan of the others told him they all smoked.

'Can I say no?' he wondered in a panic. 'Am I allowed to be different?'

His mind wandered back to his forms lecture on peer pressure.

'So this is it,' he thought. 'I've finally reached that pivotal stage in my life that the ninth grade warned me about.' "Yeah thanks, mate," he said.

As Damon kindly passed him a cigarette and even lit it for him, he tried desperately not to cough like first time.

'It can't be that bad the second time,' he assured himself.

As the hot, acrid smoke hit the back of his throat, he coughed it out, making it even more painful.

"You'll get used to it, mate," Ben said, grinning.

When he tried a second time the smoke went into his eyes, which was almost as bad.

"Maybe you should practice at home," Damon said, giving him a pitying smile. It hadn't occurred to him that the big bad school bully was a human being capable of pity or kindness, but the look on his face seemed genuine. "That's your homework. Forget whatever the teachers give you."

"Okay," Nathan choked, feeling as if his throat was on fire. He made a mental note to buy a pack on the way home, as well as a tonne of mouthwash so his meddling mother wouldn't find out. She was one of those typical boomer generation people-terrified of cancer like it was waiting behind every corner to jump out and tear the organs from her body.

Sam suspected most of the hype and warnings were just fearmongering. Last week they said bacon caused cancer too, and a world without bacon wasn't a place he wanted to live.

He didn't see Christian anywhere and doubted the boy was stupid enough to hide in the toilets again. He was probably at home.

He did, however, see Devon-Christian's long-time girlfriend and she was heading straight for him, high ponytail bouncing with every step.

When she stopped her hair fell flat and she placed her hands on her waist, pushing out her lips.

'I used to think she looked hot with her hair like that,' he thought. After hanging out with Chelsea, Devon no longer seemed so sexy.

"Why have you got a problem with Christian?" she asked, squaring up to Damon with her hands on her hips. "What the hell has he ever done to you—"

"Why don't you ask him?" Damon nodded towards Nathan, who almost died on the spot. He couldn't cope with this chick shouting at him.

At this, she turned to face Nathan and looked at him like he was trash.

"So what?" She shrugged. "Just because you decided to be friends with this nerd, Christian is suddenly in trouble? He stopped bullying Nathan years ago." She flashed an evil look in Nathan's direction. "Get over it."

When she turned back to Damon, he hocked up a load of phlegm and spat right in her face.

Nathan didn't mean to laugh-it was more a choking sound than a laugh, and more because of the shock and the look on her face but she glared at him as if he was the one who spat at her. "You're disgusting," she said, wiping at her face with her sleeve.

"Yeah?" Damon leaned in a gave her the worlds creepiest grin. "And to think... I was going to leave Christian alone, but because of you, I'm going to make him my number one victim. I'm going to beat him up every time I see him." "You're an asshole," Devon whispered, but she looked pained and worried as she backed up and turned away.

This made the rest of them laugh as they walked around to the tuck shop in the wall of the canteen.

"She'll come crawling back with an apology," Damon said. "Women... they are so predictable."

Nathan smiled and nodded, but something about the situation made him uncomfortable. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Then he noticed Granger had that same look of discomfort on his face and couldn't help but feel curious about it.

"Go get us some drinks," Damon said to Granger.

Granger's face changed. He poised to run off, then stopped and turned to Nathan. "What drink do you want?"

"Erm... energy drink," Granger told him. "Do you want the money?"

As he fished through his pockets for change, Ben grabbed his arm. "Granger always gets the drinks."

"Why?" Nathan asked, lowering his voice so the little blonde lad wouldn't overhear.

"It's just the way it is," Ben explained and shrugged. "Granger is sort of... the bitch of the group."

Nathan nodded, though he still didn't fully understand the dynamics of the group. Why were they all equal except for Granger?

'And Damon,' he thought. Damon held the most power, as he was the most feared. The others were feared merely because of their association with him, and in return, provided him with backup. He'd proven time and time again he needed no help in fights, even against groups of older guys, but everyone needed friends.

'Why me, though?' Nathan wondered. 'Why was I deemed worthy of being his friend?'

Once Granger had paid the lady he bounced back over and handed out the drinks, giving Nathan a needy looking smile as he passed him not one but two energy drinks.

"I—I didn't know which flavour you wanted," He explained, seeming almost nervous.

"Aww, either would have been fine," he said before noticing the kid didn't have a drink for himself. "You want one? Tropical or original?"

"Oh, no, you keep both, I'm all good," Granger assured him, flapping his hands in protest. The gesture was so feminine, that for the first time he had to wonder.

"Is Granger..." he whispered to Chelsea.

"Gay? Yeah," she said and chuckled, not unkindly. "You only just clocked on to that one?"

Nathan laughed at himself and nodded. He thought it was odd that a guy like Damon wasn't homophobic. Most of the bullies he'd been picked on by tended to use 'gay' as a slur word.

He was so confused. Damon was the most confusing person he'd ever met.

And suddenly he couldn't hold the question in anymore.

"Damon... why did you decide to let me be your friend?" he blurted. He regretted it almost as soon as it was out of his mouth. Did he really want to know? And was he jinxing it? "Heh... it's a long story," Damon said. He tutted and screwed up his face. "I just felt like it."

After a short pause, Nathan stopped walking and turned to Damon.

"That's what you call a long story?" he teased, becoming brave. "No wonder you're failing English."

He almost wet his pants when Damon pulled him into a headlock, before realising it was a friendly one.

"Funny guy, eh?" Damon teased, pressing his giant fist into his head.

After Damon released him, he turned back to see Devon was staring over at them from a distance, her face sad and worried.

Something about her expression was familiar.

The it hit him.

'He did this to Freida.'

...

'That is the long version of the story. That is why I am here.'