Constant Fear

CHAPTER 6

Beth took a few steps back to get some distance from Andy and his friends. One glance told her that Ryan had her in his sights. From the red splotches creeping up Ryan’s beefy neck, Beth knew the coming blowup was going to be a doozy. She contemplated running, but didn’t want to make a scene.

Sure enough, Ryan skipped the snide remarks about David’s long hair (a first) and didn’t even bother elbowing Andy in the taunting way he often did when the two passed in the halls. His ire, his complete and total focus, was reserved for Beth MacDonald. He grabbed Beth’s shoulder before she had a chance to pull away. Her upper arm seemed to vanish within Ryan’s massive hand.

“We need to talk,” Ryan said in a commanding voice.

Beth shrugged hard and freed herself from his hold, but the look on her face showed that it had hurt.

“Ryan, there’s nothing to talk about,” Beth said. She turned and tried to walk away, but Ryan accelerated, grabbed her once again, and forced her back around.

“There’s plenty to talk about,” he said in a low voice, almost a growl.

Afraid, Beth bent at the knees to try and break from his hold, but this time Ryan wouldn’t let go. She squirmed, trying to get loose.

Andy’s every impulse was to stop Ryan and help Beth. But would she welcome his involvement? It could turn into a thing between them. “Why did you interfere?” he imagined Beth might say. “This was between me and Ryan.” He didn’t want to upset her.

“You’re hurting me, Ryan. I said there’s nothing to talk about. Now leave me alone, you asshole!”

“No. Not until you talk to me, Beth.”

Andy had enough. Ryan Coventry was way out of line, threatening even. Stepping forward, Andy tapped Ryan hard, several times, between his shoulder blades.

“Leave her alone, Ryan,” Andy said. His voice came out a little weaker than he had intended; but then again, Ryan had four inches and seventy pounds on him.

Ryan whirled, catching Beth by surprise. She stumbled clumsily forward, and would have pitched face-first onto the grass, were it not for the pythonlike grip Ryan maintained around her wrist. For a time, Ryan said nothing as he glared at Andy with rabid eyes. A bull might have shuddered under his hostile gaze.

“What did you just say to me?” Ryan snarled.

“I said leave her alone, dickhead.”

“No, no, you didn’t,” David said, correcting Andy. “You called him Ryan, not ‘dickhead.’ You added the ‘dickhead’ part after.”

Pixie spoke up. “Good embellishment, though. Way more effective. I bet that’s what he wished he said the first time.”

Ryan eyed David and Pixie with contempt before setting his sights once more on Andy. The splotch on Ryan’s neck had grown to the size of Jupiter’s great red spot.

All Andy cared about was that Ryan let go of Beth. The whole rapid-boil anger thing didn’t seem to bother Andy in the least-until, moving with the speed of a lynx, Ryan lunged forward and seized Andy by his shirt, pulling him up on tiptoes as if he were a bag of feathers.

The four other boys in The Shire retreated a few steps, but Hilary held her ground. Beth leapt to Andy’s defense, slamming her fists several times against Ryan’s back.

“Leave him alone, Ryan. Stop being such a jerk,” she said.

Ryan ignored her pleas just as he ignored the blows. Andy’s shirt looked like a wrung-out dishrag within Ryan’s meaty grasp.

“You better watch yourself, geek boy,” Ryan growled. With his biceps straining, Ryan hoisted Andy up until the two were at eye level.

Andy fought to keep a serious expression, but a laugh escaped anyway, even though he had intentionally pulled his lips tight against his teeth.

“Are you freaking laughing at me?” Ryan was incredulous.

Andy tried to hold his laugh in, but it burst out once more in a loud pfffftt.

Ryan still couldn’t believe his ears. “I thought I told you to watch yourself,” he said.

Andy couldn’t keep a straight face. “It’s just that you sound like such a walking cliché, Ryan,” Andy said. “I mean, look-you’re the big, tough jock, trying to win back the affections of your beautiful girlfriend while you’re holding one of the geekiest kids in the school by his shirt. You’re kind of being Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid right now.”

“The first Karate Kid, with Ralph Macchio, not the remake,” Hilary said, feeling a need to clarify the reference.

Of course she’d know that, Solomon thought.

“Nah, I’d say he’s more like Biff Tannen,” Rafa said.

“From Weird Science?” Pixie asked.

“Back to the Future,” Hilary said.

“I’d go with a blanket reference and say he’s being totally Disney TV,” Solomon said in a very matter-of-fact way.

The Shire desperately needed to release some tension, but none of this banter amused Ryan. He looked furious.

By now, some of the other students were taking notice of the commotion and began a swift trot over to the action. Jake Dent happened to be transporting a broken heater fan from Hillman Hall across campus to his workshop behind the Terry Science Center when he caught sight of the student migration. He followed the gaggle and was surprised to see his son in the center of the action. Jake knew the student who was holding Andy by his shirt, and it was obvious that these were mismatched opponents.

Rather than intervene, Jake took up position by the walkway abutting the Society Building-far enough back not to be noticed, but still close enough to see the action.

“You think you’re really funny, huh?” Ryan said, pulling Andy up so high his shirt came untucked from his pants.

“I’m giving you a chance to let go of me,” Andy said. His expression turned serious.

Hidden in the background, Jake Dent had to crane his neck to get a better look over the gathering crowd. He wanted Andy to take care of his own problems, but Jake worried the confrontation would be too one-sided. He didn’t want anybody to get hurt.

“I’m going to give you one more chance to let go of me,” Andy said.

Ryan’s toothy grin suggested some devious thinking. Sure enough, he let one of his hands holding Andy’s shirt go so that he could make a fist, which he cocked back behind his head in a quick and fluid motion.

At the same instant, Andy took a giant step backward and planted his left foot behind him. As he did this, Andy bent slightly at the knees and twisted his body to the right. To the untrained eye, Andy appeared to be off balance, but Jake could see that Andy already had the upper hand. Before Ryan could throw his first punch, Andy’s right arm came up and over the arm holding onto his shirt and he twisted his body toward his left hip.

The move not only surprised Ryan, but it forced him to release his hold. Ryan was off balance, but he took a wild swing anyway. His punch connected with air.

Without missing a beat, Andy balled his hand into a fist, bent his elbow, made what he thought to be a forceful yell, and uncoiled at the waist. Andy’s elbow made a solid strike against the side of Ryan’s head. The blow felled the larger student to his knees. For a moment, all Ryan could do was rock back and forth in pain.

From his vantage point, Jake was impressed-not at all surprised by the outcome, but not entirely satisfied, either. He and Andy had worked on that move countless times. Breaking free from a front hold was one of the most basic skills in hand-to-hand combat. Andy was near perfect in executing his escape maneuver, but his yell was more warble than war cry. Jake couldn’t count the number of times he had explained that the purpose of the yell was not only to startle the assailant, but also to focus the power of the strike. They’d go over the maneuver tonight after Andy finished his homework.

Beth MacDonald looked stunned, and also a bit starstruck. Her eyes traveled back and forth between Ryan, on his knees, and Andy nonchalantly tucking in his shirt. Andy’s friends, Beth noted, didn’t seem at all surprised by the outcome of this David versus Goliath battle.

“Andy, that was-that was amazing.”

Ryan shakily got back to his feet. Embarrassed, he lowered his head and charged off in the direction from which he had come.

Andy smiled at Beth. “Meet me over at Tanner Hall and we’ll study together for that test. I’ve got enough Red Bull in my backpack to guarantee us at least a B.”

Beth nodded but looked dazed, still incredulous. She turned and departed, heading toward Tanner Hall.

Andy watched her go and waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke. A glower materialized on his face. “One of us has taken two hundred million dollars’ worth of bitcoins, and, trust me, that’s more than enough money to get us all killed.”