At the basketball court.

Vincent walked through the front porch of the senior high building. He had earlier on received a message from Sharon, asking him to meet her in the basketball court. At first he was nervous, all sorts of negative thoughts ran through his head, he even decided not to go, but felt that his judgment would be too harsh, and she might eventually hate him for it. He made the decision to go see her, and was certain that he could break free from any lust thought that came after that.

He kept walking, encountering other students in the veranda, they too had sneaked out of class. Well this was his first time sneaking out during lessons, he sure hoped he wouldn't get into trouble.

 He finally arrived at the entrance of the basketball court, it was indoor, an extremely large hall room made to house both the audience's seats and the player's court. Stepping into the hall room his eyes locked up on Sharon, she sat atop the judges desk, awaiting him. He gently walked up to her.

"Hey!" Vincent waved at her, drawing her attention to him.

"Hi Vincent." Sharon waved back with a gleaming smile escaping her lips.

"You wanted us to meet here?" He inquired, doubting his hearing capabilities.

"Yes, this place has privacy." Sharon responded. 

   Vincent was immediately puzzled. 'Why does she need somewhere private?' His mind skipped, and his heart raced, beating drastically. At that moment, Vincent was having a lustful image stuck to his head.

 "I noticed the way you stare at me in class, is there anything you would want to say?" She inquired in a seductive way, standing up from the desk, and taking a few steps towards Vincent, until they were a few inches away from each other. Vincent could swear he felt his pants bulge, he was already sweating profusely.

"What? You're sweating. Is my presence making you feel uncomfortable?" Sharon asked, she had noticed the quantity of sweat his face was secreting, it was as if he was under the downpour of the rain.

"N..No, not a..at all. I..I., the hall is hot!" Vincent lied, he didn't want to make her feel weird finding out that his trousers bulged, and that he was lusting on her at that moment.

"Oh! Okay. So, I noticed you and I weren't always alone, and it felt like you had something you wanted to say, but couldn't say it out in public, that's why I called you out here." Sharon explained, her face gleamed in curiosity, awaiting a response from Vincent.

"That. Ehmm, I..I, it was nothing. Maybe it's a coincidence. Am sorry if I made you feel curious, that you had to go through all the trouble of sneaking out of class because you were worried about me." Vincent finally responded, he hid his true reasons, he doubted if things would end up as he wanted them to, if he confessed to her, so he decided to keep his feelings a secret for the meantime.

"Alright." Sharon's tune engulfed in disappointment, it was as if he said the opposite of what she wanted him to say.

"I better head back to class." Vincent uttered, he turned his back, ready to walk away, but then he had a shocking thought in his head.

'What if today was to be the last time I would ever be this close to her again? What if this was a sign from heaven to me, a God-given chance to confess my feelings to my crush?' He stopped walking, and then turned towards Sharon, acquiring a courage he had never felt before.

"I..I have feelings for you Sharon. I think I'm in love with you!" Vincent exclaimed.

 Sharon was puzzled, she drew closer to him, until the distance between them was canceled out. 

"You think?" She asked in a seductive tune.

"No, I love you." Vincent sharply corrected himself.

 Sharon's head drew closer to Vincent, the latter became motionless, this was the scene in novels where the main character confesses his feelings to his crush, and they end up meeting lips with each other, kissing in the process. 

'Was this the same scenario?'

 Her lips were already an inch away from his, as her body had rested on his firm physique. This was the moment Vincent imagined, his lust emotion had increased drastically, as his cheeks were already reddened, in excitement but yet discomfort engulfed him.

"Ta da!" Sharon exclaimed, her lips were already halfway to making contact with that of Vincent's. She suddenly broke free from the partial cuddle, halting the kiss before it even happened. An evil grin escaped her lips, as she suddenly broke into a maniac laughter. "Hahaha, the filthy boy thinks I was gonna kiss him." Sharon added, her tune imbued mockery.

  And from within the audience's seats, seven teenage boys trooped into the basketball court.

At that moment, Vincent knew he was being played. Brian's interpretation was legit, and he regretted not ever paying heed to Deborah's countless warnings. 

  The seven boys were obviously Henry and his gang of bullies. During Vincent's and Sharon's early encounter, Sharon had informed Henry that she had found a pet that was into her, and that she was going to have him do her biddings. At first it was homeworks and class assignments, then Vincent helped in her tests and exams. She wasn't a brawn like Henry, who bullied students, forcefully getting them to do his biddings. Her way was to get smart guys to fall for her, and have them do her biddings by feeding them with sweet and seductive words, until she was satisfied. She then embarrasses them in public, ruining their reputation. A psychopathic wench!

  

 Earlier today, Henry had asked Sharon to let him have one of her dogs. He wanted to get back at Vincent and his friends for talking back at him, but firstly, he felt dealing with Vincent first was his top priority, given that rumors go about the school of Vincent being extremely strong. Ganging up on him would give them a better chance against him, before going after his friends.

"Hey Vincent. Meet Henry, my boyfriend. Am guessing you guys have already met." Sharon said, her voice was completely different, the sweet and melodious tune had disappeared, this was her true voice, especially when torturing the weak, she only revealed the sweet side to new prey, and Vincent was no longer new.

"How could you? So you've been playing me all this while! Was I nothing but your errand dog?" Vincent finally realized the situation he was in, he had been used.

"A dog. No. You're more of a pig to me than a dog. I value all my dogs." Sharon voiced out.

 "Vincent, are you by chance molesting my girlfriend? She said she doesn't love you, so quit mumbling and just die already." Henry encouraged.

"Me, a pig…?" Vincent muttered ignoring Henry's words, but he was immediately interrupted by a punch to his cheeks. And in no time, the six gang members attacked Vincent, delivering vigorous powerful blows to his face. This action continued for over five minutes, but they were unable to send the lad to the ground, even when he was fully open and wasn't fighting back. They stopped after satisfying their fists, at least they didn't want to be murderers.

   They were completely shocked that the lad didn't fight back, at least that would have been fun, but what drove them to stop punching him, was seeing him standing after taking countless of their best punches, surely they were frightened.

  

Vincent's face was covered in bruises, his nose bled, and his lips were badly injured, but in the presence of all the excruciating pains, he was unmoved. He rather remained motionless processing all that his ears had heard.

"You called me a pig." Vincent muttered once more. He dashed towards the gang of bullies, knocking each one he came in contact with, with a single punch, sending them to the ground. He approached Henry, and both lads exchanged blows, Henry dodged most of Vincent's attacks, while Vincent tanked them all, bruising his body. He finally sent Henry to the ground with a blow to his nose, and was now standing in front of Sharon, watching the wench cower in fear.

"Vincent my dear, I was kidding. Henry threatened to beat me up, that's why I lied. I am equally in love with you." Sharon lied, expecting her words to reach him, and change his heart, but the lad looked bloodlusted, he was boiling in anger, and not falling for her lies.

"What are you?" Sharon added with her husky psychopathic voice. 

Pa!

Instead of getting a reply, a hot slap descended on her cheeks and she immediately blacked out.

"That was for slapping me in my dreams, you wench." Vincent cussed, he turned back facing the entrance, and exiting the hall room.

  

Henry was overwhelmed in shame, he felt bittered. His plan was to get Vincent to feel ashamed and clouded in defeat, but the latter had flipped the tables around, leaving him to drown in his own wickedness. It took him a couple of minutes before he could struggle back to his feet. The punch to his face made his entire body quiver, it felt like he was run down by a car. He glared at his gang members and they too were struggling to their feet. He withdrew his gaze to Sharon, she laid flat on the ground, she was probably unconscious. He grinned, he had survived a punch that felt like being run down by a car without collapsing, on the other hand that same attack had rendered Sharon unconscious. Surely Vincent was something else.

But his grin wasn't because he didn't blackout, it was because he would have to employ whatever he got, in getting back at Vincent and his friends.

"Time for the original plan A, implant the item." Henry commanded, alarming his gang members to engage on whatever plan he had made. A sinister smirk engraved on his lips. With this action, two of his gang members were dispatched to carry out their plans. The others tried their possible best to get Sharon to regain consciousness, and she finally did. The fright she felt was boldly inscribed on her face.

   

****

Vincent went to his classroom, everyone who set an eye on him were puzzled by the bruises that surfaced his face, they all had remorse for him. 

 Jordan too felt bad, though none of them knew what happened to him, but being present at the dining hall where Henry declared them his enemies, they knew those injuries meant trouble, and Henry was the trouble.

"What happened to your face? Who did this to you? Was it Henry?" Jordan questioned, feeling totally bittered.

"Don't bother yourself, I took care of it!" Vincent exclaimed, revealing a faint smile. Jordan could read through those smiles, he knew Vincent was hurting on the inside, they literally were childhood friends, they grew up together.

 "We would discuss this, when we meet up with Brian, the closing bell will ring in no time." Jordan assured. Vincent just smiled back, he headed for his desk to get his backpack.

"I told you Sharon was trouble, but you choose to pay no heed to my words. I know her and her boyfriend did this to you." Deborah muttered, her eyes locking up with that of Vincent.

"You knew she had a boyfriend?" Vincent asked.

"If I had told you, would you have believed me?" Deborah retorted. "Just keep living, it's not the end of the world yet.

 At that moment the school's closure bell rang. Students trooped out of their classes heading to their respective homes. Vincent, Jordan and Brian met up with each other outside the school building.

"Dude what happened to your face?" As usual, Brian's curiosity got the best of him, but this wasn't the drive of listening to tales, this was him expressing a feeling of concern towards his friend. Vincent just smiled, amidst the tension written on both his friends faces, he still felt that they looked funny.