After telling Amy to wait in her seat, Gary quickly headed over to Kai. The teenager hadn’t been sure that the other would actually co through, since his only reply had been [I’ll see what I can do]. His upperclassman wasn’t a magical wish granting genie after all and with what had happened in Slough, it wouldn’t have surprised him if he might have been occupied with sothing else.
Seeing him co through the door, especially with soone who looked older than them, made Gary feel hopeful. As for the reason he had told Amy to stay behind, it was because he definitely didn’t want her to be involved in any of this ss that he was currently in.
“Be honest, do you get a kick out of ignoring all my warnings?” Kai asked in a slightly annoyed tone as he scratched his head. “I an seriously, it’s not like I asked you to stay put in a cell or anything. Yet here we are, not only have you gone out but you sohow managed to end up in the hospital, even though you have a match tomorrow.”
Gary had only told Kai what he needed and that he was in the hospital, rather than explaining the whole situation. It would have been hard to go over everything via text. On top of that, if only the older teenager knew what his underclassman really had been through, perhaps he would give him so slack… or maybe an even bigger ear full.
“I’m sorry Kai. I just…” Gary stopped there. It was undeniable that he had initially gone out despite the risk of being caught by the Underdogs. It was only later that he had hurried to save his family. “It’s my mother…”
The high schooler went on to explain the details further, about how his mother got attacked in the supermarket, what condition he had found her in, how he had carried her over here and about the hospital staff needing an adult to take care of the two siblings, as well as sign off on a few docunts here and there.
After telling him the full story, Gary had been half expecting Kai to make so snide remark, but instead the look on his face had changed to one filled with sympathy. Surprising him even more, Kai placed a hand on Gary’s shoulder.
“My condolences. I would have done the sa if it had been my mother.” Kai spoke. “You’re the gang leader, so of course I’ll do whatever I can to help you out. Since I’m one year off from being an adult myself, I brought her here to act as your guardian.”
Kai pointed to the lady standing next to him. She was around the sa height as Kai himself, which was quite tall for a woman. She wore heavy black boots and also had red lipstick on, her hair was jet black and straight, which was beautiful in a way and made her look more confident.
She didn’t seem to resemble anyone from the Underdogs that Gary knew, and he didn’t think that Kai, after everything that had happened, would bring one of their mbers here, so he was wondering just what the relationship between the two was. At least the others could be explained as mbers of the Underdogs.
However, Gary chose not to pry. As long as the woman was willing to help them out, that was enough for him. The three of them walked over to the counter where they received another form. Essentially the woman had to agree to act as a guarantor. If paynt wasn’t handled in a tily fashion, it gave the hospital permission to go after her and make it so she would have to pay the bill as well.
It was sothing people would only do with their most trusted family mbers or friends. Which begged the question once again, who was she to Kai. She seed too young to be Kai’s mother, but looks could be deceiving. Still, the two didn’t share many features on the surface, though Gary got a feeling that she seed sowhat familiar.
There were a few more details that needed to be filled out, but the woman offered to handle it on her own, allowing Kai and Gary to move to the side. Neither one said anything for a while, yet Kai didn’t miss that Gary was constantly clenching his fist. His face would scrunch up a couple of tis as well. It was clear he was thinking about sothing.
“I’ll help you get the money to pay for the hospital bills.” Kai offered. “If need be, we can just reach into those ergency funds for a while.”
It was then that Gary realised that Kai was trying to comfort him.
“Why ?” The high schooler asked as he looked up. “Why are you helping so much? There’s nothing special about . I’m not as good a fighter as Innu, nor am I as cunning as you. You could have just sold out to the Underdogs and looked for another teenager if you wanted so puppet for your gang, yet why are you going out of your way to help with situations like this one?”
“Does that an you don’t want my help then?” Kai questioned. For a mont there was an awkward silence between the two, before the older high schooler let out another sigh. “Let ask you this, what are you feeling right now? Even a blind person would be able to tell that you’re furious, so what is it you would like to do now?”
It felt out of the blue for Kai to answer his question with a question of his own, but Gary didn’t mind getting it off his chest.
“I keep imagining those guys, those scumbags who did that to her.” Gary answered. “It’s not just her though. My sister, a dead old man, injured and dying people out on the street. Why does everyone have to live in fear?”
“And the answer you ca to?” Kai asked.
“Gangs.” Gary replied. “It’s because of the gangs who rule this place. They’ve gotten too big. I saw it, the best the police could do was quarantine Chavley off, probably hoping that the damage would be contained. The mayor and his governnt are unable to handle them. I hate them, I hate them so much. I want to get rid of them all!”
Kai looked at Gary again, and the look in his eyes and the facial expression of all of what he was feeling right now, he too had felt the sa thing at one point.
“There’s your answer, Gary. The more I’m around you the more I co to realise that we aren’t too different. The sad reality is that it will be impossible to get rid of them in any legal way. The new mayor might be against them, but he will either be bought off by them, or they will just get rid of him if he doesn’t play ball.
“It’s not just Slough. Every town and city has these kinds of problems, only that so hide it better than others. At the top of all the Tier-1 cities you have the Kings. However, even they have gotten so big that it has beco impossible for them to act on their own. They’re too afraid of stepping on each other’s toes, since fighting amongst themselves will just weaken them, giving others the opportunity to potentially take them out.
“Until this day, there hasn’t been a force that has been able to go to the very top, or be strong enough to get rid of them all. If you want to get rid of the gangs Gary, that’s your answer. Make your own gang, climb to the top with , and protect the ones you care about.
“That’s the only way for guys like us to make any change in this godforsaken place. Nothing will ever change unless we can sohow get rid of them. It’s up to you what you want to do once you’re at the top, but let warn you. You need to do this before you lose the people you care about, so that today becos the exception and not the rule.” Kai explained, holding out his hand.
“We already made a deal once, but now that we’re both on the sa wavelength. Let’s shake on this… leader.”
Just then, Gary could see that the woman at the reception was done with the paperwork, and was walking over. The high schooler sohow felt like he was suddenly under so type of ti limit. Sothing was telling him that if he didn’t take Kai’s hand right now, the two of them would never see eye to eye again.
At the sa ti, shaking ant agreeing to create a gang, forcing him to create the one thing he had grown to hate. Was this really the only answer and choice he had?
In the end, Gary reached out and grabbed Kai’s hand, shaking it on the spot.
“I’ll do it. I’ll help you.”
“Help us, you an.” Kai corrected him with a smile.
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