Brutal by Michael Harmon Read Free Book Online Page A

okay?”
    He didn't answer, and as I knelt further and put my hand on his shoulder, he flinched. I took my hand away. His breathing calmed, but his eyes remained fixed on nothing. “Go away.”
    I stood, picked up his backpack, set it beside him, and looked at anything but him. “I'm sorry.”
    He didn't reply, just lay there, and I left.

Chapter Seven
    Dad was home by four-thirty, and I avoided him. I couldn't get Velveeta out of my head, and it bothered me. I'd seen kids picked on and beaten up and harassed. Every kid has, and I'd even been targeted once or twice. But I wasn't one of those dweebs running around talking about how traumatized I was and how the healing needed to begin.
    My general outlook on life was that shit happened, and if you didn't have the guts to take care of business, you deserved it. That's why I was so bothered by why I was so bothered. Any reality-based person who looked at Velveeta knew he took crap from other kids. And adults. Some people were born to be picked on, and he was one of them. That's the way the world worked, and no matter what anybody tried to do about stopping it, they couldn't. The strong preyed on the weak, the smart preyed on the dumb, and the smarter stayed away from it all. Human beings were cruel creatures.
    What bothered me so much about Velveeta was the way he'd taken it. The way he lay still with his eyes wide reminded me of how an antelope looked when a pack of lionsattacked it. Sure, he'd been defiant by refusing to swallow the paper, just like an antelope will run until the jaws close around its neck. But just like the antelope finally standing still as the jaws clamp and the claws rake its flesh away, there'd been an air of resignation around it all. Those staring eyes just waiting for it to be over. Like he knew this was supposed to happen and it was natural for it to happen to him.
    It made me sick. I'd seen guys kicked in the head and put into comas during fights at raves and parties, and it hadn't bothered me as much. This time, those two lions hadn't pulled down their prey for any other reason than entertainment, and I'd stood there and watched it.
    I walked outside just before dinner and sat on the porch.
    “Thanks.”
    I turned. Velveeta stood at the fence. He had a lump on his forehead from the hit. I didn't know what to say, so I said what was on my mind. “Why'd they do it?”
    He shrugged it off. “They were just funning around. You know, guy stuff.”
    “No, I don't know.”
    He grinned, but it wasn't all there. “Aw, guys do that kind of stuff to each other. Heck, I've even done it.”
    I looked at him. “I think I know when somebody is full of shit.”
    He turned a shade of red, looking along the fence. “Okay, fine. Maybe I haven't, but it was just a joke. That's all. They razz me sometimes.”
    “That wasn't razzing.”
    His face fell for a moment. “Well, you shouldn't havebeen following me in the first place, so it's not your business anyway.”
    I shook my head, my thoughts on that antelope. “Why didn't you fight?”
    He shrugged, looking away.
    “They'll keep doing it, you know.”
    He smiled. “More'n one way to fight, I suppose.”
    “What's that supposed to mean?”
    His grin widened. “Wouldn't you like to know.”
    The last thing I was interested in was more macho bullshit. “Not really.”
    His grin disappeared.
    “What was the paper all about?”
    He shuffled. “It was a note.”
    “From who?”
    He sighed. “You just won't quit, will you?”
    “It was all in fun, right? So tell me.”
    He shrugged, looking off down the street. “There's this hot girl at school. Her name is Anna Conrad. She wrote it.”
    “What did it say?”
    “It don't matter.”
    “Tell me.”
    He guffawed. “Aw, man. It said she liked me and stuff, but that she couldn't come and tell me so. She told me to meet her in the lot after school so we could talk. It was a joke is all. Ha ha. I'm the sucker. Big deal.”
    Anna Conrad became an instant