"Hey, who we've got here"
As I was smoking my second cigarette leaning against the cold wall in the back of the school, three guys and two girls turned up.
Ah, I know the drill. They look like seniors.
"You new here?"
I didn't say anything. I just looked at them and took a long drag.
"Hey, that guy's in the first year, look at his name tag"
One of them noticed and told everyone.
"What should a junior do when they see a senior?"
This was actually an important moment that will shape the rest of my school life.
On one hand, I could bow to them, show them respect and acknowledge them.
That would get me into their group and I will be in that group of 'scary kids that no one can touch' for the next three years.
But on the other hand, I was not in the mood for that.
"You want a cigarette?"
"Ha!", the one that looked like the leader looked at the two standing next to him and pointed his finger at me.
"Did you hear that guys? He's giving us a tribute"
"Not bad kid, heh", why do these henchmen always sound so slimy and idiotic? What a cliche.
"Come take it"
I took out the pack of cigarettes from my jacket, took one cigarette out of that, and held it with two fingers.
"The whole pack, kid"
"No. I'm just being nice. But I'm not that nice"
"Do you think we are nice guys?"
"You guys look like a bunch of carebears to me"
"Get him!"
The leader pointed at me and the two henchmen ran toward me right away.
Running in a straight line, idiots.
I slid to the right side of one of the guys to put him between me and the other guy, which made the other guy irrelevant to the action to come.
All I had to do was lift my arm at the right time and let his momentum crush his face onto my elbow.
The guy was more idiotic than I thought, and his lunging form made his chin connect with my elbow hard. He fell.
The other guy then pulled back a little, not jumping on to me after seeing what happened to his friend. My cigarette wasn't finished yet and it was still burning. I flicked it to his face and it hit him on the cheek which made him instantly flinch. I used that short window of time to give a flying knee to his face. He fell too.
I then held the new cigarette again in my hand and stretched my arm toward the leader who was standing a few meters away.
"Come take it. I think now you only need one"
The leader was fuming with anger but he kept his distance. He could probably give me a good fight, maybe even beat me. But there were two girls next to him and he would take absolutely zero risk of potentially getting embarrassed. At least that's what I was betting on while my heart was secretly thumping inside.
The leader then theatrically laughed and clapped- gotcha. You are that kind of a guy.
"Not bad kiddo"
This is the point where I should back off too.
I flopped the pack of cigarettes to him and he caught it in the air.
"Please take it. Maybe the ladies wanted some too"
"We will see you around"
"I hope so too"
After that, the leader helped the two guys to get up and they walked away with the girls following them.