The Hardness of Life

Publisher Marketing: It was a cold fall day, in the small town in Grants Pass, Oregon. Austin, a young man, was getting ready for the long day of school to end. He anxiously twirled his pencil in his fingers, watching the clock, waiting for the bell to ring. He turned his attention to his teacher, Mr. Knight...awaiting his announcement for everyone to start packing up. He turned back to the clock, and then it happened. "RiiiiiiiNG!!!" The joyous noise of a school bell ringing, filled the soon to be crowded hallways of Grants Pass High School. Freshmen scurried around the courtyard, dodging upperclassmen left and right. Austin calmly slipped his binder into his backpack, and left the room. "Austin!" he heard from across the hall. He looked around for the source of the voice. "Austin! Over here!" Austin hurried to his friend Brennen. And wondered what he was so anxious about. Brennen is a thin boy, in the same age as Austin, 14, freshman in High School, and he always wore a flat-billed "Raiders" hat. "What, Brennen?" Austin sighed with exasperation. "My bus is boarding; I have to go!" "Dude; Eric just ran off with some guys," Brennen whispered, looking worried. "And that fat ass actually ran, so we know something is up. " Eric is this...lets just say chubby boy, who has been a real dick to Austin since they first met. "You realize if we follow him, he'll kill us?" Austin chuckled nervously. Brennen threw his arms up in the air and scoffed. "No time to worry!" Brennen replied. "Let's just go!" Austin worriedly fiddled with his ear buds, and finally decided to go. Brennen ran ahead of Austin, knowing he would be the most likely to survive in a fight against Eric. Finally the two boys caught up to them, but stayed hidden behind the bushes, hoping they wouldn't get caught. "So...who the hell did Mike piss of this time..." Eric said to one of the tall, scary-looking guys. "Andrew Meadows." the tallest one said. "You mean that scrawny-ass little freshy? Pfft! Mike can pound him with his left hand, dumb ass!" "And Mike's right handed!" the shortest said. "Yeah, no crap, Sherlock!" Eric scoffed, whacking the shortest one in the face. "That was the whole freaking point of the joke! For the love of God-I'm surrounded by idiots!" Austin looked nervously at Brennen, and Brennen took out his phone and started record all of this. "Are you insane?!" Austin whispered angrily. "He'll fricking crush us if he sees that video!" "And he won't..." Brennen chuckled. "I'm not friends with him on Facebook-" At that moment, Brennen's phone slid right out of his hand, and fell on the concrete. Eric and the others looked behind them, to see us both stalking them. All the scary-looking guys chuckled and started to walk towards us. "My phone!" Brennen whined. "My life!" Austin cried. Eric snapped and had one of his cronies reach into the bush to pull Brennen out. "Well...lookie here, boys!" Eric chuckled, cracking his knuckles. He didn't seem to notice, Austin, however. "Umm... I-I'm sorry!" Brennen chuckled nervously. "I-I was just...uh... a-admiring this lovely, um...bush right here! Yeah! I, um... like plants...?" Eric chuckled and popped his fist even more. He snapped, and the person who lifted Brennen dropped him. "Well, Mr. Tree-hugger..." Eric began, slowly approaching Brennen, each step causing Brennen to slightly back away. "My fist really wants to admire your face." "Oho! C-clever one, Eric," Brennen chuckled nervously. "Um, I gotta head to my bus now, so.." Brennen went to run past Eric, but two of Eric's cohorts stopped Brennen from running and held him back. "Something tells me that you're gonna be late," Eric chuckled. He went to swing a punch at Brennen, until Austin rushed out of the bush. "STOP!!" Austin yelled. "We've got two wimpy little faggots here today, huh!?" Eric exclaimed. "Well, today, one of you will be lucky. Seeing as to the fact that I am tired as hell, I will only crush one of you today and I pick... you." Eric pointed at Austin.