Page 1 of Homecoming

Chapter One

Atlas

Weapons class.

I always find it a bit ironic that I have to take this class when I could most likely outshoot everyone here, and the teacher as well. Not that he would appreciate that being pointed out to him. He tried to do one of those typical teacher power moves when I first started here and joined Rage. He wanted to humiliate me in front of all of the other kids, who were wary of me anyway because of my scars.

I’m not entirely sure what he was trying to prove, but he set up a target that would have been way too far away for a novice, which is what he assumed I was, and handed me a gun without telling me how to use it, again he assumed that I was a novice so that was an incredibly dangerous and stupid move on his part. He then told me to shoot the target with a smug grin on his face; of course, me being the shit I am, I didn’t just shoot it; I shot a smiley face with a bullet hole through the middle of the target as a nose.

He backed off after that, and it quickly spread around the school just how good I am with a gun, amongst other things, which immediately made people fear me. That’s okay; funnily enough, I am okay with being feared.

The teacher now just leaves me to my own devices in class, and focuses on helping the other kids, which he does really well actually, so I have no idea why he had a problem with me. Unless he were here when my father was here, that would explain a lot.

The buzzing of my phone in my pocket pulls me from my thoughts; I lower the gun and pull it out, reading the message on the screen from Alaric. I quickly take apart my gun, put it on the table in front of me, take off the ear defenders, and then head toward the door of the classroom to go and find Rage.

“Atlas!” the teacher shouts after me, “I didn’t give you permission to leave!”

I don’t bother replying; I just wave my hand behind me dismissively as I walk out the door and close it behind me. He knows that there is fuck all that he can do, and he fucking hates it. It makes me smile.

After our first meeting, around a year ago now, I couldn’t give a shit, I will respect someone who shows me respect and he still won’t. I don’t have the time for his petty games anyway.

Moving through the vast hallways of Blackbreak, I see a couple more teachers, but none of them stop me or say anything at all really. Finally, I come to a stop in front of Rage’s class. I actually really like this teacher, so I knock on the door before I enter and disrupt the lesson.

“Atlas, is everything okay?” He asks me once he has called for me to enter.

“Yes sir,” I reply, “I need Rage.”

“He didn’t come to class today,” he replies.

I nod, “Thanks.”

I don’t have to worry about him not being here; there is only one place that he will be, and that’s the stables. I keep telling him to get his horses up here, but he hasn’t managed it yet. His cunt of a mother is making things difficult.

We have all of our gear in the car since we decided that it was probably a good idea to keep it all in there; Alaric calls on us at random times, including when we are in class, like today, and it’s just easier if we are ready to go when he needs us. My car is parked outside of the main entrance to the building that holds the majority of the lessons, including the indoor shooting range, or at least one of them.

It takes me no time at all to hop into my car and drive over to the stables. It takes me slightly longer to find Rage, simply because they are so vast.

“What’s up, man?” Rage asks once I’ve finally found him.

“Alaric messaged, we have got to go. He’s going to pick us up from the front gates, like usual.” I explain.

“Awesome, I could do with getting out of here,” he looks around and adds, “Well, not specifically here, but the school as a whole.”

I chuckle as we head out to the car and get in, “Dude, I knew what you meant.”

“How long ago did he message?” Rage asks.

“About twenty minutes; it took me a while to find you. He should be waiting by now,” I reply.

“Good, it’s too damn cold to be waiting out by the gate. I always feel like I’m going to freeze my nuts off,” he replies with a shiver just for emphasis. “I miss summer. We haven’t been back that long, and it’s already cold.”

“Yeah. Alaric is going to have to start messaging when he’s outside and just wait for us rather than the other way around,” I reply.

As we get out of the car, having parked it in the lot by the gates, he says, “You can tell him that he likes being told what to do about as much as you do, and that’s not at all.”

“Fuck off,” I grin, grabbing my bag and locking the car.

“You know I’m right,” Rage replies.

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