Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 16:14:43 EST From: Madasonaysha@aol.com Subject: "I Hate Anthony" chapter one Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, as are all of the characters. This story is about the conflicts and inner turmoil between two teen boys, one Black and one Latino and how they overcome them. If that bothers you then I suggest you don't read. ****************************************************************************** AUTHORS NOTE: Hello all! This is my second story on Nifty. My other story, "Around My Way", last updated December 21st, should be updated within the week. As always, you can reach me at _Madasonaysha@aol.com_ (mailto:Madasonaysha@aol.com) or _Madisonaysha@Yahoo.com_ (mailto:Madisonaysha@Yahoo.com) But PLEASE USE THE AOL ACCOUNT FIRST. I will ALWAYS respond : ) A special thank you goes out to Rock Hunter and Metis (yeah I told you I would use your dumb nickname....Loser! LOL) for their editing. And Rock, a kiss for the laughter that you keep me in! It is appreciated! ****************************************************************************** I HATE ANTHONY By Maddy A. CHAPTER ONE: IT WASN'T ALWAYS BAD "Move out of my way shit face!" He screamed as he walked off down the hallway laughing with the rest of his jock friends. Anthony Ramirez thought of himself as a God among the other students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. He played both football and basketball, but he was no star player in either. His cocky persona and conceited attitude would lead you to believe otherwise. At six foot three and one hundred and ninety pounds of pure athletic Cuban muscle, he was easily an intimidator, but he didn't really consider himself a bully. Sure he would make fun of a couple people and sometimes he had a tendency to rough them up, but it was always done in good fun. He didn't really dislike most of the guys he would rag on, all except one. He really couldn't stand this one guy. He never did anything too extreme to anyone though. He was walking off to grab a smoke in the bathroom and who should he run into? None other than Brian Washington. Brian was on the small side. At sixteen, he stood at five foot seven and was slender coming in at just shy of one hundred fifty pounds, but he wasn't concerned with any of that. He still had almost two years before he would graduate and figured that he would grow at least another inch or two before then. His skin was as smooth and brown as freshly ground cocoa, rich and brown with a subtle hue of honey. His eyes were the color of sunset, deep, rich and brown. He was quiet until you got to know him. To others he was known as the shy boy with the dimples, but to his friends he was known as Dizzy. His quick wit and ability to make you laugh at yourself without realizing it warranted the nickname. He didn't really fit in at school and was made fun off. He would rather rock out to Interpol and Tears For Fears than bop his head to Jay Z. He loved hip-hop too, but he equally loved quirky rock bands. In his school, if you didn't wear the uniform of urban attire and didn't know your hip-hop knowledge than you just didn't belong. He was use to the teasing and he didn't let it get to him too much. He had a small group of friends who understood him and that was all that really mattered. He was running late for class when he bumped into the one person that made his life hell, the one and only Anthony Ramirez. 'Why do people like him'? Brian would ask himself repeatedly. If high school were the monarchy then Anthony would be royalty. He had dated some of the prettiest girls in school and Brian couldn't see what kind of charm that asshole had. Brian didn't always hate Anthony. In fact, at one time they were best friends. They grew up around the corner from each other. They met in kindergarten and had been friends since. Their mothers raised them both alone, so the only male influences in their lives were each other. Both their mothers worked long hours and would leave the two boys home alone together. They would get together everyday after school and watch cartoons when they should have been doing homework. Brian was always the more laid back of the two and Anthony was his antithesis. He was always leading Brian around their urban neighborhood just looking to get into some trouble. He once persuaded Brian to break into an empty apartment in his building so the two of them could have start a clubhouse. They almost burned the place down when Anthony set off a smoke bomb. They were the best of friends until they got to the sixth grade. Anthony had always played sports, but it seemed that lately he would rather hang out with his new friends from the basketball court. Instead of coming over to Brian's to play Nintendo, Anthony would go to the court and shoot ball and never invited him to come. Over the first few months of sixth grade, it seemed that Anthony was slowly pulling himself away and Brian didn't understand why. Then one day, Anthony sat at a different table during lunch leaving Brian alone. There was no room at Anthony's new table and Brian didn't have many other friends so he ate his lunch in solitude, watching Anthony joke around with his new friends. Brian didn't know what he had done to make his best friend stop liking him. Whenever he would ask Anthony what was wrong, he would always say that everything was fine between them, but Brian knew better. He just couldn't figure out why his best friend didn't like him anymore. Things came to a head on a late fall afternoon. Through out the years Brian would get teased like any normal kid would, but Anthony would always stick up for him so the teasing never got too bad. Brian was on his way to eat his lunch in the Library. He started doing that when Anthony stopped sitting with him. On his way there a few guys who he knew hung out with Anthony cornered him. He only knew his main tormentors name. Carlos had him backed into a corner and was throwing insults at Brian left and right. "What the hell are you wearing? Why the fuck your hair so damn nappy?" Brian mentally kicked himself for wearing that Nirvana T-shirt to school that day. It was his favorite band at the time and it was a gift from his Mom. His hair wasn't nappy just a little unkempt like most ten year olds were. Brian stood there for most of the lunch period as Carlos and his two buddies took cheap shots at him. He just stood there in silence. He didn't want to risk saying something to irritate them and give them any more reason to keep picking on him. He was on the brink of tears when he saw his best friend Beetle coming down the hallway. Beetle would make them leave him alone. Beetle was the nickname that Brian gave Anthony after he heard Ms. Ramirez refer to her son as Ant. No one, but Brian was allowed to call him that. If they tried he wouldn't answer. He only would when Brian did. Brian felt relief wash over him as he looked up and his sunset brown eyes met the winter green eyes of Beetle's. Carlos followed Brian's gaze and saw Anthony. He waved to his good friend from the basketball court and called him over. Anthony just walked past them with a smile on his face, shaking his head left to right like the whole situation was a funny. Brian was devastated. His Beetle just left him high and dry. He was so hurt that he didn't even hear any more of Carlos's taunts. That day, Beetle became Anthony again. Brian locked himself up in his room that night with only his thoughts to keep him company. He went over the days events and came to the conclusion that he could no longer count on Anthony as much as he thought that he could. He had let him down. He was mad at him and in a ten-year-old mind, being angry with someone was a good enough reason to end a lifelong friendship. The next day, Anthony was hanging around with the same friends of his that had picked on Brian. Anthony saw him in the hallway and waved. Brian rolled his eyes and kept walking like he didn't see him. They weren't friends anymore so why should he waste his time speaking to him. If its one thing that Anthony hated, it was to be ignored. All of his friends started to clown him, calling him a punk for letting the little shit play him out. He stormed up to Brian. "What the hell is wrong with you!" Anthony screamed in Brian's face. Brian stood silent in shock from Anthony's outburst. For a moment he wanted to laugh. Anthony's milky face was turning red from his screaming and the contrast with his dark green eyes and jet-black hair was a comical sight. The longer that Brian looked into his former friends face, the angrier he became and he got lost in his thoughts of betrayal. Anthony pushed Brian to get his attention. "Hey I'm talking to you!" Anthony yelled. Before he could stop himself, Brian lounged forward and pushed Anthony back. It wasn't a hard push, but Anthony was caught off guard and fell back. All the kids in the hallway started to chant FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! So Anthony gave the public what they wanted. He grabbed Brian and put him in a headlock. Even at ten, eleven-year-old Anthony still had Brian beat by twenty pounds and four inches. Brian was no match for him. The two boys found themselves rolling around on the floor. Anthony had Brian pinned down and his fist repeatedly collided with Brian's slender face. The fight only lasted a minute or two, but to Brian it felt like an eternity. His face was sore and he could taste the blood in his mouth. He never would have thought Anthony would hurt him like he had. The pain in his face was no match for the one in his heart. The two boys were brought to the Principal's office and their mothers were called. Ms. Washington and Ms. Ramirez were shocked that their sons had been fighting with each other. Ms. Ramirez knew her son could be a little rough at times, but she couldn't believe that he would hurt his best friend like he had. If anything, he was over protective of Brian, his best friend. Brian's face was swollen and he had a black eye. His lip was busted and a small trail of dried blood lay trickled down his chin. Ms. Washington knew her son and there was no way that this fight was his fault. The two women began to argue thus causing a rift in their own six-year friendship. Both boys got suspended for three days. While he was home, Brian gathered every picture, toy and what ever else reminded him of Anthony and put it in a shoe-box. He put the box in the back of his closet where it still remained. As much as it hurt him to do it, Brian was going to try to forget he ever knew Anthony. When they returned to school, Anthony didn't sit next to Brian in math class like he normally would. He choose to sit next to Carlos in the back of the class. Brian couldn't care less or so he would lead Anthony to believe. They threw spit balls at Brian during the whole period. From that day on, Anthony and his friends would take any chance that they got to torture Brian. Brian rarely would fight back. He saw no point because if he tried he knew they would have just made more fun of him. If it wasn't bad enough that his former best friend would pick on him, Anthony's new friends joined in. Sixth grade pretty much sucked for Brian. Through out the years things got better, but not by much. He still got picked on, but at sixteen he was able to deal with it better. If it weren't for his few friends, high school would have been unbearable. Brian was late for his favorite class, English. His teacher Mr. Rice was more than a teacher to him, he was more like a mentor and Brian knew he wouldn` t be upset with him for being a few minutes late. Mr. Rice was in his early forties and still held his passion for teaching. They both loved classic literature, but for very different reasons. Brian found that many of the classics held strong home-sexual undertones. His favorite book, "The Catcher and the Rye", just a prime example. Brian's best friend Tracy was in the middle of one of her many crises. They had met in the seventh grade when her family moved to from Texas. She never went out of her way to make friends, but something about Brian changed that in her. He looked so lonely eating his lunch in the computer room. It was like she felt this instant need to protect him. It was probably just her mothering instincts. She was the eldest of three brothers and the daughter of a Drill Sergeant so she had a tendency to be bossy at times. She was one of those girls who just always had to have a boyfriend. It didn't matter how he treated her as long as she had one. Today's drama was courtesy of her latest failed relationship. Against the many protests of Brian, she had decided to date Carlos. He was captain of the football team, had coal black eyes and short brown hair. He was tall, dark and tough. Every girls dream. It didn' t matter that he treated her best friend like shit. Truth be told, Brian was upset that she decided to date Carlos and he let her know that. Tracy was a smart girl, but she was dumb when it came to guys so Brian pardoned her. Carlos had taken her virginity and now he was finished with her. "He told me that he loved me!" Tracy cried, leaning her face down in the crook of Brian's neck. She was a little taller than him and just as slender. Her deep brown skin and coal black eyes were reflections of her Native American and Black heritage. "I know Tee Tee, don`t sweat him. He's not worth your tears." Brian said soothingly. He ran his hand up and down her back to comfort her. "God she is so skinny", he thought to himself. "He said that he needed some space. Space! He's fucking seventeen how much damn space can he need?" Her tears had stopped and now she was just angry. " And you know what the worse part was? He said all this in front of his stupid friends!" "I already told you he was an asshole. You can do so much better than him." "You know what Dizzy, you're right. Fuck that fool." She replied and attempted to wipe the moisture off her face. "Well, it's too late for that, you already did." Brian said with a straight face. Tracy laughed as she playfully punched his shoulder. He had made her smile so his job was done. "Oh shit dude, we gotta get to class. I'll see you at lunch." Brian watched Tracy walk down the hallway. She was beautiful, funny and smart so why did she always set her self up for heartbreak he wondered. He took his time getting to class. Although it was his favorite class with his favorite teacher, he dreaded going. For all the years they had stopped being friends, he had managed to share only one class with Anthony and that was in the sixth grade. Now junior year, he was stuck with Anthony all year in English. As he turned the corner that lead to his class, his face came in to contact with a very hard chest. The smell of sweet cologne filled his nostrils and the familiar scent made him recoil in annoyance. "Why don't you watch were the fuck you going punk!" Anthony screamed down at Brian. Brian made an attempt to walk past Anthony, but was shoved backwards. Anthony hated to be ignored and that little punk Brian was trying his patience. It seemed like Brian went out his way to annoy him. Brian stood there silent, but he was already familiar with the routine. He knew the sooner he gave in and gave Anthony the fight he was looking for, the quicker the ordeal would be over. "I need to get to class." Brian said in a monotone voice. He averted his eyes from Anthony's and took a step back. He was uncomfortable being so close to him. Anthony took a step forward so he was once again towering over Brian. "I need to get to class. You are such a fucking geek." "Can I go now?" Brian asked impatiently. "Who's stopping you?" Brian once again moved around Anthony and to his surprise he was able to get by. He was only a few feet from the door when Anthony blocked his way again. "What do you want?" Brian asked irritated. "You got a smart mouth for a little shit." Anthony said gruffly. His voice was filled with the thick roughness that growing up in his neighborhood provided. "I need to go." Brian said defiantly. He tried not to let his true emotions show. He pretended that the teasing and the bullying didn't bother him, but it did. It's hard not to feel affected when someone goes out of his or her way to make your life a living hell. Anthony stepped even closer to him. For a brief moment a familiar feeling ran through both their bodies, but they both quickly pushed it aside. "Move out of my way shit face." Anthony screamed down at him. He heard laughter behind him and saw his good buddy Carlos walking down the hall with some of their friends. Carlos invited him to share a smoke in the bathroom. Anthony glared down at Brian again and pretended he was going to punch him. Brian flinched slightly and heard chuckles coming from Carlos and the lackeys that he was with. As Anthony walked past Brian he roughly bumped his shoulder into him. Brian walked into class and sat down. One thought popped into his head. " I hate Anthony!"........ Copyright 2005 **OKAY PEOPLE, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK OF THIS ONE SO FAR. _Madasonaysha@aol.com_ (mailto:Madasonaysha@aol.com)