Tax season is coming up and I'm tempted to just ignore it. I don't want my money going to help that maniac in the White House do Putin's dirty work in destroying what held the world together for decades. What we had wasn't perfect, but wrecking it for a dictator is no way to improve it.
Rett is getting a glimmer of just how crazy his idea is, kidnapping Nicky to use as his own. And realizes he's always had this streak in him of brutal stubbornness mixed with a willing to use violence to fight back.
It stems from a time in 8th grade, when he used to write sexy stories and sell them for a dollar to other boys in the school. Two schoolyard bullies got one of the stories and threatened to turn him into the principal if he didn't give them half of what he made. He told them, "Go ahead."
So they did, and he got into huge trouble. Dragged into the principal's office. His parents were brought in. He was called a pornographer. He said nothing in response. Then he was told if he was caught doing it, again, he'd be expelled instead of merely suspended for two weeks.
He loved those two weeks off because he hated that school, but when he returned the bullies started in on him. A pack that included one girl who rode the same bus as him. Going home, she'd get on after he did then would smack him in the head with a ring she wore. It had a large, sharp rhinestone on it wwhich she'd shift around to her palm side, to hide what she was doing..
He told her to stop. She wouldn't, so come Friday when she did it, again, he smacked her in the side. She hit him again and he smacked her, again. This continued until blood trailed down his face. When he got home, he said nothing about it, even as his mother freaked out of the blood.
Monday, the pack of bullies surrounded him and howled and threatened and snarled until the lead one pushed him...not noticing Rett had a sharp pencil in his hand. He jerked his arm and rammed the pencil into the boy's left bicep.
Blood flew. Screams of pain brought teachers over. Rett was hauled into the principal's office and told he was going to jail for assault. But this time he said it was an accident. The bully had shoved him and his arm jerked, that was all. And one teacher who'd actually seen...it but was doing nothing to stop it...was dumb enough to say, "He didn't shove you that hard."
Which backed Rett's claim up. No charges filed. Still a two-week suspension. But after that, the bullies left him alone.
Nicky flicks the switch on that attitude, in Rett, when he pulls an asshole stunt while zooming past on the bike pathway. Nothing major...but just enough.
And then it's to hell in a handbasket.
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