“Oh my god that was so fucking cool.”

Silence, perforated by feet pounding on dirt and crunchy dead grass.

“Holy shit that was better than I thought.  So fucking COOL.”

More silence and more running.

“NAME_1, did you hear me?  You were awesome, man!”

“Yeah, shut up, I heard you,” NAME_1 said, almost out of breath.  His body was accustomed to sitting in a gaming chair, not running breakneck speed around town.  NAME_2 was the athlete of the two of them, a running back for the Central Ogden High School (go Tigers!) and one of the worst people NAME_1 had ever known.  Also a NAME_3.  And a NAME_4.  NAME_1 liked to slur “NAME_4” at every infrequent opportunity around NAME_2, who had not yet caught on to NAME_1’s passive-aggressive mumbles.  NAME_1 was part of the region’s 4% Catholic population, a rarity in Utah which made him as much of a target as his puny stature and inability to look anyone in the eye.  

NAME_1 imagined high school peer pressure would involve heavy duty drugs.  Or sex.  He would much prefer his daydreams of NAME_5 or NAME_6 pressuring him into a blowjob, than the reality of sweating in threadbare jeans at 3am trying to keep up with the school’s worst bully in a decade.  That last bit wasn’t NAME_1’s opinion but that of Central’s long-serving principal.  

If NAME_1 had ever gotten in enough trouble to meet the principal, and the topic of NAME_2 came up, they would likely have come to an agreement.  NAME_2 was muscular, charming, and, a vile classmate to most guys smaller, weaker and less popular than him.  Guys like NAME_1.

NAME_2’s abuse followed a predictable pattern, mostly calling NAME_1 out for embarrassing personal features, loudly and within earshot of any cute girl.  It’s as though he knew that the presence of a hour helped amplify deeper mortification since the exchange folds a civilian as an observer into the conflict.  

"Dude, that was so sick.  I can't believe you did that.". NAME_2's smile made him look more charming than usual.  NAME_1 couldn't help cracking a small grin, and it took a moment to get himself under composure.  "You've got balls kid."

Leave it to NAME_2 to demean him at a moment like this.  "We're the same age NAME_7," NAME_1 said.  This was his first attempt at both sassing back at a bully but using the diminutive version of a name that, as far as anyone knew, only NAME_2's girlfriend used.  

NAME_2 paused for an extra second, looking back toward the overpass, eyes glittering.  "You want a beer?  My old man is passed out by now."

"No thanks, I need to go."

"Why?"

Pet