My Counterattack System After Reborn

Chapter 19: Todd Takes A Nap

Todd leaned back and picked up his textbook, and as he began to read, he thought – If Mr. Kang saw this, he would not believe his eyes. This was because, until recently, he had shown no aptitude for math.

From where he was sitting, Todd could see the front gate. Caleb was sitting on a bench in front of the school. Standing behind him were the boys that had troubled Todd earlier. On the lawn, there were more than forty men, and only a few of them were wearing school uniforms. They were a fierce-looking bunch, and the students leaving the school were terrified of them.  

"Damn it!” the tattooed kid cursed. “Where is that piece of s**t? He had better not have run away!” Todd had shamed him, and he was anxious to regain his pride.

Caleb on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber. He looked at the tattooed kid and said, “You are young and impatient. Todd and I have fought in this school for two years and he has not been defeated by me, so why would he choose the coward’s way today? He is playing a game, here. That is all. If we can figure out the rules, we can beat him.”

Of course, the only reason that they had not faced each other before was that Todd did not even know who Caleb was. Todd had been the prince of D.S.G. Unlimited, and Caleb was only nominally rich. The only reason that anyone even knew who he was and respected him was that he was Zachery’s lap dog.  

The tattooed man was a healer, so he nodded his head and agreed to everything Caleb said, and all of the others followed his example.

Caleb smiled. He enjoyed having his ass kissed, and with an expression of enjoyment on his face, he closed his eyes and decided to rest until Todd arrived. An hour quickly passed, though, and it became apparent to him that his rival was not going to show up. Did Todd really escape? – he wondered.  He decided to keep waiting, but by the time the second hour had passed, he began to feel very foolish, and when he looked at the healers, he felt very embarrassed. If Todd had run away, he knew that he would be a laughingstock. Nobody would ever let him live this day down.

Shame quickly turned into anger, and Caleb shouted instructions to the closest healer:   "You! Go into Todd's class and see if he is there!” 

Without saying a word, the healer ran into the school. He was gone for about ten minutes, and when he returned, he said, "Boss, Todd is asleep in his classroom!"

"Asleep?" Caleb stood up abruptly, grabbed the healer by the collar, and shouted into his face.” Are you f*****g kidding me?!?!”

"Ah... Boss… I saw it with my own eyes." The healer was trembling from fear.

"Damn it!" Caleb pushed the heeler straight to the ground. Then he raised his fist into the air like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, and he shouted, "Todd, You son of a b***h! How dare you tease me?!?!" 

Caleb was not stupid.  He knew that Todd was not tired and that the reason he was sleeping was that he wanted to tease him. He thought for a while and he turned and grabbed the tattooed kid by the collar. "Are you sure that Todd said to meet me at the school gate after school?"

“Those w-were his w-words,” the tattooed kid stuttered. He could see that Caleb was looking for someone to take his frustration out on, and he was terrified. He turned to the boys that had been with him earlier and said, “You guys also heard what Todd said. Right?”  

The other boys all nodded, and one of them said, “That is exactly what he said. This is not our fault."

Caleb was outraged. He still could not believe that Todd had been taking a nap this whole time.  He walked up to the boy that had spoken, and he punched him in the face. “What are you implying?” he roared. “If it was not your fault, then whose fault was it. Are you suggesting that this is my fault?!?!”

The boy did not reply, and Caleb continued to wail on him until his energy was depleted. By the time he was done, the kid’s face looked like a pulverized piece of meat, and nobody dared to speak. They were too afraid that they would end up just like this poor bastard.

For a long time, the area in front of the school was incredibly quiet and everyone began to feel increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, the blond boy stepped forward and said, “Why don’t I take a few of these guys in with me? We can give that little s**t a rude awakening that he will remember.”

Caleb smiled. He liked this idea. He was hesitant, though, and he needed some time to think it through. He did not want to do anything that would bring shame to his family.  His father owned Edmonton's leading coal industry, and they paid a lot of taxes and fees every year. Because of this, he had certain privileges at school, but they did allow him to run around like some kind of outlaw. There were restrictions. He could beat Todd half to death outside the school gate, but it would cause problems if he did it on school property. To make matters worse, not even half of his men were students. They were all healers and hired thugs. If he brought them on to school property, he would be in a world of trouble. Even if the school did not punish him, the government would. Worst case scenario: He would go to jail for an exceptionally long time.  

The odds of Caleb coming out on top began to feel unbelievably bad. There was surveillance in the school, and if he brought his men in, his actions could even hurt his dad, and then he would be no better off than he thought that Todd was. Of course, if he dismissed his men and walked away, he would lose face with everyone that he knew.

Another hour passed in silence and one of his men finally spoke up. “I mean, no offense,” he said. “But what is the plan here? Are we going to sit here all night…?”

If the man had asked this question an hour ago, Caleb would have beaten him half to death. But his anger had simmered away, and once it was gone, he had been able to think clearly again. Caleb chuckled. He had been thinking about this question for the last hour, and he had come up with an answer. He opened his mouth, and once he finished explaining what the next step was, everyone around him was grinning.