THEY’D HAD NAMES, OF course. Rusty, Jack, and Colton—otherwise known as the Benton Boys. But their individual identities had long since been subsumed by the group, the pack—I’m sure if you would have caught any single one of them alone they’d have been just as agreeable as could be. The rub, of course, was that they were never alone—that was something those who challenged them learned quickly. I learned it the day I was to meet Colton at the flagpole after school to settle our differences and he didn’t show; which left Aaron and I to hoof it home feeling both victorious and relieved, at least, that is, until we rounded his block —and found them waiting for us. All three of them.
I wish I could say I was shocked that Aaron got the worst of it—it was my fight, after all, not his—but the tru
