No Chance for Redemption

Keiran Murphy walked towards the growing crowd standing around near the edge of the school’s pool. Obviously there was a spectacle going on, and the word spectacle at Riverdale High was always associated with a certain trio of boys, who swaggered around the school as if they owned it.

Well, in all fairness, they did own the school. Teachers always turned a blind eye on their activities, not wishing to be the boys’ next victims and nobody dared to stand up to them. As Keiran elbowed his way to the front of the crowd, his suspicions were confirmed.

First of all, you had Owen Martinez. He was small and skinny with buckteeth, not someone that you think would able to help rule the school, but he was definitely feared. At least 85% of the school could take on Owen in a fight, but nobody dared to. Why would they, knowing that punishment was inevitable and that it was sure to be something gruesome and prolonged to maximise the victim’s suffering?

Then you had Ryder Nicholls, who often sported a grin. A grin from the satisfaction of helping torment countless people, no doubt. As Ryder pushed his blond bangs off his face, Keiran could practically see a couple of girls mentally swoon, including two of his good friends Natasha and Lucy. He had tried countless times to explain to them that Ryder was a man whore but they didn’t believe him.

Keiran had to give him credit, he didn’t date girls from their school and that he was quiet, discreet about it and didn’t go after everyone with a vagina, which prevented him from getting the terrible reputation he deserved with the girls. In fact, it was his selectivity that kept him from being discovered. Keiran often saw Ryder accompanied with lots of different girls in shady parking lots after school doing all sorts of unmentionable things. Some were blonde, some brunette, and some redheaded but they all had something in common: they were smoking hot. Not simply pretty, but hotness incarnate.

Last of all, you had Dillon Cassidy, the leader of the trio. Dillon Cassidy. Just the sound of that name brought shivers down the spines of everyone in the whole entire school, including some of the teachers. He was quiet; quieter than his compatriots, but his quietness was something to be feared. Dillon never yelled, but he didn’t need to. Why bother yelling, when the sound of your voice made everyone sit up and listen in fear? He was hands down, the biggest douche bag that Keiran had come across. It sickened him to see people being controlled by Dillon like puppets, and that he was the puppeteer, pulling their strings.

Dillon Cassidy reminded Keiran of some of the boys at his old school, Kingston Prep. They all had superiority complexes but that came from the fact that they all had bucket loads of money to burn and had villas in Italy, while they holidayed in the Hamptons during the summer. Dillon was worse, though. He held the same arrogance as the boys from Kingston, but that arrogance came from the fact that he knew people were scared of him and knowing that he was just that good. It was the fact that Dillon ruled the school and had everyone in his grasp, which made him different to the other boys, who were only powerful because they had rich parents.

Hayden Conroy was lying in front of the boys’ feet, whimpering. As Dillon advanced towards him, the other boy shrank back in fear, as he inched even closer towards the pool.

“No, Dillon! Please! I’m sorry! I swear I’ll do it if you let me go! I’m sorry! Please!” Hayden pleaded, his voice cracking on the last word.

Dillon smiled, a truly evil grin lighting up his features. “Hayden. You failed to complete the task I set you,” he said, softly.

He and his friends held the power of the dreaded pen and paper, giving random tasks to unfortunate students and punished them for failure. Keiran was unable to comprehend why they did that sort of stuff, but he could guess why. It was for their amusement, it made them chuckle to see the school dance and twitch for them.

“And you know the consequences if you fail to finish the task. But I see, it must have escaped your mind? Never mind,” Dillon continued.

He stepped back, and Hayden’s shoulders seem to sag in relief. The other boy’s lips twisted into a smirk, and Owen and Ryder both looked at each other. Keiran supposed they must have been communicating telepathically, because after they looked at each other and without a word they rushed towards Hayden. The poor boy barely had a chance to flinch as Ryder grabbed his legs, while Owen took care of his arms and started to carry him towards the pool.

It was common knowledge that Hayden could not swim, as he was often excused from swimming sports and sat in the bleachers or the change rooms as everyone was forced to get into the water. Hayden kicked and flailed wildly, his arms thrashing madly. He went into the pool. Face first. He remained under the water for a very long time, as the bubbles disrupted the quiet stillness of the water. The boys laughed loudly, Owen louder than the others.

Somehow, Hayden managed to surface, choking and spluttering as he clung down to the pool’s edge. Dillon bent down, until he was eye to eye with him, and said, “No means no.”

Keiran couldn’t help but feel sick, as he watched Owen plunge the other boy’s head down again. It made him sick to see the other boys take advantage of Hayden’s fear of the water, and torment him mercilessly with it. They were like lions, once they sensed your fear, they would pounce. They were bloodthirsty and merciless, and nobody wanted to give them something to thirst after.

Principal Aguilar came strolling by, and Keiran shot him a look, wondering if he was going to do anything. He just walked by, not even shooting the spectacle a look. The principal was pretty much the boys’ bitch; he was deaf to complaints about the trio. Nobody stood a chance. A couple of people eyed the principal but nobody said anything. Not a single one.

The bell rang, and the crowd started dissolving slowly as they started to file into the school halls, pulling stuff out of their lockers and heading off to class as if nothing had happened. Keiran hung behind, as did Natasha and Lucy and another friend of theirs, Sean. As Ryder walked by, he winked at the girls. As soon as he was out of sight, the girls dissolved into giggles.

“He’s so hot!” Natasha said, in between giggles.

Keiran rolled his eyes. “Not really.”

“C’mon, Kee. You gotta admit it. It’s not like you’re blind, you’re ga-” Lucy started to speak, but was then cut off by Keiran.

“Ssh!” he snapped, whipping his head around for anyone in sight. Luckily there weren’t any people around to overhear.

He was gay, and he had no problem with it. Though, it wasn’t something he particularly wanted to scream out to the whole world, especially not at Riverdale. Keiran was willing to bet that if Dillon and co. ever found out, that his life would be over. He didn’t particularly want to tell them in the first place but the first time they had ever come over to his house, his mom had mentioned that it was delightful that he was making new friends, considering that old friends from before had judged him on his orientation. Keiran had quickly shushed her, and made Lucy, Natasha and Sean swear not to tell anyone. A year and a half on, nobody had brought up the fact that he was gay and he was grateful for that. Sean walked over to Hayden, and the others followed him.

Sean stuck out his hand, and hoisted Hayden to shore. “You okay, buddy?”

Hayden nodded, but he was visibly shaken. His normally tan skin was pale, and his teeth were chattering wildly.

“You better go,” he mumbled, and quickly walked off.

Nobody dared to stand up to Dillon and the others, though people did try to help the victims once Dillon and co. were out of sight. But it was too little, too late. But then again, the goal at Riverdale High was to survive and look out for themselves only. It contrasted with Kingston Academy, where people focused on getting into Ivy League colleges, hoping for a six-figure paying job when they were older. Here at Riverdale, people just looked forward to graduation, where they could leave all the bitter events plaguing their memories of high school.

Keiran made his way to English class, where Dillon and his friends sat in the back of the classroom. He took his usual seat next to Tyler Reynolds, as the teacher marked his name off the attendance sheet. A couple of minutes later, Hayden Conroy walked in. He was no longer dripping wet, but his clothes and hair was still damp and he reeked strongly of chlorine. As he walked past the trio, they started to snicker loudly, loudly enough to catch the teacher’s attention, who shot a reprimanding look in their direction but failed to do anything else.

Keiran stole a glance at the back row. As he felt him staring, Dillon slowly turned his head and looked right at Keiran. The other boy’s navy blue eyes were drilling right into him, and it took all of Keiran’s strength not to look away. The other boy continued to stare at him emotionlessly until a small smirk spread over his lips, and Keiran wrenched his gaze away, unable to look for a second longer. He turned to face the front, a chill darting down his spine.