No Chance for Redemption

Kieran leaned back into the canvas chair and swung his long legs onto the heavy oak desk sitting in front on him. His eyes flitted about the room, roving over objects before resting on some sort of slideshow on the computer that was currently playing. Slides played slide after slide, as people’s faces faded to be replaced by a new bunch of faces.

It reminded him of a video yearbook thing that his kindergarten class did. He was sitting with Sean and Natasha, and everyone else was sitting in groups of three. Dillon Cassidy, Ryder Nicholls and Owen Martinez were also sitting together. They had always been considered cool; they were the group of friends that other kids didn’t touch. They were put a pedestal, very much like today, and if you got to talk to one of them, you were considered cool for the rest of the day.

The most unlikely people sat together and people like Derek Rivard were paired up with Max Holliday and Braden Kennedy, a combination you’d never seen today because Max was a drug addict and Derek and Braden would never take drugs. There was also Whitney Rhodes with Nick Stryker and Julian McDonald, another unlikely pairing since Whitney was a whore, Nick was part of the Abstinence Club and Julian was part of God’s next generation preachers or some shit.

The only groups that remained constant throughout the years were him, Natasha and Sean except for the addition of Lucy to their group and when Kieran left Riverdale in seventh grade to attend Kingston Prep. And of course, the trio that were made up of Dillon, Ryder and Owen. The class had to play a game to remember people’s names. Kieran remembered Dillon had compared his name to the town of Dillon, Connecticut and mentioned his mom was born there and had named him after the town.

Owen had said his name was like, “Oh win” and Ryder had compared his name to riders. They always had been considered exclusive and cool, even back then, but after Kieran came back from Kingston back to Riverdale, those three seemed to go through a major personality transplant.

Dillon became some sort of psychopath. He did the research for AP Psychology last year and they all seemed to fit him pretty well. Superficial charm lulling you into a false sense of security. A lack of remorse and empathy. Manipulation. Narcissism. Aggressive and violent behaviour. Disregard for the safety of others. Instead of the cheeky and funny kid Ryder used to be, he became a man-whore and more of a rebel. He talked back to teachers and smoked in the school bathrooms while Owen seemed to emulate Dillon more and more. They still remained the group that nobody touched, but it was all for different reasons now.

Kieran repressed a shudder dancing down his spine, as he thought of the confrontation that took place between him and Dillon. Though he tried not to show it, he was scared shitless. His palms were sweating furiously and beads of sweat seemed to trickle down his back. He refused to let the other boy know he was scared, but he knew that Dillon had sensed it. Of course, he was Dillon Cassidy and he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere to where he was now, without preying on other people’s fear.

People started to file in the room and Kieran let his Converse-clad feet drop to the floor with a thud. Lastly, Sean, Natasha and Lucy crowded into the room. He cleared his throat and about twenty different pairs of eyes turned around to stare at him expectantly.

“So, you’re probably all wondering why I decided to call you to the magazine committee room for a meeting. I don’t blame you, I would be rather curious myself. I’ll just like to thank Emma Pearson,” he gestured toward a short, bespectacled redhead who smiled as she pushed her glasses up her nose, “for letting us use this room for a very important meeting.”

Kieran’s hazel eyes roved around the room, a couple of people were getting restless and kept fidgeting around as he spoke. “You’re all probably wondering what on earth is so important? Well, let me tell you. Two simple words, really. Dillon Cassidy.”

At those two words, the room fell quiet. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. He smiled with satisfaction, pleased that he finally had their attention at last.

“So. We all know who he is, there’s no need for me to go into detail about him. We know the type of things that he does to other people. We know what happens when we don’t play along with his stupid mind games. Which is why I suggest that we kind of start up an anti-Dillon sort of group.”

A loud snort broke the heavy silence and instantaneously, the crowd turned around to see Max Holliday leaning against the wall, smirking. What the hell was he doing there? It was a well-known fact that Max was close to Dillon and his friends, although he wasn’t exactly bosom buddies, but Kieran knew for a fact that Max often hooked Ryder up with weed in dingy, dim parking lots after school. Suddenly he wondered whether if the rest of the people at the meeting were actually interested in his plan or whether they approached it with a hidden agenda. Maybe Max was a spy, sent by Dillon.

“Yes…?” Kieran asked, eyebrows raised.

“I mean, man, no offence or anythin’ but this is bullshit. I mean, it’s Dillon Cassidy, we’re talkin’ about,” Max replied, shrugging.

A couple of other people murmured in agreement. He sighed, running his hand through his hair.

“I didn’t mean anti-Dillon, as in try to bash him up or whatever. I mean, try to foil his plans before he actually carries them out. Like, if you see posters or whatever, rip them down –”

“Like what you did?” Max interjected.

“Yeah, why not? It’s not really anti-Dillon per say, but more like actually standing up to him. Try to help out his victims afterwards instead of just leaving them stranded. Actually help them get back on their feet instead of just walking past them like nothing’s wrong,” Kieran finished, bracing himself for the usual moroseness and dim silence that tended to greet his statements after he finished talking.

He closed his eyes, ready for a retort from Max or somebody else before being aware of a strange background nose. They quickly flew open, and realised to his amazement that the consensus actually seemed to be in agreement. People were nodding, thoughtful expressions written all over their faces.

“That’s actually a really good idea,” Derek Rivard piped up. “We can’t let that scumbag Dillon always get scot-free, he needs to get what’s coming to him.”

Kieran felt a grin spread over his face as people seconded Derek’s statements. “Great, I’m all glad you approve. So, we’ve all been here long enough so how about we have another meeting this time next week?”

People started to mumble in agreement as chairs were scraped back against the floors and people began to gather their things before heading out of the door. Max was one of the last people to leave and as he left, Kieran caught his eye.

“So, I was surprised you came along,” he said, “didn’t expect that.”

Max shrugged his thin shoulders, pulling the hood of his jacket over his bleached blond hair. “Yeah, me neither, man. But you know, Dillon keeps talkin’ to me like I’m stupid or somethin’. We’re all sick of it; we gotta do something, man.”

Kieran nodded and Max flashed a quick smile at him before heading out of the door. He smiled to himself; the meeting was quite a success, despite its rocky start. People would brand together to bring Dillon and co. down and who knows? Maybe new friendships and alliances would be formed. Vive la resistance.