Burn it Down

~Luke's POV~

"Fuck no! Absolutely not!" I shouted at Tyler. Of course we'd not been careful enough and Tiffany fucking heard. Now she wanted to be part of it.

"I know, Luke. I KNOW!" He seethed at me. "But think of what will happen if we don't fucking let her do it. Think of the people she'll tell. Her parents, our parents. The police." He stopped and his eyes met mine, his lips locked in a tight line. "Megan."

"God dammit, Tyler! How the fuck did we expect to do this thing if we can't even keep it a secret!" I whipped around my basement. My parents weren't home yet, and wouldn't be for a few more hours. "Maybe that's a sign we shouldn't even fucking do it at all. Hmmm?" I turned, asking the question with my eyebrows and shrugging at him. I ran my hands through my hair which I'd been growing out since even before summer break. It was a few inches long now and shaggy, although Megan made sure it was always cut into a style versus natural shag. "What about that Tyler?"

"You don't want to do this thing? Fine. But I know that you do. Do you remember how it fucking ate at you so bad? Remember how it still eats you so bad you're willing to leave Megan to do it." Tyler said, his voice calm, but filled with tension.

I paused. "Don't say another fucking word about Megan. At least I was smart enough to stay away from her when I was talking about doing this god damn thing!" I hissed. I took a sharp inhale of air and turned around, running both hands through my hair again. "GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled, punching a stereo speaker off its shelf. It clattered to the floor and broke.

"Chill the fuck out, Luke. You're not a fucking child." Tyler's voice was smug. "Besides. It'll be easier this way. Think of how many more do you think we can get if you add a person?" He postulated.

"I really don't give a fuck." I said, turning to him, my eyebrows shrugging. "Do you think she's going to be willing to kill herself at the end of it all, like we did? Megan is the only thing in my life, and if I want to do this thing at all, that just proves she deserves something better than me. So in short, my life is fucking meaningless."

"Do you think I haven't thought about that?" Tyler's finger pointed to his chest. "I was going to leave my girl too, Luke. Don't fucking forget that."

"Yeah but I bet yours doesn't know one detail of this plan aside from shooting people. Which sounds like a fun idea until you realize we die doing it. Does she know that? Did you tell her?"

Tyler's silence irritated me. I was so pissed off I couldn't even think. We had already agreed on a plan and he was already changing the fucking plans.

"No." He finally said.

"I didn't think so." I rubbed my eyes. Jesus Christ I was so done.

"But I will!" Tyler insisted. "Realize that approaching anything she disagrees with is a risky thing, Luke. I just can't piss her off enough to blow our cover."

"Do you think she would?" I asked honestly.

Tyler was quiet for a long time. "I think she's capable. If I leave her out, she could spite me."

"Then we may have to consider other alternatives." The menace in my voice was starting to scare me.

"What do you mean?"

"If she won't kill herself, could we do it for her at the end?"

I was suddenly worried by the look on Tyler's face, it was deep, yet vacant at the same time. An oxymoron. He was both being offended by the suggestion, and considering it.

"If we have to, we could. Whichever of us did it wouldn't have to live with ourselves much longer afterwards, so what could it hurt. Maybe we could take Tiffany and Megan both with us."

I knew what he said was meant to piss me off at his half hearted offense to what I said. And it worked. But I had not been stupid enough to talk about it in front of MY girlfriend, and therefore I would still keep her away from that hell when the time came.

Yet, despite being in this together, I was scared to back out. Tyler could very easily turn this around on me. And if I stayed, he could turn on Megan.

I sighed. "Alright, bring Tiffany in. But you tell her all the fucking details. I don't want her out of the fucking loop. And Megan stays out of it. Period. Now go home, I want to take a fucking nap." The last bit was a lie, but I wanted Tyler the fuck out of my house for now before I did what I did to the speaker, to his balls.

Tyler left silently and I stood in the basement until I heard the door slam after him. When I knew he'd be gone and have left in his car, I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and called Megan. We'd decided at lunch that we'd have a date night tonight and she wanted to see a movie.

It was awkward enough that I didn't get through, she never answered. I left her a voicemail. And then another. I waited 15 minutes and decided she was probably getting something to eat and was putting herself together.

I showered and changed clothes. It took about 20 minutes, but when I checked my phone, Megan hadn't called back, which was strange. I went upstairs to make a sandwich, then went back into the basement and sat down to eat a sandwich while watching an episode of South Park, not really caring for it.

By now it had been an hour since I had first tried to call Megan, and she could sometimes take forever to get herself together, she usually checked her phone. I grabbed my wallet and shoved it in my back pocket, kicked my shoes on and headed up the basement steps, grabbing my keys off the hook by the front door.

I knew something was wrong, so I got in my car, and started down the driveway. When it sat in that I knew something was wrong I gunned it down the few streets that separated our houses.

I pulled into Megan's driveway hard, pulling next to Megan's car and left the car running as I damn near flew out of the car and up her porch. I turned the knob, knowing Megan usually kept the door unlocked for when her parents came home.

"Megan!" I nearly screamed. I checked the basement, the kitchen, she wasn't there. "Megan!" I shouted again.

"Luke." I heard her say and I exhaled a sigh of relief.

I flew up the steps and searched for her. She was in the bathroom, wiping her face with a wet rag. It was bloody, and her face still was a little bit. Swollen, and one of her eyes was black.

"What the fuck..." I muttered.

"They jumped me again." She half laughed, before her face contorted to cry. "After you left to go home, I was walking to my car and there were four or five of them. They jumped me."

My whole body locked up. "Who? Who jumped you?" I said through tight lips.

"MacKenzie Thomas, Ashley Brown and her stupid sister Kylie. Then there were two, maybe three boys. You're not going to like it, Luke."

"You knew one of the boys?" I asked, still furious.

"I knew at least two." Megan told me, trying to blot the crusted blood on her lip.

"Who."

"Luke..."

"Megan." I responded. "Who were the boys."

"Foley and Bradshaw." She said quietly.

I radiated anger. "Was Bauer there?"

"I think so, if he was I didn't get a good look at him, although I am pretty sure he was."

I ripped my cellphone out of my pocket and called Tyler immediately.

He answered on the third ring.

"Luke, no, please." Megan begged.

"Tyler, we need to pay a visit to Mr. Foley."

"Why, what happened?"

"MacKenzie Thomas, Ashley and Kylie Brown, and Foley and Bradshaw all jumped Megan after school today."

"What?!

"Yeah, I know. We're going to knock Foley's ass out, then go get the other two. Megan said she didn't see Bauer, but I'd bet my fucking left nut that his bitch ass was there."

"Well then let's go teach those fucktards a lesson.

And boy did I plan to. Even though Megan pleaded with her eyes for me to forget it.