Alex slams his hands down at a table as he says, “So when are we going to attack Club Azure?”

He is sitting at a table with in front of him being his fellow club members, Elizabeth Moore & Marcus Veridan.

“Hold on Alex,” Marcus begins to say, “Right now it’s only just us three and I don’t know a thing about fighting. We’re gonna need more people.”

“Marcus is right,” Elizabeth admits, “Plus this isn’t like when we went to the east side. Back then, you two knew Vanessa and we had Amnestor with us. Now, we have no idea what exactly we’re getting into and we can’t exactly lie our way into having Amnestor helping us this time.”

Alex sighs as he says, “Yeah but… this whole situation is fucked up. We all were told about how bad Club Azure was and yet… I’m still so surprised they’d be trying to mess with high schoolers.”

“Cameron wasn’t,” Marcus says as the realization hits him, “When we learned about Club Azure from Tim-Tom, he wasn’t with us. And when Ronnie told us more about the club, he wasn’t there too. We kept all of this from him and now, we don’t even know what’s going on with him.”

As the three of them sit there not knowing what to do, a very confused Mesto-Presto walks over and hands them all water. That’s when the trio remembered that they decided to talk about this in Burrito Bistro.

“Sorry about all this Mesto,” Elizabeth says.

“No need to apologize,” Mesto remarks as he walks over, “You guys are the only ones that are still showing up anyways.”

It’s then that Alex looks around to see that the only other people in the restaurant are Mesto and his two children; Landon & Avery, who are sleeping in high chairs.

“Yeah, why is that?” Alex asks.

“Well, you guys were talking about Club Azure, right?” Mesto says while he wipes down some tables, “Those guys have been coming by pretty frequently trying to buy this place up. But we keep refusing. From what I’ve been told, most of the other stores on the block got sold to them so they’re all doing grand reopenings. It sucks for us though because while they have new fancy designs, we’re still the same ol’ run-down shack.”

“Hey you guys aren’t rundown, this place is amazing,” Marcus boasts.

Mesto sighs as he replies, “You guys only ask for chips, salsa, & water. All of those are free here. If this keeps up we may just have to sell the place.”

“Well, that’s even more reason we should go kick their ass! Where’s Mister Garcia anyway?” Alex asks.

“Ah you mean my boss, he’s been having to work other jobs just to sustain this place,” Mesto states.

As Mesto says that, the three high school students realize just how big of a threat Club Azure is. They’re not only targeting their friends but the whole community. Alex, Marcus, & Elizabeth nod in agreement as they come to the same realization. They need to put this to an end.

“We’re gonna need all hands on deck,” Alex states, “I’ll call up everybody I can that could help us.”

“I’ll do the same,” Marcus begins to say.

Elizabeth takes out a computer from her backpack and says, “I’ll figure out where Club Azure is located.”

“All right, it’s settled then,” Alex says, “We’re taking down Club Azure tonight.”

As the three stand there, Mesto watches them determined to make a change, he won’t lie to himself that he too is upset with Club Azure. However, he has his own responsibilities; he needs to maintain the restaurant and he’ll need to watch over his kids tonight.

Though a question lingers on Mesto’s mind, one that he can’t help but ask the trio, “Hey where’s that other friend you guys have? The one who always wears that varsity jacket?”

“Oh Ronnie,” Marcus asks before he sighs, “Well uh, we tried to get him to meet up but something came up.”

“Wait really? I hope he’s okay,” Mesto says, “Did he get hurt or something?”

“No even worse,” Alex mumbles, “He got grounded.”

Mesto looks at the trio dumbfounded before returning to his work, not even wanting to waste the brain cells needed to process why they’re taking being grounded as something as serious as facing off against Club Azure.

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__________________________

At The Everst Family Household, Ronnie is sitting across the table from a very upset Sally Everst. Ronnie looks down at his chicken adobo on top of a plate of rice before looking at his mother.

“So… am I really grounded?” Ronnie asks.

“Yes,” Misses Everst states, “Your teacher showed me your last biology test.”

“Oh, you uh- you found out about that?” Ronnie states sheepishly.

Sally sighs as she says, “Yes I did, which is why you aren’t going anywhere until you make that grade up.”

“But mom I need to-” Ronnie says.

“Don’t argue with me,” Misses Everst utters.

“Yes Mom,” Ronnie says as he goes back to eating his dinner.

However, as he does so, another topic comes to his mind. And that is the fact that his mom is selling her business, The Everst Tattoo Parlor. Wanting to see if she will tell him, Ronnie asks her, “How’s business been, Mom?”

“Business?” Misses Sally Everst says as a brief glimmer of sadness escapes her eyes before she smiles and says, “It’s been going well.”

“I see,” Ronnie says, knowing that she’s lying, “If you ever need help there then you can let me know.”

“Trying to weasel your way out of getting grounded?” Misses Everst teases.

“What? I would never!” Ronnie sarcastically says.

“Well I’m glad you’re concerned but you shouldn’t worry about me,” Misses Everst states before adding, “What you should worry about is getting good grades so you can get into college. And don’t worry about what college you want to go to, I’ll try and make it work.”

It’s at those words that Ronnie realizes something. His mother isn’t lying to him about selling her business out of malice, but because she doesn’t want him to worry. She’s giving up her dream job just so he can go to college and pursue his dreams.

“Hey Mom,” Ronnie begins to say as he tries to hold back tears, “Thanks.”

“For what?” Misses Everst asks.

“For always looking out for me,” Ronnie finishes as he thinks to himself how despite all his mother has given up for him, he’s never truly done the same.

“Don’t mention it, sweetie,” Misses Everst replies with a smile on her face.

As dinner wraps up, Ronnie begins to wash the dishes, much to Sally’s shock. Not because he was doing it, but because she didn’t have to ask him. Sally begins to pack up the leftovers and as the table is cleared off she gets a phone call.

“Hello?” Sally asks as she begins to talk on the phone.

As she does so, she sighs before hanging up and then speaking, “Hey Ronnie, I’m gonna have to head out for a bit. Your uncle’s car isn’t starting so I’m going to take him to the dealership.”

“Oh okay, stay safe out there,” Ronnie says.

As Sally begins to leave she adds, “Oh by the way, since you’re grounded I called some babysitters to make sure you don’t leave.”

Ronnie is taken aback at the fact he needs babysitting at the age of 16, but he sighs and asks, “Who are they going to be?”

__________________________

Sometime later, Ronnie sits in the living room of his house as his ‘babysitters’ are watching some real housewives show. The three babysitters he has are Timothy McGee, Thomas Dolby, & Tim-Tom Pitt. Otherwise known as The Three Ts.

“Why’d she have to hire you guys,” Ronnie groans.

“Because we’re The Three Ts!” Tim-Tom says, “Whether it's beating people up, carrying your groceries, mopping up floors, filing your taxes, pretending to be your friend, and even babysitting teenagers; The Three Ts can get anything you want done!”

“Dude, why do you always talk like you’re trying to sell me shit?” Ronnie asks.

“Because if there’s one thing on his mind, it’s money,” Tom jokes.

“Yeah, you said it,” Tim laughs.

“Hey shut up you guys!” Tim-Tom replies.

Sick of having to put up with them, Ronnie gets up and begins to walk to the door. That’s when TIm-Tom puts his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, where the hell do you think you’re going,” Tim-Tom asks, “Your mom said you were grounded.”

“Look I don’t have time for this, my friends and I were planning on attacking Club Azure tonight,” Ronnie utters.

It’s at those words that The Three Ts stop what they’re doing and walk over to Ronnie.

“You’re trying to fight a gang?” Tom says, “You guys are just kids. If you wanna fight someone go do it at a playground or something.”

“Even we got our asses kicked by them, and we’re The Three Ts!” Tim yells.

“Uh Tim, I don’t think we were going to tell people that,” Tim-Tom groans.

“Yeah man, it makes us look uncool,” Tom hisses.

“Oh yeah, my bad,” Tim chuckles.

“And besides I thought I made it clear back when I saw you guys at the MSA,” Tim-Tom says as he gets up towards Ronnie’s face, “If you try and mess with any of those gangs, you and your friends will end up dead.”

“Yeah I remember that,” Ronnie says as he glares at Tim-Tom, “But what choice do I have? They’re already coming after my friends and family, so what do you want me to do? Just sit back and watch them ruin people’s lives?”

Tim-Tom glares back at Ronnie before lamenting and saying, “Look, Ronnie, I get you’re upset. But do you even know what you’re getting into?”

Ronnie is silent before Tim-Tom explains, “Club Azure’s business model is a bit complex. They buy up small businesses for much cheaper than they’re worth, and after that, they manage to get people to sell fake IDs which allow people to get discounts at those places. Once they have those IDs, they pressure them to head to Club Azure where once there they’ll do any dirty tactic to get them hooked onto drugs. Once they get hooked, the Club forces them to work under them and takes their money from whatever they do.”

“To make matters worse,” Tom says, “they have enough money to have the police look the other way so once you enter the nightclub, you’re as good as a goner.”

“Hey aren’t you forgetting something,” Tim replies, “The drugs they manage to sell to people are fakes.”

Tom & Tim-Tom look at Tim confused but he explains, “Since the drugs are illegal, the only people who really know what’s in them are the producers and sellers. So you could get what you think is a safe drug but it's really something much worse.”

Ronnie clenches his fist as he realizes that’s what Cameron got swept up in.

“Just another reason to legalize everything would make it harder for shit like that to happen,” Tim-Tom groans before telling Ronnie, “I’m guessing you heard about your mom selling her tattoo parlor. Well, she’s selling it to Club Azure.”

Enraged, Ronnie asks, “How could she-”

“She doesn’t know what they’re like, and what she doesn’t know is that they’re scamming her,” Tom replies.

“And you’re just going to stand here and do nothing about it?!” Ronnie yells as he grits his teeth.

“Well we were told you were grounded-” Tim says but Tim-Tom stops him.

“Listen, Ronnie, we already tried to stop Club Azure just the three of us. And we lost badly. If you really think you can make a difference,” Tim-Tom says as he gets into a boxing stance, “Then you’ll have to prove to me you can face them.”

“If you can knock me out, I’ll tell you where Club Azure is and let you go,” Tim-Tom says, “I’ll even let you get the first 5 hits in before I strike back.”

Hearing what he just said, Ronnie decides to test what he’s been practicing from those fighting VHS tapes as he pulls up his sleeves.

“So you want me to fight you?” Ronnie asks, “You asked for it. Don't go crying to me when all your teeth get knocked out.”

See You Next Chapter!~