High School War: Restraint and Defeat

Clarkson was fuming. For the umpteenth time this month, March, The Razgriz have trumped his gang. It wasn't that his gang was weak, they were physically imposing. But it was that blasted Lawson. As long as he was around, he didn't even have to be involved in the event, his 'followers' held their ground. Even in the middle school! What madness is that? He had to restrain Lawson somehow…

…

…

Ooohhhh. This is good. Very good. He reached for a phone.

"Hey Allen, I need a favor."

Easter break was coming up. The Razgriz were going strong in the high school and the group managed to have a chapter in the middle school. Garret was at home watching tv, Ghost Hunters, and texting Kei when the door bell rang. He thought to get but his mom was already on the way there.

"Excuse ma'am for this late intrusion, I'm Officer Allen Hamilton of the Pines Hill Police Department. Are you the mother of Garret Lawson?"

Garret sat up. Even though he was upstairs, his room was right at the stairs and the acoustics allowed for sounds at the front door to shoot right into his room. Why would the police want him?

Kei, something big came up. 5-0 is here. Ttys. –G

Ok. Be careful. :-* –K

Will do. *hearts* ;) –G

"Garret, come down stairs please. Living room."

"On my way."

Garret made his way down to the living room and met his parents and this cop. They shook hands. Garret noticed the eyes. Something about them seemed too familiar.

"Garret Lawson, I presume?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you have a restraining order put on you."

There was an uproar in the room from his mother. Garret stayed calm but was very confused. The whole situation stunk. But those green eyes. They seemed way too familiar.

"Why does my son have a restraining order set on him?"

"It turns out that there are some people who find your son as a threat and doesn't want him near them. The last time they met it almost resulted in a fight that Garret, here, would have won easily."

Ok, now Garret was pissed. Sure he wasn't everyone's favorite person. Not everyone knew him but he respected everyone regardless. Well, almost everyone.

"Who?" Garret asked.

"Excuse me?" the officer asked back.

"Who asked for the restraining order to be put on me?" Garret was strangely calm. He had hunch. It unnerved the cop a bit.

"I think the name is on the order. I must really be going. Sorry for disturbing your night. Good night." Garret's led the officer out.

Garret looked over the order. It was all foreign to him. He just wanted the name. He found it.

Lars Clarckson.

Bingo.

So Clarckson had a brain after all. So he had to stay at least 15 feet away from him in school and 100 feet away outside of school. Okay. No problem at all. No problem at all.

"The thing's fake." His dad's voice snapped him out of thoughts.

"What do you mean?" His mom asked.

"Look, the judges signature is from the old judge, the badge number starts with a ZX instead of a FLX. The ZX went out of date 10 years ago. And the current police chief is a guy named Andersen, not Bernitz. Son, Clarkson did you good."

"Yea, but not good enough." Garret closed his eyes and paced.

"What are you planning hunny?"

"Not sure yet mom. But I have to call Marcus, Alvin and Grimm. I want to talk to Andersen about this 'Hamilton' guy. But I do know this, Easter is next week. We leave as planned and when we come back a week after, we'll bust Clarkson." Garret went back up to his room. He had to tell Kei this.

"Where does he get it from?" His mom asked.

"Not sure, but he does have your imagination."

"So I asked you to get the mail in the nude while covered in whip cream…"

"It just takes on time."

"True. By the way, how did you know all that stuff?"

"I know people."

"Uh huh. Do those people have records?"

"A couple."

She shook her head and sat down in the couch. Her husband following. She snuggled into him while watching TV.

Garret was on a major call with his cousin and Alvin. Grimm couldn't make the call and he was texting Kei at the same time.

The plan:

Let Clarkson believe Garret was honoring the order.

Talk to the police chief on Friday before the vacation.

Come back to school the Friday after break, after coming home on Thursday. He told Kei he came home on Friday. He wanted to surprise her.

If Andersen went along with the plan, he, Marcus, Alvin and Grimm would hang out after school and wait for Clarkson and bust him.

Hopefully the execution would go better but for now, this shell would do.

Friday after school

Garret and his parents sat in the waiting room to talk to Police Chief Andersen.

"Excuse me, are you all waiting for Chief Andersen?"

A man of about 55 with slicked back white hair and experience written on his face. He had a smile on.

"Yes." Mrs. Lawson said.

"Good, then I am he. Come into my office."

The appropriately dressed man led the family to a large office. He sat down and motioned for the family to do so as well.

"How can I help you all today?"

Garret looked at his parents who both nodded. This was his situation.

"Well sir, I was issued a restraining order."

"Well son, I'm sorry but there is very little I can do with that. And I sign so many things that I don't even remember much." He chuckled a bit.

"It's a fake sir."

Andersen's expression fell.

"Fake? How so?"

Garret handed over the document and Andersen looked it over.

"Yep, it's as fake as a $3 bill. Now this I can help… wait. It says here that Lars Clarkson requested this."

Garret only nodded.

"And your name?"

"Lawson. Garret Lawson."

"You founded The Razgriz right?"

"Yessir."

Andersen reached out his hand. Garret shook it. Confusion all over his face.

"My granddaughter is in the middle school chapter. Her grades have improved a lot. I've always wanted to meet you. I know about the Gun Slingers antics but haven't been able to pin them. I know The Razgriz have done all they can without resorting to violence to stop them. Good job."

"Thank you. What's her name?"

"Margaret Andersen."

"Sounds familiar. I'll ask for her at the next general meeting."

"I'm sure she'll be embarrassed."

The two laughed.

"Ok son, knowing your reputation, I know you have a plan."

"Well sir, a lot of the plan is based on this meeting. You see I'm going on vacation tomorrow and these past couple of days have been pretty hard as the Slingers have upped their antics, even fighting some of the members. Yet they get away with it. I've honored the order so far and I want to bust Lars on the following Friday after Easter."

"You want us to find out anything relating to this order and take down all who are related to this, right? And on the Friday, you and your friends confront Clarkson and he gets arrested. You get the girl and we get a couple of criminals."

"Wow, you're good."

"I would be Commissioner but I never get to have any fun like this. Well, Garret, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, this is vague enough to work. I'll get Detective Buchner on this… as a matter of fact, here he comes now."

A man of about 45 enters the office. His receding hairline shows the years toll on him but he doesn't stop from smiling anyways.

"Detective meet the Lawson's. They have come to me with a rather special case."

"Oh what's that?"

Garret goes over the whole situation.

"You, know, I happen to know this Hamilton guy, he got fired a while back for evidence tampering. He was taking the drugs we got off the streets and giving them out to youths to sell."

"That's where he was getting the cocaine and the weed." Garret sighed.

"And our friend Clarkson was in on it too. They're cousins."

That's why those eyes of Hamilton's seemed familiar. Clarkson's had the same glint, blue instead of green but pretty much the same.

"Anyways, I like that plan. It's vague enough to work. You and your family go on vacation. Tell the Razgriz to keep doing what they're doing. Avoid all fights if possible. They are being held accountable too."

Garret nodded his understanding.

"We'll get these guys. Don't worry."

"Thank you both for your help." Mrs. Lawson said.

Andersen stood up to shake their hands again. "It's nothing. I've wanted to meet this young man for a while now. He's done good things."

With that, the family said their goodbyes and left. Buchner and Andersen could only smile. This was going to be fun. Casing homes, tapping phone lines, it was like the good old days. And Andersen had a personal connection to this, his granddaughter. Justice will be dished out, old school.

Kei hated this. Garret was issued a restraining order! For what? He led a study group for crying out loud. He wouldn't go out looking for fights. This whole thing stunk of Clarkson. She hated him. He gave her the chills. He kept looking at her funny. She tried to tell a teacher but they wouldn't listen to her. Some did but none like Garret and the others. They always moved in groups of two or more and she found herself paired off with Garret a few times. Well more than a few times. Ok, so they gone out a couple times. A few times. Fine, she was crushing hard on the guy. He talked to her and listened to what she had to say. He was her gentle giant. Her gentle giant. She already claimed him as her own. Any girl talked to him, she got jealous. She was protective and at time possessive. Garret laughed when she acted that way and even would tap her nose when she got out of hand. Did he feel the same about her? He liked her a little bit that much she knew. But she missed him. He was away for two weeks and it had been two weeks of hell. Well one week. She did little during Easter break. But when school started back up, boy did the Slingers start it strong. They did whatever they did. The Razgriz did their best but they couldn't stop much of the antics and a couple fist fights broke out. Even she was hit on my members of the Slingers. Some really heavily sexual advances. It was unnerving but today her giant was coming home and she would meet up with Marcus to go see him.

School had let out and she was just checking herself in the girl's bathroom. She looked decent. White sneakers, blue jeans and a LP t-shirt. Garret was never one for her looks anyways.

As she exited the bathroom, she heard a voice.

"Hey beautiful."

Clarkson.

She kept walking.

"Hey wait up." He ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Let me go."

"I'm hurt. You don't return my affections. I'm hurt, ya know."

"Good. I don't want to return them anyways. I'm not some floozy."

"Of course not. She's not a floozy, is she boys?" He got appropriate responses. "See, they agree."

"Even so, I'm not going to be caught dead with you."

He pinned her against a wall. "Best watch your tone." He moved in to kiss her and she kneed him in balls. He let go and she bolted for the door. She ran for the parking lot and found Marcus talking to someone. Garret! He was back.

"Gar..!" She was grabbed.

Garret watched the scene unfold. Clarkson now held Kei from behind flanked by his friends.

"Let her go Clarkson!"

"I don't think so. I'm taking her for myself. You won't be getting this prize."

Garret took a few steps forward.

"Stop right there Lawson. You have a restraining order, remember?"

"Of course," he moved closer. The gap closed down to 40 feet. "I would uphold it if it wasn't fake."

Clarkson's eyes shot open. He was figured out. Time for one last play. He pulled out a black, hard plastic pocket knife and flicked out the blade. Kei stiffened at the 'click' it made but resumed her struggling.

"Whoa. Clarkson, think about what you're doing."

"Oh, I think I know – stop squirming woman!" Kei stopped. Fear in her eyes as the blade touched her neck.

"G-Garret. Help me."

"Don't worry. You'll be fine." He tried to reassure her.

" 'You'll be fine. Oh, Garret help me!' "Clarkson mocked his captor. His friends starting to flank Garret's left and right. Marcus was still back there but the cops were well hidden. He had to move closer to reach her.

"I say I call the shots! I say who's fine and who's not! Lawson, you're breaking that restraining order and as far as I'm concerned it's real. One call, Lawson. One call and I can have you locked up! One call and I'm free of you!" Clarkson was yelling now. Kei's right ear was ringing. Garret took a few more steps to unmoving knife wielder.

"Clarkson, you really want to take that risk? You know it's fake. The police won't buy it and now you're holding a girl hostage? You rap sheet just keeps getting longer and longer. Wanna add aggravated assault or manslaughter to it too? Let her go or you will be in a whole lot of trouble."

"No, Lawson," he hissed. "You're the one in trouble. Boys… get him."

Garret prepped for a fight when a voice on a megaphone yelled freeze. Clarkson froze and dropped the knife as result of him being scared. Kei saw her chance and stopped on his foot and kicked him in the shin. She bolted for Garret who was struggling against the two brutes. The fight stopped when red and blues flashed and sirens chirped. Clarkson came to out of his shock and bolted – right into a police officer. The other two guys ran into the parking lot past Marcus who was now leaning against the hood of a car. He was very enjoyed, very enjoyed indeed.

It took a few minutes for the scene to calm down and charges to be filed against the gang members. Kei never let go Garret. He had a cut above his left brow and couple bruises. Nothing major. Kei was safe, shaken, but safe. That's all that mattered. Chief Andersen and Detective Buchner talked to them about what's going to happen to Clarkson, his goons, Principle Perrault (who let the Slingers get away with their crap and is Clarkson's uncle) and to Hamilton.

Marcus tapped Garret on the shoulder and pointed to a leaving patrol car. It was Clarkson.

"I'LL GET YOU LAWSON! YOU'LL PAY FOR ALL THIS! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

The trio waved stupidly at him. Kei looked up and kissed Garret. He returned it.

"Gar-bear."

"Yeah?"

"The next time you plan on doing something like this and don't tell me, I'll skin you alive."

Sad part is, he knew she could do it too.

"Roger."

"Good. Now, I guess this makes me 'Queen of the Razgriz'?"

"We'll work on it."

"I happen to like it." Marcus sided.

"Not helping cuz."

Kei and Marcus just laughed. Garret soon followed.

Part 2 of the High School War series. Final part will be started soon. Have DED to update and to finish seas of chaos chapter. Also, if you are not following me (not counting stories) I have posted the prologue of my Pirates of the Caribbean Online story- Pirates of the Caribbean Online: The Stone of Altolds. Oh, I have been messing with this idea of having an Ace Combat 5/Dragon Flies story. I'm not sure to keep Garret as blaze or use a different name but i will post the intro to that story sometime next week or the following week. depending on how ppl react to it and if it's something that a lot ppl really like, i'll either keep as a series here in the shorts or post it as a separate stand alone story. I'll let you all decide on that. I wont matter to me.

13 and Anon thank you both for outstanding ideas but don't wear yourselves out! save your creative think tanks. I'm always on the look out for help with any of my stories. If more than a week as gone and I haven't put up anything on any of my works, hit me up. could be writers block. lol. Well, what did you all think of it? TELL ME! Please? You must tell me and tell me now!

Follow, fave, review, comment! TELL ME!

Be safe, God bless