"Ian Maltman! No sleeping in class!" Called the serious voice of the second year university professor from the front of the class.
At the back of the class the Ian Maltman in question raised his head, rubbed his eyes and scratched his frizzy hair of dirty blond.
"Mate, I wasn't sleeping. I was listening." Ian replied.
"First of all, I'm not your mate. And second of all..."
"Alright. Sorry sir for sleeping in class. Won't happen again." Ian apologised shallowly.
"I doubt it. But since you were supposedly listening, can you tell us what I was just lecturing about?" The professor asked smugly from behind his glasses.
"Something about how banks calculate interest rates and how to use the formulas." Ian answered.
"Oh. You actually were listening." The professor said with mild surprise.
Ian just looked into the front of the class with bags under his eyes. The professor started explaining something that Ian didn't listen to. Instead he had something to say to Lloyd sitting next to him.
"Why did you point it out to him?" Ian asked Lloyd, who was the closest thing he had to a friend in this university.
"Because I don't want you to fail the class." Lloyd answered with genuine concern.
"Mate, I got this. You don't need to get in my business."
"You failed the last exam and you slept on all the classes leading up to it." Lloyd pointed out.
"No chatting in class! Or would you like to share that with the rest of us?" The professor shouted from the front of the class.
Both of the backseat boys went quiet.
"I thought so." The professor said and continued lecturing.
When it was time to write down notes, the class was quiet. Lloyd wanted to say something to Ian but the professor scared him which is why he always stays quiet in class. Once the teacher started directly talking to some other student, Lloyd felt safe to open his mouth quietly.
"You need to tell me what you do at nights and why you need to sleep in class all the time." Lloyd whispered.
"Mate, I don't need to tell you bugger all." Ian said back.
"If you did tell me, I could maybe think of solutions to your problems."
"What fucking problems?" Ian said and raised his voice, causing the professor to glare at him.
Ian and Lloyd went quiet and focused on writing down notes for the rest of the class. Once the professor dismissed the class, it was music for Ian's ears because it meant that he gets to nap in the hallway for fifteen minutes. He navigated through the hallways through all the other people like he was invisible. The university's hallways had padded benches by the white wall that had flat screen televisions hanging on them. They were nice walls for hall monitors to lean on while weak students get picked on. That's how you know it's a high budget university. Ian himself was never picked on, but he wasn't much of a celebrity either. He had just enough of a "Don't get in my way" -aura around him that it helped him get by. Really the only person who stuck to him was Lloyd, who Ian didn't really mind. When Ian left the classroom, he didn't check who followed him, but he could somehow feel that Lloyd was behind him. That's what Lloyd usually did, as whenever he's alone, he gets bullied. Ian never really cared about fighting Lloyd's battles.
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Ian went to sit by the door of the next class' room and closed his eyes on a bench near the classroom's door.
"Why do I even go here? What's even my end goal? I don't need this." He thought to himself while attempting to micro nap on the bench.
"What on Earth has Ian Maltman been up to at nights when he has to get his sleep at school?" An annoying voice said as the sound of stepping got closer to Ian.
Ian opened one of his eyes to get a glance at his least favourite person in the world who now sat down next to him.
"Whose dog did William McStevens' mum shag to create such a snoopy little wanker?" Ian said back to the William McStevens in question who was now sitting next to Ian with his shiny brown hair slicked back and his sleeveless sweater vest tucked under his slacks.
William was not impressed by Ian's dig.
"You didn't answer my question, Maltman. I bet it's some lowly criminal activity that you're doing at nights." William said half jokingly.
"Nah, mate. Just keeping ya mum company 'cause ya dad's too busy." Ian replied.
"So mature." William said and then turned his head to the direction of some yelling, as did Ian.
"Run to ya mum over there ya fucking pussy! Like ya always do!" Some thug was yelling as Lloyd was quickly coming towards where Ian and William sat.
"And here comes to pathetic runt that nobody likes." William commented as Lloyd was now closer and looking angry.
"Says you." Lloyd said back to William.
"Oh I am very well liked. My graduation party from the previous university had 73 people in attendance. Seventy. Three! That has to be more than half of the population of your rubbish bin of a town." William said back smugly.
"And how many of them came just 'cause ya dad is the town's mayor?" Ian asked and Lloyd looked grateful that Ian has his back.
"The mayor with a 89 percent approval rating? Oh! I'm sorry if my entire family is a success. Unlike yours. How is your mother's startup enterprise doing? Still have to rely on loans?" William smugly asked Ian.
"They're doing better now." Lloyd pointed out.
"Oh! Well, good for you. Maybe someday Ian's dad will come back to leech off of your success. But I wouldn't hold my breath." William clapped back.
"Like your dad is leeching off your town?" Ian clapped back.
"I'll have you know that ever since my father became the..."
"Now wait just a moment. Did those arseholes who were picking on Lloyd call me his mum?" Ian asked and purposefully changed the subject before William won the battle.
Lloyd looked embarrassed.
"Being associated with this loser is an embarrassment to you, Maltman. But I suppose losers enjoy each other's company." William said to Ian.
"It kinda is..." Ian said.
Lloyd looked worried.
"...but I don't really care about my reputation." Ian then added.
"Suit yourself. I associate myself with winners. So I'll just stay away from you riffraff and get to class already since it's beginning already." William said and got off the bench just as the professor of the final class was approaching the scene.
"There went my chance for a nap." Ian said quietly as the professor unlocked the classroom's door a few minutes in advance.
Ian knew that he wouldn't able to nap in the hallway as the classroom was filling up so he joined the flock and went to the back of the yellow walled classroom to nap on the wooden desk with names and penises carved on it. As predicted, Lloyd sat next to him while getting pieces of erasers thrown at him. After Lloyd sat down, bits of erasers still were thrown at him and he sounded annoyed. Ian heard, but didn't care. Neither did the professor. Only when a piece of rubber missed Lloyd and hit Ian's ear did he care.
"Won't somebody fucking let me sleep!" Ian shouted when he sprung up and flipped his desk over.
The entire class looked at him as he looked into the direction where he felt the piece of eraser come from.
"Maltman! Sit down!" The professor shouted from the front of the class.
"No, I won't fucking sit down when these fucking arseholes bother me all the fucking time and they get away with it just because their ringleader's dad funds the school!" Ian shouted back at the professor and then glared at the gang of athletes who had William with them.
"Well, if you're going to behave like that, then you're welcome the leave the classroom. That way nobody will bother you." The professor said back, not denying the guilt of William's gang.
Without saying anything back, Ian left the classroom and William smirked at Lloyd who was now alone.
"At least I get to leave early now. Still got to help mum with her businesses. More time for that, I guess." Ian thought while making his way out of the building with no intention of returning to the classroom.
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Outside the school building at the parking lot Ian walked up to his dirt bike that he always uses to move between the school and his home. He straddled the saddle and inserted the key but when he twisted it, all he heard was the ugly sound of a motor that refuses to turn on.
"Come on! Work, you knob!" Ian quietly said while twisting the key.
When the motor kept making that ugly noise, Ian got more frustrated and lost his patience.
"Fucking twat waffle! Why don't you ever fucking work?" He shouted and got off the bike, letting it fall on the asphalt.
"Shit. That didn't sound good. Why did I do that?" Ian said after hearing something break.
He got the bike back up and saw that the headlight was now shattered.
"Great. Got to get that repaired now or I won't be allowed to ride it. Fucking fantastic." He said.
"Won't get home by complaining. Should probably get going now if I want to make it home before night. Since this piece of wank won't start." Ian bitterly said and started walking with the bike away from the parking lot and to the roads.
Since the university was at the edge of town, Ian didn't have to walk on any sidewalks but instead got right at the road that leads to his small town. There he dragged the bike along with him at the edge of the road while making sure not to fall into any ditches as the light rain fell on him and made his uniform smell bad. The distance between Ian's home and the university always took a about twenty minutes to ride with the dirt bike, so while dragging it, the journey took much longer. When Ian was halfway through, he heard pedaling behind him. He didn't check to see who it could have been and only saw who it was when the bicycle rode past him.
"Not even wishing a good day, mate?" Ian shouted at Lloyd who rode the bicycle quickly, only to slow down and stop when Ian shouted those words.
"Sorry. I didn't think you'd care." Lloyd said apologetically.
"Not particularly. Figured I should ask what you guys learned at the class." Ian said once he caught up to Lloyd.
"I don't even remember because those... Those wankers kept distracting me and bothering me the entire class. Thanks for leaving me all alone." Lloyd said bitterly.
"Not my fault you're an easy target. I don't owe you my protection."
"I guess so..."
"I've still got shit to do at home. We'll see how late I'll arrive because this fucker stopped working." Ian said while dragging the bike next to Lloyd of moved with his bicycle very slowly.
"Oh. What kind shit?" Lloyd asked.
"Have we seriously never talked about it?" Ian asked.
"We don't talk much about things that are not school related." Lloyd pointed out straightly.
"Huh. We really don't. I don't even know what you do on your spare time."
"Do you even care?"
"Not really."
"But what was the thing you need to get to?" Lloyd asked.
"Mum runs a shop where she fixes broken electronics, but she can't do the actual business side of running a business worth a wank. She doesn't know how to use all the necessary computer programs, whereas I somewhat do. So that's what I fight with on some days after she closes the shop." Ian explained.
"So are you headed home or to the shop?" Lloyd asked curiously.
"Umm. You won't tell this to anyone but... We run the shop from home, even though we don't have the licence for that. We sort of have a way of tricking the council." Ian explained.
"I won't rat on you."
"You better not. But what do you actually do in your spare time?"
"I thought you didn't care."
"Figured it'd be polite to ask since I've known you for a bit now."
"Nothing... Nothing interesting really."
"Right."
"But I sort of have to get to it so... I should pick up speed." Lloyd explained.
"Alright, mate. Go do nothing interesting. See ya tomorrow." Ian said as Lloyd sped away and left him alone.
"And at home there'll be nothing but shit raining on me." Ian bitterly said while walking his bike home.
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When the evening was dim and the suburban streets were quiet, the silence of the neighbourhood was broken by the irritated grunts that Ian made while making his way through the road with his bike and his sweaty uniform. While advancing along the street and walking past all the idyllic looking two story brick houses with trimmed bushes at the front yard, Ian noticed some residents looking at him through the windows.
"Finally he broke that bike. Loud as anything." Some lady in a house said and Ian heard it.
He didn't stop at any of the nice looking houses, as none of those were his home. He made his way all the way to the end of the street where his home was. Although it was a similar house than the ones on the better end of the street, it was easy to tell that it was cheaper. The bricks were dirtier, the front yard was more brown and gray than green, and it had no garage. Once Ian made it to his address, he left his bike unlocked in front of the house and got in.
Inside the house the lights were on but no sounds came from anywhere. The silence didn't interest Ian too much, so he headed straight towards the stairs to make his way to his own room.
"Need some sleep before I get to the night business. Mum'll be fine." Ian thought and put his foot on the first stair when a voice interrupted him.
"Why did you take so long?" Ian's mother's voice called from the living room.
"My bike's fucked! That's why!" Ian shouted to the direction of the living room and then climbed the stairs more.
"What? It broke?" The voice called from the living room but Ian kept going up the stairs.
"It's my problem, not yours! Now I need sleep!" Ian shouted again.
"Oh, it is my problem as well! I paid for that piece of junk because you wanted it! And now it'll probably be me who has to pay for the repair!"
"I'll get the money for it myself! Somehow. Not your problem! Now leave me alone!" Ian shouted and got to the top of the stairs.
"And where do you intend to get the money yourself? You should focus on your studies." Ian's mother pointed out and left the living room to come to the bottom of the stairs.
"I can do side gigs on the weekends." Ian answered.
"You won't do any side gigs. You'll study on the weekends. You have a lot of catching up to do."
"Well what do you suggest I do then?"
"First of all, your bike isn't the only reason why we need some extra money." Ian's mother said and held up a letter directed at Emma Maltman, her name.
"What's that?" Ian asked.
"It's about the loan I took in my desperation last month. We need to pay it back and we don't have anywhere near enough money." Emma explained seriously.
"Well why do you insist on me going to this expensive university then? I hate it there and I'm not learning anything in there anyway. Let me quit!"
"You will not quit after you've already been there for two years now. It's your path to a good job so you can get a good life for yourself!"
"If a good life requires me to suffer there for another year then I'd rather just die."
"Please don't say that..."
"How do you think you can pay that debt then?" Ian asked from the top of the stairs.
"I have a suggestion that you may not like..."
"What is it?"
"Can you get back on Cindy's good side? She has money to spare and could help us out."
"No! Nah. Not happening."
"Just think about it! I know you want nothing to do with her but..."
"Exactly! I don't want anything to do with her anymore. Even if she has money."
"I'm not saying you need to get back together with her but just get on her good side."
"She won't want that. Every time I've had to come to contact with her, she's wanted to get back together. Fuck her. Not interested. I'd rather quit school. I wouldn't need the bike then."
"Please just think about it." Emma said but Ian just went into his room.
"I know what I'm fucking doing." Ian said and lied down on his bed for a nap after setting an alarm to ring at 1 AM.
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At 1 in the morning, the alarm woke Ian up after he had gotten 30 minutes of sleep. He shut off the alarm before it had a chance to make too much noise. He checked the messages on his phone and opened his eyes fully once he comprehended what he was reading.
"We got here early and now we're waiting for you. Get in here!" One message read.
"Oh, fuck me. They could have told me." Ian said and hurried out of his bed.
He got dressed in his spare time clothes and quietly left his room.
The upstairs was dark and the light of the moon coming from outside reflected on the polished wooden floor and illuminated the framed photos of dead relatives hanging on the walls. Ian walked the stairs down and put his hood and shoes on and then opened the front door quietly to get outside under the black sky.
"Fuckers arrived half an hour early and expected me to just know? I could really use my bike right now to get there faster but it's all fucked too. It'd be too loud anyway so whatever. Better start running." Ian thought and got jogging on the dark suburban street illuminated by street lights and the Moon above.
While running along the sidewalks, some night owls in their living rooms glared at him as he ran past their houses, but Ian running at nights was not an unusual sight anymore, so they didn't give him odd looks anymore. Ian's destination was on the outskirts of town in the old abandoned industrial district on the other end of the small town. The jog there felt brutal, even though it wasn't even that long, but the hooded sweatshirt made of thick material made the run feel hot and heavy. Suspicious looking people were behind many corners along the way, and each time Ian ran past one of them, he felt his knife in his pocket.
Once Ian was at the industrial district, his associates recognised him from afar and he recognised them. Ian slowed down, caught his breath, panted and smelt bad by the door of a factory.
"Could have fucking told me that you'd come here early." Ian complained while holding his knees and breathing heavily.
"We did tell you. Could have read the bloody message. Now let's get in." Ian's bald headed tracksuit wearing associate said and then shoved the door of the factory open as music was blasting from behind it.
Ian stayed outside catching his breath and once he finally raised his head and looked inside the factory, he couldn't see any of his associates anymore from the midst of all the people in there yelling and looking at the centre of the large building.
"Ronnie! Where the fuck did you go?" Ian yelled as he stepped into building himself.
Ian made his way through the people who smelled like alcohol and all kinds of plants. Him yelling for his associate's name was barely audible under the blaring music and yelling, but he made his way to where all the people were looking. There he saw the black square shaped cage where two tattooed and drug addicted men were beating each other with bare fists as the bloodthirsty crowd yelled words of encouragement and slurs at them. Ian didn't come to look at the fight, but to see if he could spot his associate from the centre. On the other side of the cage he saw the bright red jumpsuit of his associate and he knew who it belonged to.
"Ronnie! Ronnie! How the fuck did'ya get there already?" Ian yelled but nobody heard it.
He then pushed his way through the crowd to the other side of the cage to meet with Ronnie who was in the midst of a conversation with a young miss far younger than Ronnie himself, wearing jeans and a tank top on her body and braids on her hair.
"Ronnie you fucking cunt!" Ian yelled while getting closer and Ronnie finally heard him.
Ronnie said something to the young miss and then stepped aside to talk to Ian.
"You're ruining my bloody chances here!" Ronnie complained.
"And you're ruining my chances. You're my only ticket to get an audience with Bloodhound. So I sort of need you." Ian replied.
"Could have waited a few minutes more. She was into me and now she's nowhere to be seen anymore. Fuck!"
"She was only interested in that gold chain around your neck. Now get me to Bloodhound so we can get on that business that we agreed to last night." Ian said.
Ronnie just looked at him and felt irritated.
"Fine. Follow me." Ronnie said and led the way through the people and the sticky floor of the factory.
At the back of the big room was a door guarded by two serious looking thugs in red tracksuits with their arms crossed. When Ronnie led Ian to them, Ian could see what the two thugs thought of him.
"Oi. We got some business with the Bloodhound. We need to meet." Ronnie said to one of the thugs while Ian tried to look tough behind him but just looked stupid.
"What business?" The thug asked Ronnie.
"My mate here wants to fight." Ronnie said and stepped aside to show Ian to the thugs.
Both thugs stared a hole through who Ian who was poorly trying to put on a tough face.
"This loser?" One thug asked.
"Yeah. We already discussed this with the Bloodhound last night. He'll remember us." Ronnie convinced the thugs.
"Better not try anything fucky." The other thug said and pulled out a switchblade.
"We've met the man before. We're good and dandy. Right, mate?" Ronnie said to the thugs and then turned to Ian.
"Yep. Trustworthy fellows." Ian said awkwardly.
"You take these fuckers to Bloodhound." One thug said to the other.
"Follow me then." The other thug said and opened the door that he was guarding.
Ronnie and Ian followed the thug through the door where they came to a crusty and dimly lit staircase leading up. At the end of the staircase light was coming through the cracks of a door that they had gone through the previous night. The thug opened the door and they all came to an office with purple lighting and smoke filling the entire room. On both ends of the room were purple sofas with nobody on them and the centre of the room was a work desk. It was hard to tell wether Bloodhound was there or not because on the desk was two almost naked women giving a show to whoever was on the other side of the desk.
"Who the fuck is it?" A voice came from behind the women who moved out of the way and allowed Bloodhound to see who just came into his office.
"Remember us? My mate here thought about that offer." Ronnie said to Bloodhound while walking closer.
"What fucking offer? The Bloodhound makes lots of offers." Bloodhound asked back.
"My mate here was interested in fighting. He made his decision. He wants to fight tonight." Ronnie said.
"'bout fucking time somebody grew a set. Alright, man." Bloodhound said and looked at Ian in the eyes.
Ian couldn't deny that he felt nervous even though he had already been in the man's presence once.
"Hundred quid if you take part in the fight. Another hundred if you actually win, which you won't. Whatever happens to you is your own responsibility. Not ours. No fucking ratting if you regret your choices. Your fight is tonight and we've got an opponent for you. Last chance to back down." Bloodhound told Ian.
"I'm ready to fight." Ian said confidently.
"Good. Follow my boy. He'll lead you to the cage." Bloodhound said.
Just then the other thug who was guarding the door barged into the office urgently and worriedly.
"Boss. The natives are getting restless. The last fight ended quicker than we thought and we don't have a fight lined up. People are leaving." The thug explained.
"We have a fight lined up now. This chav is fighting the awaiting fighter." Bloodhound said and pointed at Ian.
"This is your moment, mate." Ronnie said to Ian.
"One last thing. What is the announcer going to call you?" The thug asked Ian.
"Never have 'em announce you by your actual name. That's my advice." Ronnie said to Ian.
"Uhh... The Ox." Ian answered after saying the first nickname that came to his mind.
"Alright, Ox. Follow me and get ready to fight." The thug told Ian.
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