First Time (Part III)

Aaryan Khanna

“We… gave our best that day.”

Both of us were walking confidently, our eyes frowning with pride. There was just dust and grass beneath our shoes—which faced the men in white and red shirts tucked out of their black pants. Just as we were walking, the fight suddenly erupted. We looked at a guy in red running and then punching Vikram in his face. Suddenly, everyone on white charged forward, and soon it was complete fucking chaos, ya see.

We both stopped, shyly looking at the punches and the kicks which rose up and hit the other guys’ face, waist, belly, and other shit.

“But, we were fucking noobs in this shit at the time, ya see, so…”

The moon was shining on the top that night. The park was filled with the sound of flesh kicking and punching each other. Pow! Kick! Thump! People were kicking and punching, and some were down on the ground. Our eyes were wide open as we looked at that shit going on.

A guy in white was punched hard in his chest, so he stepped back, and then he moved his leg up and kicked the other one on his neck. The prior one fell down on his knees, ya see, and then faced another kick on his face. He fell down on the ground, his lips covered with blood. Some drops of blood fell down from his lips on the ground, and the grass turned red. The red drop of blood was fucking soaked by the soil.

We were shit scared.

“A-Are you sure… that we…” Sooraj asked me as he stared at that shit with his eyes wide open.

“N-Nope, pal,” I replied, my eyes wide open. I turned my head backward, and so did Sooraj. Both of us looked at Rohit, who stood there, looking seriously at us. I then turned my face to Sooraj, who still glared at Rohit behind us. “We should go back.”

“Legit we should. We can’t fight others like this.”

He started to walk back, and after a second or two of looking at his back, I too started to walk to that asshole.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. We both came and stood in front of him.

“What happened, motherfuckers?” He asked us with a grin on his face.

“We… We can’t fight others like this,” I replied.

“Ya both shat your asses already? Just at this?” Rohit asked. His smile then soon faded as he turned serious. “Look at me, motherfuckers like you don’t deserve to be with us. You both literally shit your pants out just at this. We… We do far worse shit than this one, motherfuckers.” He took out a black vape from his right pocket and kept it in his mouth. He turned to the fight going on. “I thought ya both will be of any help, but ya ain’t. Motherfuckers.” He then held the vape with his forefinger and his middle finger and moved it out. He blew out a puff of white cloud and then put it between his lips again.

“W-What’s this?” I asked from the other side of the cloud.

“Vape,” He said, his eyes fixed toward the fight. “Well, that’s what I was talking about that day.” He turned his eyes to me. “It’s… the solution to all the problems you’ve got. It looks cool too, right?” He then turned to the fight again.

We both stood there silently, looking at him fucking vaping in front of us. Sooraj then said, “Can we go back now, pa—”

“D’ya want it?”

“What?”

“This vape?”

“Yeah,” I replied fucking instantly, ya see.

Rohit smiled. “Guys who work for us can get an unlimited supply of this shit for free.” He nodded his face up, signing us to look at where his eyes were. “Well, not completely free, to be honest, but at wholesale rates, which are a shit lot cheaper than the retail rates.”

We both turned our heads backward.

“Their work is to sell this shit to others. They earn a fucking profit off this shit. They fight, but they don’t fight for free. They’re fucking paid for this shit. To be honest, ya both can be paid like this too. Most of the time, we ain’t even fighting. We’re just chilling, just like we were doing yesterday. Whaddya say?”

“Why are you…” I turned to him again. “Why are you telling this to us?”

“To be honest, the two of ya can fight. Ya got some good fucking asses and shit, motherfuckers. But ya two are just scared of this shit.”

Sooraj turned to him, and both of us stood silently, waiting for him to continue that shit, ya see.

That asshole moved his vape out of his mouth and blew out another puff. The cloud covered his face and faded in a couple of seconds as he moved it back in his mouth and continued, “Well, I know how to fuck this fright of yours.” He moved his right hand inside the pocket of his pants and took out two more black colored vapes. He extended that shit toward us. “Two twenty-five each, but it’s on me for you both. In exchange, both of ya go back to that battlefield. It’s also a type of another chance for both of ya, motherfuckers. Whaddya say?”

Both of us looked at the vapes in between his forefinger, middle finger, and thumb. We both thought about this shit for a couple of seconds as we continued to glare at his hand.

“Decide quickly. Ya want it or not?”

I turned to my right at Sooraj. He turned and looked into my eyes. Both of us were confused and scared, perhaps. Sooraj said, “This… doesn’t look like the legit thing to do, man.”

“But, pal… w-what about th-the bad marks? How else… are we going to cope up with that?”

“S-Studying…”

“Do you think that… I failed… because I didn’t study? Because I didn’t try my best?”

“I…”

Rohit then said, “Well, it increases concentration too.”

I turned to him. “I’ll… I’ll take it.”

Rohit smiled as he looked at the fight. He then turned to me. “Then why wait?”

I turned my head down, looked at the two vapes in his hand, and then took up one. I kept one end in my mouth and asked, “How do you use it?”

“Well, just blow it in, keep the vapor in your mouth for some seconds, then inhale it in. It’d then come out some time later.”

“O-Okay,” I replied. I then turned my eyes on the vape and concentrated on that shit. I blew the air in, and kept it as it is for a few seconds.

Sooraj had his eyes on me as he looked at me fucking trying that shit out, ya see. That asshole turned to Sooraj and extended the second one to him. Sooraj looked down at his hand and the device. “It’s free. Lemme tell ya that it’s not less than seven hundred in the market. We already sell it for too low, and y’are getting it for fucking nothing.”

Sooraj continued to glare at it. He then turned to his right at me.

I moved the vape out of my mouth and blew out a puff. I then exhaled in from my mouth, turned my head downward, and then fixed it in my mouth again.

Sooraj then turned to Rohit’s hand again. He moved his right hand up and took it from Rohit’s hand. Rohit then moved his hand down and stuffed it inside the pocket of his pants. He turned to the fight again. Sooraj continued to glare at the vape in his right hand. He then slowly moved that shit to his mouth, fixed it in his mouth, and then blew in.

Rohit continued to glare at the fight going on. He looked at Vikram punching a guy in front of him. Another punch. Another one. Rohit smiled—like an absolute fucking asshole enjoying seeing other people getting fucked. He then turned to his front at Sooraj.

Sooraj turned his head up skyward and blew out a puff. He then turned his head to the front and looked at Rohit, who was grinning with pride. “Well, ya did it, motherfucker. How was it?”

Sooraj’s eyes turned a little narrower. “Man, it tastes so nice.”

“Yeah, motherfucker, y’are right.”

Sooraj kept it in his mouth and blew in again. At the same time, I moved it out and blew out another puff. I then turned to him. “Yeah, pal, it’s really good, ya see. I thought it must have tasted like shit.”

Rohit nodded. “Now, try fighting those motherfuckers.” Rohit turned his head to the fight, and so did the two of us.

“That sounds fun, right?” I said.

“At that point of time, we had lost control of all of our senses.”

“Yeah, man. Let’s fucking do it. I feel confident.”

“Well, that’s the power of this shit, motherfuckers,” Rohit said, his smile fading. “Now fight for us.”

***

“It kinda feels like Rohit made us his fucking servant after that,” Sooraj commented.

We both sat on the bench facing the crescent moon up in the air. The blades of grass, the bushes, and the rusted metal gate on our left—all were illuminated in shades of black under that moon, ya see. Sooraj’s back was straightened and his arms were spread on the armrest. My figure was bent down, with my arms on my thighs, and my head tilted down.

I smiled at his reply. “Yeah, man. That asshole was really smart. He made us feel unworthy, and then gave us that shit, and then made us fight for him. All of it must have been an act of his.”

“And he’s a legit friend of ours now.”

“He’s just bossing around with the two of us, asshole,” I told him. “He ain’t a fucking friend. He’s a fucking boss.”

“Legit boss, just like Vikram.”

“He has more influence than Vikram,” I told him. I straightened my back and turned to my left at him. “Rohit made Vikram win that election against Akshay, alright? Rohit is the one who draws the real power in the gang. He ain’t even on the field. He just fucks around from his home, and sometimes attends our meetings.”

“Yeah, man. I get it now.”

I then turned to the front. “And that asshole was the one who trapped us in.”

“But we like being in the gang now,” Sooraj smiled.

“Yeah,” I smiled too. “And that’s why I don’t really hold any grudges against him.”

“He’s a fucking dickhead, man. He won’t stand a chance against ya.”

“Yeah.” I said with a smile. I then turned my head downward, my smile fading away.

Sooraj too turned serious. “I lost the tournament. And I gotta work harder to get selected next year. And… I gotta stop vaping.” He took the vape out of his mouth, turned skyward, and blew out a puff. He looked at that cloud of smoke turning more and more translucent each passing second and ultimately fading away in thin air. “It’s not good for our health.”

“Perhaps it’s not good for your physical health, but it’s good for your mental health.” I turned to him. “Do ya think ya can live without vaping?”

Sooraj turned his head down and looked at the vape in his hand in front of his chest. He continued to glare at that shit for some seconds, pal.

I turned my head down.

“I gotta concentrate on my fucking game. My coaches… are even thinking of removing me as the captain. Next year, I’ll be promoted to the elder age group. And… I can’t afford to be the twelfth man in the under-nineteen.”

I nodded.

“It… It’s fucking killing me from inside. It’s the reason for my low stamina. And… stamina is one of the most important essentials in a sportsman.”

“Yeah, pal.”

“It causes heart and lung diseases too.”

“I know all of that shit too, pal,” I said, my head tilted down and the pen in my mouth. I then moved it out, blew out another puff, and then straightened my back. I turned to him and said, “But… I don’t think I can leave it now.”

“Ya can, man. This shit is fucking killing both of us.”

“We’ve tried so many times to quit it, alright? It never worked.”

“Let’s try once again,” He said. I noticed the determination in his eyes. They were shining.

I turned my head down in guilt. “Okay, pal.”

“We’ll legit do it this time.”

I smiled, turned up, and looked in his eyes again.

“Sure we will, pal!”