Stay and confront Michael

“Maybe we should confront him,” he told Ali.

She looked baffled, in her mind, there was no real option of staying here.

“Yeah I don’t know about that,” she told him.

Mark didn’t want to back away from this guy, he was stalking Ali to a point that it really bothered her and he was a jerk when Mark met him.

“You can go if you want but I think I’m gonna stay here and wait until he shows up,” he said, “Maybe it will stop him from bothering you so much.”

Ali smiled at him, she really appreciated that someone was looking out for her.

“Thanks Mark, are you sure you’ll be okay?” she asked.

Mark nodded. Ali gave him a big hug before leaving the beach with her stuff.

It left him alone on the beach.

Nobody in sight. The light breeze and the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore was the only sound.

Eventually he saw someone in the distance. It looked to be a tall guy in shorts and a plain red t-shirt. It had to be him, it had to be Michael. He assumed that it was the red college sweatshirt that he had on.

Mark stood up from his position on the beach. He moved down the sand, closer to where the water was. He stared towards the guy walking down the beach.

The closer he got, the more worried Mark felt.

It was definitley him.

As soon as he recognised Mark, the tone of his face shifted, he looked immediately angry.

The whole scenario was like a showdown. Mark standing his ground, Michael walking closer and closer until he was just meters away.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” Michael said.

Mark gulped slightly, “You need to leave Ali alone, she’s not interested,” he said firmly.

He waited for a response but all he got was laughter from the college bully.

“I’m serious, she said no.”

Michael began to shake his head, “You’ve got no idea cunt, no fucking idea and don’t think I haven’t forgot about what went down last week,” he said in a threatening voice.

He knew he was still going to be pissed off about that, but let’s face it, he had to confront him eventually. They couldn’t just ignore each other for the rest of the year.

“She’s my friend, I know her better than you,” Mark said, “I suggest you just piss off and leave her alone.”

Michael walked right up to Mark and grabbed his shirt by his fist.

“Don’t fucking threaten me buddy!” he said aggressively.

Mark shivered a bit, feeling like he was in serious trouble now. His timid reaction didn’t go unnoticed by the tall kid that had him by the shirt. Michael began to laugh.

“Doesn’t matter what you say, you can’t defend her,” he said still laughing in his face, “You’re nothing but a gutless skinny prick.”

He released Mark’s shirt, still smirking in his face.

Those words hurt him, he felt this anger rise through his blood. Mark couldn’t help but retaliate, he’d never hit anyone in his life but he couldn’t control his emotions today.

“FUCK YOU!” he yelled as he swung his right fist, connecting with Michael’s jaw.

Michael stumbled back, feeling his jaw with his hand. The punch had hurt but it did nothing to knock him down. This was the moment that Mark knew he had made a mistake. He looked at Michael, he was furious and was never not going to retaliate.

He charged at him, smacking Mark’s face with an even harder punch. It was all a blur for Mark, he felt like he had been hit by a train. Mark collapsed to the ground.

The vision of the beach on its side was the last thing he remembered before passing out.