Human Sized Hurricane | Michael Clifford

Chapter 4 - Desperation

Michael walked alone through the corridor of the ground floor in the English block barging past the younger kids in uniform who were dwarfed by his sheer height and muscle tone. "Hey!" One little kid said as Michael bumped his shoulder with his elbow. Michael wasn't phased by the tiny kid and kept wandering in. He wore a black Nirvana t-shirt and skinny black jeans with converse. He made his way from English through the foyer of the school hall and straight down the middle of the hallway leading to the canteen where most of the lower school students were. He only glanced into the large room as he noticed a group of three other sixth formers sitting in the corner of the room and all of them on their phones. Then he saw the blond guy staring across the room at the girl Michael had almost run over, but she wasn't looking back at him. Upon facing the front, Michael noticed one of his teachers standing with his arms crossed right in Michael's path, making the cranky teen roll his eyes and sigh. "Excuse me" He said reluctantly.

"Not this time, young Clifford" The bald headed teacher replied. "Never again will I be so humiliated at a congratulations ceremony!" The Macon teacher yelled, loosing his nerve for a second with the student who couldn't give a crap.

"What did I do this time, Mr Macon? Was it something catastrophic that you'll have to send me to another school? Oh no, please don't" Michael replied, making no effort to be convincing" The bell rang.

Mr Macon sprang into action. "We'll talk about it later" He said as he passed the boy who was clearly taller than himself. "You there! Stop dilly-dallying around! Get to your classrooms" He instructed some lower school students with a few extravagant gestures.

Michael rolled his eyes and continued on his way out of school. As he reached his car and unlocked it, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket so he checked it. Next target: the girl you almost killed . B. Michael sighed and lifted his head in the midday sun, the brightness making him squint. He glanced around himself for a second, then climbed into his car, rolled down the window and dialled Bobby's number. It rang for a while until the bigger brother picked up. "Hello?" Bobby's voice was hoarse like a frog.

"What the fuck man?" Michael questioned, walking the steering wheel.

"Who is this?" Bobby asked sounding a little confused. "Mikey boy?"

"Yeah, no shit" Michael replied. "What's with this next target thing? Who is that girl?" He questioned, glancing around the humanless car park.

"This girl, right, her daddy owns the best football team in the UK alright. He-he is the big leagues, the underdog himself. And this girl is the ticket to getting her daddy's money" Bobby replied fully confident of his answer as he sat on the edge of his seat at home with a cigarette.

"So why am I included in this?" Michael asked, touching his bruised eye. "I'm not killing his daughter"

"No, Mikey boy, you don't have to kill her as all... just get yourself into her bed" Bobby said and Michael choked on air. "Look, buddy, we need her father's money to settle all of our debts and all of our lives. You know? We could-we could be on a yacht in the south of France by this time next month and all you have to do is make her trust you so we can get what we want. We'll leave them alone after that" Bobby's voice was persuasive and filled with sincerity like a waterfall.

Michael thought for a moment and removed the phone from his ear, letting his arms fall into his lap. He looked out of the window at the school building, then placed the phone against his ear again. "How do I get her to trust me? I don't even know her name" He said.

Bobby silently celebrated. "There's a party tonight that the kids are all having at your old buddy Luke's house and word is that she's going to be there" Bobby checked his iPad for confirmation, and tossed it aside.

"I'll start there and work my way up" Michael replied reluctantly.

"That's my little brother! I love you, buddy" Bobby cried and hanged up. He got up from his chair in front of the television and moved to the stairs where a woman was waiting dressed in an exposing dress. He let her lead him upstairs while Michael stayed seated in his car looking pensive out the window. He chewed on his fingernails as he thought, then checked his phone and pocketed it before starting the car and driving off and out of the school car park.