From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96: My Own Gang

School life had completely changed, and it wasn’t just true for Max, it was true for the entire school. After catching up with Aron, Max had learned what had happened to Dipter and a few of the others who had been with him.

The packages they’d been caught with were enough evidence to pin everything on them and land them behind bars. Because of their age, they’d been sent to a juvenile detention center. And it wasn’t just Dipter, many of the school’s class leaders had gone down with him.

Snide and Ko, to name a couple. The police hadn’t managed to catch everyone, but that was never Max’s intention anyway. He only wanted to take down those responsible for what had happened to Sam, and to the real Max. In a lot of ways, he’d done just that.

The ones who hadn’t ended up behind bars were back in school, but the atmosphere had shifted. The story of what happened that day had spread fast, one of the bullied kids had finally fought back. And somehow, he’d won.

Without Dipter backing them, and with some students finally facing consequences, no one was acting out anymore. The school had gone quiet.

As Max sat at his desk, half-focused on the day’s lesson, he glanced at the seat beside him, still empty, still untouched.

"I’m sorry, Sam," Max murmured. "That you didn’t get to experience this kind of life. I wish I’d done something sooner."

With that, he rested his head on his desk and closed his eyes, letting himself drift into a quiet nap.

There was a strange sense of accomplishment, his fists had actually done something good for once. It felt... nice.

When lunch break rolled around, Max was getting ready to grab something to eat when he saw Joe walking over. He was the only person in the class who knew the full truth about everything that had happened.

"Want to grab something together?" Joe asked.

"You’re... not gonna make me pay, are you?" Max replied, raising an eyebrow.

Joe immediately threw his hands up.

"No, no, of course not! Don’t be crazy. It’s just, you know... ah, forget it. If you don’t want to eat together, that’s cool."

"It’s fine. We can eat," Max said, cracking a faint smile. "But you’re paying this time."

Back when Max and Sam were getting bullied, they had been the ones forced to pay for Ko and his friends’ meals. So honestly, it felt like the least Joe could do now. And as they walked, Joe realized something else.

With Ko and the others gone, there was no one left for him to talk to, not in class, not in the whole school. He didn’t have any friends. And the person he was closest to now... was Mad Max.

The two of them walked side by side, heading down the hallway toward the exit, when they both froze. A tall figure was standing up ahead, waiting. And it was clear, it wasn’t a coincidence.

"Max, I’ve been looking for you," Jay said.

In Max’s mind, he still owed Jay a favor, for pulling him out of that mess with Snide. And since then, Jay had made quite an impression on him. So Max was willing to hear him out.

"There’s something I want to talk to you about," Jay said. "About this entire school. Will you come with me... to the Cage?"

"The Cage?" Joe repeated, surprised.

"If it’s a request from you, then sure," Max replied without hesitation.

The Cage was a location on school grounds, so Max didn’t think much of it at first. But the moment he stepped outside and saw what was waiting for him, he realized the situation might be a lot weirder than he’d expected.

Standing around in the Cage were a bunch of students, all talking among themselves. Some were playing dumb games and laughing loudly, while others were wearing slings and bandages, clearly part of the group that had attacked Max and the others not long ago.

Jay, Max, and Joe stepped into the Cage, and as soon as they did, the noise cut off. The students turned and stared at Max. No one said anything. They just waited, for Jay.

"Right here," Jay said, gesturing around them, "are all the school’s delinquents. At least, the ones who used to be under Dipter."

He paused, sweeping his hand toward the roughly thirty students surrounding them.

"They’re the ones willing to hear out my proposal."

"Our school, Max, it’s different from the others," Jay began, his voice steady but heavy. "And I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but it’s the kind of place where scum like us are free to run wild. A school where people like us... we don’t really have a future."