Derby's body was hard and strained beneath Jimmy, as he scrabbled to secure a grip on the rich boy's struggling back. It felt good to know, despite the fact that Derby was a hand and a foot taller than him, taller now even than when they'd been in school together, that the redhead was still heavy enough to take him down, if the will was strong enough. Like before. Like things had been in the old days, before money and distance had made it impossible for them to be friends anymore.
"Hold still! So I can-" Derby gave a particularly good jerk, pulling Jimmy briefly off his feet. He flew for a moment, punched the blonde in the back of the skull, and slipped down again. "-kick the SHIT outta you!"
By this point, most of the boardwalk in their immediate area had emptied out. The people remaining were either watching with an avid interest from a safe distance, or skirting the whole affair as far away as possible. A little girl watched the two figures grapple, with a broad grin on her little face, while her mother dialed a nervous call on her cellphone. The Bullworth students congregated around the ice cream shops were visibly laying down bets, talking loudly.. And seagulls screamed in angry tuneless squawks from up above, in the cloudless sky.
"Give 'em Hell, Jimmy!" shouted one student, unheard and unheeded by the pair of fighting boys.
"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SUCH A BITCH, HARRINGTON?"
Oh well. There went the hope for any sort of cover.
By this point in his life, acts of senseless violence seemed to come naturally. Jimmy's tolerance for bullshit had only diminished over the recent few years, and as he attempted to muscle Derby's arms back behind his shoulders so he could put the boy in a pony-choke, it was suddenly impossible to remember why it was he'd ever been lenient with Derby in the past. Or, for that matter, why he hadn't done this at least once already since they'd graduated.
Derby's heel came down hard and sharp on the top of his foot, and Jimmy audibly hissed. What the fuck were his shoes made of, obsidian?