Crazy vs. Crazy

Crazy vs. Crazy is the thirty-first chapter of Stranger in a Strange School.

Plot
Basil looked up at the sky. There were black clouds. A storm was coming. Literally.

Basil turned around and saw Cam standing behind him. There was an unimpressed look on Cam's face.

"Uh, yes?" Basil wasn't sure why Cam looked unimpressed. The only student who wasn't a part of a clique that wanted to kill him was Biffy. So why'd Cam look like he was going to try and strange him?

"Dude, you know what this is about!" Basil shook his head. Cam was being vague. "You sold out Lee and Tina so Brad can get revenge just so you can get protection."

"Well, technically wasn't Brandy the one who dropped the bleach?" Cam's eyes widened.

"Dude, how do you know that?" Basil shook his head.

"It's not that hard to figure out." Basil started to tap his foot. "The puzzle isn't that difficult."

"Whatever, you still sold out your friends!" Basil sighed. Why did people keep using the term 'sold out' when Basil had been intimidated into this by Brad?

"Wait a second here!" Basil folded his arms. "You say I sold out my friends when you're no different!" Cam raised an eyebrow. It didn't look as weird when Basil did it since his right eyebrow would never grow back. "You sold out your best friend just so you could become popular." Basil pointed a finger at Cam. "Lee could have proven his innocence with that footage and you destroyed it! You're the traitor, not me!"

"Don't you turn this around and blame me, Hagen!" Cam's eyes were cold and hard. Just like Biffy, he thought Basil was guilty.

"Oh, so that's the way we're doing this." Basil scratched his right cheek. "Okay then Martinez, let me tell you this: I'm innocent! As innocent as Cinna the Poet!"

"Okay one: there is no way you're innocent." Basil frowned at Cam's comment. "And two: what the wha?" Basil couldn't believe this. Had Cam never read Julius Caesar? Basil shook his head.

"I am innocent!" Cam scoffed at this. "I've been intimidated by Brad thus forcing me to beg him for protection and thus roping me into a revenge plan where he intends to make me do all the work, get blamed for everything, get shunned by the entire school for leading Murder here just so he can watch me get beaten to a pulp by angry students."

"You're loco in the coco."

"I'm not crazy." Cam didn't look convinced. "I was once because I had a god complex and thought I was Raven the Trickster from North American mythology. Oh, the irony!"

"Dude, that's not helping your case." Basil sighed.

"I know." Basil looked at the watch Cam was wearing. Lunch was only half over! Why did it have to be an hour? "I might as well have said I've seen Bigfoot, three times. Which I have!"

"Dude, that's not helping either." Basil starred in disbelief. "Everyone knows Bigfoot doesn't exist."

"Are you kidding me?" Basil raised his voice. Cam was shocked since Basil had rarely done this since he came to A. Nigma. "You have the Tatzelwurm, this weird dragon snake monster thing as a mascot and you say Bigfoot isn't real? And to top that off from what I heard you actually believed that the flu was the fictional space zombie flu! By Butterscotch Joey and the Queen of Hearts you're the one who's crazy!" Basil had ended up talking to quickly that the moment Cam ended up hypnotized he hadn't even started acting like a monkey. He just blacked out for a second. Basil noticed this and couldn't help but not give Cam a chance to talk back. "Did someone stick a vacuum up your nose and suck out your last lonely brain cell? What is going on in your head?" Basil stopped. He had just used sentences that Clarence had used after Basil had been hit in the head with a dodgeball.

"I don't know I just blacked out." Cam shook his head. Not like how Basil did when he felt frustrated or was responding to something but like he had come out of a trance. "And don't try to turn this on me by calling me crazy, crazy!"

"I won't call you crazy. I'll call you what you are, Looney!" Cam glared. Basil grinned a sly grin. "And I'm not the guilty one here, you are!" Basil started to walk backwards but stopped when he remembered he would have ended up falling down the steps. "Good day, Cam the Looney!" Basil walked past Cam. As far as he was concerned, this conversation was over. Biffy must have told Cam. That was the only way.

As Basil walked away from Cam he started to think and wonder. What had he ever done to Brad to get this kind of treatment from him? He could not come up with an answer. Basil let out a sigh and looked over at Brad as he walked by. Some monsters hid in plain sight! Basil started to walk away when he felt an unmistakable hand on his shoulder.

"I've come up with Plan B, Basil." Basil didn't even turn his head to look at Brad. He was too ashamed. "We send your old principal's pet after Lee and Tina. It happened yesterday and no doubt it can happen again just as easily." Basil's eyes widened in horror! Murder had been here yesterday? And he went after Lee and Tina? Basil turned to face Brad. He had to stand up to Brad. He had to!

"Are you suicidal?" Brad starred with critical eyes. To him, Basil was no more alive than the shoes on his feet but still he wanted to see Basil beaten to a pulp by an angry mob of students. "We can't control Murder! He will try to rip us to shreds! He's a danger to every student in the school! Think of the other popular kids! Think of Tina, you did ask her out after all!" Brad didn't respond to Basil. "Do you even like her or were you just being kind because she saved your life?"

"That's funny, Basil." Brad wasn't laughing. Basil had a very scared look on his face. "I said we're going to send Murder after the two who humiliated me but what you must have heard is 'Please question me!'"

"But bad things happen whenever I'm near birds!" Basil swallowed in fear as Brad's critical eyes continued to stare, stare right into Basil's soul. "It's like I have bad luck!"

"You don't have bad luck, Basil." Brad's voice sounded so kind and gentle. Someone else would have felt happy to hear those words from him but Basil knew something was going to come up that was rather harsh. "The reason bad things happen to you when you're around birds is because you're a moron!" He knew it! Harsh! Brad was never nice towards Basil! Never.

"But what about Tina? And Lee, you respect him! What about him?" Basil knew that Brad could be nice to people. Never to him but Brad was nice to other people. He was charitable, saved animals. He asked Tina out on a date and had shown so much respect for Lee. Surely he couldn't have been blinded by the need for revenge.

"They humiliated me." Basil couldn't understand why so many popular kids thought revenge was the answer to everything. "That's all that matters."

"But what if I were to say that this whole thing was just one big misunderstanding?" Brad brutally pushed Basil against a locker. He then looked around. No one had seen him push Basil.

"If you were ever to do that I would drag you to the pool, throw you in and watch you drown!" Brad whispered. He whispered in a manner that made him terrifying to Basil who was completely intimidated by Brad. "Understood?" Basil wished he could stand up to Brad. He did not want to be pushed around by this sinister Apollo. It seemed that Brad was no different from the Tree Huggers. Or was he? The Tree Huggers nearly ended up killing people because of their insane animal saving tactics. Brad was threatening Basil just because he was question the taller boy. As much as Basil wished he didn't, he nodded. "Good, after school then." Brad walked while Basil slumped to the floor in shame. The only way to prevent this would be to kill Murder and that itself was suicidal.