Renwick

Buried beneath the streets of a sprawling city lay The Renwick School for the Deadly Arts, its only entrance hidden away in the back of an unassuming gift shop. As the name implies, this was no ordinary school. The curriculum didn’t bother with algebra, literary analysis, or other useless things that typical high schoolers worried over. At Renwick, students were taught one thing: how to survive a life of crime and violence.

Meanwhile, Alex Gaskarth had no idea what he was doing here. He stared blankly into the empty locker that had just been assigned to him and tried to figure out exactly how he had ended up at a boarding school for killers. One second, he was an average kid at an ordinary high school in a small town. Next thing he knew, his parents were going on a “vacation” for an “indefinite amount of time,” and Alex had to go to this dumb school where he would “be safe.” Safe from what? Fuck if he knew.

A bell suddenly rang, the shrill sound causing Alex to jump, and the halls quickly filled with students dressed in the required black and red uniforms. He slammed his new locker shut and realized that he had no clue as to where he was or what he should be doing. Well shit.

“Hey, new kid!”

Surprised, Alex glanced around the hall and quickly spotted a boy who was staring straight at him. “Me?”

The boy’s face broke into a wide grin. He pushed his way through the crowd of students until he was standing right in front of Alex. “Yeah, you. Welcome to Renwick,” he said, holding out his right hand. “My name’s Jack.”

Alex hesitantly shook Jack’s hand. The guy came off as just a little too friendly for comfort. “…Alex.”

“Nice to meet you, Alex. Has anyone shown you around yet?”

“Not yet, no.”

“Well then, it’ll be my pleasure,” Jack said with an overdramatic bow. “Right this way.”

At a loss for words, Alex silently followed after this strange new person. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. He listened as Jack pointed out various classrooms, the library, dining hall, and all the little nooks and crannies that he thought were best for studying in.

“So, where are you from?” Jack asked as they walked side by side.

“Maryland.”

“No way, dude, me too!”

For some reason, this made Alex relax a bit. “Baltimore?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go Ravens,” Jack said with a laugh. “What are you doing all the way out here at Renwick?”

Alex shoved his hands in his pockets. That exact question had been bothering him ever since his parents told him their decision to ship him off. “No idea,” he answered truthfully. “My parents just suddenly decided to go away for a while and leave me here. They didn’t really say anything more than that.”

“Hm, well, I’m sure they had their reasons.” He could tell Alex was getting upset just thinking about it and quickly changed the topic. “What do you do for fun?”

“I guess I listen to a lot of music,” he said casually. “And I play video games and stuff…I don’t know. Sorry, I’m a really boring person.”

“Nah, you’re good. I’m pretty much the same way.”

They continued wandering around the school aimlessly, the lack of windows and wall clocks making them lose all sense of time. After some more casual conversation, Jack and Alex found that they had a similar taste in music and began exchanging stories about concerts they’d been to and the crazy things that had happened there – epic mosh pits, failed crowd surfing attempts. Before either of them knew it, they were talking and laughing together like old friends. Alex still thought that Jack was kind of a weird kid, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He was fun to be around, and Alex could tell that he could trust Jack. It felt good to have someone he could go to in this place where he didn’t know a single person.

“So now that we’ve gotten to know each other a bit,” Jack eventually said,” I’ve decided that I like you, Alex Gaskarth. Therefore, I would like to offer you an official invitation to join All Time Low.”

“I’m sorry, join what?”

“All Time Low,” Jack repeated as though it were obvious.

“What is that, like, a school club or something?”

“No, you moron, it’s my gang.”

Alex glared at Jack. He was still getting used to this sudden drastic change in his life and was not in the mood for getting made fun of right now. “Seriously, dude, what is it?”

“Seriously, dude, it’s my gang.”

“You’re shitting me. No offense, but you do not look like the gangster type.”

Jack gave Alex a curious look. “You have no idea how this school works, do you?”

Alex sighed. It wasn’t his fault that he was suddenly thrown in here without explanation. “Apparently not.”

“Maybe we should continue this conversation in my room,” Jack suggested. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Alex shrugged. “Fine by me.” He followed Jack through the maze of corridors to a long hallway lined with numbered doors. It certainly didn’t look like a school dormitory. Then again, this entire school didn’t look like any school Alex had ever seen. Everything seemed old and grand. Between that and the school uniform, he felt like a true preppy private-school boy.

Jack stopped in front of what Alex assumed was his room, pulled a key out of his pants pocket, and unlocked the door.

“Woah,” Alex whispered as he stepped inside. If he could have designed his bedroom any way he wanted, it would have looked almost exactly like Jack’s. The small lamps scattered throughout the room cast a warm glow, not at all like the harsh fluorescent lighting that he had come to associate with dorm rooms. Beneath the band posters that covered almost all available wall space, Alex could see that the place was painted a deep red that complimented the floors, which were a dark hardwood. The bed was unmade, there was dirty laundry scattered all over, and an electric guitar was propped up in the corner. It was perfect.

Jack kicked away some of his dirty clothes, clearing out space on the ground. “You can sit there,” he said, gesturing to the spot. He sat with his legs crossed on his bed and waited for Alex to get settled on the floor before he began. “So not everyone here at Renwick gets along very well. Lots of fighting, other violence, a few deaths-”

“Deaths?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes, deaths, you’re at a school where they teach us to kill, what’d you expect? But anyway, this is why we have gangs. Your gang is your family. If you fuck with someone, their entire gang is gonna be after you, and trust me when I say that you do not want that. So basically, they keep the peace around here. There are alliances and truces and other stuff like that too, it’s all very complicated, not stuff you have to worry about yet.”

Jesus Christ, what kind of sick school did Alex get himself into? How was this stuff even allowed? Fuck, how was any of this even legal? “Alright, makes sense, I guess…” It did not make sense. “So who’re the other gangs around here?”

“There’s a bunch of them, but for now, you really only need to know about the five big ones,” Jack explained as if all of this was completely normal. “There’s Pierce the Veil, led by Vic Fuentes. Last time I checked, they had an alliance with Sleeping With Sirens, which is led by Kellin Quinn.” He smirked. “Pretty sure it’s cuz Vic and Kellin are a bit more than friends though if you get what I mean.”

Alex cocked his head to the side. “Um, I don’t follow.”

“Y’know, they’re…” He made a weird hand gesture and looked at Alex expectantly.

“I’m still confused.”

“Alex, I love you, but sometimes you’re really dumb, you know that? I’m pretty sure Vic and Kellin are fucking each other, but don’t say anything about that around them, or your body will end up in a lake. I’m dead serious about that, by the way. Anyways, next, there’s The Youngbloods. Led by Patrick Stump…or Pete Wentz…one of them, I forgot who. Pretty much the only gang that can hold their own against The Killjoys. Now those guys are absolute legends. Absolutely insane, but they get shit done, and they get it done well. Honestly, my advice to you is to just stay outta their way altogether. It’s not worth getting mixed up with them. And lastly, there’s my little family, All Time Low. We take the newbies that don’t fit in anywhere else. We’re not exactly the strongest gang, and we don’t get a whole lotta respect but, y’know, we stick together.”

Awesome. A school for the deadly arts that’s filled with teenagers in gangs. No way was this real. This had to be some sort of fucked-up dream, Alex was sure of it. But for now, at least, he might as well play along until he woke up from this nightmare. Jack was at least friendly. “Sounds great,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

Jack’s eyes lit up with excitement. “So you’ll join?”

“Well, I don’t think I have anywhere else to go, do I?”

“Aw c’mon, that’s the wrong attitude to have about it,” Jack said with a pout.

“Can I join your gang or not?” Alex asked, exasperated.

The goofy grin on Jack’s face was replaced with a genuine smile. “Of course you can. Welcome to the family, Alex.”

Notes

Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to check out my fic! Likes and comments are much appreciated. I already have the next 11 chapters of this story written out and will be posting weekly, but if you have any ideas or anything particular that you'd like to see in future chapters, let me know, and I'll do my best to incorporate it!