This is the first to chapters of a passion project that is inspired by a certain famous writer it should be obvious to those who know.

Chap. 1 The pop culture appreciation club

The city, a new way of life and a new home for a young man starting college. Or at least that's what most would tell you. At Ballbreaker university only the strong come out on top. The entire school is run by the top dogs, the pop culture appreciation club. Each one was born with a strange gift that grants them powers that most humans could only dream of. While this is just a rumor the entire university believes it. Some of these gifted don't join the club so they become Rouges, unknown variables that the club wants stomped out for refusing them.this had been the way of life for the university for decades. But things finally took a turn when a new student came to the university. “Hollies stop!” shouted the bus driver with his shout every new student stepped off for their first day of classes. Casey J. Owens was the last to get off. He always was, never trying to draw attention to himself, Brian S. Daniels on the other hand was the exact opposite. He was flamboyant in every step he took, each new movement meant to be more flashy than the last. He had a handsome face with big hair that curled all the way down and flew past his chin, and wore a pair of black cloth gloves over his hands. Of all the things Brian loved about himself it was always his hair that he kept sacred, going so far as to keeping it on a strict grooming and maintenance schedule, that involved several hours a week and multiple salon trips. “ Casey you gotta live it up a little, look where we made it BBU, the BIG LEAGUES uncurl yourself enough to smell the adventure.” Brian talked for much longer than that but it wasn't until he stopped talking that Casey actually started to pay attention to him again. “ Brian you say that about every place we go to and besides we both know why we are actually here…” Casey, while not quite a pessimist, was a painful realist. The two had been close since childhood and they both discovered their gifts together. They were the only two in their tiny little school that had made it, while the elites of their highschool were rejected. They walked and took in the surrounding area, the campus was lively with the hustle of fall semester, skateboarders, bookworms and busybodies flooded the streets like ants with every new light change in the street or wave of new students returning from purchasing books. They decided to first report to their dorm since they both got accepted. They decided to room together to avoid an awkward situation with new roommates. Their dorm building called “White Album” was the newest addition to the living spaces on campus. Thrown together over the course of the summer practically being held together with duct tape and faith. After unpacking the two spent their first night at their new home relishing in the new possibilities. The next morning was already the first day of classes, as well as a meeting with every floor in the lobby before classes started. Every student being grouchy and close together even more uncomfortable than moving in with strangers but it ended quickly, the speal being the same thing you'd expect out of a meeting like this on the first day. The only thing they were told to remember was to never visit the dorms next to them called “black sabbath,” apparently it's where all the staff for this portion of campus room up. Every dorm on campus was named with a color and a word; others include “Blue Hawaii,” “ Red Bone,” “Pink Floyd,” and “deep purple.” The class/ utility buildings however were mostly named with human name’s like the “Arin Hanson center of student counseling,” or "Bob segar music building." The buildings were all named by the club. Originally they were named after the people who built or funded them much like a regular university. But once the club began its takeover they renamed all the buildings after popular people and music. It was a show of force by the club to prove they have complete control over the entire campus. Casey and Brian go their separate ways for the day, each with their own classes and experiences to explore. After a full day of classes Casey is both exhausted and bored. His classes were not the highlight of the day however. That evening as Casey was walking down "Copperhead road," - the main road of the campus- he heard a noise. He turned and saw barreling down the road in the evening light, a car headed straight for him.

Chapter 2: Trenton's mad dog

The car misses its mark, Casey caught it with his bare hand, Casey's true reason for being here, his gift. This gift was the ability to manipulate the density of specific parts of his body without changing their volume. Increasing the power of his blows, and the toughness of his limbs. His limbs are still subject to the laws of physics however. If he makes his body too dense, he will begin to compress himself so there's a limit. So far his limit was 100x density at which level his arm can stop a speeding train in its tracks. This car was nothing, stepping out of the car was a strange man whose features were mostly obscured by mangy hair, and dirt patches on his face. "Ohahah, I knew it, your one of the two newbies aren't you. Haha you can't hide from me boy, my nose can sense gifts from a mile away and yours… yours smells strong." He cackled like a rabid dog and sniffed the air constantly. "They found me already?" Casey thought that was fast, he expected to have one day to himself. The pedestrians who saw the collision started to clear out at seeing two gifted people side by side. They jogged to the other side of the street and kept on with their business. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Trenton, I'm a recruiter of the pop culture appreciation club" as he spoke his features became more and more doglike he even started growing a tail. "You look like a Saint Bernard," "Ah yes this, this is my gift with a name given to me by the president, CUJO!!" He was steadily growing as well. He started the conversation the same size as Casey but over the course of several seconds he had grown over 4 inches and sprouted claws from his hands. "What do you want and why flaunt your gift around like that in public?" "Like I said I'm a recruiter it's my job to find the newbies on campus and see if they are worth anything to the club." He got down on all fours by this point, and started stalking around Casey, his long claws clicking on the pavement. Casey was only slightly worried, his skin could be hardened to a point where missiles couldn't damage him but what concerned him was the fact that this man's gift had a name. Names were something of a status symbol for gifts, if yours had a name you were strong enough to fight and win against other gifts. Casey had experience with his gift, but he wondered if his self taught approach could come out on top…

…

Trenton stalked his prey, just someone else who he was assigned to, each new rookie couldn't last 10 seconds against his "Cujo" "time to go kid," he thought to himself and rushed the boy. His arms and legs in this transformed state could carry him at speeds of almost 40 miles per hour and his claws were sharp enough to cut steel at full speed. With one clean hit he would decapitate Casey and move about his privileged day before being given another assignment. He rushed and swiped at Casey without even thinking too much and he felt his claws impact with flesh. He was so casual about it he blinked but when he opened his eyes he nearly gasped, his claws had impacted Casey's neck but didn't cut through. In fact he looked closely at his own hand and saw that his Claws were cracked. Casey grabbed his assailant's arm and using his gift to increase the weight of his arm threw him to the ground. Trenton was amazed, in this form he easily weighed five-hundred pounds yet this boy had easily thrown him to the ground and held him there. Then suddenly… fear. Trenton was scared for his life. the cold dead eyes staring at him clearly said " I don't care if you die," the boy he disregarded as just another fight lifted his other arm, the arm holding Trenton to the ground already felt like being crushed by a Boulder. He knew that if that other arm struck him he'd be crushed into a fine red paste on the pavement. Trenton frantically pushed up against the heavy arm holding him down. But it would not budge. He felt no force pushing back against his strength. "Is his arm really that heavy!" Realizing his futility he instead moved to defend his head against the meteor that approached him, closed his eyes and waited. CRASH!! the sound of rock being pulverized beside his ear. Trenton opened his eyes and turned his head to face the impact site. His opponent's hand was firmly buried in the pavement. Cracks spiderweb in every direction. Trenton looked into the eyes of the boy, they were devoid of empathy. Those eyes held nothing about Trenton sacred, not his life or his effort. Trentons gift which had gotten him all the way up to being recognized by the club had been thoroughly beaten with little effort. This power that Casey had, was unfathomable in its potential. Trenton was certain he was about to die. Either his opponent would kill him or he'd die socially by being booted from the club.

Casey was disappointed his first big fight turned out to be less than interesting. He calmly removed his hand from the pavement; this recruiter wasn't even worth killing. It would only leave him with a reputation as a cold blooded killer on campus. Trenton stood up, in a confused panic and yelled at Casey "if you're not going to kill me what do you want?" "To bring the club down…"