A ritual is defined as the act of procedure repeated customarily. That is exactly what Andrew has come to think of his current situation. A ritual. Go to class, trudge through the work, start for home, get stopped by Ray, after their business was done, head for home again. At first, it was easy to dismiss. It was easy to fool himself into believing that perhaps through this, Ray could find some plane of comfort, that maybe he was helping Ray in some miniscule way. He had deluded himself for too long. It was time to wake up. The most recent event was the end. Finally Andrew had a realization. All Ray is, is a thug. For so long a time he permitted Ray to get away with everything. The taunting, the beatings, everything. Andrew would forget it all and try and be the bigger man but, he was not being the bigger man, he was being a coward. The time had come. This time he would not be Ray's doormat.

After school was done with, Andrew was on his way home. He took the alleyway that is a shortcut to his house, and also the place where he would meet with Ray. Without fail there was Ray, coming from an adjoining alleyway. Andrew wondered if Ray felt this was a ritual as well, but wondered even more of what the outcome of this meeting would be. Ray grabbed a handful of Andrew's shirt collar and brought his other arm back ready to strike. No more time for thought, only action. As Ray's arm rushed down, Andrew's knee flew up, catching Ray in the groin. Ray hunched over gasping for air. Andrew stepped back to check if Ray would persist. He did. Lunging forward, Ray landed on Andrew and they wrestled back and forth in the dirt. Finally Andrew ended up on top. He drew his fist back and let it fly. One after another he let the punches fall until his fist hurt. With Ray's nose bloody, Andrew got off him and started for home once again.

That night, Andrew cleaned up his hands and face and headed to his room. He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling with a smile on his face. The feeling of pride filled his heart. More than pride, Andrew felt as though he had done some real good. Perhaps after this day Ray would think twice about doing what he does. Then, after the thought of good, came the words of his friend. Andrew quickly pushed those thoughts aside and allowed sleep to sink in.

It was about noon when Andrew met with his friends in their usual spot. It didn't take long for Andrew to see the smiles on his friends' faces to fade into fear. Andrew turned around to be looking down the barrel of a gun. Everything happened so fast. One moment a gun was in his face. A crack, and then, Ray is lying on the ground and Andrew's friend, David was holding Ray's gun. Ray's friends made a move but stopped as David raised the gun to them. He motioned them to the ground and they obeyed. It would all be fine. Several more cracks of a gun, though not from David's hand. David fell to the ground and Andrew ran to him. Blood was flowing out of wounds all over his body. Their eyes met. With one last breath, David said, "you see, no good comes from doing good." He was gone.

After everything was sorted, the police who opened fire and killed David gave their apologies to the family and friends, and were put on probation. Ray's two friends had testified that they didn't want anyone to get hurt but they went along because they were his friends. They weren't imprisoned, but they were forced to transfer and do hours of community service. All of David's friends had lost a piece of themselves that day.

At the funeral, Andrew thought about all that had happened. "No good comes from doing good." The police were trying to stop a shooting, though mistaken, they tried to do good. Ray's friends were trying to be there for their friend, though misguided, they tried to do good. Andrew stood up for himself trying to teach Ray a lesson, he was just trying to do good. Since that day the only person who learned a lesson was him. "No good comes from doing good."