It didn't take much to wake me up the next morning. My mom's voice roused me from a very shallow slumber. I realized quite quickly that Brett wasn't in bed with me. I rubbed my eyes and was surprised to find my mom was kneeling next to my bed.
"What time is it?" I asked. "Where's Brett?"
"It's eight o'clock and Brett's asleep on the couch in the living room," mom replied. "Your dad said he came out there about four this morning and said he had a nightmare and couldn't sleep. I came to wake you up for church."
"I don't want to go to church." I was exhausted, and if anybody gave me any bull I was likely to snap. "I really don't think I could deal with those people right now."
"Don't you think Dustin needs your prayers right now?"
"You heard what happened?" I sat up in bed, only then remembering that I was only in my underwear.
"Brett's mom found me at work and filled me in."
"Is Dustin okay?" I asked as I carefully made sure that my blankets covered me below my waist.
"As okay as he can be, considering the circumstances. Now get up and get ready. I want to be there in time for Bible study."
I reluctantly got up and took a shower. I thought about shaving since it had been about two weeks, but I had nothing worth shaving in all that time, so I didn't bother. Brett was at the dining room table picking at his breakfast when I came out of the bathroom. My dad was going to take him to his church to play the organ and then his mom would pick him up there to take him home. Mom snatched me up and laughed when I asked to go to Brett's church instead of hers and so I trudged along with her to her church.
As I was walking through the hall, I got grabbed from behind and pushed forcefully into the bathroom before I could even make it to Sunday school. I turned around to see Joey had a hold of me. He let me go once we got inside the restroom. He pushed me into the stall nearest to the wall and pushed me onto the toilet. He locked the door behind him so that the two of us were facing each other in the stall together.
"What the hell are you doing?" He'd hurt me a bit when he forced me along. I was afraid of what he might try to do to me.
"What happened at Reilly's house last night?"
"What do you care, Joe?"
"Listen, Roberts, this is serious shit. I heard Dustin Smith was in his house."
"So?"
"So, what was someone like him doing with someone like Reilly?"
"Oh, I get it. Dustin almost died last night, and you're worried about your reputation."
"I'm not worried about my reputation. I mean, it's bad enough that Reilly hangs out with you. But now he has weirdos like Dustin hanging out with him? Reilly hates him. So what in the world was he doing at his house? Why is Dustin getting carted out on an ambulance?"
"Why don't you sit down somewhere and think really hard about the situation? I'm sure a smart guy like you can figure it all out."
"Look, Roberts. Reilly is my friend. I know you don't like that, but it's true. He's part of a world that you will never know, no matter how much you try to mooch off of him. People like you don't belong with people like him. Someday he'll figure that out, and I personally can't wait for that day to come. When I look at Reilly, I see a sinking ship. You're the anchor. The sooner he figures out what a loser you are the sooner he can dump your sorry ass and find someone worth all the trouble he's going through."
"Well aren't you Humanitarian of the Year all of a sudden?"
"Dude, he had a prostitute in his house. A gay prostitute. A criminal who steals from people who try to help him. At this point I don't know if I can even save his reputation! But I can start by convincing him to cut you loose."
I laughed at him. "Good luck with that! I don't know what your story is Joey. I don't know what happened to you. But you're not the kid I used to be friends with anymore. I'm through playing these small-town political games with you. You're such a hypocrite. You have all these people convinced that you're so good. You think because your family has a little money that it makes you better than people. You think that you're better than me because I'm gay. But you're no better than me."
"Okay, first of all, we were never friends. The only reason I was ever around you was because Reilly made me hang out with you. I mean, think about it. What would someone like me ever have to do with someone like you? I don't hate you, Roberts. You're not important enough for me to waste my time hating. You think I hate you because you're gay. But that's not true either. I've known Reilly's gay since I've known him, and I don't hate him at all. No, my problem with you isn't that you're gay, it's who you're gay with."
"Oh really? So if I weren't with Brett you'd leave me alone? Is that it?"
"I'm just trying to save Reilly from himself. Because of you he's got a rent boy showing up at his house being carted out in an ambulance. He's only making things harder for himself and he doesn't need to. You have him convinced that he's in love with you."
"And you had him convinced that pot was going to fix his ADHD, you idiot! Come on Joe! We were friends in first grade long before Brett came into the picture. It wasn't until you began to realize your daddy was someone important when you decided that people like me weren't good enough for you. We both know you're full of shit."
"Dude, nobody stays friends with people from elementary school. Kids are stupid. `Oh, you live in the same town as me and we're the same age, so let's be friends!' That's dumb. Friends should be able to improve your life. What have you ever done for anybody? All you do is complain all the time about how much your life sucks. Everything you say always has to be something sarcastic. It's annoying. You're miserable to be around."
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I'm miserable because I have to deal with self-righteous hypocrites like you all the time?"
"Yeah, it's all my fault that you're a douchebag. Roberts, you're one of the smartest people in our school, which isn't saying much, but it's true. But what do you do with it? What have you done with your life? All you do is complain and whine about everything. But you never do anything about it. Look what you did to Dustin. I know his parents are assholes, but Dustin was an alright kid. He was always so hopeful. He would have walked through broken glass barefoot for anybody. You were his best friend, but when Brett came along you scraped him off the bottom of your shoe like he was dog shit. Then, when he was crying out for help you were too busy sucking Reilly's dick to do anything about it. You fucked with his head."
"That's not true!" I shouted
"Isn't it? You have to be one of the most self-centered people I know. You think you're the hero of the story, but you're just an observer in your own life! What have you done with all your brains, all your natural talent? Huh? Nothing! You're just a narcissistic, passive-aggressive, manipulative, sarcastic little bitch. What's one thing you've done to make the world a better place? Huh? You think I'm a hypocrite? Okay. You're right. I say I'm a good Christian but then I fuck any girl who'll spread her legs for me. So yeah, I am a hypocrite. But at least I know I'm a sinner. But what about you? What's your excuse?"
"You think I don't know there are things about me that suck? Dude, I look in that mirror every day! And every day I see the kid who got so mad he smashed his own hand because he hated the person he saw in there. I know I have my problems. I don't need some asshole like you to point them out to me. And I know I don't deserve Brett. Deserve's got nothing to do with it. We love each other. What do you know about love? You think because you get infatuated with some bitch and fuck her that you're in love. But then what happens? You get bored and move on to the next one, all the while telling your mom how much you love Jesus and that you're saving yourself for marriage. Your mother's not an idiot, Joe. But then again, if she believes the things you say, then maybe she is!"
"Don't talk about my mother, you faggot! What about your mother? Huh? Your mother had everything. She could have been somebody. But what did she do? She threw her life away to marry a loser from a deadbeat family. You know what the problem is? History repeats itself. Now we have somebody else willing to throw their life away for a worthless Roberts loser. But you know what they say, `like father, like son.' Won't be long until you're out robbing some gas station too, throwing away all your potential like every Roberts before you has done. I'll bet your crippled old man will be real proud of you. Maybe the warden could give you the same cell your father used to dry out in! Maybe your dad will even do you a favor and drop dead like his father did."
I don't remember exactly what happened next. But I do know that Joey ended up on the floor with a bloody nose and my hand hurt for days afterward.
"If you ever, ever, talk about my father again, I'll break your fucking neck."
Joey cowered and scurried into the corner of the bathroom as I warned him menacingly. I turned to walk away.
"You're dead, Roberts," Joey warned. "This isn't over, not by a long shot. When my father hears about this you're a dead man. He'll sue you for every penny your crippled old man has! I'm going to make your life hell. My friends are going to eat you alive. I will make sure that Reilly dumps your ass or I'll make his life miserable until he does! You're going to wish you'd never been born. You just made the biggest mistake of your life, faggot."
"So did you," I replied. I walked out of the bathroom on a mission. This bullshit had to end, and I knew how. I walked quickly through the halls of the church, listening for the melodious sound of Joey's dad's voice. He wasn't hard to find. He was in the hallway, the center of attention, surrounded by Pastor Carl, my mother, his wife, and a bunch of people who had big expensive houses and fancy job titles. My mom wanted so much to fit in with those people. They were sure having a good time. Jack McKenzie noticed me and greeted me heartily.
"Well there's the man of the hour! We were just talking about your adventure last night, Mr. Roberts."
Joey had caught up with me. Good. I wanted him to see this. I knew what I had to do.
"Hi Jack! Did you know that Joey got a girl pregnant and paid her to have an abortion?" I said loudly. "Is that the kind of thing you people find acceptable?"
I turned to walk away, leaving Joey to deal with the shit storm I'd just created. Hopefully my message was clear: Don't fuck with me.
So anyway, nothing else happened that day, right? Yeah, right! Joey's dad and mom snatched him up and hauled ass out of church, missing service for the first time ever, and Pastor Carl delivered the most poorly-delivered sermon he'd ever given, obviously rattled by what had happened to one of his top-donating families. I was weirdly more interested in church that Sunday than I had been in years. Mom was mortified by what I'd done, of course. All the way home she scolded me.
"Hey, all I did was tell the truth," I replied smugly. "I thought that was something your god smiled upon."
"You know damn well what you did!" mom snapped. "Even if it was the truth, the way you went about it was way over the line. You deliberately tried to ruin that boy's reputation and the reputation of some of this town's finest citizens! The McKenzies have been pillars of this community for years! They've done so much for this town!"
"Hey, I'm not the one who made a girl get an abortion," I replied.
"How would you like it if someone exposed your secrets in public like that?"
"I guess I'd have it coming to me," I answered honestly. "But I'm not stupid enough to get a girl pregnant." I had to laugh. Brett and I had pumped enough spooge into each other since we started having sex to have a hundred kids, but Brett was never going to get pregnant, and neither was I. I'd never felt more proud of myself. I had a smirk on my face all the way home. I'd finally, after years of being pushed around, stood up to Joey. Sure, I'd been an asshole about it. Sure, I'd probably pay for it later. But right then I didn't care. Plus, I figured I'd bought myself a few weeks of freedom from mom dragging me to that damn church to boot!
When we got home, mom explained to dad what happened. Dad agreed with mom that what I'd done was slimy, but I insisted that I'd told the truth. Mom didn't like to fight with dad in front of me, so they eventually made their way into their bedroom, where I could hear them heatedly arguing over the way I was being raised. I didn't care, I was on top of the world. I called Brett from my bedroom while they argued among themselves. I related the story to Brett. He didn't seem to find it very funny either.
"You realize you're gonna get fucked pretty bad by Joey when the dust settles. I know you guys don't like each other but that was a dick move, telling his dad in front of that preacher and all those people like that."
"Well I guess I'm a dick then. But he deserved it."
"You gonna say the same thing about yourself when he tells the town your secrets?" Brett asked. "Because you deserve whatever he throws at you now. You fucked him pretty good, and I'm sure it felt good to finally get back at him after everything he's done to you. But you crossed the line. I think you're gonna be sorry you did this."
"I thought you were supposed to be on my side, dude."
"I am, Billy. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with everything you do. If he hurts you I'm going to be hurt too. I hate when you do this. You don't think when you get angry and you don't care who gets hurt. And since it's usually me who gets hurt because of your temper I think I've earned the right to tell you when you've fucked up. What you did to Joey was wrong. Don't you remember how much it hurt Dustin when you did the same thing to him?"
I sighed. "Okay, I get it. I'm a dick. I shouldn't have gone nuclear on him. But you have to admit he had it coming."
"We've all got it coming, Billy," Brett said seriously.
Thanks for reading! Thanks even more for sending an email to let me know what you
thought of this chapter, or the story in general! I really appreciate it!
You can reach me at jkwsquirrel@yahoo.com
Next time: The Locked-Down Unit