Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 17:17:46 -0700 (PDT) From: BR Subject: Two Boys: A Love Story Part 6 This story is complete fiction. The characters, unlike you and me, do not exist, and are not intended to resemble any actual person. Please don't read this, or any other story on this site, if you are not legally able to do so. Two Boys: A Love Story Part VI I felt miserable as I lay in my room. It was late Sunday evening and I was dreading returning to school tomorrow. Mom spent the entire weekend wandering around the house in a daze. She would alternate between stone silence and hysterical sobbing, sometimes within the same minute. A psychiatrist at the hospital had given her a prescription for Xanax and Valium, so she was in a dazed stupor as well. Don was downstairs in the living room with his friends. Widespread Panic was blasting from the stereo, and the sounds of laughing, cursing, bong hits, coughing, snorting, and beer bottles clinking would periodically accentuate the music. Mom was asleep in the bedroom, her Xanax allowing her to sleep through all the pulsating racket. I had made the unpleasant discovery since moving into Don's house that the nightly partying here would often go on past 2 am, even when everybody had to be at work the next day. I had always preferred dark and quiet when I would go to bed. When I first slept at Adam's, I couldn't hardly sleep that night because of the black light strip that he had running along the wall that he used as a night light. I was also depressed because Adam hadn't come over this weekend due to being severely grounded. Maddie had come by briefly on Saturday, but then almost immediately left when her boyfriend showed up, the one I saw her blowing in her room a week before. He was a student at Keiser University and was skinny with mousy brown hair, a goatee, a long ponytail, and a pair of wire frame glasses. She had been over for a grand total of 15 minutes on Saturday before he showed up and whisked her away, so I wasn't able to hang out with her either. Don didn't care because as soon as she had walked through the door, he had fulfilled his legal requirement for the visit. Once she had left, he was able to dive back into drinking, smoking, pilfering Mom's medicine, and breathing white powder up his nose. I was able to find out from Maddie before she left that Steve's parents had come by on Friday evening in regards to his fight with Adam, and that they had threatened to sue the bejeezus out of Gerald over it. Apparently Sherry and Mrs. Krauter got into a screaming match, mainly over Steve going on line about Adam and me. Maddie said that Mrs. Krauter told Sherry that they are a "God fearing family" and that they encouraged Steve to do what he did to help battle "the filth" that she said is all around them. Sherry responded by telling them to leave immediately, and that they are going to be in for a hell of a fight if they decide to sue. After Maddie left I checked the Facebook page that Adam and I had, and discovered that it was full of hateful, and in some cases, threatening comments, so I went ahead and deleted our page. I decided that if someone tried to pick a fight with me tomorrow, which I expected would happen, I wasn't going to hold back, even if some kid wound up in the hospital. School was out in four weeks anyway, so if they wanted to suspend me, fine, they could go right ahead. Maddie also said that Sherry had gotten into it with the Principal on Friday afternoon for not punishing Steve for cyber bullying. Mrs. Krauter showed up that afternoon as well to try to get Adam's suspension extended to a full week. This bummed me out because it was Memorial Day next Monday, which meant that it might be next Tuesday before I could talk to Adam again. According to Maddie, Adam is apparently not even allowed to leave his room, and Gerald is talking about sending him to military school. The next day in school I discovered that I had gone full circle. Just like when I first arrived there last fall, I now sat by myself at lunch, kept to myself at recess, and didn't talk to anybody. What was different now was that the kids who sat away from me would give me dark looks, or laugh, or whisper into each others ears. While I sat and ate my lunch, I was hit be several spitballs that were launched from an unknown assailant sitting somewhere behind me. Chris Richards, Scott Crawford, Chris Stover, and the rest of the kids that we used to sit with at lunch were now all clustered at the next table. After I finished eating, I saw Steve Krauter sitting at his place at the other end of the room. He had a nasty black eye, a big bruise on his cheek, and was wearing what were apparently a spare pair of glasses. I got up and walked over to where he was sitting and stood at the end of the table. I could hear the chattering from the other kids turning into shushes, and then go quiet as I walked over. "Why did you lie, Steve?" I said. "Go away, leave me alone." He mumbled. "Why did you tell your mom and everybody that Adam and I were holding hands and kissing? That's bullshit and you know it." I replied. "Get away from me. I know what I saw." He said as he looked up at me. "You're a piece of shit, Steve! You and your mom!" I snarled. "You're a faggot and you're going to Hell!" He spat back. One of the cafeteria monitors showed up and told me to go back to my seat right away. I glared at Steve and then walked back to my seat. "Enjoy Hell, faggot." I heard Steve say as I walked off and the whole table burst into giggles. I looked at the cafeteria monitor and she pointed at my seat with an angry look. She had to have heard what Steve said, and she did absolutely nothing about it. At that point I decided that I absolutely hated Lemon Market Elementary, and that I couldn't wait to start Junior High next year. At recess I sat on the hill reading my book, and then suddenly a piece of gravel landed next to me. I looked over at it and was then dinged on the back of the head with another piece. I turned around and that Roberto kid was at the top of the hill throwing rocks down at me. I threw down my book and charged up the hill at him. Roberto threw another one at me, aiming for my face, and missed. I could hear the rock whiz past my head. I reached the top of the hill and grabbed him by his shirt. Just then Mr. Braun, one of the other sixth grade teachers, rushed in and broke us up. I told him what happened with the rocks. Roberto denied it, but apparently had forgotten that he still had the rocks in his hand. Mr. Braun took him to the office and I sat back down with my book. As I sat down, I felt an unpleasant sensation. I got up and discovered that I had sat in a pile of dog crap. After I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and returned to class, I had to sit next to Adam's empty desk for the rest of the day, which reminded me of how miserable I was without him. I felt like only half a person. I also couldn't stop thinking about what Maddie said about Gerald sending him to military school, and I was wondering if I would ever see Adam again at all. Fortunately it was Monday and we let out at 1 pm on Mondays, so the worst day that I had ever had in school in my entire life was thankfully brief. I felt a little better when I got home and saw that Mom seemed to have improved. She had taken emergency medical leave at work so that she could do her therapy. She seemed to have had a good day at her session, and seemed to almost be in a good mood. She still had a couple of crying jags, but at least she was able to bring them under control quicker. Don came home from work, and we actually had a nice dinner before Don started his nightly routine of booze and partying. Mom retired upstairs to Don's bedroom. I did my homework, and then tried my best to get to sleep with all the cacophony going on downstairs. The next day went pretty much the same way. Everybody avoided me like a plague and I sat by myself in the corner of the cafeteria during lunch. While I was eating a spitball landed on my sandwich. A second one then hit my hair. I turned around and saw a couple of sixth graders from another class laughing with straws in their hands. I got up and grabbed a cafeteria tray from a girl sitting nearby and hurled it like a frisbee right at them. It ricocheted off the table and bounced right into them. I then felt a pair of hands grab me, and the two cafeteria monitors lead me to the office. I was really hoping that I would be suspended, although I wasn't sure how Mom would handle the news of that. I sat in the office for a few minutes and was then lead into the Principals office. Our Principal, Mrs. Williams, was sitting behind the desk. She was an old lady who kept her grey hair in a tight bun and wore red pants suits. She would wind up retiring after that year. "Byron." She said slowly. " I first want you to know, that I am very, very sorry about everything that has happened to you over the last two weeks. I'm also sorry about the troubles that your mother is going through. I just want to let you know, that I have not contacted her in regards to the issues that have brought you here. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Duh, of course I understand, I wanted to say. "Yes Ma'am." I replied. "You are a brilliant student, one of the best that we have here at Lemon Market. You are a bright young man with a great future ahead of you. You have great potential, and you deserve to be in the best academic environment possible." She said. "Thank you. Mrs. Williams." I said. Geez lady, I thought. Just go ahead and suspend me already. "What we've decided to do for you, is to pull you from your class, and let you pursue and finish the school year in a course of independent study through our GT program." I was stunned. "You're pulling me out of Mrs. Tronik's class?" "Yes." She replied. "You are still officially in her class, however, starting immediately, you will begin reporting to Mrs. Kim in room 110 downstairs and complete your school year there." Room 110 was on the lower level on the far side of the library, away from all the classrooms. They couldn't have chosen a more isolated spot to exile me to. I should actually have been glad about this, but all I could think about was being separated from Adam. "But I like Mrs. Tronik's class." I lied. "I know you do, however, our job is to make sure that you're able to complete your studies at Lemon Market in a safe and conducive environment. We also feel that with your problems at home, that it would be good for you to have a dedicated, one on one instructor. We want you to do the best that you can do." "So there won't be any other kids in there?" I asked. "No. This will be completely independent studies for you. You will have access to the library, and you'll be able to pursue your academics free of the distractions that can occur within the main student body." "I guess by that you mean people lying about me on the Internet and shooting spitballs at me." I said as I picked the spitball out of my hair from emphasis. "Byron, you have been in three fights in three days. I understand that you were provoked, however, you and the other children in this school need to have a positive, learning environment, and that is not what we now have. This decision, as I have already said, is based on what is best for everyone involved." I finally understood what was happening. I was being sent to the dungeon. I wondered how much Mrs. Krauter had to do with this. After my talk with Mrs. Williams, I was sent to Mrs. Kim's room. Mrs. Tronik had cleared out my desk and brought all my stuff downstairs. The room was small and consisted of a conference table and a chalkboard. Once I was in there I was given math assignments by Mrs. Kim, who then left the room and wouldn't return until just before 3:00, when school let out. I arrived home feeling miserable and depressed. I sat on the couch with an exasperated sigh and just stared at the ceiling. Mom was at therapy and Don and Marco were working, so I had the place to myself. After a few minutes, my Droid started ringing. I took it out of my pocket and saw Maddie's number. "Hello?" I said as I answered. "Hey Buyer." It was Adam on the line. "Adam! Dude! Where are you?" "Stuck in my room. Maddie snuck her phone in to me so that I could call you." "You don't even know how glad I am to hear from you! I wish I could see you." I said. I felt absolutely joyful that I was talking to him. "I'm glad to hear you too, Buyer. I miss you." "Is it true that Gerald wants to put you into military school?" "That's what he said. I told him I would run away first." "What did he say to that?" I asked. "He smacked me and told me to stay in my room." Adam said. My chest tightened up. I hated it when Gerald hit Adam. "I'll run away with you. I'm sick of this town and these people and this stupid school." I said. "How was it for you in school this week?" Adam asked. "Terrible. Everyone either won't talk to me or they try to pick a fight. I also got yanked out of Mrs. Tronik's class today." I said. "You what?" "Yeah, they pulled me out of class. I'm going to be in Mrs. Kim's room by myself for the rest of the year." "That sucks, dude! That means we're not going to be in the same class anymore!" Adam moaned. "It's only for the next few weeks until school let's out. We'll have all summer after that." I said. "Not if I get sent to military school." Adam said. I paused as I pondered that for a few moments. This conversation with Adam was becoming as dreary as the rest of my day had been. "Maybe they'll put you in Mrs. Kim's room with me." I said. " I doubt it, they won't do that." He said. "Are you coming back on Thursday?" I asked. "Yeah, Mrs. Krauter tried to get the school to keep me out a whole week, but they told her to go fuck herself." Adam said. "I wish they really would tell her to do that, her and her son both." I said. I then heard Maddie's voice in the background. "Aww, man!" Adam said. "Buyer, Maddie says I gotta give her the phone back. I'll try to see if she'll let me call you again tomorrow. " My heart sank. "Shit." I said. "Bye." He said. "Bye Adam, I love you." I said sadly, but he was already gone. Maddie then came on the phone. "Hey Buyer." She said. "Hey Maddie." I said. "Thanks for letting Adam call me." "Sure. I knew you guys wanted to talk, and I don't think Adam should be punished for anything. If Adam beats someone up it's because they deserve it. I'm glad he beat the crap out of that kid. But hey, I have to split now Buyer." "Alright. Thanks again Maddie." I said. "Bye." She said and hung up. I sat back on the couch and felt even more depressed. I didn't even feel like doing the homework assignment that Mrs. Kim gave me. After a couple of minutes my Droid rang again. My heart jumped in my chest at the possibility of Adam calling me back, but instead it was a local number that I didn't recognize. I answered the phone and Chris Richards was on the other end. "What's up, Chris? " I asked with a little bit of suspicion. "So why didn't you come back from lunch today and why was your desk cleared after recess?? Did they expel you?" He asked. "No, they moved me downstairs. I'm now by myself in Mrs. Kim's room. I'm not even going to be in lunch or PE with you guys anymore." I said. "Why did they do that?" He said. "I don't know. They said that it's so I can continue with my studies undisturbed or some bullshit like that." "That's awesome, dude!" He said. "Awesome, how is it awesome?" I said. "You can just go down there and do your assignments and chill." He said. Yeah, without Adam, I thought. "Yeah I guess I didn't think about it that way." I said. "So...I was calling to ask you and see if...maybe you wanted to come over to my house tomorrow? We can go paddle boating or something." He said. "After school?" I asked. I was a little bit suspicious, and I was also wondering why Chris had emerged so unscathed from Steve's crusade. He sounded sincere enough, though. "Yeah." He said. "Sure, I guess." I said. Chris lived a mile away from the school and usually walked or took his bike. " I guess I'll meet you at the flagpole after school." "Cool. Scott and Chris and all those guys take the bus so if you wait for 15 minutes or so they'll all be gone and we should be able to not have anyone bother you." He said. I figured he also thought it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to not see us leaving together, especially now that everybody thinks that I'm gay. "Hey, how did you get my number anyway?" I asked. "I got it off of Adam's phone last Sunday when you guys were out of the room." He said. "I hope you don't mind." "I guess I don't. I'll meet you 15 minutes after school at the flagpole, ok?" I said. "Ok. See you tomorrow, Welleham." He said and then he hung up. I really didn't like Chris all that much, but I was tired of being by myself all the time, so I figured I could go over there for a little bit tomorrow. I finally got up off the couch and did my homework. I went to bed early, right after dinner, and I didn't say a word to either Don or Mom about being pulled out of Mrs. Tronik's class. I spent the entire next day in Mrs. Kim's room, it was mind numbingly boring. I brought my lunch and ate it right there in the room. PE consisted of me shooting baskets by myself in the gym for 40 minutes and I also had recess by myself. The playground and athletic fields were eerily quiet and empty. I felt like a prisoner. I sat on the hill and read, and then it was back to my cell for more tedious schoolwork. I couldn't wait for summer to get here so that this would all be over. Once the long day had ended, I waited for 15 minutes and then went out to the flagpole. I didn't see Chris anywhere, and I was pissed off because I had missed my bus. I then heard a "psst" come out of some nearby azalea bushes, and Chris emerged into the sunshine. "Sorry, I had to take a leak." He said. "Why did you do that back there when you could have gone into one of the restrooms?" I laughed. "Because I wanted to piss on the school. Plus, when you gotta go you gotta go." He smiled. "I might piss on this place too before this year is over." I said. "That's a hell of a shiner Adam gave you!" He said as he pointed at my black left eye. It was fading into yellow on the edges, but was still fairly prominent. "Yeah, he popped me pretty good." I said, not wanting to talk about it. We then walked the mile to his house. Instead of using the sidewalks, we took shortcut through a swath of fields and glades that he apparently used to get to and from school. "Careful, there's a lot of snakes and shit." He said as we walked. Eventually we went up a steep hill to the street that his house was on. I was familiar with his house because we went past it everyday on the old bus I used to ride before the fire, and it was only a mile and a half or so from Adam's house. It was a large, three story wooden house that was right on a medium sized lake. It was distinctive because it had a large moat dug around the front of it. A wooden bridge with two ugly old stone gargoyles mounted on the ends of the railing lead to the front door. We walked through the front door and immediately raided the kitchen like a pair of vikings. Chris's dad owned an ice cream shop, so I was presented with the sight of several gallon drums of ice cream in a large freezer near the kitchen. After several bowls of rocky road, we went upstairs to Chris's room. His dad was at the shop and his two older sisters had grown up and moved out of the house. His mom had passed away a year or so before, so he had the house to himself. "So how often do you jerk off?" Chris asked, cutting right to the chase. "Huh?" "I'm sorry I didn't know you were deaf, Byron. HOW OFTEN DO YOU JERK OFF?!" He asked again as he sat on his bed. "I heard you, I've just never been asked that." I laughed. "Well?" He asked again. "I don't know, maybe two or three times a day?" I said. "Is that all?" He said. "Well how many times do you do it?" I asked. "At least five, sometimes more." He said. He then kicked his shoes off, lay down flat on the bed, and started feeling his dick through his pants. I could see that he had a boner. "That's a lot. When do you usually do it?" I asked as I sat down. Watching him rub himself was getting me horny. "When I get up, sometimes at school in the bathroom, and when I'm at home. I'll do it in the shower and before I go to bed." He said. He then unzipped and unbuttoned his pants, lifted his butt up, and pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees. His little white boner slapped against his waste. I watched as he took his dick in his hand and started jerking. "Do you want to do this with me? That's kind of why I brought you here." "Sure I guess. We did it together at Adam's so sure, we can." I said. "I was kind of thinking we could do it nude here on the bed, do you want to?" I got up without hesitating and began to get undressed. Chris was not my ideal choice of someone to do something like this with, but I missed Adam and Chris did look kind of hot on the bed. Chris began taking his clothes off too. Once he was naked, he scooted over to his right on the single bed and I crammed up next to him. Chris had a bunch of Playboy centerfolds hanging on the wall all over his room, and he was looking at them while he jerked his dick. I started jerking as well. He then reached over and put his hand around mine and started jerking me off. I reached over and did the same for him, jerking and pumping his dick up and down. After a few minutes he suddenly slapped my hand off of his dick, removed his hand from mine, and started jerking himself off frantically and came with a loud yelp. He then got up and started getting dressed. "Hey,Welleham. Do me a favor and go cum in the bathroom since you're shooting. I don't want any of that shit getting on my bed." He said as he pulled his underwear on. My hand was kind of aching a little from where he slapped it and I was a little ticked off about that, so I just started getting dressed without having a cum. "Do you want to go paddle boating now?" I asked. "No, I think you should leave now." He said with his back to me while he put his jean shorts back on. "What...leave? But I just got here. You said we were going paddle boating." I said. He put on his t-shirt, turned to face me, and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well." He said. "Fine." I said testily. I finished getting dressed and he walked me down the stairs to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow..." I said as he opened the door to let me out. "No you won't, you're in Mrs. Kim's room now." He said as he shut the door in my face. I heard him double lock it, and I angrily gave the bird to the big wooden door. I then realized I was now stranded. Don's house was over three miles away, and I would have to cross a golf course and a swamp to get to it, and I wasn't about to take my chances with the gators again. I remembered that Mom didn't have therapy on Wednesday, so I got out my Droid and called home. Mom was there, so she was able to come and pick me up. She asked me why I was over there and I told her that we had been studying for a test. That evening I sat around in my room with the Droid on my desk. I kept waiting for Adam to call and he never did. Finally, at a little after 8:00, I called Maddie's number. "What!?" Said Maddie when she answered. She sounded winded, like she had been jogging. "Hey, Maddie. Is Adam around?" I asked meekly. "No, he's at the house! You're calling at a very bad time!" She panted angrily just before she abruptly hung up. I felt sad and alone, and I was so depressed that I didn't even finish my homework that night. At that point I stopped caring about school and everything. I was starting to not even want to be alive anymore. I curled up under my covers and fell into a black, dreamless sleep. The next morning I got up, showered, ate my usual breakfast of cornflakes and two Pop-Tarts, and got on the bus. The bus I rode to school on since moving into Don's was mostly younger kids between first and fourth grade. There was only one fifth grader and none in sixth, so I didn't have to worry about answering to any of Steve Krauter's on line accusations. Even if one of them did say something, I was confident that I could end the discussion pretty quickly. I felt sad and depressed because Adam was returning to school today and I wouldn't be able to see him. As I settled into my seat at school, Mrs. Kim came in to collect my homework. "I didn't do my homework." I stated bluntly. "What? You always to do your homework! You mean you sat around and did nothing last night?" She said. "I wouldn't say I did nothing, I just didn't do any homework." I said matter of factly. "Well this is very disappointing." She said. "I'm going to have to tell Mrs. Tronik that you didn't do the work and she's going to give you a zero for the assignment." "I did some calculations and I can not do any more assignments or homework and still finish with a high C average for the year." I said as I put my head down on the table. "You're a much better student than a C average." She said. "I don't care." I said into my arms. "Tsk tsk, very disappointing." She said. She then turned around and left the room. I sat like that for a few minutes, thinking to myself that if I stayed that way long enough, then eventually the world would just fade away and I could drift around in the cosmos forever. My peace was interrupted by the door opening. I didn't bother to look up to see who it was. "Byron, Mrs. Williams is here to speak to you." I heard Mrs. Kim say. I didn't respond. "Byron. I need to talk to you. Please look up at me." She said. I sighed loudly and looked up, the fluorescent lighting stinging my eyes as I opened them. Mrs.Williams was standing over me with a kindly look on her face. "Byron, we've decided that there is a second student who can benefit from this course of independent study as well. Let me introduce you to your new classmate." She said. I then gasped as Adam walked through the door. It was as though a sudden ray of sunshine burst through the darkest clouds of a rainy day. He looked absolutely beautiful, with his blond hair, his deeply blue eyes, and his warm smile. He had on my favorite tie dye t-shirt that he wore, his baggy shorts, white socks, red Vans, and his beat up old backpack. I couldn't hold back, and I burst out of my seat and threw my arms around him. I didn't care that Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Kim were watching. Adam embraced me back, and I felt joy on a level that I had never experienced ever in my life, before or since. I could feel his body heat, smell the fabric softener on his shirt, and feel his hair on my face. I felt like a dying man given new life at the darkest hour of despair. I looked over at Mrs. Williams, tears of joy in my eyes, and whispered "thank you". She and Mrs. Kim were both smiling at us and looked like they might tear up themselves. Adam and I stayed locked together for a couple of minutes. I felt whole and complete again, and I knew that no matter what else happened around me, with Adam by my side, everything would work out somehow. End of part VI