Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 12:09:11 -0400 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: W.A.R. Part 6 Chapter 20 W.A.R. Part Six - Commencement Chapter Twenty -- Down in Flames by Jeff Wilson "So, how did it go?" Mom asked when I walked into the kitchen the morning after the prom. "It was okay." I replied. "Did you and Mary have a good time?" "I think we did. She wasn't complaining." "What time did you get in?" "Oh, not long after it was over." I replied. "Are you going to sleep soon?" "I might. So, will we be seeing more of Mary?" "You might. She's a nice girl." "That's great! I knew it was just a phase." "I slept with Brett last night." I said. "We're back together." Mom didn't say anything. She just stared at me. "Are you joking?" She finally asked. "Is that something I would joke about, mom?" "I don't know anymore. I feel like I hardly know you sometimes." "He's in my room. He was waiting until you went to sleep before he left." "Billy... Why?" "Because he didn't want you to get mad at me." "Not that. Why did you throw away a perfectly..." "I'm not throwing anything away, mother." I interrupted. "Brett is my life. I'm miserable without him. It's like I can breathe again. He's the only one I want to be with. You might hate me because of it but that's too bad. I love him." Mom sat down at the table and grabbed my hands. "Billy, you are my son. I will always love you. You know that. I may not agree with everything that you do, but there is nothing that you can do that can make me stop loving you." I looked her right in the eyes. "Don't you think that's how God thinks about me too, mom?" Mom just stared at me, taken aback. Then she spoke. "I suppose He does." "Look, all I know is that the only person on Earth who I want to be with for the rest of my life is Brett. Whatever dumb stuff we might do to each other, there's nothing that can change that. No girl can do what he does to me. And I don't mean because of his... thing. You know. When are you going to realize that our love is just as real as your love for dad?" Mom sighed. She sat back in the chair, thinking. Then she spoke. "Well, tell him to get in here and eat. I'm not going to have him go home hungry." "Are you serious?" I said in surprise. "Billy, I may not approve of your choices, but they are yours to make." "You're not serious." "Go get him." Mom said. "Are you going to..." "Billy, go get him." Mom ordered. I went to my bedroom and told Brett to come eat. I didn't tell him that mom was waiting. He was wearing some of my clothes, and had managed to gather up the parts of his tux that had been thrown about the room. He grabbed his crutches and mostly walked to the kitchen without using them. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw mom sitting at the table. "Still on crutches, Brett?" Mom asked. Brett just stood there and made a little noise that sort of sounded like "uh huh." "Well, go on. Sit down." She said. Brett looked back at me as if she'd suggested he go sit on a fire. He made his way to the table and sat down. "Well, how's your mother?" Mom asked. "Good." Brett said softly. "How about that leg of yours? Feeling better?" "Good." Brett almost whispered. Wow he was nervous! He couldn't lift his eyes up past the table. "Relax, Brett! I'm not going to bite you." Brett just sat there staring at the centerpiece. "Brett... Sometimes we make decisions in life that we think are in the best interest of our children. I thought that I could make Billy straight by keeping you out of this house. But I've come to realize that I was only fooling myself." "Good." Brett said. Mom laughed. "Are you going to say anything else today?" "You're not mad?" "I'm disappointed. I don't think you'll last. I think that at some point you're going to break each other's hearts. And I still think it's sinful. But it's your lives. I'm not going to get anywhere by fighting you." "Your vote of confidence is overwhelming, mother." I said. "I'm just being honest with you. Do you want me to lie and pretend that I'm thrilled about the situation?" "I just want you to let me love who I want." I said. "That's what I'm doing." Mom said. "No, you're still..." "Billy, stop." Brett interrupted. "Thanks Mrs. Roberts. I'm glad to hear your honesty. I'm sick of my mom trying to be perfect and pretending that she's fine with everything. I wish she'd just say what's on her mind like you did. I totally disagree with you, but I'm glad you're saying what's on your mind." "Thank you Brett." Mom said, almost beaming. "Now why can't you be more like him, huh?" Mom said to me. "I've always thought you could be more polite." I shot Brett an angry look while he tried hard not to laugh. I hated when he got along with my parents better than I did! I walked to Dustin's to get Brett's car later that day. Amanda had dropped it off before she went to her place. I knocked on the door and Dustin answered, looking very tired. "Here for the car?" He asked. "Yeah." He invited me inside and grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter. "Well?" He said. "Well what?" I asked. "How did it go?" He asked. "How did what go?" I asked. "Aren't you going to tell me all about fucking your boyfriend?" Dustin said angrily. "No... What's wrong Dusty?" I said, following him into his living room. "Nothing's wrong." He fumed. "Didn't things work out?" I asked. "Oh, things worked out great... She broke up with me." Dustin said, starting up the stairs. I grabbed his arm and stopped him. "What do you mean she broke up with you?" Dustin sat down on the steps. "I mean she dumped me! She said 'fuck you' and walked out the door! Oh well, she was stupid anyway." "Dustin, how can you say that? You've liked her since the third grade." "She asked me about Mike. I don't know how she found out." Dustin sniffled. "Oh..." I felt a knot in my stomach. I knew how she found out. "She wanted to know if there was anything going on. I told her no, of course. She said I was lying and that she knew that Mike and me were doing something. I told her to mind her own fucking business. She said that I had to pick. She said that she wasn't going to live her life wondering about me. So I told her I'd pick her if she'd let me fuck her." "Oh my god, Dustin! Why'd you do that?" "Because I knew she'd say no." I sat down on the steps next to him and put my arm around his shoulder. "Billy, do you think I'm gay?" Dustin asked. "Do you?" I asked. "I don't know anymore." "Well, I guess a guy who's been through what you have doesn't have to pick. I know you love Emily. I know you love me. I know that if Em would have said yes you would have felt terrible about it. And if we'd have gone further than we did you would have felt bad about that too." "What makes you think I'd have felt bad? I think it would have been fun. You make sex out to be this amazing, wonderful, important thing. It's just..." "I know. I know. It's just fucking. You've told me that a thousand times. But it does mean something. It means a lot of things. I've never felt closer to Brett than I do now." "Oh shut up." Dustin said. He stood up, walked to the foot of the stairs, and then faced me. "You don't have to throw your sex life in my face." "I wasn't..." "Yes you were! Here's how the rest of the story was going to go: Oh, Brett's so wonderful... Oh, Brett's so sexy... Oh, I love sucking Brett's big fat cock... Oh, Brett's dick felt so good in my ass..." "Shut up! I wasn't going to do that!" I shouted angrily. "I've got news for you, Billy. I've had a dick in my ass, and it hurt like fucking hell! It put me in the goddamn hospital! You ever gone to take a shit and had blood pour out of you and you're scared to death that you're going to die, but if you tell somebody you're going to get the shit kicked out of you?!?! Christ, what the fuck does love have to do with that?!?" I didn't say anything. I just sat there, afraid of what he might do. "Well?" He asked. "It doesn't have anything to do with love." I replied. "Exactly!" Dustin said. "Exactly... Love isn't sex. It's being there for somebody. It's being able to tell somebody everything. It's not sticking your dick in them." "Do you love Mike?" I asked. Dustin laughed. "I just said that sticking your dick in somebody isn't love. I like him. I like fucking him. But I don't love him. It's not about love, it's about sex." "You're not the only one he does it with." I said. "No duh!" Dustin said matter-of-factly. "You knew?" "Of course I knew. He told me that a long time ago. It's just sex for him too. He knows the score, Billy. Keep your nose out of things that you don't know anything about!" "Fine. I just hope you're careful." Dustin sighed. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Billy. I'm sorry I got mad." "Don't be. You have every right to be angry, Dustin. I've always told you that. I don't think I could be as calm about it as you are most of the time." "Well, you don't have a cabinet full of pills to make you calm, either. So how'd it feel to tell Taylor to shove his stupid rule up his ass?" I smiled. "It felt awesome. Really awesome." "It was funny watching you guys. And then watching people start to realize what you were doing. And how they stopped dancing to watch you. It was great." "It felt great. I didn't do it to cause trouble. I just wanted to dance with him." "Well, I was proud of you. You finally stopped being a scared little bitch and stood up for yourself without one of us making you do it." I laughed. "I'm not a scared little bitch!" "Hey, did you vote for Sarah for queen?" Dustin asked. "I didn't vote at all." I said. "Me neither... That's really weird." Dustin said thoughtfully. "Well, I guess people like that have a way of getting what they want, one way or another." Everybody looked a little tired on Monday when we all went back to school. I kept hearing from person after person how cool they thought it was when Brett and I danced together. Nobody was really surprised when we got called out of first period to report to the office either. "Fancy meeting you here." Brett said when he walked into the waiting area of the office. "You have your cell phone with you?" I asked. "Oh yeah." Brett replied. "Good. We might need it." The secretary put down her phone. "The principal will see you now." She said. I wasn't at all surprised to see Mr. Taylor in the office. But seeing our mothers was quite a surprise. I looked at mom and she smiled at me. I smiled back before facing the principal. Dr. Reilly looked ready to kill us. "Sit down boys." The principal said. We sat in the chairs across from his desk. I felt pretty nervous. Brett just sat there with a smirk on his face. "Well, you know why you're here, of course." The principal began. "You boys flagrantly disobeyed a rule issued by our school board." "Your rule is full of shit." Brett said. "Would you please be quiet, Brett! You're in enough trouble as it is." Dr. Reilly snapped at him. Brett scowled at his mom but didn't say anything else. "Well... Even if the rule is, what did you call it? 'Full of shit?' It is still a standing rule at our school." "I have it on very good authority that your rule is against the law, and therefore unenforceable." Brett replied. "If you try to punish us, we'll sue you, the school board, and the school. We'll own this hole." "Ah. I see." The principal said. "Well, your mother doesn't seem to think that there will be any suing. We've had an interesting conversation about your supposed step-mother." "Brett, I don't know who you've been talking to, but I want it to stop immediately." Dr. Reilly said, her anger seething. "Later, Dr. Reilly." Mr. Taylor interrupted rudely. "We're willing to waive the class rank provision of the rule as per Mrs. Roberts' request, and have agreed on suspensions for both of you for three days." "That's bullshit!" Brett exclaimed. "Brett, I told you to be quiet!" Dr. Reilly said furiously "No, mom. We didn't do anything wrong! I'll prove it." Brett pulled out his cell phone and pressed a few buttons. "What do you think you're doing Reilly?" The principal asked. Brett spoke into the cell phone. "Yes, I'd like to talk to Mrs. Bryant please." "WHAT?!?!" Dr. Reilly exploded. "Anthony Brett Reilly, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Brett leaned to hear his phone better. Then he spoke. "Hey, Michelle. It's Brett... Oh, I'm good. I'm in the principal's office right now, they're trying to suspend us. Oh, okay..." Brett held the phone out to the principal. "She wants to talk to you." The principal took the phone and asked who he was speaking to. Then we could all hear the sounds coming from the phone and the look on his face. It may have been the most through tongue lashing I've ever witnessed. I turned to look at my mom, she winked at me and that made me smile. She was on my side. I could tell that she'd stood up for me. The principal handed the phone back to Brett. "No suspensions." He said to Mr. Taylor. "WHAT?!!? God damn it, Dan! We had an agreement!" "John, if we try to enforce that rule, we're screwed. You boys can go." "This is why I'm glad you'll be retiring, Dan." Mr. Taylor said. "I swear that the first graders have bigger balls than you!" Then he turned to us. "Didn't we tell you to get the fuck out of here?" We quickly got up and left, with Mr. Taylor and the principal's arguing growing more heated as we left. Once we were outside the office, Dr. Reilly grabbed Brett by the collar. "What was that about?" "I found legal counsel." Brett said. "You know what I'm talking about, Brett. What do you think you're doing, contacting him? Are you that stupid?" Mom and I stood there watching, both feeling rather uncomfortable. Dr. Reilly almost never yelled at Brett, let alone grabbed him like that. "He's my dad!" Brett said angrily, shrugging himself loose from her grasp. "He's nothing to you!" Dr. Reilly snapped. "He's no father." "Yes he is!" Brett replied. "And it's a good thing too! His wife just saved us from getting tossed out of school. I didn't see you doing anything to help out. You weren't going to do shit." "You ungrateful little bastard!" Dr. Reilly said angrily as she slapped Brett so hard that I felt it. It echoed through the office, and the silence that followed was complete. Brett, who had been slouching on his crutches, stood up to his full height, almost a full head taller than his mom. We all just stood there in stunned silence. Brett scowled fiercely at his mother. I honestly didn't know what he was going to do. But then, he turned around and walked out of the waiting area on his crutches. The door slammed hard behind him. Dr. Reilly stood shaking. Then she turned to me. "You knew, didn't you?" "I think that's enough, Jennifer." Mom said. "I have a right to know if my son is contacting a convicted felon, Paula." "That's no excuse for what just happened here." "I don't need parenting advice from you, of all people." "Oh, I think you'd be surprised the kind of advice I could give you, lady." "Would you two shut up?" I said angrily. "What the hell is wrong with you guys? What's wrong with finding out who your dad is?" "He's a criminal!" Dr. Reilly exclaimed. "That was eighteen years ago! People change!" "People change!??! He's a rapist, Billy! He's no father!! I spent years keeping Brett away from him! I didn't waste all that effort to have him go looking for him!" Mom butted in. "Well obviously the boy is going to go looking for his father if you hid him from him. If I ever wanted to keep Billy from finding something I'd put it in his room. As soon as you make it a secret the boy's curiosity is going to take over." "This coming from a woman who banned my son from her house?" "And you see how well that worked!" Mom replied. "I'm leaving." Dr. Reilly said angrily. "Billy, I apologize for yelling at you." Then she walked out. Mom turned to me. "Billy... What just happened here?" "I think we're going to be seeing a lot of Brett at our house for the next couple of days." I replied. Mom sighed. "I guess we will. Did you know what she was talking about? Who is this guy?" "Brett found his dad." "And he's a rapist?" Mom asked. "It's a long story." I replied. "And you knew about all this and never told anyone?" "Brett told me and dad a long time ago." I replied. "So that's why..." Mom said thoughtfully. "You better go talk to him." "Wow. You actually want me to?" I asked. "He's your... b... boyfriend... isn't he?" I gave her the biggest tightest hug I could muster. "I love you mom." I said. "Thanks for sticking up for me." "I'll always fight for my little boy." She replied. "Even if you are bigger than me. Now go." I left the office and tracked down Brett sitting alone in the balcony of the auditorium. He had his leg propped up over the railing. I sat down in the seat next to him and he quickly wiped his eyes, as if I didn't know what he was doing. More tears just rolled down his face anyway. "You okay?" I asked. "I'm fine." Brett lied, sniffling. "I know how you feel." I said. "I said I'm fine." Brett said crossly. "My dad smacked me once. I called him an asshole and he slapped me. Then he had the stroke the next day." "I remember." Brett said. "I hated him so much for that. It was more humiliating than anything else. You know, for the longest time I thought I caused the stroke because I wished that something bad would happen to him after he hit me." "Then you broke your hand." "That's right. Right through the mirror. Ka-pow! I've still got scars from that, see?" I showed him my hand and the faded scars on it. "Stupid... Parents can make you do the stupidest things. And they can do the stupidest things, too. But you know what? I don't know why we should be surprised. They're just like us, except they're old. They're going to fuck up." "You heard what she..." "I heard. She didn't mean it. She's just mad." "How could my own mom call me that?" "She was angry. She'll regret it, she always does. Then she'll buy you a truck or something." "I almost hit her back. Like I did to Dustin's mom that time she slapped me. I almost did." Brett admitted. "I know. I could tell. I was afraid you were going to, actually. It wouldn't have solved anything, and you'd have felt like shit about it for the rest of your life. Like I do about calling dad an asshole." "Can I stay at your place tonight?" "Nope. It's a school night." "Fuck." The bell rang for the end of the period. "You going to class?" I asked. "Yeah." He said. Before we walked through the doors, he kissed me. "Thanks for everything. I love you." "Not as much as I love you." I replied. The rest of the morning went quietly compared to what we'd already gone through that day. We ate lunch and filled in everybody who asked about what happened. Emily sat with Mary at her table, and Dustin kept shooting angry looks at them. "Just go talk to her." Brett said. "Fuck her." Dustin replied. "No," Brett said. "Just talk to her. Fucking her won't solve anything." Dustin gave Brett a cross look, then he went back to scowling across the cafeteria. "Hey, I loved what you guys did Saturday." One of our fellow students said. We were getting that all morning long. After lunch came history, and Mr. Hartley. We were talking about World War II dictators again. He wrote down their names on the board, Hitler, Tojo, FDR, Mussolini... He assigned an essay on any one of them. Then he sat at his desk. "I have the results of your pop-quiz from a few weeks ago. Sorry it took so long to get them back to you." He said. I turned to one of my neighbors. "When did he give us a pop-quiz?" I asked. "No talking Roberts!" Mr. Hartley scolded. He walked around the room giving everyone their test back. Everyone, that is, except for me. "Most of you did well. Sarah is the only one out of all of you who got them all right. As you know, this quiz counts as a quarter of your grade." I raised my hand. "What is it now, Roberts?" "Umm... When did you give this?" I asked. "Why Mr. Roberts... It was a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. Didn't your homework partner tell you about it?" "We were both absent. Why didn't you say anything?" "It's not my responsibility to keep track of who took what test when. If you miss an assignment or a test it's your job to find out what you missed." "I asked you what I missed when I came back and you didn't say anything." "Oh well." "Oh well? You just said that it's a quarter of our grade! I asked you if I missed any assignments and you lied!" "Nonsense. You asked about assignments. You ever asked about examinations." "Well obviously..." "Silence!! Like I said, it's not my responsibility." "Well can I take the quiz now?" "I don't see how that's possible. You've had three weeks to get the answers from your classmates. And there are deadlines." Sarah Taylor looked like she'd just found a million dollars. I wanted to kick her in the face. The bell rang and Mr. Hartley dismissed the class. I walked up to his desk. "Mr. Hartley..." "I have to get ready for my next class, Roberts." "But you don't understand. You have to let me make-up that quiz. You never told me... I'll write an essay if you want..." "Get out of my classroom, Roberts. Come back at the end of the day." The next two classes seemed to take twenty hours. I wanted to get back to Mr. Hartley to find out just how I could take that quiz. I'd do a make-up essay, if I could. I'd take a test twice as hard. Anything was better than a zero. Why hadn't he told me about it? When my last class ended, I almost ran to his room. I had told Brett to wait for me at the car. I got to Mr. Hartley's room as he was sending the last of his students away. "Come in, Roberts." Mr. Hartley said. "Close the door." I did as he asked. "Mr. Hartley, about the test." "You get a zero, Roberts." "But that's not fair." "Life isn't fair. Deal with it." "I'll have my mom come in. You're only doing this because I'm gay." "No, I'm doing it because you're an insolent little prick." "You've been on my case since you found out about me. You never had a problem before! I asked you what I missed that day and you never said anything about any quiz you homophobic jerk." Mr. Hartley slammed his pen down and looked at me. "Perhaps if you spent more time studying and less time on the internet you might get your work done." "I don't know what the internet has to do with my grades." "I think you do know, Warrior." Mr. Hartley said smugly. The blood drained from my face. "What? Warrior?" "You know, most students here don't have nude videos of themselves on the internet. Nor do people who want to have a future in most lines of work." "But I never..." Mr. Hartley revealed a disc from his satchel and put it in the computer. And after a few seconds, there I was on the screen, naked and jerking off. "Oh shit..." My jaw dropped and I began sweating far more than usual. "How did you get that?" I asked, stunned. "You ought to be more careful who you let view your webcam, Warrior." He smiled wickedly. I felt my stomach fall through my feet. "Oh my god... You watched me?" "Yes. Recorded actually. Ironic, isn't it? I knew that you were Warrior for quite a while. I kept you on my list, not really knowing why or expecting anything to come of it. Good for a laugh or two. You've had quite a few conversations with me actually and never knew. You're just as cocky and overconfident on the internet as you are in the classroom. And when you started stripping off your clothes right there on camera, I saw my opportunity." "But if you do anything with that video, people will find out that you were in a gay chatroom." I said. "No one will know where it came from. And who will believe you, after they've seen you doing this?" He pointed to the screen, where I was furiously jacking away and then blowing my load. "You can tell people about me, sure. But by then this video will be all over the place. I'm sure your mother would enjoy a copy. So, you can tell people that the big bad teacher has a video of you. Go ahead. But before anyone could do anything your dick will be all over the school. Your most intimate moments exposed for the world to see... Do you really want that to happen, boy?" "Don't call me 'boy.'" I said angrily. He laughed again. "Well, you have a choice to make. You make a fuss, this video mysteriously makes the rounds through the community. Perhaps ends up on every television in the school. I haven't decided yet, really. Or, you shut up, take your zero, and after graduation this video ends up in your hands, to do with what you wish." "Why are you doing this? Why screw me? You think Mr. Taylor will reward you for taking me down? People know you're gay. You think no one knows but people do. He'll screw you worse than me someday." "Mr. Taylor doesn't give a rat's ass about my sexual persuasion as long as his precious little bitch gets to be queen for the day. Trust me, Roberts, I hate him even more than you do. But if you think I'm going to be like Winston, then you can forget it. I'm not going to end up like that dyke. She painted a big target on her back with all that "gay rights" crap. And now you have followed in her very foolish example. You think the world owes you something because you're gay? Just because we both suck dick doesn't mean I owe you shit, boy." "I told you not to call me that god damnit!" I said even more angrily. "And why would you help him if you know what he's like?" "He's going to owe me big time. I've already got a paper lined up that Sarah did that barely qualifies for a "D" that she miraculously got an "A" on. I've been carrying that little bitch to the finish line, and I won't let him forget it. And once the principal job opens up in the summer, he'll know who to put in that job, or else." "You're ruining my whole life so you can be the goddamn principal?!?!" I asked furiously. "Your life's not ruined, Roberts... It's one little grade, no one will care in the long run, and you will have learned a valuable life lesson." "What? That assholes will fuck you over?" "No, that if you're gay and people know about it then you're a target. You might as well get used to it now. So what will it be? You can take me down, and have your most private moments splashed all over the school. Or, you can take the bad grade, shut up, and at the end of the year you get the disc and I get a promotion." I stared at him and he stared back. Neither one of us was willing to back down. All of the possibilities were running through my mind, as well as all of the consequences. My mouth was completely dry and my body was completely soaked. There was only one decision to make... "Fuck you." I said hoarsely. "Now, Roberts... I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it would be appropriate." "You're an asshole, Mr. Hartley. I fucking hate your guts." "I can live with that." Mr. Hartley smirked. "Now, what's the decision?" I felt my guts twist in knots. I couldn't believe what I was about to do. After all the work I'd done... Twelve years of work. Everything I'd given up to concentrate on being the very best... And it was all about to be destroyed. "Fine. You win." I said. Mr. Hartley smiled. "Look on the bright-side, Billy. You'll still be salutatorian and your precious gay community gets to have a position of power in the school district." I thought of a million insults I wanted to say, but I just turned around and walked out of his room. I sat down on the steps leading to the exit and brushed away tears of anger and frustration away. "It's not fucking fair." I mumbled. The door opened up and Brett peeked inside. "Oh, there you are. I was about to come looking for... What's wrong?" "It's over." I said. "What's over?" Brett asked. "I lost. Sarah's going to be valedictorian." "What? Why?" Brett asked. I wiped my eyes and felt my contacts burning. "I got a bad grade. That's what I had to talk about with Mr. Hartley." "You? A bad grade? That's impossible. What really happened? Let me see what you got a bad grade on." If I told Brett that I had missed the test, he'd realize that it was that day that we'd skipped and then he would have gone asking questions and I couldn't let that happen. "I didn't study. I thought I could get an "A" without studying but I bombed." "That's not possible. You never have to study. Let me see..." "NO! I blew it, okay!?!? I fucking BLEW IT! I don't need to be like Sarah and try to steal it back, okay? I blew it! Everything I worked for down the toilet! It's over! I fucking lost! Just quit asking me about it, okay? I just want to go the fuck home..." "Okay, Billy... It's okay. We'll deal with it later." We walked sullenly to his car. I couldn't tell him. I couldn't let him feel responsible for what happened. It wasn't his fault, but if he knew that I had missed the quiz on the day we'd gone to Buffalo he'd have felt like it was his fault. It wasn't his fault at all. "What took you so long?" Dustin asked when we got to the car. As we were driving along toward town, I asked Brett to make a detour. Brett drove us to the large park and Brett parked by a tree. Dustin was working on a paper in the backseat and said he'd wait for us. It was a beautiful warm day. The sun was shining and the warmth was a stark contrast from how cold I was feeling. Brett and I walked through the grass and stopped at the tombstone. "Has it really been a year?" Brett said to no one in particular. "One year today." I said. "What a crappy, sucky day." Brett replied. "Yeah." "I'm sorry." Brett said. "What for?" I asked. "I think I know what happened with Mr. Hartley. I know that it's because of me dragging you along with me to see my dad. I had you all messed up and that's why you got that bad grade." "It's not because of you." I said. "Please, just leave it alone. I don't want to be like Sarah. If I get something, I want to earn it. My dad never had anything handed to him. He worked for everything he got, and that's how I want to live." "But don't you..." "I just want to get through the rest of the year and get the hell out of this town. I don't care where we go, as long as it's you and me." "Well, if that's how you feel about it. I really wanted you to win. I can't believe you're not fighting back." "I'm tired of fighting. I need a break. I just want to be happy again. Everything was so right Saturday night. Once we're done with school, I just want to go away with you somewhere and just have you and me together and naked and just stay that way for a week in each other's arms." "Like a honeymoon or something?" "Exactly. Just you and me. Then we'll worry what we're going to do later." "I like that idea. Then we'll get out of here and never look back." "Yeah." I said. I put my hand in his. We paid our respects to my dad and then together we walked back to the car. I could have been bitter. I really did get screwed by Mr. Hartley. But for once, I was more happy with what I had, rather than angry about what I'd lost. The future didn't seem so bad after all. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Two more chapters to go.