FOUNDER'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS
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Authors note.
As always, a big heart filled thank you to "R" my editor and friend.
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CHAPTER 22
RUN IN WITH THE BULLIES
Owen and I were stretched out on the couch watching a movie while Ma and Pa were drinking coffee and talking at the dining room table. Ma raised her voice enough for me and Owen to hear her over the TV, "Hey boys, can you come in here so we can talk to you?"
We got up and I headed to the kitchen while Owen turned off the TV. We climbed into the chairs opposite them. Smiling I said, "What's up Rents?"
They both smiled at that and Pa asked me, "Brian, we didn't have a chance to talk about the conversation you had with your family last night."
I guess the smile left my face as I felt panic set in. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Please don't be mad, I had a bit of a headache after we signed off and I just meant to lay down for a few minutes."
Ma got up and came around behind me, wrapping me in a hug. "Calm down Brian, no one is mad at you. You don't need permission to lay down, or even to take a nap. We know that you were very worried about them and then to have to face them about your surgery was stressful. Of course, you were drained and needed to lie down to recover."
Pa added, "Brian and Owen, you two need to quit thinking you are always in trouble. Why are you two always so jumpy around us?"
"Pa," I said, "I love being with you and Ma so much that I am always worried that I will do something to mess it up and you won't want me around anymore."
Ma said, "That is just silly. Now listen to me boys, at some point you will do something wrong. Depending on how serious it is, you may need a paddling, but let me be clear on this boys, you are now our family and we love you. Sure you will mess up, that is how we learn, but there is nothing, and I mean nothing you could do that would make us not want you around anymore."
Owen look surprised, "You really mean it, you love us?"
Pa said, "Of course we do."
This started Owen crying, and Ma asked, "Why are you crying?"
"Because I don't believe you. Even my own mother doesn't love me."
Ma moved over and wrapped Owen in a hug, "Owen, I don't mean to speak bad about your mom, but she is stupid. You are a bright, loving, and amazing kid. If she can't see what she is missing, then there is really something wrong with her."
He broke free of her hug and I thought he was going to run off, but he got out of his chair and ran around it to wrap Ma in a hug so tight that I think she was having a hard time breathing. She never tried to push him off though.
Pa said, "Boys your Ma and I have been talking and we have decided that until you're reunited with your families, it is going to be our responsibility to make sure you have lots of love, a home to call your own, and two people who care enough about you to also punish you if that is necessary. However, it is up to you and if you would rather not be part of our family, we will not be mad at you. It's like everything else Crossman, it has to be your decision."
I grabbed Owens hand and dragged him back to our room. We talked about what just happened out there and after a few minutes we both walked back out. "Owen and me talked about it, and we have two conditions."
Ma and Pa looked at each other and Pa asked, "Really, and what would those conditions be?"
Owen said, "The first is that Ma has to hug us every day, even if the other kids are laughing at us."
"And Pa has to promise not to math us to death. Except when helping us with homework." I said as Owen and I giggled.
Ma looked like she was thinking about it, "Well it doesn't seem fair to me. I didn't do anything that I should be punished for. However, I guess I could suffer through my condition if I have to." She tried not to smile, but she failed miserably.
Giggling, we both looked at Pa. "Sorry boys, I can't accept that condition. Mathing you to death is the only reason I wanted you in the first place."
I think that caught both me and Owen of guard, but only for a second. "Sorry old man, but it is non-negotiable. Take it or leave it."
"Fine, I will concede to your horrible demand, but I have one of my own. Brian, come here please."
I walked over to him and he grabbed me and started tickling me. I saw Owen laughing at me until he realized Ma was right behind him. He tried to get away, but she caught him, and his tickle torture began. When they finally stopped, Owen and me fell to the ground trying to catch our breath.
Pa said, "Come on boys quit just laying around. Grab your stuff and lets hit the road."
We forced ourselves up off the floor and went to our room to get our stuff. We met in the garage where Ma was already dressed. She helped us get dressed and buckled in the car for our ride back to the school.
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The bleachers in the pool area were pretty full as most of our school joined in cheering on our team. They were competing in the reginal finials against Milburn High School. I went to get something to drink when a couple of kids that I knew from my old school came up behind me and pushed me into a wall. "Hey, look at what we have here, it's the bookworm. We were wondering where you went to fre..." They were unable to finish their sentence. Bobby, Paul, and a few of the older boys I didn't know picked them up and hauled them to the outer doors of the pool area.
I followed and heard Bobby say, "You are not welcome here anymore."
"But our parents and older brothers are in there." Erik the bigger of the boys said.
"I guess you should have thought about that before you started pushing our little brother around huh."
Just then two older boys that I had never seen before came out the doors asking, "What is going on here? Why did you force my brother out of the building?"
"Bobby was trying to hold in his anger as he said, "Because your little brother came into our house and slammed our little brother into a wall."
"Logan, he is that goofy little bookworm I told you about from our school."
Logan turned to me and asked, "I have just two questions for you kid, and I want an honest answer got it?"
Nervously I said, "Yes Sir."
"Before you left that school, was my brother still picking on you, and did he just slam you against a wall?"
I was not sure what to do. Bobby said, "Brian, he asked you some questions, and you told him you would answer honestly. Don't worry, we have your back."
I looked back to Logan and said, "He and his friends were always shoving me into lockers, stealing my lunch, and hitting me. I always asked them to stop and they would just laugh at me. In order for me to get any peace I had to hide so they could not find me."
Logan and the other guy with him were all getting really mad, and Erik and the other boys were looking scared. Erik said, he is lying Logan."
One of the other older boy stepped up to one of Erik's friends. "Nate, I will ask you only one time. If you lie to me I will pound you. Is this kid telling the truth?
Nate looked petrified, "I am sorry Troy, it was all Erik's idea, I swear."
"I am going to kill you rat." Erik said as he tried to get to Nate.
Logan grabbed Erik by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. "You touch him, here or at school and I will make you sorry." He put Erik down and turned to me. "Kid, I am sorry for my idiot brother. I will make sure he does not bother you again." Then he turned to Troy and asked, "Will you make sure that asshole does not move? I will let my parents know about this and that they will have to miss my event, so they can deal with him." He turned to Bobby, "I am sorry that this happened in your house. I would be pissed if someone came into my house and pulled that crap. Will you please let Nate go back in? I promise he will not cause any problems and I need to keep him away from my brother for now."
Bobby looked at Nate and then at me. I nodded my head and Bobby said, "Your word is good enough for me, he can go back in."
Logan grabbed Nate by the collar looking into his eyes, "I have always liked you Nate. I am sad that my brother dragged you into his stupidity. Go inside find a seat and no more problems."
Nate looked at his brother and Troy nodded his head. Nate didn't need to be told again, he headed straight for the door. Bobby put his hand on my back and pushed me back in the building. I went straight to Ma and Pa. I told them what happed, and that Bobby handled it.
The rest of the day went great. There were five dives for each contestant. Front, backward, inward, reverse, and twisting dives. Each dive is done from the platform at the ten-meter height. Tyler scored perfect tens in the backward and twisting dives, nine point five in the reverse, nine point seven for the inward, and nine point four for the front dive. This gave him an average of nine point seven two which got him first place with the second place going to Logan with a nine point seven zero.
I got so excited and started jumping up and down. At one point I fell down crying as I ended up hurting my still healing incision. Pa held me until I was able to breathe again. Slowly, I walked down with the help of Owen to congratulate my big brother. The coach and some parents got real mad when some of the swim team started to throw some of the little kids into the pool. Owen took a swim with the aid of Tyler and I almost got thrown in accept Pa grabbed me from Tyler. "Sorry Tyler, not this one. He is not healed up enough for that ride."
"Oh man, I was having so much fun Mr. Walters, I forgot all about that." Looking at me in his arms, "You ok buddy?"
"Dang it Pa, I wanted to get thrown too."
Just then our attention was drawn to the loud whistle of the coach. "Enough of that, get those littles out of the pool and get them dried off." The swim team jumped in the water and started passing "littles" out to waiting adults with towels. Once the swim team was back on the deck they grabbed the coaches and threw them in. Everyone was laughing except the coaches.
I grabbed Tyler's arm and asked, "Won't you get into trouble for that?"
He kneeled down so he was looking me in the eye, "Brian, have you ever seen the end of a football or basketball game?"
"Sometimes if Donny was watching them and we were going to play a game or something when it was over, I would snuggle up with him and watch."
"Did you ever see where the winning team pours the Gatorade over the coaches head?"
"Yeah, I always laughed at that."
"Well, this is the same thing. We can't dump the Gatorade on the coach, because it would contaminate the pool, so we throw the winning coach in the pool."
Pointing and the other teams coach I said, "But his team didn't win, why did he get thrown in?"
"I am not sure why, if I were to guess, I would say because everyone did their best. Yes, according to the judges I won todays dives. However, I only won it by point zero two. Troy and his team were incredible out there, and they should celebrate a great day of competition. I am honored to have been able to compete against them. The thing you need to understand is that one small mistake on my part, or one slight adjustment on Troy's part would have given this a completely different outcome."
I threw my arms around Tyler and gave him a hug, "You know, I would have been proud of you even if you lost big bro."
He hugged me back a said, "That's why I love you little brother."
Someone cleared their throat behind Tyler. We looked in that direction and saw Logan there with a smile on his face. I guess with everything going on, I never really looked at him. He is about five foot nine inches, black curly hair, bright green eyes, and a six pack I would love to have someday. He said, "Tyler, you were awesome today, but I will get you next time." He said with a laugh. Looking at me he said, "I didn't know you were Tyler's brother, I thought you were the other guys brother."
Tyler looked at me, "Other guy, have you been cheating on me with another big brother?"
Giggling I said, "No silly, that was Bobby. He stopped Logan's little brother from bullying me."
Tyler stood not looking happy. Before he could say anything Logan said, "I will deal with my shithead brother. I thought I put a stop to his bulling at school when I heard about it last year. It was not until today that I found out that he was still doing it and that your little brother was one of his victims. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I see how close you two are and I am a little jealous. Erik and I have never been that close. Maybe it is my fault he turned out like that."
"I get it man, but you should know that Brian is not my real little brother. Here at FSB, all the littles have one of us older guys as their big brother. It is our job to make sure our littles shower, brush their teeth, do their homework, and have someone they can come to for help with anything. Brian has an older brother named Donny, and they are super close."
Logan looked around and asked, "Where is he, I would love to meet him?"
Tears started welling up in my eyes at the thought of Donny, "He is not here anymore."
Logan dropped to his knees, grabbed my hand, and said, "I am so sorry Brian, I didn't know."
Tyler started laughing, "No Logan, he is not dead... He and his parents are overseas doing mission work in a third world country. Brian had the opportunity to come here because he is wicked smart. As I said, he and his brother are so close that when he thinks about him he remembers how much he misses him."
"Oh thank god. Erik and I don't get along that well, but I would miss him if he were not around."
"Logan, can I ask you something without you getting mad at me?"
"Of course Brian."
"When was that last time you hugged your brother and told him you loved him?"
"That's not really how we do things in my family."
"Maybe that is why he is so mean. If Donny did not hug me every day and tell me that he loves me, I might be mean too. Until Donny gets back, Tyler hugs me every day and tells me that he loves me and how proud he is of me. Even those days that I really don't deserve it. Maybe if you quit calling him names and told him you love him and that you are proud to be his brother, he might be happier and not take it out on other kids."
"I am not sure that he would take to that very well."
"Maybe not at first, but if you keep doing it, he will get used to it and start doing it to."
Tyler added, "Try spending time with him one on one as much as possible and including him when you can in things that you are doing. I am going to start working with Brian in the pool to help him get into better shape. I know that you guys are a little far out, but if you ever want to joins us, we would love to have you."
"I may take you up on that. Maybe hanging out with you guys will help us get that relationship you guys have."
"Did you drive up, or did you come up with the rents?"
"No, I came up with Troy and his little brother."
"Is your little brother still here?"
"Yeah, they are waiting to say goodbye to me before they leave."
"Why don't you grab him and your friend with his little brother. We can go to Pauly's and grab a bite to eat. The three of us and our little brothers can hang out and get to know each other."
"Do I have ta Tyler? Erik is always so mean to me. He threw me into lockers, pushed me into walls, stole my lunch, and made me hide all the time. Please don't make me go."
Logan said, "Brian, I get it I really do, but you are the one who told me to do this. I could really use your help getting started."
I looked at Tyler and he said, "It is your call, you know I won't force you."
"I know you won't force me, but you will make me feel guilty for not going."
"You may be right, but I guess I would be more disappointed than anything. You are a Crossman, and we help when we can."
"I knew you would throw the whole Crossman thing in my face. Fine, I will go." I said with my arms crossed in front of me and an angry look on my face.
Logan said, "Thank you Brian. Let me get Troy, Nate, and Erik. I still have to change out, where should we meet you?"
Tyler said, "Meet us at the front of the school. I have to change and sign him out before I can take him off school grounds."
Tyler and I walked over to Ma, Pa, and a soaking wet Owen and told them what we were going to do and why. Owen was not happy that he didn't get to go.
I hugged Ma and Pa goodbye and told Owen I wished he were gong instead of me. I followed Tyler into the locker room and waited for him to shower and change. We were headed to the office to get permission from whoever was on duty when we saw the Headmaster walking down the hall. Tyler explained what was happening and why. The Headmaster thought it was a great idea and wrote the pass for me.
They followed Tyler and me to the restaurant and we got their family size booth. On the one side Logan pushed Erik in first, then him, and finally Troy. In my side of the booth Tyler went in first, then me, and finally Nate. Nate and I actually started talking and it turned out that I liked him. He said, "Brian, I am sorry that we picked on you like that. I was happy when you didn't come back to school. I didn't want you to have to hid forever."
Troy asked, "If you felt that way Nate, why did you do it?"
"Because I was scared. If I didn't do what Erik wanted, then I would land up in the same place as Brian. You don't know how many times I wanted to tell you but was afraid that you would hate me."
"Wow, then I guess I owe you an apology."
"Me, why?"
"Because I must have done something to make you think that you could not come to me with a problem. I am your big brother, and it is my job to be there for you when you have a problem."
Nate jumped out of the booth and with tears in his eyes, he wrapped his brother in a hug, "I am sorry Troy, please don't be mad at me, I won't do it again."
Troy hugged him back and said, "I am not mad and if it is ok with Brian, we can put this in the past."
I smiled and said, "Until today, it was in the past for me. I have a new life here that I love, with people around me that I love. I forgive you too Nate." I held out my hand and Nate shook it. He wiped his eyes with a napkin and sat back down.
Logan turned towards his brother and said, "Erik, I think I have made some mistakes with you. I have yelled at you and called you names, and I was wrong. You and I have never been very close, and I would like to change that. You can be a pain in the butt, but I really do love you. What I am figuring out as I look at Tyler and Brian, and also now that I am looking, I also see the relationship that Troy and Nate have. I am a little sad that you and I don't have that kind of relationship. I guess what I am asking is, would you be willing to change it?"
"Why, just because the freak and the rat are doing it?"
"I get that you are angry, but please quit taking it out on them. The trouble you have caused, and that you are in at the moment is entirely of your own making. Although they have shown me what brothers can be like, it has nothing to do with them. This is about you and I, and I want to try to be a better brother to you. I guess what I am asking is if you would be willing to give me another chance to be your big brother."
I could tell Erik was trying to be hard, but I could also tell that he was not sure how to handle this situation. It is all new to him and he was confused. "Whatever."
"I just want to say one more thing to you and then, as Tyler told Brian, it has to be your decision, I will not force it, but I won't give up trying either. What I have to say is this, I love you and I am proud that you are my brother. You are smart, I can tell that by your report card. I see the way you are always looking out for our little sister Sara by making sure that her diaper in clean, and that she is always smiling. I can tell that you two will be tight, and I want some of that."
Erik was looking down, but I could see a tear in his eye. The rest of the meal went by great, Nate and I played a tic tac toe game on the place mat, and the older guys talked about swimming and girls. I caught Erik staring at me when Tyler put his arm around me and gave me a hug. He looked at his brother who caught it as well. Troy put his arm around his brother and pulled him close. I expected Erik to pull away and get mad, but he didn't. He just let Troy hug him.
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We were checked in at the gate and headed to our house. Once we stripped we headed upstairs. When we entered our room I saw my backpack and my suitcase on the bed. I could not believe that I forgot about it. I emptied my suitcase and Tyler took it to the storage room. I was wondering where Timmy and Owen were, but I was too tired to go looking for them. I laid down on my bed and fell right to sleep.
I woke up sometime during the night to find Owen and Timmy asleep in their beds. I could not believe I did it again. I got out of bed, grabbed my toothbrush, and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pee. When I got back, I was worried that I would not be able to fall back to sleep, I was wrong.
The week went by as it normally did, wake up, clean out, breakfast, school, lunch, school, dinner, swimming lessons with Tyler, Owen, and Timmy, clean out with shower, appointment, homework, bed. Then rinse and repeat. Owen was loving his appointments and was actually looking forward to his mounting on Friday.
"I can't believe that you are not scared. Man I was shaking for days before my first mounting."
"I guess I am nervous about it, but I knew it was going to happen long before I got here. I was just hoping it would be my daddy that did it the first time. I got a letter from him yesterday saying that the trial has been moved until after the first of the year."
"Is that why you have looked so sad today?"
"Yeah, I was really hoping that he would get out in time to be my first."
Owen started crying and I just hugged him. I felt so bad for him, his dad is so important to him, and he misses him so much. I know how that feels.