Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2015 12:30:10 -0400 From: Jeremy Ellington Subject: Lessons From My Dad-9 NOTICE: This story may contain scenes of a graphical nature, which may not be legal in your area. This story is completely fictional and written only for entertainment purposes. Any similarities to real life people or characters is coincidental. If you have trouble separating real life from fantasy or you are offended by such themes, stop reading now. Lessons From My Dad Chapter 9 I got up Thursday and went through my morning routine to get ready for school. When I came out to the kitchen I could see some blueprints and notes stacked on one side of the table with a note from Dad on the other side. `Sean, I have to be at a jobsite most of the day on Saturday, so I'm coming home early today. I just wanted to let you know so you won't be surprised to see me when you get home. I'll take care of dinner. Love, Dad.' At first I thought this might be a cover-up for the great-birthday-party-surprise, but then I noticed some typewritten notes on a company's letterhead confirming Saturday's schedule. I resolved to come right home from school myself today in hopes of making my feelings known about Carl. I knew I couldn't mention the birthday party directly, but I was certain I could get him uninvited without letting on what I knew. I could already tell which four kids from the neighborhood were going to be at my party by the way they were acting when they were around me, but I had bigger fish to fry with Carl. I hurried home, noticing my Dad's car in the driveway as I got closer to the house. I had already formulated my plan of attack, even deciding I would be the one to initiate the conversation regarding his botched birthday surprise by explaining why I wrote `NO' on his note that next morning, and why I threw away all the food so that Carl wouldn't be able to have any of it. As soon as I came in the door I saw Dad with his arms full of Chinese food; he must have just gotten home from the restaurant himself. "Hey Sean, we're doing Chinese tonight, hope's that okay with you! I got your favorites and we can share just like always." He seemed to be in a great mood, and I began to think it would be easy to get my Carl conversation off the ground. Unfortunately, he was in a real chatty mood, I guess thinking he should explain everything and anything regarding the jobsite visit on Saturday, who these clients were, why it had to be on a Saturday, and so on and so on. I'm really not sure when he had a chance to chew his food! After we had polished off all the food I volunteered to clean up, then when I came back to the front room it looked like he had fallen asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so I quietly went to my room to finish my homework. Normally I would have it done during my last study period at school, but this was an essay and I needed more time. I was just finishing when he walked into my room, stark naked. He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Hey good-lookin, you got some free time for your old man tonight?" He had already begun to get hard, and seeing that, all my thoughts about having a chat with him flew right out the window. "Well old man, if you think you can handle me..." He roared and ran over to me, picking me up and throwing me over his naked shoulder. "How's THIS for handling you, you little squirt," he roared, marching out of my room and into his, where he threw me onto the bed. "I'll sure you how much I can squirt old man," I yelled at him. His eyes opened wide in mock surprise, then he dove on me and yanked my shorts off in one pull. "Prove it!" he said right before he gulped my cock into his mouth in one swallow. "No fair, there's only one competitor on the field!" I screamed. "69, 69!" I could see him grin around my cock as he pulled me to my side and scooted his legs around to the head of the bed, grabbed his cock with his left hand and aimed it towards my mouth. "Ready, get set, go!" he cried and thrust his cock halfway down my throat. I immediately began slathering his cock with my tongue, getting a good taste of his precum. We both moaned when he mimicked my effort, and we settled into a good session. Normally he can make me shoot off right away, but he must have been extra horny because he began groaning and thrusting only after about 5 minutes. "Shit Sean, I don't know what you're doing but you're really on your game tonight! I think you're gonna win this one buddy," he said before swallowing my cock again. "I think we'll both be winners Dad" I said, but he grabbed my head, pulled off my cock long enough to say "Less talking, more sucking," and gulped me down again. We both lasted about another minute when I felt him really start to thrust. I grabbed his thigh to make sure he didn't choke me in his excitement just in time to feel the first shot of his thick cum shooting into my mouth. He groaned so loudly I could hear it echo in the room, and that's all it took for me to start shooting as well. We both kept sucking until there was nothing left to swallow, then let go and fell onto our respective backs still breathing heavily. "Damn son, I should never ever call you a *little* squirt again. That was great!" "Me?!? Dad, I thought you were gonna drown me! How long were you holding onto that load?" He looked over at me, then scooted back around and pulled me into to his arms so my head was resting on his hairy chest. "Well, Sean, that load has been building since the last time we played. Sorry about that, I guess I really should have unloaded a day or two ago, I wasn't thinking about how much you were gonna get." "Dad, why did you wait so long, I kinda thought you jerked off all the time," I said, looking up at him. He looked down at me, then pulled us both up so we were sitting with our backs against the headboard of the bed and threw his arm around me. "Well Sean, I didn't really feel like it. I mean, things have been kind of tense around here, and...well...you're my best buddy and I like saving it for when we play." I sighed, perhaps too loudly. "I know Dad and I'm sorry. I guess I owe you an explanation." "No Sean, no you don't. I think I understand how everything played out, and believe me when I say that I wish we could go back and re-do it all, because things would be very different and we'd be closer than ever." "Really Dad, I think I at least want to explain why I threw away all the food. It's just...well...I heard everything you said outside my bedroom door that night, and I know things didn't go the way either of us had planned. I actually woke up the next day ready to ask you to forgive me for being such a brat, but then I saw your note and I just got really upset all over again." "Sean, I know you were angry again when I said I had to go get my car because after all, that was just a reminder of where I ended up that night and why I came home without my car in the first place. I am not agreeing that you were being a brat because I know I hurt your feelings really badly, but I did think you throwing away all that good food you spent so much time making was...well...it was more than I expected. Plus, you threw out my gift, and that really upset me, especially when I saw what it was and I could see how much work you had put into it." "Dad, it really had nothing to do with you getting your car. To be honest, until just now I didn't even really put that part together. I was upset because I woke up thinking we could have lasagna and cake, maybe even for breakfast just to be goofy, but your note said that Carl would be joining us and I just lost it again! Don't you see Dad, I thought Carl was the whole reason the night went to hell in the first place! It was *his* fault that you got dragged away from work to go drinking, it was *his* fault that you got drunk, and it was *Carl* who told you to treat me like a little baby. I heard him over the phone in the bar Dad, I know it was him!" He looked at me, stunned. "Okay Sean...whew...now I understand, and boy did I have it all wrong. Shit, I even had Carl to stay with me that whole day while I worried over where you disappeared to. Sean, do you know I called the police to look for you? I mean after you came home I called them back to say you were all right, but son, you scared me to death! But no wonder you looked so upset when you came home and saw Carl. Man, did I fuck everything up or what?!?" "Okay, see Dad, here's where me being a brat has to come back into the equation. No, I didn't know you called the police. I really did lose track of time and only came home when I saw it getting dark. I really didn't realize how late it was. I'm really sorry Dad, I never meant to scare you like that, I was just so upset." "I get it Sean, no harm done in the long run. I was very angry with you but being scared out of my mind pretty much overruled that. But Sean, about Carl. Yea, it was Carl's idea to take me out for drinks after work, but most of the office went with us and they were just as up for it as he was. It wasn't Carl's fault that everybody took turns buying me shots, and it wasn't Carl's fault that I was stupid enough to drink them. Son, I hope you never experience that kind of excessive drinking, but after awhile, I just didn't realize how late it was getting to be that night, just like you felt the next night. I mean I was drunk so I had a really lame excuse, but I really should have called a halt after the first round. I knew you wouldn't forget my birthday, but it wasn't until you called me that reality hit me slap in the face. And when you told me to fuck off, well, I was just so drunk I let Carl talk me into believing that my own son had just cussed me out for no reason. Sean, I was too far gone to know that you had a damn good reason for cussing me out." "Dad, please forgive me for that, I was way out of line." "Sean, I would have done the same thing to me if I was you, especially after how badly I ruined your dinner, and your gift, and everything. I had sobered up some by the time I got home, and once I saw the wonderful dinner you made for me all laid out on the table, well son, I just broke down in tears. I mean I suppose I was technically still drunk, but if you can sober up quickly then I did, right there and then. And then finding your door locked. Sean, we have never locked our doors to each other, we've never had a reason to. But please don't blame Carl buddy, all this belongs on my shoulders." "Dad, I HEARD him call me BOY when I got home that next night, I saw the smirk on his stupid face. You can say what you want, but I still blame him, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't plan everything to happen that way from the get-go! He knows Aunt April doesn't babysit me anymore, he knew I was home alone and he had to know I would have planned something for you." Dad heaved a great sigh, staring out in front of himself for a few minutes. I started to worry that I had gone too far, but I just couldn't help it. Even with everything that happened, he was still defending that guy. Finally, Dad looked at me. "Sean, there's something I need to tell you, something that I hadn't planned on telling you until you were much, much older." He stopped and took a big breath, which scared me a little. "You know that I've known Carl since we were in high school together right? Well Sean...Carl and I...oh crap...he and I started messing around when we were teenagers. Not like you and I do, I mean I love you very much and with Carl, well, it was just a couple of guys full of hormones messing around and trying stuff out. It just turned out that we both decided we were mostly gay. Well...Carl *is* gay, I guess I'm more bisexual with a preference for guys. Things stopped after I went to college, and then of course I met your mother, and it wasn't until some years after she left that we started messing around again. When I decided to start my own company I felt he would be a good guy to have on my team. I figured out later that Carl sorta fell in love with me, and he was pretty upset that I met your mom, but we had drifted apart and I didn't realize how strongly he felt. Well son...Carl looks at you I guess the same way he looked at your mom. You're his competition, at least in his own mind. He and I have messed around from time to time since your mom left, but not a lot." Dad must have caught the look of horror in my eyes, and quickly added, "But never since you and I started playing Sean, never, not once, and never again! I never should have let it happen again anyway, but a guy does get tired of jacking off all the time and well...shit now that I hear it come out of my mouth I get that it's a pretty flimsy excuse, but you and I have already had the `little-head-ruling-the-big-head' talk Sean, so...well...there it is." I just sat there stunned into silence. I could tell that he was looking at me, watching to see how I was taking all of this. "Sean, I really never expected to even bring this up with you. Carl knows that he and I aren't gonna get together anymore, and I figured that as time went on it would lose its importance to you if you ever did find out about it. He was sworn to secrecy, I told him I would shit-can his ass if he ever so much as hinted at it. Please believe me Sean." I had to back up and regroup. A lot made sense to me now about Carl, and I almost felt a little pity for him. I mean my Dad is a hunk and I don't know how I could ever handle loving him then having him taken away, but it just added fuel to my desire to keep him away. "Its okay Dad. I mean I guess it makes things a lot clearer to me. I see him looking at me sometimes with the strangest face, sorta angry, and now I get it. But I gotta tell you Dad, even after all you just said, it only solidifies my opinion that he messed us up last week on purpose. Oh he didn't know what I had planned, I know that, but he sure had to know that I would be wondering where you were, especially on your birthday. Face it Dad, he's still in love with you and I am just a monkey wrench in his life now." "Sean, what do you mean when you said Carl looks at you with an angry face. I've never seen that." "Dad, of course you've never seen it, he never does it when you're watching, and the second you look back around his face goes blank again. I'm not making this up Dad, I've noticed it for years and just got used to it even though I never understood it. To be honest, I always thought maybe something was a little off with him, like he just spaces out from time to time but your presence snaps him back to reality. It's all very clear to me now, and it kinda scares me Dad. You don't think he would ever do anything bad to me do you?" I knew I was laying it on a little thick with that last comment, but I had to finish planting that seed, and really, based on what Dad revealed to me I actually was worried that Carl might lose his mind some day and lash out at me. "Well now I really wish I hadn't said anything to you about his and my past, and Sean I don't think you're lying about his facial reactions either, I hope you wouldn't say something like that without reason. If I'm honest, it does go along with how let down he sometimes looks when I tell him I can't just drop everything and hang out with him like we used to back in the day. I'll try to watch him son, and if I catch him making a face at you I will call him on it. There's no excuse for that, especially since he and I would never had become anything more than friends with benefits, and infrequently at that." "Okay Dad, thanks. I think I'd better take a shower before I get to bed, I'm a little sticky and sweaty." He grinned sheepishly at me. "I can't imagine how that happened buddy. Maybe you're not doing something right." I grabbed his pillow and whacked him with it, then ran from his room laughing. "I won't forget this lack of respect young man," he giggled. I took a quick shower, ran back to his room naked, gave him a big smooch on the cheek and we said our goodnights. "I had a lot of fun tonight Dad, and thanks for hearing me out." "Me too Sean, and you know I'm always here to listen to anything you want to discuss. I'll keep an eye on Carl, I promise. Good night." I trudged off to my room and crawled under the covers. I hoped that he understood how I felt about Carl, although I had to admit my feelings had evolved. I really did sort of feel sorry for Carl, it must really hurt to have a hot guy like my Dad `outgrow' you, especially if you still have strong feelings for him. I fell asleep thinking how having Carl around might not be so bad after all, especially if we could come to an understanding. Thursday morning started like most other weekdays, except Dad was already gone by the time I dragged myself to the kitchen. I grabbed a couple of snack bars instead of having cereal and trudged my way to school, picking up Gary, Sandy, Adam and Andrea along the way. The closer we got to school the more kids added themselves to our little group, knowing there was safety in numbers. We all knew where the usual bullies lived and we kept as wide of a berth as possible, heading down one extra block to avoid one particularly bad stretch where the Jural Twins lived. The school day itself was without incident. I finished my homework during my last period study hall as usual, and the trip home was pretty much the morning in reverse. As soon as I got in the house I stripped down to my shorts and started working on dinner. I decided on steamed vegetables, so I cut up everything and had it in the steamer all set to start up as soon as Dad came home. I went to my room to look around for clothes to wash, but the next thing I remembered was Dad whispering my name and shaking me gently. "Sean, wakey-wakey son. Looks like somebody had a rough day." "Oh hi Dad, dang, no, my day was pretty boring really, I didn't mean to fall asleep." "Well son, as my grandmother used to say, you must have needed it. I already turned on the steamer, thanks for getting everything chopped up and ready to go. Dinner in about 15 minutes unless you want to go back to sleep." "Nope Dad, I'm up." I said, swinging my legs over the bed. He wiggled his eyebrows at me "Yea Sean, I can see you are," he said looking down at the tent in my shorts. "I don't know what you were dreaming about, but I hope it involved me." "Aw c'mon Dad, you know us soon-to-be teenagers get wood every time the breeze changes," I giggled back at my Dad. He chuckled at me, said he was off to shower, and would see me in a few. I wandered into the kitchen and started getting everything else ready to serve dinner. I heard the steamer timer go off about the same time I heard the TV news come on, so I grabbed a beer for Dad and a soda for myself and took them into the front room. I went back into the kitchen, dished out the vegetables on plates, put Dads on his birthday tray, then served him first. He grinned when he saw it. "Now that's the kind of service a king likes to see in his castle," he chuckled, then laughed louder when he saw me rolling my eyes. I brought my plate in and sat down to watch television with him while we ate, re-filling both our drinks and our plates before the news was over. After I took everything back into the kitchen and cleaned up in there I went back to the living room with another beer for him, and sat down. He picked up the remote and clicked off the TV. "Sean, something came up today with Carl that I thought gave me the perfect opportunity to ask him about the looks he gives you." I gave Dad a wide-eyed stare, immediately wondering if Carl was going to come after me for tattling on him. "Now before you get upset I didn't tell him what you and I talked about last night, he doesn't know that you told me about those strange looks." He smiled at the relief that must have shown on my face, then he continued. "It was Carl himself that brought it up. He was trying to tell me that the secretary of one of our new clients seemed to be looking at him oddly the last couple of times we visited their offices, and I grabbed that as my chance. I asked him if they were anything like the looks I've caught him giving you every once in awhile. Well shit Sean, you'd think I'd shot him or something. He started stumbling over his words right away and defending himself and denying it both at the same time." "Dad, oh no, now he really is going to hate me!" I cried. "Now hold on Sean. I held up my hand to Carl and told him to calm down, I was trying not to make a big deal out of it, but I told him that I did see him every so often give you a `hard look', and I was just wondering what was on his mind when he did that. Well son, he looked like he was going to start crying right there. He apologized, said he didn't realize he was doing it until he himself caught it, and he really didn't have a good explanation for it. I remembered what you said about his being jealous Sean, so I didn't push it with him, I just asked him to be careful because I didn't want you to notice it and think anything of it. He said he would make himself stop, and he hoped he hadn't hurt anyone's feelings. I told him it was in the past, and we were good to go from now on. I hope that was okay with you Sean, like I said I told him I was the one who noticed it, and he made it so easy for me to bring it up in the conversation." I thought about it for a moment and said, "I suppose its okay Dad, maybe he really didn't know he was doing it. I mean my mind wanders from time to time and I'd hate to see what my face must look like when that happens, I'm sure anyone watching me would wonder what was wrong with me as well." In reality I wasn't so sure I was ready to let Carl off the hook this easily, but I knew Dad thought this would be the best way to handle things and at this point, I didn't care any more whether Carl was at my party or not. It's not like it would just be the three of us at the party anyway, and now that Dad was on the alert for any strange behavior, I did feel better about it. Dad turned the TV back on and we settled in to watch some sitcoms, laughing every so often. He started yawning, so I suggested we both head to our beds. He seemed happy to hear the suggestion, so I took his empty beer bottle into the trash while he locked up the house, gave me a kiss, then he told me to use the bathroom first and he would follow after. I crawled into bed listening to him in the bathroom, pissing out the beer he'd had tonight. That sound gave me an instant hard-on, and while I pondered that thought I heard him whisper his good night to me on his way to his room. Friday morning I awoke to find a huge balloon floating over my bed, with `Happy Birthday!' splashed across its face. It actually scared me for a second until I realized what it was, and I blurted out a loud "SHIT" before I was able to focus on what it was. I heard Dad laughing from his room, and when I cleared the sleep from my eyes I noticed that he had completely blocked me in my room with Paper-Mache streamers that he had wrapped from my bed to the door, to the chair in my room, back to my bed, etc. How I slept through this I had no idea. "DAD! There was a Ninja in my room last night! He snuck in and redecorated and I didn't hear a damn thing!" "Happy thirteenth birthday my teenager son!" Dad yelled from somewhere behind the blocked door. "I hope you're not standing right there Dad, cuz your teenager is coming through!" and with that I burst through the door, trailing streamers in my wake and plowing headlong into Dad, who had only just begun to move out of the way. "FUCK!" Dad cried out when we both tumbled to the floor. I was laughing and trying to tickle him, but before I knew it he had flipped me over and was soon doing his share of tickling back. "Hey old man, I warned you to get out of the way! We teenagers are fast and powerful!" "Ha, that will indeed be the day when some teenage boy can take me on and win," Dad yelled, trying not to laugh at the same time. "Have you enjoyed your birthday so far son?" "Hell yes Dad, and the funny thing is, I don't feel a day over 11!" "Don't worry son, before you know it you'll feel every ache and pain of your advanced years and you'll wonder how you ever had this much energy. I have to take extra protein just to keep up with you." "I've got your extra protein right here Dad," I said, grabbing my crotch, which was by then rock hard from our floor wrestling. Dad gave me a huge grin, then said "Sadly Sean, you overslept a bit and I need to get to work, but hang on to those impure thoughts of yours, I'm gonna need lots of protein later. I can feel myself getting weak already." Dad scrambled up, then hoisted me up by my armpits and gave me a huge kiss. "Seriously Sean, Happy birthday, I love you more than I could ever tell you, and I'm so proud of my newly-teenaged son. You're an excellent student, you never get into any trouble, and you take care of me like I really am a king in a castle. You're the best son anybody could ever ask for." Then he slapped me on the butt and added, "All that being said, get your incredibly cute ass in the shower and make it quick, I want to drive you to school today, you're actually on my way to a new jobsite." I rushed into the bathroom, took care of my morning business, hopped in the shower then got dressed. I grabbed my backpack and made my way to the kitchen. Dad handed me an Egg McMuffin from McDonalds and some orange juice ("Hey, I may be your old man but I can still out-hustle you in the morning.") and off we went to his car. I waved at my usual morning fellow-commuters as we drove by them, then was surprised when Dad parked at the school instead of just dropping me off. He shushed my questioning look by telling me that birthday boys don't just get `dropped off', then gave me a quick peck on the cheek and told me to get my butt inside. I turned around to wave just as I opened the door to the building, surprised to see that we was still just sitting in the car watching me. He smiled and waved back, then the school swallowed me up. It was an otherwise regular Friday, with everyone anxious to get it over with and start their weekend. I knew what was waiting for me at home later tonight, so I was just as anxious as the rest. I turned in my essay during my 6th period English class, suffered through a boring 7th period Social Studies class then made my way to my 8th period study hall. Homework was heavy as usual, with teachers thinking we had nothing else to do over a weekend except read and study, but I managed to pound it out, grateful that there was no English homework thanks to the essay being the big project for that week. Just as the clock was ticking down, my English teacher, Mr. McDonough, came in the door and spoke to the study hall monitor. They both turned and looked at me, then both indicated I should come forward. I grabbed my backpack and headed for the front of the room with worry starting to cross my face. My mind told me that if something had happened to my Dad it would be the school principal and/or guidance counselor who would have come for me, but I still could not stop the fear from starting to inch its way through me. "Sean, I've reviewed the essays your class turned in, and some of what you wrote looks very familiar to me. I'm going to have to detain you after school today while I check some sources to be sure you didn't plagiarize your paper. Meet me in my classroom after you're dismissed here." With that, Mr. McDonough turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him. I stood there in front of the monitor, my face and body frozen in shock. I could hear some snickering from the kids in the front few rows who must have overheard what Mr. McDonough said. I couldn't believe it! Plagiarize?!? I never plagiarized anything in my life! I was an A+ student in Mr. McDonough's class, what possible reason would I have to plagiarize an essay? "Sean, go sit back in your seat until the period is over." I only barely heard the monitor say. "Sean. Sean, pay attention! If you are finished studying, just go back and sit in your seat until the bell rings." I slowly turned around and sat in the first available seat. "Sean, that's not your seat." I looked up at him, the shock still evident in my face. I guess he took pity on me when he said, "Oh, well, I guess that isn't important, we're almost through here. You're fine right there." I heard the bell ring a few minutes later, but I couldn't move. I thought I must be dreaming, or having one of those out-of-body experiences. I could feel the other kids moving past me, a few of them still snickering, one of them even saying, "Sean's in for it now!" I didn't realize they had all left until the monitor came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Sean. Sean, the period is over, you can go now. Sean, I believe Mr. McDonough expects you in his classroom now Sean." I looked up at him and slowly nodded. I could see some tenderness in his eyes, something I really didn't expect. I hadn't let go of my backpack the entire time, so I just stood up and slowly made my way to Mr. McDonough's classroom. I stood outside his door for a few moments not knowing what to expect, and certainly not wanting to go in. Part of me wanted to burst into the room in anger and demand he explain himself, surely he didn't think I had done anything wrong, he just couldn't! Another part of me didn't want to draw any attention to myself at all, hoping that maybe this would all somehow get magically cleared up and I could be on my way home. I heard Mr. McDonough call my name. "Sean, come on in and close the door behind you please." I looked up at him, noticing him for the first time. His expression was odd, as if his stomach was sour but he was trying to ignore it. I walked into the room, closed the door behind me, and out of habit, went to my assigned seat and sat down, still clutching my backpack. "Sean, as I mentioned I am detaining you so I can check some sources to be sure that what you wrote were really your own words. I would be very surprised to find that they aren't Sean, but as your teacher I do have to check. This essay is a large part of your grade this semester." There was something very weird about his voice when he was saying this to me. I wasn't sure if it was just the way my addled brain was processing his speech, or if he was speaking that way because it was his `official check a student's sources' voice. I had never heard of him doing this, but I suppose it wasn't something you would broadcast, despite his lack of subtlety while talking to me in my study period. "Mr. McDonough I just don't understand. I noted every source for every quote I used in my Conclusion, I provided detail in my Outline...." and then the flood hit. I didn't really expect it, and I couldn't really stop it. The tears just gushed from my eyes and I collapsed in my chair. I quickly put my head in my hands to hide my face, but I couldn't stop the noises coming out of my mouth, the heavy sobs, and then the huge gasps for air. I suddenly felt very faint and grabbed onto the desk for something to steady myself, even as I started to sink lower into the chair and down towards the floor. I felt Mr. McDonough's hands grab my shoulders, and suddenly a paper bag was shoved in my face. "Breath Sean, breath into the bag!" Mr. McDonough yelled. I grasped the bag and shoved it over my nose and mouth and tried to gulp in as much air as I could. "Not so fast Sean, try to breath normally, you're going to make yourself pass out," Mr. McDonough choked out. My mind started to laugh at this idea, that there was any way I could ever breath normally now or ever again. I tried to control my breathing and managed to calm down somewhat. I realized that the paper bag was now a soggy mess from my tears and the snot that was coming out of my nose. I felt a wad of tissues being shoved into my hands and I quickly covered my face with them, trying to wipe up the mess in one motion. I dropped the bag, did my best with the tissues, then put my head back in my hands and just tried to breath, balancing my arms on the desk with my elbows. I felt Mr. McDonough touch my shoulder again but this time I wrenched back away from him. "Oh god," I heard him say. "Dear god I didn't do this right, oh what have I done?" he moaned. I slowly looked up at him while my brain tried to process this new information. I saw Mr. McDonough sitting in the chair in front of me with a look of horror on his face. I actually grabbed the tissues again and made another pass across my face, wondering if his expression was a result of additional mucous on my nose and mouth. When I looked up again he had walked back to his desk. He sat down and looked at me. "Sean, I am so very sorry for the way I've handled this. I honestly didn't expect you to react like this, but in hindsight I don't know why I didn't. You're the best student I have, maybe the best student I've ever had, and I want nothing but the very best for you. I see great things in your future Sean, and I'm so sorry I've upset you over this." I just blinked at him, trying to process all of this very confusing data I was getting. I saw him glance up at the clock. "Sean, please, just give me a few minutes to look over your essay again, and I promise you I won't cause you any more pain." The Twilight Zone. That had to be it. I was in the Twilight Zone and none of this was really happening. Was it possible that I'd used someone else's words as my own by accident? Would Mr. McDonough understand that if I confessed, I mean I can't be the first person on the planet to repeat something he heard without realizing the thoughts weren't original to him. Dad! Oh shit, what is Dad going to think of me? Just this morning he told me how proud he was of me, what is he gonna think of me now? I just sat there with my one elbow on the desk, that same arm holding my forehead in place to keep it from falling forward. I glanced up at Mr. McDonough from time to time, watching him typing into his computer. I thought it odd that he wasn't even looking at my essay. Was there just one small passage he was questioning, and had he memorized it? Why hasn't he asked me anything specific about the essay, or given me a chance to explain anything I wrote? I could hear the clock in the back of the room ticking away, the way all the clocks in this school always did when it was otherwise quiet in these classrooms. Finally he looked at the clock then back at me, a thin, shaky smile on his face. "Sean, I apologize, I was wrong. There is nothing here that I can tell didn't come from your own brain, and you will be getting an A+ on this paper. After all, if it's so good even your instructor thinks you had to have cheated, it really must be good!" "I've never had detention before," I whispered, still looking a bit stunned. "I still can't believe I've had it now. Will this show up on my record somewhere?" I asked him. "Detention? Sean, this doesn't count as detention, I never told you that you were in detention," he said, looking at me as if I was speaking another language. "Mr. McDonough you said I was being detained. Isn't that what it really means?" "No Sean, `detained' doesn't mean the same as `detention'," he chuckled. "Well that's what the kids in my study hall thought so it might as well be detention. I mean you didn't exactly keep your voice down Sir. I'm sure that by Monday the whole school will be saying that smart-ass Sean Collier got detention for cheating." Mr. McDonough's face turned ashen when he heard me say that. "Sean...I am very sorry, I didn't realize I was loud enough for others to hear. I really have handled this all wrong, and I will make damn sure that it is cleared up on Monday, even if I have to make an announcement on the Pubic Address system!" I actually smiled a little at the thought of him grabbing the PA microphone from our droning principal and advising the entire student body that not only was I not sent to detention, but I did in fact receive an A+! Then the thought of every bully in school making a beeline for me during lunch quickly squashed that idea, but I still smiled just the same. "Oh a smile, Sean, I'm so glad, I hope you will forgive me. I've kept you for 30 minutes already, you are free to go Sean. Again, I am so sorry and I promise you I will find some way to make it up to you, why I'll even write letters to every college in the country for you if I wish...when that time comes of course. Go home now...and Sean, Happy Birthday." He smiled at me and reached over to close his laptop. I got up from my desk, told him thank you, and practically ran from that room, down the hall to my locker, threw my books inside and rushed out the front door. I almost skipped down the sidewalk on my way home, trying to make sense out of any of the last hour, and wondering if I ever would. Then it hit me. `Happy Birthday Sean' he'd said. Now how in hell would he have known it was my birthday? Dad!!! That's the reason Dad drove me to school today! That's the reason Mr. McDonough kept me late! Dad must have asked him to stall me so the rest of the kids could get to our house for my party. That's why Mr. McDonough kept saying how he had messed everything up. Fuck yea he did! He and I will have to have a serious talk on Monday! I was ¾ of the way home by now, not realizing how fast I was walking while I was thinking through how all of this had played out. I wasn't really paying that much attention to my surroundings when I heard them. "Detention! Ha, the little brainy-ass faggot got detention! Now that's fucking funny that is!" I looked ahead of myself and saw them. The Jural twins. And oh boy, two of their ass kissers in-crime, Freddie Golden and Devon Harris. SHIT! I just kept walking, much slower this time, my eyes searching right and left for an escape route. I never come home from school this late so I didn't know they hung out at this hour. "I didn't get detention, I was just detained to answer a couple of questions in a paper I wrote," I said, immediately wondering why in hell I'd opened my mouth. "OH!" said Freddie. "Did'ya hear that guys, she was `detained'. That must be what little girly faggots call detention at their tea parties!" Fuck he was stupid, I thought, as they all started laughing. Fuck, they're all so stupid. "Hey cocksucker, c'mere, I need a blowjob and I can tell you're just the fag that can do it!" yelled one of the twins. I saw a delivery truck coming towards us a half block away on the other side of the road, and decided that was my chance to make a run for it. I quickly ran in front of the truck, ignoring the screeching brakes and the loud horn, ran alongside it and darted back across once I got behind it. I was still 3 blocks from my house, but hoped my youth and adrenalin would get me close enough for them to leave me alone, as I was fairly certain they knew which house I lived in and wouldn't breach the yard. I could hear them screaming at me and then heard their footsteps coming after me. Why couldn't they just leave me be! I covered one block easily and ran across the road between the parked cars. Their footsteps were getting louder and they had stopped calling me names, probably conserving their breath just like I was. I made it halfway across the second block when I felt someone grab me by the backpack. I struggled to get it off and managed to drop it, hearing a loud curse from behind me. Whoever it was that had my backpack faltered back but the other three kept coming. I felt my shoulder being yanked back and my upper torso stopped even as my feet tried to keep going. I fell backwards onto Freddie, who must have been the one who caught me by the shoulder. He fell under me and cushioned my fall, a large `OOF' coming from him as we hit the ground. I felt the first kick to my right side almost immediately and I cried out in pain. "Run from us will you, you STUPID FAGGOT!" one of the twins screamed, the other twin kicking me from the other side. I heard a cracking noise and felt a sharp pain. I screamed out. By that time Freddie had squirmed out from under me and I saw and felt his fist hit the side of my head. I know he was aiming for my nose, but I was too busy trying to twist away from the kicking feet to lie still long enough for him to aim properly. His fist hit a second time, again in the same place and again, missing my nose. I lost count of the number of times I was being kicked, although I could tell they had moved farther down my body. I feared they were aiming for my balls, and I screamed out again, trying to cover my crotch with my hands. Somewhere in the noise I heard a door slam, then I heard Carl's voice yelling, probably louder than I had ever hear anyone yell "AARON! AARON!" The twins and Freddie swore loudly and the kicking suddenly stopped. I could hear them running, then I felt someone else running by me. "SEAN!" I heard my Dad cry out, then "911! Call 911! Ambulance and police!". Then I blacked out. ---- This work is fully protected under The United States Copyright Laws © 17 USC§§ 101, 102(a), 302(a). All Rights Reserved. Placing or posting any of these stories or story on any website, or distribution of any of these works in any way (parts or whole) without the explicit consent of the author is strictly prohibited. Any and all copyright infringements will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental, and no harm or slanderous intent is implied or intentional. The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Constructive comments are encouraged at jeremyellingtonII@gmail.com. Unconstructive comments will encourage me to use your email address for any number of spam uses. Most of this story is already written, so it is unlikely I will be able to use any suggestions as to story flow, etc. Please donate to Nifty!! You can do it right here, right night now at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html