Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 16:27:15 -0800 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Puget Posse Chapter 53 Welcome back for another session with the Puget Posse. Operation Bullfrog is now in full swing. The biggest question now is, will it actually work as planned? The disclaimers from Chapter 1 apply. Please donate to the Nifty Archive. And please do write. Douglas. thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 53 HE WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE When school was out for the day, the Posse members headed in their own directions. Mark had an intramural softball game and would be picked up by his mother after it was over. He and Matthew were not on the same team and were looking forward to their upcoming showdown in a couple of weeks. Will was on the opposing team that day and would ride home with Mark. Matthew and Patrick observed Jeremiah when he and Tony boarded the bus. Jeremiah was aware of their stares. He was tempted to not make eye contact and ignore them. He was still stinging from his defeat at the council meeting. But he also knew that Ellis's picture would give him the upper hand. Between the picture and blaming the twins for bullying Ellis into posing for it, he felt confident he would regain any lost respect from his peers. So, Jeremiah looked right back at the two. "Don't think today got you anything," Jeremiah said. "I'm bringing you (he pointed to Patrick) and you and your brother (he pointed to Matthew) down so low you'll have to change schools next year." "I'm really scared," Matthew said with an air of cockiness. "You should be, because I have a secret weapon." "Now I am totally scared." Matthew looked at Patrick and asked, "You'll help me if I pee my pants, right?" "You can use our washing machine," Patrick told him. Matthew looked at Jeremiah and grinned. "Sit down and quit bugging us," he said. Jeremiah sat next to Tony, angry that he couldn't fluster the two boys he considered to be enemies. After Jeremiah got off of the bus at his stop, Matthew and Patrick let out the giggles they'd been valiantly holding back. "Boy, he sure doesn't know what's on that memory card," Matthew snickered. "What if he looks at it tonight and finds out?" Patrick asked. "Then we better hope Mark really has a Plan B." Brian was already home when Patrick and Matthew arrived at Patrick's house. "Tell me again why your mother is picking you up on the way back to school to pick up your brother?" Brian asked. "Because I wanted to see what Jeremiah was like, so I could tell Mark. I couldn't do that if I was at school watching his softball game." "Does your mother know about all of this plotting?" "Yeah, but she's really not into it. Dad thinks it's all really cool. He likes political shit...er...stuff. Sorry, Mr. G." "I've heard the word before," Brian grinned. Patrick played his new guitar and sang a couple of songs for Matthew. Matthew was suitably impressed. Just before Matthew left, Patrick's Grand Pop arrived from Mayfield. He was Brian's father. He was there for the family birthday dinner at the Ram. He presented Patrick with a new baseball glove, which was exactly what he had asked for. "You're gonna need to break that in," Matthew told Patrick "I know. It's more for next year than this year. I'll get to work on it this weekend." "Don't forget you're coming to our house on Saturday." "Dad said it was okay. Right dad?" Brian nodded. "At least it was okay when I said it was okay." "You mean that you might change your mind?" Before Brian could answer, Kristy showed up. Matthew gave Patrick a big birthday hug and ran out to meet his mother. The family birthday dinner was fun for all. Grand Pop, Grannana, Uncle Ted, Uncle Roy, Brian, and Patrick, the birthday boy, were all in attendance, along with Patrick's special guest, Misha, who was pleased beyond imagining to be at this special dinner. Patrick's gesture told Misha that they were indeed very special best friends—maybe even boyfriends. The fact that they held hands under the table, a gesture not missed by Brian, also had Misha thinking in terms of boyfriends. Patrick and Misha told everyone about what had happened at the fifth grade council meeting. Brian congratulated them on a good job and asked Patrick who he planned on picking to join him on the party planning committee. "Oh, I'm not going to be on the committee," Patrick said, much to the surprise of Brian and Misha. "You're not? I thought Jeremiah put you in charge," Brian said. "He just told me to pick the committee. I guess I could be in charge, but I want somebody else in charge." "Why?" Misha asked. "Just because." "That's not much of a reason," Brian pointed out. "It's hard to explain," Patrick said uncertainly. "Try us," Brian told him. "You are remarkably good at explaining yourself for a boy your age—or a boy of any age for that matter." "Hell, he does it better than some adults," Roy added. "Roy, mind your language in public," Maxine admonished. "Sorry, Grannana." "Remember who owns the broom." "Not to mention a strong right arm capable of using that broom," Ted interjected. "Anyway, Sir Wombat, tell us why you don't want to take charge," Brian insisted. "Because somebody new should be in charge," Patrick replied. "Do you have somebody in mind?" "Vic." "Who, pray tell, is Vic?" "He's in our class and he is in the student senate so he can be on the committee and he can be in charge. He's really smart and very nice and he isn't on the Posse, so nobody can say I am playing favorites." "Ah, avoiding cronyism are we?" Uncle Ted asked. "What's that?" Patrick asked. "It means playing favorites," Misha said, pleased he knew a word that Patrick didn't. Usually, it was the other way around. "That sounds very mature," Brian observed. "Once again, I am proud of you, son." Because it was a school night, Misha couldn't stay over. After dinner and dessert were finished, Misha was dropped off at his house. Both of them wished they could hold hands and kiss good-bye, but they behaved like the young tweens they were and punched each other good-night. When the family gathered at Patrick's house, he played a couple of Irish folk songs on his birthday guitar that he'd learned on his father's electric guitar. He sang in his clear boy soprano as he strummed the cords of his new acoustic guitar. "Beautiful," Grand Pop exclaimed. "You are very talented." "Does your school have a talent show?" Roy asked. "Yes." "Are you going to enter it? "I'll think about it." "Don't think, lad, do it," Grand Pop said emphatically. The family had a little sing along before the gathering broke up. Roy was driving back to Everett, even though Patrick begged him to stay. Grand Pop was staying in Ted's old room. Uncle Ted was heading back to his apartment. Later that night, Misha and Patrick lay in their own beds thinking of how exceptional holding hands at Patrick's birthday dinner had felt. The tactile evening had Misha battling a hard-on throughout the entire dinner. He couldn't really deal with the issue until that night in bed. His solution was quite wonderful, indeed. For his part, Patrick had the good feeling all night, but only had to battle an intermittent erection. As he lay in his bed, Patrick had no problem making himself hard and then dealing with it in the same manner as Misha, arriving at the same satisfactory conclusion. ++++++++++++ When the twins got home, they had dinner, did their homework, watched some of the Mariners game on TV, and then headed for their bedroom and stripped naked. They read, played games, spent time on their computer, and finally got ready for bed. "Are we sleeping together?" Matthew asked. "Sounds good," Mark answered. While they usually slept together, it didn't happen every night. "My bed or yours?" "It's your turn to get your sheets yucky." As they often did, the brothers petted each other over their chests, nipples, bellies, balls, and asses. They usually exchanged thoughts while they warmed each other up. Their topic was getting Jeremiah so mad he walked out of the fifth grade student council meeting. They also discussed Patrick being in charge of the fifth grade end-of-the-year party. "Patrick is going to be awesome," Mark said. "I wonder who he'll pick to be on the committee with him?" "I bet he picks Misha. And he'll pick one of us, too, because the Posse is awesome," Matthew speculated. "You know it. I wonder if he'll pick Neville, too?" "He better. In fact, maybe we should tell him to." "Yeah, Neville needs to do something cool like help plan the party." "I'm all horny now," Mark said as he pulled himself close to his twin. "Me, too. I want to suck you." "Not sixty-nine?" "I want to suck you. I can't help it." Matthew went down on his twin brother, bringing him off to a quick orgasm. "Your cum tastes good." "Want me to suck you?" "I want to go between your legs." Mark knew how Matthew liked it, and turned his back to his brother. They both had learned to love intercrural sex, seeing it as a prelude to the next step. Matthew spread some lotion on his brother's thighs, and placed his pubescent cock between them. Mark's skin was soft and slick and it didn't take long for him to squirt, leaving most of his clear emission on the sheets. "Are you going to clean up your mess?" Mark asked "No. You know we like sleeping in it." Mark turned and faced his brother. "Yeah, I love your cum." The two cuddled and fell asleep, satisfied with their evening's sex. What they didn't know was that they weren't even close to predicting what Patrick would do. ++++++++++++ Jeremiah fell asleep wishing he'd brought the picture home so he could see it in advance. It didn't matter if he opened the envelope, since he was planning to show the picture to everybody he could. He thought about waiting another day to show it, but he'd already said he had a special surprise that would sink the Posse before they even signed up to run for office. He didn't want to back down. He had told quite a few kids about finding the memory card Mark had dropped. Some kids wondered why Mark had a memory card in school, but nobody made a big deal out of it. Jeremiah felt he was committed. Before falling asleep he jerked off for a while. He eventually stopped, wondering what the big fuss was about. Alden had a sense of foreboding as he tried to fall asleep. He felt that too many things could go wrong when Jeremiah showed the picture. The biggest thing was that somebody would rat out Jeremiah for showing a picture of a naked boy. He decided that when Jeremiah had his little gathering at lunch recess, he would be someplace else. Being Jeremiah's shadow was starting to lose its thrill. When the twins arrived at Patrick's house Thursday morning, Patrick had already eaten breakfast and dressed. He was sitting in one of the easy chairs strumming his guitar. "Wow, you mean we don't get to see your cock this morning?" Mark asked. "What a disappointment." "And what, pray tell, is so special about the young man's sexual organ?" came a man's voice from behind him. Mark turned around and saw Grand Pop, his face turning crimson. He quickly ascertained that Grand Pop was the reason Patrick was dressed. "Well...um...it's like, you know..." It wasn't very often that Mark was at a loss for words. "...it's like, cute." Mark blushed even more, if that was possible, as he realized he'd stuck his foot deeper into his mouth. Grand Pop saved him further embarrassment by laughing out loud, saying he'd been a boy once, too. "So, you two are the infamous twins. I hear you two are quite a handful." "Yep, and proud of it," Matthew said with a sly grin. "There is a set of twins in my hometown of Mayfield who are about your age. Cute little buggers, but pretty wild at times. They are really good athletes." "So are we," Mark said as he recovered from his embarrassment. "Sounds like they know how to be twins." "What are you, exactly?" Grand Pop asked. "Cute buggers, wild, or good athletes?" "All three," Matthew answered, sending Grand Pop into another fit of laughter. "I'll let you guys have fun before the bus comes," the old man said. "You should come down to Mayfield some day and meet Kevin and Kraig. "You play that guitar real good." Patrick smiled on hearing Mark's comment. "Yeah, you should enter the talent show, because we all know you sing real good, too," Matthew told Partick. Patrick said nothing, so Mark asked him who he was picking to be on the party planning committee with him. Mark and Matthew were both stunned when Patrick said he was going to put Vic in charge and let him pick the committee. After giving the twins his reasoning, the two agreed it made sense. "It will keep Jeremiah and Alden from saying we set everything up at the meeting to make him mad so we could take over." When they got on the bus they sat in their usual seats, with Will joining them after boarding. They waited eagerly for Jeremiah to board, wondering what kind of mood he would be in. The four boys were pleased to see him carrying a laptop bag. Jeremiah gave them a smirk as he passed them by. Tony, who was trailing Jeremiah as usual, simply said, "Jeremiah's getting his revenge today, and there's nothing you can do about it." The quartet tried hard not to look smug. Jeremiah was stepping right into their trap. It was obvious that so far he hadn't looked at what was on the memory card, taking Alden's word for what the picture showed. "I'm in such a good mood today that I'm going to tell Mr. Jackson the knock knock jokes," Mark said. "You know he hates them," Will told him. "He's not going to listen." "If I keep trying, I'll break him down by the end of the year," Mark grinned. As promised, Mark walked up to Mr. Jackson as soon as he stepped into the classroom. "Hey, Mr. Jay, how's life?" Mark asked with enthusiasm. "Life was fairly quiet until a few seconds ago," Mr. Jackson replied. "Ha, ha, very funny." "I was a comedian in my former life," the teacher said. He quickly realized his mistake. "Oh, good, then you probably are ready for my knock knock joke." "You know I don't like knock knock jokes." "Oh, but you can't be a good comedian without them." Patrick, Misha, Matthew, and Ellis were now hovering in the background, grinning as they listened to the byplay between teacher and pupil. "Good comedians avoid such mundane humor." "Knock knock," Mark said. "Sorry, it isn't going to work, so you might as well quit. You're not going to wear me down." "But he is going to annoy you," Patrick offered. Mr. Jackson gave Mark a serious look but had a humorous glint in his eyes. "You are a very perceptive young man, Patrick." "How about this," Mark offered. "If you agree to answer my knock knock on the last day of school, I'll promise not to say knock knock to you for the rest of the year." The teacher mulled over Mark's offer for a minute, then gave his reply. "How about this idea, Mr. Machiavelli..." "Machiawho?" Mark interrupted. "Look it up." Mark and the others knew right away what Mr. Jackson's answer was going to be. "Anyway, if you maintain your A grade in social studies to the final report card, and if you can get Mr. Vargas to listen to your joke, I'll accept your offer." This time it was Mark mulling things over. "I'm good with the A, because I know I'll kick ass..." "Mark," the teacher admonished. "Sorry, sir." "But, I can't tell Mr. Vargas the same joke, because he'll tell you and then when I tell you a joke you already know, it won't be any fun. How about I tell him a different joke." "Only if it's a knock knock joke." "You're on." Mark held out his hand and they shook on it. "By the way," Mr. Jackson added, "Mr. Vargas hates knock knock jokes more than I do." "Well at least I know he never learned to hate them in his other life as a comedian. I'll wear him down." "You're a tough negotiator, Mark." Mark grinned as he joined the Posse at their desks. Now he had to figure out how to get Mr. Vargas to listen to one joke. Before class started, Patrick reported what he, Will, and the twins had observed on the bus to Ellis, Misha, and Neville. "We're not positive, but we think he's going to show the picture sometime today," Patrick said. "Does he know what the picture shows?" Misha asked Ellis. "I don't know what Alden told him. But, I think he doesn't know because he could get in big trouble if he got caught showing it." "More proof that Jeremiah is not as smart as he thinks," Neville said. "Smart and Jeremiah don't go together," Mark said as he joined the chat. "Jeremiah is plain dumb." The ringing of the bell ended the conversation; it was time for class to begin. ++++++++++++ Jeremiah spent the morning telling his supporters about finding the memory card Mark had dropped. "It has to do with Ellis," Jeremiah told them. "The twins have been blackmailing him to do what they want. That's what happened in the student council meeting; the twins told Ellis to go after me." Alden listened to Jeremiah's spiel. Even knowing it was all a lie, he almost believed it himself. He acknowledged that while Jeremiah might be stupid, he was real good at making people believe his lies. Alden had an evil grin on his face as he walked away. He was certain Jeremiah didn't know what, exactly, was on the picture. He'd seen Jeremiah take the sealed envelope out of his locker before lunch. The only thing he'd told Jeremiah about the picture was that Ellis was wearing makeup like a girl; he'd said nothing about Ellis being naked and sporting a hard-on. "I want to be just as surprised as everybody else," Jeremiah had told Alden. "It's going to make the twins look bad, and tell everybody else not to mess with me like Ellis did." Alden said nothing. Jeremiah's lack of logic stood out in his well-ordered mind. He had never intended for the picture to be seen because of what it showed. But, it had been a good weapon until the last student council meeting. He knew what the picture showed and he knew Jeremiah would be sorry he ever showed it. But, stupid is as stupid does, he said to himself. At lunch recess, Jeremiah opened his laptop out by the fence that separated the playfield from the cliff. There were a dozen boys ready to see the mysterious picture. Some of them wondered how Jeremiah knew the picture would be damaging to the twins if he hadn't seen it himself, but decided their class president knew what he was doing. He set the laptop on top of one of the fence posts and asked Tony to hold it steady for him. For his part, Jeremiah had a legitimate picture of him leading a student council meeting in case a teacher should ask what everyone was looking at. He powered up the laptop, ripped open the envelope, and placed the memory card in the proper slot. The envelope fluttered to the ground. Alden had told him he wanted the last of the five icons on the card. "Trust me. This will make it so the twins won't ever be able to run for anything again, and poor Ellis will never have to worry about being blackmailed." Jeremiah smiled at the group and clicked on the last icon. What Jeremiah saw was not Ellis. It was a picture of a frog on a log in a lake—a frog that had Jeremiah's face. Right away music started playing: "Jeremiah was a bullfrog, he was a good friend of mine..." Jeremiah recovered quickly and clicked on the first icon, thinking he had things switched. This time he opened a frog that started hopping along a shoreline. Once again it had Jeremiah's face and once again it started playing: "Jeremiah was a bullfrog, he was a good friend of mine..." He didn't even bother to try the other three icons. He knew he was doomed, no matter what was behind the icons (he would have found three more frog pictures). Jeremiah shut the lid on the computer, but it was too late. The boys surrounding him were laughing their asses off, and they weren't laughing with him—they were laughing at him. "You sure got those twins, Jeremiah," one boy taunted. "It's like the twins got you," a second one jeered. "No frog is a good friend of mine," another added. "Ribbet, ribbet, ribbet," the first boy croaked. Jeremiah grabbed his computer and stomped away. He'd been humiliated at the student council meeting, but this was far worse. He kicked the garbage can at the entrance to the building, stubbing his toe and making himself even angrier. Nobody noticed one of the boys casually picking up the discarded envelope. When Alden heard what had transpired by the fence, he smirked. He could think of more than one way Jeremiah, the master liar, could have used the incident to his advantage, but he wasn't about to tell Jeremiah. It was time for him to hitch himself to another star, and as far he was concerned that star might as well be himself. But there was one thing that bothered him. How did the singing frog pictures end up in the envelope? The envelope was sealed and locked in Jeremiah's locker. He had taken the picture of Ellis himself and knew what had been on the memory card and where. Somehow, somebody had gotten into Jeremiah's locker and switched out the envelopes. It was obvious that Ellis was involved, but Alden knew that Ellis didn't have the wherewithal to plan and carry out that kind of an operation, at least not by himself. As Alden looked around the playground, he saw Ellis hanging out with the members of the Posse. Planning this was out of Neville's league. Patrick and Misha had the smarts to do it, but not the deviousness that was needed. That left the twins. It was evident to Alden that the operation was their baby. They were smart and had the right amount of spunk. Alden grimaced. While Alden admired the twins for getting the best of Jeremiah, he also despised them for standing in his way to the top. Jeremiah was right about one thing: the twins were evil and had to be destroyed. Jeremiah reached the breaking point after school. Because class was in session, he couldn't receive very much flak, but bits and pieces still reached him. He could hear an occasional quiet croaking or a whispered, "He was a good friend of mine." After the final bell, he grabbed his stuff in a hurry. He saw Alden at the bottom of the steps and dashed down to meet him. He ran up to Alden and stared screaming at him. "You did it, you shit fuck, you set me up with those pictures." Alden gave Jeremiah a smirk and walked away, leaving Jeremiah screaming at empty air. "I think Jeremiah is kind of pissed off," Matthew observed as he watched the fight unfold along with Mark, Patrick, Will, and Ellis. "Jeremiah was a good friend of mine," Will sang in his off key voice as Jeremiah walked past them. Jeremiah thought about going after Will, but Will was a bigger and stronger boy, while Jeremiah was, at heart, a coward. "Yep," Mark gloated. "He's very pissed off." Mark was feeling good as he finally was able to avenge his two defeats at the hands of his nemesis. As far as he was concerned, he now held the upper hand. Not everything went the way Mark had planned, however. He'd laid out his plan for which offices each of the Posse members would run for. While everyone had seemed amenable to start with, the headstrong boys soon had other ideas. The day after Operation Bullfrog was sprung, Mark signed up to run for sixth grade class president. Unlike Jeremiah, who had brought his own entourage to witness his declaration for office, Mark brought only Patrick as his second. Mark then became the second for Patrick, who signed up to run for vice-president again. At the end of the day the sign-ups for office were closed. There were a few surprises among the candidates. Ellis decided not to run for treasurer. He'd had enough of the political life and all of the conspiracies and backstabbing. When he found out he could still work in the bookstore even if he wasn't class treasurer, his direction was set. He could no longer work in the student bank, but he didn't care. He loved working in the store and selling things to students. Once Misha heard that Ellis wasn't running, he took Matthew with him to become a candidate for treasurer. Bryce Lewis, who was in Mr. Nash's class was the only other candidate. Neville decided not to run for secretary. Instead, he became a candidate for vice-president. Vic was his second. "Why are you running against the Wombat?" Mark asked when he found out what Neville had done. "You were going to run for secretary." "Just because that was what you wanted me to do doesn't mean that was what I wanted to do," Neville told him. "Damn, you are a stubborn Fox. We should have named you Mule. Do you really think you're going to beat Patrick?" "It really does not matter; I am doing what I want to do. You are not my boss." "Maybe not, I know more about how the council works than you do and I know you won't win. You'd be a better secretary." Neville's glare seemed to look right over the top of his glasses. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you and your stupid brother when I first met you." "Fox, you know the Posse has to work together." "Not if it means working with you." Neville turned and walked away. After becoming a key part of The Puget Posse, Neville was once again asserting his independence. Mark looked at Matthew and shrugged. "He's on the rag, just like M&M. When the sign-ups closed, there were two boys running for treasurer. Alden was one of them and Julio, from Ms. McCann's class was the other, Julio was running only because Alden had convinced him to. Alden had waited until the last minute so he could sign up to become a candidate for the office he was most likely to win. But, he didn't want to run unopposed, so he convinced Julio to run. Alden felt Julio didn't have a chance to win, but if he managed to pull it off, he was part of Jeremiah's support group—a group that was going to be his when sixth grade started. When Matthew went to the office as Patrick's second he signed up to run for office on a whim. Of course he picked sergeant-at-arms. Mark had told him not to run, and he'd agreed. But he liked being on the student council and decided to run and deal with pissing off Mark later. He was pleased to find out his only opposition would be Jeremiah's buddy, Tony. Patrick and Neville were the only two candidates for vice-president. Unlike Mark, Patrick held no animosity toward Neville for becoming a candidate for the office. As far as he was concerned, Neville had the right to run for anything he wanted to. Patrick knew he'd have to run hard no matter who he faced in the election; facing a friend of his just made running that much more fun, like when he ran against Will for fifth grade office. Another big surprise was Vic deciding to run for president. Conversations with two different boys convinced him to run, although one of them did so indirectly. One of the boys to influence him was Patrick, who surprised him by asking him if he wanted to be in charge of the fifth grade end-of-the-year party. Vic was flattered to be asked and quickly agreed. He couldn't help but wonder if the invitation was his reward for helping the Posse in the student senate. The other boy who influenced him was Alden. While Patrick and the twins were gaining a feel for politics and the manipulating that went with it, Alden was a born politician. Jeremiah had been the salesman of their partnership, but Alden, even at ten, had the mindset necessary for all of the conniving and conspiring that had become part of fifth grade government. Like Patrick, Alden saw Vic as a well-respected neutral party. He wasn't beholden to the Posse or to Jeremiah's camp. He saw Vic's helping out Mark to get his first day of fifth grade bill passed as a good political move rather than one based on blind friendship. Alden didn't want Mark to win the election. He figured Jeremiah's chances of winning were dead. Vic was well-liked and popular enough that he could very well defeat Mark, so he encouraged Vic to run for president. A lot of students saw Mark as damaged goods, both because of the way he had lost the fifth grade presidential election and because many of Jeremiah's apologists blamed him for the bullfrog prank. While the student council elections were important, they were a small part of what was to the happen for the Posse and the school during the last month of the school year. The school year was winding down, and the Posse had some interesting things to look forward to, as well as some bad blood to deal with. Next: Payments