Chapter #78Dumb Kids, Part 2 by: Seuzz   "Miiiil-ky! Miiiiiiilll-ky!" you chant. "Milky lehhh-ehgs!" Jeff Mielke flinches and backs away. You pull the hard rubber ball behind your ear and grin as the pale flesh of his thighs quivers. They are covered with red welts, but there are still lots of white places where you can raise more.
Something hard catches you in the shoulder, and you wheel. Stivale is grinning at you. "Son of a bitch!" you yell at him.
A sharp whistle sounds. "Sennik, you're out," Coach Pensey calls. "Rest of the period."
"The fuck--?"
"You wanna try for detention?" He glowers at you.
You spin back at Mielke and hurl the hard sphere at him. He tries diving to the side, but he's too slow, and the ball ricochets off his thigh with a satisfying WHOCK! "You're still in," you jeer at him as he tries to escape to the sidelines. "I was out, so you're still in."
You trot over to the side to join Shane Bish--the first guy you'd busted off the other team--but Coach Pensey redirects you to the corner with orders to keep quiet and to yourself until the bell. That doesn't stop you from hopping up and down to catch Andrew's attention. You jab a finger at Mielke. Andrew grins, and with cat-like cruelty begins to circle the designated prey.
* * * * *
The start of third period: Shawn Sellers has his ear buds in and is bopping his head hard to the beat of whatever he's listening to. You drop into the desk in front of him with a snort and yank one of them out of his ear. "What are you listening to," you demand of him as you screw it into your own ear.
He just gives you a dirty look.
"This is gay," you sneer. "Why do you listen to gay music?"
"What is it?" Jordan Rush cuts in from the next row. He nods his chin at Shawn. Shawn pulls the ear bud away from you and passes it and the iPod over to the other boy. Jordan tucks it into his ear, listens a moment, and rocks more gently to the same beat. "This is cool." He checks the display, and gives it an appraising smile before passing it back to Shawn. He ends by giving you a narrow glance.
Jordan is a nice guy, and one of the school's most popular kids. Him and his twin brother, Jason, are golden blonde track stars, and you don't fuck with them.
Mr. Quincey calls the class to order, and Jordan turns to the front. You turn back to Shawn and briefly stare gleaming daggers at him. He gazes back impassively.
* * * * *
At lunch you hunch at the cafeteria table, elbows on your thighs, hands between your knees, chin only inches above the untouched food on your tray. You are trembling slightly as you stare between Michael and Shane at the table beyond, where you can see Traci Small.
Traci is not beautiful, but she's slim and impudent. She wears dark eyeliner, and her thin blonde hair is inexpertly dyed with faint pinks and greens and purples. She always holds her head back and her chin up, usually to point the stem of the sucker she'll have in her mouth at whoever has incurred her displeasure.
No, she's not beautiful, and usually you don't pay any attention to her. But today, for some reason, she is fascinating, and you can't wrench your eyes off her. Maybe it's because she was an identity you had briefly toyed with taking at Schuyler Middle School. What would it have been like to have the other end of that sucker in your mouth?
But, you're probably more fascinated because-- You groan. God, you hate the hormones. You can't look away, even though the sight of her has you on the verge of losing control of yourself. It stings.
"Stop fondling yourself," Andrew sneers, and peers down at you with an expression of disgust. As he's sitting straight and you're bent, he seems very tall. "Go get me some more milk."
"Get it yourself. I'm busy."
"Yeah, fondling yourself. If they gave grades for that--"
"I've caught you fondling yourself, Stowell," Michael chortles from across the table. Andrew glares back, and dark spots form in his cheek. Michael's braces glitter as he grins at Andrew. "I saw who you were looking at as you did it, too."
Shane snickers, and looks between Michael and Andrew and you. You also perk up. This is a good distraction, and your peter droops. It's not fun thinking about Andrew fondling himself.
Michael and Andrew continue to stare at each other, but neither says anything. Your attention drifts back to Traci, but the spell has been broken. But she notices your stare, and gives you a dirty look before leaning to the side to whisper to Anil Bose, who is sitting next to her. His eyes flick in your direction, and you look between them. They look away, but a few moments later, having quickly finished eating, they depart the cafeteria.
You're jerked back to attention as Andrew jostles you. He rises and stalks away. You look back at Michael, who grins and digs back into his own lunch. "Who was he looking at?" you ask in a low voice, and lean across the table.
Michael blinks, and then his eyes glitter. "You," he snickers.
You jerk back, and look with dumbfounded shock at Andrew's retreating back. Shane and Michael cackle and shove each other. "Oh, fuck you," you yell at them, and shove your tray across the table at Michael. He grins as he pulls it up next to his, and starts eating from it.
You stomp out of the cafeteria. You're just past the door when an arm closes around your neck and swings up against the cinderblock wall. Bruce Mumaw stares coldly down at you with hooded eyes, and his long brown hair falls forward to brush his jaw. "Keep your eyes off Traci," he says in a guttural voice.
"Why, is she your girlfriend now?" you sneer back. "I'll look at whoever I want."
He shoves you. He's bigger than you, and stronger, even though he looks and acts like a stoner. But you don't care. There's no holding back, as you did with Andrew yesterday, and you swing a fist. A hard shock runs all the way up your arm as you connect with his chin, and he falls back with grunt, then lunges at you. Excited shouts break out as your tear and grapple at each other.
* * * * *
You slouch in the chair in the school's outer office, waiting for the principal to get done with Bruce. Then it will be your turn. You might get detention, but you're not worried. You'll only have to show your parents Bruce's picture in last year's yearbook, and they'll totally believe that the fight was his fault.
No, the real problem is that now you're late for fifth period, which is where you need to be if you're going to set up that job with Blackwell. He's coming out to the school, to speak to Mrs. Bradley's class about hiring a student to work in his library. You're going to volunteer. He's going to be there now, wondering angrily where you are.
So when the principal calls you in, you are very polite and contrite and fervently insist that you want to be a good student, and speaking of which shouldn't you be getting back to English class? Mr. Oldbrooke cocks a skeptical eyebrow, and instead of giving you a hall pass he accompanies you back.
Sure enough, Blackwell is at the front of the room. "Ah," he drawls as you and the principal come in. "It appears we have a tardy student. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so hasty." His eye is very dark.
You blink rapidly, and shrink back, bumping into Mr. Oldbrooke. "Sit down, Casey," Mrs. Bradley says. "You haven't missed anything."
"But he has," Blackwell says. "It wouldn't be fair. Young man, would you be interested in taking an after school job?"
"Uh, sure," you say.
"It would be library work. I have a very large library at my house, and it needs sorting and cataloging. For compensation, I would provide free tutoring for your school work."
Yeah, that's the job offer the two of you had hatched for him to propose to your English class, and for you to accept. "Oh, that sounds excellent!"
The class breaks into guffaws, maybe because Casey is the last student to sincerely take such a job, and maybe because your voice cracked on the word "excellent."
Blackwell bows slightly, and arches an eyebrow. "In that case, would you be willing to share? I've already taken a volunteer."
He looks back into the classroom, and you follow his eye. Stephanie McLean looks back at you, with a rather ghastly grin spreading over her face.
* * * * *
"I shouldn't have skipped," Andrew fumes, and slams his locker shut. "That shoulda been me--" He shoves you. "Go tell that guy that I want the job."
"You don't need it!" you shout back.
"You don't know anything about library work. You can't even hold a book right side up."
"You don't need tutoring! He's not paying, he's only--"
"Still, it would be me and Stephanie."
She's standing nearby, still grinning that rather sick-looking smile. "I don't know why he picked both of us," she says. "It's just that Casey was late, and--"
"He's not going to take the job. Are you?" Andrew glares down at you.
"I wasn't, but now I am!" you holler back. "If you want me staying away from your girlfriend--"
He shoves you again.
"Casey's right. He needs the tutoring," Stephanie says, and Andrew wheels on her. "If you want, I'll turn down the job."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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