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Introduction:

"And ye shall seek and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:13

Foreword:

Hey, everyone! So, you may have noticed that I have been splitting these parts into various 'chapters'. Some people have asked if I have a name for each chapter and you know what? That's not a bad idea. Since I'm a huge fan of Dragonball Z, how about we call them 'sagas'. It's just a fun word to say, isn't it? So, here's how we'll divide them up:

Parts 1-8: The Kayla Saga
Parts 9-15: The Jessica Saga

And now I am happy to introduce you to Part 16.

The beginning of The Tara Saga

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I woke up the next day feeling different.

I couldn’t put my finger on why. What was it? I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t overly happy or anxious or sad or…anything really. In fact, as I lay under my blankets, staring up at the ceiling where the extending sunrise portended that resistance to the morning was futile, I realized that I wasn’t feeling anything at all.

That’s what was different!

I mean, okay, I was still in a shit-ton of pain; my head throbbed painfully, my face felt scrunched where Brad’s head had hit it, and I could hardly move without groaning in stiffness. But that’s just the physical stuff and I’ve dealt with that before. I’m talking about I didn’t feel any…feelings (ugh, I wish I could describe this better). I didn’t feel anxious about how I’d be fucked with today. I wasn’t worried about anything being put in my locker. I wasn’t scared that I might have to take somebody apart with my bare hands.

It was just another day. God, I haven’t had one of those in a long ass time.

So it was with unusual cheerfulness that I bounced out of bed and picked out my clothes for the day. Hell, I was in the mood to whistle a tune as I walked to the bathroom for my morning shower, something I’ve been unable to fully enjoy since Homecoming.

Alan and Amanda’s door was already open and they weren’t inside. Weird. Wonder what they were doing up so early. Oh well. Maybe they were just more hungry than usual. Come to think of it, I was pretty hungry myself. God damn, where was this cheerfulness coming from? I could feel myself grinning broadly. It was over…finally, it was over.

The hot water of the shower drumming against my skin was…unbelievable. I couldn’t believe I forgot how much I loved this. I let out a long sigh and dipped my head back, letting the water thump against my skin like bullets, massaging my tension away. The steam, the water, the cleanliness…doesn’t get much better than this. Yeah, the pain of the fight was still there, but so what? They’d be memories soon, like the fight.

Like Brad.

You’re a fucking act!

His words slammed into my brain so unexpectedly I had to put out a hand to steady myself. Damn it, why was he still in my brain? No, I’m not an act. I’m genuine. Always have been. Is it really so hard to accept that I just want to be a decent guy, not screw over people to get what I want?

Besides, Kayla was right. He was just jealous of the fact that I had Kayla and he didn’t have anyone.

You think everyone who doesn’t like him is jealous of him!

Damn it…okay, he was jealous of all of us. All of us had someone: Craig had Becca, Joe had Belle, Alan had Amanda (though that was my nice little secret). If he had just waited, actually been a decent human being, maybe he could have gotten someone, too. It’s not like the old Brad was completely devoid of anything likeable. If he had just asked me instead of demanding that I let Amanda go out with him, maybe I could have done something for him…

You treated our friendship like you were doing me and Joe a favor by being our friend!

Damn it, damn it, damn it! I put my hands to my head, trying to push his words out. He had been angry, enraged…he would have said anything to hurt me, to bring me down, to make me want to fight him. And I didn’t, at least not because he had wanted me to. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want to hurt him. He attacked me. He attacked my friends. He was going to attack Kayla.

I was in the right here. It’s not arrogance or cockiness or anything saying that. It’s me saying that. It’s good old morality saying that.

Still, his words echoed in my brain. Was I a goody two-shoes who only cared about making people happy because it got me something? No, of course not, that’s not why I did it. But did it come across like that to other people?

Suddenly the shower wasn’t as refreshing anymore. Damn it, Brad, you’re in jail now. Can you get yourself out of my head?

Think positive, Jack. No one else thought you were. Kayla certainly didn’t think so. Alan and Amanda didn’t think so. Hell, being a ‘goody two-shoes’ helped Craig get a girlfriend and some friends for once in his life. Joe…

What did Joe think? He said Brad was wrong yesterday but…I had to ask him.

God damn it, I thought this was over. It was over but now I was left sweeping up all the trash from the party.

I couldn’t wait to talk to Kayla. I needed her sunshine right now. And Tara…God, I couldn’t wait for her to visit at Christmas. Just thinking about it…there we go, my smile was back. I hummed a little as I washed my hair and soaped myself up. Positive attitude, positive attitude, positive attitude.

Everything is awesome.

By the time I was out of the shower and toweling myself off, I was in a fairly chipper mood. Five minutes later, I was dressed and shooting a message to Kayla.

Me: Good morning, gorgeous :)

I peeked out my window and saw her stretching in front of her window. She looked down and picked up her phone. She typed on it for a second, then turned around to give me an enormous smile. I blew her a kiss, which she returned.

My phone buzzed.

Kayla: Good morning, slugger <3 how are you this morning?

I looked up at her and made an over exaggerated stretching motion, complete with the ‘Ahhhhhh’ face of someone who has just chugged a desperately-needed beer. She laughed aloud and sent me another text.

Kayla: That good, huh? Lol

Me: I don’t know. The world just seems like a much happier place now.

Kayla: Yes it does :)

Me: And I’m looking at the person who makes the world perfect ;)

She looked up with an ‘awwwww’ expression and blew me another kiss. She checked behind her really quick, then lifted up her pajama shirt to flash me her breasts. My jaw dropped open and my dick instantly slammed against the wall. My eyes were glued to her gorgeous breasts, the sunlight dappling them with a radiant glow so they may very well be the tits of an angel (a phrase so sacrilegious, I should probably say a Hail Mary to cover for it).

I stared at her perky nipples until the shirt came back down. My face must have been utterly distraught, for she started laughing her head off and kissing the glass. She pulled out her phone and shot me a text.

Kayla: Awwwww, baby :) don’t worry. You’ll see them again very soon ;)

Me: How soon?!?!??!

Kayla: Lol a secret ;)

Me: Tell meeeeee. Please?

Kayla: Nope nope nope :)

Me: Ugh you’re lucky I love you so much.

Kayla: Yep, I am lucky <3

Me: Gotta go eat breakfast. See you in a few <3

Kayla: Awww, okay. Bye, handsome <3

Me: Oh, one more thing.

Kayla: What???

I waited until she looked up from her phone to me and I dropped my pants, letting my hard dick bounce out for her to see. She whooped and covered her mouth, staring at my cock with a look that said, ‘Feed me that!’ I pulled up my pants after a few seconds and blew her a kiss. I distinctly saw her mouth, “Nooooooooo!” as I turned away.

I laughed to myself as I tromped down the stairs. Before yesterday, I don’t know how keen I would have been to do something like that, what with the gloomy mood I had been in. But now…it was just one more confirmation that the Troubles were over and that I could relax (I wish I had known that there was one more to come). In fact, after everything, we deserved a vacation. I mean, we had Thanksgiving coming up in a couple of weeks…and the play before then.

Shit, the play. Well, hopefully Jessica will be in a better mood. If we have to recast her now…ugh.

Anyway, back to the vacation. It couldn’t just be a few days at home off of school. I mean, I loved free time with her but I wanted to take her somewhere. Maybe I could ask the Hannigans if we could borrow their cabin for a weekend.

Yeah, right. They’d want to know why we wanted it and I couldn’t exactly say, “Why, for porking your daughter silly, sir!” What if I got the group to go? Now there’s an idea.

God, I was way too chipper today. If I went to school like this, I think most of the students would be obligated to slap me.

At least they wouldn’t punch me…

You’re a fucking act!

Damn it…

The memory of those words was not helped by the look my parents gave me when I entered the kitchen. Alan and Amanda were already there, looking like they had just gotten a thorough dressing-down. And I think I knew why.

“Sit down, Jack,” mom said harshly.

I thumped down into my usual seat, pulling the plate of waffles towards me. I knew what this was about: the fight. Not necessarily the fight itself but the fact that she was going to call me out on lying to her about knowing who was messing with me. Yesterday, they’d been too busy making sure I was all right and trying to get ready for work to do much more than lay me down in bed and insist that I not move too much for the rest of the day (a request I broke ten minutes after they left). With a full day and night to think about it, it’s no surprise they were less than pleased.

Well, dad seemed less than pleased. Mom was just angry.

“You lied to me,” mom said flatly.

“Mom—”

“Stop.” That one word sent a chill down everyone’s spine. “You promised me, Jack. You promised to tell either us or the police first.”

“I said I’d tell the proper people,” I replied calmly, “And Brad’s parents were—”

“No, no, you promised me it would be either us or the police. I made sure that you promised that specifically.”

I poured syrup on my waffles, knowing she was right, but also knowing that I had not been wrong. “Mom, there were…reasons why I couldn’t let anyone else know. If it wasn’t for—”

“What reasons?” she demanded.

“If I could finish,” I said a little sharply, risking upping the anger level more, “I was going to say that they involve stuff regarding other people. Stuff that I can’t reveal without breaking their trust.”

“So you break ours instead,” mom said.

She sounded really hurt. Damn it, now I was feeling bad. I reached across the table for her hand. “Mom,” I said gently, “It was the only way I could think of to make sure everything worked out for the best. I promise.”

“And what about warning Amanda?” mom asked sourly, “Why didn’t you even bother to warn her?”

I glanced over at Amanda, remembering she had asked me the same thing yesterday. “Mom, I only had Jessica’s word that—”

“It seems there’s an awful lot of people who know about this before we did,” she said loudly, her eyes flashing.

“I only had Jessica’s word that it was Brad! If I told Amanda that Brad was messing with me so he could get to her and it turned out to be a lie, then I’ve suddenly turned her against him for no reason!” Even as I said it, a billion counterarguments were sounding in my head. Brad had not lacked for reasons to dislike him before then. “I just…he didn’t know I knew so he wasn’t going to do anything dangerous until he found out. And when he did find out, I made sure his parents knew right away. There wasn’t any way—”

Mom interrupted (yet again), “Well, clearly there was, since you decided to have a brawl outside of your school yesterday morning! Jack, you seriously didn’t think letting you sister know that a hulking psychopath wanted to…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence. She just slammed her hand down on her plate, flinging her sausage across the room.

“Mom, he wanted her to come to him,” I said, pushing away my barely-eaten waffles, “I didn’t know that was his plan. I thought it was all about me.” All about me…sounds like something Brad would say… “I mean, I thought he wanted me to do something about it. I didn’t know it was Amanda he was waiting for. And he was going to continue to wait so it’s not like he was going to break into her room or anything.”

“Jack,” she said slowly, leaning close, “Everything about this was dangerous. A million things could have gone wrong. There was—”

“Mom,” Amanda said suddenly, looking up from her plate, “I’m not mad at Jack.”

Mom glanced at her sharply. “This isn’t about whether or not you are mad at him. This is—”

“Yes it is, mom!” Amanda shouted, making us all jump, “All of this, apparently, has been about me so I think that my feelings count too! It’s all done with, mom. All the stuff Jack had to deal with for a month…it’s over now!”

“Young lady, if you—”

Interruption Junction continued. “It’s over!” Amanda looked close to tears. “Can’t you give us that? Can’t you just be happy that the stuff that could have been dangerous and hurt me actually didn’t?”

Mom and Amanda glared at each other for a minute. Dad coughed slightly. “I think…” he said, throwing a worried glance at mom, “That both of you have a good point.” He turned to me. “Jack…basically, you were wrong to lie to your mother.”

“I know. I’m sorry, mom.” She didn’t look happy but at least she looked like she believed I was sincere.

“But honey,” he said to mom, “I don’t think Jack would do it unless he saw no alternative. I mean, it’s not like he wanted a fight.” He glanced at me significantly. “Did you?”

“Of course not!”

“Well…there it is,” he said with a small smile, taking a sip of his coffee, “Honey?”

Mom continued to stare at me. “Jack…what am I learning in my class right now?” she asked.

Her class? Oh, her culinary class! Shit, had she been talking about that? Damn. “Um…cooking?” I offered weakly.

“We’re working on Asian-inspired dishes,” she said archly, “What about before that?”

“I don’t know. Sorry, mom.”

“Well, maybe with all of this stuff solved, you can start taking an interest in our stuff to, hmm?”

I shrugged. “Sure.” That wasn’t really fair. I was always interested in what mom was doing. Just because I didn’t ask for updates every single day…

Dad tried to lighten the mood. “Well, if you want to hear about my new job, we—” A simultaneous groan from everyone silenced him with a chuckle.

“I’m just sorry for the Nightingales,” mom said, taking her plate to the sink, “With Brad in jail…”

“I don’t think they’ll lose any sleep over it,” I replied, “Not after he what he’s done.”

“Jack, you could rip someone apart with your bare hands and we would still hate to see you go to prison.”

“Thanks mom. You won’t have to worry about that any time soon.”

“Uh uh!” mom snapped, glaring at me, “We won’t have to worry about that at all.”

“I can do that.”

We finished up breakfast and went to get our backpacks ready. As I was loading up the last of my books, Amanda came into my room. “Hey, Jack.”

“Hey,” I said, “Thanks for talking to mom.”

“No problem. I mean, I was kinda pissed that you didn’t tell me but…” She shrugged. “I guess it’s just good to have it over and done with.”

“Yeah, it is!” I grinned at her, “Now you can go back to enjoying freshman year!”

She closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Joy,” she said in the most joyless voice she could manage.

I laughed. “Oh, you’ll get numb to it soon.”

She twisted her foot, looking like she wanted to say more. I waited and finally she looked up and said, “So…all of that stuff with Brad was because of me?”

“Hey!” I snapped, going over and putting my hands on her shoulders, “Don’t even think about blaming yourself. This is all because of some stupid, fucked-up plan of Brad’s. You didn’t know, you had no way of knowing, and if you did know, what the hell could you have done? Like you said, it’s over.”

“Yeah…” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. I hugged her back, getting that sensation again that I was an older brother rather than the same age as her. “Thanks for fighting for me.”

I chuckled. “No offense but if I could have done it without fighting, I would have.”

“I know,” she sighed, “But thanks all the same.”

She pulled out of the hug and I gave her a smile. She smiled back and just stared at me. I blinked. “What?” In response, she leaned forward, inclining her head and letting her eyes slide closed. I was confused at first…then I got it. “Amanda!”

She blinked and snapped her head back. “What?”

“What are you doing?” No, no, no. Not this again. We went over this before. We fixed it.

She looked as confused as I was. ‘Nothing,” she replied, putting a hand to her mouth, “I just…um…I gotta go get ready. See you at the car.” She scampered out of the room.

I slapped my hands to my face. No. This couldn’t be coming up again. We resolved this weeks ago. She was in love with Alan. They were happy together. Why, in the name of Poseidon’s engorged blue pecs, would she want to…

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Maybe I was overreacting. She was grateful that it was over. Hell, she was probably more grateful than I was since she had unknowingly been the target the whole time. It’s only natural that she should be relieved and…well, okay, maybe she got a little carried away but that was all. She got carried away. It happened.

I wanted this to be a good first day of freedom from stress and aggravation. So far, it wasn’t exactly up to snuff.

Thankfully, Kayla could always be counted on to lift my spirits. After a fairly quiet car ride to her house (Amanda was avoiding looking at me and Alan was still a little glum from breakfast), all of us perked up when she opened the car door and bounced inside. “Hey everyone!” she sang, leaning in to give me a long, passionate kiss.

The kiss alone was enough to put the entire morning behind me. “Hey yourself,” I replied, grinning. “How you feeling?”

“Ahhhhh,” she sighed, stretching herself in a fairly accurate imitation of what I had done earlier, “Just wonderful.”

She buckled her seatbelt and it was then I noticed that, instead of her usual pants, she was wearing a skirt. “Since when do you wear skirts?” I asked, plucking at the fabric.

She swatted my hand away and grinned. “I just felt like it,” she replied. She was lying. I could tell. I gave her a narrow look and she winked in response. Oh, so that’s how it was going to be.

“Okay,” I said, giving her a small wink. She grinned broader.

I pulled back out of her driveway as she turned around and said, “How you guys doing?”

“Okay, I guess,” Alan said, shrugging.

Kayla picked up on their glumness at once. “What’s up?” she asked.

“We got the riot act at breakfast,” I said.

“About what?”

“Not telling them about Brad before we did something about it.”

She looked confused. “Well, what were we supposed to do? Just let him—” I cut her off with a sharp look and she checked herself. “Just let him…continue to mess with us?”

Alan raised an eyebrow at the lame response but didn’t seem interested in pursuing it. Instead, he said, “Mom was also mad at Jack for not telling Amanda about what Brad wanted.”

Kayla looked horrified. It had, after all, been her idea not to warn her. Thankfully, Amanda came to the rescue before she said anything: “I told them it was fine. I mean, it’s all done. Who cares?”

“Well…I’m sorry we didn’t tell you,” Kayla said, looking back with a look that would have broken the heart of a mountain.

Amanda reached forward and gave her a hug. “It’s okay,” she said calmly, “It worked out fine. Everything’s fine.” She gave me a look that I couldn’t read. Everything better be fine, Amanda.

Kayla sighed and then drew her face into a smile. “Well, thank God for a day off, huh?”

Alan snorted but grinned. “I love getting rewarded for fighting.”

“Fighting?” Amanda said, smirking at him, “One punch and you were out.”

Alan looked offended. “I tried!” he said angrily, “I’m not a good fighter. I admit it. But at least I tried. And I got him away from Jack!”

“Yes you did,” I agreed.

“Fighting is done!” Kayla said firmly, “It’s all peace and sunshine and shit now.”

I looked at her and grinned. “It’s ‘sunshine and shit’ now, huh?” I said in amusement.

She stuck her tongue out at me. “You know what I meant!”

“Something about shit, I think.” The twins giggled behind their hands.

Kayla gave me an irritated look. “Keep that up and I won’t tell you my surprise?”

“A surprise?”

“Yes. Too bad you won’t find out what it is.”

The light to cross over into the school parking lot was red and I turned to her once I had fully stopped the car. “I’ll kiss your butt and call it ice cream.”

She laughed. “You already kiss it and call it a boner.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

She put her hands behind her back. “Nope!”

Alan and Amanda were leaning against each other, trying not to laugh out loud. I gave them a dark look. “Everyone who wants to laugh at me can get out right now!” I said loudly.

A horn blared behind me and I realized that the light had turned green. “I guess not,” Kayla said smugly as I pulled through the intersection. I promised myself her ass would get a severe spanking later.

We pulled into the parking lot and I noticed a significant number of glances our way as we walked towards the building. Two fights and we weren’t even to Thanksgiving yet. I could only hope I wasn’t getting something of a reputation. Get a reputation for fighting and everyone who wanted to make a name for themselves would be crawling out of the woodworks, looking for a challenge. And I had only so many ass-kickings in me.

One was missing from the group that waited for us out in front of the school. Craig. Craig was missing. I felt the cold hand of panic on my heart for a second before I realized that, if anything serious had happened, I would have been told before now. Besides, Becca was there, looking none to worse for it. “Hey, guys,” I said as we approached. They all gave mumbled greetings, looking like the felt, as I did, the full weight of memories from yesterday.

Even Kayla felt it. “Is Craig okay, Becca?” she asked urgently.

Becca gave a wan smile. “He’s still at the hospital,” she replied, “Brad’s punch…well, Craig’s neck is sprained and they want to keep him there another day to make sure there’s no damage to…I don’t know, his nerves or something. It’s not life-threatening or anything,” she said quickly, seeing our alarmed expressions, “He’s fine. He just…well, he’s gonna need…” She choked back some tears and gestured at her throat.

A neck-brace. Oh, man. Belle put an arm around her and Becca leaned against her shoulder, clenching her jaw and letting only one or two tears escape. “It won’t be for long,” I promised, “He’ll be back and head-banging in no time.”

Becca smiled a little. “Thanks, Jack. They said he should be out in a couple days.”

Joe blew out his cheeks and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I never thought I’d say this but…thank God for Craig.”

“Yeah,” I replied, glancing toward the stretch of sidewalk where we had fought on Homecoming night. I remembered the anger, the desire to hurt him, to make him suffer as much as possible. I remembered Kayla and I standing together against him, forcing him to back off.

Now she and I were on his side, hoping he’d get better. What a weird world.

“Any word on Brad?” Belle asked. Joe stiffened and pretended to focus on something in the distance.

I shrugged. “Don’t know that we’ll hear anything unless his parents contact us.”

“God damn it,” Joe muttered.

Belle put a hand on his arm. “What?”

“I thought we were all done with Brad yesterday. Now we can’t get off him.” He ran a hand violently through his hair. “I just…want things to get back to normal.”

“Didn’t normal used to be hoping Craig would take a spill down the stairs?” I asked.

Joe snorted in amusement. “Yeah…well, normal without the whole not-liking-Craig thing, I guess.”

Alan and Amanda had been very silent. I guess, among all of us, they still felt the most like outsiders. I looked around at everyone, so silent and awkward, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I hated this awkwardness. I hated that Brad still cast a shadow over everything. We deserved to be happy, damn it. It was time to turn things around!

“Hey,” I said, looking around at everyone, “How about we all do something on Saturday? Take some time off and just hang together.”

“Where?” Joe asked, none too enthused.

“I don’t know. The bowling alley or something.” There were some murmurs of interest, but nothing that seemed to set everyone alight. “Come on, guys. We need to cheer up and school sure as shit isn’t going to help us do that.”

“How about we go see a movie instead?” Joe said, gamely trying to weigh in on the plan.

“Ha! The last time you suggested a movie, we went and saw The Amazing Spiderman 2!”

“Okay,” Joe sighed, “I fucked up on that one.”

“And the time before that, you made us go see The Amazing Spiderman…the first one!”

“Okay, so I fucked up twice! I’m sorry, all right?”

In spite of Joe’s frustration, it seemed that the mood was lifting a little. I had to continue that feeling. “I mean, seriously, guys…when was the last time you went bowling? Hell, we haven’t even hung out together as a group outside of school!”

“Because someone,” Becca said, glaring at Joe, “thought he should only talk to Craig at school.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? I was wrong. Craig is okay.”

“Just ‘okay’?” Becca demanded, her hands on her hips.

“He’s…a good guy,” Joe said, acting as though the effort was killing him.

We gave him a mock round of applause. “Well done,” I said with a grin, “About time you said it.”

“You’re one to talk!” Joe snarled, offended, “What about all that stuff you said about him?”

“I got immunity. I invited him into our group.”

“Guys,” Kayla said, motioning at the students who were steadily streaming into the building, “Dick-measuring contest later?”

“I don’t need a contest,” Joe muttered, wrapping his arm around Belle and pulling her along, “There’s a reason Jack was the ‘little guy’ in our trio.”

“Whatever you say, Thumper,” I said smoothly.

Joe instantly turned red as Belle roared with laughter. “Jack, I’m giving you exclusive rights to that name,” she said with a grin, “If you can make Joe that red each time, I’ve got no problem giving it up.”

“Babe!” Joe whined.

“Oh, hush and deal with it,” Belle said, giving him a swift kiss on the cheek.

Kayla tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me close. She put her lips to my ear and said, in a teasing rush of warm air, “I wore this skirt because I wanna have some fun during study period. Meet me in the men’s bathroom down the math hallway.”

I almost tripped over my own feet. I turned to her, wanting to protest, but she wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a big kiss. “Rawr,” Alan growled with a grin as he passed us. I flipped him off.

Kayla broke the kiss and said, “Don’t be late.”

“But we’ll be late to—”

“Oh, who cares?” she said, her eyes sparkling, “We need to have some fun!”

Fun? Well, given that she’s planning on sneaking into the men’s bathroom, there’s only one kind of ‘fun’ that can be. I was intrigued…and already turned on. I grinned and said, “I think I can do that.”

“Good,” she said, leaning in for another kiss. She felt my hard-on and glanced down, her eyes narrowing mischievously. “Have fun in wood shop,” she said, winking at me.

“Har har.”

The various couples, except for Alan and Amanda, parted in the foyer. My heart swelled happily, watching everyone get a kiss goodbye from their significant other (again, aside from Alan and Amanda). It was the first time today that it really felt like everything was getting back to normal and thank God. All the glumness outside was threatening to make itself the norm.

Joe was silent for the first half of the walk to shop class but there was something clearly on his mind. I raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything. He kept glancing at me as if expecting me to start the conversation but, when it was obvious I wasn’t going to, he sighed and said, “Do you think Brad—”

“No,” I said.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

“If it’s about Brad, you shouldn’t ask at all. Joe, we’re done with Brad. Forever.”

“And if he gets out of jail?”

I admit, I had thought about this too. “Then we’ll deal with that when it happens.”

Joe snorted and said, “Yeah, meanwhile he’s going to be pumping iron in some prison yard, getting tattoos that say, ‘Die, Joe, Die’ and ‘I Hate Friends’, and shit like that. And they’re gonna be teaching him all sorts of crazy shit with knives and shivs and—”

Yeah, this was sounding scary. I grabbed his arm and said, “Well, we’ll just have to beef ourselves up, won’t we? Pump iron ourselves. Go all Goku and stuff.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Uh huh.”

“Come on, Joe, forget about Brad for today. He’s gone! No matter what happens a few years from now, he’s gone.”

“Sorry, Jack, not easy to forget how he basically creamed the shit out of me.” He unconsciously rubbed the side of his head where Brad had cranked him. “Hell, he creamed the shit out of four guys at once! That was scary, man.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, nodding, “It was.”

Well, it looks like we weren’t going to be able to drop Brad any time soon. God damn it. Now his words from yesterday were worming their way into my brain again. An act…he called me an act. But I wasn’t! This is how I felt! I wasn’t doing it just to get attention or kiss ass or anything.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Brad said that real people cheat, hit their girlfriends, get in fights over looks. No, they don’t. I mean, yeah, people do that but that’s a minute fraction of humanity. It has to be. I looked at the people passing by in the hallway, more than a few of them looking back at Jack the Brawler, and I couldn’t imagine the vast majority of them being like that.

Brad was wrong. He had to be.

“You know,” Joe said as we plopped down into our seats, “I like the idea of bowling on Friday.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. You’re right. We need it.”

“We do.”

A few minutes later, we were lost in the shrieking and grinding of the saws and the harsh scratches of files and planes. It’s a cacophony that usually gave me a headache but with everything on my mind, it was a welcome distraction. I was working with the jig-saw, trying my best to cut a graceful curve into the plank of wood I had been given, occasionally stopping to ask Joe for a pointer or two. Honestly, I had to keep stopping myself or I’d get too lost in my thoughts and that’s the last thing you can do when you’re around machines that can slice through skin and bone like butter.

There was a shortage of files available so I went back into the classroom and pulled out the worksheet I was supposed to be filling out in conjunction with construction. Something about what techniques I was using…potential hazards…why I used that particular…don’t care…don’t care…don’t care, don’t care, DON’T CARE!

I slammed my head into my hands. What the hell was going on? Everything is supposed to be good now. Relaxed. Comfortable. So why the fuck does it feel just as bad as before?

Joe, finished project in hand, came over and squeezed my shoulder. “What’s up, man?”

“I don’t know,” I said into my palms, “I just…it doesn’t feel right. Everything is supposed to be back to normal.”

“What, it’s supposed to hop right back to being normal after only a day?”

“Ideally, yeah.”

Joe laughed a little. “Dude, I got this pain in the side of my head that kept me up almost the whole night. Every time I thought I was drifting off, it throbbed and boom, I was awake again. That ain’t going away after a day.”

“…I know,” I sighed, rubbing my throbbing forehead, “Sorry, man.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything.” He started filling out his worksheet. After a minute of stilted pencil-scratching, he shoved it away. “Fuck this. Wanna just ditch the rest of the day?”

It was tempting. I’d never ditched before in my life but with the way I felt… “We’d have to get the girls.”

“Obviously.”

“Well, we’ll see Kayla—” Kayla! I was supposed to meet her after this period for what she so gleefully referred to as ‘fun’. Mood instantly lifted.

Joe watched with amusement as my mouth shifted into Grin Mode. “What about Kayla?” he asked, a smirk forming on his face.

“Oh…nothing.” I could feel my smile turn even wider. I was picturing her naked, spreading her legs and beckoning me close. I could almost feel my dick being sheathed inside her, the warm, wet softness of her pussy caressing my…

I became aware of Joe staring at me and quickly tried to get myself under control. No good. Once you’ve seen Kayla naked…there’s no way you can keep flaccid for long when you see it in your mind.

“Damn, dude,” Joe said, quirking an eyebrow, “I think I’m losing you.”

“Sorry,” I said, grinning.

“Well, someone swung the other way. What’s got you so smiley and peppy?”

“Oh, just…thinking about Kayla.”

Joe laughed. “Yeah, right. Probably thinking about…” He made an ‘o’ with his finger and thumb and lewdly inserted his other finger into it.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of. But I wasn’t about to let him know that. “Kiss my ass.”

“Oh, gladly,” he said, shoving me sideways in my chair.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“How am I supposed to kiss your ass if it’s planted on the seat?”

This continued for the rest of class. Joe, being a wizard with all things wood (giggity, giggity), helped me finish up my project, keeping up a steady stream of coarse suggestions about what I should do with Kayla the next time we were alone. I kept quiet, wanting to see if he would run out of stuff. Did he? Well…it was about halfway through class when he started. By the time class ended nearly forty minutes later, he was still going strong.

“…with a whip, then you get yourself an ice cube and run it all over her—”

The bell rang, cutting him off. “Oh, sorry dude,” I said, faking a pained look, “Guess I won’t find out what you do with the ice cube.”

“The nipple, motherfucker,” he said, tweaking his own.

“Where you getting all these?” I asked, loading up my backpack, “You and Belle gotten that freaky already?”

He blushed. “No.”

They hadn’t had sex yet. That was fairly clear. I could have dug my finger into the wound but this was supposed to be a happy day. I clapped him on the bicep. “Well, let me know when you do,” I said, “I’ll join you in the Walk of Shame.”

He sputtered. “Why would I being doing the Walk of Shame?”

“Oh, please. You think Belle’s gonna let you be in charge? You’ll be lucky if your dick’s still attached afterwards.”

Violent though the image was, it made Joe grin broadly. Hey, sex of any kind sounds great to someone who’s still looking forward to it. “Maybe,” he said, trying to play it cool.

We left the classroom, my heart thumping with excitement. It was all I could do not to break into a sprint. “Hey, Joe.”

“Yeah?”

“Kayla and I are gonna be a little late to homeroom. Cover for us?”

He grinned. “What are you guys gonna be doing?”

“I’m gonna be showing her the men’s bathroom. You gonna cover for us or what?”

“Oh, please, you think Spakler gives a crap?”

“Joe…”

“Okay, okay, I’ll say you’re both…indisposed or some shit. Have fun!”

I gave him a mini salute and veered off towards the math hallway. Kayla was smart. The math hallway was at the far end of the school, tucked into the corner where the only exit led to the teacher’s parking lot. There wasn’t much foot-traffic except for when classes changed so there wasn’t much chance of our alone time being interrupted. The bathrooms in the math hallway were also noticeably bigger than those throughout the rest of the school, meaning we’d have plenty of notice if anyone was coming in.

The classrooms sped past me as I rounded the final corner, the men’s bathroom in sight. Kayla wasn’t standing outside but, then again, she had asked me to meet her inside the bathroom. I looked around on the ceiling but, thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any cameras nearby. Kind of careless but hey…all the better for us.

I pushed open the door to the bathroom, knocking twice on it before walked in. It didn’t look like anyone else was inside but I saw that the stall at the far end of the row was closed. All the others were open. I smiled, my heart pounding, and I whispered, “Kayla?”

The stall door swung open. I dropped my backpack near the sinks and walked in. The door slammed shut behind me and I turned just as Kayla leapt onto me, kissing me hard. Her mouth was already open, her tongue forcing its way into my mouth while her hands seized my hair and caressed my scalp. She was pressing so hard into me that I slammed against the wall, driving the wind out of me. She continued to make out with me like we’d never have the chance again.

“Miss me?” I asked when we came up for air.

She giggled and ran a hand up into my shirt. “Oh, yes,” she said grandly, running a finger down my chest, “So hard to concentrate in class.”

“What did you learn?” I asked as I kissed her neck, sliding one of my hands up into her skirt.

She shivered in anticipation and tried to concentrate. “Ummm…we talked about…Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and…ohhhhh…” My fingers traced the crease between her thigh and pussy.

“And what?”

“And we…mmmm…” My finger had just slid along one of her pussy lips. “We talked about…what it means to be ‘alive’ and…”

“And…?” I said, my finger hovering over her clit.

“And this makes me feel ali…IVE!” I had pressed down on her clit, lightly, but with enough pressure to make a point.

“Interesting,” I said, grinning.

She whirled around and mashed her lips against mine again. She tore at my pants, nearly snapping my back as she yanked at the belt. “Come on,” she muttered to herself, trying to force open my pants.

“Baby,” I said, putting my hands on her shoulders, “It’s okay. Let me.”

She chewed her lip. “Okay.” I unzipped myself and pulled out my cock, hard and ready for action. She licked her lips as she watched it twitch in anticipation and slowly lowered her panties, tossing them to me. She turned to the wall and placed her hands against it, looking over her shoulder and saying, “Come on, big guy. We don’t have all day.”

“My pleasure,” I said smoothly, lifting up her skirt to expose her gorgeous rear. I held it up with one hand and lightly ran a finger over her slit with the other, feeling her wetness.

Kayla squeaked and bucked her hips. “Come on, Jack!” she growled, “Do me! I’m wet enough.”

Okay…that was odd. “Sweetie, is everything—”

“God, Jack, please!”

“Okay, okay.” I shifted her so that her rear was more or less level with mine and slowly slid into her. “Oh, fuck!”

I hardly got used to the feeling of her tight pussy walls squeezing my cock before she was slamming back into me. I gripped her hips and tried to control her thrusting but she was determined to be in control. Ripples caressed her rear as it slammed into my groin, nearly driving the wind out of me each time.

“Ugh…Jack, thrust back,” she moaned, rotating her hips.

I took hold of her hips, clamping down to maintain hold, and began thrusting back into her, finally finding a pleasurable motion for both of us. I spread my legs a little more, pistoning my hips into her as quickly but as softly as I could. No one was around but the bathroom would echo the clapping sound our groins made as they slammed into each other. There was something oddly thrilling about having sex in a building with thousands of students.

I better be careful this love of danger didn’t take hold too strongly.

The angle of my cock inside her was different but not in a bad way. If anything, standing made the whole thing a lot more erotic. Her fingers were scratching at the walls as she held herself up, twitching and jerking each time I thrust into her. My balls thumped against her clit, making it very difficult for her to keep from moaning. I caressed her rear as I thrust, wanting so desperately to spank it and reluctantly holding off.

She sighed and found a comfortable rhythm, her hips continuing to rotate on my cock. It was always such an oddly pleasurable feeling with me thrusting straight forwards and backwards and her being able to circle her hips in just the right way. The tightness of her walls meant I was constantly feeling each groove of her pussy and every flex of her muscles as we fucked.

Our breathing and moaning sounded very loud in the silent bathroom but the sound of the door opening would be even louder. Besides, this was all part of the fun. I grinned as she changed up her rhythm: rotate a few times, thrust back a few times, rotate a few times, and so on. Her juices were coating my cock and the deepest part of her pussy squeezed with head-aching pleasure on my cockhead each time I was sheathed inside her.

Fuck, this felt amazing.

I was thrusting into her firmly but at a deliberate pace. Each long, slow thrust only heightened the pleasure for me. I moaned softly and leaned forward to drive myself deeper into her. “I love you,” I whispered as I thrust up into her, nearly lifting her off her feet.

She moaned loudly and suddenly she was thrusting hard against me again, driving me back and nearly winding me. I tried to thrust back with her movements, hoping maybe the added momentum would get her even closer to orgasm, but there was no consistency. She was thrusting against me too wildly. It wasn’t even pleasurable anymore. If anything, it kind of hurt.

“Baby,” I grunted, trying to hold her still.

“Fuck me, Jack,” she snarled, pushing hard against the wall, “Fuck me hard.”

“Kayla, what’s—”

“Please, just fuck me!” She thrust back harder, knocking me off balance and sending me stumbling back. She whirled around and pushed me against the wall, trying to shift herself up so I could enter her again.

Nothing doing. “Kayla, maybe we should—”

“Keep going,” she growled, not looking me in the eye, “Just put it back inside me. Please. I need it.”

“Kayla…what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said shortly, gripping my cock and trying to lift one of her legs so it could enter her pussy, “I just need you to fuck me.”

I grabbed her hands and said, “Look at me.”

“Jack, just let me—”

“No, Kayla…look at me.”

She took a deep breath and looked up at me almost defiantly. “I mean, we can just go back to class if—”

“Kayla,” I said, putting my hand to her mouth, “Just look at me.”

She twisted her mouth and looked into my eyes. She held the gaze for only a few moments, then glanced away. “There, I looked at you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We were just fucking. I don’t know why you…why you…”

Her lip was quivering. I pulled her in for a hug. She felt like she wanted to resist but let herself fall against my chest, her face against my shoulder. “What’s wrong?” I asked again.

She shook her head but didn’t say anything. I just held her, stroking her hair and waiting. My dick wanted me to be mad about our sex session being cut short but what she was doing…just wasn’t Kayla. Something was wrong.

I felt her quiver and peeked through her hair to see that she was crying. “Baby,” I said, pulling her up and wiping her tears with my thumb, “What is it? Talk to me.”

“It’s just…” She waved her hands and tried to control her voice. “It’s just…it’s supposed to all be done, all the stress and everything. And I was so looking forward to this with you but all I could think about during Philosophy was Brad and all the shit he put us through when he was supposed to be our friend and…” She hiccupped and wiped her eyes angrily. “He shouldn’t have this much control of us still, damn it. He’s gone!”

I gave her a crooked smirk. “Not up here,” I said, tapping my head.

“I wish we could just take a pill or something and forget about him. Or use those flashy things from Men in Black. Something. Jack…watching you fight him yesterday was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen and…shit, I should have helped you. I could have helped you but—”

“Knock it off,” I said firmly, “I wasn’t going to let you get hurt.”

“You don’t have to protect me all the time, Jack. I can—”

“Yes I do. I love you, Kayla. And I know you’ll protect me. Hell, you did protect me.”

She smiled a little. “Yeah, I did.”

“I didn’t see any of the other girls jumping in to stop him.”

“Oh, they wanted to,” she said, putting her cheek against mine, “Trust me. Hell, Belle and Amanda had to hold Becca back when Brad punched out Craig.”

“Well, girls…” I stopped myself.

She wasn’t letting me off the hook. “Girls what?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“I’m glad you didn’t end up getting hurt. That’s all.”

“You think we couldn’t have taken him?”

“Sweetie…”

She poked me in the abs. “I’m just playing, slugger. But trust me, if we ever get a female nemesis, I’m first in line to deliver the ass-kicking.”

“We have ‘nemesis’ now?”

“It’s a fun word!”

It was. Although, what’s the plural for nemesis? Nemesises? Nemesi? Whatever. “Well, I’m perfectly fine without any more…villains for now.”

She let out a long breath. “Jack…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For being so…hard.”

“Hey, you get me that way all the time and I never apologize.”

She lightly smacked my still-hard cock. “Jack!” God, it was sexy when she said that. “I’m trying to apologize!”

“You don’t have to,” I said, “Being a little energetic isn’t bad.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t just a little energetic.”

“No,” I agreed.

“Is it going to be like this for a while? Brad still hanging over us?”

“I hope not,” I replied, setting my jaw, “Maybe it’s just for today, while it’s still fresh.”

She sighed and wiped her eyes. “God, how sexy is this? Crying after trying to snap your cock off…”

“Oh, please, you couldn’t be sexy if you just climbed out of a sewer.”

She beamed at me. “Awwww, you’re sweet. A total lie-face, but sweet.”

“I am not a lie-face!”

“You’re a lying lie-face who lies with lies from the lie-face!”

I had to take a minute to let that statement sink in. “Okay, now say that five times fast,” I said, grinning.

She grinned back. “That tha—”

I turned her around and spanked her bare bottom. “Smartass.”

She giggled and gave me a peck on the cheek. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish.”

“You still want to try?”

She thought about it for a second, then sighed. “Not really.” Damn. “I mean, I want to but…just, maybe we’re both a little too emotional right now.”

“Emotional sex ain’t bad.”

“No, but how would it look with the two of us crying while we humped each other?” She screwed up her face and pretended to wail, “Oh…baby…it’s s-s-s-so…g-g-good…wahhhhhhh!”

I put my hands on my lips and laughed. “I think that’s how Brad would look the first time he has sex.”

“Well, in prison…” She let the sentence dangle with a raised eyebrow.

“Thanks for that image, sweetie,” I said, pulling up my boxers and pants.

“Wait, wait,” she said, putting a hand on my pants. She knelt down and gave my cock a kiss. “I’m sorry,” she said to it, “I’ll give you more attention later.” She popped the head into her mouth and sucked it for a second. My head fell back and I was just starting to enjoy it when she let it fall out and stood up.

“Tease,” I groaned in frustration.

She giggled and said, “I promise you the best blowjob you could ever imagine the next chance we get.” She extended her pinky. “Pinky promise.”

I hooked my pinky through hers.

Mr. Spakler hardly glanced up when we entered the room, so engrossed was he in his book, but Joe gave us a sly look. “Have fun?” he asked innocently.

“More than you did,” I responded, looking at his math worksheet that was more eraser-marks than pencil-marks.

“Kiss my ass,” he responded, looking back down at his sheet, “This stuff is hard!”

I smiled at Kayla and pulled Joe’s worksheet towards me, happy to lose myself in the distraction of homework. Brad was still hanging over us, unfortunately, and the only way I saw to get rid of him was to go about our day as if nothing had happened. The fight was over but we were still trying to beat him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dude, you need to thank Ms. Cartwright,” Joe said as we slipped into our gym uniforms.

“Yeah,” I replied, remembering how she had taken down Brad with a single hit, “We should have had her fight him from the beginning. Punch, boom, fight’s over.”

“Oh, please. We softened him up for her.”

I laughed. “When we were getting our asses kicked?”

Joe slammed his locker closed. “Speak for yourself! I had him right where I wanted him.”

“I bet you did,” I said, winking at him.

He blushed and muttered something about seeing me in the auxiliary gym. I patted him on the back condescendingly as he went past and he made sure to shoulder-check me hard.

Ms. Cartwright was standing outside, talking into her cell phone. Actually, ‘talking’ is generous. Shouting is more accurate. It looked like an argument, what with the way she gestured on nearly every word with the force of a punch. Whoever she was speaking to, they were lucky they weren’t having this confrontation face-to-face because Ms. Cartwright looked about ready to clobber someone silly.

She hung up after screaming, “Screw you too!” so loud, I could hear her inside the building. For a second, I thought she was going to throw her phone, but she controlled herself and dropped it into her pocket.

I opened the door cautiously. “Ms. Cartwright?”

She huffed and turned. “Oh, hello Mr. Harrison,” she said dully, “How are you?”

“I’m okay.”

“That’s good. Especially after yesterday.”

“Yeah, about that. I wanted to say thanks for…well, putting Brad down.”

Her mouth twisted in amusement. “Yeah, never thought I’d have to do that to a student. Then again, I never thought I’d see a fight like that one.”

I chuckled awkwardly. “So…thanks for helping us. Saving us really.”

She shrugged. “No problem.”

Not wanting to leave on that note, I continued, “Everything okay with you?”

“Oh…no, not really.”

“What’s up?”

“Stuff that a teacher shouldn’t tell a student.”

“Oh,” I said, blushing a little, “Sorry.”

She stared at me for a second, then sighed. “Well, you’d probably understand as well as anyone. Someone…important to me decided they didn’t feel like fulfilling an obligation that had been agreed on months ago.”

“Sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry for. You didn’t do anything.” She lifted a leg and stretched it. “So now I’m stuck trying to deal with all the bullsh…all the crap.”

“Sorry.”

“Are you on a vocabulary diet or something?” she asked, not unkindly, “So, anyway, yeah. That’s the long and short of it.”

“Well, I hope it gets better. Why would I understand as well as anyone?”

“Mr. Nightingale used to be your friend, right?” I nodded. “After seeing him beat the snot out of you yesterday—” Thanks for that, Ms. Cartwright, “—I figure you know about betrayal better than most kids.”

“Yeah…I do.”

She saw my defeated expression and gave me a solid pat on the back. “Hey, come on,” she said, pushing me towards the door, “Few rounds of dodgeball might cheer you up.”

Dodgeball got me thinking about the first day of P.E. Back when Brad was my friend. Back when he was ready to fight with me against Craig and anyone else…

You treated us like your fucking bodyguards!

I was brooding for the rest of class, my heart not really in the game. Everyone else seemed to be having a lot of fun but I couldn’t share it. I knew I shouldn’t be letting the dark cloud of Brad hang over me, especially with what Kayla and I had talked about earlier, but I couldn’t help it. His words kept ringing in my ears, the look of fury and hatred in his eyes burned deep into my brain. He had been my friend, damn it. How could it end like that?

Kayla noticed right away that something was wrong and, to her credit, didn’t ask me what it was. She knew. Instead, she ran her hands through my hair and said, “Let me know if you wanna talk, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

The person I really wanted to talk to was Joe, but he was so into the game that I couldn’t find a good point to speak with him. I watched him bouncing and weaving, a huge grin plastered on his face, and envied him. At least he was having fun.

It wasn’t until lunchtime that I was able to speak to him and even then it took me a while. He was laughing and joking with everyone else and I didn’t want to bring down his good mood. Kayla was holding my hand, smiling and laughing with Joe but always with an eye on me.

Finally, his gaze swung on me and saw that I wasn’t as jolly as everyone else. “Why so glum, chum?” he asked, popping a fry into his mouth.

I considered playing it off as nothing but the need to know was just too much. Sorry, Joe. “Was Brad right?”

Joe’s faced darkened immediately. “About what?”

“Did I just treat you guys like bodyguards? Am I just a big—”

“Okay, first of all,” Joe said, holding up a hand, “You killed my good mood. Thanks a lot. Second, everything Brad said was bullshit. You are not an act. Shit, man, after ten years of knowing you, I think I’d pick up if all your nice-guy, knight-in-shining-armor stuff was just for show. You almost never ask for anything in return. This isn’t a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ kind of thing. You’re just a good guy, Jack. Hell, sometimes I wonder if you’re a fucking alien or something.”

I smiled a little. “An alien?”

“Here to learn the ways of the hu-man and you learned about our culture by watching fucking Barney or something.”

I winced. “Am I as bad as that?”

He laughed. “No, you aren’t. But seriously, Jack, Brad was wrong. Flat-out wrong. I never felt like just your bodyguard or that you were just being my friend because you pitied me. Hell, if anything, I pitied you.”

Kayla made a ‘tchak’ sound in her throat. “Pitied him for what?”

“Well, look at him,” he replied, pointing at me. “Now,” he continued, gesturing at himself, “Look at me.”

Kayla raised an eyebrow. “What am I supposed to be comparing? Number of zits? Yeah, Jack, try catching up with Joe on that.”

Joe flicked a fry at her, which she caught in her mouth. “Damn,” he said, impressed, “Working on catching stuff in your mouth?”

She glared at him. “You’ll catch a fist in the mouth if you say something like that again.”

We all laughed. I was starting to feel better. Thankfully. Hopefully, this time it would last.

Kayla helped keep up my good mood all of Theater class, where we spent the entire time building pieces for the set. Since construction of actual structures would be time-consuming and, frankly, out of the expertise of most of the people at the school. As such, we had about a dozen ‘flats’ (flat pieces of wall constructed from two-by-fours with mats covering them that could be painted) that we consistently repurposed for different locations.

We spent the class painting the interior of the castle. Well, Kayla did most of the painting. I…well, let’s just say I’m lacking in artistic ability when it comes to painting, drawing, sketching, etc. My stick-figures are to regular stick-figures what stick-figures are to Picasso. It just doesn’t work.

As such, I helped out by handing her paints and handing her paper towels to wipe of her hands. Hey, it was something. If I were let near the paints, we’d have a tie-dye disasterpiece for a set. Yeah, I was really that bad.

Ms. Locke spent most of the class in the office. I figured I should probably talk to her at some point, apologize for not being able to make rehearsal yesterday, but we were so busy that I never got the chance. I didn’t think I’d be in too much trouble; after all, the school sent us home. But you never knew with Ms. Locke.

I could only hope the fact that we were only three weeks or so from opening would deter her from any form of punishment she had planned.

Finally, as the bell rang, she emerged from her office with her stack of rehearsal supplies: papers, notebooks, pens, and so forth. “Ms. Locke,” I said quickly, wanting to catch her before she got in rehearsal mode. After that, I wasn’t Jack Harrison. Just Leontes.

She glanced up at me. “Hello, Mr. Harrison. Glad to have you back.”

I blinked. No drama? No accusations? “Yeah, sorry me and Kayla weren’t here yesterday. The school sent us—”

“I know,” she said simply, “Jessica told me.”

“She did?”

“Yes. She also said your fight couldn’t be avoided so…well, I don’t have much choice but to accept it, do I?”

How the hell do you respond to something like that? I shrugged and said, “Well, I’m sorry anyway. No more missing rehearsal.”

“I hope not. We’re too close to the wire. I have to go get ready.”

It was so strange hearing her speak without her usual dramatic flair. Honestly, without all the gesturing and histrionics, she seemed to lack anything resembling a personality. It was like talking to the person who directs your call.

“Was she mad?” Kayla asked as we gathered up our stuff.

“No…I think. She wasn’t really anything. Apparently Jessica told her about yesterday.”

“Really? Jessica?”

“Yeah. Maybe she made her understand.”

Kayla shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll have to thank her, then.”

I grinned. “Maybe with the whole Brad thing sorted out, Jessica will finally be able to put in some effort.”

“She damn well better put in some effort! Trying to comfort someone who’s supposed to be crying isn’t easy when they’re Keanu Reeves-ing.”

“When they’re what?”

“Never mind.”

By this point in the rehearsal process, we were doing straight run-throughs of the Acts. It meant we were at school until it was well and truly dark outside but Ms. Locke refused to release us until it was ‘perfect’ (a word that doesn’t apply at all to theater). Thankfully, almost all of us were comfortable enough in our roles that her notes for us were minor. I say ‘almost all’ because…well, we would have to see how Jessica would do now.

After Ms. Locke’s usual spiel about being ‘true to the role’ and ‘letting the words do the work’ (what does that even mean, man?), we filed around to our starting positions. Jessica and I were waiting in the wings of the stage for our entrance, surrounded by a few more actors that served as attendants and Jeremy Madden, who was playing the Bohemian king Polixenes (trying to speak that name naturally wasn’t easy, believe me).

As we watched the two actors on-stage, one of them being Nick Tallorn as Camillo (I would have still have to speak to him about Jessica’s party), I leaned in close to Jessica’s ear. “Thanks for talking to Ms. Locke for us,” I whispered.

She looked at me with a small smile. “No problem,” she replied, “If you want to repay me…”

“Oh, no,” I said quickly, “I’m all done with that.”

“Relax, Jack, I was kidding.” God, I hope so.

My first scene established that Polixenes had been in Sicily for many months and was anxious to get home. Leontes (that’s me), as his best friend, does not yet want him to go. Given that these two are kings, most people would probably play it very regally and seriously. Not so with Jeremy and I. We had spoken about it a few times during rehearsal and come up with something that, at least to us, made a bit more sense. Ms. Locke hadn’t yet shut it down so clearly it made sense to her.

The actor playing Archidamus, a Bohemian lord, was just finishing saying:

“If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.”

That was our cue. Rather than march stately in as most people might imagine kings would do, Jeremy and I threw our arms around each other and staggered out onstage, roaring with drunken laughter. Makes sense, right? I mean, these guys wouldn’t have been that old and they’re best friends. What else would they do when they hung out but get rip-roaring drunk? Hell, what else would kings do but get rip-roaring drunk?

The other actors followed us onto the stage, Jessica, as my wife, staying close.

Jeremy staggered out from under my arm, wiped his mouth, and said:

“Nine changes of the wat’ry star hath been
The shepherd’s note since we have left our throne
Without a burden. Time as long again
Would be fill’d up, my brother, with our thanks,
And yet we should, for perpetuity,
Go hence in debt. And therefore, like a cipher
(Yet standing in rich place), I multiply
With one ‘We thank you’ many thousands more
That go before it.”

(Translation: I’ve been here for nine months, dude. It’s been awesome, but I gotta get home.)

I laughed and waved my hand at him.

“Stay your thanks a while,
And pay them when you part.”

He looked at me gravely and said:

“Sir, that’s tomorrow.
I am question’d by my fears of what may chance
Or breed upon our absence, that may blow
No sneaping winds at home, to make us say,
‘This is put forth too truly.’ Besides, I have stay’d
To tire your royalty.”

I laughed again and pounded my chest in drunken enthusiasm, saying:

“We are tougher, brother,
Than you can put us to’t.”

He shook his head and said:

“No longer stay.”

I put my arm around his shoulders and pleaded:

“One sev’nnight longer!”

He pushed me away and shook his head again.

“Very sooth, tomorrow.”

I huffed in exasperation, pacing up and down the stage a little bit. I made as if to speak a couple of times but Leontes couldn’t find the words. Finally, I pounded my fist in my hand and said:

“We’ll part the time between’s then; and in that
I’ll no gainsaying.”

He sighed, laughed a little, and rubbed his face, saying:

“Press me not, beseech you, so.
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i’ th’ world,
So soon as your could win me. So it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
‘Twere needful I denied it. My affairs
Do even drag me homeward; which to hinder
Were (in your love) a whip to me; my stay,
To you a charge and troube. To save both,
Farewell, our brother.”

(Translation: Seriously, dude, I need to go home.)

My mouth flapped open and shut a couple of times, trying to find sense and reason through a drunken stupor. I looked around for help at the attendants. Finally, my gaze fell on Jessica, standing nearby with an air of benign patience. Well, that was a start; usually she was staring off into space with a blank look on her face. I gestured at Jeremy and said,

“Tongue-tied our queen? Speak you.”

This was the moment of truth. It was Jessica’s first line of the play. Every single other time she had done it, she had managed to deprive it of any sense, joy, or believability. She looked like she was more into the play now. We’d just have to see if she sounded like she was in the play as well.

She smiled at me and spoke:

“I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until
You had drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,
Charge him too coldly.”

Emotion! Oh my God, emotion! It wasn’t much but it was there! That last line was her gently chiding me for not giving Polixenes enough reason to stay and by God, I felt like I was being gently chided. Holy shit, this was great!

She continued:

“Tell him you are sure
All in Bohemia’s well; this satisfaction
The by-gone day proclaim’d. Say this to him,
He’s beat from his best ward.”

It was all there. The believability, the emotion, the sense that she was a person in the world, actually saying something that came from her mind, not a script. I therefore had no trouble with my next line:

“Well said, Hermione.”

Jessica smiled and I got the distinct impression she knew that my line was meant for her as an actress just as much as it was meant for her character.

She spoke again and my eyes found Kayla out in the audience. She gave me a slight nod and a smile. I wanted to grin broadly but held myself in check. I’d have plenty of time to smile and laugh with Kayla later. After a crummy day like today, having something as simple as a play go right was a big win. I felt good.

Thank you, Jessica. It’s about time I was able to say something like that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Woooo!” Kayla whooped as she slid into the car, “Bowling!”

“Hell yeah!” Alan cheered, reaching his hand forward for a high-five. She slammed her hand against his so hard, he winced. “Damn,” he groaned, rubbing his wrist.

“Oh, don’t be a wimp,” Amanda laughed, “If a high-five hurts, fist-bumps are gonna shatter your string-beany little arms.”

He twisted his mouth and dug a finger into her side. She pushed back and the two of them got in a shoving match, each trying to get discrete gropes in on the other.

I sighed and pulled the car out of Kayla’s driveway. It was Saturday, the capstone to the end of a very long week. Things had been getting steadily better since Tuesday but this would be the first time we were able to fully hang out as a group and just have some God damn fun for once. Hell, if it wasn’t for school, we’d probably spend most of the day together with each other, just shooting the shit. These get-togethers were too few and far between.

Still, it was good whenever we had them. Besides, we really did have something to celebrate. Craig had been discharged from the hospital yesterday and was, according to Becca, eager to see all of us.

“How was work?” Kayla asked me.

“Slow,” I replied, “But I found out they want me to work Black Friday.”

There was a round of hisses from everyone. “They gonna give you body armor or something?” Alan asked, “Maybe a cattle prod?”

“Or just a pat on the back and ‘good luck’?” Amanda said, smirking.

“Yeah, I think Amanda’s closer,” I said. The horror of Black Friday was always a rumor until you actually worked retail. I doubted it would be anywhere near as bad as conglomerates like Target and Wal-Mart but…I might need to look into writing a will beforehand.

“Any word on when Frank is going to send you to a convention?” Kayla asked.

“Not yet. Probably won’t be until next year since they only made the offer a few weeks ago.”

“Hey, we can hope!”

“Sweetie, it’s way too late for this year. Next year, probably.”

She stuck out her lower lip. “Sorry, sweetie.” She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I noticed Amanda watching with an unreadable expression. She hadn’t tried anything since Tuesday and I was still trying to convince myself that that had been nothing, but I was keeping an eye on her all the same.

We arrived at the bowling alley a few minutes later. I had gotten a text on the way and, seeing Craig’s Chevy in the parking lot, I could only assume it to let me know everyone else had arrived. Kayla was bouncing in the seat and we pulled up and flew out before the car had come to a complete stop. “Since when are you so excited about bowling?” I asked when I got out.

“Oh, bowling’s okay. I’m just happy to hang with everyone,” she replied, looping her arm through mine and leaning her head on my shoulder.

“Someone’s got energy today,” I commented in amusement.

“Yep!”

“Where did it come from?”

She shrugged. “Just from somewhere. Now hurry! I wanna kick your butt again!”

“Oh, so that’s what it is!” I exclaimed, holding open the door for everyone, “You think you’re gonna beat me again.”

“Not ‘think’, handsome. I ‘know’ I’m going to.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and she stuck hers out back.

We paid for our shoes and glanced around for the rest of our group. It took us only a few seconds to find the behemoth shape of Joe waving excitedly to us from the far end of the alley. “Gee, I think that’s them,” Amanda said amusedly.

“Hey hey hey!” Joe said when we were close enough to hear him over the sound of stuck pins, “Look who’s back!”

He raised a hand to slap Craig’s back but Becca gave him a warning look and he instead patted his shoulder lightly. I guessed he had actually slapped him once already and it had not gone over well. And no wonder. Craig, despite being out of the hospital, had a neck-brace on and was looking like he wanted nothing more than to just rip the thing off. The left side of his face was also tinged purple with a bruise that was only now starting to heal.

He stood up carefully and gave us all a gamely grin. “Hey guys,” he said, a little stiffly (again, the neck-brace), “How you guys doing?”

“How are we doing?” Kayla said, her face lined with concern, “How are you doing? I didn’t think it was this serious!”

“It isn’t,” Becca said, resting her fingers on Craig’s arm, “The sprain was bad but not horribly bad. The neck brace is just to make sure the muscles don’t get stressed while they heal.”

Craig gestured at her. “Yeah, what she said.”

“This isn’t something a nice, therapeutic massage would fix?” I asked.

Craig looked at Becca. “Yeah. Wouldn’t it?”

Becca grinned. “I’ll have plenty for you, babe, when you don’t shriek like a girl every time something touches your neck.” Craig pouted.

Joe turned to Belle. “Speaking of therapeutic massages…” he said with a cocky grin.

Belle pulled her hair forward and presented her back to him. “Get to work, smartass. I’ve been tense since we started dating.”

“Damn,” Alan said, unable to conceal a grin, “Ouch.”

“You wanna be pitched down the lane?” Joe growled, massaging Belle’s shoulders.

“No,” Alan replied, then proceeded to make whipping motions behind Joe’s back.

We laced on our shoes and chose our balls (seriously, stop that giggling). We had two lanes so all that was left was to decide how we were dividing the teams. “How about bros versus—” Joe started to say, then noticed the murderous looks from all the women present, “…Non-bros?”

“That wouldn’t be fair, Joe,” Belle said, tossing her hair dramatically.

“And why not?”

“Well, you’ve got the coordination of a drunk bear.”

I roared with laughter. Joe shoved me. “I do not!”

“And I crushed Jack last time we played,” Kayla said proudly. The other girls whooped and started demanding details.

“Did she?” Joe asked me harshly.

‘Crushed’ may have been a strong word for it but I wanted Kayla on my team, so I said, “Yeah, she did. Didn’t see it coming.”

“Hell yeah,” Kayla grinned, winking at me.

“All right. I choose Kayla for my team.”

“Before me?” Belle said, pretending to pout.

“Okay, God damn it, if you guys are gonna keep messing with me, someone else choose the teams.”

Alan piped up, “Harrisons versus everyone else.” Amanda smiled.

“But that’s only three players for your team,” Kayla said.

“No, you’re on our team, too.”

“But I’m not a Harrison.”

“You will be someday,” Alan said confidently.

The remark caused a general silence, but not an uncomfortable one. I grinned at Alan, who nodded at me in reply. Kayla was blushing and desperately trying to conceal a huge smile. The other girls were ‘Awwwww’ing and Craig was slotting his fingers through Becca’s. Even Joe looked like he was affected by it, though he was doing his best to conceal it.

“Okay!” he said, clapping his hands, “Divvy up everyone! Let’s get this show going!”

We split into our teams and entered the info on the computers. I flexed my fingers and grabbed my ball (now, now). “Who says you get to go first?” Kayla teased.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “I do,” I replied, sending the ball hurling down the lane. With the satisfying hollow clatter, six of the pins went sailing into the darkness beyond the end of the lane.

Not a bad start. At least, that’s what I thought before the ball in the next lane over hurled down the lane and scored a God damn strike. And you’ll never guess who made it. Seriously, just take a guess. Go on.

Give up? It was Craig.

“How the hell did you do that?” Alan asked, his mouth hanging open as Craig got high-fives from everyone else on his team.

“I don’t know,” he replied smugly, “Guess having my head stuck in one place gives me better coordination.”

“Uh huh,” I replied, hurling my ball back down the lane. Unfortunately, my mind was still on just how unbelievable Craig’s strike had been that I was only able to knock over two of the remaining pins.

“Come on, Jack!” Alan moaned, “They’re already crushing us.”

“Not for long,” Kayla said confidently, running her fingers over the fan. She grabbed her ball, squared herself, and with an ease of stride that I had to admire, slid forward and flung her ball square down the center of the lane. We all held our breath as it smashed into the pins, sending them all flying.

“Yeah!” Alan whooped.

I ran over and seized Kayla, twirling around in the air and she squealed and laughed with delight. “Great job, baby,” I said, giving her a quick kiss.

“No biggee,” she said, brushing off her shoulders. She strutted back to her seat, raising her eyebrow at the other group. “Can you top that?” she asked coolly.

“Just watch me,” Joe said, hefting a ball that looked very small in his large hand (God damn, there’s no clean way to say this stuff, is there?), and hurling it at the pins. It was a strong throw, maybe a bit too strong. It struck four pins so hard, they flew back without knocking over anything else.

“We’re still watching,” Belle said with a smirk.

“Babe,” Joe sighed, spreading his hands, “Come on.”

She blew him a kiss. “You know I’m rooting for you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He knocked over two more, which didn’t improve his mood.

We finished up the round neck-and-neck. Amanda managed a spare, Alan knocked over seven, Belle knocked down eight, and Becca caught a spare as well. Their team was just barely ahead but I was ready to make a strike this time.

“You going to go for two?” I asked Craig as we flexed our fingers above the fan.

He shrugged, having to tip his head to the side because of the brace. “We’ll see. You going for one?”

I grinned at him. “Oh, just watch me.”

And he did watch me…as I only managed a spare. One pin. One fucking pin! It wobbled for a second, just to mock me, before straightening again. Well, shit.

Craig didn’t have that problem. With what I could only attribute to karmic kindness for his injury, he managed to score yet another strike. Holy damn, why couldn’t I get a neck-brace to help me with my game?

Craig sat back down amid the praise of his team. Alan had his arms folded mutinously. “Okay, is that thing just for show? Did you just put that on to throw us off?”

“Trust me,” Craig said, gingerly scratching at an inch on his neck, “I wish I just had this for show. I get it off Sunday…hopefully.”

“How are you with bowling normally?” Belle asked.

“I’m okay. Never this good.”

“Well, it’s your reward for being noble,” Becca said, leaning in to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Well, where’s Jack’s reward for being noble?” Amanda asked crossly, “He does it all the time!”

“The universe is too used to it,” Joe said, waving his arms mysteriously.

“Craig noble,” Alan said thoughtfully, “You know, there was a time I never thought I’d say that.”

Craig nodded regretfully. “Yeah…I remember that.”

“Well, thank goodness you had me to change you around,” Becca said proudly, her chest swelling. The guys stoically kept their eyes on her face.

“Oh, it was you, huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, duh,” she laughed.

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I didn’t do anything at all.”

Becca blew a raspberry. “Oh, please. If Craig wasn’t interested in me, you wouldn’t have done Jack Squat.”

“Anyway,” Kayla said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “We’re glad that Craig is a friend now.”

“Because of me,” I coughed into my hand.

“Well, to be fair,” Craig said, putting a hand on Becca’s leg to stop her from speaking, “I did kind of pay attention to Jack on how to be…well, ‘noble’ I guess. That’s such a weird word.”

“So what turned you ‘noble’, Jack?” Belle asked, “Can’t have been Kayla.”

“Hey!” Kayla snapped, her hands on her hips.

“Sorry, girl, but Jack was already a stand-up guy before you came along. At least, that’s what Joe says.”

“Yep,” Joe said, grinning, “All because of the song.”

Shut up, Joe!

“What song?” Kayla asked, frowning.

“I don’t know,” I said quickly.

“Oh, yes you do,” Joe said, grinning evilly, “That song you used to sing all the time?” He looked over at Alan and Amanda. “Back me up, guys. You know what I’m talking about.”

They looked confused for a second then, unfortunately, they remembered. “Oh yeah!” Amanda said, her face lighting up.

Oh no.

“I had forgotten about that!” Alan chirruped.

I buried my face in my hands. “What song?” Kayla repeated, looking around.

“Tell her, Jack,” Joe said, sounding like he was about to cackle, “Tell her all about your favorite song in the whole wide world.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yes you do. If you want, I can go ahead and tell her about how you used to march around, bellowing it at the top of your lungs, until our fourth-grade teacher—”

There was no way I was going to let her hear about that incident. I lifted my head and said quickly, “It’s ‘The Impossible Dream’, okay?”

Everyone except for Craig, Belle, Becca, and Kayla frowned. “Never heard of it,” Becca said thoughtfully, “Who sings it?”

“Oh, it’s not a regular song,” Amanda said with an enormous grin, “It’s from a musical.”

“What musical?” Becca asked.

“The Man of La Mancha,” I muttered, “Hey, Kayla, I think it’s your turn.”

“What’s it about?” Kayla asked, ignoring my comment.

I sighed. “It’s about Don Quixote.”

A look flickered across their faces; they recognized the name but that was about it. “Keep going, Jack,” Joe sniggered, “Don’t leave them clueless.”

Vowing to introduce Joe’s head to a toilet bowl later, I decided to give them the Cliffnotes version: “Don Quixote’s this really old Spanish guy who’s read so many stories about knights and chivalry and stuff that he…kinda goes a little nuts and believes they’re all true. He decides to become a knight himself and has a lot of really wacky adventures, thinking windmills are giants and attacking people because he thinks they’re sorcerers, stuff like that. Man of La Mancha was the musical version of that.”

Then Belle had to ask the one question I was dreading. “Can you sing it for us?”

“Yeah, Jack,” Joe drawled, sounding disturbingly like Jack Nicholson, “Sing for us.”

I could feel my face on fire. “That’s okay. Seriously, Kayla, it’s your turn.”

“Come on, Jack,” Kayla said, snuggling up to me, “Sing for me?”

“Can’t refuse that, Jack,” Joe said piously, though the devil horns were clear on his head.

Here’s the thing…I can’t sing. Well, not exactly true. I can sing…I just can’t sing well. Like, my pitch is all over the place and when people tell me to sing a specific note, all I can do is say, “Huh?” Ms. Locke almost cried last year when I auditioned for the musical and everyone else I’ve sung for has gently told me that my singing voice sounds like a hippo being sodomized. So, yeah, you can understand my hesitation to not sing.

And it was that hesitation that was spurring everyone to try and convince me to sing. “Come on, Jack!” Belle pleaded, “I’ve never heard it!”

“Yeah, you’ll never hear it like this,” Alan said in a voice so smug, I wanted to flick his nose.

“Seriously, dude,” Craig said, “They’re not going to let up until you sing. You might as well.”

“It’s not that good,” I said desperately, trying to think of something to change the subject, “Like, at all. Not good at all.”

“Oh, who cares?” Becca said in exasperation, “Just sing already!”

“Or,” Joe said, holding up a finger, “We could go up to the desk and announce that you want to sing for the entire bowling alley. Your choice, bro.”

Shit. He wasn’t going to let me escape. And all of the girls were giving me the doe-eyes, something that every guy knows will instantly make your will crumble. God damn it…I took a deep breath, prayed that my voice would find the right notes, and began:

“To dream, the impossible dream,
To fight, the unbeatable foe,
To bear, with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go,
To right the unrightable wrong,
To love, pure and chaste from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!
This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right,
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a Heavenly cause!
And I know, if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach…the unreachable…
Star!”

It wasn’t that great. I could feel my voice wavering between notes without much hint of tone or pitch. I’d tried to make my voice deeper to compensate for my lack of understanding about pitch but I doubted it worked. I probably sounded exactly like a hippo being sodomized. Lovely.

There was no laughing. That was odd. Usually after I sang, people would be laughing their heads off but everyone was just staring at me. I cleared my throat. “Was it okay?” I asked weakly.

“Jack…” Becca said, hesitating, “You can’t sing.”

I twisted my mouth. “I know.”

“But that was still pretty damn good.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

Kayla leaned against me. “Baby, just because you don’t hit the notes doesn’t mean you don’t have the emotion. Like, I felt what you were talking about. My knight.” She winked and I blushed.

“He would not…stop…singing that after he first heard it,” Joe said, grinning, “His mom took him to see a performance of it and for like a year afterwards, he drilled that fucking song into our skulls nonstop. I swear, people were crying with joy when he finally gave it up.”

“Be nice,” Belle said, smacking the back of his head.

“I am! If I wanted to be mean, I’d say he sounded like…what did they used to say you sounded like, Jack?”

“I don’t remember.”

“I get it, though,” Kayla said with a smile, “The whole nobility thing about the song. I get it.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” I said, smiling back, “I just…it spoke to me and I’ve never really forgotten it.”

“Thankfully, you kept it to yourself,” Joe muttered and was rewarded with another smack.

“All right,” Kayla said, stretching, “My turn, right?”

Thankfully, the game resumed, with only occasional digs at me for my singing. To be honest, I’d been working a little on my own, trying to get my voice stronger. I know my voice sounds good; it just needs to hit the right notes. There’s nothing I’d like more than to get a microphone in my hand and sing in front of an audience and just have it sound good.

I can dream.

The two teams were neck-and-neck throughout the rest of the game. Sometimes we were ahead, sometimes they were ahead, but never for more than a couple rounds. Finally, we hit the 10th round, with their team just a point ahead. Craig and I went to our positions. I hadn’t made any strikes yet during the game and I was determined that I would get one before we were finished. I knew where I had to aim: just slightly off center, so the pins would fly in both directions instead of just backwards. It was now just a matter of doing it.

Craig went first. He’d done pretty well up until now but this time he lost his footing and sent the ball straight into the gutter. “Damn it,” he muttered.

“It’s okay, man,” I said, “Bet you get it next time.” He grunted, flicking his finger against the brace.

I turned to the lane and hurled the ball with all my might. To my surprise, it flew down the lane and hit directly where I wanted it to, hitting my first strike of the night. Kayla, Alan, and Amanda all whooped in joy.

“Fucking luck,” Joe muttered as I got high-fives from everyone.

“Maybe,” I said cockily, “It won’t be next time.”

“Next time, you’re going straight into the gutter. Crush him, Craig.” Again…wouldn’t have thought Joe would ever say something like that a couple months ago.

Craig took his time with the next shot, shifting himself back and forth a couple of times. He took a deep breath and hurled his ball down the lane. It was a much better shot than his last one, but still only managed to knock over six pins.

“Well, it’s something,” he said with a sigh.

I squared myself at the end of the lane. Behind me, I heard Joe humming the tune of ‘The Impossible Dream’. Nice, Joe. Just keeping cheating, why don’t you? Well, if he thought this was going to throw me off, it wasn’t. I slid forward, arm going back, shooting a quick prayer up to God, and let the ball fly. It sailed straight down the lane, exactly where I aimed, and obliterated the pins with the satisfying hollow clatter of a strike.

“Yeah!” I roared, pumping my fists in the air. All I needed was another good bowl and we’d be well and truly ahead.

I turned to see Kayla hurling at me, an ‘I’m gonna kiss you’ look on her face. Someone else, however, beat her to it. Amanda leapt onto me, squealing with joy, and gave me a big kiss on the cheek, dangerously close to the edge of my mouth. “Way to go!” she cried happily.

Kayla yanked her off with. “Off my Kool-Aid,” she snarled with a grin, giving Amanda a playful shove.

“Girl, I take what I want,” Amanda said in her best ghetto voice.

Kayla snapped in her face and turned to give me a big, passionate kiss. “Good job, baby,” she said happily.

I put on a smile but my mind was still on what Amanda had just done. There was no way that was an accident. Damn it, and I thought Tuesday was an accident. Part of me was desperately arguing that this was an accident as well…but it wasn’t going to happen. I needed to speak with her again. This had to stop.

Thanks to my two strikes, our team finished ahead, our reward being little more than gloating rights, which we used as much as we could as we shared a couple of pizzas from the alley concessions. Joe, glum after being beaten, tried to wring some mileage out of my awful singing, but it didn’t work. We’d won. He had to live with it.

As I watched everyone joke and laugh, I reflected that this was exactly what we had wanted. We weren’t thinking about Brad. We weren’t thinking about all the shit that we had gone through. Hell, we weren’t even actively trying to forget it. We all remembered it…and accepted it. We weren’t letting it rule our minds and darken our spirits by dwelling on it or ignoring it. It happened and we moved on. As it should be.

All too soon we were parting, with promises to meet up and hang out again soon. “Hope you have that thing off on Monday,” I said to Craig as I gave him a very soft bro-five.

“We’ll see,” he replied, “First thing I’m gonna do is get ready of this fucking crick in the back. You’ll probably hear it from your house.”

“And then you’ll be right back in the brace, dummy,” Becca said, poking him in the back, “Be smart.”

Belle was staring daggers at Joe, warning him to keep civil. “It was great hanging with you guys. The game was fun. I hope we do it again soon. What amazing friends you are,” he said in his most robotic voice. He quickly leapt out of the way to avoid a slap to the head, but it never came.

“I’ll get you later,” Belle promised, grinning wickedly, “When you can’t escape.”

“Help me?” Joe said, looking at us desperately.

The ride back home was nice and relaxed. Well, for the other three anyway. One of my eyes was resting firmly on Amanda, her head back and one foot resting on the back of my chair. Were her old feelings back? What had brought them back? What about Alan? Was she done with him? Did she want both of us now?

Son of a bitch…

I looked over at Kayla, looking back and chatting with Amanda happily. I wasn’t going to tell her about Amanda’s feelings or what she had done before but…damn it, what should I do? What if she finds out? And I didn’t tell her…Fucking hell, Amanda, why do you have to do this?

“Hey, baby?” Kayla said, “Can I swing by my house real quick? I need to grab The Great Gatsby.” Her parents were out of town again so she would be spending the night with us.

“Sure,” I said, “You actually going to finish it?”
“Hopefully. I only got a couple chapters left.”

“Do you remember everything that’s happened so far?”

“I’m trying to finish the book, Jack. Remembering it is another thing.”

I laughed. “True that.”

I pulled up in front of her house and she hopped out, saying, “I’ll be back in a sec,” and scampered off into her house.

Alan opened his door. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“Dude, I gotta take a piss like it’s nobody’s business,” he said, aggrieved, “See you inside.” He slammed the door and took off for our house, hopping a little with each stride.

Amanda watched him go, laughing a little to herself. “I told him he should go before we left the alley, but no…he had to be the big man and hold it.” She laughed again and saw me staring at her. “What?”

“What’s up with you?”

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s the second time you’ve tried to kiss me this week. What’s going on?”

She looked out the window. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do, Amanda. We talked about this before. You’re with Alan. You love Alan.”

“Of course I love Alan! Don’t you dare imply that I don’t!”

“Then what the hell are you doing with me?”

She fumed in silence for a minute. “Jack…it’s not a big deal, okay? Just…it slipped. I’m not trying to take you away from Kayla or anything.”

“Good.”

“But…I love you, Jack. I really do.”

“And I love you, Amanda. You’re my sister.” I infused the last word with just the slightest bit of emphasis. “And Alan’s the one you love.”

She sighed. “I know.”

Kayla came bouncing back out to the car, her book tucked under her arm. “Let’s go,” she said as she hopped in.

“Okay, strap in,” I said, “This might take a while.” Kayla giggled but Amanda didn’t make a sound, just staring out the window as the gears moved in her head.

Mom and dad were in the kitchen when we walked in, bellowing their greetings like Swedish yodelers. “Hello!” Kayla called back happily, “How are you guys?”

“Surviving one day at a time,” my dad said, coming in to give her a hug, “Did you guys have a good time?”

“Crushed it,” Kayla said, tossing her hair dramatically.

“Excellent,” he said, frowning in approval, “Well done.”

“Hey, who scored the strikes that helped us win?” I asked.

“Some guy,” Kayla replied, sticking her tongue out at me, “Can’t hog all the glory, Mr. Impossible Dream.”

Dad’s face split in a wide grin. “He told you about that?”

“Well, Joe kind of dragged it out of him, but yes.”

“Did he sing it?”

“Yep.”

Dad roared with laughter and called, “Hey, Hannah! Kayla got to hear Jack sing ‘The Impossible Dream’!” God…help me.

Mom stuck her head out, a worried look on her face. “You’re not going to start the endless chorus of that again, are you Jack?”

“No, mom,” I groaned, “It was a one-time thing.”

“Noooo,” Kayla moaned, shaking my arm, “I wanna hear it again.”

“No.”

“Come on!”

“No. Don’t you have reading to do?”

She pouted and said, “Fine! Spoilsport.” We started up the stairs.

“Dinner’s in an hour!” mom called up.

“Thanks!” I called back.

In my room, Kayla flopped on my bed, still pouting at me. “I don’t care how ‘good’ the singing is. I just like hearing you sing.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” I said, sitting next to her, “For special occasions, maybe.”

“Isn’t any time we hang out a special occasion?”

I laughed. “True.”

She leaned up and kissed me. I ran my fingers through her hair as the kiss lingered, stirring desire deep in my loins. I leaned forward, pressing her head against the bedspread. “Mmm,” she said, nibbling on my lower lip, “Someone’s got ulterior motives.”

“Maybe,” I replied, kissing lightly down her neck.

“Jack,” she said, pushing against me, “Your parents are here.”

“I’ll close the door.”

“They’ll hear us!”

“We’ll be quiet.”

She sighed in amused exasperation. “I have to read this book!”

“There’s time for that later,” I said, running my fingers along her stomach under her shirt.

“Uh uh, big boy,” she said, pushing me up, “There’ll be time for that later. I’ve gotta get this freaking thing read. Naughty time later.”

Now it was my turn to pout. “Fine,” I huffed.

She gave me another small kiss. “You’ll survive.” She leaned back against my pillows and opened her book.

I pulled over my laptop but couldn’t find anything interesting online. Nothing new on Youtube, no new messages on Facebook, nothing shocking in the news…nada. I put the laptop down and scanned my bookshelf for something interesting to read. Nothing. I’d read all of my books at least four times. Thank God Christmas was coming up and maybe I’d finally have something new to read.

My eyes fell on my PS3. “Hey, Kayla?” I said quietly, “Do you mind if I play a game?”

“Knock yourself out,” she replied, her eyes glued to the pages, “Just keep it down?”

“Of course.”

I’d been itching to play Bioshock: Infinite again so I popped in the disc and leaned back against my beanbag chair as the game started up. I selected a new game and grinned to myself as the Lutece twins started their humorous metaphysical banter. I remember the first time I played this game, not having a clue what they were talking about, but eager to figure it out.

I collect everything around the lighthouse before heading in. Again, not going to spoil anything for those of you who haven’t played it (and if you haven’t played it…why?), but I had a decent idea about the themes of the game the first time I played it and I still get chills every time I hear ‘The Old-Time Religion’ on that tinny radio in the background. Seriously sets the stage.

I had just gotten into the rocket and was blasting through the clouds to that unbelievably beautiful first shot of Columbia, the floating city, with the recorded voice in the rocket saying, “Hallelujah”, when I heard Kayla behind me breathe, “Wow…”

I turned and saw her on her hands and knees on the bed, staring at the TV. “Aren’t you supposed to be reading?” I teased.

“What is this?” she asked, still watching the screen.

“Bioshock: Infinite,” I replied, “You’ve heard of it.”

“Yeah, I remember you talking about it. Mind if I watch?”

“Go ahead,” I said, “But what about the reading?”

“There’ll be time for that later,” she said as she slid to the ground next to me.

She watched me for a while, picking my way through the church and then through the streets of Columbia, taking in all the beauty of the art design. Yeah, it still gets me too, just how many small details there are and how many little clues to the rest of the game there are (remember the quartet singers? Pay close attention to the song they are singing. Sound familiar?). God, I love this game.

I was just about to enter the fair when I felt a sudden pressure on my crotch. I looked down to see Kayla pressing her palm on my cock and giving me a seductive look. “And what are you doing?” I asked.

“Well…a couple days ago I believe I promised you the best blowjob ever. I still need to pay that back.”

“You don’t want to watch the game anymore?”

“Let me know if anything big happens,” she said, unzipping my pants and pulling out my cock.

“Baby,” I said, glancing at the closed door, “My parents…”

“Will knock,” she replied before engulfing my cock in her mouth.

I tried to concentrate on the screen but the feeling of her warm, wet mouth was too much for me to bear. She was breathing lightly on my shaft every time she came back up, running her tongue along its length while her hand glided up and down. She squeezed with just the right amount of pressure, feeling better than my hand ever felt when I jacked off.

She swirled her tongue around the head, lightly flicking the tip before sliding it back into her mouth, letting her tongue run along the bottom. I dropped the controller and leaned back against the beanbag chair, my eyes closing. I heard her giggle as her mouth left my shaft. I was going to open my eyes to look but a second later I felt her mouth suck one of my balls into her mouth.

I hadn’t been expecting that and the sudden burst of pleasure maybe me shudder and moan a little bit. “Shhh,” she said before going back to tonguing my balls, rolling them around between her fingers as she did.

“Oh, God…” I breathed.

She giggled and licked back up my cock, her fingers continuing to tease my balls. She popped the head back into her mouth, sucking in her cheeks and twisting her mouth around it. I was shivering with pleasure now, my fingers dug deep into the fabric of the chair. She gave me a look and suddenly was gripping my cock tightly in her hand and jacking me off furiously as her head bobbed up and down, quicker and quicker.

My groin tightened and I leaned up on my elbows, my hips jerking involuntarily with her movements. Her hair was flying as she sucked me faster and faster, her hand following her mouth up and down. I wasn’t close to cumming yet, thankfully. I could watch this for a while.

She was just popping my cock back out to tease me again with her tongue when we heard a phone buzz. She looked up, frowning, my cock against her cheek. “Was that my phone or yours?” she asked, as if my saliva-coated cock wasn’t an inch away from her mouth.

“Mine, I think,” I said, reaching under her body to the pocket of my pants, making sure to tweak her breast as I went by. I pulled out my phone and saw that I had 1 New Message. “Yep, it was mine.”

“Who’s it from?” Kayla asked, keeping her eyes on mine as her tongue came back up and slid along my cock.

Swallowing hard, I opened the phone and saw it was a message from Tara.

Tara: Hey, coz! Guess who’s coming for Christmas?!?! :D :D :D

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Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed everyone! No Reality Check for this one, since these are bits and pieces of stuff I've done, but no major events. Don't worry, we have plenty of those coming up, as well as major drama. Next time...on She is the One.

See you all in the next part and hope you enjoy this one! :)

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