The Principal’s Office

Andy, Matt, Thomas, and Randy joined up when they got off the bus. Groups of students were standing in the halls talking as the boys headed to the principal’s office. Three older boys surrounded them. Jasper moved in close. “Well, if it isn’t the four cocksuckers.”

Jason pointed at the bruise on Andy’s face. “What happened? Did Dillon get a little rough when he was fucking you?”

Matt shoved Jason back. “Get lost assholes. We’re headed to the principal’s.”

Peter smiled. “You going to suck his cock too? You’ll have the run of the school then.”

Andy pushed Peter. Like Matt said, “Get lost assholes.”

“You guys act awfully tough for lowerclassmen,” Jason retorted. “I guess getting your ass slammed by Dillon’s cock must toughen you up.”

Jasper pushed Thomas and Randy away from Matt and Andy. “And then we have these two young-uns so ripe for the picking. Dillon sure knows how to pick the sweetest fruit.”

Other students began to gather round and soon caught the eye of a Bill Palmer, the hall monitor. “What’s going on there?” He walked into the middle of them and pushed the boys apart.

Jasper was undaunted. “We’re just telling these fags how we feel about them.”

Bill smiled. “You like them then? I think we can make arrangements for you to meet privately with them in the principal’s office. Would that satisfy you?”

Jasper backed off just as Principal Evans stepped into the hall. “Take these boys to my office.”

Bill Palmer motioned for the four upperclassmen and Andy, Matt, Thomas, and Randy to head to the office.

“I’m not walking with these fags,” Jasper said.

“Me neither,” the others echoed.”

“Tough. Maybe next time you’ll keep your mouths shut and mind your own business.”

Mr. Evans waved the back of his hand at the four upperclassmen. “Bill, take Jasper and his cronies into my conference room. The boys from the bus are there.” He pointed at Andy and the others. “I’ll take these four to my office.”

*****

Kyle was grabbing his crotch and pointing in James’ direction, “Hey freshman, you want some of this? I know you love it.” They were all laughing when Bill escorted the other boys into the conference room and stood with his hands on his hips. “Knock this shit off.”

The room went silent.

“Each of you sit at the table and leave one chair between each of you, and no talking. Got it?”

They rolled their eyes and nodded.

Bill sat at the head of the table and waited for instructions from Mr. Evans.

*****

Andy, Matt, Thomas, and Randy sat in chairs in front of Mr. Evans’ desk. He shook his head. “What’s the matter with you guys? Two of you were in a fight before you even got to school. I just hope none of you started it.”

“Only Randy and I got in a fight. Matt and Thomas are innocent. That’s two out of four,” Andy said

Mr. Evans rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure that fifty-percent is a very good start. So what happened? You go first Andy.”

“My dad dropped me off at the bus stop and there were a few guys and girls already there. I kinda knew the guys because they are a class ahead of me. I said ‘good morning’ and walked over to talk to them. Jerrod said, “Get away. We don’t hang with fags.”

“’I was raped,’” I explained. “’It wasn’t my fault.’”

“’Yeah, like you didn’t want it,’” Jarrod’s friend, Ted said.

“I told him to go F himself and tried to push by him.’”

“Ted shoved me and blurted. “’Watch your mouth.’”

“I know it’s hard to believe Mr. Evans, but I was walking away when Jerrod tripped me, and I fell face first on the grass in front of someone’s house. My nose started to bleed. I wiped my face and when I saw the blood, I went crazy. I jumped up and hit Jerrod, who has about twenty pounds on me.” Andy touched his cheek. “He hit me in the cheek, and that’s how I got this bruise. They both came at me, knocked me to the ground, and started kicking me. Ted said, ‘You’d better never touch me again. I don’t like fags touching me.’”

Mr. Evans' face was stoic. He scratched his cheek. “Then what happened?’”

“I don’t know how I did it because I was in a lot of pain from being kicked, but I jumped up and threw a body block at the two of them and knocked them both to the ground. They were getting up and ready to come at me again when the bus drove up.”

Evans stared blankly at Andy. “Is that all?”

“Pretty much, Mr. Evans. I didn’t start it. They did.”

Mr. Evans turned to Randy and got his side of the story. He sighed. “If I understand you correctly, you were sitting in your seat talking to Sally when Kyle tapped you on the shoulder and said something to you about being gay.”

“Yeah. I wanted to ignore him, but he said these things in front of Sally. She told me to ignore them. I tried, but was so pissed. Sorry, Mr. Evans. I mean angy. I was so angy I had to say something, and that’s when Kyle hit me in the head. I couldn’t let him get away with that in front of everyone on the bus. So I jumped over the back of the seat and went after him with my fists. That’s when Mr. Brown split us up and dragged us off the bus.

“He’s telling the truth, Mr. Evans,” Thomas said. “I saw it all.

Evans turned to Thomas. “And I understand you got in Mr. Brown’s way. Is that right?”

“Yeah, in a way, but I was afraid he was going to just leave the two of them there and they’d kill each other. Randy’s my best friend. I had to do something.”

Mr. Evans cast his eyes on Matt. “And what about you, Mr. Spence?”

“The first thing I saw when I got on the bus, Mr. Evans, was Andy’s bruised cheek and then the blood on his shirt. I looked down the aisle and spotted James, Kyle, Jerrod, and Jason with big grins on their faces. I knew they had to be responsible for the way Andy looked. I started toward the back of the bus to kick the you know what out of them. And I would have, except Andy shook his head to tell me not too. I found an empty seat at the front of the bus and sat down.”

Mr. Evans shook his head. “It’s lucky Andy stopped you. Otherwise, you’d look worse than him.”

Everyone smiled, even Andy, who forced a smile through the pain.

Matt sighed. “I think you’re right, Mr. Evans.”

Mr. Evans got up. “I’m sending you boys back to class. No one will be in the halls and I pray you can make it to class without another incident. The teachers have their instructions as do the hall monitors. So hopefully, nothing else will happen. In the meantime, I’m going to get the other side of the story and talk to a few students who were on the bus and at the bus stop. I like to cover all my bases. I need to call your parents and let them know what happened. Andy, I want you to go to the nurse before going back to class.”

“I don’t need to go the nurse. I’m fine.”

“Maybe so, but I want to make sure. Your parents may want to take you home.”

Andy frowned. “No, Mr. Evans. After all this and spending a week out of school, I don’t want to go home. Let my parents know you sent me to the nurse and I’ll be fine.”

Evans nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, all four of you get a late slip from my secretary and head to class...Oh, and Andy and Randy, don’t forget you both owe me a weeks lunch detention. That was our agreement.”

“Can I serve it with them?” Matt asked.

Thomas quickly followed, “I’d like to join them too.”

“I understand why you’d like to be there, Matt, but you didn’t do anything wrong and I’d like to keep this detention thing clean so that only those who got in a fight will serve detention. That’s doesn’t mean you can go out and get in a fight so you can join them. If you or Thomas get in a fight, I’ll suspend both of you. Understood?”

They both nodded as the four of them headed out the door.

*****

The boys fidgeted in the principal’s conference room, but hadn’t said a word. Jason looked at his watch every few minutes and rolled his eyes. “Are you going to keep us here all day? We need to get to class. ”

Bill Palmer chuckled. “Maybe.”

The boys glanced at each other. Jason started to say something.

Bill tossed a dirty look at Jason. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear it.”

Jason lowered his eyes just as Mrs. Martinez, the principal’s secretary, stuck her head in the door. “Mr. Evans will be right with you.”

Five minutes later Mr. Evans walked in, cast an angry glance around the room and sat at the opposite end of the table from Bill Palmer. He cleared his throat. “I heard what the other boys had to say and want to give you a chance to present your side. So I’m going to go around to each of you and ask you what happened. Which of you two were involved in the fight with Andy Gibson? Jarrod and Ted slowly raised their hands.

Bill Palmer pointed at each of them. “That is Jarrod and the other is Ted.”

“Let’s start with you Jarrod.”

Jarrod glanced at Ted and then looked at Mr. Evans. “We were standing at the bus stop minding our own business when Andy’s dad dropped him off. He’s usually not at our stop. We’d heard all the rumors about him being raped so went over to talk to him. He acted all pissed and told us to get away from him. I tried to tell him how sorry we were about what Dillon did to him, but he didn’t want to talk. Isn’t that right, Ted?”

Ted nodded.

Jarrod went on. “Andy’s attitude kinda of pissed us off, but we knew he must really be hurting. He’d been out of school for a week.” Jarrod looked at Ted. “Ted got a little irritated and told Andy, ‘no need to give us attitude. We’re just concerned, that’s all.’ That’s when Andy swung around and told us to keep our f-ing sympathy to ourselves. I started to say something else when he ran at me and knocked me to the ground. I was pissed but decided to let it go because of what he’d been through. It was obvious something was eating at him. And what’s he do, he jumps on top of me. I had to defend myself. I hit him and he got a bloody nose and a bruise on his cheek. It was self-defense.”

Mr. Evans looked at Ted. “Is that what happened?”

“Mostly. It might have ended there except when Andy wiped his face and saw blood on his hand, he want crazy. He jumped up, came after me, and knocked me to the grass. He’d have probably killed me if the bus hadn’t pulled up.”

Evans narrowed his eyes. “Kill is kind of a strong word, isn’t it.”

“As crazy as he was, who knows.”

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Jarrod, Jason, and Ted shook their heads.

Mr. Evans wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Bill Palmer. He glanced at it. “Send for Sally Caruthers and Jane Hester.”

The principal let out a big breath. “Now to you Kyle and James. I’ve seen enough of you in the past that I don’t even have to ask your names. But in fairness, I need to get your side of the story. Mr. Brown, the bus driver told me you got out of your seat and came up and said something to Thomas, is that correct, James?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you say?”

“We rode the bus together all last year and I walked up to say it was good to see him back at school. Like Andy, he kinda had a chip on his shoulder.”

“What do you mean?”

“Instead of him saying thanks or something like that, he told me to get lost.”

“And did you?”

“Yes, plus Mr. Brown told me to go back to my seat.”

Mr. Evans wrote a note on a piece of paper. “That’s it? Nothing else happened.”

“Right, Mr. Evans. That’s all. I’m not sure why he was so unfriendly. I was just trying to be nice.”

“Thank you James.” Evans turned to Kyle. “Before you say anything, I want you to know I’m calling Sally in. I understand she was sitting next to Randy when the altercation between you and him took place.”

Kyle glanced at the others. “Looks like you’ve already made up your mind about me. How ‘bout Jarrod? Aren’t you going to check his story?”

Jarrod gave him a dirty look.

Mr. Evans smiled as he looked at the others. “Now that you mention it, I am.” The four of them began to squirm. “So Kyle, tell me your side.”

“Well, it’s this way, Mr. Evans. I tapped Randy on the shoulder to tell him it was good to see him back. Sally had told him the same thing, so I thought I’d be nice. Instead of saying thanks, he made some gay comment about me being over at his house last night. I didn’t like the implication or his tone, so told him to f-off. That’s when he jumped over the seat and attacked me.”

Mr. Evans looked at the others. “Is that what happened?” All heads nodded.

Mr. Evans continued. “As per our agreement with the other boys, their parents, and the faculty, you will all be serving lunch detention for the week. This was told to you at an assembly and in the school bulletin. Fighting is not acceptable. We usually suspend both parties, but we’ve agreed that anyone who has an altercation with the and of those four boys will serve lunch detention together.”

“But that’s not fair,” Kyle said. “Randy started it.”

Jason and Jarrod repeated Kyle’s comments as did James.

“Sorry boys, that’s the way it is. You’ll meet with Mr. Palmer at lunch and receive counseling from Mrs. Crawford. Any questions?”

They all grumbled.

“You boys need to take responsibility for your actions. You knew the consequences.”

“But we didn’t do anything,” Kyle protested. “They started it.”

“Maybe so. But they tell a different story and our solution is to have you all serve detention. That seems fair to me.”

“Not to us,” Jarrod snapped. “I’m going to tell my parents.”

“Please do. I think they’ll be pleased that you’re serving detention rather than being suspended. What do you think?”

Jarrod pursed his lips and turned to the others, “Let’s get out of here.”

******

The principal lookedtoward the four upperclassmen from the hall. “You guys are fortunate a fight didn’t break out. Otherwise, you’d be serving lunch detention with the others. I’m warning you now. If you bother those boys again, you’ll all be suspended and then serve lunch detention when you return. Need I say more?”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “We were just talking. You can’t get on us for just talking.”

Mr. Evans scowled. “But you weren’t just talking. You were bullying, and I won’t accept bullying. Got that?”

Jasper squeezed his lips together. “Yeah, but we weren’t bullying.”

The others nodded.

“Well, let me put it this way. If you were bullying stop. And if you weren’t then we’re cool. At least for now. Understood?”

They nodded again.

“Now get out of my office and I don’t want to see you in here again.”

*****

The other witnesses verified Andy and Randy’s stories. Principal Evans was upset because he had to punish Andy and Randy, but that was their agreement.

Mrs. Crawford didn’t show for lunch detention and Bill Palmer made the boys sit in silence for the entire forty minutes. “Tomorrow, bring a sack lunch. In the meantime I’ll talk to Mrs. Crawford and Mr. Evans. Now get out of here.”

Classes went well. The rumor of what went on that morning got around the school and no one seemed to want a week of lunch detention. The boys did get some stares and glares between classes and during class. But they were also surprised because most students acted like they did before the whole mess became public knowledge.

*****

Emily, Ernie, Alan, and Gina joined Matt and Thomas for lunch.

Emily put her lunch tray down on the table. “Heard you guys had an exciting morning.”

Thomas grumbled. “Depends on what you call an exciting morning.”

Ernie dug into his lunch bag. “Don’t let those homophobes get to you. After all, it’s not like you guys started any of this. They should be pissed at Dillon.”

Cindy Riddle walked by with her boyfriend. “Look. Four fags and two lesbians.”

Her boyfriend responded like a trained dog. “I think you’re right, Cindy. We better get away before we catch something.”

Matt started to get up. Gina grabbed him by the arm, pulled him down, and whispered so Cindy couldn’t hear. “Ignore them. From what I hear, Cindy Riddle is a ho and her boyfriend is cheating on her.”

They all laughed.

Matt grinned. “That’s what I was going to say.”

“Yeah, sure,” Emily said.

Matt turned to Ernie and Alan. “Maybe you guys shouldn’t hang with us. They’re going to think you guys are gay.”

“I don’t give a damn,” Alan replied. “Only the small minded and ignorant will care. I sure don’t. And besides I’ve got Emily, my lesbian girlfriend next to me.”

Emily shoved her elbow into Alan’s ribs. “Yeah, and I have my gay boyfriend next to me.” She gave him a nice kiss on the lips.

“I really like these lesbian girls,” Alan joked.

Matt grinned. “I do to.” He planted a kiss on Gina’s cheek.

“Is that all I get?”

She turned his face to hers and gave him a big kiss. “Not bad for a lesbian and a gay guy,” she teased.

Matt bit his lip. “Let’s do that again. I kind of liked it. You lesbians kiss pretty well.”

This time the kiss was longer and Matt couldn’t resist slipping his tongue into Gina’s mouth. The next thing he heard was, “No PDA on the school grounds.”

They looked up, expecting to see another bully, but it was only the lunch monitor.

They finished their lunches just as the bell rang. Ernie got up first. “See all you lesbos and fags later. I’ve got to get to class.” He pointed at Matt and Thomas. “See you guys at football practice.”

Andy

What a day. Our whole plan fell apart. I got in a fight at the bus stop, had to meet with the principal, go to class all day, and then go to football practice. It seemed like the day would never end.

Mr. Evans was cool. He sent the bullies into his conference room and met with Matt, Thomas, Randy, and me in his office. His face didn’t give much away, but I think he believed us. Despite that, we had to serve lunch detention. That was our agreement and we had to live with it. Mr. Palmer wouldn’t let us say a word during detention and thank God that bitch Mrs. Crawford didn’t show for counseling.

Classes went well. We got looks and stares from some of the guys that let us know that if they had enough balls to accept lunch detention, they’d have bullied the crap out of us. After what happened that morning, the four of us decided to stay together as much as possible between classes. On the whole, the girls were nice. They smiled at us as we passed or said good morning. Some guys did too, but then there were the so called accidental bumps we got in the hall by guys who’d run into us as if they didn’t see us. Then they’d apologize. It took everything in me not to haul off and kick the shit out of them.

I find it interesting now that I look back on it that the girls find it easy to accept gay guys. It seems like it should be the same for boys. But I think guys feel threatened in some way. What else could explain their hate and anger? It’s not like we’re going to jump them and make them gay or anything. I could be wrong, but I think that guys, when they’re growing up, look at other guys just like Matt and I used to look at each other. And of course, the hot looking guys make them look all the harder. Every guy wants to compare his dick to another guy’s dick. That seems pretty normal to me. They just don’t talk about it with other guys. No one wants other guys to know they’re looking because they’re afraid someone will think they’re gay. I used to look at guy’s cocks all the time out of curiosity, and it had nothing to do with being gay. I was just comparing theirs to mine. Of course, this was before I’d decided that I wanted to have one of those beauties in my mouth.

It’s like Matt said in Knots, he was jealous of my fine body. Of course, I was jealous of his too. Only the rare lucky guy loves what he has. And of course, those guys are so hot I want to fuck them. But it’s also those guys that everyone else admires and looks at out of the corner of their eye when they really want to stare and gawk without everyone thinking they’re gay. So when four guys like us come along, they’re scared. I think that’s why they act the way they do. Why else? Girls aren’t threatened by us because looking at a guy’s hot body is considered normal. And a boy, looking at a girl’s hot body is considered normal. But let either one stare at someone of the same sex, then they think they must be fucked up. I personally think it’s normal. It’s one thing for a guy to look at another guy and quite another for him to suck a guys cock or get fucked. You know the old saying, ‘You can look, but don’t touch.’ There’s a big difference between lust and envy. You can’t tell me that we don’t all admire beauty in a sunset, a sunrise, a hot car, a snow covered mountain, or any of those things. Why can’t we admire the beauty of God’s greatest creature, another human being? And like I said, there is a big difference between envy and lust. I think some guys mistake admiration and envy for lust.

I remember a time when I was in the fifth or sixth grade and Matt and I went to one of the high school football games. We got there early and the quarterback was wearing one of those body armor shirts. He hadn’t put his pads on yet and was throwing the ball back and forth to another player. The tight shirt outlined his beautiful torso. I stared at him for a long time wishing I’d look like that some day. Matt stared too. No one gives it a thought when two sixth grader looks at a guy like that. But if I was caught doing that now, they’d all call me a pervert or a homo. It makes me sad.

*****

Sorry, I got off track. Matt and I have agreed to keep our chapters to around four-thousand words and I’m at that point now. So let me give you a quick rundown of what went on at football practice. Matt will tell you more later.

The four of us walked into the locker room together. One of the varsity guys yells, “Look who’s here. The four fags.”

No one on the JV team said anything. That was part of the problem. They acted like we were invisible. All we got were nods and fake smiles as we headed to our locker. Another varsity player bumped Thomas with his shoulder and said, “Sorry asshole.” Then he grabbed his crotch. “I bet you’d like some of this.”

Thomas gritted his teeth, looked around for one of the varsity coaches, then turned to open his locker. I wanted to say something, but my mouth had already gotten me into trouble, so I just stared the asshole down.

Then we heard Coach Gilbert, the JV coach’s voice. “Boys, come into my office.”

Author’s Note: I’m aware that some readers don’t like my quotes. They believe they’re a form of preaching and the story should say it all. Maybe so, but we all read with selective perception so that each of us take away from a piece something unique to us. The same is true of quotes. The problem I’m having is I find so many great quotes that I can’t stop at one.

Chapter Quote 1: I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. - Nelson Mandela

Chapter Quote 2: Don't Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life. - Miguel Angel Ruiz Author’s Note: I chose this quote because I have done my best to make sure the lines of communication are always open between Andy and Matt. That’s what makes their friendship strong and unique. In the last chapter Andy said, “I can’t ever remember a time when either of us lied to each other.” Andy might lie to others, but he doesn’t lie to Matt.

Chapter Quote 3: We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’d like to thank Lisa and Tighe for taking the time to edit Knots 2. As the author, I take final responsibility for all parts of the story, including any errors.

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental and no slanderous intent is implied.