Ripped - 2. Chapter 2

"You're worthless, Foster!" Chris snapped at him as soon as practice was over and they were in the locker room. The quarterback shoved at Declan's shoulder, causing him to bump into the lockers.

Declan shoved back, sneering at the arrogant son-of-a-bitch whose big mouth had caused all the trouble in the first place.

"I fucking matched that little runt, one-for-one, and you know it! I stopped because the coaches arrived," Declan defended. There was no way he was going to let some gymnastics twink let him look bad. "Reed was about to hand us our asses, idiot!"

"But you let—"

"Chris!" Nick jumped in, shoving back their team captain by the shoulder as well. "You know he's right. Justin was only riling you up by calling that kid the winner. Dec had to stop because of Coach, just because that Bailey kid did a couple more before stopping doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah!" "You know it!" "Dec had that kid!"

Declan was relieved to hear a chorus of agreement and support from his teammates echoing around him. He released the anxious breath he'd been holding.

Chris cut his stormy gray eyes across the team, his mouth still drawn in a tight line. "You know that Greene and his pansy-ass flyboys won't see it that way. They'll be crowing all over about how their puny teammate beat our best linebacker."

"And we'll all yell back at how it was all interrupted by the coaches, and Declan was forced to stop early," Jimmy countered.

"You know it's not fair to piss all over Declan for something that wasn't his fault. He could have gone on forever." Nick slapped Declan on the back in his show of support. "Right, Dec?"

"Of course," Declan scoffed, hoping his lie didn't show through. Honestly, he didn't know if he could have gone on too much more. Knowing that a little thing like Bailey McIntyre could have beat him, in front of all of his buddies, had Declan shaking inside; he wasn't sure if it was anger or something else.

"Fine, fine," Chris conceded. "Maybe you're right."

"Let's just forget about it," Ben added, slamming his locker closed. "Stay away from Justin and the gym team, and it'll all blow over."

Chris rolled his eyes, as did several of the others. Ben was one of those gentle giants, ever the peacemaker. It was a wonder he played football at all.

"Hard to forget about it when we have fifty extra pushups to do every practice for the next week," Trip grumbled.

"Yeah, this is Justin's fault," Chris added as he turned away, heading towards his own locker.

A few hands sympathetically patted his shoulder as they walked by.

"Hey, don't worry about him." Declan looked back to see Lachlan, the secondary quarterback, drop on the bench nearby. The brunet leaned over to untie his shoes, and Declan took a moment to admire the stretch of his shirt across his shoulders. "He's just got to let off a little steam."

"Yeah, I guess."

Declan watched his captain walk away and his team trudge to their respective lockers to shower. He dropped his forehead heavily on the locker in front of him.

No, this was Bailey's fault, he thought. If he'd just quit earlier before the coaches arrived, none of this would have happened. If I ever catch that twerp, I'm going to rip his arms off!

He winced at the ache in his own arms. If I can ever get my own fucking arms to function again, he thought.

The team hit the showers, quickly rinsing off the sweat and letting the warm water soothe overworked muscles. They had about ten minutes before the basketball team would be coming in wanting their showers. Declan was just glad that the gymnastics team lockers were housed in the Auxiliary locker room, instead of here in the Main Locker room. It made sense they would be over there since their equipment filled one of the auxiliary gyms.

Probably for the best. Otherwise, Chris would find more to fight with Justin about. It seemed like Chris often sought out Justin Greene just to antagonize him. Of course, Justin gave as good as he got, so it had all been equal ribbing up until today when Chris dragged the new kid front and center. It was obvious Justin, well, the whole gymnastics team really, was a little protective of their new teammate.

After running a towel through his short, cropped hair, Declan wrapped the towel around his waist, making it to his locker as the basketball team trudged in. He quickly slipped into a pair of sweats and t-shirt, ready to be out of the stuffy locker room.

Someone nudged his back. "Hey, heard you girls couldn't keep up with the flyboys."

Declan turned to see several of the tall basketball players nudging and jostling him and his teammates in a playful banter. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be taking it in stride, a gentle shove back and sharp retort. It could get ugly really quick if someone took it too seriously—like Chris...

"Nah, we would have creamed them if the coaches hadn't shown up!" Nick yelled back.

"Yeah, blame it on the coaches," someone added.

"You've seen those flyboy wimps, no way they can handle the pain and torment we go through." Eric slammed his locker shut.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Tell that to Justin's face."

"I think I will," Chris cut in.

"You and Justin just need to stay away from each other," Paul from the basketball team warned. "You've been at each other since freshman year."

"That's 'cause he's a damn fairy!" Chris snapped.

"Vasser! Get in my office!" the coach's voice called out.

"Fuck..." Chris mumbled amid a chorus of 'ooooo's as everyone knew he was now in trouble.

"You know you shouldn't be saying that," Eric said.

"I know, I don't mean it," Chris grumbled. "Justin just drives me crazy sometimes. And running around in those leotards—"

"Chris! Now!" Coach Reed stood at his door, pointing at the team captain.

"Weeeelllll, I think I need to go study." Nick quickly grabbed up his backpack to head to the door.

"Yeah, me too," chorused most of the team.

Declan was right there with them, gathering up his books. No way did he want to get involved there. "Yeah, see ya, Chris!"

They caught a glance of Chris flipping them off as they abandoned him to his fate with the coach. He was definitely in for "a sensitivity talk."

"He's in so much trouble," Nick laughed as they stumbled out into the main hall.

"Nah, Coach has heard it all before," Eric said. "He knows Chris is just shooting his mouth off."

"Usually, he keeps it quiet though, and the coaches don't find out," Ben added. "I know Justin's never said anything about it, which is probably why Chris got a little cocky. It was just a matter of time before he got called on the carpet for it."

"Justin did needle Chris into it though," Declan said.

The track team came striding by.

"Heard you boys got shown up by Justin and his crew," Noah called out.

The football team huffed at the other team. "Got your facts confused there," Eric shot back.

"I don't think we did," Noah looked at his teammates, "Pretty sure we heard that Vasser opened his big mouth and got put down by one of the flyboys."

Declan rolled his eyes. Fuck, everybody was going to be talking about his failure.

"Declan had that Bailey kid beat! The challenge was interrupted. No one won," Nick defended.

"All you dumb jocks just don't know when to shut up!" Evan yelled, winking at Declan and waving his hands at the crowd. Declan laughed to himself at his roommate's attempt at defusing the blame. Several of his team chuckled.

"Hey! You're one of those 'dumb jocks', too, you know!" one of the football players retorted.

Evan grinned wickedly. "Exactly!"

"Go take a flying leap, Ev!" Nick flipped off the track star.

Evan laughed. "Oh, I plan to. About sixteen feet or more over the high jump."

"Smart ass."

"Most definitely," Evan said smugly.

Declan laughed at his roommate. The school liked to mix up the teams so you weren't roomed with someone from your own team. It encouraged diversity and socializing with people of other interests. Declan had ended up with Evan, who was a total goofball most of the time. A lot of the football team had track members as roommates, although a few had baseball or basketball players. Declan wondered who Justin and his team were roomed with, the swim team maybe? Golf? Or Frisbee Golf?

He chuckled to himself. It would be funny if they put the golfers and the flyboys together—two of the laziest sports ever, in his opinion.

Everyone called their goodbyes as they dispersed, some heading back towards their dorm rooms, others heading to the library, and some heading to the snack bar. Declan wandered through the building, exiting at the far end where there was a covered walkway called the Colonnades that connected to Grainger Hall, the main building of the school housing the administration offices, dining hall, school store and computer labs. It was better than getting wet cutting across the Commons to the library, and he wasn't ready to brave running all the way to Ruffner, his residence Hall.

There were several small alcoves dotted throughout Grainger on all three floors that provided great places to lounge. Many of his fellow students used them throughout the day to pass time between classes as well as an alternative study area to the library, if they chose to study outside of their Study Hall class time. The plush chairs were much more comfortable than the desk chair in his dorm room and the huge windows provided lots of light.

Declan strode to his favorite sitting area in the corner next to the curved railing overlooking the first and second floors. A huge rounded ceiling loomed overhead, a reminder of Heritage Academy's classical historical heritage. When he really needed quiet, this was often his best choice. A majority of his fellow students didn't bother to come up to the third level as mostly administration offices were housed on that floor. This nook not only had a cool view of the lower two levels, but it also had huge windows that looked out over the front lawn of the school to the elegant fountain in the center and the arched gates beyond.

He could barely see the guard house at the gates, let alone Heritage Square just beyond it though the rain. The Square, as they usually called it, was home to a quaint shopping center that had originally been the town square. It was now a popular place for the students to grab a bite to eat or pick up some quick necessities at the drug store on the corner.

Declan threw his backpack on one of the chairs and plopped down in another. He stared for a few minutes at the rain sluicing down the windows before he finally pulled out his Chemistry book. Propping his feet up on the edge of the little table in front of him, he slouched down to scan over the lesson before delving into the study questions.

He'd long ago learned to ignore the steady buzz of voices echoing through the building. It was rarely totally quiet anywhere on campus, some places just had a lower level of cacophony than others. The library was one, the Rotunda here in Grainger hall was another. Today, however, with the rain driving everyone inside, it was less quiet than usual, but at least most of his fellow students seemed to be keeping to the first and second floors.

Which was good, because he really wasn't in the mood to socialize right now. He knew it wouldn't be long before the entire school knew that he'd been bested in a show of strength by a skinny gym-boy. Well, mostly bested anyway. They'd accept the excuse he'd had to stop because of the coaches, but it didn't change the fact that Declan himself knew that Bailey would have beat him. He'd been only five to ten more push-ups away from collapsing.

Even now, his biceps and triceps tingled with exhaustion. He shook them out, stretching them over his head as he attempted to keep the lactic acid from building up and making them feel even worse later.

Fucking Bailey McIntyre.

"Don't walk away from me," a voice erupted from the general buzz in the echoing hallways.

Declan twisted his head, noticing Justin grabbing someone's arm and spinning them around. They were one floor down, but Declan could see them easily from his vantage point near the third floor railing. He was surprised to see Justin glaring at Declan's new nemesis.

"I'm fine," Bailey said, tossing his head slightly to clear the fringe from covering his eyes. Declan could just imagine the kid rolling his eyes at his slightly older teammate. Well, he assumed Justin was older, since he was the captain and a senior this year.

"Let me see," Justin demanded, crossing his arms across his chest.

Declan almost laughed as the shorter teen huffed before unclenching his fist and holding out his hand.

What the fuck? Declan straightened, catching the sight of blood smeared on Bailey's palm.

"I knew it," Justin sighed as he took the teen's hand and inspected it. Justin's voice dropped slightly, making it harder to hear all he was saying. "I thought I saw blood on your grips."

"It's just ripped, that's all. It happens," Bailey retorted, yanking his hand free.

"We all know rips happen, it's part of the sport. But you're part of this team, and you can't hide injuries from Coach."

"It'll be fine. A few tea bags tonight, and I'll be good to go tomorrow." Bailey hitched his backpack higher on his shoulder, starting to turn away.

"Tomorrow you'll have to stay off the bars, ring, and horse. Focus on floor and vault. Give it a chance to heal." Justin arched a brow when Bailey looked like he might argue. When the other teen conceded and just nodded, Justin grinned. "Good. Now, have fun studying." They both turned to leave. "Oh, hey, did you want to stay over? Brett's going home this weekend, so I'll have extra room."

Declan's heart raced. Did Justin have something going on with Bailey? Wouldn't Chris just love to know that.

"No, I can't—" Damn, now Bailey's voice was dropping and he couldn't hear all the words.

"You never can, Bay. I'm sure your mother can live without you just one weekend."

"S-She's lonely... With dad gone...all..."

Hmmm, so his dad traveled a lot, probably away on business trips. Declan had the sadistic thought that maybe Bailey's dad traveled to escape being around Bailey, maybe even his mom. Hell, maybe the guy was cheating on them. He chuckled to himself.

Justin nodded, silent for a few moments. "Okay, well, maybe I'll catch you tomorrow morning."

"Sure." Bailey shrugged noncommittally as Justin waved his good-byes.

Declan watched Bailey shift nervously as he stared at the ground. Huh, so Bailey didn't actually live on campus? He must live nearby then. Maybe he was one of those scholarship kids the school felt 'rounded out' their student body.

Declan's lips stretched into an even bigger grin. This was just too good. Bailey was not only a weak flyboy, but he was a mama's boy too.

Yeah, ripping the kid apart would be easy.

Hope you don't hate Declan too much.  He's been too prone to follow Chris, his team captain--who might inspire the team to win with his 'we are the best' attitude, but has carried over that superiority complex over to feeling better than every other team/sport out there, especially ones they deem less than worthy.