A Strange Start to a Friendship - 7. A Missing Lineman, and One More Step Taken

Practice ended, and I looked for Craig after I showered, but he was nowhere to be found. I wanted to ask him what he said to Ian. I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow. Being a senior, Craig didn’t share any classes with me; lunch either.

Tuesday

Practice started and no Craig Mathis, and no Ian Garlington either. Craig finally showed up, twenty minutes late.

“Sorry I’m late coach.”

“Not too late to run laps. You see Garlington on your mini-vacation?”

“Yes. I did. I’d just come out of the school to come down here, and he was lying on the ground next to his bike. He said he was gonna ride it down here like he usually does. He said he lost his balance going over the curb and fu… messed his arm up pretty good. I think it was broken. He was really hurting, so I walked his bike home for him.”

“Sounds like a feeble excuse. Two laps. If I hear anything differently, I’ll tack four onto your next punishment. Get moving.”

“Yes, coach.”

I’m not sure the coach believed his excuse, and I know for sure I didn’t. It wouldn’t surprise me, however, if Ian was indeed sporting a cast on an arm tomorrow. A cast on a broken arm influcted by a curb named Craig. After practice, Craig undressed next to me.

I spoke quietly since there were plenty of ears around. “What did you do to him, really?”

“Like I told coach, he fell off his bike.”

“Sell any bridges lately? Because you sure aren’t selling me that story.”

“I’m serious. He fell off his bike. I helped him.”

He walked away with a smug look on his face, trying hard not to laugh. He helped Ian alright. Helped him fall off his bike. Funny though, he didn’t exactly lie.

Cory was waiting outside the locker room for me to drive us home. He waited until we got to my car before he asked the question that had to be bugging him since Craig showed up late.

“What did Craig say he did?”

“He stuck with the ‘Ian fell off his bike’ story. But he said it in a way that could be interpreted as he helped him fall. How would you take this? ‘He fell off his bike. I helped him.’”

“Sounds like the same way you did. Craig pushed him. I guess he’s safe from his extra penalty laps as long as Ian doesn’t rat him out.”

“True, and I suspect there was a threat of a second broken arm if he squeals. Or worse.”

After a moment Cory started laughing. I wasn’t sure why. I had to wait a couple minutes until he settled down.

“What was so funny about that?”

“I got a picture in my head of Ian trying to wipe his ass with two broken arms.”

He started laughing again. There was no way I could avoid joining him. Ian did show up with one cast on Wednesday. His story backed up Craig’s, but it was just as hard to believe as Craig’s was.

When I pulled up to the house, Roger was kicking a soccer ball around with the twins. I guess if he told Daniel no, it didn’t make a difference. He confirmed that was the case later that evening. I actually felt proud of him for sticking to his principles.

Friday

The rest of the week went quietly. I think all the guys that picked on Cory for probably being gay didn’t believe the story either. Between my helping the first four morons into juvie, and Craig probably responsible for Ian’s broken arm, their fear caused them to leave him alone. I still had no idea who the “goon brothers” as Craig called them were, but word was they, and Ted Marks got sixty days. Stellars wasn’t so lucky. His pulling the knife got him until his eighteenth birthday, which in two summers.

Once again, Cory’s mom had to spend this weekend at her mother’s. So Cory was staying over again. But first came another game. It turned out to be my best of the season.

The game started slow, both teams punting after a small number of plays. We got one first down before our punt though. I had one tackle on their series, but didn’t get a touch on offense. Their second possession was even worse, thanks to yours truly. I stuffed a run to their left for a three-yard loss. After a two yard gain up the middle, third and long had them passing. We covered their players pretty well, but I got faked out a bit and their halfback got open. One of our linemen tipped the ball. It went off-target and came right to me. I caught it and had nobody between me and the end zone. Touchdown. Seven-zip, for the good guys.

I ended up with tackles or pass defenses on each of the next four of their possessions. So, for their first six possessions, I had five tackles, a pass defense and an interception. We’d built a twenty to zero score by then. They avoided me as much as they could the rest of the game. I still got three more tackles. They chipped away with short runs and passes and scored once in the third quarter, but by then it was all but over. We won thirty-nine to seven. Jerry Blaine did a fair job as kicker, getting the extra point on three of his six tries. I also ran the ball nine times for sixty-one yards. My best outing as a running back as well. Caught my first pass of the season, from our quarterback anyway. It was a two-yard dump-off because no one else was open. I was already surrounded when I caught the high pass. I wasn’t going any further.

After dinner, Cory and I watched a movie with the family. I thought heading to my bedroom too early would cause a little too much suspicion. But we had all weekend.

Saturday

Roger slept over at the twins house Saturday night, and mom and dad took the opportunity to go out for a nice long dinner alone. Cory and I went out for pizza, but we didn’t take very long. By the time my parents got home, Cory and I had both given the other a cream-like dessert twice. In addition to that, we experimented with rimming. We’d showered just beforehand, but neither of us was very impressed with the process, either giving or getting. We decided we wouldn’t be doing that again, but at least tried it anyway.

The days went by quickly. Soon enough it was Halloween. The Saturday night just before Halloween, Craig Mathis threw a party, costumes optional. For the most part it was players on the football team and their dates. There were a few non-football friends of Craig’s as well. The Mathis’ had a huge great room. With nearly forty kids there, it was needed. Cory and I went together, but as far as everybody else knew, we went stag. At least that’s what we thought.

It was about ninety minutes into the party when Jerry Blaine asked a question a little too loudly and with a lot of bad timing. One song had just ended, and a quiet one was starting.

“So, do you guys consider yourselves boyfriends yet?”

It seemed everybody was looking at us. Craig was close enough to the stereo to turn the volume down quickly. After the music stopped, it didn’t just seem like it, everybody WAS looking at us. Neither one of us had answered before some girl I didn’t know turned up the heat.

“Come on. Everybody knows there’s something going on between you two. Is it true? Are you boyfriends?”

I looked at Cory. I figured being small, he had more to lose if this turned ugly. I shrugged, giving him an ‘it’s up to you’ look.

After taking a deep breath, Cory said, “we never put a label on it, but yeah, we’re together.”

The loudest sound in the room for the next eternity, or at least what felt like an eternity, but wasn’t more than five seconds, was shuffling feet.

I still don’t know who it was, but someone said, “cool.”

Ironically, that ‘cool’ broke the ice. A bunch of comments followed. Mostly variations of ‘cool,’ but I heard a ‘that took balls’ from someone. Nobody said anything negative, but you could feel some discomfort in the air. Craig spoke up.

“I feel the tension. If anybody has a problem with that, you’re free to leave. I for one, am not going to tolerate anything negative being said or done. These two guys are my good friends. Roy is a star on our team. Cory’s the team manager, officially. Unofficially, he an assistant coach, and a damn good one. I hope everybody on the team agrees with me.”

It sure sounded like it, based on the overlapping yeahs, yeses, a damn straight, a fuck yeah, and a fucking A. I thought the damn straight was pretty funny. Then a quiet, ‘we’re leaving. Let’s go.’ It was one of the backup receivers on the team, Bruce Plough, and I guess it was his girlfriend that was with him. She obviously didn’t want to leave. She finally pulled her arm away, and Bruce left alone. I figured he just became like Cory and me. He didn’t have a girlfriend either.

The party started back up. I got a bunch of back slaps, Cory got fist bumps, and we both even got some air kisses from a couple of the girls. Jerry Blaine decided to be a wise ass. He jokingly said he didn’t have to worry about me hitting on him anymore because I had Cory. So, it wasn’t only a Halloween party. It was a coming out party as well. I only hoped the shockwaves that will ripple through the school don’t kill us. They didn’t kill us, but I came damn close to killing someone.

Monday

Both Cory and I were nervous walking into school. Day one of school after coming out was a terrifying concept. I wasn’t afraid for myself too much, there weren’t too many people in the school I would be afraid of. As long as they weren’t holding a weapon. Cory, on the other hand was more vulnerable to physical attacks. I suppose both of us could be hit with emotional attacks, but I could just turn it physical and have the advantage.

As we split up, I said “head to a bathroom and lock yourself in a stall, then text me if there’s anybody or anything you can’t handle.”

“But we’re not allowed to use our phones in school.”

“If you’re alone in a bathroom stall, who’s going to know?”

“But you’ll get in trouble.”

“Minor detail. Anybody tries to stop me, I’ll tell them I’m on a rescue mission, shut up and help.”

“You’re gonna say ‘shut up and help’ to a teacher?”

“If you’re in trouble, hell yeah.”

“I hope nobody causes anything.”

“Me too. But I’m not going to let you suffer if they do. Let’s get to our classes, the bell is about to ring.”

I made sure my phone was set to vibrate. If I had to move quickly it will be disrupting enough, having the phone actually ring might be a bit much. Every change of classes, I was focused on my phone, making sure I wouldn’t miss a call. I also kept my eyes open for Cory. His bright blond hair is hard to miss.

Between third and fourth periods, I didn’t need a call. I saw two guys escorting Cory into a boys room. One of them was the asshole from the party, Bruce Plough. I didn’t recognize the other one, but that didn’t matter. There were lots of kids in the way, so it took me a good fifteen or twenty seconds to get to the bathroom. Maybe even a little bit more.

I opened the door, and obviously one of the guys wasn’t looking that way.

“You’ll go back out in the hall if you know what’s good for you.”

By that time I was all the way in. Bruce was facing mostly away from me. The other one was looking down with his hands on Cory’s shoulders, keeping him on his knees. Bruce was in front of Cory with his pants hanging off his ass, the front obviously open..

They heard me coming. The other kid looked up and said, “oh fuck.”

I walked up behind Bruce, picked him up and threw him at the opening to a stall. The other guy had let go of Cory’s shoulders and raised his arms to protect his face. That wasn’t where I planned on aiming anyway. I threw a low punch and hit him in the nuts. Down he went.

“Did Bruce get his dick in your mouth?”

Cory just nodded. Just in case Bruce had a hair trigger, I hesitantly asked another.

“Did he cum yet?”

He shook his head no. I turned to the stall where Bruce was struggling to get up and punched him in the face. Blood spurted from his nose. I grabbed Cory’s hand, and helped him up.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

“W-where?”

“To the office. I have to tell them what happened so they can come clean up these two piles of shit.”

We were going to be late for class, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was pissed off and someone was going to get arrested and it wasn’t me. We walked into the office.

“There are two injured boys in the bathroom in the three hundred wing. Someone needs to call the cops.”

The vice principal came running out of his office.

“What’s going on here? Why aren’t you boys in class?”

“As I just said to this nice lady, there are two boys in the three hundred wing bathroom that require medical attention and a pair of handcuffs.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Bruce Plough and one of his friends were forcing Cory here to fellate Bruce.”

I couldn’t tell if the shock on the VP’s face was disbelief or confusion.

“You do know what that means, don’t you?”

Stammering, he didn’t exactly answer the question, but I knew he got the message. He looked at Cory and asked, “is this true?” Once again, Cory could only nod, he was still trembling from the attack.

“Miss Willard, call the nurse to have her check on those two boys. Are you going to file a complaint?”

I was calming down a little, but his stupidity raised my blood pressure.

“What part of they need handcuffs didn’t you understand? They were forcing Cory to perform a sex act. I’d rather go back and finish beating the shit out of them, to be honest.”

“Okay. Calm down, come sit in my office while I call. Mr. Blanco, please accompany Ms. Willard and make sure the boys don’t leave.”

“Yes sir.”

Apparently Blanco was some sort of school security. We followed the VP, whose name I still didn’t know, into his office and sat down. I started to calm down and realized I was still holding Cory’s hand. He was grabbing mine tightly, so I knew not to let go.

Next up - "Flashing Lights and an Announcement"