Goon - 10. Chapter 10

The unusual oceanic current being blamed for the vehemence of not only Hurricane Robert but the earlier Hurricane Sheila is beginning to dissipate. Scientists with the NOAA remain unable to explain what caused this current or why it is dissipating, but residents along the entire eastern seaboard are breathing a sigh of relief as Georgia, Florida and South Carolina all try to dig out from the twin disasters of those storms.

“Can you imagine what it must have been like to be back there?” Mike Stevenson, the tall but scrawny black-haired, black-clothes wearing Goth boy said as they stared at the television in Katy’s living room. Micah felt as out of place here as he had a few weeks ago, but could at least stand the company of these two. Mike wasn’t gay, but he’d admitted to fooling around a year ago with a friend who had moved away.

What worried Micah the most was that he was supposed to be heading back to Huntsville tomorrow, and his mother kept putting him off about a ride to the airport. He hadn’t been too hurt last week when Corey told him Kent Richards had been given the MAA spot, but Corey promised to make sure Kent put that suicide kid in with someone better than the homophobic bastard he’d have been with in the first place.

“God, I can’t believe summer’s over already.” Katy said with groan as she flipped the channels to find something else besides boring news. Micah was wearing the D&G tight shorts that Mrs. Howard had picked out to show off his leg muscles, and a bright blue t-shirt etched with silver logos from Milbruner, one of the newest designers in the market. So far no one had recognized any of his Milbruner clothes and he took satisfaction after a trip through the local malls that none of them even offered the brand. Then again, at nearly three hundred for just this shirt, he doubted many people would buy them.

“Did you paint those clothes on?” Mike asked him out of the blue as Micah stretched while staying seated on the couch. That brought a smile to his face. The clothes had been a little loose on him when he’d woken from the coma, but now he’d gained back all the muscle mass he’d lost. John had been nice enough to sign him up with a gym membership and Micah spent a few hours there nearly every day.

“He might as well have.” Katy said with a grin. “Then again, he has to keep pretty so his boyfriend doesn’t run off on him while he’s away.”

“No one will touch him.” Micah said confidently. “If they did, they’d have to answer to me.”

“God keep that from happening.” Mike said with a giggle, remembering the one time that a jock in the mall had tried to give him a bad time. Micah had just walked up behind the guy, tapped him in the shoulder and cocked his head to the side. The jock had stared at him, shouted a few things at him and when Micah didn’t respond, turned around and walked away. When Micah reached out and picked the powder blue NC cap off of the guy’s head, putting it on backwards, the guy had almost protested. Then he’d taken a look at Micah’s face and turned away for good.

Micah still wore the cap, backwards, to cover the unruly mop that was his blond hair.

“Jesus H Christ!” Katy yelped as the Battle Hymn of the Republic sounded over Micah’s phone. He sighed before fishing it out of his shorts pocket and frowned. He’d hated giving his mother the number, but laughed to himself every time she griped about having to call long distance to get her own son. Part of him was surprised that she hadn’t bought him another phone just to make a point.

“Who is that?” Mike asked.

“His mother.” Katy said with a snort. She had lost any respect for Micah’s mother two weeks ago. Strangely enough, John Sr. had become Micah’s second favorite person at home while John Jr. stayed fix firmly in first.

“Hello?” Micah said as he answered the phone right before it went to voicemail. He liked making the point of having her wait until just before it went to voicemail. The one time she’d gone to voicemail, by accident, she’d griped about it for two days. When he waited until the last second, it made her get angrier and angrier so she was near to losing it by the time she answered. He felt guilty every time, but she’d pushed him to the point where he didn’t think even a true gentleman would have stayed restrained.

“You can answer it sooner.” She sniped at him.

“Yes, I could.” Micah agreed and was pleased at the huff on the other side of the phone. He’d won as many fights with her as he lost, toeing the line just barely at times.

“You have an appointment at three.” She told him and he frowned, looking at the clock on a wall nearby. It was just approaching two.

“With whom?” Micah asked politely.

“It doesn’t fucking matter with whom, you need to come home this minute!” She snapped and he held the phone away from his ear. Mike’s eyes were wide.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, ma’am.” Micah said in a polite, almost pleasant tone. It was enjoyable achieving victories like this and he could afford to be gracious. He hung up the phone before she could ruin her victory with more expletives.

“No wonder they had to send you to military school.” Mike said with those wide eyes that would look a lot better without eyeliner. “You’re a vicious, mean bastard.”

“Vicious and mean are redundant when used together like that.” Micah said gently.

“He can correct my homework this year.” Katy said in a joking tone and Micah stare at her. The guilty look that crossed her face told him all he needed to know.

“Out with it.” He spat, holding his temper in by a decent margin. Over all Katy had been good with him.

“I’m so sorry.” Katy said with a frown. “I should have told you earlier, but I thought maybe you’d talked them out of it.”

“Out of what?” Micah asked.

“The day they went to pick you up, I heard your mom and dad talking about taking you out of the military school and put you in the same school we go to now.” She said in a rush the way she did all the time now.

“This week’s the appointments with the guidance counselors.” Mike added for Micah’s benefit. “We have to talk to them to verify our classes and stuff.”

“That fucking bitch.” Micah let loose with his anger for a moment as he felt the world sinking out from under him. He almost wished for the white light to come again, but it had faded ever since he’d woken from the coma and passed that message along to Dr. Zebel. That had been the more important message anyway.

“Don’t be mad at me.” Katy grimaced, shrinking away from him.

“I’m not going to tear you apart.” Micah growled, putting his hand on the back of her neck and watching her shrink. Mike looked nervous in his seat and might have done something except Micah’s gaze pinned him where he was. They needed to learn to trust him, especially if he ended up stuck here. “Next time, be my friend first though, and tell me when you know something big like this.”

“I needed the baby sitting money.” Katy protested. “They’d have badmouthed me to the other parents in the area.”

“I can be subtler than that.” Micah told her. “I’d have just kept mentioning I’m going back to Huntsville until she broke and told me I wasn’t going. Then she’d have never suspected you.”

“I keep forgetting you’re not as stupid as you look.” Katy said as he squeezed her neck muscles gently. She smiled at the friendly touch and he stood up. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ve got two days to change her mind.” Micah said. “It’s a good thing I’ve got friends to help me with that. No, don’t look like that, I’m not talking about either of you.”

“Dude, if I had your family I’d have gone crazy years ago.” Mike said with a shake of his head.

“You have no idea what it’s like.” Micah said with a smile, making a smart about-face and walking out the door. He had ten minutes and forty seconds left to get home, and set off at a light jog. His phone was out of his pocket as he jogged, and ringing.

“Hey you.” Corey’s voice held that sadness to it and now he knew where it had come from over the last few days.

“What are your parents doing to change this situation?” Micah demanded.

“They’ve already offered a full-ride scholarship to the Academy without our names attached to it, but your mom refused.” Corey answered at once. “I wanted to tell you, but Mom and Dad forbade it until we know for sure. There are still a few days.”

“She’s made an appointment for me with the local shit hole school.” Micah said with fury and cut his pace as he had sped up with the anger. He wanted to arrive right on time.

“I’m sorry.” Corey said. “I wish we could stop this, but she’s your mother.”

“I love you.” Micah said into the phone.

“If you don’t get her to change her mind, you know I’ll wait for you, right?” Corey asked in a weak voice. “I mean, now that I’ve got you, I won’t be doing what I did last year, even if you aren’t there.”

“Corey, if I had any doubt in you, we would never have gotten together.” Micah said, happy to hear the sigh from him over the phone.

“You sound like you’re running.” Corey said to change the subject.

“I’m jogging home to have the confrontation.” Micah said as his house came into sight.

“I love you.” Corey said.

“I love you too.” Micah said and then stopped in his tracks. “Can you have your father send me an email with his recommendations for local attorneys? If I sell enough of the stuff your mom bought me I can probably swing a retainer.”

“I’ll one-up you on that and tell him to use my savings for the retainer.” Corey said and then before Micah could protest. “You’d do the same for me if the situation was reversed.”

“I would.” Micah agreed. Mr. Howard had told him once that in a relationship between equals, everyone had to learn to accept help when they were in need. It was time to put that lesson into effect.

“I’ll call him now.” Corey promised. “He’s at those labs with those crazy guys.”

“Okay.” Micah said, not wanting to think about that just yet. “Talk to you after it’s over.”

“Gotchya.” Corey said and ended the call. Micah hated being the one to hang up and was relieved when Corey did it for him. He managed to reach the front door right at the fifteen minute mark and went inside after taking a deep breath. Sure enough his mother was standing there in the hallway with Gina in her arms and a furious look on her face.

“It took you long enough.” She snapped at him. “Where is Katy? She’s supposed to watch the kids while we go.”

“She’ll be here I’m sure.” Micah said. “We’ve got time until we have to leave.”

“You’re taking this well.” She spat at him. “I expected you’d be here yelling to go back to your buttfucking boyfriend.”

“It does no one any good to yell and scream, and cuss, in front of children.” Micah said with a direct look at Gina. She was such a quiet kid, always watching what went on around her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she grew up to be a serial killer or the greatest psychologist since Sigmund Freud.

“How dare you try to throw this all back on me!” She demanded angrily. “You always want to make me out to be the devil!”

“I have no need to make you out to be the devil when you do that quite well on your own.” Micah said. “Now do you want me to stand here and take your verbal abuse or should I go wait in my room until you are ready to go?”

“Get out of here!” She yelled and then as he began to go up the stairs she waited at the foot of them and yelled some more. “I’m not verbally abusing you!”

“Whatever.” He muttered under his breath so she wouldn’t hear and trudged into his room. His laptop was still safely stowed in its drawer, under the very wonderful and perfect t-shirts he had stashed there, and he turned it on. There was always a game of Freecell loaded on the screen and they thought he spent hours in his room just playing cards. The house did not have Wifi and so they thought he had no internet access.

They didn’t know about the pre-installed 4G modem that was prepaid by Mr. Howard and gave him access anywhere he could get a cell signal. It had been arranged so he could answer questions for Dr. Zebel as they arose, and of course for the chat sessions with Corey, and even the two times they’d dared to have webcam sex. That had been fun, and Micah certainly hoped they’d continue to get away with it if they were indeed separated for the school year, but he was not going to retreat from this fight. His mother was going to find out just how much of a bastard he could be now.

“You mad at me?” Katy’s voice from the doorway announced he was no longer alone and he hit the send button before replying. As soon as the email was sent he closed down the lid of the laptop and got up to put it away. Katy was waiting for an answer with a worried look on her face. When he’d finished putting the laptop away he stood up straight and smiled at her.

“Not in the least, Katy.” He assured her.

“Oh good.” She said. “I’d hate to think I’d pissed you off. You’ve been great to me and my friends and…”

“Calm down.” He told her, going to stand in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I take it it’s time to go?”

“Your mother’s waiting downstairs.” She said with a sigh. He nodded and left his room without a backwards glance. John Jr. tried to tackle him at the stairs and he smiled while peeling the tyke off his legs.

“Can we play catch?” John asked him.

“Sorry bud, I’ve got to go and see the school guidance counselor.” Micah said, giving his mother a direct look as he spoke to John.

“Okay, but we play when we get back.” John said and Micah gave him a high five in promise.

“He adores you.” Micah’s mother said as they walked out the front door and towards her little Focus. She had only been working part time at the day spa and Micah thought that was far too much time for her to meddle in his life. “I’m sure he’ll love having his big brother around all year long.”

“Right up until I take his room because it is the bigger room and was mine first.” Micah said, interested in seeing her reaction.

“You’ll take the room we give you.” She snapped as she got in the car. He got in the passenger side and smiled.

“At least this way, I’ll be able to get my license and you can get me a car with all the money you’re saving on tuition.” Micah said and she frowned again.

“I know what you’re doing and it won’t work.” She said.

“What am I doing?” Micah put on his innocent face. There were rules for gentlemanly behavior and then there was the Art of War in dealing with enemies. She had crossed the line from nuisance to enemy with this trick.

“You’re trying to make me see it as too much of an inconvenience to have you here all year.” She said.

“It’s okay.” Micah said. “Corey and I talked and we’ll see each other on summer breaks. That was the deal you made with the Howards, right? If you hadn’t made a deal with them, they would have warned me.”

“I might have told them if they didn’t warn you or try to stop me that I’d let you visit their faggot next summer for a few weeks.” She said. “But you have to behave. Oh, and I’ll take that phone of yours.”

“If I hand over this phone, I’ll just be on the first train out of this town.” Micah said with a steady voice.

“They’ll find you when they search his house in Georgia.” She threatened.

“I’m a big boy, mom.” Micah said with a grin. “I’m cute too. It won’t be hard to get lost in a big city like LA or maybe New York and earn a living on the streets for just shy of two years. Then I can hook up with Corey again when I’m eighteen.”

“They’ll track you by that phone.” She spat at him. They really didn’t need to drive to the school. It was close enough they could have walked, if she wasn’t so lazy.

“I’ll hand over the phone to you first, mother.” Micah promised. “It’ll just be the last order I follow from you.”

“You think you know everything, don’t you?” She spat. “You’re as much of an idiot as your father.”

“Which one?” Micah asked, and then stopped. “No, mother, forget that I asked that.”

“Why?” She demanded warily.

“What I was about to say was too hurtful to say even to an enemy.” Micah said with a sigh, looking out the window as they parked in the parking lot. His mother stared at him with narrow eyes. “What?”

“What did you call me?” She demanded.

“I called you my enemy.” Micah said calmly. “It’s what you are.”

“I’m your mother and I’m doing what I think is best for you.” She said angrily. “One day you will thank me for this.”

“One day I will turn eighteen and I will never have to look at you or speak to you again.” Micah said calmly. He took the phone out of his pocket and tossed it to her. “You know what, you can take that phone. Take whatever you want, because the day I turn eighteen, I will walk out of your house, out of your life and I will never acknowledge you exist again.”

“You don’t mean that.” She said with a horrified look on her face. Micah just smiled at her, but made sure his eyes stayed empty of all emotion.

“I will be the perfect son.” Micah told her. “You tell me to date a girl, I’ll date her. You tell me to fuck her so everyone thinks I’m straight, I’ll do that too. You tell me to pretend the Howards don’t exist, that’s fine. You’re right, until I’m eighteen you have control. Well fine, I’ll be a good little boy and do exactly what you say, and every second of the day you will know that no matter how much I obey you, I will hate your guts and the day I turn eighteen, I will walk out of your life forever. Now what are your orders, ma’am?”

“Your appointment is with your guidance counselor.” She spat at him, her eyes weighing him, measuring him as if trying to see if he was bluffing. Apparently she had decided to call his bluff. “Go in there and see him and get yourself a schedule for school.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Micah said, opening the door and walking out. He felt like he was tearing himself apart, but he realized this really was the best way. Before he gave up his computer he would email Corey and let him know he’d changed his mind about the lawyer and about his plan. If Corey really did love him, he’d wait for Micah. If he didn’t, well then Micah would move on with his life.

There were kids walking around the school as he entered, and he saw a couple of geeks hanging around the school office and a group of girls tittering in a corner of the hallway, all wearing cheerleading outfits. A couple of guys were on ladders near them, hanging up big back-to-school banners. With a smile painted on his face, he walked up to the prettiest of the girls, all of whom were all staring at him.

“Excuse me.” He said pleasantly.

“Oh hi!” The girl said in a ditzy voice, posing so her over-sized chest was practically in his face. He plastered a goofy smile on his face and stared at the tits like he was interested in them.

“Um, yeah, office?” He pretended to stammer, finally letting his eyes travel back to her pretty face. She’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker. There was a big smile on her face.

“I’m Sherry and I can take you there.” She said in a bright cheery voice.

“I’ll bet on that.” He said with an answering smile that made her blush. This was his first time doing this and he was surprised at how easy it was.

“Hey!” An aggrieved male voice called out and he looked up at the nearest ladder to see the blond jock whose powder blue hat he was wearing. “That’s my hat you fucker!”

“Actually the name’s Micah.” He said and held out his elbow to the cheerleader who smiled even wider and took it.

“Hey!” The jock yelled out as he stumbled off the ladder. “That’s my girlfriend!”

“Damn, looks like I’m two for two.” Micah called out over his shoulder and Sherry giggled at him.

“You’re the guy that took his hat?” She asked him with a laugh. “He said it was some Army guy who looked like he was going to go psycho on him in the mall.”

“I’ve spent the last two years in a military school.” Micah said with a smile as he patted the hand that was resting in the crook of his elbow. “They had a few assholes like that there. They sure didn’t have anything as pretty as you there, though.”

“You must have been so hard up.” She laughed. “So, um, what grade are you?”

“I’ll be a junior.” Micah told her.

“Damn, I’m a senior.” She said with a frown.

“Well, I can see the office just ahead.” Micah told her. “You can go back with the chicken shit senior if you want.”

“Do you have a car?” She asked him.

“Nope, just a big fat dick.” He told her with a wink and she giggled again. It was annoying but he pretended to enjoy it.

“What’s your name?” She asked him.

“Micah Jason Tinker.” Micah said with a smile, making a decision at the last minute and then almost regretting it. “Actually the last name’s Jericho, but I recently found out the man I called Dad wasn’t my real father. My real father’s a murderer currently serving life in prison for killing a kid in this very high school, but my folks never told me until this year.”

“Oh, well, um, I’ll see you around, Micah.” She said, suddenly very nervous. Micah just smiled at her and waited until she’d disappeared down the hall before finishing the trip to the office.

This was going to be so much fun.

It became even more fun when he met his guidance counselor, who immediately frowned over his transcripts and looked back up at Micah sitting across from him in the closet he had for an office. Mr. Gerald was balding, thin, and wore an actual tweed sport coat. His mouth opened and closed several times as he looked over Micah’s file.

“Don’t worry I’m not going to pull Tinker.” Micah said.

“Pardon me?” The man said with an owl-like blink.

“It probably doesn’t say it in those files.” Micah said with his best doofus expression on his face. “My father was Mark Tinker who murdered a kid in this school his senior year. I know I came close to living up to that reputation during my early years, but my time at Huntsville cured me of the homicidal tendencies. I’ll save that for when I join the Army and they give me a gun. Then I can kill all the time and not have to worry about ending up in prison like my real father.”

“Oh, um, it is good you don’t want to kill anyone in this school.” The man said after several more owl-like blinks. “I’m afraid we do not have similar courses to some of those you took last year.”

“What, you mean this school doesn’t have a course in Military Tactics of the Great Generals?” Micah said in mock horror. “Whatever will I do?”

“How about Ancient Civilizations?” The man asked. “What do you intend to do after high school?”

“I know I’m a little slow, but didn’t I already say I wanted to go in the Army and kill ragheads?” Micah asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. “I know, maybe I should take a mechanics course too, in case I have to fix something in the field. That’s always a good skill to have.”

“Yes, auto shop.” The man said a little weakly. Micah could get into this whole intimidating thing. It was all-out warfare, and unfortunately this school was going to be part of the battleground between himself and his mother. He remained silent as the man scribbled on a notepad and looked several things up in his computer. There were more frowns. “There’s a problem.”

“What is that?” Micah asked.

“These courses are equivalent to our AP college courses.” The man said with a flick of his finger to the transcripts. Micah’s eyebrows rose in surprise at that. “You have just barely a 3.0 GPA which is high enough to guarantee placement in our AP classes. The only problem is they conflict with auto shop.”

“Oh well, no auto shop for me, I guess.” Micah said with a shrug, hoping it didn’t ruin the image he was trying to project. “I’ll just find some other way to bend metal into shape?”

“Uh, have you tried out for the football team?” The man asked. “It might be the perfect way to work off some anxiety.”

“I’m not anxiety.” Micah said, purposely mangling the sentence.

“No, well, I mean, any excess energy you might have.” The man said with another gulp. Maybe Micah had toned up the intimidation a little too much. He didn’t want to make the man piss his pants. “I heard Coach Calder saying he needed more young men on his team. Have you ever played football?”

“Not really, but I’ll give it a go.” Micah said and then frowned. “Do they practice early or something?”

“Yes, here, let me write a note to the Coach and you can go see him while I fix your schedule.” Mr. Gerald said with a nervous look on his face. He wondered if it would be the end of the semester before they begged his mother to send him somewhere else, all without him breaking a single rule. “I am sure Coach will have forms for your parents, I mean your mother to sign. When you’re done, come back here for your schedule.”

“Sure thing.” Micah said with a smile, hopping up and leaving the room with such speed the doors slammed into the wall. He didn’t hear breaking glass so he kept on walking, whistling a marching song under his breath as he made his way to the gym, wherever that was.

Maybe he’d find the owner of the blue cap and get directions from him.