“Johnny!” I hear Peanut and Norton yell out as we walk into the auto shop. While Johnny was talking with the other greasers about what happened, I walked out and looked at the school mascot. “Help! Help! Charlie!” I hear Petey yell out. I ran towards Harington House, since that’s where I heard the noise. I saw Derby, Gord, and another prep, I think his name was Bryce, berating Petey, who was stuck in a trash can. Petey was covered in yolk and pink paint, and looked to be crying. “Hey, get the hell away from him!” I shout, startling Derby. When Derby sees me, he chuckles. “What are you going to do about it?” He said to me, stepping towards me, and I realized how much taller he was. But I wasn’t just going to back down. “Fight!” I said, pushing him back, causing him to stumble and fall.
Derby swung his fist at my head, but I dodged it, and punched him in his cheek. He picked me up by my shirt, and flung me over by the door. Gord kicked my head, causing my nose to bleed and a cut to open up. I got up, and Derby got one last swing at me, causing me to twist and fall, my chin hurting before I even hit the pavement. “You will not escape the long-arm of the law!” I hear Max, who was my favorite prefect, yell out as he chased Derby and the others. I breathed heavily as I hear footsteps coming towards me. “Charlie…” I hear them say. Before I could see who it was, I blacked out. But it did sound an awful lot like Petey.
I woke up on one of the beds in a section of the auto shop, where Norton, Johnny, and the others slept. I could tell I was in Johnny’s bed, because of how big it was in comparison to the others, and there were only 8 beds in there. My head was hurting, and I didn’t want to move. I opened my eyes to see Pete and Johnny sitting on the edge of the bed. “How did I get here?” I said. I noticed Petey looked rather cleaner now. “When you were knocked out, Petey ran over to the auto shop and told me what happened. He tried his best to help, but Bryce had him in a chokehold.” I do remember seeing Petey being restrained by Bryce, I just didn’t see how. I sat up, as much as I didn’t want to, and rubbed my forehead. “How bad is it?” I asked Petey, who held up a mirror in response. I had some stitches near my temple. “Damn.” I said very casually, causing Johnny to laugh.
I was never with my clique as often anymore, and I soon heard that they enrolled a new unofficial leader of the furries. But because of this, I could spend even more time with Johnny and Petey now, discussing plans. We had many more plans to discuss.
Johnny and I sat at the edge of Pete’s bed while we were waiting for him to return with the sodas. The snow had started to fall heavier now, and it blocked the doors (since the prefects had to shovel and make walkways for teachers and others), but everyone who wanted to leave went through their windows. Pete came back in, and threw me a Beam Cola. “What are we going to do?” I asked them. “What do you mean, Charlie?” Johnny said to me, looking at me. “We can’t take on the preps ourselves. I’m too weak. I’ve tried to fight, and look where that got me.” I said, pointing to my face. “Yeah, and look at me. I have tried karate, and it doesn’t work, I’m still a wimp.” Petey said, sitting down and drinking his soda. “Well, then what will we do?” Johnny asked us. Petey and I just shrugged. “Hey, let’s not work up over this. Come on, it’s beautiful out there. Guys, get your gear, we’re heading out.” I said, putting my jacket, hat and gloves on, and leaving through the window. I got onto the back of Johnny’s bike and buckled in. Johnny and Petey came out and got on their bikes. “Alright, Ace, where we going?” Johnny said to me. “You’ll see.”
Johnny, Petey and I rode up to a house, and it looked so familiar. We were in Blue Skies Industrial Park. Johnny got off the bike, followed by Petey. “Where are we, Faye?” He said to me. “My house.” I replied to him.
“Uncle Chucky!” I yell out, knocking on the door. A few seconds later, my uncle, in his white T-shirt and ripped jeans, quickly opened up the door. “Charlie!” he said, hugging me. “Hi Chucky.” I said, hugging him back. “What brings you here, ducky?” Uncle Chucky said, and I could hear Johnny and Petey snickering behind me. I shot them a disapproving look. “I wanted to get some stuff from my room, if that’s okay.” I told him. “Go right in, champ.” He said. Before dad went to jail, he gave my Uncle Chucky the job of taking care of the house, ad he did a really good job at it. Johnny followed me to my room. “Ducky?” Johnny said, snickering. “That was what he used to call me when I was little. We had a pond in our backyard, and I had a duck as a pet.” When I walked into my room, I could see so many memories at once. There was a picture of me, my parents, and my brother, when I was a toddler. I picked up a backpack, put some stuff in it: the picture, a stuffed wolf toy, a purple fedora, and a small raccoon pillow. I finally went to my closet and went to get the things I came for.
“Is this your duck?” Johnny said, picking up a picture of a yellow duck. “Yeah, that’s him.” Johnny looked at him. “What was his name?” He asked me. “Mason.” I told him. “What happened to him?” He asked me, as he seemed to be pretty interested in my yellow water bird. “Some asshole threw a bear trap in the pond.” I told him. I took the picture and threw it in the bag. Right when I grabbed it, Petey walked into my room (as he was talking to Chucky). “Oh, I got it!” I said, taking out some sleds. We left the house and went to a gigantic snow hill, and reached the top. But Johnny was looking nervous.
“Oh right, the best fun!” Petey shouted, a smile going from ear to ear. Petey sat on my sled (as I only had two). Before we left, Johnny didn’t move, still looking nervous. “Johnny, what’s wrong?” I asked him. “I… I don’t know how to sled…” He said. “You’ve never sled before?” I said to him, kind of surprised. “My parents never had time to take me sledding, they were fighting against the murder charges.” I thought about that. Murder charges? The hell? I looked at him. “I’ll show you how, Johnny. It’s actually quite simple.” I said to him, and led him to his sled. “Just sit here.” He did so. “Are you ready?” I heard Petey step behind him. “Um, I don’t think I’m ready.” He said. “Too late!” Pete said, kicking the sled, causing it to speed down the hill. Petey hopped onto my sled and started speeding down the hill. “Oh my god!” Johnny yelled out, covering his eyes. I looked down, and saw someone in Johnny way. “Johnny, look out!” I shouted, steering our sled towards his. I grabbed the rope on Johnny’s sled and steered the sleds away from the person, causing us to fly out of the sleds. Johnny sat up quickly in the snow. “That was… awesome!” He shouted out. I looked over and saw Kirby, who was the person we tried to avoid. “Guys, what’s wrong with Kirby?” Petey asked us. “I don’t know, let’s go ask.”
“Hey Kirby, what’s up with you?” Johnny immediately asked. “What’s it to you losers? I’m fine.” He said to us. “Kirby, you’re at a giant snowy hill and you’re sitting here like someone already called it, now tell me, what’s wrong?” Kirby looked up at us, and motioned us to sit, so we did so. “Ted and the others have started hazing me again, and it’s been embarrassing. They jumped me in the shower, and splashed burning hot water at me. Everyone saw. I think Melody is still scarred.” I thought about it. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this.” I told him, and we left. I dropped off the sleds and headed back to the dorm, as it started getting dark out. We climbed through Petey’s window. Johnny headed off to his dorm, saying goodnight to us both. “Night, Petey. See you tomorrow.” I say to him. “Night Ducky.” He mutters. “What was that?” I ask. “Oh nothing.” He says to me, walking to his room. It was next to some boy who always had his girlfriend in there with him, and a leather jacket mounted on his wall. I was amazed at how he managed to get his girlfriend in there. Then again, no one watched the Boys Dorm anyways so I wasn’t too surprised. I climbed under my covers and fell asleep quickly.
“Good morning, kid.” I open my eyes instantly after hearing this, and I saw Johnny hovering over my head. “What?” I said, wearily. “Let’s go find out what’s wrong with Kirby. Let’s go get Pete.” He said to me, pulling me out. Johnny scanned me with his eyes when I got up. “Um, you should get dressed. The prefects will put their paddles to use if they see you.” I look up at him. “Why you looking down there, you big creep?” I say, jokingly as I put some clothes on. “Okay let’s get Petey.” I said to Johnny. “I’m already up.” Petey said, walking into my room. “Okay, let’s head down to the gym.” Johnny said, grabbing both mine and Petey’s arm.
“Hey, Ted!” Johnny called out once we got to the gym. The other jocks were nowhere to be found. I guess they were still in the dorms. Ted looked over at us. “What do you guys want?” He said to us, sounding upset. ‘What’s wrong, Ted?” Petey asked him. Ted sat down on the bleachers. “I’ve been feeling really guilty lately.” We all sat down next to him. “Guilty over what?” I asked him. “We’ve been berating Kirby so much lately, and it was because of anger.” He looked at us, with deep regret in his eyes. “Anger?” I asked him. “Yeah. I know Kirby’s been hiding something from us for years, and I just want to repair our relationship.” He said to us. “Don’t worry, Ted. We’ll help fix this.” Johnny said, dragging me and Petey by the arm again, as if we were toddlers.
“Kirby, we know how to fix you and Ted’s relationship! The berating will be no more!” Petey said excitedly when we reached Kirby’s house in Old Bullworth Vale, which was just a normal house, not a manor. “How do I do that?” He said, leaning against a wooden beam. He had a bath robe, and was holding a coffee cup filled with some type of juice. “You have to tell them you’re bisexual.” I told him. He looked over at me. “Faye, are you crazy? They’ll never let me hear the end of it and besides…” He trailed off. “And besides, what?” Johnny says to him. “And besides, I’m embarrassed. I’m the only jock who doesn’t want any girls here! I only want Trent…” He said to us. I stood right in front of him. “Look, Kirby. Being bi is nothing to be ashamed of! I’m bi and proud of it too! So come on, are you ready?” I said to him, putting out my hand. He grabbed it and said, “Let’s go,” with a smile, as a way of showing we made him feel better.
We walked towards the bleachers, where Damon and Ted were sitting, as they were discussing the game they had that night against another city. “Hey, Ted.” Kirby said to him, sitting down next to him. “We’ll leave you guys to it.” I told them, walking away with Johnny and Petey. “Do ya think it’ll work?” Johnny asked me, looking back as the other jocks joined Ted. “Johnny, the only Jesus freaks at this school is the Christians, if anything they are the most despised group on campus. The jocks wouldn’t stoop down to their level.” I tell him, and he nodded. Petey checked his watch. “Do you guys want to get some lunch?” He asked us. “Yeah, if it’s fine by you, Charlie.” Johnny said, looking my way. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We sat at a table in the lunchroom, eating something whipped up by Edna. One of the preps kept shooting me a look, but it didn’t seem angry. He looked… interested. We finished eating, and I head to class like usual. Art with Mrs. Philips. Kirby sat next to me in class. “That idea of telling them worked perfectly! They completely accepted me for who I was, and we haven’t gotten along this well!” He said to me, happily. Denny looked up at us, and shot us a disapproving look. “You two are going to Hell!” He said to us. I shot him an annoyed look. “As long as you’re not there!” I said, and continued my work. The class bell rang, and I left for my locker.
I opened my locker, and a note fell out. I read it. Meet me at Glass Jaw on Saturday. Make sure no one follows you. Meet me in the upstairs lounge. We have to talk. Sincerely, Justin. I stuffed the note in my pocket, and met up with Petey. We walked towards the auto shop, and Johnny walked out of Shop Class. “Hey, you guys head to your dorms, and get ready. The game is starting soon.” I told them, and we walked away. “Hey, Johnny, you still like us, right?” Peanut stopped us. “Of course I do! It’s just, I’ve been hanging out with you guys for years, and I just want to hang out with other people. Like remember when you temporarily parted from the group to hang out with the Nerds?” Johnny said, and Peanut nodded. “And besides, I have a feeling we’ll need you.”
I walked into the gym, unlike Petey and Johnny, and took a shower. I got dressed and met up with the others. I sat on the bleachers and watched the games. The game was very good, and we cheered the Bullhorns as they won the game. Ted walked up to us, and patted my shoulder. “Thank you guys. If there is anything you need from us, just tell us.” Petey nudged my shoulder, and said to Ted, “Hey, how about we go to The Happy Diner, you know, for a victory feast?” I nodded happily, and we all headed to the diner.
As we enjoyed our meal, a news story appeared on the screen. The lady was covering a story. “It has been said that it was not only Kenton Faye who murdered Ethan Johnson, and many others, but it was a group of people, including Zachary and Jennifer Vincent. If local police can’t find any evidence they didn’t committed the murders, they will be placed on Death Row. Coming up next…” I tuned out the rest of the news story. “That’s bullshit. Johnny, were those your parents?” I asked him. “Yeah, they were.” I sighed. “We can’t do anything about it until we take care of the preps. How long do the police have until they are placed on Death Row?” Petey asked us. “Until the end of the month. That’s twenty days from now.” We decided to stray from the topic, and we finished talking. When we finished, we all headed back to our dorms. It was Friday night, and I put together my boxing uniform. I decided while I’m at Glass Jaw I might as well gain some muscle.
Derby swung his fist at my head, but I dodged it, and punched him in his cheek. He picked me up by my shirt, and flung me over by the door. Gord kicked my head, causing my nose to bleed and a cut to open up. I got up, and Derby got one last swing at me, causing me to twist and fall, my chin hurting before I even hit the pavement. “You will not escape the long-arm of the law!” I hear Max, who was my favorite prefect, yell out as he chased Derby and the others. I breathed heavily as I hear footsteps coming towards me. “Charlie…” I hear them say. Before I could see who it was, I blacked out. But it did sound an awful lot like Petey.
I woke up on one of the beds in a section of the auto shop, where Norton, Johnny, and the others slept. I could tell I was in Johnny’s bed, because of how big it was in comparison to the others, and there were only 8 beds in there. My head was hurting, and I didn’t want to move. I opened my eyes to see Pete and Johnny sitting on the edge of the bed. “How did I get here?” I said. I noticed Petey looked rather cleaner now. “When you were knocked out, Petey ran over to the auto shop and told me what happened. He tried his best to help, but Bryce had him in a chokehold.” I do remember seeing Petey being restrained by Bryce, I just didn’t see how. I sat up, as much as I didn’t want to, and rubbed my forehead. “How bad is it?” I asked Petey, who held up a mirror in response. I had some stitches near my temple. “Damn.” I said very casually, causing Johnny to laugh.
I was never with my clique as often anymore, and I soon heard that they enrolled a new unofficial leader of the furries. But because of this, I could spend even more time with Johnny and Petey now, discussing plans. We had many more plans to discuss.
Johnny and I sat at the edge of Pete’s bed while we were waiting for him to return with the sodas. The snow had started to fall heavier now, and it blocked the doors (since the prefects had to shovel and make walkways for teachers and others), but everyone who wanted to leave went through their windows. Pete came back in, and threw me a Beam Cola. “What are we going to do?” I asked them. “What do you mean, Charlie?” Johnny said to me, looking at me. “We can’t take on the preps ourselves. I’m too weak. I’ve tried to fight, and look where that got me.” I said, pointing to my face. “Yeah, and look at me. I have tried karate, and it doesn’t work, I’m still a wimp.” Petey said, sitting down and drinking his soda. “Well, then what will we do?” Johnny asked us. Petey and I just shrugged. “Hey, let’s not work up over this. Come on, it’s beautiful out there. Guys, get your gear, we’re heading out.” I said, putting my jacket, hat and gloves on, and leaving through the window. I got onto the back of Johnny’s bike and buckled in. Johnny and Petey came out and got on their bikes. “Alright, Ace, where we going?” Johnny said to me. “You’ll see.”
Johnny, Petey and I rode up to a house, and it looked so familiar. We were in Blue Skies Industrial Park. Johnny got off the bike, followed by Petey. “Where are we, Faye?” He said to me. “My house.” I replied to him.
“Uncle Chucky!” I yell out, knocking on the door. A few seconds later, my uncle, in his white T-shirt and ripped jeans, quickly opened up the door. “Charlie!” he said, hugging me. “Hi Chucky.” I said, hugging him back. “What brings you here, ducky?” Uncle Chucky said, and I could hear Johnny and Petey snickering behind me. I shot them a disapproving look. “I wanted to get some stuff from my room, if that’s okay.” I told him. “Go right in, champ.” He said. Before dad went to jail, he gave my Uncle Chucky the job of taking care of the house, ad he did a really good job at it. Johnny followed me to my room. “Ducky?” Johnny said, snickering. “That was what he used to call me when I was little. We had a pond in our backyard, and I had a duck as a pet.” When I walked into my room, I could see so many memories at once. There was a picture of me, my parents, and my brother, when I was a toddler. I picked up a backpack, put some stuff in it: the picture, a stuffed wolf toy, a purple fedora, and a small raccoon pillow. I finally went to my closet and went to get the things I came for.
“Is this your duck?” Johnny said, picking up a picture of a yellow duck. “Yeah, that’s him.” Johnny looked at him. “What was his name?” He asked me. “Mason.” I told him. “What happened to him?” He asked me, as he seemed to be pretty interested in my yellow water bird. “Some asshole threw a bear trap in the pond.” I told him. I took the picture and threw it in the bag. Right when I grabbed it, Petey walked into my room (as he was talking to Chucky). “Oh, I got it!” I said, taking out some sleds. We left the house and went to a gigantic snow hill, and reached the top. But Johnny was looking nervous.
“Oh right, the best fun!” Petey shouted, a smile going from ear to ear. Petey sat on my sled (as I only had two). Before we left, Johnny didn’t move, still looking nervous. “Johnny, what’s wrong?” I asked him. “I… I don’t know how to sled…” He said. “You’ve never sled before?” I said to him, kind of surprised. “My parents never had time to take me sledding, they were fighting against the murder charges.” I thought about that. Murder charges? The hell? I looked at him. “I’ll show you how, Johnny. It’s actually quite simple.” I said to him, and led him to his sled. “Just sit here.” He did so. “Are you ready?” I heard Petey step behind him. “Um, I don’t think I’m ready.” He said. “Too late!” Pete said, kicking the sled, causing it to speed down the hill. Petey hopped onto my sled and started speeding down the hill. “Oh my god!” Johnny yelled out, covering his eyes. I looked down, and saw someone in Johnny way. “Johnny, look out!” I shouted, steering our sled towards his. I grabbed the rope on Johnny’s sled and steered the sleds away from the person, causing us to fly out of the sleds. Johnny sat up quickly in the snow. “That was… awesome!” He shouted out. I looked over and saw Kirby, who was the person we tried to avoid. “Guys, what’s wrong with Kirby?” Petey asked us. “I don’t know, let’s go ask.”
“Hey Kirby, what’s up with you?” Johnny immediately asked. “What’s it to you losers? I’m fine.” He said to us. “Kirby, you’re at a giant snowy hill and you’re sitting here like someone already called it, now tell me, what’s wrong?” Kirby looked up at us, and motioned us to sit, so we did so. “Ted and the others have started hazing me again, and it’s been embarrassing. They jumped me in the shower, and splashed burning hot water at me. Everyone saw. I think Melody is still scarred.” I thought about it. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this.” I told him, and we left. I dropped off the sleds and headed back to the dorm, as it started getting dark out. We climbed through Petey’s window. Johnny headed off to his dorm, saying goodnight to us both. “Night, Petey. See you tomorrow.” I say to him. “Night Ducky.” He mutters. “What was that?” I ask. “Oh nothing.” He says to me, walking to his room. It was next to some boy who always had his girlfriend in there with him, and a leather jacket mounted on his wall. I was amazed at how he managed to get his girlfriend in there. Then again, no one watched the Boys Dorm anyways so I wasn’t too surprised. I climbed under my covers and fell asleep quickly.
“Good morning, kid.” I open my eyes instantly after hearing this, and I saw Johnny hovering over my head. “What?” I said, wearily. “Let’s go find out what’s wrong with Kirby. Let’s go get Pete.” He said to me, pulling me out. Johnny scanned me with his eyes when I got up. “Um, you should get dressed. The prefects will put their paddles to use if they see you.” I look up at him. “Why you looking down there, you big creep?” I say, jokingly as I put some clothes on. “Okay let’s get Petey.” I said to Johnny. “I’m already up.” Petey said, walking into my room. “Okay, let’s head down to the gym.” Johnny said, grabbing both mine and Petey’s arm.
“Hey, Ted!” Johnny called out once we got to the gym. The other jocks were nowhere to be found. I guess they were still in the dorms. Ted looked over at us. “What do you guys want?” He said to us, sounding upset. ‘What’s wrong, Ted?” Petey asked him. Ted sat down on the bleachers. “I’ve been feeling really guilty lately.” We all sat down next to him. “Guilty over what?” I asked him. “We’ve been berating Kirby so much lately, and it was because of anger.” He looked at us, with deep regret in his eyes. “Anger?” I asked him. “Yeah. I know Kirby’s been hiding something from us for years, and I just want to repair our relationship.” He said to us. “Don’t worry, Ted. We’ll help fix this.” Johnny said, dragging me and Petey by the arm again, as if we were toddlers.
“Kirby, we know how to fix you and Ted’s relationship! The berating will be no more!” Petey said excitedly when we reached Kirby’s house in Old Bullworth Vale, which was just a normal house, not a manor. “How do I do that?” He said, leaning against a wooden beam. He had a bath robe, and was holding a coffee cup filled with some type of juice. “You have to tell them you’re bisexual.” I told him. He looked over at me. “Faye, are you crazy? They’ll never let me hear the end of it and besides…” He trailed off. “And besides, what?” Johnny says to him. “And besides, I’m embarrassed. I’m the only jock who doesn’t want any girls here! I only want Trent…” He said to us. I stood right in front of him. “Look, Kirby. Being bi is nothing to be ashamed of! I’m bi and proud of it too! So come on, are you ready?” I said to him, putting out my hand. He grabbed it and said, “Let’s go,” with a smile, as a way of showing we made him feel better.
We walked towards the bleachers, where Damon and Ted were sitting, as they were discussing the game they had that night against another city. “Hey, Ted.” Kirby said to him, sitting down next to him. “We’ll leave you guys to it.” I told them, walking away with Johnny and Petey. “Do ya think it’ll work?” Johnny asked me, looking back as the other jocks joined Ted. “Johnny, the only Jesus freaks at this school is the Christians, if anything they are the most despised group on campus. The jocks wouldn’t stoop down to their level.” I tell him, and he nodded. Petey checked his watch. “Do you guys want to get some lunch?” He asked us. “Yeah, if it’s fine by you, Charlie.” Johnny said, looking my way. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We sat at a table in the lunchroom, eating something whipped up by Edna. One of the preps kept shooting me a look, but it didn’t seem angry. He looked… interested. We finished eating, and I head to class like usual. Art with Mrs. Philips. Kirby sat next to me in class. “That idea of telling them worked perfectly! They completely accepted me for who I was, and we haven’t gotten along this well!” He said to me, happily. Denny looked up at us, and shot us a disapproving look. “You two are going to Hell!” He said to us. I shot him an annoyed look. “As long as you’re not there!” I said, and continued my work. The class bell rang, and I left for my locker.
I opened my locker, and a note fell out. I read it. Meet me at Glass Jaw on Saturday. Make sure no one follows you. Meet me in the upstairs lounge. We have to talk. Sincerely, Justin. I stuffed the note in my pocket, and met up with Petey. We walked towards the auto shop, and Johnny walked out of Shop Class. “Hey, you guys head to your dorms, and get ready. The game is starting soon.” I told them, and we walked away. “Hey, Johnny, you still like us, right?” Peanut stopped us. “Of course I do! It’s just, I’ve been hanging out with you guys for years, and I just want to hang out with other people. Like remember when you temporarily parted from the group to hang out with the Nerds?” Johnny said, and Peanut nodded. “And besides, I have a feeling we’ll need you.”
I walked into the gym, unlike Petey and Johnny, and took a shower. I got dressed and met up with the others. I sat on the bleachers and watched the games. The game was very good, and we cheered the Bullhorns as they won the game. Ted walked up to us, and patted my shoulder. “Thank you guys. If there is anything you need from us, just tell us.” Petey nudged my shoulder, and said to Ted, “Hey, how about we go to The Happy Diner, you know, for a victory feast?” I nodded happily, and we all headed to the diner.
As we enjoyed our meal, a news story appeared on the screen. The lady was covering a story. “It has been said that it was not only Kenton Faye who murdered Ethan Johnson, and many others, but it was a group of people, including Zachary and Jennifer Vincent. If local police can’t find any evidence they didn’t committed the murders, they will be placed on Death Row. Coming up next…” I tuned out the rest of the news story. “That’s bullshit. Johnny, were those your parents?” I asked him. “Yeah, they were.” I sighed. “We can’t do anything about it until we take care of the preps. How long do the police have until they are placed on Death Row?” Petey asked us. “Until the end of the month. That’s twenty days from now.” We decided to stray from the topic, and we finished talking. When we finished, we all headed back to our dorms. It was Friday night, and I put together my boxing uniform. I decided while I’m at Glass Jaw I might as well gain some muscle.