This is the chapter in which I do horrible, unspeakable things to Tom. Though I'm not the first to do such. But I'm sure I'll be the first to do other horrible things to him. It's a good thing Tom Hanson and Doug Penhall are fictional characters; otherwise they'd likely kill me for all the things I'm going to do. And I'm sure the other characters would kill me, too.

Chapter Two

That night I found it virtually impossible to sleep. If all my tossing and turning kept Doug awake, he was kind enough not to say anything. But knowing how deeply Doug can sleep-considering the night I stayed at his place, got up at three o' clock in the morning and made enough noise to wake the dead and he didn't budge-it probably didn't faze him. I was so restless, I was both happy and terrified that tomorrow was Saturday. Happy that I wouldn't have class to fall asleep in and terrified because Doug would be gone most of the day. It was so absurd to me to feel that way. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen, whether or not Doug was here. I guess I just felt safer with him around.

I fell asleep sometime before dawn and was awoken at eight by Doug to let me know he was leaving for his fieldtrip. I gave him a groggy good-bye and fell back asleep. Waking on my own around eleven, I decided to stay in my room until lunch. I didn't have anything I wanted to do before then and practice wasn't until three. Practice. The mere thought of it sent chills down my spine.

There are few things worse than knowing something terrible is going to happen to either you or someone you love and knowing there is nothing you can do to stop it.

As I changed my clothes I realized how much I was shaking. I had to calm myself down before I left my room. The last thing I needed was people asking me if I was okay. I couldn't think of a really good lie to use. At least not one that was believable.

I took a deep breath. "Compose yourself, Thomas."

Regaining my composure, I headed down to the dining hall for lunch. Though I remained a little skittish, no one seemed to take notice.

At lunch, I didn't talk to anyone. Nor did I eat much. And with an hour and a half before practice, I headed back up to my dorm. Collapsing on my bed, staring at the ceiling, every possible scenario of what Harrison might do to me began flashing through my mind. My bed suddenly felt like it was vibrating. I lifted my hand into my line of sight. It was me, not my bed.

"This is ridiculous," I said aloud, sitting up. "Okay, so the guy's a perv. Doesn't mean he's gonna do anything." And now I was pacing, talking to myself. "Of course, that doesn't mean he's not gonna do anything. What…am I magnet for perverts now?" I flopped down onto Doug's bed, starting to feel nauseous. "Man, this sucks."

I couldn't skip out on practice. Glancing at the clock, I groaned. There was still an hour till practice. So I grabbed my book off the nightstand. The Chronicles of Narnia. Maybe Aslan could help me out.

I was eight chapters in to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when I noticed the time. Two forty three. Trying to get off Doug's bed a little too fast, my brain, wanting to take revenge on me for jarring it-even though slightly-decided that my face should meet the floor. That really hurt. I had no time to deal with the pain, though. If I didn't get moving I was going to be late. And that would not bode well for me. Not that being on time would make a difference.

I had never been so scared in my life.

There was a spirit of terror filling me as I ran to the gym and into the locker room. Fortunately, when I got there, everyone was still changing. I was sure Harrison had seen me come in late. Yeah…I was in for it. Big time.

"Cuttin' it a little close there, are ya, Tommy."

Colin Ruskin, a student from Scotland. Someone else I had become friends with.

"Wouldn't be the first time," I said, putting my equipment on as fast as I could.

Then came the bellowing voice of Coach Harrison. "Let's go, gentlemen."

I must have reacted in some way to Harrison's voice. Colin put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You alright, there?"

I looked at him. "Yeah…yeah I'm fine."

For the next hour and a half, practice was practice. I was constantly being yelled at, but run no more than the rest of the team. Yet I was still tiring quicker. Although I shouldn't have been surprised when Harrison held me up after practice, I was. What wasn't surprising was his running me to near exhaustion. Coach Bergquist had left with the rest of the team, so I wouldn't be getting any reprieve from him.

In that short half hour, Harrison had me running so hard that by the end of the thirty minutes, when he yelled "That's enough, McQuaid!", my legs finally gave out. My knees buckled underneath me and I collapsed to the ground. I was breathing harder than I ever had before. My lungs felt like they were on fire; my heart was pounding so hard I was expecting it to burst out of my chest; my calves and thighs were burning. Sweat was pouring down my face, stinging my eyes. My shoulders and back were killing me and my arms were ready to fall off. I just wanted to close my eyes and lay right there on the ground. The pain and exhaustion was so overwhelming…I didn't care what Harrison did to me.

And that was his plan all along.

It was his way of beating me into submission without laying a finger on me. Now I would be too exhausted to fight back. He hadn't touched me. But he had already won.

I felt his hands on my arms, pulling me to my feet. How I longed to hear Doug's voice telling me "I'm right here, Tommy. Ev'rything's gonna be okay" but instead I heard Harrison's rough voice saying, "Come on, kid. Time to hit the showers. It'll make you feel better."

In a weak, barely audible voice, I replied, "I just wanna lay down."

He didn't reply, only half-dragged me to the locker room, and them set me down on the bench in front of my locker. I sat there for a few moments as he walked away. Being exhausted, I wasn't thinking straight. I disrobed and headed right for the showers.

The warm, cascading water felt so good on my sore body. My mind was paralyzed with fatigue. I never saw him approach. I never heard him. My eyes were closed and my mind felt like it was floating listlessly along down a quiet stream. I leaned my forehead against the wall, letting my shoulders drop. With my eyes closed, my body finally relaxing and the sound of the water, my surroundings were almost serene. I was falling into a false sense of security. I imagined myself floating along a quiet river, past waterfalls, with the soothing sounds of the water and a light, warm breeze rustling the trees.

My serenity was suddenly ripped away from me. My eyes flew open and my body stiffened. Someone was touching me…somewhere I did not want to be touched. I felt something hard at my backside. An 'Oh, God, no' escaped my lips.

I knew it was Harrison. I tried to turn my head to look at him, but he stopped me. "Be still," he whispered soothingly into my ear. I wanted to vomit.

One of his hands stayed on my genitals while the other moved up to my chest. "Calm down, Tommy. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack."

"Then get away from me." My voice was weak and shaky. I could feel tears beginning to fall.

As much as I wanted to fight, I couldn't. I was at his mercy and he wasn't about to show me any. I knew that beyond the shadow of a doubt. But I begged for it anyway.

I felt his hands all over me, hands that didn't give a crap that I was begging for this to stop. It felt as though my terror was making him more excited. And then…. I wanted to scream. I tried to, but my voice failed me. It was everything that he wanted, what he thought I deserved.

With his mouth next to my ear he whispered, "This is what bad boys like you deserve." His voice made my skin crawl. "Too bad your brother's not here to watch."

"If my brother was here, he'd rip your throat out," I choked out between sobs.

"Is that so?"

I returned a pathetic "Yeah…."

What he said next put a fear into my heart that stayed with me for years, even after he was arrested and imprisoned. "This won't be the last time, Tommy. I'll have you again and again. Even after you leave this place."

And then he left me collapsed on the floor of the showers, sobbing.

I don't know how long I sat there before I started scrubbing myself down. I was still crying. I had to regain my composure before I headed back to my dorm. After drying off and dressing quickly, I took a look at my watch. Five-eighteen. Doug would be back in a little over an hour. Wiping my eyes and taking a deep breath, I headed to my room, trying my best to avoid everyone. I held my tears back long enough to make it back to my dorm; but as soon as I closed the door, my tears started to fall again. I laid down on my bed, burying my face into my pillow.

Clearly, I had fallen asleep because the next thing I was aware of was a hand on my shoulder, shaking me; and Doug's voice. "Tommy. Hey, buddy, wake up."

My eyes slowly opened as I looked up at him. "Doug…. What time is it?"

"After eight."

"Why didn't you wake me up for dinner?" Not that I was hungry.

"Just got back. Had to take a detour, so we had dinner at a restaurant."

I laid my head back down and closed my eyes. "Oh."

"You okay?"

"Yeah…. Just a lot more tired than I thought."

"Harrison run you hard at practice?"

"Yeah…." You have no idea.

I wanted to tell him what happened, what Harrison did to me. But I couldn't. I lay on my bed, trying to will myself to speak. I was spilling my guts to Doug in my head…. It was the one moment when I wished Doug really could read my mind.

Even though I couldn't bring myself to tell him, there was one comforting fact: Doug was there with me. I wasn't alone.

"Hey, the dining hall's still open. Want me at go get ya somethin'?"

"No, it's fine. I'm not really hungry."

"You feelin' okay?"

"Yeah…just tired." It wasn't a lie. At least, not the tired part.

Doug knelt down next to my bed, staring at me. "You don't look so good, Tommy. You sure yer feelin' okay?" He started to feel my forehead and temples. Great. My big brother was going to mother hen me to death. "You don't feel that warm."

"Duh-uhg…. Stop…." I batted his hand away.

"Hey, I'm just makin' sure yer okay."

I was too tired to argue much, so I let Doug's mothering go. He sat down next to my bed and looked at me. "I know there's somethin' else, Tommy. I really wish you'd tell me."

I didn't say anything. I was just too tired. The last thing I heard from Doug… "Sleep tight, pal."

Sunday rolled around and me and Doug spent the day hanging out with each other, almost forgetting what we were there for; and for a moment, forgetting who we really were. It was a small taste of freedom I hadn't had since before my dad was killed. For one day, I really was a kid again; Doug was my brother and I didn't have a care in the world. Everything that had happened the day before didn't matter. I told myself that I would tell Doug what happened later. I just had yet to decide how much later.

We played football with some of our classmates out in the field between the dorms and the main building and a pick-up game of baseball on the practice field. And best of all, there was no sign of my fan club.

But like all good things, that day had to come to an end. And a new week had to begin.

Monday at practice, Harrison ran me like a race horse again. He ran the whole team almost as hard. I'm sure it would have been worse for me had Doug not been there watching. Harrison used the excuse for the tough practice of having a game on Thursday. We needed to work a little harder.

"That's how he runs practice?" Doug said to me after practice.

"That?" I looked at him, ready to laugh. "That was an easy day for me."

He looked at me incredulously. "That was an easy day?"

"Yep."

"That's just messed up."

"Come on…I'm hungry."

After dinner Doug filled me in on the progress he'd made on the case. At least two faculty members were involved, but he wasn't sure who, yet. I was secretly hoping it was my three admirers. I don't have that kind of luck.

"I hate school," I groaned, slamming my grammar book closed and dropping my head on the desk.

"Hey, look at it this way," Doug said, sitting down on his bed, "we're the McQuaid brothers. No one expects anything out of us."

I snorted at the comment. It was true enough.

"When's yer next game?"

"Thursday."

"Who we playin'?"

"St. George's."

I went back to my grammar book as Doug decided to read. Glancing over at him, I noticed he was reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader. "You guys are readin' The Chronicles of Narnia in your class?"

"Yep. And not just readin' it. Studyin' it."

"Man, how come you get all the good stuff?"

He grinned at me. "Hey, don't worry. Next year when yer a senior, you'll get the good stuff."

I glared at him. "Har-har."

We went to bed around ten-thirty (like we were supposed to as students). I hadn't been feeling well, but didn't think anything of it. I was sure I'd be fine by morning. I was wrong. I woke up around two-thirty, coughing my head off and feeling nauseous. And for once, it actually woke Doug up.

"Hey, you okay?" He sounded pretty awake for the middle of the night.

A pretty pathetic 'no' came out of my mouth, followed by a slightly less pathetic 'I think I'm gonna be sick.'

As another wave of nausea hit me, I felt Doug pulling me up out of bed. "Come on, pal. Let's get you to the bathroom before our dorm gets redecorated."

I spent the next half hour praying to the porcelain god. I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of offering any god would be looking for. It makes a burnt offering look like a gourmet meal.

"Yer burnin' up," he said, feeling my temples as I hugged my new best friend, Mr. Toilet Bowl. "You feel like ya need at puke some more?"

I shook my head 'no.'

"You ready ta go back ta bed?"

I nodded 'yes' and he helped me to my feet.

"Ya might wanna rinse yer mouth out first."

Of course. Who really likes the taste of vomit in their mouth.

I continued to cough and be all-around uncomfortable for the rest of the night. Which was about two and a half hours. At some point during that time I had kicked my covers off and had begun sweating profusely. Doug was positive I had a fever. Clearly. You usually don't sweat while sleeping when it's cool in the room and your body temperature is normal. Hopefully, all I had was the flu.

"It could be mono," Doug said as he headed out to get the nurse.

"Thank you for putting that in my head, brother," I yelled after him.

Let's see. Fever…Check; vomiting…check; fatigue…check; sore throat…checkaroo. I suddenly found myself searching my body for petechiae.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud," I said quietly to myself. "I'm turning into a hypochondriac."

I must have fallen asleep , or was completely out of it, because I didn't notice Doug come back in with the nurse, Dr. Kilkenny. (Technically, he was the school's physician, not the nurse.) I have to say, I really liked Dr. Kilkenny. He wasn't old, but definitely old enough to be my father. Probably in his late forties.

I ended up having mono. Which I decided to blame Doug for. And not because he kissed me or anything creepy like that. I would say 'I wouldn't put it past him'; but since he already has before, I won't say that. The kiss was on the cheek, mind you. I'm still waiting for him to pull a ninja move on me and nail me on the lips.

I really wish I could've heard the conversation between Doug and Jenko when Doug informed him that I had mono. Needless to say, my illness threw a monkey wrench into our case. At least, for me. However, it did keep Harrison away from me for awhile. And it would keep Coleman away from me. Nick the Nurse, on the other hand, had free reign.

And that scared the hell out of me.

"I'll check on ya at lunch, okay," Doug said to me after Dr. Kilkenny left.

"Yeah…."

"See ya later, bro."

Doug tends to stick to his word. He was back at our dorm, checking on me at lunch. I was sleeping light, so I heard the door open, but was too tired to make an effort to acknowledge it.

"Hey, pal."

I opened my eyes. "Hey."

"How ya feelin'?"

"Like crap."

Doug sighed. "Well, looks like yer gonna miss the rest of the season."

"Yeah…."

"Guess I'll leave ya at get some rest. See ya after class."

"See ya."

I'm not sure how long I was asleep before Nick paid me a visit. I was too tired to notice him enter my room. Nor did I notice him approach my bed. Strangely though, a shiver ran through my body from head to toe just before I opened my eyes.

He was on top of me with his hand over my mouth before I was even aware that he was in my room. I struggled to get free, but it proved futile. My fatigue was only aiding him in his endeavor to have his way with me. As useless as it was, I began to struggle harder when he reached behind his back. I didn't want to know what he had brought with him. My eyes widened in horror as he dangled restraints in front of my eyes.

There are a lot of things you can accomplish in three point three seconds. Getting away from Nick the Nurse was not one of them. However, restraining my right arm to the bedpost was. I only know this because he made a point to tell me so. He must of practiced quite a bit to get it down to that. I'm still not quite sure if I want to know what-or who-he may have practiced on to get it down to three point three seconds. He also felt the need to inform me that that was also the amount of time it took to get from the door to my bed. There are a lot of things in this world that I do not need to know. That was one of them.

After restraining my arms, he did the same to my legs. I began fighting like a madman against my restraints as he pulled my pants down. But the harder I fought, the quicker I tired out. I tried to scream, but like with Harrison, my voice failed me. My inability to cry out for help frightened me. Nick seemed to get off on my helplessness. And that frightened me even more.

I realized three things in that moment: one, I am not into bondage; two, I do not like bedposts. I could live a long and happy life without either of these two things being a part of it. As for the third thing, I think I just might take an extra second or two to accomplish stuff.

He wasn't there for more than an hour; but when you're being assaulted, mere minutes can feel like an eternity. I would rather have the crap beat out of me than go through that. I laid quietly in my bed for a half hour after Nick left, crying. I couldn't help it and I didn't try to stop. It sounds absurd to say it, but having mono was a godsend. Being ill made it easier to hide what was happening. Drying my eyes and face, I got up and headed for the showers; though I made a pit stop at Spewget Sound. (Pardon my word-play, but even now it helps me relive these moments without breaking down.) And ended up with some of it on myself. Great excuse for having different clothes on. I had thought about burning them. And my bed sheets.

I scrubbed down as if I had been covered in tar. Certain parts of my body got more attention. I got out of the showers and back to my dorm as quick as I could, having no desire to run into anyone. Back in my room, I stared at my bed, wondering if I should change my sheets. But the mono I had was about to knock me out. So I crawled into bed, pulling the sheet and blanket tight around me and fell asleep.

I woke some hours later to Doug sitting on his bed reading.

"Hey, there, sleepyhead," he said as I tried to focus on him. "How ya feelin'?"

"Worse than this morning," I replied hoarsely, no thanks to my worsening sore throat.

"Tried ta wake ya up for dinner." He got off his bed and knelt down next to mine. "But you didn't wanna get up. Dr. Kilkenny said you need to try and eat somethin' tomorrow."

I groaned and closed my eyes. And then Doug felt it necessary to give me a kiss on the forehead. I groaned again. "I know you're grinning."

"Sorry. Couln't resist. Yer just so adorable."

"Doug…. Quit pinchin' my cheeks." I swatted his hands away from my face and turned around.

"Hey, at least they're the ones on yer face."

"Funny."

I was back in class two weeks later. Doug made more progress on the case. Unfortunately, it didn't look like my fan club was involved in any way. None of them had bothered me since that Tuesday, but there was still five weeks of school left. Jenko wanted us to stay until then. Five more weeks of hell. Sure. I could deal with that.

I still wasn't cleared for lacrosse, or phys ed. in general, which was perfectly fine with me. I didn't want to step anywhere near that locker room. Me and Doug took the next two weeks to work unimpeded on the case. Well, as unimpeded as was possible. While we knew for certain that at least two faculty members were involved, student involvement was still up in the air. There were plenty of students who knew something about what we were looking for. But that didn't mean they were a part of it. Doug was having far more luck than I was.

That is until I was approached by a post-grad that made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Victor Prowse. I didn't know him all that well. But he clearly knew me and my personal Hell.

"I know what's going on," he said to me after classes one day during those two weeks. "I know what they're doing to you."

I furrowed my brow. "What?"

"We're not all ignorant here. However, that doesn't mean anyone's gonna say anything."

"What exactly do you want?"

"I have an offer for you."

"You think it's somethin' I'm gonna want?"

He looked at me and grinned. "Oh, yeah. But it's not what you think." Pausing for a moment, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I know what you and you're brother want, but I don't have that. This is for you." He handed me the paper. "You want it, you just let me know. It'll take care of your problem. They'll leave you alone."

After he walked away, I looked at the paper. Written on it was the name of a drug. What it was exactly, I wasn't sure; but it did look familiar. Something I was sure would knock you out if it got into your bloodstream. Which, I was guessing, was the idea. Now it looked like we had a little more to this case than the selling of illegal arms. Then again, this could turn out to be nothing. But at the same time, I couldn't push the idea from my mind. The idea to go for it; to jab that needle into Harrison or Nick the next time they tried anything.

But I couldn't risk it. And it wouldn't be right. Regardless of what they did to me. My morals didn't make it any less tempting, though.

"Hey, Tommy-boy."

I looked up to see Doug coming towards me. "Hey."

"What did Prowse want?" he asked, sitting down next to me on the bench.

"Nothin'. Any luck?"

"It's all gonna come down to getting' students to talk." He sighed. "There's no tellin' how long that's gonna take."

"If any of them talk at all." We were silent for a moment. "Anything else from that Hayes kid?"

"Nothin' useful."

I must have spaced out for a bit because Doug was soon asking me if I was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I know I should tell Doug what Victor had said. But that would mean revealing to him what had happened to me…and I wasn't ready for that.

"Come on." Doug pulled me off the bench. "Let's go to the ball field and watch 'em practice till dinner."

"Doug…the concessions will not be open. No matter how much you want it to be."

He put his arm around my shoulders. "A guy can dream, little brother."

The following Tuesday I was cleared to play. I acted happy about it, but it wasn't entirely so. My first few practices back, Harrison went easy on me. We were into the state tournament and it looked like we were headed for the championship. The championship game was scheduled for the Saturday before our final week of school. Harrison was so focused on the tournament, messing with me seemed to be at the back of his mind. However, Nick and Coleman were still available to fill in. Coleman hadn't touched me, yet; but he had ample time to do so.

This case couldn't go by fast enough.

I was left alone that first week I was back playing lacrosse. Then Memorial Day rolled around. I ended up cutting myself working on a project for my shop class that morning. We had a game that night, but the injury wasn't going to put me out of the game. Still, I was sent to the nurse. Unfortunately, Dr. Kilkenny was gone for the weekend and wouldn't be back until game time.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as Mr. Maslow escorted me to the nurse's office. I had no choice but to see Nick. The office was devoid of students. Mr. Maslow then left me in the "capable hands of Mr. Evans."

Yes, Nick Evans' hands were quite capable of doing a lot of things. As I found out again that morning. I didn't cry this time. I couldn't. Doug would be looking for me; there was still quite a few students on campus. I couldn't hide in there for half an hour without somebody noticing. Besides, I had a game in five hours.

Doug had been working on a project himself for a class. He met me at the dining hall for lunch.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked me as we sat down.

"Cut it workin' on my project for shop."

He grimaced. "Ya gonna be able to play?"

"Yeah, it's superficial. Won't be a problem."

I seemed to have been doing a decent job keeping my emotions in check, Doug hadn't asked me if I was okay. Maybe he just thought I was preparing myself for the game.

"You in there, Tommy?"

"Huh?" So I zoned out.

"You got a weird way of psyching yerself up for a game."

I grimaced at him. "This is a huge game. We win this, we'll be in the final four."

"Look at this." Doug grinned.

"What?"

"Who woulda guessed that tough-guy Tommy McQuaid would be concerned with a sporting event."

"Shut up," I said, grimacing again.

Finishing lunch, I told Doug I needed to get something from our room and that I would meet him in the courtyard. Heading to the dorms, I felt a lump forming in my throat. I refused to cry again, but my desire to hold my tears back was proving futile. One trickled down my face as I entered my room. Slumping down into the corner by my bed, I started sobbing.

I wasn't sure how much more I could take.

xxx

Some of the future chapters will focus on Tom's relationship with Jenko. A few new ideas popped into my head last night. Jenko will be around a lot longer in my story than he was in the show. However, Fuller will be coming into the story in the future.

I'm not sure when chapter three will be up. I'm getting a new computer here soon. There's no telling when everything will be ready. Anyway, hope this chapter was good.