Chapter 4
It wasn't fair! Not in his mind anyway, sure he had recently displayed a stint of super violent tendencies, but what did everyone else expect? He was a boxer for Christ sake, wasn't he supposed to beat his opponents down? Yes he was, and be that the case then securing him in a strait jacket and throwing him in a padded room after injecting him with heavy sedatives had been completely unnecessary, who did they think he was? Gary Smith!?
Meeting him hadn't been awkward like most others and that was probably because it wasn't their first meeting. Bif had been coming to his office for a while now and had been taking antidepressants for a few months. In the beginning the Dr. had assumed like everyone else who had come through his door or had been admitted to the local asylum that he did in fact have some mental issues but did a great job of hiding them.
"Good morning Bif," The Dr. greeted him, a bit surprised to find the boy confined to a strait jacket.
"Good morning Dr." Bif replied somewhat melancholy.
"So Bif, it's my understanding that you recently had a bit of a violent outburst, and at school of all places?"
Bif took a deep breath and looked down before answering, "Well… yeah… I did…"
Dr. Bambillo recognized the fact that he was clearly bothered by something and decided to ease into the issues at hand.
"Well I have to say that I'm a bit surprised at you Bif, you had seemed to be doing really well, but then this happens." Bif looked down at his slippers he that had been placed on his feet after arriving there a bit embarrassed by the Dr.'s remark.
"Now you know that I'm not out to judge you or make any assumptions on what happened I just want to hear what you have to say before I make any analysis."
Bif licked his dry lips before he thought of something to say, "I….I don't even know where to begin!" Was his only remark as he truly didn't know exactly where to start naming off his current problems.
Folding his hands Dr. Bambillo leaned on his desk a little, "Just start from the beginning, what's been bothering you, was something done or said to you that brought this on, just think about it, where did it all began surely this wasn't a spur of the moment burst of anger there had to be something going on that caused it to build up."
Bif looked at him as he pondered the statement for a moment,
"Yeah you're right, I suppose I'm under a lot more stress that I led myself to believe that I was. I just feel so smothered! Every time I turn around someone's always whining for me to come help them in a fight, it's like everyone relies on me to handle all of the physicality and its starting to drive me nuts!
The Dr. thought for a moment, "You mean your friends right?"
"Yeah" Was Bif's simple answer,
"Do you feel compelled or like it's your job to help them?"
"I do!" Bif answered him quickly, "It's not like I'm alone in it though, if someone tries to jump stupid with me then they won't hesitate to come running and bail me out but that's only on the rare occasions that it happens to me and only if I'm being double teamed. They don't even have to be in a mismatch and still expect me to jump in!
"…. O…." He grew silent.
"Go on…" The Dr. urged him, Bif glanced at him for a brief moment before shaking his head no and looking down, "It's nothing…" his cheeks began to turn a faint shade of pink.
Sensing that one of his long time patients was hiding something the Dr. Pressed on,
"Come on now Bif. You know how it is, if you hold things back from me then I can't give you the proper help that you need, you've been seeing me for a while now so you know that."
Bif though about his words for a moment, his cheeks and now his ears had turned red, and he looked a bit bashful.
"…On top of all that there have been some rumors circulating lately, just rumors!" He insisted. The Dr. said nothing thinking he was going to go on but he remained silent.
Bif was clearly hesitating, "Bif?" The Dr. asked starting to worry about what he was hiding.
The large red head closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "There… have been rumors circulating about me and my best friend Derby….." He refused to meet the Dr.'s stare as he struggled to get the words out his face turning redder and redder by the moment almost matching the color of his hair.
"What are these rumors indicating?" The Dr. questioned calmly.
A moment of silence followed before Bif responded,
"Well…. People… are saying that…Derby and I …are …..we… thatwearemorethanjustfriends !" The last few words came flying out of his mouth so fast it took the Dr. a moment to realize exactly what had been said.
Bif blinked
Dr. Bambillo blinked
"There are rumors floating around that you and Derby are more than just friends?" The Dr. asked to confirm the previous jumbled statement.
Bif merely shook his head, as the Dr. took a moment to analyze his behavior, with this subject being brought to the table; he wasn't acting like the Bif he was used to seeing. He had been reduced to a shy school girl as opposed to the rough school boy image he normally portrayed.
"Are you and Derby more than just frien…?"
"NO!" Bif cut him off not letting him finish, "There's nothing going on between us but… just… friendship!"
Silence
"Would you like for you and Derby to be more than friends?"
Instead of verbally answering Bif simply shook his head no.
"Bif, I'm getting the feeling that you're not being honest with me here?" The Dr. questioned him.
Bif closed his eyes again while looking down and took another deep breath before looking up at the Dr. A Bit of sadness etched onto his face as he thought for a moment.
"You're right again Dr. I'm not being honest with you, I do want us to be more than just friends… but that will never happen… Derby's not…. You know….." The Dr nodded his head in understanding.
"Besides" Bif continued, "Even if he was he would never want me, not after what I did…"
"Well now Bif you've told me that your friends rely on you a lot when it comes to fighting and that the rumors have been circulating but you still haven't told me exactly what your breaking point was and why with Derby of all people?"
"Yeah about that…." His voice sounded like it was starting to break but he managed to keep himself together.
"Apparently he had heard the rumors too, and of course he came to question me about it, he wasn't exactly happy about them so of course he wasn't too nice to me about the issue either." Bif paused for a moment and swallowed hard.
"That particular day I had already gotten into three fights, two at school with other students and one with my parents… You already know what the deal is with them they both want me to pursue different career paths… When I came to the Harrington house after leaving Crabblesnitches office because of one of the fights I had gotten into, Derby was waiting for me." He paused again and closed his eyes for a moment as it was getting harder and harder to keep himself together.
"To make matters worse everyone else was there as well, he interrogated me on the issue of the rumors and I couldn't help but to feel like he was blaming me. That combined with the events of earlier that day just sent me over the edge; to be blunt I had had a bad day and had decided unwittingly to take it out on him! He didn't deserve that, and I was wrong for what I did to him. I guess that's why I'm in here now..." His voice trailed off as he finished.
"I'm sorry to hear that Bif, but don't forget it's not like you'll be here for an extended stay or anything, you'll be out in a few weeks as long as everything goes smoothly."
"Yeah, I know" Was his whisper of a response, "That's the bad part about it, to be honest I would prefer to stay in here much longer than a couple of weeks, I don't think I have the nerve to face Derby or anybody else after that shenanigan!"
Dr. Bambillo pondered his remark for a moment, "Have you spoken to Derby or any of your friends sense the incident?"
"No not at all, I don't blame any of them for not wanting to associate with me! Besides I think it's for the best, I'm sure they're all getting enough heat from the rest of the school because of my behavior!"
At this point tears suddenly began to spill from his eyes, not due to sadness but due to frustration, to be blunt he didn't really care if the rest of the preps hated him or not, but he did care about how Derby felt about him. He was still in disbelief about what he had done about the way he had lashed out at the blond so violently, beating him bloody and then having to be hauled away by a group of orderlies!
Dr. Bambillo was saying something to him but the man's words didn't register all Bif could think about was Derby and how any relationship they had was now over.
"Bif Taylor, Yes I know of him the large red haired prep boy, He seems to be relatively well behaved," Came Dr. Crabblesnitches remark on the incident.
"Humph! That's just what kids want you to think and then the minute you turn your back they're putting their foot up your ass!"
Dr. Crabblensitch looked at Officer Monson slightly taken aback by the remark.
"For the most part misbehaved kids are nothing to worry about; we do have the prefects on patrol all day every day." Was Dr. Crabblesnitches defense before turning his attention back to his coffee.
"Ha!" Dr. Bambillo chimed in, "I hate to break it to you but your law abiding prefects are no better than the rest of the students.
"What!?" Dr. Crabblesnitch nearly shouted at Dr. Bambillo, "What on earth could you possibly mean!?"
