Will dropped heavily into his chair, hunched over his desk as per usual with Pacey's previous letter crumpled before him. Upon first reading he had tore it at the edges with such was his apphrensive grip; upon second reading he had balled it into a piece of rubbish and thrown it at his Al Green poster in a blind rage; upon his seventh reading he laid it out delicatedly and focused on the first paragraph, first line, sensing somewhere and somehow within Pacey he had found rhyme and reason and opportunity to make little light of the situation even before he ventured into a vicious tirade about Dawson.
And although Will was more distracted by what was incorporated into the letter regarding Sheriff Witter, it was his intent that he too should not lose himself totally into what is the reality for some. If Pacey managed to cut and paste and twist that Dawson was somehow the rightful punchbag then so be it Will should probably just smile and nod along.
Besides if Will knew Pacey and Will did know Pacey he might not mention Dawson in such a way ever again, his next letter might be entirely light-hearted and still come off genuine, and so he went down their usual route although he had written and given up on attempts willing - begging! - Pacey to talk to someone, anyone, but that was a pretty pointless affair and the sad truth was that both boys knew it.
Dear Pacey,
Well, well, well. Someone's a very angry young man today, aren't we? By the way I was just about to reply to the letter you sent before the whole Anti-Dawson thing and then I got this and nothing applied anymore so it's residing in my junk drawer somewhere... so... have you calmed down any yet?
I'll drop the patronising now, but it just comes too easy after all that Miss Jacobs stuff. Anyway, dude, I'm really genuinely sorry to hear about your father but - well - I do have one thing to say on that front. You said Doug doesn't really pick on you so much because your dad starts in on you more or less every day now, I'm guessing for one reason or another, but how come you've never mentioned that? You might have said once or twice, and with the milk carton thing... has he been hitting you this entire time Pacey? Is that what you've been doing with me - testing the water - and that every time you mention something about it you're sort of... toning it down for my benefit?
You said a while back that Doug would beat the crap out of you but Mr Witter would only take it so far, and then in your previous letter you described how he was like with you and if that's "how far" he takes it, and "daily" is as often as he takes it, I don't know, something's going to have to be done about that. You're not so naive that you recognise he's being too "rough" with you, well I'm sorry dude but that is being abusive. If it's every single day then it's verbal abuse, emotional... and he drags you about like a ragdoll.
I'll stop bothering you about it because if it has been ongoing you obviously didn't tell me for a reason, but I just want to know one thing. If Doug has started to lay off you does that mean that it's common knowledge in your family, man? Because there's something not quite right there, Pacey.
Moving along. I think I can safely say my opinion of Dawson Leery has changed somewhat, although I can't exactly say I'm all that surprised. I always had that opinion of him. This "I'm going to make movies and be rich and famous and you're my hired unpaid lackeys. Give me your summer, give me your time, learn your lines and Pacey, Will, I'm director here so stop horsing around and work for me" attitude. I'm in such a - how did you put it? "Pissy mood"? Well, I've totally just joined you, because Dawson's behaviour is really, really disgusting. I mean the guy calls himself your best friend... to think I used to hang out with such a fake. Maybe I'm not being fair to him, I mean, we all grow up, we all change. Can you imagine I was once even cockier than you? Look at me now, if I still lived in Capeside I'd probably just remain polite with him, confide and console in you about the situation but not step up in the least. You were probably right to let it pass over you, there's enough conflict already, right? Just forget it.
Will.
PS. We had just turned nine. It was the beginning of the summer. Do you remember before Mitch ran for his ladder, Gale was shouting up to me and Dawson to try and pull you upwards from the branch and whatever way we had you by the ankle your pants started slipping? I've never been so amused and so scared in a single situation in my life since. I mean, it was a long drop down if we'd have let go... and by the way, nice dinosaur underwear!
Hoping that he didn't come off too much of a lecturer, Will sealed his new letter into a nearby envelope purposefully sitting out before he lost his one remaining nerve and bottled it again. With a world-weary sigh he stretched back in his chair and swivelled around flexing his writing hand as a small cramp teased his muscles.
"Aw, Lord."