DANGEROUS LOVE CHAPTER 5


Scott sat in a daze in Peter's office wondering how much more shit could be dropped on him. Peter felt his pain and realized that Scott needed a lot of support right about now. Peter gave Roger the nod to leave them along. He needed to see if he could release Scott's feelings that he was so determined to hold on to.

"Scott, you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"You've got to release some of your feelings or they will consume you."

"So let them."

"Do you actually think that you are strong enough to keep all these mixed emotions inside without exploding?"

Scott finally turned to face him. "You ask as if I have a choice. I'm not the one who decided that I should leave the group. I'm not the one who decided to put me on shuns and I'm not the one who asked the Major to dig up my file. All this shit gets thrown on me at one time and you ask if I can handle my emotions? What would you do huh?"

Peter put his hands on Scott's shoulder. "Look Scott I know how you feel."

Scott threw Peter's hands off and backed up. "Do you? Do you really? How the hell can you possibly know how I feel? On top of everything else, Shelby hates my guts now. Why? What did I do to her that she wasn't already trying to do to me? I don't understand any of this. Maybe I should take the easy way out so you won't have to be so concerned about my feelings."

Horror struck Peter's face. "Scott what are you saying? What easy way out? Don't even think about that. I'm here to help you through this. You've never been a quitter and I've never known you to just give up on anything. I'm going to help you get through this set back one step at a time. Do you hear me? We can do this together. I'm not giving up on you and I won't let you give up on yourself."

He had closed the gap between the two of them. He now embraced Scott with both arms tightly around him. Scott laid his head on Peter's shoulder and wept. Peter let him release some of the anger as he gently stroked his back. After a minute or so Scott pulled away and seemed embarrassed about his little brake down. He sat down in the chair, hanging his head low, not meeting Peter's eyes.

Wiping his eyes with the inside of his shirtsleeve he asked, "So what happens now?"

"Like I said, we take it one step at a time. Instead of looking at the community service duty as a negative thing, why don't we look for something positive."

"Like what? What can be positive about community service except for the fact that I get to leave campus everyday."

"Well there you go. You've found one thing positive. Can you think of another?"

Scott looked up as if thinking real hard. "Well, I get away from kitchen duty, the Ridge Runners and Shelby."

"Shelby. Is that what you really want?"

"I don't know. Maybe we both need time away from each other and see what happens."

Peter smiled and slapped him on the knee. "Well, it looks like things are starting to look up or you already then. I'm proud of you. You are taking a very mature approach to this. There isn't anything you can't handle as long as you look for the positive in things. Everything isn't as bad as it seems. Never take the easy way out because remember this is only a temporary set back. Your whole life won't be based on this one situation but your reactions to it can be. Just remember to make the right choices."

Once he realized that he had defused the situation, Peter walked Scott out towards his dorm. He felt it best that he got a good nights sleep so he'd be more relaxed in the morning for when his case worker showed up.

As much as Scott hated sleeping in another cabin, he was too tired from all the chores and emotional strain to complain. He walked in, didn't say one word to the other boys and plopped down on the bed. The other four boys in the cabin looked and decided they were pissed at the new boy's attitude. They decided that maybe they should set him straight.

"Hey blondie." Scott failed to acknowledge the interruption.

"Hey you," Ben said throwing a pillow at Scott.

Can't a guy get any sleep or privacy around here Scott rolled over in anger to face them. " My name is Scott not, Blondie or hey you. What's your problem man."

"You. You're my problem. What's the matter with you? You think you are special or something? You walk around here like no one is good enough for you. You act like your shit don't stink."

"Yeah well maybe it doesn't and maybe I am." Scott was up out of his bed by now and standing face to face with Ben puffing out his chest and in his face.

Ben didn't back down because he knew that it was four against one. "We Ridge Runners had a good thing going until you had to make your presence. Now our group keeps getting hounded by not forming unity among us and its all your fault. We're tired of taking this shit from you."

"That's so touching. What's the matter you miss Fred? Fred is gay so what kind of a good thing did you have going? I'm afraid to ask. Was it some kind of a gay orgy?"

"That does it." All four of the guys decided to jump Scott all at one time. There was so much punching, hitting, kicking and yelling that it got the attention of some people walking by outside the cabin.

Auggie and David ran into the cabin because they didn't want to miss out on any action. When they got inside, they saw Scott in the middle of a big brawl and he was out numbered. They decided to give their friend a helping hand.

Ezra stayed back watching all the excitement wanting to throw a punch or two. He peered out the door and saw both Roger and Peter running across the campus. He yelled, "Heads up. The Gestapo is coming."

Everyone went scrambling. Scott jumped into bed pulling the covers over his head. Several of the other guys ran into the bathroom while Auggie and David scooted under someone's bed. Peter pushed past Ezra and discovered everything quiet when he showed himself in the room. He stood there and looked around. It was way too quiet. Roger came up behind him thinking the same thing. Peter walked over to Scott's bed while Roger headed for the bathroom.

"All right, all of you guys out here right now. Front and center." The four boys walked out of the bathroom holding washcloths to various injuries. Peter yanked the covers off of Scott and pulled him out of the bed.

"Can't anyone get any sleep around here?"

Peter pointed a finger at him and said, "Can it. Get over there with the rest of them so we can figure this out." Scott walked across the room nursing his knuckles, which were red and swollen. They seemed to be in more pain than his left eye, which was starting to turn several different shades of purple.

"Everyone sit down." All 5 boys plopped down heavily on the same bed at one time. In doing so, a loud moan came out from under the bed.

Roger went over and lifted up the comforter and saw Auggie and David getting squished under the bed. "All right you two out."

As they scooting out from under the bed, Peter shook his head. "This is getting more interesting by the second. Anyone else stashed away in this cabin that we need to know about?" All the boys shook their heads.

Peter went over to a desk and grabbed a chair to sit in.

"Ok does anyone want to tell me what happened?" All the boys started talking at once and it became very chaotic. Peter put his hand up to shut them all up. "Everyone be quiet for a minute. Let me take this one at a time. Ben let me hear your side."

"Well, Scott called us all gay and accused us of having a gay orgy and. . ."

Scott stood up with an outburst. "That's not how it happened dickbrain. You guys started. . ."

Peter grabbed Scott to claim him down. "Scott, this is not your time to talk right now. You will have time to defend yourself soon enough. At least I'm beginning to see the two sides right now. Let me guess. It was Scott against the four of you. Am I right?"

Ben shook his head. "He doesn't want any part of us and he walks around here like were not good enough to be in his presence."

"I understand that. Scott has been going through a lot of turmoil lately and we all need to have some patience with that. When someone's drowning and is going down for the third time what do you do? Do you stand back and watch or do you reach out and pull them out of the water?"

No one said anything. "Don't you see what I'm trying to teach you guys at this school? You can't just give up on someone because they don't meet your standards. We are all human and we all make mistakes. We've got to learn to get along with everyone no matter who they are or how they act."

He looked over at Auggie and David. "By the way, how did you two get involved in all of this?"

Auggie spoke up. "We were walking by and heard all the commotion. It was four against one man. We had to help our homeboy out."

Peter let out a sigh. "Ok first things first. I want Scott, Ben, David and Tim to all go over to the clinic and see the nurse. Then, I want everyone to pair up in two's and I want each of you to write a 500-word essay telling me everything you can about your partner. That means you need to get together and find out everything you can about that person. What do they like, dislike, hobbies, interest, plans for the future etc. I want the papers the day after tomorrow so that means you need to buddy up all day tomorrow and get to know each other. Ben I want you paired up with Scott but I'll give you and extra day because Scott will be unavailable for the most part of tomorrow. You'll have to get together with him in the evening. The rest of you can get ready for bed now and start tomorrow with spending time with each other."

They of course grumbled and moaned but they all did what they were told. Auggie picked his partner and left for his cabin. Scott, Ben, David and Tim went down to the clinic to get a check up on the cuts and bruises. Another day was finally over at Horizon and Peter and Roger decided to go to Rusty's to kick back and have a drink. (Non-alcoholic of course)