HIGHER EXPECTATIONS
CHAPTER 9: Bruised
*****
Oh, and to clear things up for some of you, the trial isnt over yet, just Shelby's part was over. There will be more soon, we don't know yet if Walt will be imprisoned or not.-- The reason Shelby's mom didn't testify will be cleared up in the chapters to come.
*****
As the sun rose, Tom sat up in bed. The last few days he had been prone to doing this. He layed back down, in hopes of going back to sleep. No avail. As soon as he realized that he was up for the day, he stood up and tip-toed past Roger, who was laying in a sleeping bag on the floor beside him.
No sooner than reaching the door, Roger jerked awake and stared Tom down.
"Approximately 25 miles," He said instinctively, thinking he knew what Tom was doing.
"What?" Tom asked, confused. Roger smiled and stood up, sliding his jeans on.
"We're surrounded by twenty five miles of nothing but trees." He said, buckling his belt. "There are vicious carnivores out there searching for food at this time of day, I bet. I wouldn't risk running.. unless you have training in dealing with those kinds of things." Thomas shook his head and scoffed.
"Yeah, but who said I was going to run? How do you know that I wasn't just going out to scope the campus.. try and get acquainted with everything?" He answered Roger with questions.
"Normally, that--"
"Normally nothing!" Tom cut him off. "I'm not a normal kid. I don't want to run.. I don't want to be here, but I don't want to put myself through that kind of shit. I'm not stupid, man." Thomas said turning around, avoiding eye contact.
"Tom, we don't use profanity here." Roger said. Tom snickered.
"You might not use it, but I do." He said sarcastically. Roger looked at the defiant young boy before him. He shook his head. This one would be hard and he knew it. He just hoped he wasn't another Shelby or Scott.. because if he was, he'd make sure to stay away from the Cliffhanger group as much as possible.
*****
"Well, Mr. Gideon," Peter started as Thomas sat himself in the metal fold- out chair. "I suppose now is a good a time as any to check your bags and fill you in on the rules." Tom stared coldly at the floor, ignoring all of what Peter was saying. Peter shrugged and started pulling things out of his bags.
Thomas was starting to get jumpy. He started tapping his fingers impatiently on the side of the chair, knowing what Peter was going to find. Four bottles of liquor and 6 narcotics later, Peter stared down dissapointed at his new student.
"Thomas," Peter started. Thomas put his hand up to stop Peter.
"Just call me Gid. That's what all my friends call me.. I hate my first name." He finally informed him. Peter looked at the boy and raised his eyebrows slightly but decided to just go along with it.
"Alright, Gid.." Peter started again. "These, as you probably already know, are not allowed at Horizon." He said, pointing to the baggies and bottles on the table. Gid rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, okay." He mumbled. Peter was intriqued by Gid. He had never known a student to get up in the morning and explore the campus- just explore, without running, before.
He sighed and went on, "Also, there is no violence- which means no fights, no innapropriate touching- which is any kind of Public Display of Affection or a Private Display of Affection for that matter. And you know about the drug rule now." Gid nodded. "Usually when a new student first gets here, he or she is set on restriction for a day to however long I think he or she needs. Not because they are in trouble, just to adjust to new surroundings." Gid nodded again. "I will set you on a day at first and see how that goes. Also, I give the student a buddy."
Gid scoffed, "A buddy?" He said in his slight British accent that he had finally let slip out. Peter looked at him.
"Yes, a buddy. Gid, did you used to live in Britain or England?" Peter asked. Gid rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, up until I was seven. My father and I moved out to America when my mother-" He paused a second. "When my mother died." He finished. Peter frowned some.
"Ah, I'm sorry about your mother, Gid." He said. Gid just shrugged.
"Whatever." He said, pushing himself back into his closed up shell.
"Well, I suppose you should go in with Roger and the school nurse for your physical now. You also should change out of those.. clothes and get into proper Horizon attire." Peter said. Gid stood up and walked towards the door and Roger opened it.
"Whatever." He said once again. Peter knew then that Gid would be just as hard as any of the Cliffhangers, and deffinately no easier.
*****
A knock later came at Peter's office door as he sat going through a folder marked, 'Thomas Gideon.' He looked up and noticed that Shelby was standing at the door with her sister, Jess.
"Yes, Shelby. What do you need?" He asked, eager to know what brought Shelby to his office. She rarely ever came for advice or anything.
"Uh, we just wanted to know if you knew of the progress of the trial?" Jess asked. Shelby smiled at her independance. She had always been like that. Sometimes it worried Shelby though.
"Ah, glad you asked, Jess." Peter said pulling a small note from under the rock paper weight beside the phone. "Your mother just called. She said that the next part would be today at 4:00pm. I do want to warn you, though," he said, sitting the paper back down under the paper weight, "that the trial is looking to be a long and distressing procedure. It looks good though. Don't worry about it." Peter said, knowing just how much he was lying. He hated lying to his students but he didn't want them to worry.
Jess and Shelby nodded and walked back out the door. Peter dropped his head onto the desk and rubbed his temples.
"He's lying," Jess said as they got out of earshot of Peter's office. Shelby smiled weakly to her sister.
"I know," She said, "but take his advice and don't worry. It will only make you feel bad." She said.
"I haven't stopped feeling bad since you left that last time and never came back for me." Jess said sadly. Shelby looked at her sister and squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the tears that threatened to come.
*****
David paced the boy's dorm in silence. He knew that he should tell Peter or Sophie about what happened to him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He closed his eyes tightly and hit his hand against the backboard of his bed hard, in anger.
"Well, you look like a big bag of sunshine today." Daisy said sliding in quitely and unnoticed. David opened his eyes and looked at her strangely.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. Daisy put on an offended look playfully.
"Well, are you not happy to see me?" She asked, sounding hurt. David sighed and sat down on his bed.
"Not really." He said seriously, but not meaning to hurt her. Daisy looked at him quizically.
"You really are an enigmatic boy aren't you." She stated, sitting down beside him. "Has life torn some more at your already lost soul?" She said, wisely. David looked at her.
"I suppose it has." He mumbled. "You never answered my question. What are you doing here?" He asked again. Daisy thought for a second. Why WAS she here?
"I don't know really. I was just walking toward the girl's dorm and decided to pay you a little visit. I imagine it was because I haven't had time to really talk to you since you got back." She said. David nodded. "But let's not put up masks, here." David sighed. He knew this was coming. "What's wrong?" She asked. "You've been acting real strange lately. Not to mention that limp." She said pointing to David's foot.
David shrugged. He didn't feel like being interrogated anymore.
"Did you get in a fight or something while you were back home?" Daisy asked, though already putting together the pieces in her brain. David shrugged again as the last piece was put into place in Daisy's mind.
"I guess you could say that." He said. Daisy nodded at him, knowingly. She patted him on the back and stood up.
"Life's just a long road, full of adventure, full of discovery, and packed with pain. I imagine you have stumbled upon another speedbump in your walk towards happyness. Don't take a detour over the bump, David.. walk over it." She said and walked out, leaving David to think about what she had just said.
*****
Jeff and Peter walked into the Cliffhanger girl's dorm that afternoon to check on Juliette. They had sent her to her bed on a full day of restriction the day before after they had confronted her about her actions of that day and given her a purple journal to write her thoughts in.
She was busy writing in that journal when Peter walked up and sat down beside her on the bed. She looked up for a second and her face went to a shade of pink. She looked back down, averting his gaze.
"We've come to check your stuff, Jules. You know the drill.. we have to make sure you don't have anything to hurt yourself with." He said and Juliette stood up, nodding. She knew he wasn't going to find anything, but she let him search anyway.
Jeff pulled back the matress and Peter looked through the pillow and sheets. As Jeff was searching thourougly for holes in the mattress, Peter went and looked through Juliette's drawer. He hated invading his student's privacy, but it had to be done... for her safety.
"Okay, Jules. We didn't find anything." He smiled at Juliette but she just dropped her head. He sighed and Roger fixed her bed back up for her. "You know this is for your own safety don't you?" Silence. "Jules, come on.. don't hate us for this. We want what's best for you." Juliette looked up with hurt eyes and tear-staind cheeks.
"If you want what's best for me, Peter, why don't you just LEAVE ME ALONE!" She said throwing the journal back at Peter. "I'm not doing your stupid journal either! Just-" her voice cracked and she whispered, "Just leave me alone.." she said and fell back on her bed. Peter motioned for Roger to go get Sophie. Maybe she needed another woman to talk to.
[Song as Sophie walks in and talks to Juliette.] How the hell'd we wind up like this? Why weren't we able.. to see the signs that we missed.. try to turn the tables?.. I wish you'd unclench your fists, and unpack your suitcase. Lately there's been too much of this, but don't think it's too late....[End Song as they hug and they both walk out of the dorm smiling.]
*****
Gid stopped and stared at the nurse when she handed him a small open-seated gown.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, his accent showing a little more. The nurse smiled at him.
"Get changed into it so I can do the rest of your physical." He said as Gid grabbed the gown. They looked at each other silent for a moment.
"Well.. turn around, please." Gid exclaimed.
"Oh," The doctor mumbled. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before, but very well." He turned around and sat down in his chair, backward. Gid slipped into the gown after taking all his baggy clothes off. When the nurse turned around he saw just how skinny Gid looked in clothes that fit him.
"What?" Gid asked. The nurse shrugged and motioned for Gid to sit down on the table. He did reluctantly.
"Okay, seeing as you have boxers on, I'll just pull the top of the gown down and examine you." The nurse explained. Gid stiffened as the doctor put his hands on his shoulders. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you at all." He reassured and pulled the top down toward the beginning of his butt bone.
Gid winced as the fabric went across several fresh cuts he had on his back. The nurse stared at his back for a second until he recovered enough to ask questions.
"Where did you get all of these?" He asked, amazed at all the scars, cuts, bruises and welts on his back. Gid closed his eyes tightly.
*Flashback*
"They're getting onto you, Tommy!! What did I tell you about talking to your teachers about this? I told you to make up any and every story you could, they wouldn't understand your punishment. But it has to be done!" Joseph Gideon said while pulling Tommy's small belt off his pants.
"I'm sorry, daddy, I won't do it again!" He cried out, grabbing at his dad's arms to stop him, but in vain. Joseph pulled his son's shirt up and brought the belt up high into the air. "Daddy!"
*End flashback*
"Mr. Gideon! Where did you get those bruises and cuts on your back from?" He questioned again. Gid was snapped out of his trance and looked up at the doctor.
"Ah.. Uh, I got them in gang fights, what else did you think I got them from?" He asked, trying to make the doctor look stupid. The doctor looked at Gid skeptically for a second but just shook his head and continued the physical, making sure to take notes of where each and every scar on his body was.
*****
Ezra walked into the boy's dorm with a small piece of paper he had gotten off one of the counselors of the school.
For the past nine weeks he had been searching for his real parents. After his little brush with death after his parents last visit, Ezra had finally decided he wanted to know his REAL parents. Deep down, he just wanted someone to blame for his troubles.
He sat the paper down on his nightstand and read it over and over again.
"623-9005" He said slowly. "I've found them."
*****
Well, that's enough for today. I shall write more later. I have a few things I'm thinking of doing with this. Alot more plots and don't worry, I'll deffinately finish my story.
Review! I love getting reviews. The more I get, the more I'm motivated to post! Thanks,
Flamingteen.
CHAPTER 9: Bruised
*****
Oh, and to clear things up for some of you, the trial isnt over yet, just Shelby's part was over. There will be more soon, we don't know yet if Walt will be imprisoned or not.-- The reason Shelby's mom didn't testify will be cleared up in the chapters to come.
*****
As the sun rose, Tom sat up in bed. The last few days he had been prone to doing this. He layed back down, in hopes of going back to sleep. No avail. As soon as he realized that he was up for the day, he stood up and tip-toed past Roger, who was laying in a sleeping bag on the floor beside him.
No sooner than reaching the door, Roger jerked awake and stared Tom down.
"Approximately 25 miles," He said instinctively, thinking he knew what Tom was doing.
"What?" Tom asked, confused. Roger smiled and stood up, sliding his jeans on.
"We're surrounded by twenty five miles of nothing but trees." He said, buckling his belt. "There are vicious carnivores out there searching for food at this time of day, I bet. I wouldn't risk running.. unless you have training in dealing with those kinds of things." Thomas shook his head and scoffed.
"Yeah, but who said I was going to run? How do you know that I wasn't just going out to scope the campus.. try and get acquainted with everything?" He answered Roger with questions.
"Normally, that--"
"Normally nothing!" Tom cut him off. "I'm not a normal kid. I don't want to run.. I don't want to be here, but I don't want to put myself through that kind of shit. I'm not stupid, man." Thomas said turning around, avoiding eye contact.
"Tom, we don't use profanity here." Roger said. Tom snickered.
"You might not use it, but I do." He said sarcastically. Roger looked at the defiant young boy before him. He shook his head. This one would be hard and he knew it. He just hoped he wasn't another Shelby or Scott.. because if he was, he'd make sure to stay away from the Cliffhanger group as much as possible.
*****
"Well, Mr. Gideon," Peter started as Thomas sat himself in the metal fold- out chair. "I suppose now is a good a time as any to check your bags and fill you in on the rules." Tom stared coldly at the floor, ignoring all of what Peter was saying. Peter shrugged and started pulling things out of his bags.
Thomas was starting to get jumpy. He started tapping his fingers impatiently on the side of the chair, knowing what Peter was going to find. Four bottles of liquor and 6 narcotics later, Peter stared down dissapointed at his new student.
"Thomas," Peter started. Thomas put his hand up to stop Peter.
"Just call me Gid. That's what all my friends call me.. I hate my first name." He finally informed him. Peter looked at the boy and raised his eyebrows slightly but decided to just go along with it.
"Alright, Gid.." Peter started again. "These, as you probably already know, are not allowed at Horizon." He said, pointing to the baggies and bottles on the table. Gid rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, okay." He mumbled. Peter was intriqued by Gid. He had never known a student to get up in the morning and explore the campus- just explore, without running, before.
He sighed and went on, "Also, there is no violence- which means no fights, no innapropriate touching- which is any kind of Public Display of Affection or a Private Display of Affection for that matter. And you know about the drug rule now." Gid nodded. "Usually when a new student first gets here, he or she is set on restriction for a day to however long I think he or she needs. Not because they are in trouble, just to adjust to new surroundings." Gid nodded again. "I will set you on a day at first and see how that goes. Also, I give the student a buddy."
Gid scoffed, "A buddy?" He said in his slight British accent that he had finally let slip out. Peter looked at him.
"Yes, a buddy. Gid, did you used to live in Britain or England?" Peter asked. Gid rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, up until I was seven. My father and I moved out to America when my mother-" He paused a second. "When my mother died." He finished. Peter frowned some.
"Ah, I'm sorry about your mother, Gid." He said. Gid just shrugged.
"Whatever." He said, pushing himself back into his closed up shell.
"Well, I suppose you should go in with Roger and the school nurse for your physical now. You also should change out of those.. clothes and get into proper Horizon attire." Peter said. Gid stood up and walked towards the door and Roger opened it.
"Whatever." He said once again. Peter knew then that Gid would be just as hard as any of the Cliffhangers, and deffinately no easier.
*****
A knock later came at Peter's office door as he sat going through a folder marked, 'Thomas Gideon.' He looked up and noticed that Shelby was standing at the door with her sister, Jess.
"Yes, Shelby. What do you need?" He asked, eager to know what brought Shelby to his office. She rarely ever came for advice or anything.
"Uh, we just wanted to know if you knew of the progress of the trial?" Jess asked. Shelby smiled at her independance. She had always been like that. Sometimes it worried Shelby though.
"Ah, glad you asked, Jess." Peter said pulling a small note from under the rock paper weight beside the phone. "Your mother just called. She said that the next part would be today at 4:00pm. I do want to warn you, though," he said, sitting the paper back down under the paper weight, "that the trial is looking to be a long and distressing procedure. It looks good though. Don't worry about it." Peter said, knowing just how much he was lying. He hated lying to his students but he didn't want them to worry.
Jess and Shelby nodded and walked back out the door. Peter dropped his head onto the desk and rubbed his temples.
"He's lying," Jess said as they got out of earshot of Peter's office. Shelby smiled weakly to her sister.
"I know," She said, "but take his advice and don't worry. It will only make you feel bad." She said.
"I haven't stopped feeling bad since you left that last time and never came back for me." Jess said sadly. Shelby looked at her sister and squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the tears that threatened to come.
*****
David paced the boy's dorm in silence. He knew that he should tell Peter or Sophie about what happened to him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He closed his eyes tightly and hit his hand against the backboard of his bed hard, in anger.
"Well, you look like a big bag of sunshine today." Daisy said sliding in quitely and unnoticed. David opened his eyes and looked at her strangely.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. Daisy put on an offended look playfully.
"Well, are you not happy to see me?" She asked, sounding hurt. David sighed and sat down on his bed.
"Not really." He said seriously, but not meaning to hurt her. Daisy looked at him quizically.
"You really are an enigmatic boy aren't you." She stated, sitting down beside him. "Has life torn some more at your already lost soul?" She said, wisely. David looked at her.
"I suppose it has." He mumbled. "You never answered my question. What are you doing here?" He asked again. Daisy thought for a second. Why WAS she here?
"I don't know really. I was just walking toward the girl's dorm and decided to pay you a little visit. I imagine it was because I haven't had time to really talk to you since you got back." She said. David nodded. "But let's not put up masks, here." David sighed. He knew this was coming. "What's wrong?" She asked. "You've been acting real strange lately. Not to mention that limp." She said pointing to David's foot.
David shrugged. He didn't feel like being interrogated anymore.
"Did you get in a fight or something while you were back home?" Daisy asked, though already putting together the pieces in her brain. David shrugged again as the last piece was put into place in Daisy's mind.
"I guess you could say that." He said. Daisy nodded at him, knowingly. She patted him on the back and stood up.
"Life's just a long road, full of adventure, full of discovery, and packed with pain. I imagine you have stumbled upon another speedbump in your walk towards happyness. Don't take a detour over the bump, David.. walk over it." She said and walked out, leaving David to think about what she had just said.
*****
Jeff and Peter walked into the Cliffhanger girl's dorm that afternoon to check on Juliette. They had sent her to her bed on a full day of restriction the day before after they had confronted her about her actions of that day and given her a purple journal to write her thoughts in.
She was busy writing in that journal when Peter walked up and sat down beside her on the bed. She looked up for a second and her face went to a shade of pink. She looked back down, averting his gaze.
"We've come to check your stuff, Jules. You know the drill.. we have to make sure you don't have anything to hurt yourself with." He said and Juliette stood up, nodding. She knew he wasn't going to find anything, but she let him search anyway.
Jeff pulled back the matress and Peter looked through the pillow and sheets. As Jeff was searching thourougly for holes in the mattress, Peter went and looked through Juliette's drawer. He hated invading his student's privacy, but it had to be done... for her safety.
"Okay, Jules. We didn't find anything." He smiled at Juliette but she just dropped her head. He sighed and Roger fixed her bed back up for her. "You know this is for your own safety don't you?" Silence. "Jules, come on.. don't hate us for this. We want what's best for you." Juliette looked up with hurt eyes and tear-staind cheeks.
"If you want what's best for me, Peter, why don't you just LEAVE ME ALONE!" She said throwing the journal back at Peter. "I'm not doing your stupid journal either! Just-" her voice cracked and she whispered, "Just leave me alone.." she said and fell back on her bed. Peter motioned for Roger to go get Sophie. Maybe she needed another woman to talk to.
[Song as Sophie walks in and talks to Juliette.] How the hell'd we wind up like this? Why weren't we able.. to see the signs that we missed.. try to turn the tables?.. I wish you'd unclench your fists, and unpack your suitcase. Lately there's been too much of this, but don't think it's too late....[End Song as they hug and they both walk out of the dorm smiling.]
*****
Gid stopped and stared at the nurse when she handed him a small open-seated gown.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, his accent showing a little more. The nurse smiled at him.
"Get changed into it so I can do the rest of your physical." He said as Gid grabbed the gown. They looked at each other silent for a moment.
"Well.. turn around, please." Gid exclaimed.
"Oh," The doctor mumbled. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before, but very well." He turned around and sat down in his chair, backward. Gid slipped into the gown after taking all his baggy clothes off. When the nurse turned around he saw just how skinny Gid looked in clothes that fit him.
"What?" Gid asked. The nurse shrugged and motioned for Gid to sit down on the table. He did reluctantly.
"Okay, seeing as you have boxers on, I'll just pull the top of the gown down and examine you." The nurse explained. Gid stiffened as the doctor put his hands on his shoulders. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you at all." He reassured and pulled the top down toward the beginning of his butt bone.
Gid winced as the fabric went across several fresh cuts he had on his back. The nurse stared at his back for a second until he recovered enough to ask questions.
"Where did you get all of these?" He asked, amazed at all the scars, cuts, bruises and welts on his back. Gid closed his eyes tightly.
*Flashback*
"They're getting onto you, Tommy!! What did I tell you about talking to your teachers about this? I told you to make up any and every story you could, they wouldn't understand your punishment. But it has to be done!" Joseph Gideon said while pulling Tommy's small belt off his pants.
"I'm sorry, daddy, I won't do it again!" He cried out, grabbing at his dad's arms to stop him, but in vain. Joseph pulled his son's shirt up and brought the belt up high into the air. "Daddy!"
*End flashback*
"Mr. Gideon! Where did you get those bruises and cuts on your back from?" He questioned again. Gid was snapped out of his trance and looked up at the doctor.
"Ah.. Uh, I got them in gang fights, what else did you think I got them from?" He asked, trying to make the doctor look stupid. The doctor looked at Gid skeptically for a second but just shook his head and continued the physical, making sure to take notes of where each and every scar on his body was.
*****
Ezra walked into the boy's dorm with a small piece of paper he had gotten off one of the counselors of the school.
For the past nine weeks he had been searching for his real parents. After his little brush with death after his parents last visit, Ezra had finally decided he wanted to know his REAL parents. Deep down, he just wanted someone to blame for his troubles.
He sat the paper down on his nightstand and read it over and over again.
"623-9005" He said slowly. "I've found them."
*****
Well, that's enough for today. I shall write more later. I have a few things I'm thinking of doing with this. Alot more plots and don't worry, I'll deffinately finish my story.
Review! I love getting reviews. The more I get, the more I'm motivated to post! Thanks,
Flamingteen.