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chapter 2

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It was indeed a bit unsettling how nice Ivan and Theo were being to him, but Morty could barely let himself care. At this point, he wanted to hang out with them just to prove Rick wrong more than anything else. Of course, dating Jessica was definitely still a big part of it too... If this worked out, Morty would have a date with his dream girl. How could he pass on that chance? Even if Ivan and Theo beat him up, the possibility of getting a date with Jessica would make the whole ordeal worth it.

He met the two older boys on the basketball court as they'd suggested, only having to wait five dreadful minutes after four o' clock for them to show up. They were a very long five minutes though, filled with horrible thoughts that Rick had been right and that Theo and Ivan were setting him up, probably watching and laughing in the distance... But they weren't.

They showed up and they had a basketball and before saying anything about Jessica or the dance, they just kinda started playing, passing the ball to Morty a lot more than he would have preferred and being strangely complementary to his very flawed technique. They were actual basketball players, yet seemed very impressed every time Morty got even close to the net, which was definitely odd.

"Awesome shot, Mort!" Ivan called out when Morty threw the ball up toward the hoop and it just barely grazed the bottom of the net. "That was real fuckin' close!"

Morty breathed out a nervous breath as Ivan tossed the ball back to him. He felt like they were humoring him. Like he was a little kid incapable of actually making a shot and they wanted to boost his confidence. It was kind of insulting... Or maybe it wasn't. He wasn't sure if it was an entirely bad thing if that was what they were doing...

He was a lot younger than them. A lot smaller, a lot less good at sports. Maybe they did think he was cool - because of all the science stuff - and they expected him to suck at basketball, but they liked him and wanted to be nice about it. Maybe they kind of saw him as a younger brother - like they could be friends still, but they realized they were older, stronger, better at sports... They could be like mentors and friends. Like Rick, only closer to his own age and hopefully not as verbally abusive.

"So about Jessica..." Theo finally started, catching the ball and holding it after Morty tossed it to him. "I overheard her saying she's completely over dating and she never wants to date another boy again."

Morty felt his heart sink and his shoulders slump. How the hell did they think she was going to accept a date proposal from him then? It would have been hard enough to get her to say yes on a normal day.

"I think she'll go with you though, Morty." Theo went on. "You're the least-threatening guy in the school."

"Um... Th-thanks?" Morty frowned.

Theo smiled a charming, popular-basketball-player grin. "I'm just saying... She's used to dating these confident, big, outgoing jocks. She's tired of dating because she's tired of dating them and people like them. When she said she's tired of dating boys, she didn't mean boys like you. You're practically a different species... in a good way."

Morty frowned and looked down. Were they making fun of him? He wasn't sure how to take this.

"It's complicated, Morty, but we think you might be the only person who she might say yes to." Ivan cut in. "And we need her to say yes to someone."

Morty looked up."What do you mean? Why do you want her to go with me?" He wondered.

"Well, I do think we should start being friends just because you've got the potential to be cool... because of the science stuff. It's like on-trend now for girls to be science nerds." Ivan laughed. "So you'll help attract hot scientist-chicks to our group. But we also need someone to date Jessica because her friend Maria probably won't go to the dance if she doesn't."

"Oh..." Morty nodded. "So one of you wants to date Maria."

"I do." Ivan noted. "And Theo wants to date her sister, who can't date unless Maria does."

Morty narrowed his eyes. That sounded really familiar. "Isn't that the plot of a nineties movie?"

"I dunno... So do you think you can help us?" Theo smiled hopefully. "I really do think Jessica will say yes to you. She's so tired of assertive jocks... You're like the opposite of what she's sick of. She won't feel at all threatened by you. She'll feel like she's in charge, which I'm sure you wouldn't mind."

Morty stared passed Theo's shoulder at the basketball hoop net. It was kind of the shape of the skirts Jessica wore. He smiled slightly, thinking about dating Jessica, about her feeling like Morty wasn't like all the other boys she dated... She might accept the date thinking he'd just be a change from what she was sick of, and realize halfway through the night that she actually loved him and wanted to marry him.

"So?" Ivan's voice snapped Morty back to the present. "Will you ask her?"

Morty breathed out a small breath, swallowed nervously, and nodded. "Yeah." He squeaked, feeling nervous even saying it. Asking her was going to be scary... She might still say no, regardless of Theo and Ivan's theory... But she might say yes too, and he could never know if he didn't try.

"Great!" Theo grinned. He tossed the ball to Ivan, who effortlessly threw it straight into the basket. "I got something fun we can do now that that's sorted out..." Theo noted, walking over to a back pack he had thrown down next to Morty's on the sidelines and unzipping it.

Morty watched as the older boy took a glass bottle filled with clear liquid out of his bag. It looked like alcohol - like the strong stuff... Stuff Rick poured into orange juice, or just drank straight down when he was really stressed. It didn't seem to take that much to get even Rick drunk off of stuff like that.

Ivan followed Theo toward the bleachers and sat down with him, taking the bottle in his hand and tilting it up toward his mouth, taking a drink, making a strange face, and then laughing. "That's fuckin' strong." He laughed. "Come on, Mort!" He waved Morty over.

Morty stared with wide eyes, but forced a smile and walked over. He couldn't decline. They'd think he was a loser... And if they liked him because of science stuff, what they really liked was Rick... and Rick drank a lot. Maybe most scientists did. Maybe if Morty wanted to fit in, he should at least give off a vibe that he liked to drink, even if he really didn't.

Morty cautiously took the bottle and frowned down at it, then tilted it slowly up toward his lips and took a small sip. At least, he tried to just take a small one. As he was slowly angling it, Ivan grabbed the bottle and tilted it up quickly, causing a lot more alcohol than Morty had planned on to spill into his mouth.

Morty felt his eyes watering as he tried to just swallow it all - to be cool - but failed, rather immediately coughing and sputtering as he handed the bottle back to Ivan and tried to catch his breath.

"You ever had this before?" Theo laughed as he stared down at Morty.

Morty shook his head, still unable to really speak as he struggled to regain his breath. He was still coughing. A lot of the alcohol had gone into his mouth, a lot had gone down his throat... and he felt like some of it somehow made it into his nose. It actually burned. He felt like he had just breathed in actual fire.

"Take another drink." Theo suggested, pushing the bottle toward Morty. "You barely got any that time. And trust me, it gets easier and easier the more you drink. I know it's kinda strong, but seriously... Take like four shots of this, and you don't even fucking taste the fifth, six, and seventh ones." He laughed.

"Th-that's okay..." Morty shook his head, raising his hand up in front of himself and gently pushing the bottle away.

Theo frowned and grabbed Morty's arm, pushing it down as he shoved the bottle toward Morty's lips. "Take another drink." He demanded.

Morty blinked, feeling honestly nervous by how angry Theo looked. He looked over the boy's shoulder toward Ivan, who also didn't look too pleased. Were they really mad that he didn't want to drink? They were still at school. It had only just started to get dark. A teacher might even see this at this point.

"Come on. Don't be a loser." Theo suggested, pressing the bottle up to Morty's lips.

Morty turned his head, breathing out a small breath. "Theo... I-" He hesitated. He wanted to fit in. He wanted them to like him... But the alcohol actually hurt. So did Theo's hand wrapped around his arm. Morty looked down at it, feeling his heart sink. Maybe Rick was 100% right on this. They were setting him up. It was a joke. They were going to make him drink, get him drunk... Then maybe leave so Morty couldn't get home without calling Rick - which he definitely didn't want to do... He couldn't call either of his parents either, and really didn't want to call Summer.

He didn't want to get drunk... And if they left him here, especially after forcing him to drink, he would have to try to call someone. He couldn't get all the way home by walking. It was pretty far... and if he was drunk, he might get lost. Morty hadn't ever been drunk before - not like debilitating, stumbling, slurring, falling down-drunk. What if he stumbled into the street and got run over? Or even what if he just walked down the sidewalk, appeared drunk, and a cop stopped him! Could he go to jail? Like juvie?

"Drink. Now." Theo demanded, squeezing his hand tighter around Morty's forearm and pressing the bottle up against his lips.

"Theo, stop!" Morty said in a small voice, grimacing as he turned his head and shrunk back. "I don't want to... It's Thursday... I- I don't want a... like a hangover tomorrow..." He made an excuse they might hopefully understand - one which implied that he had done this before and that he had rules surrounding drinking - logical ones, not loser-ones.

"Morty..." Theo started, squeezing even harder with his hand around Morty's arm and tugging him rather roughly forward as he pushed the bottle back up toward his face. "You gotta do this. Prove you're not a fuckin' loser."

Morty stared silently at Theo for a moment, glancing over toward Ivan, who smirked back at him. The longer this went on, the more sure he was that these boys never truly did want to be his friend. This had been a setup the whole time. There was no way drinking alcohol was this big of a deal to them. They wanted him drunk so they could do something mean. Why else would they demand it?

"Come on, Mort. It's fun." Ivan laughed as Theo still held the bottle close to Morty's lips, silently waiting on Morty to go along with this.

"No." Morty finally breathed. "N-no thanks... You guys can have it..."

Theo scowled at him as he drew the bottle back.

Morty swallowed nervously. "I still want to be friends..." He breathed. "Y-you know... It's like a school night, and the alcohol is really strong. N-not to be like a loser, b-but I kinda just don't like that stuff too... Theo, it's so strong. It kinda hurts." He laughed breathlessly.

"You know what else hurts?" Ivan noted, standing up to his full height and stepping toward Morty, who felt very, very short now that Ivan was standing so menacingly, staring down at him.

Morty stared wide-eyed up at him, but couldn't bring himself to speak or move until Ivan balled his hand into a fist and slammed it down against Morty's ribs.

Immediately, Morty let himself fall down to the ground, whimpering and holding his hands over his stomach. He could barely even breathe, couldn't get himself to speak, and felt tears filling his eyes.

"Fuckin' loser!" Ivan growled, grabbing Morty's arm and dragging him back up, holding him there this time as he punched the smaller boy in the stomach again.

"Stop it!" Morty cried, trying to pull his arm free as he attempted to shield his stomach with his other hand.

He could hear Theo laughing from beside him, then felt the older boy's hands on his upper arms, holding him back while Ivan hit him again, and again.

"Please, stop!" Morty gasped, doubling over as soon as Theo let go of him. He sunk to his knees, kept his eyes squeezed shut, and made himself as small as he could, hugging his arms around himself and failing to keep his tears from falling.

Rick had been right. Of course he had. Morty knew it was well as Rick did, the whole time. Theo and Ivan weren't ever going to actually be his friends. The whole time, they were planning something cruel, and though Morty wasn't as cooperative as they'd hoped, they clearly had a backup plan - to just beat him up.

Morty should have known... He did know. He let his stupid naivety get the better of him. Again. Just like Rick said...

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