GiNOTE: **Just some MINOR WARNINGS to everyone; there is a brief, although not very descriptive, mention of masturbation in here. If that bothers you, I apologize in advance but that scene is in there for a reason. Also, there is some child abuse in this, so again, if that bothers you, I apologize.**

Chapter Ten: What Mondays are For

Monday morning rolled around and Carlos felt tense. The entire weekend, he'd been dreading what was to come now that they were involving the police, and it had eaten away hours of his sleep. The lack of sleep and the tightly tied knot of anxiety sitting in the pit of his stomach had put him into a rather foul mood. His thoughts were all over the police and the investigation they were setting up, but there was a niggling little thought in the back of his head that they shouldn't have gone to the cops.
Even though he knew the police were the good guys and were supposed to help, Carlos still wanted to crack a shot at finding the culprit. Perhaps it was due to his natural curiosity, or maybe because he had watched too many detective shows when he was younger. Either way, he still wanted to get his nose into this business, even though there was the possibility that he could get into trouble himself.

An announcement midway through the day had made the itch to continue his own investigation even stronger. He had been sitting in study hall and the intercom had buzzed to life, the monotone female voice repeating the message twice before clicking off.
"Attention staff and students. Regarding an issue with several students, the police are here to question regarding suspicious activity seen in around the boys' locker rooms." The announcement had left the entire classroom buzzing with curiosity, and all Carlos could think about is if the police intended to question the entire student body.

If they did plan on that, Carlos marked that as their first mistake; that would take too long; there had to be a better way to narrow it down. Personally, Carlos would have narrowed it down to sports teams, gym classes and the custodians that came through during the day and after hours. It would definitely help shrinking the pool of people to question. Carlos sighed, shoving the thoughts of the situation to he back of his mind; it would have to wait for later when he could get away from class without being missed.

(page break)

Last period, he decided to skip Spanish class for the library, his laptop tucked under his arm. Ever since lunch, the gears in his head had been working over time. He'd come to think that even though the cops were snooping about for more information leading to the perpetrator, the culprit would probably still be sneaking around to take advantage of those changing in the locker rooms. Sooner or later, Carlos thought that another picture might appear on the website; the last one had been taken of Herkie, which was back in June of Carlos' sophomore year. So it was more than likely, the criminal was searching for a new model to take some photos of, even if it was a risk.

Jay had ended up in the library too, although Carlos assumed that his friend had followed him. He had silently sat across from Carlos, who was busying himself with his laptop. Even with the device between the two of them, he could feel Jay staring at him, and it was beginning to make him uncomfortable, but Carlos continued to ignore it.
"You need to leave it alone, 'Los," Jay said, finally, breaking the tense silence between them. He pushed Carlos' laptop shut and dragged the computer away from him. "We all agreed we'd let the cops deal with it, so just forget about it for now."
"Forget about it?" Carlos echoed. He glanced around the library, looking for signs that anyone near by was listening in on their conversation. "You were the one that was worried about telling anyone for the longest time. Why are you telling me to just forget about it?" He couldn't help but feel slightly angry towards Jay, but he assumed that the mood he'd been in all day didn't help. Jay was the one that had asked him for his help, and for his best friend to just tell him to forget the issue that Carlos hadn't even brought up was kind of hypocritical.

Carlos stood silently, and pulled his laptop back and tucked it under his arm. He stared at Jay.
"Remember that you were that asked for my help. So I'm going to help as much as possible. If the cops don't solve this, they're just going to forget about it and you and the others will never know who posted those nude pictures of you online." He turned and left, trying to push the anger he felt rumbling in his chest back into the depths of his mind. Anger was something that he didn't normally feel, and he hated it even more that this feeling of anger was directed towards Jay.

More than anything, Carlos wanted to be helpful; by letting the cops take over the situation he felt like he was letting Jay down, and giving up on his own abilities to solve a problem. He had to see it through. He was going to help his friend, and the others too; it might be a bad decision, but his indecisiveness had lost this round.

He had been so excited when the head coach of the track and field team had offered him up a position on the team. It had been out of the blue, and early in the morning on a school day, and even though Gil had offered to try out, the coach brushed the offer off, saying how he had already seen Gil run when he had been on the football team. Apparently the coach of the football team and the track coach were friends, and his old coach had mentioned that he didn't want Gil's talent to go to waste. To have his old coach recommend him to another team, even though Gil had quit without any notice, it was beyond nice.

To him, the track team was like a breath of fresh air. The first day he spent as part of the team was the first time in a long time where he had actually enjoyed practice. Even though by the end of the training session he was worn down and covered in sweat, he was happy. Running, even if it was in circles on a track, was much more relaxing than football had ever been. There was also a significantly less chance that he'd get a concussion from running on a track; that suited Gil just fine. He'd suffered a minor concussion in his freshman year and it had left him feeling out of sorts for nearly two weeks; he didn't want to experience another one anytime soon.

He'd been the last off the track since the coach had pulled him aside to discuss practice time and events that the team was involved in. It was no where near as busy as his football schedule had been, which was nice, since it didn't set too much on his place. Perhaps he could focus on bringing up his grades instead of just keeping it at a passing C level to stay on the team.
With the rest of the team packed up and headed home by now, Gil was left the lone straggler in the locker room. It was kind of eerie, but not an overly disturbing feeling.

Gil stripped down, putting his used clothes back into his gym bag and wrapped a towel around his waist, intent on heading to the showers. He pulled out the clothes he had worn during the school day and zipped up the gym bag. Taking the bag with him, Gil deposited the bag, the towel and the change of clothes on nearby bench just outside the shower room.
His footsteps echoed on the damp tile floor. It was a bit of a strange, lonely feeling having the entire room to himself, but Gil wasn't used to ever getting much alone time. Even at home, he couldn't be alone; normally his brothers or his father or even Louis would barge into his room several times a night before he went to bed. It was annoying, so the quiet of the locker room and the showers wasn't all that disturbing to him.
It was actually kind of calming.

He turned the water on and ran his hand under it, testing the temperature. Once it had reached a tolerable level of warmth, he stepped under the jet of water. Gil sighed as the water washed away the sweat on his skin and helped loose any tight muscles. Although he loved water, he couldn't spend all day in the shower. He had to get home and do homework among other things. He also wanted to his friends and family about the spot he had been offered on the track team.

He was excited to tell Uma and Harry, and although they probably didn't care all that much, he knew that they'd be happy for him. Since the night that Harry and Uma had slept over, he'd been thinking a lot about the, more than normal. Over the weekend, the both of them had danced through his dreams and had given him the worst wet dreams in the best way; he couldn't remember the last time he had had a wet dream that had woken him thinking he had wet the bed.
Kissing his friends had definitely helped him realize who he was attracted to and it seemed that it didn't matter if they were male or female; it mattered more so on who they were as a person and what the relationship he had with them was. These, new awakened feelings had set his nerves on fire. He couldn't really describe it, but just thinking about Harry and Uma made him hard.

He let the water wash over him as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his nether regions. This was not the place or the time to jack off. But the horny little voice in the back of his head encouraged him, begging for release. It was tempting to say the least; he knew that he wouldn't get a chance at home. His dad had walked in on him once and it had been the most embarrassing thing for him; all his dad had told him was to use lotion so he didn't start chaffing.

He imagined running his hands over Harry's bare chest and down the curve of Uma's back. He imagined pulling them close as they lay down on the bed, their bare skin touching and he remembered the soft touch of Uma's delicate hands and the rough, sandpaper like texture of Harry's stubble. Gil moaned, pleased at the pictures his mind was producing, edging him closer to cumming.

He froze as he heard the snapping sound of a camera capturing a picture. Startled, Gil pulled away from the wall, straightening up and pulling his hand away from his member. From the amount of steam that the hot water had produced and the amount of time the shower had been running, it was hard to see the person. All GIl could make out was siloutte at the entrance to the showers.

By the time he had reached the spot where the pervert had been standing, the room was empty once again, except for himself. He cursed silently in his head and grabbed the towel he had placed on the bench, wrapping it around his waist. He just had to go and pleasure himself right there of all places, when he knew full well that there was some creep lurking around taking photos; how could he have been so stupid?
"Fuck."

The bag he had left on the bench, closed, was now open, and the articles were hanging out of it. Gil shoved everything back in the bag and zipped it up. Whoever had just taken his photo, had also taken his shirt.

The little diner was practically empty, save for the one lone waitress and the cook in the back. And even though Uma could feel the stare that the waitress was giving them, she intended on staying until closing, or until she got the gol to kick her and Mal out. On their first visit late on Friday night, Uma and Mal had plans to meet again at The Under World. It was nice to have another girl around to talk to. Being around Harry and Gil was just fine, but sometimes the girl problems she'd tell them about seemed to fly over their heads.

Her and Mal seemed to talk for hours, about nothing and everything. But it seemed like both of them wanted to dive deeper into knowing one another better so they had started discussing friends and family. It started with rather simple questions, but build up to questions that required more than a yes or no answer.

"What ever happened to you and to Evie," Uma asked. She plucked the cherry off the pile of whipcream and placed it on a napkin for later; the marschino cherry was always the best part. "I thought you two were like peas in a pod."
Mal sighed and took a long sip from her glass. "We were. I don't know why she decided to become a cheerleader. I'm thinking her mom had something to do with it, but I didn't think it would change her so much."
"What did you expect? The cheerleaders are like clones; they all follow conformity. I think Evie just confomred to fit in with them." Mal rested her head in her hand, her thoughts drifting to her distant, or rather, ex-friend. She really wanted to have Evie back in her life, but wasn't sure how to go about. The cheerleaders were like hyenas, they traveled in packs and were ready to rip apart anyone who tried to divide one of their members from the group.

"Well, Gil broke up with her," Uma said, "I'm glad, they didn't really fit well together." Mal nodded in agreement. She hadn't seen Evie and Gil as a couple around the school much, but when she had, Evie looked overly clingy, and it seemed to disturb not only Gil, but Mal as well; she couldn't remember her freind ever being so clingy or needy for a boy toy or significant other. Mal had thought Evie was similar to her-wanting a man but never in need of one. It was kind of sad when she thought about it. She wondered if Evie ever planned on leaving the cheerleaders and rejoin reality, where her actual friends were.

"So you and Ben are a thing," Uma continued, drawing Mal from her thoughts. "How close have you two gotten?" Mal smiled at the mention of Ben. Since he had left for the semester overseas, not many people had bothered to bring him up. Jay, Carlos and even her mother were away that she missed him, but they never asked who she was managing or even how Ben was over in England.

The last time they had Skyped was when Mal had informed him about the nude photo scandal at school, and he had been embarrassed, to say the least, which wasn't what she had expected. But it wasn't like he could do anything about it from over in England; he'd just ask Mal to keep him up to date on the situation, which she assured she would.

"We haven't gone all the way, if that's what you're asking." Mal replied. She nodded towards Uma. "What about you? Are you and Harry a thing?"
"Me and Harry," Uma repeated, surprised. "You think me and Harry are a thing?" Mal felt heat rising into his cheeks, slightly embarrassed that she had mislabelled the relationship between her and Hook. From the display the two put on in school, Mal assumed that they were a couple, but she could be wrong; Harry was notorious for infiltrating people's personal space bubbles.

"Sorry-"
"No, I mean sure, I guess I have feelings for Harry, but I also have feelings for Gil. They're kind of like a package deal. So I got two for the price of one." Uma smiled. "Which is fine with me."

It was nearly ten thirty when Uma walked in the door. Her house was dark, save for the light in the kitchen, which only illuminated directly over the kitchen table anyhow. She pulled off her boots and set her bag down on the hall table. As she entered the kitchen, she realized that she was not the only one awake in the house. A man, with scraggly hair and a rumpled suit sat at the table. A beaten up brief case sat next him in an one of the empty kitchen chairs.

She'd seen this man in her house twice before. Both times he was completely wasted, wreaking of alcohol and stumbling about like an idiot; her mother hadn't been in a much better state. Come morning, he was gone, but the beer bottles that littered the coffee table and the kitchen counter still showed that he and her mother had definitely tried to drink one another under the table. Or perhaps he was trying to add to her mother's "beauty" before he jumped into bed with her.

Unsteady, he got to his feet and sauntered towards Uma, backing her up close to the wall. He shoved her up against the wall, his hands coming to rest on either side of her as barricades. He was slightly taller than her, his mouth level at her eyes. The stench of alcohol was heavy on his breath and his teeth were a ugly shade of yellow. Uma turned her head away so she could breath in something other than his halitosis.

Uma felt one of his knees trying to push apart her legs as he stepped in between her feet as one of his arms moved closer to take grip on her shoulder. Slowly, it slid down to her waist.
"You smell so good," he slurred. "Much more delicate than what I normally see." Uma grimaced and tried to keep from dry heaving; the stench of his breath was so strong, it was making her stomach begin to do somersaults. Beginning to feel more than uncomfortable, she stomped on his foot, her arms coming up between his and pushing his head back.

The man stumbled away from her, clutching his forehead in pain. He growled in anger and made an advance towards her, his gait unbalanced from the amount of his liquor consumption. She side stepped him and made a move to exit the kitchen but he managed to trip her, sending her to the ground. Uma wiggled to get away from him as he began to linger over her.

Uma kicked back with her free foot and reached for the briefcase that sat in the chair. She managed to wriggle a little closer and knock it down. She grabbed it by the handle and swung it towards her mother's lover, hitting him square in the shoulder. The briefcase snapped open as she hit him a second time, the items flying out of it and scattering the kitchen tile.

"What in sweet Neptune is going on down here?"

Uma and her attacker froze at the screaming of her mother. The man released her foot and got to his feet in a hurry as Ursula stormed into the room, wearing only a nightgown and slippers, her eyes wild with anger. She flipped on the rest of the kitchen lights. She glared at the two of them on the floor and then at the mess they had managed to create by knocking stuff around the kitchen, causing papers on the table and counters to flutter to the floor along with the contents of the briefcase. She glared at Uma angrily, her eyes bloodshot.
"Clean this up and get out of my sight, you little urchin!"

Uma scrambled around on the floor, gathering the items that had spilt from the briefcase. It was an odd array of objects that she didn't normally expect to be in a brief case, but it was a strange man that carried it, so for him perhaps it was normal. She slammed the briefcase shut, the end of a shirt still hanging out. She shoved the case back at the man, who drew it close to his chest. His eyes followed her out of the kitchen, a malicious smile on his face.

Once she was in her room, Uma locked the door and pushed a small chest in front of it incase her mother or her "friend" decided to come up and harass her. She slumped down onto her bed, exhausted. This was much more than what she had wanted to deal with when she came home. But it was only the beginning of the week; but what were Monday's for other than being the worst day of the week?

A/N: Thanks to all of those that have read this, as well as though that have commented on this story. It is all appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it may be getting a bit dark and/or raunchy. But what is written is with plot in mind. Feedback is always welcomed, feel free to leave anything constructive. I hope that this is edited decently; it's normally pretty late when I do editing, so sorry if there was any typos.

Also, this is not related to this story, but I do have another idea for a story. It'd be in separate parts, each from a different perspective. I was thinking of titling it "How'd You End Up Here", since it regards how certain characters got to be in a psychiatric institution. It's just an idea, but I was wondering if anyone would want to read that sort of thing.

And, finally, a last note; I now in the last chapter that Chad's mother had ALS; if you are not aware of what that is, it is the same neurodegenerative disease that Steven Hawking had which slowly paralyses the body. Thought I should just mention that since I meant to in the last chapter but didn't.