Chapter Six: Highs and Lows
January 2007
Pete was opening the door to his dorm room when an acrid smell hit his nostrils. He knew the smell, marijuana. Gary occasionally smoked it, he said it calmed him down better than his meds. Pete didn't have any problem with it personally, he didn't want to be labeled a narc by his friends, but he had homework to do and he didn't want to get caught by a prefect; or draw Puff the Magic Dragon on his Algebra assignment.
"Do you have to do that in here?" Pete asked, shutting the door quickly after shooting a quick glance down the hallway to see if there were any prefects lurking about.
"Well where else would I do it little Petey? If you haven't noticed, prefects are everywhere and I'm not about to get kicked out of school for smoking pot. And turn the lights off, they give me a headache."
"Whatever. How did you even get that?" Pete asked, flicking the lights back off.
"Trent Northwick, same as every time. You know that."
"I know that, I said how. He threatened to kick your ass in Algebra last week for not letting him cheat off your paper," Pete tossed his bag down on his bed and unzipped it, taking out the Algebra book he needed. He had shrugged off his Bullworth vest and was unbuttoning his shirt when Gary spoke.
"I promised him something special with you," Gary smirked and Pete stiffened, his face turning red. Could Gary know what happened over Christmas break? He hadn't gone home to his parents but when Pete had come back after having that...encounter with Trent, Gary had nowhere to be found.
"Ew, Gary, that's disgusting," Pete's faced turned sour, and then he rubbed his eyes. The secondhand pot smoke was starting to get to him, and he didn't like where this conversation was heading. He couldn't turn back around to face Gary, his face would give it away, if Gary didn't already know.
"Sure, Petey. Just like you weren't a fluffy queer rabbit for Halloween," Gary snarked.
"I've never done that!"
"Sounds like a lie to me, Petey," Gary sniped, standing up but stumbling a little on his ascent. Pete didn't turn around, his hands gripping his backpack tight.
"N-no, not a lie," Pete stammered, feeling one of Gary's hand rest on his left shoulder, his head leaning down to not-quite-whisper into Pete's ear, all while puffing on the joint. Gary's touch still felt nice, and the secondhand smoke was lowering his inhibitions. Pete leaned back into Gary's touch, tilting his head up to better hear what Gary was saying.
"What's not a lie?" Gary asked, his hand slipping down to Pete's waist.
"M-making out with Trent. I've never made out with Trent," Pete said quietly. From the angle his head was at, he could feel the heat of the joint and Gary's breath on the side of his face, and it felt nice.
"I never said making out, Pete," Gary said, then his hand that had been on Pete's hip shot up and around to grip his jaw, not roughly enough to hurt but enough to keep him in place.
"I went looking for you when you didn't come back to the dorms, didn't want your dork ass to get detention and have to shovel snow over Christmas break," Pete could feel Gary smirk as if to say, wasn't that nice of me?
"I saw you and Trent run into that closet so I followed you in, it was kinda dark so you couldn't see in there so well. I ended up hiding behind this giant crate...anyway, I saw him grab you," Gary said, "I knew I was in for a show, I just didn't know what kind. I thought you were just gonna scream or trip or something...but you surprised me Pete. I have to say, I never thought in a million years I'd see you do something like that," Gary chuckled. Pete's face continued to burn in humiliation, but he couldn't bring himself to tear away from Gary.
"The prefect was looking for you, and you were getting off on it. The two of you could have gone all day if he hadn't seen me. You were practically swooning to kiss him, and practically face planted when he let you go! You should have seen your face, really."
Pete didn't have an argument and he could feel his loins stir, but he suddenly wanted the conversation to be over again. It had more than steered into dangerous territory and just because he was attracted to Gary didn't mean Gary wasn't doing this just to mess with him. He mentally wracked his brain for an argument but came up short.
"You made me wear that bunny costume," Pete finally said, lamely. Gary rolled his eyes.
"Yeah but you don't seem to mind being told what to do," Gary spat back, "You could have said no. In fact…"
Pete didn't like the tone Gary was taking. It meant he was going to make Pete do something, and Pete wasn't sure how far Gary would take it while he was high. Pete tried to wriggle out of Gary's grasp but his jaw was just gripped tighter. It started to ache.
"Too late now Pete. Now c'mere, I want to see what else I can get out of you," Gary said, suddenly releasing him, sitting cross-legged on his bed and patting the space in front him for Pete to do the same. Pete obeyed, rather reluctantly, sitting down on Gary's bed, crossing his legs and facing him. The bed was quite small, and their knees were touching.
Gary offered him a hit off the joint and Pete shook his head. Gary rolled his eyes and sighed.
"What can I say, I'm nervous," Pete said, not meeting Gary's gaze. He really didn't want to get caught but this was shaping up to be quite interesting. For the first time since the janitor's closet, Pete felt warm during the winter.
"Well how about this then," Gary mused, "Close your eyes,"
Pete shut his eyes, and felt Gary move across the bed and practically straddle one of Pete's knees. Pete gulped but didn't say anything. Gary's hand reached up and tilted Pete's jaw. Pete started to open his eyes but Gary's hand slipped over them.
"No, not until I say so," Gary said. Pete opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Gary speaking.
"Don't speak. Yeah, keep your mouth open like that," Gary said, and Pete could feel Gary start to move on his leg.
"What the f-"
"I didn't mean it like that Petey, Jesus Christ. Calm down," Gary insisted, but Pete could feel the heat from Gary's crotch on his leg. He didn't say anything else, just kept his mouth open and his head titled. He felt Gary's face move closer to his own.
"Good, now when I give the signal, I want you to inhale. Do not exhale until I tell you to," Gary ordered. Pete was about to ask what the signal was as Gary took a hit but all thoughts were dashed when Gary's mouth sealed over his and pushed his tongue in, exhaling the smoke into Pete's mouth. Pete inhaled a bit too sharply and wanted to cough. After a moment, Gary sat back.
"Exhale," Gary said, sounding a bit like a yoga instructor. Pete let the smoke out of his lungs and started to cough, opening his eyes. At first faintly, but then he almost fell off the bed. Gary set the joint in his ashtray and grabbed Pete's shoulders, steadying them.
"Good boy," Gary muttered and Pete flushed.
"It's called shotgunning," Gary said, taking another hit. He bent his head to do it again but Pete shook his head. Gary exhaled the smoke and stubbed the joint out.
"So Pete," Gary said, "I feel like we've learned a lot about each other today,"
"We really have," Pete giggled, wobbling around to move his erection to a more comfortable spot in his pants. Gary watched Pete's crotch for a moment then bent over to rummage around under the bed for air freshener when Pete caught a glimpse of blond hair in the window just across the room.
"Oh my god," Pete choked out, the smile suddenly gone from his lips. Through the open blinds, staring back at him, was Trent Northwick.
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you what exactly I promised him," Gary replied, spraying the air to smell less like burnt trees and more like living ones. He walked over to the window, pulled the open blinds up and opened the window. Trent started coughing.
"Jesus Gary, I didn't realize I gave you the strong shit," Trent said, his breath returning. Gary caught Trent's gaze and cocked his head towards Pete.
"Wanna come in?" Gary asked. Trent froze and then looked around, hearing voices suddenly heading up to the boys' dorm. Pete felt like he wanted to die.
"I-I don't think so. Catch you later Petey," Trent said, shooting one last hungry look at him before moving away from the window. Gary tisked and closed the window. He turned back to face Pete who was buttoning his shirt back up and getting off the taller boy's bed.
"Why did you do that, Gary?" Pete asked in a small voice.
"Do what? You can't get pregnant from kissing Pete, don't worry, you don't have to come up with ways to make yourself miscarry."
"Shut the fuck up Gary," Pete said, his voice now louder, "You know what I meant, why was Trent there watching us? Why did you let him do that?"
"Whoa, slow down there Petey. I'M the bad one? You're the one who's smoking pot and letting boys do things to you. I just told him that I enjoyed his show...and I should show my appreciation by giving him one," Gary shrugged his own shirt off, and Pete just stared at him.
"What, now you want one too?" Gary asked, flexing his arm muscles and posing. Pete just continued to stare, dumbfounded at Gary's actions.
"Are you brain dead? I don't want people watching me when I do that! I didn't know you were watching the first time and if I had I wouldn't have wanted you to! I wouldn't have done anything with Trent! Now he's going to think I'm some kind of perv who gets off on being watched! I can't believe you Gary," Pete was shouting now, close to tears. Gary's eyes widened and shifted around as if to say Quiet down, we have neighbors.
"Oh what, you invited someone to watch now you don't want the whole dorm to know you stuck your tongue down another boy's throat? I should tell them. Maybe they'll finally learn to steer clear of you," Pete spat, turning on his heels towards the door. He had the door open just a crack when a hand shot out from behind him and slammed the door shut.
"You really wanna get busted right now?" Gary said, his head low and right next to Pete's ear. This had been sexy earlier, but now seemed desperate.
"Stop, Gary. Let me go," Pete said, turning the knob but unable to pull the door open with Gary blocking it. He finally turned around and stared upwards.
"You're not going to tell anyone what just happened here," Gary ordered. Pete looked at Gary like he had grown another head.
"Or what?" Pete challenged, closing the gap between them and getting into Gary's face. He knew this was a mistake, Gary could kick his ass, but at this very moment he didn't care. Gary's eyes darkened and he was suddenly hoisted by his shoulders and tossed into his bed. He hit the floor next to it with a thud.
"Well, let's see Petey," Gary said, menacing towards him. Pete picked himself up, leaping across his bed when Gary reached it. He narrowly ducked the arm that reached across to snatch him back over the side. The bed was now between them, and Gary had a maniacal smirk on his face.
"First of all, you would get your ass kicked by every jock and bully in this school. Trent would probably kill you, that is," Gary vaulted across the bed and tried to grab Pete again, this time latching onto his half-buttoned shirt. Pete pulled away instinctively and the buttons ripped. He almost screamed, falling backwards and backing into the wall behind him.
"If I don't get there first," Gary menaced across the room, walking slowly towards Pete, his hands balled up into fists. Pete shrugged his shirt off and stood up, knees wobbling. He tossed his shirt into Gary's face and bolted past him. He leaped over the bed and almost made it when a strong arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him backwards. Pete planted his feet on the edge of the bed and shoved them both into the wall behind them. Gary hit the wall and Pete's head smacked into Gary's face. Pete heard Gary swear and the arm around him loosen. He wriggled out of Gary's grasp and raced towards the door again.
Somehow Gary reached the door before him. They just stared at each other, their breathing hard. Gary had a nice chest, Pete observed. Gary was pretty built, lean muscle under pale skin, and his nipples were hard.
"What were you going to do Pete? Run off to Jimmy and tell him what I did like you have been for the past couple of months? He hasn't listened to you yet, what makes you think he would now?"
Pete was surprised, he hadn't been subtle but he didn't think Gary knew that he was the one who had been keeping Jimmy informed about Gary's plots, to varying degrees of success.
"I-I.." Pete trailed off.
"Y-you were gonna what? Huh? Spit it out, Pete! I don't have all day, tell me how you were going to betray me," Gary ordered.
"I wasn't, okay, I was just angry!" Pete shouted, "And I have every right to be."
"Again with the self-importance, you're the one who's been running of to Jimmy every time I hatch some plan so if you think about it you're the one who started it," Gary rattled, "and now you're playing the victim. That's rich."
"Jimmy's my friend!"
"Barely, Pete. He doesn't even spend any time with you. And I was your friend first."
"Jimmy doesn't hurt me, he doesn't bully me, he doesn't spy on me, he doesn't try and get me high and vulnerable to fool around with in front of some guy he watched me fool around with for some weird revenge scheme! Why do you do it Gary? Why do you treat me like dirt?"
"Because you let me, Petey," Gary said. He stood there for a long moment, just staring at Pete, then shoved off the wall. Pete thought for a moment Gary would hit him but he just walked past him to the wardrobe, opening it. Pete heard him rustling around inside. A t-shirt hit him in the back of the head and he grabbed it, slowly putting it on.
"You can't tell anyone," Gary repeated.
"Fine, but this is it. I'm done Gary. This stops now. You're not going to treat me this way anymore."
"By all means Pete, stop me if you c-" Gary started but Pete had already grabbed his algebra book and headed out the door.
June 2007
Beatrice sipped her soda, enthralled in the tale she was being told. She and Pete had found a secluded spot on a bench at the carnival, and Pete had been telling her a story about his rather messed up relationship with Gary. His lips twitched nervously as he gauged her reaction. They had been sitting sideways on the bench facing each other, but Beatrice swung around to face the front as the story swam in her brain.
"Wow," She said simply. Pete mimicked her by swinging around and put his head in his hands, suddenly feeling drained.
"Yeah," Pete replied, and neither spoke for a moment.
"So that was it? You stopped being friends?"
Pete stood suddenly and walked around to the back of the bench. Beatrice scooted back around and looked up at him, pushing her bangs out of her eyes and blinked a couple of times. She didn't want to take the chance of losing her glasses on the roller coaster so she had decided to wear contact lenses that night, and they were starting to irritate her eyes. She opened her clutch in her lap and pulled out some eye drops, holding an eyelid back and letting a drop fall inside. She blinked a few more times to let the drop soak in. Pete watched, equal parts fascinated and horrified at someone's finger being so close to their own eye. After she was done, he spoke.
"Yeah. We never really talked about it again and from what I remember he never bothered Trent about what happened. We had a couple of blow ups after that but they were mostly about Jimmy. Mostly."
"So why do you want to visit him?" Beatrice asked, "He was so mean to you. You have better people in your life than that Petey."
"I know that," Pete said, returning to the spot he had been sitting in previously. A pair of adults was about to cross their path and their voices lowered, keeping an eye on the couple as they walked past.
"I just...I don't think he has anyone to visit him. His parents are never home during the summer so he spends all his time either in front of his computer or at my house badgering me."
Beatrice shifted her weight, she wanted to be a supportive friend, but to suggest Pete go visit Gary in Happy Volts? It sounded like a recipe for disaster.
"D-Do you know that for sure? That no one is visiting him?"
"I don't know for sure. Mrs. Smith told me I was allowed to visit after the initial evaluation was over. Should I? I mean, if he has no one he's really going to go crazy."
Beatrice picked the soda she had put on the ground up and sipped for a moment, hopefully looking like she had a thoughtful expression on her face. Truth was she wanted to stall her answer as long as she could. She could feel Pete staring but her attention soon shifted when Beatrice spotted a familiar couple across the way, waiting in line in front of the roller coaster.
"Isn't that Kirby and Mandy?" She asked, motioning towards the roller coaster. Pete craned his neck to look at them.
"Yeah...Zoe said she wanted to talk to them," Pete said, rising from the bench. He was dusting the popcorn kernels that had fallen on his lap when Beatrice's arm went across it.
"Wait a second," She said quickly, and pointed to a muscular blond boy in a white polo shirt headed towards the jock and the cheerleader. Mandy spotted him first and wrapped her arm around Kirby's, and leaned in to whisper in his ear. Whatever she said made his body stiffen, and by the time Trent had made his way over to Mandy and Kirby, they were standing arm in arm with stoic expressions; like a modern day American Gothic. However, this only lasted a moment. Beatrice and Pete could not hear what was said by Trent, but they did hear the crack of the slap across the face from Mandy that sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Holy shit," Pete exclaimed, his hand covering his mouth at the sight. Beatrice nodded in agreement, sipping her soda again.
"You fucking bitch," Trent said, holding his face where he had been slapped, and Kirby who had been holding her back for the brief moment since the initial strike let her go, instead trying to jump on Trent himself. Trent rolled out of the way and staggered to his feet. Kirby began sending blows towards Trent's face, but Trent was able to move quickly on his feet and trip Kirby up before high-tailing it. He ran past Pete and Beatrice and shot a look of disdain at Pete's choice of company. Pete rolled his eyes and Beatrice felt offended. Kirby followed seconds later and this time a look of disdain was shot at Pete, as well as a middle finger. Pete's brows furrowed again and he raised his arms as if to say What the hell did I do?
Beatrice, thinking on her feet, grabbed Mandy as she rushed by and hoisted her backwards.
"Wait stop!" Beatrice said as Mandy wriggled out of her grasp and turned around to swing on the offending carnival patron who dared to grab her like that. Beatrice put her hands over her face.
"Let the boys fight themselves, you'll get yourself hurt if you go after them," Beatrice said, flinching at what she thought was going to be a fist in her face. Mandy was breathing hard, looking absolutely murderously at Beatrice for a moment before finally nodding, her breathing returning to normal after one tense second.
"Pete, go after them," Beatrice ordered. Pete put his arms up in a gesture of Why the hell would I do that?
"Just make sure they don't hurt themselves, OK?" Mandy asked, her voice starting to get a little choked up. Pete hesitated for a moment and Beatrice motioned for him to go on. Pete took off and he heard Beatrice tell Mandy that Zoe wanted to talk to her.
"Kirby, stop!" Pete called after, he raced out of the gate, nearly knocking some townies over as he raced into the parking lot. He looked around. It was quiet, moths were buzzing around the street lights illuminating the lot. There weren't a lot of places to hide around here, in fact it was a straight shot through the tunnel back into town. The tunnel was mostly dark, and he didn't want either boy to be hit by a car. He sighed and trudged across the parking lot, and peeked in the tunnel to see if he could hear the two boys fighting or the patter of feet. It seemed even darker than usual as it was a cloudy night, and Pete was cast into shadow. The wind was suddenly knocked out of him by a particularly violent tackle.
"Oof!" Pete yelled as he struggled to wrestle the offending body off of his own. He couldn't see the man's face, only the ski mask and dark clothing he was wearing. The assailant's hands hands were now gripping Pete's shoulders and pinning him to the ground. He was much larger than Pete was, but also had a beer gut and smelled of whiskey. Pete's eyes widened when he realized this could be Mr. Burton. The police had let him out? Why?
"Get off of me! Someone help, please!" Pete yelled as the hands gripping his shoulders brought his body upwards for a moment. He was struggling to get away as he was punched in the face, hard. His head slammed into the pavement. As if acting on its own his body tried to crawl backwards but Mr. Burton's fist caught his face again. Pete was terrified and began trying with all his might to get out from under the much larger man. He felt fingers close around his throat.
"Please, stop," Pete groaned pitifully and he began clawing at Mr. Burton's arms. As if by a miracle, a cloud moved out of the way of the moon in that moment and the two were bathed in moonlight. The bloody mess of Pete's face saw a figure moving behind Mr. Burton and felt the fingers closed around his throat loosen as he heard a blow land on the person on top of him. Mr. Burton dropped like a sack of potatoes onto Pete and Pete screamed, trying to push him off. Pete was successful and he scurried away, his vision not being able to properly focus as he heard Mr. Burton groaning.
"What are you doing here?" Burton yelled, and Pete heard the thud of another blow landing on Mr. Burton. He squinted his eyes and could see a lithe teenage boy with a baseball bat in his hands, swinging at the older man in the ski mask.
"Get out of here before I kill you," Pete heard a familiar voice say that made his spirits simultaneously rise and his stomach drop. It couldn't be, this was all just a hallucination brought on by head trauma.
"Screw you, little piece of shit wasn't worth the effort anyway," Pete watched Mr. Burton skedaddle past him like a bat out of hell down the tunnel when suddenly Pete saw headlights coming from the other end. He was quickly hoisted out of the way, and over the unknown figure's shoulder before being placed on a bench in the parking lot. His head felt woozy and the world was spinning like he was on the roller coaster inside the carnival. He lost consciousness again but could have sworn in his haze he saw a tall boy with a scar on his forehead looking into his eyes with concern.
"Petey, hey, look at me," He heard a voice call and water splash on his face. His vision focused after a moment and he saw Beatrice looking down at him. Well, he saw a lot of people looking down at him actually. He was lying on a stretcher, he observed, and a paramedic was regarding someone he couldn't see with disdain.
"Don't do that!" The paramedic scolded and he heard a girl scoff. Mandy Wiles moved into view and tossed her hair behind her shoulders.
"It worked didn't it?" Mandy cooed and Pete could practically hear hear eyes roll, but he could see the hand that wasn't holding a water bottle was shaking.
"Your parents are going to be here any minute son, did you see who did this to you?"
"I-I didn't see his face," Pete said lamely. It then dawned on him that he didn't have a choice now, he had to visit the asylum. He looked up at Beatrice.
"I have to go," Pete said, and tried to raise himself up. The paramedic shushed him and began pushing him back down.
"No no no, not until you go to the hospital," The paramedic said. Pete huffed, this night was never going to end.
