This is for NothingToulouse, because she made the wonderful picture that's on my profile, and I realised that it was incumbent on me to explain what was going on. Which is in this chapter. And resulted in so many more bits in this chapter that I just would never have thought of. Thank you very much. ;D
1. 'In the beginning' Parts 1 and 2 (Chapters 13 and 14) Rusty is seven, Danny is nine.
2. 'Neverending Conversation' Parts 1 and 2 (Chapters 15 and 16) Rusty is seven, Danny is nine.
3. 'Something more than it should be' (Chapter 10) Rusty is ten, Danny is twelve
4. 'The humiliation of Norris Carrol' (Chapter 20) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen
5. 'Four Day Interlude' (Chapter 5) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen
6. 'Remember the first time' (Chapter 4) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen
7. 'Sunshine, smiles and sweet, sweet words' (Chapter 17) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen.
8. 'View from the outside' (Chapter 12) Rusty is eleven, Danny is fourteen
9. 'Walk before you can crawl' (Chapter 2) Rusty is twelve, Danny is fifteen
10. 'Other Nightmares Parts 1 and 2 (Chapters 8 and 9) Rusty is twelve, Danny is fifteen
11. 'The more things change' (Chapter 1) Rusty is thirteen, Danny is fifteen
12. 'Six months of roses' (Chapter 18) Rusty is thirteen/fourteen, Danny is sixteen
13. 'Life Lessons' (Chapter 7) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is sixteen - falls within time of 'Six months of roses'
14. 'The lies we live' (Chapter 3) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is sixteen
15. 'If the fates allow' (Chapter 19) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is seventeen
16. 'This is our decision (to live fast and die young)' (Chapter 6) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is seventeen
17. 'Such a perfect day' (Chapter 11) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is seventeen.
Slightly annoyed with himself, Rusty wandered out of the school towards the back steps. He found Danny without much difficulty, sitting against the wall listening to Mike and David argue about something. It was possible robots were involved. Danny looked up as soon as Rusty stepped round the corner, and his eyes smiled a greeting, and despite his mood and the real worry that he'd just committed them to something stupid, Rusty smiled back.
"Hey, Mike, hey, David." He leaned against the wall but didn't bother sitting. Somehow, he didn't think they'd be there much longer.
"Hi, Rusty." Mike looked up at him. "Where've you been?"
He shrugged. "Someone wanted to talk to me." He looked at Danny, who, naturally, got the point immediately and stood up slowly.
"Problem?" he asked.
Rusty considered. "Something," he answered finally.
Danny nodded. "Okay then." He looked back at Mike and David. "We'll see you guys later."
The other boys looked intrigued but didn't ask. At some point it had become accepted that sometimes – most times - they just didn't share. "Later," David agreed.
"Don't be late for class," Mike yelled after them.
They walked off, heading nowhere in particular, but avoiding the crowds, and avoiding anyone who might want to overhear. "Are we going to be late for class?" Danny asked finally.
"Nah," Rusty assured him. "Not something we need to do something about right now."
Danny nodded. "So? What's up?"
Where to begin. "Brady Taggart stopped me after class. He was crying."
"Embarrassing?" Danny asked lightly.
"Very." He sighed. Personally he wouldn't have thought he was the obvious shoulder to cry on, and other than offering tissues and promising to help, he'd had no idea what to do. "We've got to do something about Norris Carrol." Personally he'd prefer something permanent, but he'd settle for solving Brady's immediate problem.
They stopped and leaned against the far wall. Danny frowned. "What's he done now?"
"Stolen Brady's golf clubs. Brady would like them back." Unsurprisingly. Norris was getting a little more ambitious these days. This went a little past stealing lunch money,
Danny blinked. "I'd think so," he agreed, incredulously.
"Needs them by Saturday," Rusty went on. "He and his dad are playing in some father son golf tournament."
"Oh, my dad was talking about entering that," Danny said casually.
Rusty paused. Because that was a little distracting. "You can't play golf," he pointed out.
"He was going to teach me." Danny shrugged. "Guess he was too busy."
As always. He glanced over, but Danny shook his head minutely. Not up for discussion today. He changed the subject. "Brady was crying, Danny." And that was important too.
Danny leaned back and stared up at the sky. "Norris isn't exactly going to be happy with us."
To say the least. "I know." Norris liked to think that he was untouchable. And so far, he seemed to be right.
"I mean, if he took the clubs that's theft," Danny went on. "That's wrong."
Rusty blinked. This coming from Danny? "Well – "
Danny rolled his eyes. " – leaving our own moral grey areas aside, why can't Brady just tell his dad? Or a teacher, or something. I mean, if it was just some toy or something, they'd ignore it, sure. But a set of golf clubs?"
Yeah, that was where it got awkward. "Brady was putting balls in the park when Norris took them. He wasn't supposed to have the clubs out of the house."
"And he doesn't want to get in any trouble." Danny nodded understandingly.
Rusty bit his lip. "He said his dad would kill him, Danny." He spoke quietly. Looked down at the ground.
There was a long, long silence.
"Rus' – "
" – I know." He carried on studying the ground.
"He doesn't mean it the way you would," Danny said gently.
"I know." He did. He really did. It just didn't change the way he felt.
"I've met Brady's dad. You've met Brady's dad. Brady worships his dad," Danny went on, and it was all true.
"I know." He scuffed his shoe against the dirt.
Danny sighed. "So we're talking about possibly a lot of consequences and for what?"
Rusty lifted his head and turned to face him. "He was crying. And he said his dad was going to kill him. What do you want to do?"
There was a slight pause. But really, there was only ever going to be one answer. Danny nodded thoughtfully. "We're going to need a good distraction."
"I don't get it," Brady said finally
Rusty took a break from watching Danny pretending to be comfortable in the scout uniform and turned to look at the boy sitting next to him in the tree. "What?"
"I don't get how selling Norris Carrol's mom cookies is going to help." Brady sounded a little frustrated.
"We're not selling her cookies. Well," he corrected, as Mrs Carrol answered the door, purse in hand. "We're not just selling her cookies. Danny's going to bring the conversation round to Norris and we're going to find out if we can use her as a threat. Tell Norris we'll tell his mom on him if he doesn't give your clubs back."
Brady frowned. "Why can't you just say that anyway?"
"Some kids aren't scared of their parents for whatever reason," Rusty explained. "No use making empty threats. We need him to take us seriously." He grinned as Danny followed Mrs Carrol into the house. "Also, Danny's going to get a look at the layout of the place. In case we decide we need to pay Norris a visit and make a quick exit."
Brady's eyes were wide. "She invited him inside."
"He asked to use the bathroom," Rusty told him. "People trust scouts. Think it's the shorts."
"But . .. " Brady trailed off uncertainly.
Rusty nodded patiently. "Yes?"
"But Norris is over at the park with my clubs right now!" Brady burst out.
"Uh huh." Rusty kept his tone even. "Him and five other guys. Do me and Danny look like we could fight six guys and walk away afterwards?"
Brady looked sheepish. "No."
"Yeah." Rusty grinned. "Got to use what you've got."
"What have you got?" Brady asked, innocently.
Rusty grinned some more. "We'll let you know."
Danny re-emerged from the house and smiled and waved goodbye to Mrs Carrol. Once the door was shut he strolled over to the base of the tree and looked up. "No good."
"No?" Rusty leapt down lightly. Brady followed, rather more awkwardly.
"Too many people in the house. No way we could sneak in and out unnoticed. And the mom's no good either. He's the apple of her eye. Can do no wrong. Apparently, little Norrie keeps being led astray by bad boys, who then turn around and slander his good name."
Rusty considered that for a few seconds. "Huh."
"Yeah." Danny agreed wholeheartedly.
Rusty frowned. "She's not going to believe – "
" – and he – "
" – knows she won't - "
" – so we'll have to – "
" – oh, we'll have to – "
" – and that means – "
" – a very good distraction," Rusty finished.
For some inexplicable reason Brady was staring at them, open-mouthed.
Rusty stood hidden amongst the trees, watching Norris and his friends and waiting for the bang. Brady's clubs were scattered over the ground. They'd been using them as swords or something earlier. Idiots. Oh well; Rusty was pretty sure that golf clubs were designed to withstand a lot.
The first bang sounded a little closer than he would have liked. He rubbed at his mouth; Danny had agreed to stay further away. The last thing they wanted was to get seen, let alone caught. But the noise got the boys' attention at least.
"What was that?"
"Don't know."
"Sounded like an explosion!"
The second bang came almost immediately, a little further away. He watched Norris smile savagely. "Someone's got M80s."
And, just as they'd figured, the boys ran off in the direction of the fireworks. Something new and shiny and they wanted it. Huh. He could almost relate, actually.
When he was sure they were out of the way, he quickly ran over to where they'd been and started gathering the clubs together and putting them into the bag. He couldn't help but wonder why Brady needed so many different clubs anyway. Wasn't as if you changed bat after every swing in baseball. He didn't think.
There were a couple more explosions. Danny keeping them interested.
And then there was yelling and it sounded angry and it sounded triumphant and somehow, something had gone wrong.
He forced the last club into the bag, swung it over his shoulder and started running back into the trees, towards the yelling, towards Danny.
He was just in time to see Danny run past, Norris Carrol close behind, far too close, and when he saw him reach out to tackle Danny, Rusty didn't even think, he just swung the golf bag forwards, right towards Norris' shins and Norris tripped and fell heavily to the ground.
Danny turned back and grinned. "Slight change of plan!" he explained.
Rusty nodded and started running. "You don't say."
"Those are my clubs!" Norris screeched from behind them, and he was getting up, and his friends were barely behind him. And honestly, they couldn't hope to outdistance all of them for long.
"Danny – " he began.
" – I know! Is that bag waterproof?" Danny asked, and Rusty suddenly realised exactly where they were heading. The bridge over Slate's Pond.
"Yep." He grinned. This was a really stupid idea.
Danny was slightly ahead of him, and even as he watched Danny run straight up to the wall at the side and vault over it without even breaking stride, even as he was preparing to do the same six feet further along, and listening for the splash, and the yell that Danny was fine, he was aware of the boys behind them skidding to a halt, shouting in confusion.
His hand was on the cold stone wall. He closed his eyes and jumped off the bridge.
The water was surprisingly cold. Not freezing, not painful, but cold, and dark and it closed over his head and by the time he'd wriggled free of the golf bag, his lungs were starting to burn a little and he wasn't altogether certain where up was. He kicked and struggled in what he thought was the right direction and almost immediately a hand seized his wrist and pulled him up and into the air.
Danny's face was white. Somehow Rusty didn't think it was all the cold.
"Had to let go of the golf bag," he explained, treading water with some difficulty.
"We'll come back for it," Danny said shortly. "Kick your shoes off."
Rusty hesitated. "They're my only pair," he said apologetically. They were on the brink of falling to pieces, and he seriously doubted that they'd survive getting soaked anyway, but they were all he had.
The look that Danny gave him was full of frustration, incredulity and the far too familiar mixture of fear and fury. And the other thing. The thing that he didn't understand and had been there more and more the past few months.
Rusty sighed and kicked his shoes off.
Danny relaxed a little. "You ready to head for shore?" he asked, like the delay had all been Rusty's idea.
"Head for shore?" Rusty repeated incredulously.
Danny grinned slightly. "What?"
"You sound like Popeye." He looked up at the bridge.
"They ran away," Danny told him. "I looked, just after you jumped. Guess they thought – "
" – unexpected ." Rusty agreed.
"You ready?" Danny asked again.
He nodded, and followed as Danny started swimming. And he knew that Danny could have made it in half the time it took them. Knew, even, that Danny was having a hard time slowing his pace enough to match Rusty. But he also knew that the idea of leaving him behind would never so much as cross Danny's mind. And as he half submerged for the sixth time and choked on another mouthful of water, and felt Danny's steadying and concerned arm pulling him back up, he was incredibly relieved. Even more so when the water got shallow enough for Danny to stand and he immediately pulled Rusty along with him, until it finally got shallow enough for him to feel safe.
They pulled themselves out of the water and lay back on the grass to dry off in the sun.
"Slight change of plan?" Rusty asked eventually.
Danny sighed. "Norris has been watching too many war movies. They outflanked me."
"Should have got slow burning fuses," Rusty pondered. "Could have set them off and been nowhere near."
"You know how to do that?" Danny frowned.
"No," Rusty admitted. "But maybe we could have figured it out."
"Maybe," Danny agreed. And he hesitated and there was something else . . .
"What?" Rusty asked, his eyes fixed on Danny.
"I asked if the bag was waterproof," Danny said eventually.
"Uh huh?" Rusty prompted gently.
"I didn't ask if you could swim." And Danny's voice was flat and Rusty could hear the guilt.
"I can swim," he protested. Danny looked at him. "Not that well," he admitted. "Never really had a chance to practice."
Danny nodded. His eyes were dark. "But I didn't ask. I just – "
" – Assumed," Rusty interrupted. "Of course you did. Most people can swim. Better than I can, I mean."
"Most people don't jump off bridges because their friend thinks it's a good idea." Danny wasn't finished feeling guilty.
"Most people don't know what they're missing out on," Rusty said and he smiled. "Nothing bad happened, Danny. Would have been much worse if they caught us. And anyway. I can swim. And if you'd asked, that's what I'd have told you."
Danny nodded and smiled back. "You're going to learn properly."
Rusty blinked. "How many more times are you planning on jumping off the bridge?"
"Until we get it right." He stood up. "Let's go and get Brady's clubs back."
Neither of them was particularly anxious to go swimming again, but the bag had drifted closer to the edge and was now caught and half submerged in a bunch of weeds. They looked at it thoughtfully for a long moment, then Rusty went and found a long stick. "Here," he said, handing it over. "See if you can hook the straps."
Danny grimaced and crouched down and made a vague effort. "Can't reach."
"You'll need to lean further in," Rusty said, dryly. He crouched down beside Danny and started playing absent-mindedly with a handful of the weeds.
Scowling, Danny stretched further, and his sleeve dipped in to the water. "If I fall in, I'm blaming you."
"Think I'll survive," Rusty told him.
There was silence, for a while, and Danny tried and failed to get the bag. "Norris saw us," he said eventually.
"Yeah," Rusty said quietly. There was going to be trouble. Serious trouble. "He's going to – "
" – he's going to try," Danny corrected and Rusty nodded reassured.
Danny jumped suddenly. "Something brushed my arm! Something slimy!"
Rusty looked in to the pond with all the assurance of someone who hadn't just been touched by something slimy. "Probably a fish. Or a frog."
"Remind me." And Rusty could hear Danny grinding his teeth. "Why am I doing this?"
He smiled sweetly. "You're taller. Longer arms."
Danny's eyes narrowed. "And I'm not the one who dropped the bag."
Rusty looked at him. "You want me to wade out and get it? Even though we don't really know how deep the water might get there, and I could easily fall and drown?"
There was a slight pause. "Thought you could swim?" Danny said lightly.
"Get the bag," Rusty suggested.
Danny grinned and tried again, and this time, to both their surprise, he hooked the stick round the straps and pulled the bag towards them easily.
"Huh," Rusty said, approvingly.
"What are we getting out of all this again?" Danny asked, semi-seriously.
"The respect and admiration of our peers," Rusty suggested.
"Huh," Danny agreed, thoughtfully.
"And to stop Brady crying on me again." That was worth a lot.
Brady had been overjoyed to get his golf clubs back, even if they were damper than he remembered them. And he'd also been more than willing to let them use his bathroom to clean up as best they could, but the fact remained that even if they were now clean, their clothes were filthy – probably ruined – and they were both shoeless.
"My parents are not going to be happy if they see this," Danny frowned, looking down at himself.
Rusty nodded. "My dad'll kill me."
There was silence. Consequences loomed.
"Think we could sneak back to yours?" he suggested finally. "Then you'd have something clean at least. And maybe you've got something that'd fit me."
"Clothes maybe," Danny said absently. "Shoes are more difficult."
"Could wear a couple of pair of socks."
"Until when?" Danny demanded and Rusty shrugged, because he didn't know. His mom had used to buy him clothes, or give him money to buy clothes, or obtain clothes from somewhere. Now that she was gone, he honestly didn't know what he was supposed to be doing.
"We need to go shopping," Danny decided suddenly.
Rusty blinked. "You think – "
" – money's easy." Danny shrugged. "Why not?"
Enough money for shoes? And clothes? That was more than they'd normally go after. Especially since he doubted that Danny was thinking about going to the charity shops that all his clothes always came from. He smiled. "Why not?" he agreed. New clothes. Clothes that he wanted.
By the time the bell signalled the end of lunch the next day, Danny was still complaining.
"It's hideous."
Rusty looked down at the shirt fondly. Deep blue with a pattern of bright purple flames and silver flowers. Personally, he thought it was the most amazing shirt he'd ever seen.
"And it's too big for you," Danny continued.
It was. Far too big for him, really. But he'd grow into it, and in the meantime he could wear it over a t-shirt, and the point was he liked it and he'd chosen it for himself and it was new and it was his.
Danny's eyes softened slightly. "We should get to class." They stood up and started to head in opposite directions. "Later?"
"Later," Rusty confirmed. "With pie."
The trouble was, even though they'd known trouble was coming for them, they'd assumed it was coming for them. It was easy to grow too used to being together. In school, in town, no-one thought of them separately anymore, no-one dealt with them separately anymore. And somehow, Rusty had thought that would be the case here, right up until the point where Norris Carrol and five of his friends were waiting for him round the corner. Should have remembered that Norris didn't go after anyone where they were strong.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Norris asked and there was smugness and triumph and confidence. "A little thief, that's what."
Rusty resisted the urge to point out that the golf clubs were stolen in the first place. Because they needed to keep Brady out of it, and Norris would never dream that they'd have given the clubs back. He was all about himself. They were something else. He sighed and looked bored, and thought about the best way to run. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"
"I don't like thieves," Norris snarled. "I don't like little runts thinking they can take my stuff. I'm going to teach you it's wrong to steal."
"You should think very carefully about what you're doing right now." It wasn't an idle threat.
"What are you going to do?" Norris sneered and leaned in close to him. He did his best not to step back. "Run and get your mommy?"
He blinked and said nothing. The wall pressed close behind him.
"Oh, that's right. She left you, didn't she? Poor little baby." Norris smiled and his friends laughed. "My dad says she's standing on a street corner down at the shore."
Rusty knew what that meant. And he knew that Norris was just parroting what he'd heard from adults.. And he didn't know if it was true. He kept his face blank and ignored the pain and the emptiness.
Norris seemed angered by his lack of reaction and took a step closer and it took so much to suppress the automatic flinch. "She went running off and she left you behind. She didn't want you. Your own mother didn't want you."
He forced a smile. "Not like your mommy. Right? Norrie?"
The punch was immediate and expected, and that wasn't what was strange.
Rusty put a surprised hand to his mouth. He blinked and looked at Norris in astonishment. "You hit like a girl!"
It hadn't hurt nearly as much as he'd been expecting. But looking at the clouds of shock and anger crossing Norris' face, pointing that out might not have been the most sensible thing he'd ever done.
He quickly kicked Norris in the shin and when he hopped backwards with a howl of pain and outrage, Rusty took the few seconds advantage to scramble backwards, over the wall and out of the school.
He ran, and they didn't chase him.
He could circle round, come back in the other gate. Being late for class was the least of his problems right now. This wasn't the end of the matter. He was sure of that.
Despondently Rusty followed the rest of his class to the games field. Mr Barclay had done a nice little piece of stand-up about him actually taking part, for once. Rusty couldn't help but think that teachers should have to pass some sort of test before they were allowed to use humour. So he missed a lot of classes. It wasn't like he didn't want to take part. Actually, to be honest, he probably didn't want to take part. But he always had a note that always appeared to be signed by his dad. Okay. It had been a few weeks. But he couldn't help it. Baggy clothes were so much more forgiving than gym kit, so much more able to hide a multitude of sins.
"Psssst! Hey! Ryan!"
Sounded like someone was trying to get his attention. Someone who clearly failed on the finer points of subtlety.
He turned round to see Buzz Fairley beckoning to him from behind the sports hall. Okay. Seemed like soccer could wait.
Casually he dropped back, behind the last of the stragglers, and when he was sure no-one would notice, he darted over to where Buzz was waiting, less than patiently.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Ocean's looking for you," Buzz said immediately, and he was frowning and Rusty's breath caught in his throat. Danny.
"What happened?" he demanded. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine," Buzz said, glaring at Rusty's lip. "Frantic, and about to get a month of detention, but fine."
He shook his head, not understanding. "What?"
"Him and me were just in math class. And Norris Carrol was shooting his mouth off." Buzz was looking at him pointedly.
"Oh." Rusty understood. It hadn't occurred to him that Norris would tell Danny. He'd still been stuck on figuring out how he was going to tell Danny.
"Yeah," Buzz said heavily. Again his gaze wandered to Rusty's lip. "Guess it's true."
There were more important things to focus on. "Where is he?"
"Went to check your usual hangouts. I said I'd go see if you were where you were meant to be." And there was a question in his voice.
"Wasn't a big thing." Rusty dismissed it. Because it hadn't been. The idea of cutting class hadn' even crossed his mind. "Thanks, Buzz."
Buzz shrugged. "Don't mention it."
He ran off as quickly as he could, because Danny needed to know he was all right, as soon as possible. Eventually he found Danny at the tree down past the cafeteria. And Danny looked up as soon as he turned the corner and his eyes were miserable and fearful and one hand gripped Rusty's shoulder tightly, and the other brushed over the cut lip.
"I'm okay," Rusty said, reassuringly. "Danny, I'm fine."
Danny nodded. "He said he beat you up. He said he made you cry."
"He didn't. He was lying." He could barely even remember the last time he'd cried for real. It had been a long time ago.
"I know that. Of course I know that. But I . . . I didn't know what he had done." And he hated the remains of the panic in Danny's voice. Hated the thought that it was so easy for Danny to be hurt. Because of him.
He sighed. "He said a few things. About my mom, mostly. I called him Norrie, he hit me. Once. I kicked him and ran away. It was nothing, Danny, honestly." He'd had so much worse. Even within the last month he'd had so much worse.
"He said . . ." Danny shook his head. "I wanted to kill him. Right there in math class."
Rusty smiled. "Bet Mr Kapp would have had something to say about that," he said lightly.
"Yeah." Danny's voice was quiet.
"That's what he wanted," Rusty pointed out gently. "You in trouble."
There was a long pause. "He saw," Danny said eventually.
Rusty grimaced. "Yeah."
Danny sighed. "He got a reaction." he admitted.
"He's going to keep trying," Rusty agreed.
Danny nodded. "We need to do something."
There was a long silence and they both thought.
"Wanna skip the rest of the afternoon?" Danny suggested. At this point, going back to class didn't sound like much of an option.
"Need to go pick up my stuff first," Rusty answered. They could sneak back into the locker room easy enough though.
Danny looked at him for a second.
"What?" he demanded, a little irritably.
"What did he say about your mom?" Danny asked quietly.
Damn. "It's not important," he said, dismissively.
Danny disagreed. "It's important."
He sighed. "Just stuff. That she didn't care about me. That she's working a street corner, somewhere."
Danny's hand rubbed his shoulder gently.
He sighed again. "I've heard it all before, Danny." That and worse.
And Danny, who knew where he'd heard it before and when he'd heard it before and from whom he he'd heard it before, said nothing.
The next morning, they still hadn't thought of anything. Even though they'd spent most of the previous evening thinking and plotting and planning and eating pie at Mabel's. They just hadn't had any good ideas. They were completely stuck. And that was unusual.
The moment they walked through the school gate, he could tell something was up. There were people staring at them. Or, rather, there were people staring at him. And that was a long way off being comfortable. He rubbed at his lip thoughtfully. Couldn't be that. It was barely swollen. The cut was barely noticeable. And if people paid attention each time he was hurt, well, they'd probably never stop.
He glanced at Danny. Oh, he'd noticed. Rusty struggled not to smile at the way that Danny was walking a step ahead of him, trying to shield him from the looks. The perfect bodyguard.
Danny looked at him and there was a distinct lack of amusement. "What's going on?" he hissed.
Rusty shrugged. He had no idea.
"Right," Danny nodded. "Guess - "
" - Direct approach," Rusty agreed.
They looked round and stepped in front of the first person they saw that they knew well enough.
"Good morning, Doug," they said in unison.
Doug blinked at them and then his eyes widened. "Hey! Rusty! Did you really get in a fight with Norris Carrol yesterday?"
So that was what this was about. He shrugged. "Wouldn't exactly call it a fight."
"Man, he's, like, twice your height!" Doug chattered excitedly and Rusty silently made sure that Danny knew exactly what he would be letting himself in for if he laughed. "And you really told him he hit like a girl?"
He frowned. "He does." And Danny tensed at his side, and Rusty didn't know why.
"Yeah, right." Doug rolled his eyes. "I got in a fight with him a few months back. Well. He beat me up, anyway. He punches like a tank!"
Rusty hadn't heard of many tanks with fists, but he let it go. "And that's what everyone's talking about?"
"Yeah! It's all over school." Doug grinned. "It's awesome!"
Awesome. Right.
Doug looked over his shoulder. "Oops. Gotta go! See you when I see you." He scampered off.
Rusty glanced sideways at Danny and shrugged. "Least we know."
"Right," Danny sounded far away, and there was something that Rusty was missing.
"You think he was holding back?" he asked. "It really didn't hurt that much."
Danny shook his head tightly. "No. He wasn't holding back."
He frowned. "Then what - "
" - he hits like a thirteen year old, Rus'!" The words fell out of Danny like he hated every last implication.
Oh. Right. He tried a light tone. "Who'd have thought - "
" - Don't." Danny shook his head and got himself back under control. "It matters. A lot."
There was silence and Rusty didn't know how to make it better.
Presently Danny sighed, and they started to walk towards the building.
People were still looking. He could only hope that they got over it soon. He really, really, wasn't comfortable.
And then, suddenly, they were face to face with Norris Carrol. And people were whispering and pointing at him. And he was staring at them. And Rusty braced himself for the counter, and was aware of Danny doing the same, and then Norris turned on his heel and walked off as quickly as he could.
Rusty blinked and turned to Danny. "Can you - " he began, and then he stopped. Because Danny was still staring after Norris. And there was a familiar look shining on his face. Rusty started to smile. "What are you thinking?"
Danny grinned. "Can't be scary and funny at the same time."
That was . . . "You want to - "
" - I want to," Danny agreed. "What have we got?"
And Rusty grinned back. "He didn't like being called a girl."
Danny nodded. "He's a mommy's boy."
"And he's got a crush on Mrs Mercater," Rusty added. That should be enough to be going on with.
"Really?" Danny blinked.
Rusty nodded. He'd heard it from several unimpeachable sources.
"Well." Danny considered. "No accounting for tastes."
"You've got gym class this afternoon with Mr Barclay?" It wasn't really a question; he already knew the answer.
Danny nodded anyway. "Yeah. You thinking - "
" - he'd read it out," Rusty agreed.
"You sure?"
He was sure. "He always reads my notes aloud. To make fun of dad's spelling. If Norris drops something - "
" - he'll read it." Danny smiled. "I can get his literature homework for lunchtime."
"Good." It would be a lot harder for Norris to deny it if it was in his own handwriting.
Danny frowned. "He reads out your notes?"
"Yeah," Rusty nodded. "Started putting in spelling mistakes just to keep him amused."
"He's as much a bully as Norris," Danny said, with a touch of anger.
Rusty shrugged. Probably. But that wasn't their problem. Norris was.
Lunchtime, and he stared between Norris' homework and the blank sheet of paper. Three pages of practising, and he thought he had the handwriting down. "What do you write in a love letter, anyway?"
Danny blinked. "Don't know. I've never written one."
"You're a lot of use," he complained, lightly.
There was a pause, and Danny looked like he was thinking. "How about . . . Dear Mrs Mercater. Every time I see you I think about how beautiful you are. I know you're married, but would you be my girlfriend? I promise to get better marks in History. Love, Norris."
Rusty smirked. "You sure you haven't done this before?"
"Why would I want to?" Danny demanded.
And Rusty's smirk widened into a grin. "Why would you want Sara to notice you in - "
" - one day you'll understand," Danny said, loftily.
He shook his head and Danny laughed, and Rusty looked down and wrote out the letter in Norris' best handwriting.
By the end of the day, no-one was looking at Rusty anymore. No-one was talking about him. Instead all the gossips were discussing Norris' little love note and his expression of bewildered embarrassment, and the silly voice that Mr Barclay had put on to read it.
First stage managed and in the evening Rusty and Danny were relaxing in Danny's sitting room, working on the second stage. Danny's parents were out at some dinner party or something. They weren't expected back till late, and Rusty was planning on staying over. He'd stopped in to his place immediately after school, and his dad's friends had been over and the apartment had been full of smoke and empty bottles and malicious laughter. There was nothing there that he was anxious to risk going through again.
He pricked his finger on the needle for the third time and sucked on it till the bleeding stopped. The last thing he wanted was to get blood on the lacey hankerchief. Danny's mom might notice if they had to steal more than one.
Danny was looking at him, and there was still a definite amusement in the air.
"What?" he sighed, taking his finger out of his mouth, momentarily.
"Seriously, when did you learn to sew?" Danny asked, a grin in his voice. "And why?"
He shrugged. "Comes in handy," he explained. "Makes clothes last longer. And I guess Mom taught me. Kind of. I watched her mend my dad's favourite shirt after I ripped it, one time. And it seemed useful so I tried it myself."
Danny was still looking at him, but the amusement had faded. "After you ripped your dad's shirt?" he asked and his voice was bitter and weary.
Rusty frowned. "Yeah."
Danny sighed. "You sure that's what happened?"
"Yeah." He remembered the punishment distinctly. "I was hiding under my bed and when he had to drag me out the sleeve ripped." He suddenly understood what Danny was getting at and he looked down at the ground. "Oh."
"Yeah," Danny agreed, softly.
"He ripped the shirt," Rusty said, after a long moment, and he looked up at Danny. "Right?"
"Right." And Danny's smile was sad, but it was there and that was the main thing. "Show me."
He crossed over to the sofa and sat beside Danny. "You sure?"
"You said it comes in useful," Danny answered and Rusty smiled and set about teaching Danny how to sew.
They waited with the hankerchief until Norris, and his gang of minions, tried to confront the two of them in the middle of the corridor. Obviously he wanted to prove once and for all who was tough.
And he started off by pushing Danny, and Rusty had to force himself not to start the fight that he couldn't finish. Instead he dropped the hankerchief and bent, picked it up and handed it back to Norris.
Lacey, pink and embroidered with flowers. He made sure everyone around them got a good look at it. "You dropped this," he said innocently, and he pretended he couldn't hear, and didn't understand, the giggles.
Norris flushed red and stepped back. "That's not mine!" he declared loudly.
"Really?" Rusty's eyes were wide and he studied the hankerchief carefully. "But it fell out of your pocket. And it's got your initials sewn on it. Look!" he thrust it at Norris who took yet another step back and refused to take it. So he showed it around the other people in the corridor instead. "See? It says 'NC'."
"He's right," John agreed. "Must be Norris'."
And the laughter grew louder and Norris retreated in confusion and Rusty caught Danny's eye and grinned happily.
Norris left them alone for the rest of the day. And the next day. The day after that he tried to trip Rusty in the corridor and they papered his locker with pictures of Mrs Mercater. He had to explain himself to Principal Mallie. Which, Rusty was prepared to concede, was probably extraordinarily difficult. But not half as difficult as getting the pictures had been.
The weekend passed slowly; Danny's parents took him to see his grandmother and it rained hard enough that most people stayed indoors, making his Saturday quest for money that bit more difficult.
He was happy when Monday morning dawned, happy to see Danny waiting outside the school gates and even happy when Danny took one look at him and handed over a bag of chips and waited and glared until he'd finished them.
"What's next," he asked lightly, when he was done.
Danny shrugged. "Wait and see. He might have - "
" - I doubt it." Rusty shook his head. Didn't seem that likely that Norris had learnt anything.
With a nod Danny conceded. They had more.
They didn't see Norris till lunch when he walked up to them, followers noticeably absent, as they were in the middle of discussing ways that slow burning fuses on M80s might be used. He slammed his lunchbox down on the table next to them and leaned over Danny.
"You think you're pretty smart, don't you Ocean?" he hissed. "You think I don't know what you've been doing?"
"What have we been doing?" Danny asked a slight smile on his face. Rusty took the opportunity to slip the note from his pocket into Norris' lunchbox. He knew better than to ignore the slightest moment of distraction.
"Ha!" Norris waved a finger in Danny's face. "You hear that? You said 'we'. What, can't either of you think for yourselves?"
Danny looked surprised. "You know what thinking is?"
Norris' face turned red and Rusty glanced over to the side of the cafeteria. "Mr Kapp's looking this way," he warned.
"This isn't over," Norris snarled.
Rusty smiled. "No. It isn't," he agreed and for a second Norris actually looked nervous.
"We'll see you around," Danny assured him brightly, and they turned back to their lunches and didn't watch him walk away.
Danny sighed, after a couple of seconds. "You're right," he told Rusty. "He just doesn't learn." He glanced over and gave Buzz a meaningful look. Buzz grinned widely and got to his feet.
Rusty sighed and rubbed absently at his wrist. "How long do you want to keep this going for?" he asked.
There was a pause and when Rusty looked round Danny was staring at the bruises on his arm. He pulled his sleeve down quickly. Danny shook his head. "He can't be more stubborn than us."
Rusty nodded. That probably wasn't humanly possible.
There was a sudden commotion over to their side and they turned round to watch the show. Buzz was standing behind Norris, clutching a piece of paper in his hand. "What's this!" he yelled, gleefully, and everyone in the cafeteria turned to look. "Another little love note for Mrs Mercater?"
Norris looked confused but he made a leap for the note. Obviously he wasn't quite as much an idiot as he looked. "Give that here!"
Buzz took a step back and sniffed at the paper. "Perfumed!"
Rusty turned to Danny and raised an eyebrow. "Perfumed? Really?"
Danny grinned. "Splashed some of my mom's on it."
"Aw. It's from your mommy," Buzz crowed, staring at the note. "That's so sweet."
Norris' eyes widened and Rusty felt a little sorry for him. Just a little.
"Dearest Little Norrie," Buzz read and a titter of amusement spread through the listening crowd. Little Norrie was a name that was probably going to stick. "I hope you enjoy the lunch that I've made for you today. I made all your favourites and I made them with an extra special ingredient. Love. Please, please eat it all up so that you will grow up to be big and strong like your daddy. I will be missing you all day. Lots of love and kisses, your loving mommkins."
Rusty blinked at Danny. "You have a seriously warped imagination. You do know that, right?"
"Yeah," Danny agreed.
The laughter spread throughout the crowd. And when Norris glared at them, he looked more than a little uncertain.
Three days went by and Norris left them alone. Left them alone. But rumours had a way of spreading, and it wasn't as if there was no-one else in the school that was capable of putting two and two together, and they weren't absolutely surprised when Cameron came running up to them one lunchtime and demanded that they come save Brady from Norris Carrol.
Danny sighed and stood up. "What does he expect us to do?" he asked.
"Something! Anything!" Cameron pleaded, dancing from one foot to the other.
Rusty grinned. "Come on. Let's go do the voodoo that we do so well."
"Doesn't rhyme," Danny pointed out and they followed Cameron quickly.
There was a semicircle of people gathered around Norris and Brady. Rusty studied them quickly. He could see Mike and John and Alice and Johnny and Taggart and Vanessa and others he vaguely knew. And they were uneasy. Unhappy. And they all liked him and Danny better than they liked Norris. Now was a better time than most, and he nodded at Danny. Show time.
They pushed through the crowd. Norris had Brady cornered and was screaming. "What did you call me?"
Brady looked terrified, and still managed to sound defiant when he choked out "Norrie. I called you Norrie."
Huh. Rusty was seriously impressed. He grinned reasuringly at Brady over Norris' shoulder and walked to take up his position on Norris' right. "Think he called you Norrie, Norrie."
Danny smiled at him from Norris' left. "Norrie Norrie?"
"So annoying they named him twice," Rusty nodded.
"You stay out of this," Norris snarled.
They ignored him.
"Morning, Brady," Danny said lazily. "How are you today?"
Brady stole a glance at Norris. "Been better," he stammered, bravely.
Rusty nodded. "That's - "
" - oh, a real shame," Danny agreed.
"He took my lunch money," Brady said, suddenly.
Danny smiled and walked past Norris to stand next to Rusty. He held up a wallet.
"Hey, that's mine!" Norris was openmouthed and checking his pockets.
"Of course it is," Rusty agreed, walking past on Norris' other side, and Norris spun round to check on him.
Danny threw the wallet over Norris' head and Rusty caught it and turned to face Brady. "How much?"
"Eighty cents," Brady said, wide-eyed, and Rusty rifled through the wallet and gave him his money back.
He paused with the wallet in his hands and shook his head sadly at Norris. "Honestly, didn't you learn from last time?" He pulled a picture of Mrs Mercater out of Norris' wallet and passed it round the crowd.
Danny sighed sympathetically. "She just doesn't like you that way, Norrie."
"Puppy love," Rusty added. He'd heard someone on TV say it the other week.
"That's not mine!" Norris blustered.
Danny shrugged. "It was in your wallet."
"Here," Rusty said helpfully, and stepped forwards and replaced the wallet in Norris' jacket pocket, accidentally knocking out a little doll in the process. "Ooops."
"I've never seen that before!" Norris claimed, wild-eyed. And to be fair he was telling the truth; Danny had planted it when he lifted the wallet.
"It's so cute!" Alice exclaimed, picking it up. "It's eyes move and everything! Norrie, where did you get it!"
"It's not mine!" Norris howled, taking a step towards her, and immediately Danny and Rusty were standing in his way.
"You don't - "
" - get to - "
" - do that," they said quietly and Norris blanched.
"I wasn't going to . . . " he protested weakly.
"Keep it that way," Danny told him.
He stared at them, desparation in his eyes. "What do you want," he whispered.
They looked at each other for a long moment. "We don't like bullies," Danny said eventually.
Norris shook his head. "I'm not a - "
" - yes. You are," Rusty's voice was hard. "You're going to leave us alone."
"You're going to leave everyone alone," Danny expanded.
Rusty nodded. "Or else - "
" - every last little dirty secret - "
" - every embarassing thought you ever have - "
" - is going to be public property."
Their voices wound together, and Norris looked from one to the other, clearly unnerved, clearly defeated. He nodded quickly and brushed past them, brushed past the other kids and vanished.
Rusty looked at Danny and there was relief and there was happiness.
That could have gone so wrong so very, very easily.
His head was on the counter at Mabel's and Danny's voice washed over him.
"If he'd fought, we would have lost. "
Yeah.
"He's bigger than you. He's bigger than me."
Yeah. He was.
"All he had to do was . . . " Danny trailed off. "If he'd been just a little less concerned about what people think . . . "
If he'd been able to believe that they could risk everything and not mind losing.
"You think we could solve anything else that way?" Danny mused. "I mean, lots of people care what people think. Right?"
He didn't say anything. Didn't even move.
"Yeah," Danny sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"It's getting dark," he said vacantly. "I'll have to go home soon,"
Danny sighed again. "Yeah."
There was silence.
Sigh. Hope you enjoyed?