"Ah, poor chap," Stu sighs, patting me on the back. It'd be more comforting if he got that stupid smirk off of his face. "Looks like you don't have a chance with her."
"Cut it out," Heath says warily as I clench my teeth and fists. "Stu, what's the answer to question twelve? I don't understand it." Stu looks down at the class assignment and shrugs.
"Don't have a clue. Justin, would you know?"
"Who?" Heath looks lost.
"Paul. He looks more like a Justin to me," Stu laughs, looking past Heath's head to wink at Brie. She giggles and winks back. Poor Heath sits there as oblivious as a carrot.
"And you look more like a jackal to me," I return icily. I've been in a horrible mood since history. Can you blame me? That bloody Orton... Stu whistles and his eyebrows rise.
"Ouch. Someone's a little touchy today."
"Didn't I just say 'cut it out'?" Heath asks with a sigh. He drops his face onto his knuckle and looks gloomily at the paper again. "Man, I'd kill to be smart. Stu, how do you get good math grades? Without looking like a dick, I mean," he adds hastily, looking up shyly at the taller English boy. Stu thinks it over.
"Well... want my honest opinion?" Heath nods. "You bribe the twins. They're not as dense as they look." Here, he shoots another wink to Brie. Or Nikki. I couldn't tell you who was who. Slowly, I get to my feet. I need to go for a run.
"What do you mean by that? Oh..." my poor friend turns as red as his hair.
"Yes, lad. That. Where are you going, Justin?"
"Stop calling me that. And away," I reply. "Heath, I'll catch up with you later. Okay?" Heath nods.
"Yeah... take care, bro. See you after."
"Yeah."
Running has always cooled my blood. So has jumping. This is how I end up on the nurse's roof. Stretching my legs, I breathe rapidly, feeling my heart race. The sky is almost clear, no sign of the midday rain that the weatherman promised. That's one thing I miss about home. The weather men almost always had the right weather predictions.
Home. The word wraps around me in a caress. I really miss South Africa. Everyone knew each other and we all got along well. My friends and I flocked to my father's shows eagerly, begging for weeks beforehand to go. As a child, I'd crawl under the ticket barricade and head straight in. Of course, I was always caught; but my father would laugh and leave the punishment to my mother.
"It's in his blood," he'd always say to my furious mother. "Just you wait. My son will be the next big thing in wrestling one day."
"What if this is a faze?" she'd retort, throwing her hands into the air. "If he's only interested now because he's a child?" Father would sigh and then look imploringly at me.
"Mother, I'm going to be the next big thing!" I'd tell her, brown eyes glinting with determination. "You'll see!" the childish words send guilt coursing through me.
"Look who it is. Our bisexual, transsexual friend." The unwelcome tone jolts me back to reality. "Lusting over your boyfriend again?"
"I think he came to jack off," jeers another unwelcome voice. Looking down, I see Orton's lackeys leering at me. Good God. If I only I had a slingshot or something...
"Too true, Codes. You better not touch his hands, then." I say nothing. Probably for the best, as Heath would say. "Aww, ignoring us? HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Ted shouts, using his cupped hands like a megaphone. "CAN YOU HEAR ME, JUNGLE BOY?"
"Boys." The third voice, calm and calculating as ever; makes me immediately furious. "Can't you see why he's there?"
"Jacking off!" Runnels repeats, slapping hands with Dibiase. "Jacking off to Williams porn on his cell!"
"Monkeys can't afford cell phones. He probably can't understand us." Orton's tone deliberately becomes slow. Slow, taunting and ludicrous. "Isn't that right, monkey boy?" It takes all of my willpower to ignore the taunting. With each word, my breath catches in my throat, my fingers clench and unclench and I struggle to stay on the roof.
"Aww, you gonna cry?" Dibiase asks, laughing. "We hurt his feelings, Cody! We better kiss it better- hey!" he's startled as I let out a growl. "Did he just-"
"-he's got the jungle virus. Monkey AIDS," Orton tells them.
"Shut. UP," I snarl, vision blurring as I reach breaking point. Orton starts laughing.
"Or what? You touch me and I'll get you deported."
"Randy..." Ted sounds worried.
"Come on, monkey. You want to go back on your boat?" Orton spreads his arms out, challenging me. "Come get me. Get me like you get ass." I'm off the small roof in three seconds flat, diving towards him. Ted yells and jumps in front of Orton, hands up. He falls to the ground as I dive into him, yelping like a dog. My fists rain down into his face in time with the yelps.
"Get him off me!" Arms grab my shoulders, but I simply grab his throat... and am quickly dazed as something hard hits the side of my head.
"Hold him up!" barks Orton. The arms from before grab me again, pinning my arms behind my back. I clumsily kick out with my feet, seeing stars. A swear word is hissed by my ear as I kick Runnels' knee. "HOLD HIM AGAINST THE WALL THEN!" None too gently, I collide with said wall. Orton puts his face near mine, smirk gone. He's absolutely focused. Not even livid. That's when he's most dangerous.
"Stupid," he says quietly, raising his fist.
"STOP!" the voice of an angel shouts. "What the hell is going on?" Orton doesn't move an inch.
"Go away, Ashley," he says shortly, staring into my eyes. "This doesn't concern you."
"What's all this then?" any elation I just felt disappears. Good God above. It's idiot central.
"Doesn't concern you either, Bennett."
"Jesus. I was only coming to tell you all that Cole's on his way here." Orton stiffens and turns to stare at Stu.
"If I find out you're bullshitting-"
"-why would I?" Stu scoffs, rolling his eyes. "To save this pisshead? Unlikely."
"I'll take your word for it. I owe you, Bennett," Orton replies as he lets me go. I drop to my knees. "Ashley, come on."
"FREEZE!" a nasally voice shouts from somewhere close. "You better hope I don't catch you boys!" I hear footsteps and the sound of someone being dragged away before Stu sighs.
"What?" I feel sick. "What-"
"-save it. We gotta go. You're an idiot," Stu states as he lifts the back of my head. "Hurry up before Cole gets here!" Woozily, I get to my feet and let him guide me.
"He's okay though?" Heath asks anxiously.
"He's fine, Heath. Only things damaged are his pride and his body... Bloody idiot," Stu replies.
"They provoked me first," I inform them shortly. Wincing, I lift the ice pack away from my head. The aspirin Heath gave me has done little. "So, really-"
"-you took their bait, man," Heath sighs sympathetically. "Now the school's gonna know you got your ass kicked."
"Lovely."
"I'll say... you owe me, Justin." I cast my eyes onto Stu's face and scowl. He crosses his arms and smirks... again. "Is that Led Zeppelin?" he asks suddenly as Heath's cell goes off. He nods and groans as he sees the caller's ID. "Bloody good band, that," he says appreciatively.
"Tamina?" he nods again. "I thought you two were over?"
"So did I... but, apparently not. Be right back..." he leaves the room quickly. Stu leans forward and gives me a wink that screams conspiracy.
"Good. That gives us a few minutes..." he says. "Now, let's talk about how you owe me."
"You organized that?" I stare blankly at him. "You made Tamina ring Heath?"
"Obviously. I needed to talk to you privately after the incident, didn't I? Now. How much do you value Ashy-girl?" now I feel a deep frown creasing my face. "Enough to make a deal?"
"Don't touch her," I snarl, attempting to sit up. It's destined for failure, I concede, as I begin feeling sick again. Leaning back, I repeat my words. Stu looks offended.
"I'm not that much of a tosser, mate. I lie, I cheat, I sneak around... but I'll never hit a girl. What I meant was that I know people. You want Ashley? I can get you her... at a price."
A 'price'?" I repeat suspiciously. "What on earth do you mean?" an idea forms in my head. "No." My mouth drops open. "I am NOT-"
"-again? Stop it. I don't want you," Stu gripes, spitting on the floor. "You're on the right track, though."
"Heath?" I say, closing my mouth and feeling even more disgusted. "No. He's my friend. I'm not going to let you corrupt or hurt him, okay?" Stu shakes his head, eyes darkening.
"You really love to believe what you hear, don't you? I am not like that," he growls. "And I wouldn't do that to Heath. I actually care about him. Do you want this bloody deal or not? Let me have Heath, I'll get you Ash."
"One condition," I say finally after a few minutes of thinking- hard with a pounding head, mind you.
"Which is?" Stu actually looks relieved.
"Don't try anything sexual with him." his face sours. "He might be interested in you-" –it brightens again and doubt mingles with suspicion- "-but he isn't a toy or a fling. Once you love him," I feel sick again discussing this with someone I dislike, "and he loves you, then be my guest. Anytime before that, deal's off."
"Done," Stu says shortly, reaching over to shake my hand. "Comrade," he adds with a grin as Heath re-enters the room.
"Can you believe this?" he fumes, stomping over to us. "All she wanted was the answer to question twelve! This question is frigging following me," he groans, slapping a palm to his head.
"What'd you tell her?" inquires Stu after a brief warning look to me that Heath doesn't catch.
"I told her I didn't know... so she put me on hold and asked everyone she knew." Heath, being the gentleman he is, obviously waited until she returned. Poor fellow.
"Women," I snort falsely. Stu laughs.
"When are you due home?" Heath asks Stu after calming down. Stu considers this. "You live on the ritzy side of town, don't you?"
"Mm," Stu replies, fingering the cuff of his pants with a grimace. "Mud..." he grumbles.
"Why don't you walk him? In case Orton decides to go after him," I add hastily as Heath's eyes widen at my suggestion. "Go on, bud. Go see the glamorous side of Connecticut. I'll be fine here." Stu gives me the thumbs up behind Heath's back.
"Alright..." Heath gets to his feet. Stu looks regretfully at his cuff again before standing up.
"Mud isn't that bad," I say to Stu. "Don't you filthy Europeans like mud?"
"Racist," he shoots back accusingly. "That's the French. They have pigs that look for truffles. I'm English."
"England is in Europe," I correct him, raising my hand in front of my face. It partially obscures my vision.
"One of you suck at geography," Heath's father comments as he enters the room. Just like his son, he has flaming hair. They look almost identical with their similar builds. "What do you think, Heath?"
"Hm?" Heath looks startled at his father's sudden appearance. "Uh..."
"Who's this?" Mr. Williams looks curiously at Stu, who smirks.
Don't, I think, staring idly at my fingernail.
"I'm Stuart. Stuart Bennett. Nice to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. Williams," he introduces himself smoothly. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
"Nice to meet you."
"I gotta take Stu home. I'll be back before dinner, okay dad?" Heath asks.
"Okay," Mr. Williams replies. "Is Raj coming by to pick you up soon, Paul?" I nod.
"He'll be here before Heath returns. Take care, brother," I call.
"Yeah man, you too. Later."
"Later."
"Where's my goodbye, old pal?"
"Don't push your luck, 'old pal'," I mutter, lowering my hand to throw a warning look to Stu as he walks out the door.
He's smiling.