Chapter Thirty-Eight

Gord had been waiting for what seemed to be weeks on end for his dear James to take him out on their date. The snow had been gone so long that the grass was beginning to become dry. His faith never wavered and he waited as patiently as he could. The only person he could find to complain to was Peter and then his complaints turned into pushing the head boy for information. Gord had not spoken to Bif since he accused Jimmy of being a vile cheater.

One miraculous beautiful afternoon James Hopkins stood waiting outside of Gord's last class with flowers in hand. The fact that the bouquet was crafted with purpose and not just some weeds he pulled up from the girl's dorm was enough to distract him from noticing the black eye for a moment. But just for a moment.

"My word James! What happened to your face?" He rushed towards the boy, hand extended. Jimmy flinched a bit, but allowed Gord to gently trace the tips of three fingers over the puffy eyelid.

"Nothin' much. Just got into a fight with some punk. That's all."

Something clambered around in Gord's middle and he felt as though he might vomit. He tried his best to ignore it and told James that the date plan better be spectacular for making him wait so long. The king just laughed.

Once outside under the large sun and in the crisp air, Jimmy grasped Gord's hand, even linking fingers, though it took him two tries to get it right. He could have melted. Strolling leisurely with hand holding was all he needed.

Jimmy had put off Gord as long as he could. Despite Trent being a dick and a pig most days, he still wanted to have a few more rumbles with him. This could have been blamed solely on fear of rejecting the violent drunk, and part of it was, but Hopkins knew that wasn't all.

Trent had been the first guy to approach him, like ever. Jimmy had only ever been interested in girls before then. Making out with the taller guy behind the dorms had opened some sort of floodgate of pent up hormones and desires. Some great things came from this, including Gord. Some part of him would always be thankful, or whatever, towards the bully.

Petey had finally had enough of Gord's harassment after what turned out to be weeks. When he threatened to tell Trent himself, Jimmy knew it was time.

It hadn't been pretty and resulted in a nice shiner. However, Jimmy became more enthused to see Gord again once his guilty strings had been cut. He'd only been able to put it off a few days longer, not taking Pete's advice of waiting until the injury healed.

Feeling Gord's slim kinda clammy hand in his own felt awesome. He couldn't believe that he had once been afraid to do that. They walked that way to the dorms and stayed like some more inside. Gord said he had to put his things away. Jimmy waited, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"So where are you taking me?"

"Um," he hadn't really thought that hard. Or did he think the store bought flowers would be enough. "How about we sit at the dock?"

Instead of complaining about the lack of planning or the dirtied wood bench by the lake, Gord kept his mouth shut and enjoyed being by James. There was an arm over his shoulder and he loved it so very much. If only his pesky nerves would calm.

"Who did you say hit you again?"

Jimmy took too long to answer. "Nobody really. Just some guy."

"A man decided to simply stroll up to you and give you a good ol' tap?"

"I guess."

Gord placed a palm firmly on his forehead and pulled up into his hairline. He desperately wanted to ignore the blackened eye. "Does he go to Bullworth?"

"No. Can you just drop it already?" Jimmy shifted and kept his stare out towards the greenish blue lake.

"Remember Trent Northwik?" Gord's face went as pale as Jimmy's did when he dropped the name.

Jimmy hated his rotten luck. He wanted to punch Kowalski for being right. He wanted to slug Trent too, but he also kinda wanted to kiss him. Dammit! The mess he made stared him in the face.

"Uh yeah," Jimmy dumbly answered, praying that it was some sick coincidence.

"So is it true that you've been seeing him again?" Gord's voice was too steely for it to really be him. Where were the waterworks? At least then he would know he had truly been caught.

"What? Who told you that?"

"Please, just tell me the truth."

Jimmy sighed. He'd been caught, he was pretty sure. He'd like to know how though so he could kick someone's ass. "Look, I was gonna own up to it, I swear. Gord, I am so sorry. I know—"

Vendrome cut Jimmy off. "Let's not talk about this now. I just want to enjoy our date."

Gord was near certain that he would crumble at any moment. The tears weren't coming though. He very well knew that he and James were over. How could their relationship handle anymore deception? He did not want to punish James, even for making him seem like the only bad guy. They both made the mess. He should have never pushed Hopkins to love him. He should have never hurt him with Vance. He should have listened to Bif sooner.

"So, what's going on?"

Gord loved the stupid guilty look on Jimmy's face. "We are going to have a lovely time today, cuddle in a bed tonight, and then say farewells in the morning."

"Oh," was all Jimmy said. His eyes looked like they could become wet.

Gord stood, not wanting this day to be ruined by Jimmy's soft moment. That was not his place. "Why don't we enjoy the carnival? By ourselves this time."

Trying to remember every laugh, smile, and touch that Gord gave him was making the night more painful than fun. So, Jimmy stopped. The pair taunted each other trying to dunk a jock in the tank. Jimmy hooted wildly while Gord crushed his high score in the shooting game. They cracked up as they left, both adorned in the new silly hats they had purchased with their numerous tickets.

Jimmy and Gord crashed at the beach house one last night, sharing one last rather chaste kiss before falling asleep. They slept peacefully while flames flickered and fireworks screeched at Bullworth. Neither would know the night's events until the Head Boy came rushing in the following morning, yelling at them that Troy was being escorted away.

Troy's official escort off Bullworth grounds was more like a funeral procession than anything else. Due to the sheer amount of damage, police had been called to do it. Two comically large men walked either side of the small blonde boy. They would not let any other students get close to him. Gord and Jimmy followed a few feet behind, and Kowalski and several younger girls followed in suit. Bif came and wordless joined in the line with a few preps. Much of the school poured into the yard. Crabblesnitch demanded that they dispersed, but no one listened.

His mother being late, little Troy was made to stand at the sidewalk and wait. One cop left and the other smoked a cigarette a few yards away, only yelling back when someone tried to open the gate that separated the boy from his friends.

A few hours passed. Most of the students grew bored and left as well as the policeman. Gord would stay until Troy was gone, and knew Jimmy would too. He hadn't realized that their hands had been linked the entire time.

"What on earth would possess you to do such things?" Gord whined once he and a few others were finally able to slip out the gate. Troy just shrugged. "You could have been hurt."

James nodded. "I saw the field. Pretty effin' crazy. Awesome, but crazy."

Until his mother arrived, Troy didn't say much of anything but a few mumbled apologies. He received some hugs from three girls in his class, which was able to bring some smugness to his face. When the Jetta pulled up with a woman loudly cursing to herself, Troy gave everyone a wave. The kids still present said their goodbyes.

"See ya, Troy," Jimmy waved, seeming more confused than anything else.

Troy smiled a bit. His mother leaned across him and shouted, "Who the hell is Troy? His name is Lawford," out the open window.

Jimmy slept in his dorm that night. The kid didn't seem to have cleaned anything up, and that made him happy. The next morning he was greeted by a scrap of paper taped to his forehead.

Everyone you ever love, I will find a way to take them.

-GS

The king of Bullworth growled to himself. He was creeped out that Gary had been so close to his unconscious body, but also furious about the whole Troy thing of course. It was insane that he would punish one little kid just to get back at him. He'd been right; Smith was still a nut job!

Hopkins made the decision to bring the note to Petey. After some more sleep. He'd need to be rested to rule alone again.

Crazy Gary would never defeat him. That was the one thing in life he was certain about.