CHAPTER 11: THE REVEAL
After making Jake's package full of weed explode in his clubhouse last night, he told me that he would do something to me that cause me to never show my face again. Putting two and two together, the only way that he could do that is if he gets Craig to show them my permanent record. I cannot allow them to see what I did back at my old school. I'll have to find Craig before the Jocks do, but the thing is I haven't seen him all day. I usually spot him before class and during lunch, but today I have not seen him at either time. I just hope the Nerds know where he is. I must find him.
So once my last class of the day and week was finally over, I rushed out as quick as I could out of the classroom and out of the Main Building. Today was a very cloudy, chilly day; the perfect weather for a bad day to happen. Granted, it was October, so it was usually chilly around this time. And normally, there is an occasional cloudy day around this time of the year, but the clouds today were so dark that I could have sworn that it was going to rain any second now.
After the cold air hit me, I quickly zipped up my jacket and rushed to the Library. Once I got into the Library, I quickly rushed all over the place looking for Craig. "Kid, what is your problem?" the librarian asks me as I rushed pass her, knocking a few books out of her hands. "Sorry, I'm looking for someone", I told her as I picked up the books and gave them back to her. After a while of scanning the Library for Craig, I found James and Carl, the Nerds I met that night in the comic book store's basement.
I approached the two of them and said to them, "Do you two know where Craig is? I need to find him". "We were just talking about him", James told me. "We haven't seen Craig all day either. We were supposed to play Grottos & Gremlins this morning before class", Carl says to me. "DAMN", I yelled out-loud, causing everyone in the building to look in our direction. "Why is it such a big deal to you where Craig is? It's not like you both are friends", James says to me. I grabbed both Nerds and then dragged them out to the one long room near the exit to the building.
"I did something back at my old school that I'm not very proud of", I started to explain, "and now the Jocks may find out about it. Your friend is the only one that knows about it, so now I think the Jocks will beat the living crap out of him just to get that information". "We're very familiar with what you did", James then tells me. "We saw your record too when Craig cracked it open. That was seriously messed up what you did", Carl says. Great, I thought. More people that knows my past sin. Does everyone else have to find out? "We wouldn't be helping you now except for two reasons: 1; Craig's our friend too, and 2; he knows that you're sorry for what you did. We're going to help you", Carl then says to me.
"Thank you", I told them both. "Now let's head to the comic book store. We can use the computer down in the basement to triangulate Craig's location", James says. "How can you do that?" I asked them. "We can tap into his cellphone and track it from there", James tells me. "Now let's go". "We'll take my car", I began to tell them. "I got to run by my dorm first to get the keys though. Meet me at the parking lot. My is a green 2008 Sultan RS. It won't be hard to miss". I rushed out of the Library and headed straight to the dorm.
When I got to the Boys' Dorm, I quickly ran into my room and got my keys off my desk. I then rushed out of the dorm and went straight to the parking lot. Once there, I found both Nerds waiting for me beside my car. Once all three of us was in the car, I started it up and drove as quickly as I could to the comic book store. But when we crossed the bridge into Bullworth Town, there was a traffic jam going on at the intersection where I had to turn. "You got to be fucking kidding me", I said out-loud. About maybe twenty minutes later, I was able to turn onto the one-lane street and get to the comic book store. I parked my car in the alleyway, and then we all got out of the car and entered through the front door of the shop.
When we entered the shop, there was a big, husky old with red hair, glasses, and wearing what I believed was an Impotent Rage T-shirt. "Hey Zack, anything new?" James asks the clerk. "Nothing new today", he answers. "You guys going to play another round of Grottos & Gremlins today, or some Magic: The Gathering?" he then asks the Nerds. "Sorry, we're on a mission today", Carl tells him. "Craig is missing, so we're going to try and locate him", James says to the clerk. "And who are you?" the clerk then asks me. "I'm Greg. I'm helping them find Craig", I told him. "That's funny. Your name and Craig's name rhyme with each other", he pointed out. "I'm just going to follow Craig's friends into the basement if you don't mind", I told him as I went around the counter and went down the stairs into the basement.
Once I was down the stairs, I followed them into the smaller room and watched them conduct their work onto the computer. "How is it possible to track someone on their cellphone?" I asked the Nerds. "Are you kidding me?" James then says before explaining. "A cellphone, especially today's versions, are pretty much mobile computers. All we have to do is find his I.P. address, and we could find him anywhere in the world. If he was somewhere in Russia, we can still find him despite him being all the way across the globe. It's how government agencies like the F.I.B. and the I.A.A. can locate criminals very easily". "Man, if you guys can hack into my permanent record and into people's cellphones, I think I better stay on your guys' good side", I pointed out. "So far, you have been on our good side, but I still have my doubts about you", James tells me. "With all that you guys go through, I don't blame you", I told him. After a while of searching on the computer, they finally found Craig's location.
"According to the software that I'm using, Craig is located at Harrington House", James tells me. "Harrington House" I began to question. "Why would he be there?" "Knowing that the Preps and the Jocks are allies, I'm assuming that they are holding him hostage. Maybe to prevent you from finding him", Carl tells me. "Looks like I'm going to bust him out then", I said out-loud. "Harrington House is like a fortress. You'll never get him out", Carl tells me. "I'll have to try", I tell him.
Just as I was about to leave the basement though, James stopped me dead in my tracks. "You'll need a weapon", he says as he hands me a slingshot with a scope attached to it. "Wow, this looks awesome", I tell him. "It's called a Super-Slingshot. It's way better than the standard one that you see the Bullies and the Greasers carry around", James says. "Thanks. I'll give it back once I'm through with it", I said. "Keep it. We got plenty of them stored away in a secret place", James says. With my new weapon in head, I left the basement and went back to my car.
I started my car back up and headed back to the school. Once I parked my car at the parking lot, I started heading straight to Harrington House. After a while of walking, I made it to the water fountain where the paths to Athletics Area, the Autoshop, and Harrington House meet. Ahead of me was Harrington House where all the Preps hang out. I have never been in the building before, and I'm sure that the Preps won't be greeting me with open arms when I step in through the front door. But Craig was in there, and I had to get him out or else the Jocks would know my secret. Taking a deep breath, I started walking straight towards the building. Just as I climbed up some steps right into the courtyard, that was when a few of the Preps noticed me. "Are you lost or something, trailer trash?" one of them said to me.
Just as he said that, I pulled out my slingshot, loaded a pebble, and shot him right in the head. "What the hell?" one of the two other Preps said out-loud as they both charged at me. One of them tried to punch me right in the nose, but I quickly dodged it and then right-hooked him right in the jaw. The other one tried to do a punch-combo on me, but I quickly countered every punch except for the last one, which hit me right in the gut. Quickly recovering from the blow, I then performed a round-house kick on him, knocking him right onto the ground. From the looks of him, he was out cold. I turned to the other guy and performed an overhead punch. Once he was down for the count, I quickly entered the building in search for Craig.
Once I entered the building, I was greeted by yet another Prep. I quickly ran up to him, shoved him up against the wall, and gave him a few uppercuts until he too was out. Just before I could continue my way through the building, I saw something odd on the Prep that I just knocked out. Taking the odd object from him, I saw that it was a gun. Just in case it wasn't an actual gun, I quickly unloaded the magazine. Thankfully, it wasn't an actual gun; rather, it was an air-soft gun like the one that Jake had yesterday. Feeling that it could come in handy, I put it in my back pocket and continued into the building.
Once I entered the building, I couldn't help but notice how nice the main lobby was. Expensive paintings, frat paddles, china, all sorts of priceless artifacts. Not to mention back in the greeting room some knight's armor. Talk about luxury. In this room, there was two sets of doors and a flight of stairs on the left side of the room. Not knowing which rooms that Craig could possibly be in, I decided to search in the set of doors to my left. I entered to room only to find that I was in a dormitory. There were beds all neatly lined up with one another, and not to mention another Prep. Rather than the standard Prep uniform, he was wearing only a pair of blue boxers. "Hey, you're not allowed to be here", he says to me in a faux English accent.
I quickly rushed up to him and then pushed him right into the wall, knocking him out almost instantly. "Hope you don't have a concussion", I said to his unconscious body. Once he was out of the way, I quickly looked all over the room for any signs of Craig. So far, nothing. I left the room and went straight to the other set of doors back in the main lobby. It too was a dormitory. Once again, I checked the room just for any signs of Craig; still nothing. I walked back out of the dorm room and quickly went up the stairs to the second floor.
Once I got up the steps and went through the doors at the top, that was when I noticed that I was in the common room area. They had a flat-screen television as well as some poker tables in the room. "These guys get everything", I said out-loud before checking my surroundings. There were two other doors in this room; one leading to a flight of steps on the other side, and one that led to a balcony outside. I'll go up the stairs behind those doors, I figured. If there's any other room that I still have yet to notice, then it would most likely be up those sets of stairs.
I opened those sets of doors, and then I started climbing up the steps behind them. While climbing, that was when I noticed two more sets of doors: one at the top of the steps, and one to my left. I opened the doors to my left just to find that I was in the kitchen / dining room area. I quickly started searching for Craig in the kitchen. After looking in all the pantries and closets, there was only one closet left for me to look in. I quickly rushed to it and opened it, just to find Craig gagged and all tied up. Just when I approached him, the door closed behind me and I heard the sound of a lock behind me.
I quickly rushed back to the door and tried to open it. "Let me out", I said to the person on the other side. "You attacked my friends, and tried to bust our prisoner out. Jake is going to go through with exposing your secret, and there's nothing you can do. Now stay in there if you know what's good for you". Damn, they got me locked up. I couldn't believe that I got out-smarted. "DAMN IT", I said out-loud as I punched the door very hard. So that was it, then? Great.
2 ½ Hours Later; 6:30 PM
So Craig told me what Jake did to him to get the information he needed about me. First, he kidnapped him from his own dorm room, then he sat him down in front of a computer screen and made him crack open my permanent record, then lastly left him under the "care" of the Preps, who locked him in this closest since this morning. Jake had the information he needed, and he planned to reveal it at the football game tonight. Knowing how much everyone loves the Bullworth Bullhorns, almost everybody was going to be there. Shit, I'm screwed.
"I'm so sorry, Greg", Craig began to explain. "This was the last thing that I wanted to do. But if I didn't do what Jake told me to do, then he would have brought great harm to my clique. I had to protect them, or else he would have gotten all the Jocks to beat them up. You don't deserve what you're about to get".
"I wish there was a way to get out of this closet", I told him. "If I did, I would prevent that prick from exposing my secret". "Maybe you could trick them", Craig suggests. "You really think that could work?" I asked him. "It would work a lot more than your attempt to unlocking it using a paper clip earlier", he says. "Are you okay to fight?" I asked him. "I'm a Nerd, Greg. I can't even beat a non-clique student", he points out. "One of these days, I'm going to have to teach you how to fight. You got the right physique, you just need the moves", I told him before handing him the air-soft gun. "You're going to need this more than me, that's for sure". Once we were ready, I quickly knocked on the door.
"What do you want?" the voice says behind the door. "I need some food. I'm hungry as hell", Craig says to the voice. As we heard heavy stomping leading away from the door, both Craig and I then got into attack mode. Once the guy returned to the door and opened it, we both jumped onto him and started beating the hell out of him. "Nobody locks me in a closet, EVER!" I said as I kicked the Prep one last time. Once the Prep was down, we both made our way out of Harrington House. Every Prep that we came across, either I went up to them and beat the living crap out of them, or Craig shot them in the head with the air-soft gun. Once we made it to the exit, that was when I noticed that it was 6:50 PM.
"CRAP. It's almost time for the game to begin", I said out-loud. "Go then, Greg. Stop Jake before he reveals your secret", Craig says to me. "What about you?" I asked him. "I'll be fine. Just go", he tells me. With all my energy, I started making a mad-dash out of the courtyard and towards the football field. Once I turned left at the water fountain, I was then immediately ambushed by a couple of Jocks.
"Don't you got a football game to play in?" I asked them. "Nope", one of them replies, "we luckily only play basketball". They both then got into attack mode. "I don't got time for this", I said out-loud as I tripped the first Jock that tried to charge at me. The second Jock ran up to me and then knocked me right onto the ground. "You're going to wish you didn't do that", I said as I got back up onto my feet and tackled the second Jock.
I repeatedly punched him in the face several times as I was getting angry. I was so angry that I lost track of the time. Once I beat the Jock to a bloody mess, that was when the first Jock got back up on his feet and tackled me off his friend. "I have no time for this", I said as I kicked him right in the jewels. He quickly fell down to the ground, grasping for air as I pulled out my phone and checked the time. "Damn it, 6:57 already", I said as I quickly ran as fast as I could towards the football.
Once I got to the football field, I desperately looked around for Jake. But just as stepped foot on the field, I was stopped by two more Jocks wearing their football gear. I tried to budge out of their grasp, but they wouldn't let me go. Suddenly, that was when I heard his voice booming on the speakers. "Oh, there's the man of the hour. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Greg Winston, the school's most dangerous student. Guys, how about you two drag him here, front and center for everyone to see".
The two Jocks then dragged me away from the sidelines and right to the center of the field. They both then turned me towards the crowd. "Jake, please don't tell the crowd. It will ruin my chance of making a clean start here", I begged. He walked up to me, grabbed me by the chin, and said to me, "You never should have fucked with me". He turned back to the crowd and continued talking through the microphone.
"Now I know I was supposed to be singing the National Anthem. God-Bless-America and all that, but now I got to tell all the students and the staff about what kind of a threat Greg Winston is". I continued to try and break free of the Jocks' grasp, but they still wouldn't let me go. "Damn it, DAMN IT", I said out-loud. "Greg Winston here pranked a kid at his old school so badly, that everyone made fun of him. Greg, he dumped a bucket full of pig's blood onto that student, which ultimately made him the laughing stock of the entire school. And as if that wasn't enough, because the kid had a loose screw, he committed suicide. Greg Winston here got a kid to commit suicide. Now what do you people have to say about that?"
Just as Jake finished his speech, the two Jocks let me go. I looked right at the crowd in the bleachers, expecting a negative reaction. First, everyone was whispering to one another about what was just said, then that was when all the "boos" and the name-calling commenced. People were even throwing their refreshments onto the field, trying to hit me. "My life is over", I said to myself as I started making a mad-dash out of the field. I was so upset about what happened, I didn't even bother looking at Cameron, who was either trying to get my attention, or booing me like the crowd was doing.
I ran up the stairs, dodging every bag of popcorn, hotdog, and soda cups that was hurled at me as best as I could. Once I was out by the Gym and Pool buildings, I saw Jaquon laughing at me as I walked by. "Now you'll never show your face around here again. See you around, Greg, you piece of shit", he says to me as I left the Athletics Area.
That was it then. I could never show my face around the school again. If I ever did, all people would talk about was how I got someone to kill themselves. Nobody would want to hang out with me. Nobody would want to be my friend. Nobody would even want to be my partner in class. I was going to be an outcast, and there was nothing that I could do about it.