AN: I apologize for the delay, but hopefully I'll be able to make it up to you guys by updating again tomorrow! No guarantees, but that is my hope. This is the last chapter of little to no action. Next chapter will kick things up a notch, and then it'll stay up higher until the climax of the story. Tbh, there's probably still 5-10 chapters left. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review :)
The din of the other students in the cafeteria was a comforting white noise as Josh led Drake towards the lunch line. More and more students filed into the cafeteria, but aside from the usual looks and stares that were becoming commonplace, the other students were ignoring them so far. It was a welcome relief.
After getting a salad that only looked borderline appetizing - at least it looked better than the hot dog and French fries that Drake had selected - Josh sat down in his usual seat at his usual table, unsurprised to find Drake immediately sitting to his right, at the edge of the long table. Previously, Drake would sit somewhere different at lunch almost every day, and it was anyone's guess where he would pick. Sometimes, he'd sit with Josh and his friends and complain about how dorky they were the whole time, but adamantly refuse to leave whenever Mindy told him he should. Other times, he'd sit with the girl of the week or at one of the various tables of his current bandmates or popular kids - though Josh noticed that Drake never looked happy when he did that, he was always quieter and his smiles were more forced, and the popular guys he sat with looked at his brother with more annoyance than anything else. Josh was more than happy to have Drake with him at lunch. It was always where Drake seemed to be the happiest anyway, even before everything that had happened.
"Your other friends won't mind if I sit here, will they?" Drake asked. "I know they've never been big fans of it before."
"You've never cared about what they think before, and neither have I. I still don't care what they think. If any of them have a problem with it, then they can find somewhere else to sit and they're clearly not really my friends." Josh shrugged and smiled. "Besides, Craig, Eric, and Mindy will all be happy to have you here. And so am I."
Drake smiled at him and ate a few of his French fries, then stole a crouton off Josh's salad. Josh gave him a halfhearted glare, but had to work to hide his smile as Drake just grinned and went back to his fries.
They were soon joined by Mindy, who sat on Josh's left, and Craig and Eric, who sat across from them. A few other of Josh's friends filled in the space around them.
"Heard you got sent to the principal's office for the first time in your life," Mindy said with a grin.
"Word travels fast," Josh muttered, but didn't deny it.
"I heard you screamed at Mrs. Hayfer," Eric chimed in. He and Craig both leaned in expectantly.
"Sort of, but she deserved it, I promise."
"Well why?" one of his other friends, Jonathan, said. "What did she do? And what did you say to her?"
"Sorry, guys, I don't really want to talk about it," Josh answered, giving a dismissive shrug.
"He was standing up for me," Drake added. It was the first time he had spoken since everyone else had sat down. "He was just trying to do the right thing, like he always does." Drake looked at Josh and gave him that soft smile he always did, the one where he looked at Josh like Josh was the whole world - the one that Josh would never feel he deserved.
"For you?" Jonathan clarified, almost as if he were surprised that Josh would do that - or that he felt Drake didn't deserve to be stood up for, but maybe Josh was just being paranoid.
Drake just nodded and turned his attention back to his food. He picked up his hot dog and went to take a bite.
"Yeah, Parker, deepthroat it," Jackson called out from the table across the aisle.
"You're good at using your mouth, aren't you," Buck added with a cruel laugh.
Josh was up and out of his seat and seeing red before anyone could react.
"Don't you ever speak to him again," Josh seethed, taking the few short steps towards the jocks with purpose and clenched fists. He was two seconds away from swinging on them.
"Josh, it's fine," he heard Drake mutter. Drake stood and came up behind Josh, lightly tugging on Josh's shirt, but this time, he ignored him.
"See?" Jackson said around a laugh. "He said it's fine. He likes it in his mouth."
Josh's fist was reared back before anyone could stop him, and yet, somehow, someone still beat him to the punch, and Jackson was groaning and clutching his face as students gasped around them.
"I told you I'd break your nose," Mindy seethed, gingerly holding her right hand in her left. There was blood on her knuckles. Josh had never been more attracted to her in his life.
"Hey! Break it up!" a voice called out. Josh tore his gaze away from his gorgeous badass girlfriend to see two deputies coming towards them - Rosa and her partner, but Josh didn't remember his name. They stepped between the two groups of students, all of them taking a few steps back from each other.
"She just attacked me!" Jackson cried out, pointing at Mindy. Buck was still staring wide eyed and silent.
"Yeah, hopefully I broke his nose," Mindy readily admitted. "He's a jackass and a cruel bully and I'd do it again."
"Alright, let's get you to the office, and you to the nurse," Rosa said. "McClain, you got everything else?"
The other deputy nodded. Rosa ushered Jackson ahead of her, and kept Mindy next to her as they walked out of the cafeteria and towards the administration wing.
"Alright, you'll each need to give me a statement after school. Just remember, your statements will be corroborated with security footage, okay?" Deputy McClain said. He turned to Buck. He wasn't staring in shock anymore. He was glaring at Drake, his hands clenched into fists. Deputy McClain stepped directly between the brothers and Buck. "And I'll need your name."
"Buck Stevenson," he replied, his voice low, almost like a growl.
"Okay, Buck. I advise you go sit down and eat your lunch." A moment passed. Buck didn't move. "Now," McClain stressed. Finally, Buck let out a heavy breath through his nose, and walked away. Once he was sitting with the other jocks, who immediately accosted him with questions, McClain turned back to Drake and Josh. "You boys okay?"
"Yeah," Drake answered, but quickly looked to Josh, as if for confirmation.
"Yeah, we're okay," Josh agreed. He put his good arm around Drake's shoulder and relaxed at the feeling of his brother right next to him.
"We can talk about what happened after school," McClain said. "For now, just eat something and try to get through the rest of the day. I'll have my eye on Buck over there, and if the other kid doesn't go home, I'll make sure someone keeps an eye on him as well."
"Thanks," Drake said softly, giving McClain a small smile. Josh nodded, and turned with Drake back towards their table. Eric and Craig and his other friends were all looking at them expectantly, once again. "Can we not talk about it?" Drake asked. He kept his head down, using one French fry to push the others around his plate. He didn't pick up his hot dog again.
"Dude, what the hell was that?" Jonathan asked anyway.
"He asked us not to talk about it," Craig immediately replied, but Jonathan just scoffed and kept his attention on Josh.
"Come on, dude," Jonathan repeated. "What the hell?"
"We're not talking about this. End of story," Josh stated firmly, stabbing his salad perhaps a bit more harshly than he needed to.
"Josh, come on-."
"Enough! Okay?" Josh snapped. "Drake said no. If you can't respect that, then get the fuck away from him, and from me."
"Damn, man, chill," Jonathan said. "Fine then."
"Good."
The table lapsed into awkward silence as Josh continued to stab harshly at his salad. The bites he took didn't taste like anything in his mouth. Drake stopped pretending that he was going to eat anything else, and instead just kept his gaze somewhat down, and scooted his chair closer to Josh. Even as Craig and Eric struck up another conversation, Drake and Josh remained quiet, sharing silent looks.
As much as it was Rosa's job to enforce the law, she would've been lying if she said she didn't think that Mindy had done the right thing by punching a bully in the face. Despite what her Catholic beliefs said, Rosa still felt like the bully deserved it and Mindy was right to do it. Needless to say, Rosa hoped that she would be able to convince the bully that everything should be handled in school, and no further police involvement was required.
"So, what did he do?" Rosa asked Mindy with a smirk that Mindy immediately returned.
"He made some crack about Drake and what he's been through," she answered, shrugging. "Jackson and Buck have been so awful to Drake the entire day, constantly making cruel remark after cruel remark. I told Jackson in second hour that I'd break his nose if he kept it up. And he did. So I did. At least, I hope I did. I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but someone needed to stand up to them, to show people that what they're doing isn't okay and it won't be tolerated. Drake has been through enough, Josh too, without high school bullies using him as their new target. They just can't resist their low hanging fruit, a formerly untouchable popular kid brought low by a traumatic event."
"Yeah, I see that kind of thing all too often," Rosa replied. She sighed as they kept walking towards the front office. Jackson was still a good distance ahead of them, one hand still up clutching his nose. Was it so wrong of Rosa to hope that his nose really was broken too? She shook her head at herself. She knew that was wrong, whether or not he deserved it.
"What do you do to deal with it?" Mindy asked. "I used to be bad, like really, really bad, at emotional regulation. I've gotten a lot better within the last year, but then something like this happens, and I feel like I've lost all that progress and just can't handle my emotions, which is so unbecoming of someone who claims to operate on rationality and reason alone." Mindy sighed and shook her head.
"Honestly, this." Rosa reached under her collar and vest and pulled out her crucifix. "I know that we live in a broken, fallen world, and no matter what, hurt and suffering are always going to happen." She offered Mindy a sad smile. "One day, it won't be like that, and I do have eternity to look forward to, but I have to live in the here and now, so that means I have to focus on helping as many people in their hurt and suffering as I can. Every person I help is someone I have the opportunity to share my faith with in whatever way I can. Extraordinary hurt can always be combatted with extraordinary healing, with rebirth beyond belief. Even in the darkest of circumstances, lives can be changed for the better. So that's what I have to focus on. Light is most brilliant when it's shining through the dark." Rosa shrugged and smiled again. That was really all there was to it. It wasn't easy, but it was all she could do.
"I'm glad you have that," Mindy started, but Rosa could hear the rebuttal coming. "But I don't know. The scientific community generally assumes the non-existence of God, so I've never really thought too much otherwise."
"They weren't always like that, you know. The scientific community, I mean." At Mindy's slow nod, Rosa continued. "They used to all assume God exists and studied science in order to glorify Him. Some of the greatest scientists who ever lived, sought knowledge in pursuit of God. I mean the list goes on and on, Galileo, Copernicus, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Kepler, even John Dalton and George Washington Carver. Every single one of them professed God again and again, and they're still all incredibly revered scientists. They weren't trying to take the place of God, they were showing the beauty of creation through Him. There's a lot more logic, reason, and rationality behind the existence of God and Jesus than you might think. I think that as a scientist, you should investigate that too, instead of falling into the fallacy of authority just because the most prominent modern day scientists are atheists." Rosa grinned as she saw Mindy crack a smile.
"I suppose you have a point there," she conceded. "It is good to see all sides of an argument after all, regardless of my own personal beliefs. Maybe if all this ever calms down, I'll look into it." Mindy shrugged, but gave a genuine smile.
"I hope you do," Rosa replied, smiling back at her.
They arrived at the administration office only a moment later. Jackson was already sitting inside with the nurse, her hands gently prodding at his face as he winced and swore. Rosa tried hard not to be pleased.
The dean of students, Mrs. Ferris, walked out of her office and shook her head.
"Oh, Mindy," she sighed. "I had hoped after your last suspension that I wouldn't have to speak with you again."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Mindy responded. She gave another shrug and a slight grin. She was clearly not sorry.
"Sit down, please. I'll be with you in a moment," she said. Mindy nodded and did as she was asked. She didn't attempt to hide her grin at the sight of Jackson with the nurse. "Deputy Villarreal, can I speak with you first?"
Rosa nodded and stepped over to the dean. The two of them then stepped to the side, out of earshot of the students.
"Did you see what happened?" Ferris asked her, but Rosa shook her head.
"I was just getting to the lunch room when it happened, but I believe what Mindy says. I don't think this requires further police involvement. The school should be able to handle everything."
"I certainly hope so."
"Have you had any luck finding out who printed out those disgusting pictures and put them in Drake's locker?" That was a much bigger priority to Rosa than a bully with a broken nose.
"Jackson," Ferris answered with a nod. "We can tell that it's him on the security cameras. He printed them out at the library, broke into Drake's locker, and put most of them in there. The rest should be in his own backpack."
Rosa looked back over at Jackson and shook her head, biting her lip and fighting the urge to sneer. How or why an eighteen year old boy would be cruel to a younger kid who'd just gone through something so horrific, Rosa had no idea. She just hoped he would manage to grow out of it soon, or else she would probably see him again in a different context one day.
"Are you gonna be set out here?" Rosa asked. "I'd like to get back to the students." What she wasn't saying was that she wanted to get back to looking after Drake and Josh as much as she could, but she figured that was implied.
"Yes, thank you," Ferris replied. "Mindy, come here please," she called out.
Rosa turned and left the administration office, sharing a smile with Mindy as the girl walked towards the dean's office. She walked back to the cafeteria, her eyes constantly sweeping everything in sight, looking for something or someone who didn't belong. The chances that James would try to get into the school to get the boys were slim, but she couldn't be too careful.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, but Rosa spotted the brothers sitting where they had been before. Another large jock was sitting at the table across the aisle. He was staring at the brothers, a sneer on his face and hate in his eyes. As much as Rosa wanted to keep an eye out for James, that didn't seem to be the priority anymore.
It had become alarmingly clear that James was no longer the only threat.
James grinned as he surveyed the small cabin. Now, it would do nicely for his plans. It had been cleaned up as much as he needed it to be, and he'd gotten enough food and water for himself to last a few days. He wasn't sure exactly what his plan was, but that was enough for now. The cabin wasn't exactly equipped to handle someone living there for a long time, but that was okay. James would either stay there with the boys, once he had them in his possession again, for just a few days, fucking them as frequently as he wanted until they died, or he'd figure out a way to bring them with him wherever he went. He was going to have to change his identity more thoroughly, but all of this was something he could plan out more later, once he had those beautiful boys again, once he'd gotten the chance to taste Josh and hear Drake scream again. He was getting hard just thinking about it.
James' smile slipped into a moan as he palmed himself through his pants. He chuckled and walked off into the bathroom, the memory of Drake beneath him becoming too all consuming to ignore.
It was almost time to go get his toys back.