Chapter 10: The Abyss I’m Accustomed to

I was sitting under the tree with the girls when Jill asked, “So, you going to smoke with us tonight?”

I glanced around before realizing she was talking to me, “Pass. Though if anybody wants to head to town this weekend, there is a flick I want to see.”

Beth had been practically morose all day and shouted, “Why do you have to be such a straight edged pipsqueak? You’re a fucking shit stain!”

I decided the best course was ignoring the non-sense, “So anyway, any chance I could snag a ride to the cinema this weekend? I’ll pay, but there’s a horror movie I want to see.”

Beth fired back, “You don’t get to ignore me!” Plan B then.

“WeeeOOOweeeOOO, Bitch alert, Bitch alert. Bitches will be ignored till they can speak with some basic degree of respect.”

The girls giggled, except for Beth who started glancing around anxiously, “you need to stop that. It’s embarrassing.”

I smiled, “Sure, just stop berating and insulting people without good reason.”

Beth shook her head, “I’m the HBIC. I have to do that.”

“You haven’t hit Machiavelli in your ‘I’m not reading history books’ thing yet? Loved is a lot better than feared. Feared is just easier.” It had been about a week since I realized she had a passion for history that she was embarrassed by and a bag full of historical bios covered with the latest Vogue or other fashion magazine.

The thought amused me, but I continued on, “You can rule with kindness or rule with fear. I have no intention of fearing you. And I don’t respect people that attack people without a good reason. You’re better than that. And if me making a weeoooweeoo noise helps get that point across I’m okay with that.”

“I’ll try to be nicer to you, but please stop doing that.”

“Not to me ... to everyone.”

“I can’t do that. Why do you do this stuff?”

“You’re a better person than you pretend to be. So, stop pretending.”

“I’m not pretending.”

“Yeah, you are ... but you do seem to be on edge today. What’s up?”

Angie answered for her, “She hasn’t figured out to quash Maria’s latest rumor.”

“Which is?”

Beth sighed, “She spread the rumor that I’m pregnant ... and don’t know who the dad is.”

“Okay ... want me to deal with it?”

“What the fuck are you going to do?”

“To borrow a line, ‘You just ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“Jesus Christ, my dad listens to that song.”

I laughed and started to plan.

Three days later

I sat on the bench on the third floor of the school it was near the glass doors which led to the street where most of the seniors parked and across from the band room. The band room was one of the few rooms in the school that I hadn’t been in. I heard the toddler tap the turtle for the first time that day and I felt myself smile. My other contributed, “This will be fun.”

The students began to pour in through the entrances and the stairs as I watched. They quickly looked at the pictures. I had posted them on every wall, hundreds of copies. The project had cost me 400 dollars out of the cash I had taken from my biological father’s briefcase; 30 dollars for the camera, 10 for the two rolls of film, 100 to my sister for the rides and the lack of questions, 100 to the guy at the pharmacy to develop the photos without leaving any kind of production trail, and 50 dollars in a combination of payment for the copies and bribe to the guy who made the copies, and lastly 110 dollars to the janitor to let me borrow the keys overnight to copy. I suspected that one would pay off long term.

It had also cost me two days. For two days, I had to follow the bitch around to gain something incriminating, her life was incredibly boring, but the payoff was going to be fun.

The reaction to the pictures was mixed. Most of the students were stopping and laughing or staring otherwise. Some were gasping in disbelief and averting their eyes. A few also pocketed the copies, I found that amusing in its own right. There were copies of 48 different pictures of Maria blowing and then riding the band teacher.

I had followed her to a near abandoned playground/park above the football field when I witnessed the scene. I didn’t like having to get as close as I did to get both faces in the pictures. I managed to avoid detection, mostly due to the fact that they were both very distracted.

I had chosen my position due to the fact that it was between the band room and the street where the seniors and Maria parked. I waited for the blonde to watch her reaction and for the band teacher to watch his. I was certain by now the principal had found the original developed pictures in the envelope on his desk and called the police. It has been a long time since I had seen anyone arrested and I doubted a stern word from the perp would turn them around this time. This is going to be fun.

Maria walked in through the doors to my right. Immediately most of the crowd that could see her turned toward her. They began pointing and snickering. There wasn’t outright laughter or teasing, but it was a near thing. She started to look around, her face contorted in what I guessed to be a combination of fear and anger. She had walked almost all the way to the band room door when she first spotted one of the pictures. She screamed aloud. It was ear piercing.

My other asked, ‘Have I told you lately that I love you?” I stifled it, but my smile gave way to laughter.

She screamed again using words this time, “Who fucking did this, I’ll rip your god damn guts out.’ She was looking around now. Her face contorted again into pure horror. I’m pretty sure that was the moment when she realized that the pictures were on every wall in the school. I watched her carefully, but didn’t let her catch my eyes upon her. She spun around looking for someone to blame.

Eventually, I saw the anger fade from her face. It was replaced by fear. She fell to the floor and began to sob into her hands. I was expecting embarrassment and got fear instead. My other thanked me profusely. I decided to make my point clear, “Maria.”

She rose up and noticed me for the first time. She stopped her bawling and walked over to me, “You fucking did this? You’re nobody, your just Beth’s fucking lackey. Do you know what you’ve done?’

“Yes, Maria.” She tried to interrupt and I let my voice turn to steel, “You will let me finish. Yes, Maria. I did this. I’ve ended your reign in the pointless politics of the school. Soon I will have had a pedophile arrested. I offered you a peace and you chose to spit in my face. You chose to try and hurt one of my friends and now you’ve been hurt. Now do you want to save some degree of face in this?” I had tried to talk to her only to be insulted and sniped at.

She nodded quietly and I continued, “Mind you people will still talk behind your back; the damage I’ve done to you will never go away.”

She lowered her eyes, “What do you want a blowjob, a fuck I’ll do anything.” Why the hell would that be her first attempt at bribery?

I laughed aloud before answering, “Trust me you have nothing to offer me.”

“That cheerleading bitch isn’t that fucking good; you haven’t seen what I can do.”

“I’ve never touched Beth. You are just a girl. I don’t see the attraction those idiots must have for you. I doubt you could entertain me for ten minutes. I only go for women who can hold my interest, but that isn’t the point. What I want is for you to apologize to Beth.” Mindy is a woman so I’m not really lying.

The crowd was staring at us; I had no desire to be noticed. I needed to end this. “I’ll do it, but only if you can tell me how to get out of this?”

“He’s already going to jail, but you can put the blame on him. Did he force you?” Cast the line.

“No, I just wanted him to cover for me once and he turned out to be a solid fuck.”

I shook my head and reiterated her choice, “Did he blackmail you? Trick you into it?” Her eyes lit up as she finally understood my trap. I ordered, “Go to the bathroom and clean yourself up, bitch” Sink the hook and reel!

My other questioned, “Why did you offer her a way out?” She rushed to the nearest bathroom, which was towards the computer lab.

I thought back at it not sure if it could hear me, “It’s not a way out. Most people don’t kiss or ride their rapists to completion while smiling. It’s the second layer of the trap.”

The PA system kicked on with a crackle and hiss, “Everyone is to report to their 1st period class immediately, Maria Thomas and Mr. Lionel Sampson please report to the principal’s office immediately.” See if I’d made that announcement it would have been if you’ve seen pictures of yourself fucking today report to the principal’s office otherwise get the fuck to class, bitches.

I stood up, slung my pack over my shoulder, and began walking towards my 1st period English class on the basement floor. I could hear Maria still raging behind me. There was a shudder in the crowds as they broke up and went about their day. Maria was finished; she would never hold a position of power in this school again. She would be the butt of every joke for weeks.

Someone stopped me before I hit the stairs and asked “Hey, what did you and Maria talk about.”

I answered, “She asked me if her hair was all right.”

“What’d you do man?”

“I said her hair looked like crap.” The random kid laughed and walked on, I followed suit.

As I walked into the class, I glanced around. My 1st period English class was held in the home economics room. There were tables set up and stoves and sink along the wall. There were only six tables with two empty seats. I sat next to Beth. She was beaming. The greatest threat to her domination of the school was gone. The girl who had tried to harm her reputation with nasty rumors was now going to be the talk of the school for weeks. Her smile glowed a bit. I’d never noticed that before. It brought a tickle of warmth to the twin-beating stone that was where my heart should have been. I normally sat next to Alex who was giving me an accusatory glare. I smiled at her. She glared through the door at one of the signs and then pointed back at me. I raised my thumb. She shook her head. I wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or amusement.

I leaned over to Beth and whispered, “Cheers, darling.”

She turned to look at me with a flash of realization and surprise on her face. She whispered, “It was you?” Who else could pull this off?

“I’m not fond of people hurting my friends.” I wasn’t sure when she had become my friend as opposed to Scott’s on again/off again girlfriend, but she now had attained the title.

She began to smile, “Come to the auditorium after school.”

I didn’t know what she wanted me to do, but I answered, “As you wish.” and went about my day.

Most of the teachers gave free periods that day, rather than fight the inevitable wave of whispers and jokes. The day was fairly uneventful until lunch. Lunch brought the band teacher, apparently named Sampson being arrested and placed in the back of a trooper’s car to a chorus of applause and laughter. He was screaming about how much he loved Maria as he was pushed towards the car. He was a middle-aged man with a pot belly. He wore black slacks, a yellow polo, and thick glasses. He had a toupee apparently which fell off at some point as he clutched it between his cuffed hands. He had a black eye as he was placed in the car. I noticed the State Trooper’s nameplate read Thompson and this fact caused me to suspect Sampson was going to enjoy his many falls on the way to the jail. I had no hatred or malice towards the bastard. I knew Maria was playing him for something, but she would spin the story against him and he would likely end up in jail. My other reveled in his torment.

The other interesting thing was, when Maria came into the cafeteria. Every few seconds, someone would cry out, “Slut!” or “Whore!” She didn’t even get to her table with her tray before she screeched aloud and ran out of the cafeteria. I assume she went home at lunch as I didn’t see her again for a couple of weeks. The cafeteria crying out happened off and on for the rest of the year. Periodically, one of the copies would show up on a wall again. I honestly had nothing to do with that.

When I finally got the chance to converse with Alex it was during fifth period Chemistry. She had avoided me up until that point. I sat next to her and we communicated as we usually did in class while the teacher droned on about the Gillespie-Nyholm theory for the benefit of those who didn’t do the reading. We wrote on a notebook that was equidistant between us. I wrote, “Mad at me, love?”

She responded, “You hurt that girl.”

“She hurt Beth.”

“Do you like like Beth?” Like, Like what the hell. Alex is far too clever for that. Is this 3rd year all over again?

I groaned aloud at the sheer immaturity of that question. Mrs. McTravers was the chemistry teacher. She tended to act like she fell into it and had no desire to teach. However, she was the only one to even try to teach class that day. She was short with shoulder length curly black hair and glasses. She was always very nervous in class. I guess I’d gained her attention as she inquired, “Is there a problem, Mr. West?”

I glanced at her and the board for the first time in class, I groaned again as she had written CaH4 instead of CH4 as the formula for methane before diagramming it. “Calcium and Carbon aren’t interchangeable; if you insist on teaching you could at least get the material correct.” She could have taken the day off. You don’t like your job and you don’t want to do it, fine just take the excuse when it’s offered.

She looked at the board and realized her error. A bit of laughter erupted from the crowd and Alex elbowed me. “You could have been more conscientious in pointing out my error. If it happens again I’ll send you down to the principal.” Pretty sure that bastard is too busy to deal with me today.

I answered. “I apologize if I was rude, but you chose to call me out not the other way around.”

I dropped the class from all but the most minimal lair of my awareness and then continued the conversation that mattered, “No, She is my friend.”

“Be nicer to McTravers and her being a friend makes it okay?”

“I apologized. I tried to broker a peace. She broke it. Too far?”

“Yes, talk to me first.” Are you a cricket now?

“Forgive me?”

“Always.”

“Still mates?”

“What do you mean?”

“Still friends? Are we good?”

“Yeah. I know you mean well.”

“Who’s next?”

“Hopefully, no one. But those idiots that call themselves Dragons are a maybe.” The dragons were six country boys who thought of themselves as a street gang and didn’t realize how dumb the names sounded. They did cause a lot of problems though. Daniel was in debt to them. They sold roughly half the drugs that came through the school and weren’t above a little light bullying and extortion on the side.

The other half came from a kid named Jimmy. Whatever you wanted to buy, Jimmy had and had a price for it.

Alex scratched out, “Not like this”

“Just gathering info. Will talk before.”

“OK, Can I sleep over tonight? Mom has office hours.”

“Always”

“What’s for dinner?”

“DKFS think I saw fish”

“You need a ride?”

“Meeting Beth after school. I’ll get a ride.”

About a half hour after the end of the school day, I entered the Auditorium. The cheerleaders practiced here every day. The gym and the field were taken by various other school activities, but the auditorium belonged to the cheerleaders. Everyone knew that and stayed away.

Beth waived at me when I came in. The squad would have been extremely small for another school, but considering there were less than 500 students in total, a five girl squad was almost extravagant. Beth was the head cheerleader, despite being a sophomore; most likely due to her shall we say, strong personality.

The others I knew from Beth’s stories and the past few weeks of lunches. Jill and Stacy were a couple and cousins to boot. They each had a beard that happened to make up the only other gay couple in the school I knew of. Jill was blonde with a smallish nose while Stacy was ginger with freckles.

Angie was the oldest girl there. She had raven hair and glasses; she was the only senior on the squad. I assume that was Beth’s doing. The other girl had black hair and was named Melissa.

All of the cheerleaders had similar body types to Beth, though she was more slender than they were. They were all athletic types of similar height, except Jill who was a foot taller than the others taller than I as well. Melissa seemed more naturally petite with a smallish frame despite the near evenness in height. There wasn’t a cheerleading coach of any type and the supervisor was basically in-name-only as such Beth ruled with an iron fist.

I walked down to the first row and sat down. I slung my bag into the chair next to mine. I was patient enough to wait for whatever Beth wanted. I watched the girls do their various dance routines and a few basic gymnastic stunts. I enjoyed watching the casual loving touches that the two cousins shared. It was fun, until Jill was supposed to do something similar to a presage lift with Melissa.

I saw Jill’s left arm quiver and I was standing. Her hand wasn’t placed properly. I instinctively started to move. Melissa hit the ground as I hopped on stage. I rushed over to the fallen girl as the others were just reacting. I slid on my knees the last couple of feet to her side, I asked, “You all right, love?”

The others had surrounded us by then. She nodded but held her head. I pulled her into a sitting position, “Are you dizzy?”

“No.”

“How’s your vision?”

“I’m fine, I’m getting a headache.”

“Beth, can you get some water? Stacy, there should be some ibuprofen in the front pocket of my bag.”

Jill started apologizing profusely. Melissa kept reassuring her. After Beth and Stacy returned and Melissa had taken a pill, I helped her to stand and walked her down to the chairs. “Beth, she should sit the rest of this out. Angie, maybe you’d like to sit with her until she feels better? Is there a reason you’re not using mats?”

“There down in the gym, we usually bring one up we just didn’t have time today.”

“Okay. Jill, do you want to see what you did wrong with the lift?”

She answered with, “Yes, I’m so sorry Melissa.”

I pointed in front of me, “I’m guessing you’re doing the lifts because of your size. Stacy over here.”