Chapter 5

My shower next morning was a bit better. Early morning at school was not. But by lunchtime the news had spread around the school and at least some of the looks had changed but not all. Some of the cheerleaders looked at me like I was a dead fish in their glass of water. I guess I had gone down a long way since last year.

When I sat down to have my lunch two of my friends - or ex-friends - sat down with me and wanted to know what had happened, and why had I dumped Marie. They also wanted to know if I left her for Samantha, and if I had why was I not with her. I just told that there was an incident on Friday and that I did not dump Marie, she dumped me. Thinking out loud I said that I should probably find Samantha just to collect my missing benefits.

My explanations just raised some more questions which I could not answer. An interesting thing was that Anton being in hospital in comatose state was NOT yet common knowledge. Neither was the status of those three followers.

I was up and looking after my 'supposed to be girlfriend' when someone grabbed my bruised hand tightly. I could not help flinching. After all, the football coach was still a big and strong guy.

"Eric, I know you are behind this. Where are four of my players? They already missed practice and I cannot contact any of them. And their parents refuse to talk to me. What a hell has happened? Tell me. I know that you know."

I used my right hand to remove his grip.

"Coach, please talk to the headmaster."

"He refuses to tell me a thing."

I sighed. I had liked this guy.

"I really cannot say anything, really cannot. But maybe it would be a good idea to start planning how to cope the rest of the season without those four starters."

He looked at me intensively.

"You are not kidding."

"No."

"Any change of getting you back?"

"No. And currently I would not really be in a shape to play."

While saying that I moved my hair to show the stitches in my head. He started cursing to himself. I stopped him once more.

"Please remember that I did not tell you anything."

He nodded and walked away.

I finally found Samantha hiding with some of her friends out in the yard. Our lunchtime was almost over and they were about to escape but I stopped them.

"I need to talk to Samantha for a moment, please. I do not intend to hurt her or anyone. Please."

Her friends left us and she looked worriedly at me, almost like she was ready to cry.

"What do you want from me Eric?"

"Look Sam, I think there has already been enough hurt. Can't we just agree and inform everyone that we are not together and it was all a mistake? I know you probably were made to agree to this setup."

"Don't you want to be with me?"

I looked at her. Samantha was a pretty girl, not really beautiful but pretty. Not the brightest one but not a totally airhead either. And as far as I knew she was not wittingly a mean person. Just maybe a bit of an easy one.

"Sam, it is not that. I just would not really be very good company right now. I think they used you to get Marie to dump me."

And I was not supposed to make her cry. Shit. I hugged her gently.

"Please Sam, do not cry. It was not your fault, you could not know. I'm not blaming you."

"But you must hate me now."

"Trust me, I don't. Maybe we can think about going out some time later. OK?"

Talk about lighting up. She nodded and I wiped away the tears she had and kissed her forehead before going away. I was a bit worried about that promise I made. I really was not sure if I would ever be up to it.

By the end of the day I started to hurt. My last class would have been PE but there was no way I would have done anything. The teacher did not like me just sitting and reading but he did not make in issue of it. I guess he had been briefed somewhat. My classmates looked a bit confused but I was not going to give an explanation.

On my way home I quickly visited the grocery store and upon getting home made some food for myself. After that I noticed that painkillers and debugging do not mix well together. After my aunty called and checked on me I went to sleep.

Thursday morning at school it was evident that something was up. Somehow it had leaked that Anton had been driving drunk and was in the hospital. The rumors varied from broken bones to almost dead. I had no need for guessing. My aunty had sent a text message to me that he had made it until early Thursday morning. Then a clot had probably blocked one of the main arteries in his head. I guess I had my revenge. Then why did I feel that dirty?

By lunchtime I went to Marie who had been avoiding me all of this time. I already hated myself for what I was going to do.

"Hi Marie, how are you?"

"I'm fine Eric, thank you."

Bullshit. She looked terrible. Which did not make me feel any better.

"Look, I'm really sorry about your new boyfriend. I know that you were not together for long and that he and I did not really get along but I feel sorry for you."

"Why, Eric - what do you know about him? He does not answer me and nobody answers from his home."

"Marie, I only know that he went to the hospital from a car accident Friday evening and that he will probably not make it."

"But... - How can you know that?"

"Because I went there earlier that evening."

And I showed her a bit of the wound in my head. She gasped and tried to touch me but I backed away. And hated myself for doing that.

"Remember Marie, I'm sorry for you. I just have to go now."

Then I turned and walked away. Now I had had my revenge on both of them. Shouldn't that feel good? I only had a sick feeling inside my stomach. After school I was to meet my aunty at the DA's office.

I waited inside my car for my aunty to arrive. Once she got there we walked in together to the DA's office. The looks I got from the deputies were pure hatred. Once inside the office the DA - who looked even better than Tuesday if that was possible told us what to expect. She warned us that since those three had been able to practice their story together there would probably be some nasty attack. In any case, we should not get provoked. She assured us that everything was well under control. Or it seemed that she tried to assure me. My aunty already seemed to know all this. I smiled at her and confirmed that I would trust her with EVERYTHING. My aunty made gagging noises and the DA actually smiled.

I had to admit that they had created a very nice story that all the three guys fully agreed. I was angry at them because my girlfriend had left with their friend. I had threatened them with my martial arts skills and then I had attacked them at school. All those steps fit nicely to the surveillance video they presented. And they did not want much. They would agree to me get expelled, sell the house and the car and then when I'd get 25 they would get the rest of my inheritance. But I would not have to go to jail. How generous of them. I could feel that my aunty was fuming. Those things about my inheritance should not be common knowledge. That information should not be available at all. There would be blood at the end of this. And somebody would probably lose his or her job.

The DA had looked interested about their presentation; she had taken notes and asked some questions. And that slick guy that had been doing the talking had not understood that what he could do with the amount of rope she was giving him. When she finally asked if he had written statements from his clients he had been happy to give them to her.

Once they were finished she asked if they would mind watching the video once more. They agreed and we watched it again from the big screen. This time with sound. And after a half an hour they were discussing if those three should be prosecuted either for assault or attempted murder. Their lawyers were quite sure that it would not be attempted murder as the knives and the pipe were contaminated and could not be used as evidence. The DA responded to that by showing the text messages from their phones. The parents who were sitting back there were just shocked. At some point the DA turned to me.