Chapter 3

Naomi was thrilled with how their relationship ruse worked. They were noticed, but not noteworthy. Some girls asked her what Tyler was like, and she was completely honest — he was a perfect gentleman to her. Tyler mentioned that several guys had congratulated him on landing such a cutie. Perfect!

There were questions about Carol’s role, but they all three stuck to the story — she was their wheels and their minder. Carol mentioned that a couple of guys had asked her out, but since she’d always been picky, turning them down wasn’t out of character.

The big surprise to Naomi was how much she enjoyed their dates out and about. Tyler wasn’t just a gentleman, he was a lot of fun to be around. When they went to an arcade for pinball and some older video games, she mostly held her own against him and Carol, sometimes attracting a cheering section of other girls. When they played games at the Jensen’s, he thrashed her at GTA, but she routinely beat both of them at tennis and Wii golf.

Sometimes they took a trip to a local park. She really was happy to hold Tyler’s hand as they walked around, but once they were in a more secluded area, she was happier still to trade for his sister.

When they went to the movies, Carol sat between her and Tyler — the chaperone making sure her charges couldn’t get up to hanky-panky when the lights went down.

When she and Carol were alone, they moved things along, but slowly. While they knew the odds of a teen romance lasting were low, they gave it their best shot, treating it like it was going to last forever. The Scar brought up questions when Carol finally saw it, but she didn’t press when Naomi told her that she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

Other than that, Tyler and Carol worked with her on taking care of herself. She knew they weren’t going to turn her into a fighting demon, but they all wanted her to be able to defend herself. They discussed improvised weapons and the element of surprise — do unto others before they have a chance to do unto you. And they repeatedly drilled into her that if she decided a situation required violence, to just throw the switch and go.

Tyler loved his dates. While others saw him on a date with Naomi, in reality he was out having fun with her and Carol. The roles they played also meant that he got to spend plenty of time interacting with Naomi, and she’d admitted that she was enjoying their time, as well — though not in the same way that she enjoyed her time with Carol. In short, she became just what she had promised him on their first date — a real friend.

While he’d promised her that he’d be her friend, too, that wasn’t the only promise he’d made to her on that first date. One Thursday in mid-May, one of his teammates on the football team found out all about one of the other promises.

As he and a couple of others were walking past a small group of students, he heard, “Damn, I’ll bet she has a tight twat!” He cringed a little — Ken Thompson was just plain crude sometimes. He wondered who he was demeaning today. Then Thompson tugged Tyler’s arm and said, “Come on guy, spill. What’s Naomi’s cunt like?”

Tyler spun on his heel and, facing the taller Junior, said, “None of your damned business, asshole!”

Thompson sneered at him, and said, “Ooh, that must mean you’re not getting any. I’ll bet you’re paying her to hide that you’re a fag.”

Tyler kept his voice down, but he tried to make it as menacing as possible when he said, “Again, that’s not your business, Thompson. If you want to keep all your teeth, you’ll drop it right now.” A couple of guys that Tyler recognized started trying to pull Thompson aside, but he shook them off.

“I’m not afraid of you, fag boy! Maybe I should just beat you bloody then take her and have a little fun, show her what a real man is like. A real man doesn’t ask, he takes what he wants, and I’ve proven before I’m a real man.” After that, he took a swing at Tyler. A badly telegraphed, schoolyard swing aimed at his shoulder.

Tyler had been trying to defuse the situation, but when Thompson threatened Naomi, he sealed his fate. The fact that Thompson threw the first punch might give Tyler legal cover, but the result would have been the same regardless. Now he did just what he and Carol had repeatedly coached Naomi to do when the situation warranted it: he threw the switch.

He quickly ducked inside the pitiful punch and, using his legs and torso to add authority, hammered Thompson in the solar plexus. He followed that up by sweeping his legs when he started to double over and then kicking him in the face, hard and repeatedly. His words had been unintentionally prophetic — Thompson was going to need some new teeth to replace the ones scattered across the gym floor.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Jensen,” the girls’ gym teacher shouted as she rushed to the altercation from the other side of the gym.

Tyler just looked up at her and said, “Defending my girlfriend’s honor, Mrs. Smith.”

That brought her up short, but not so the boys’ gym teacher. He got between Tyler and the still moaning Thompson and asked Jane Smith to call the office and get both the nurse and the school security officer out there.

“You’re going to be expelled, Jensen,” he said into the stillness. “You’ll be lucky if you aren’t arrested!”

Tyler just looked at him and shrugged. He’d known it was a possibility from the start. If that was the price, then so be it — he’d pay it. His honor wouldn’t have let him do any less, and Naomi was worth it.

The security officer cuffed Tyler as soon as he arrived, and an hour later he was at the police station, waiting for his father and the family attorney. When they arrived, the three of them were shown to a room where they could talk until the detective was available.

“OK, Tyler, why don’t you tell me what happened in your own words,” asked his father’s friend and long-time attorney, Geoffrey Simpson.

As Tyler explained, he started to get the shakes. Something about what Thompson had said came back to him, and for the first time he was worried.

“Mr. Simpson,” he said, “I don’t like to think what Thompson meant when he said that real men take what they want, and he’d proven before that he was a real man.”

The attorney smiled at him and said, “You caught that, did you? I know that the security officer and responding units were supposed to collect statements from the witnesses. Let’s see if that shows up in any of the others, shall we?

“If others back you up about him taking the first swing, I don’t see much in the way of criminal issues, as it’s obviously self-defense. His family may try to make a civil case out of it, but, again, if he started it, I doubt it’d go far.”

Shortly thereafter, they were taken to a room that was bare except for a desk and some chairs, where a gentleman in a sport coat was waiting.

“Tyler, I’m Detective Carlson, and I want to ask you some questions about what happened at your school.”

“I’ll be happy to answer your questions, Detective, subject to the recommendation of my attorney,” he replied.

Based on what Tyler had seen on TV and read, he was half expecting the detective to try to get tricky or get a confession of some form out of him. However, the man just asked straight up questions as he dug deeper into the fight.

“You stated that Mr. Thompson said, and I quote, ‘A real man takes what he wants, and I’ve proven before I’m a real man.’ Are you sure that’s exactly what he said?”

Tyler knew this was important, so he concentrated as hard as he could to remember. In the end, all he could say for certain was that was what he believed Thompson had said.

After more than an hour of answering questions, Detective Carlson finally closed his notebook. “Tyler, I don’t know what is going to happen here, but I’m going to recommend they no bill it. It doesn’t feel like justice to arrest and try a young man for defending both himself and his girlfriend’s honor. For the moment, you’re free to go.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tyler said as he stood and shook the detective’s hand.

After they left the building, Mr. Simpson smiled like a shark. “Based on your testimony, I’m almost positive that they’re going to take fluid samples from Mr. Thompson. I’ve seen some descriptions that lead me to think you may have just solved a couple of rapes.”

Tyler’s eyes got wide at that, but eventually he settled down and said, “I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking of that at the time, I was only worried about Naomi.”

“That’s fine, Tyler. If someone had said that about Betty, I’d likely have slit their throats even if they didn’t take a swing at me, consequences be damned.”

With that, Mr. Simpson took his leave and Tyler’s father drove them home. In the car, his father simply said, “I know you could have shrugged it off and walked away, but any man who wouldn’t defend his girl’s honor in that situation isn’t a real man as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know what the fallout from this is going to be, but we’ll support you all the way. Naomi is a lucky girl to have you in her corner!”

At home, Tyler was mugged by both his mother and his sister. Both told him how proud they were of his actions, legal issues be damned.

“Tyler, honey,” his mother said, “Even if they do decide to expel you, you’re going to finish school. We’ll send you to the best private school around if we need to, but we won’t let them win this one.”

“I don’t think it will come to that, Jen,” his father said. “Geoffrey had one of his associates take a look, and it doesn’t look like they can expel him for a first offense if he’s not arrested. Suspension, yes, almost certainly, but not expulsion.”

Tyler sagged into his seat when he heard what his father said. At his mother’s questioning look, he said, “I can’t protect Naomi if I’m in a school somewhere else. I sure hope no one else decides to test me, but she’s worth it.”

It had been an emotionally trying day, and he was sure everyone understood when he wanted to get to bed a little early.

Other than on days when one of them had practice, Tyler typically rode to and from school with Carol. She’d been waiting for him after school for a while and was starting to wonder what was going on — showering after gym didn’t normally take him that long — when one of his classmates found her.

“Hey, Carol, if you’re waiting for Ty, don’t bother. I didn’t see what happened, but I did see Ken Thompson lying in a bloody heap on the gym floor just before they ran everyone out. I heard someone mention Tyler and security.”

“What the fuck!” She briefly closed her eyes, then opened them again and said, “Thanks, John. I’d better call Dad and let him know.”

After getting in the car, she took a couple of minutes to calm down, then she called her father at work, only to be told that he’d just left for a family emergency. Of course, she should have realized that they’d call him right away.

She was so shaken that she just sat in the car for a few minutes while the parking lot emptied around her. Just as she was starting to feel up to driving home, she saw both a police car and an ambulance pull over by the gym.

“Oh, Ty! What have you done?”

Later that evening, after the family meeting, Carol decided to call Naomi. She didn’t want to worry her, but she also didn’t want her to hear rumors without knowing the truth.

Naomi answered on the third ring. “Hi, sweetie.”

Good, she was alone. Otherwise, she would have used her name.

“Hi, love. I’m just calling to let you know about the big news. I don’t want you hearing rumors first.”

“Wow! That sounds ominous.”

“No, not that bad, but still big. Before I say anything else, though, do you remember your first date with Ty?”

“What? Of course I do. That was the night he asked to be my friend, and I agreed. That’s worked out great!”

“Right. He made you some promises that night.”

“Sure. He promised to be my friend, and to never abuse our friendship. He also promised to defend me.”

“Perfect. The last one. Ken Thompson, one of the juniors on the football team, got in Ty’s face after gym and threatened to rape you.”

“Oh my God! Is Tyler okay?”

“Not a scratch on him. They took Thompson away in an ambulance.”

“Oh, no! What happened to Ty?”

“They took him to the police station, but they did not arrest him or anything like that. Dad’s pretty sure that they’re going to suspend him, but that they can’t expel him because he wasn’t arrested.”

She heard Naomi sob a bit, then she came back on and said, “Is he going to hate me for getting him into this?”

“What?! No, he won’t hate you and you didn’t get him into anything. Somebody stood in front of Tyler and threatened someone he’d promised to protect. There’s only one ending to that story.”

After a heavy sigh, Naomi said, “I should know that. He’s never given me any reason to think he doesn’t honor his promises. So, now what?”

“Sufficient unto the day... We’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow. Try to get some sleep, I’ll do the same. I love you, little girl.”

“Sleep. Right. I’ll try, though. And I love you, too, sweetheart.”

The following morning, Carol took Tyler to school as earlier than normal, then went with him to the office to get it officially over with. There he got the bad news: he was suspended for a week, and they were discussing expelling him. She quickly drove him home and headed back.

When she got back, people started coming up to her with various rumors they’d heard. Then an assembly was called for first period, so everyone started filtering into the gym, where the bleachers had been rolled out. It took her a minute, scanning the crowd, to find Naomi, but when she did, she hurried over and guided her girlfriend to sit down.

“Everyone’s saying he was defending his girlfriend’s honor, but...,” Naomi said.

“You’re a girl, you’re his friend and he was defending you,” she said.

“You know that’s not what they mean.”

“I know that, but that’s all it would have taken. Let’s talk more about it at lunch, okay?”

At that point, the principal got up in front of the student body. She liked Principal Thomas — he wasn’t particularly imposing physically, but something in his bearing seemed to make him larger than life. The room quickly stilled. Once he had quiet, he said, “By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the fight yesterday between two students. This was not a typical high school fight — one of those students is still in the hospital with a broken jaw and a concussion. The other is currently suspended while the administration considers whether to expel him.”

The principal waited for a moment until quiet was restored before saying, “As of this morning, there’s an ongoing criminal investigation into one of the students, so many details are being withheld, but I want to draw all of your attention to the cause of this altercation. According to reports, the student who is hospitalized threatened the girlfriend of the other student prior to instigating the fight. While we cannot condone violence, I can say this much: the proximate cause of the fight is a point in the suspended student’s favor. As I said, we can’t condone violence, but I think some of you should consider that he was standing up for his girlfriend’s honor in addition to defending himself. That is what a real man would do.”

Carol squeezed Naomi’s hand when he said this, a smile creeping onto her face.

“I’m going to have counselors schedule talks with all of you over the remaining weeks until summer recess. I want you to know that honor is still important, and how we treat our fellow students and teachers is tied up with the idea of honor. Thank you. Please proceed to your first period class for the time that remains.”

Before anyone moved, however, a student jumped to his feet. Kyle Smith, the quarterback and offensive captain of the football team, waited a second, then simply started applauding.

Carol smiled and sprang to her feet as well, soon followed by Naomi and others, until most of the students were giving the principal a standing ovation.

Principal Thomas smiled at Kyle, nodded to the others, and then waved them toward the doors again.

Carol managed to give her girlfriend a quick hug before they separated to head to their respective classes, but she sensed that Naomi was feeling better now. She knew she was.

During second period, an announcement was made requesting all members of the football team to gather for a short meeting after school. She didn’t know what it was about specifically, but was sure it was tied up with what Tyler had done.

At lunch, Carol and Naomi found a table out of the way so they could talk.

Naomi was still looking a bit down, so Carol wasn’t surprised when she said, “All morning people have been coming up to me and telling me how lucky I am to have a boyfriend who would stand up for me like that. We know I’m not his girlfriend, though. Not, really.”

Push had come to shove, but Carol hoped to delay that part of the conversation until Tyler and Lee were present as well. “Will your mom be home tonight?” she asked. When Naomi nodded, she said, “Let’s talk more about it with her and Tyler if we can. I think it will help us all.”

“Do you think Mom’s seeing something that we’re not?”

“Maybe. It’s her profession, after all. That’s all I’ll say right now. Until then, just keep remembering this: you’re his friend and he promised on your first date to defend you. He was going to come uncorked when someone threatened you.”

Naomi looked more thoughtful then, and they started eating their lunches.