Chapter 65: A Long Day

My shiner was in full bloom for school Monday morning. That and rumors of the fight at the mall got me a lot of very strange looks. I met with my usual group at break and Melinda whistled when she saw my eye.

"Ouch. That's a beauty. So I guess the rumors are true."

"I've been trying not to listen. I'm sure they're all pretty exaggerated."

"They certainly didn't exaggerate about that eye. Rumor has it there were three of them, that was the only punch they landed, and you put all three of them in the hospital."

Someone had obviously seen the whole thing start to finish.

"There was one other punch and while they all went to the hospital two of them went home that night."

"Jesus, Jimmy, I thought you said they exaggerated. I saw Roger Elliott earlier, someone who hadn't heard about it patted him on the back and I thought he was going to faint. Yeah they sent him home but he can hardly move. Driscoll didn't even come to school today and they say Brad's got a cast covering most of the right side of his body. If that's true he can kiss his scholarship goodbye."

I took a deep breath and answered in a very quiet voice. "I'd really rather not talk about it if you don't mind."

She looked at me for second before answering, "I understand, but can I ask you one favor?"

"What's that?"

"Lynn and I are thinking of going to Mardi Gras next year. Would come along as our body guard?"

"Melinda!" Susan said in an outraged voice. "It's not funny. Jimmy could have been seriously injured. Three to one is not good odds no matter how good you are. And from what I heard, Brad has been after Jimmy for months. I don't know how he got Elliott and Driscoll to play along but as far as I'm concerned they got what they deserved. Every one of them outweighs Jimmy by a good thirty pounds; Driscoll by more than that."

"No," I said quietly. "They didn't get what they deserved. Nobody deserves what I did to Brad." I got up, picked up my books and left.

"Jimmy, wait," Susan called.

"Let him go," I heard Bob say. "We've already talked about this but he's got to deal with it on his own. It wasn't his fault, he didn't start it, but he still feels bad about not stopping sooner. He'll be all right; he just needs some time."

The day kind of continued in that vein all day, walking down the hall people would step back out of the way like I was going to go postal on them if they touched me.

I did have one bright shining moment at lunch when Angela showed up and asked me to be her date for the prom. Prom was a big event at our school. There were so many kids that they limited ticket sales to Juniors and Seniors. The only way underclassmen could get in was by being someone's date. I was more than a little surprised but we went for a walk and she explained it all to me.

"I can't take Tim, I mean, how would that look. He's going with Cindy Sheppard, you remember her from the mall? She's been kind of lusting for him the last couple months so we talked about it and he's taking her. So I needed a date, and I kind of wanted one that wasn't going to try to feel me up all night. You know; someone who wouldn't be disappointed at not getting laid on prom night."

"Whoa, I don't get to feel you up and I don't get laid?"

She shoved me and said, "You know what I mean. And you know I want to jump your bones, so you never know." She grabbed my hand and pulled me in close. "Be a good boy and you might get lucky."

"Ah," I said, sliding an arm around her waist, "but will I have a better chance if I'm a bad boy? That's the question. What about Tim? I mean, don't you think Cindy's going to have a few expectations."

"Oh trust me, unless Tim does something really stupid he's going to score."

"How do you feel about that?"

"How do I feel about it? Are you kidding? I told him to fuck her brains out. Look, Timmy's a sophomore; he's got two more years here and I'm going to be away at college. I can't expect him to be celibate for two years while I'm gone, and Cindy's a senior next year, so who knows...

"Jimmy, what Tim and I have is special; I think I could spend the rest of my life with him and be happy. But that's for the future. Right now, we have to live in the real world. I don't know that I might not meet someone while I'm away. We've talked about it and decided that if what we have is real, then it will survive, if it's not, then it's not and we won't regret any of what we have had. So for now, this is reality. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I just have one question."

"What's that?"

"You can dance, can't you?

"Oh sure, I do the standard guy thing. You know the kind of fake boxing thing where you stand in one place, hold your hands up like this, and kind of shuffle your feet." I demonstrated the moves. "I do that."

"You're kidding, right?"

The bell rang and saved me from having to come up with a decent answer. I gave her a quick kiss and made a note to try and dream up a reasonable dance tutor. I told Allison about it after school.

"Ooh prom, cool. You should be honored; there aren't a whole lot of freshmen that get invited to the big senior gig. And you get to go with the prettiest girl; you'll be the talk of the school."

"Come on, sis, give me break. You're laying it on pretty thick don't you think?"

"No, not really. You just wait. There's going to be a lot of girls wondering why she's going with you. They'll be wondering what it is she sees that they're missing. I expect you'll find yourself very popular with the ladies next year."

"Well, they'll just have to keep guessing and get used to disappointment, Shannon starts next year, so I'm taken."

"You really want to go public next year? Don't you think Tom and Karen might be a little... I don't know, leery of letting her hang out over here so much."

"I don't care. I love her and I'm tired of trying to hide it. This year it would still raise eyebrows. But next year, when we're both in high school, I don't think it will be such a big deal." I took her hand. "If I could tell the world about you too, I would."

She hugged me close and said, "I know you would. But the world wouldn't understand that. They could live with me and Shannon, but they'd never accept you and me. Sucks, but it's true. Don't worry about it, we'll figure something out. So what do you think about Tim and Angie? Think it will work out?"

"I hope so." I paused for a second. "You know, we're going to be facing the same thing someday; maybe even sooner. I mean, I'll be public with Shannon, but where does that leave you? I don't see you playing the shy little wallflower for four years."

"Five. You forget I'll still have to deal with it next year. I've got invites from three guys already for grad night and it's still a year away."

I hadn't thought about that. I took a minute to think about how I felt about it. I was happy to be able to confirm that it didn't matter. "Good, just try and pick one that you won't have to hurt if he tries to get out of line, but that you can hurt if it becomes necessary."

I broke the news to my parents at dinner. They still had a hard time accepting that Allison was okay with it all, but other than that they didn't have any problem with it.

After dinner things kind of went down hill. I just happened to be closest to the door when the bell rang so I answered it and found the police waiting outside.

"Officer French? Come in; is there something we can do for you?"

He looked suitably startled. "Do we know each other?"

Stupid! Think fast... "I don't know," I said. "I must have met you somewhere because all I could think was 'He's the officer with the unpronounceable name' when I opened the door." I stuck out my hand. "Just to be sure, James Matthews."

"Jean Megniout, a pleasure to meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances. Are your parents home by any chance?"

This was weird even by my standards. When I had my dream last year, how had I pulled an actual police officer out of a hat? I certainly hadn't met him anywhere else. Something to ask Bob about next time I saw him.

My father showed up about that time. "I'm his father, Richard Matthews, how do you do officer..." I could see him struggling to figure out the name.

"Just call him French," I said. "He's not, but that's what everyone calls him."

He chuckled at that. "I guess we have met, but I can't for the life of me remember where."

"No point standing out there either way," Dad offered. "Please, come in. How may we help you?" We moved back into the living room. Mom and Allison were watching from the kitchen.

"Actually, Mr. Matthews, we're here to see your son about the fight at the mall last Friday. One of the boys' parents has filed assault charges against your son and we need to get a statement from him."

Dad was pissed. "One of them is pressing charges? You have got to be kidding. Those three thugs jumped my son in the parking lot and now they want to press charges? That's just great. Of all the nerve! My son spent two days in the hospital and they want to press charges? On what grounds?"

"One of the boys claims he attacked them."

"He what?" If he was incredulous before, he was downright stunned his time. "Officer... French, does my son strike you as stupid?"

"No sir. We've only just met but he seems pretty level headed to me so far."

I interrupted for a second, "Can I get you something to drink, Officer? Water, coffee..."

"A glass of water will be fine, thank you."

"Dad?"

"No thank you, son." He turned back to French to continue, "So they are actually suggesting that my son jumped three guys twice his size in a mall parking lot? Do they have any idea how stupid that sounds?"

"I pointed that out when they filed the complaint, but the boy is insisting that's what happened. Ludicrous or not, once the complaint is filed, we have to follow up." He took the water from me. "So if you don't mind, I need to get your statement of what happened."

"I don't remember a lot of detail," I started. "I was shopping with my sister, looking for graduation presents for our friend Shannon, then we had tickets to see a movie. We met at the food court; I took the stuff out to the car so we wouldn't have to take it into the theater with us. I put it in the trunk and as I turned back something slammed into my face. Then two guys grabbed me and turned me around and I found out it was Brad Russell's fist. He punched me in the stomach once and then started to hit me again. I'm not really sure what happened after that. I woke up in the hospital two days later."

"So you don't remember the rest of the fight?"

"Not really, it was all sort of a blur."

He turned back to my father. "Do you mind if I ask your daughter a few questions? I understand she was there as well."

"No, it's okay with me if she wants to talk to you. Allison?"

She came into the living room and shook French's hand. "I don't know what I can say, really," she said as she sat on the couch next to my dad. "I didn't actually see the fight, by the time I got there it was pretty much over. Two of the boys were already on the ground and the third, Brad I guess, was sort of on his knees screaming about his arm. I screamed for Jimmy and he turned towards me and just sort of fainted. Then the paramedics came and took us all to the hospital."

"I see. Do you know if anyone else there may have seen what happened?"

"Probably, Jimmy said there were rumors flying around school about it so someone must have seen more than I did."

"Is there anything else either of you can think of?"

I shrugged my shoulders; Allison just shook her head. "No, nothing."

"Well, thank you for you time, sorry to interrupt your evening. I doubt this is going to get far. The whole thing sounds pretty unlikely to me, but... oh, Mr. Matthews, has you son ever had any kind of martial arts training?"

"No officer, we're a pretty non violent group here. I don't even remember the last time he got in a fight."

He thanked us again and as Dad walked him to the door I stood there watching with no idea what to say, but feeling like I should say something.

"I'm sorry, Dad, I..."