Chapter 6

Jenny cornered Brock before school on Monday morning.

“What’s all this shit about?” she demanded.

Brock looked at her with a bored expression on his face.

“You’ll have to be a little more specific,” he said. “I have a lot going on right now and your little dramas are far down on my list.”

Jenny’s face turned crimson.

“Fine, I’ll be specific,” he snarled. “What is that shit with you threatening to beat up my date? What is that shit with telling my mom and sister your big secret but leaving me out? What is that shit with Frenching my fuckin’ sister right in front of me? There, specific enough?”

Brock shook his head.

“OK, I’ll go in order,” he said. “First, it was about stopping you from being sexually assaulted. Second, it is none of your business. Third, it is none of your business either. Got all that or do you want the Cliff’s Notes version?”

Jenny followed Brock as he headed down the hallway to homeroom. Finally she got close enough to grab his arm.

“You don’t think he really would have, um, you know, made me?” she asked quietly. “He was just playing. He would have stopped in a minute. He was just letting me know he liked me.”

Brock’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he said a lot louder than he’d meant to. “Of course he would have, um, made you. He had his tiny little pecker out and was forcing your head toward it. When, exactly, do you think Wes would have stopped from raping you if I hadn’t shown up?”

Suddenly the hallway was deathly silent and half the eyes turned toward Brock. The other half turned toward Wes Mansfield who was standing a few feet away.

“What the fuck did you say, Miller?” Wes demanded but Brock didn’t back down.

“I said you tried to rape her, you piece of shit,” he snarled as he headed toward the smaller boy. “You tried to force her to have sex with you and you ran like a little pussy when I threatened to kick your ass. Would you like me to repeat that because I sure as fuck will? I’ll also offer to kick your ass again if you’d like to put on another demonstration about how fast you can run.”

Coach Jefferson walked out his room and saw the two boys staring at one another. He put his hand on Brock’s shoulder.

“Let’s just take a step back for a minute,” he said. “Mansfield, if you want to fight him I’ll go back in my room and you can have at it. But if you want me to put a stop to it, just nod your head and I’ll take Mr. Miller to the office.”

Wes stood scarlet-faced.

“The little cunt’s not worth it,” he said.

“He tried to rape me Saturday night,” a small voice said. Then the voice became louder. “He tried to force me to have sex with him Saturday night. He would have made me, too, if Brock wasn’t still awake.”

“Yeah, he was sitting outside your house like a fuckin’ stalker,” Wes said. “He’s fuckin’ stalking you and you’re too scared to say anything about it.”

“I’m her neighbor, you moron,” Brock said. “You tried to force her to give you a blowjob right outside my window. You had your tiny little needle dick out and everything. Don’t worry, it’ll get bigger once you hit puberty.”

Suddenly a new voice broke through the laughter.

“He did the same thing to me,” another girl said. “He got me drunk and high then made me suck his dick. He said I owed him.”

“I had to blow two of his friends this morning in the parking lot,” a third girl said. “Then he stuck his little thing in me without a rubber.”

Wes tried to force his way through the crowd but a pair of strong hands--one belonging to Brock and the other to Coach Jefferson--held him firm.

“I think you’ll need to come to the office,” Coach Jefferson said. “And I’m going to ask Mr. Miller here to provide security for our little trip.

“Anyone with anything they’d like to report about Mr. Mansfield and his friends that happened on school property should come to the office after first period. If you want to report something anonymously, you can leave a note under my office door. I anticipate that those of you with complaints about something that happened outside of school grounds may have to contact the police. I highly recommend that you do that and that each of you pay a visit to either the guidance counselor or the school nurse to discuss getting some help dealing with the situation.”

Brock managed to slip away from the office before things got too crazy but not before Coach Jefferson pulled him aside.

“I’m glad this turned out differently than the other time,” he said softly. “I hope you know that most people aren’t like those where you used to live.”

Jenny was waiting outside Brock’s second period class. Before he even thought about it, he had her wrapped in a tight hug. With just those few words before homeroom, she’d brought back much of the faith in humanity that he’d feared he had lost forever.

“Sorry,” he said as he pulled away. “I’m sorry. Are you OK?”

He could see Jenny had been crying.

“Could we please just ditch the rest of the day?” she asked. “Let’s skip school and just go somewhere.”

Brock shook his head sadly.

“I can’t today,” he said. “I’d like to. But today is a day I have to be at practice. If I skip a class I have to miss practice, too. And I can’t today.”

He dug in his backpack for a second.

“Here, take my car and head back to your house,” he said as he tossed her the keys. “Or you can go to my house and sleep all day. I heard your mom took your computer and TV out of your room, so you can hang out and use mine if you want. But you need to be home when you’re supposed to be. And I’ll swear you stole my keys if you get caught by your Mom.”

Jenny looked up at him wide eyed. She batted her eyes and wet her lips.

“Are you sure you can’t skip for a little while?” she asked shyly. It was very cute, Brock thought. “Maybe for an hour or two? Or three or four?”

“Sorry, Jen,” he steeled himself and replied. “That part of our relationship is over. But there are some things we need to talk about and to get straight. That’s just one of them. I’ll come over to your house after practice. By the way, if you go to my house, don’t bother trying to find my secret stuff. It’s in a box with a double combination lock. As good as you are at math, I don’t think even you could produce all the possible combinations in the time you’ll have. Well, you might be able to get it open. You are pretty smart, but I doubt you’d have time to read all the stuff in there.”

Jenny looked startled. Is this what he really thinks of her? She guessed she couldn’t blame him. She’d been a pretty big bitch to him the last month or so.

“I’d never betray your trust that way,” she said earnestly. Brock couldn’t help it, he replied before he thought.

“No, of course not,” he hissed. “You’d just betray my trust by letting me get close to you and then dumping me and going out with any guy who might fuck you and making sure I knew about it.”