Gabriel 05: Protection
------------------------------
Gabriel
by Space Pirate Hamster
Chapter 5: Protection
------------------------------
She knew. I don't know how she knew, but she knew.
Get hold of yourself, Angelus. You have no clue of if she knows or not. She just said 'I know your secret'. She could be some whacko who runs up to everyone and says that.
Yeah, but why would she follow me all the way here just to tell me that unless she really knew?
She couldn't possibly know. Who would have told her?
Suddenly, the face of the dark-haired girl resolved in my mind. I finally remembered where I had last seen her. It was in the doctor's office. I had been sitting there in a tee-shirt and a pair of sweatpants while she was sitting across from me with a bandage over one eye.
I must have said something. Or she could have overheard Doctor Esculto. Or a nurse could have left my chart out where she could see it. Or...
A dozen possibilities flew through my head, each less likely than the last. Even more consequences began to rain down. What if she told Tony? What if she told *everybody*? What if she started to blackmail me? What if she told someone at my school?
My heart was pounding and I was breathing rapidly. I ran out of the alcove after her, trying to figure out what direction she ran. There were really only two ways out of the store. One took her back into the store and the other out into the parking lot. Since Tony and I had seen her out in the mall, chances were good she came in through another door. If she were running, maybe she'd be running towards the mall so she could make good her escape.
I sprinted. I even saw a few flashes of flowing dark hair in the distance as I ran through the maze of the electronics store, but never caught up to her.
Desperately, as I ran out of the store into the less confusing mall, I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I caught up with the girl. Would I attack her? Would I hit her?
It wouldn't really be a guy hitting a defenseless girl, now, would it?
Would I scream? Would I threaten? Would I beg, promising to do whatever she wanted if she'd keep my secret and never tell anyone anything about the horrible freak of a--
I felt a hand close over my shoulder. I yowled out loud, like someone had kicked the cat. I tried to simply collapse on the spot in terror, but another hand reached around my arm to hold me up.
"Hey, Angelus! What's the big idea, loser?!"
"Yaa! Tony!" I stared up into Tony's brown eyes. I must have looked like a frightened little girl.
"Dammit, Gabe. I felt like a complete retard sitting alone in that piece of shit. You could have at least waited instead of abandoning me ."
"Gah--"
I was shaking. My lips and nose felt numb. I tried desperately to think up some lie that would protect me from my best friend's wrath, but ultimately decided against it since the truth was adequate.
"I think you were right," I finally admitted. "Th-that girl was following me. She's some kind of stalker."
"Ah, dude! You scared her off!" Tony accused.
"She followed me into the bathroom!" I exaggerated.
"You're full of it," he told me, letting me down. I felt like I dropped several inches when he let go of my shoulder. "C'mon."
"What? Where are we going?" I asked, limping along beside him as he started to walk off. My eyes were still working, going from face to face, desperately trying to find any trace of the black-haired girl.
Apparently, Tony realized how uncomfortable I was.
"Seriously, Angelus. You need to calm down. I'll buy dinner, and we'll sit down for a while."
"We just ate," I replied weakly.
I was starting to realize that I had lost her. Even if she was still after me, she knew I was looking for her and was well out of sight. How someone could 'hide' so lamely one minute and be totally hidden the next was beyond me.
"You had a handful of fries. That's not a meal."
Typical. Tony was used to comfort eating, one of the side effects from living in a big Italian family, I guess. He expected me to act the same way. Truthfully, as my heart started to slow, I really started needing to sit down again. My body was aching from the panicked exertion, and my crotch was absolutely throbbing.
"Seriously, man, you need to calm down and act more confident in front of the ladies," Tony told me as he led me towards a restaurant on the other side of the mall. "She's probably just trying to get to know you and you keep screeching like a wounded rabbit any time she so much as looks at you."
"I am not screeching," I screeched.
Did Tony realize what I had done? Quickly, I made the mental adjustment to try to start talking in a lower tone of voice.
"Sure you weren't," he patronized me. He slugged me in the arm in an overblown 'manly' gesture.
I very nearly collapsed in agony.
"You mind waiting in line a few minutes?" he asked when we approached the crowded restaurant. He exhcanged a few hand signals with the hostess just inside the front door.
"Nah--" I lowered my voice. "Nah, I don't mind."
"You shouldn't worry about your voice so much," he continued as we stepped into line. "My older brother, Leo, sounds like a complete fag. He's even a little limp in the wrist--" Tony pranced for a step.
"Maybe he is gay," I suggested weakly, suddenly struggling to find a 'normal' tone of voice.
"--And he has an extremely hot wife and a baby daughter. And don't try to tell me that some other guy is screwing her, becuase my little neice looks just like me," he added, smirking like an idiot. "Seriously, Angelus, some guys just have high voices. Don't sweat it. You only make it sound more gay if you do."
I couldn't look my friend in the face. Instead, I studied the line ahead of us. It was rapidly becomming apparent that it wasn't moving. The restaurant was fairly crowded, and it was dinnertime. Most of the people eating and drinking on the fenced-in terrace nearby didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon.
"Maybe we should find some other place to eat," I suggested.
"Are you kidding? This place is cool. Check out that waitress," he said, nodding towards the hostess at the front of the line. She was a rather thin blonde woman, with long hair, pink lipstick, a mini-skirt. and a scooped sweater that reavealed only a minor amount of cleavage. She was attractive, I guessed, if you were into skinny blondes.
After a few minutes, however, even Tony was starting to get restless.
"Now, I need to go take a leak," he said. "And unlike some people, I'll be right back, so wait for me."
"Yeah. Whatever."
I realized, after Tony left, that I was still looking for the dark-haired girl. I was staring at the people on the terrace trying to place her face.
I realized after a few seconds that I was staring into Coach Monroe's face.
His eyes were slightly unfocused. There were a few empty bottles of beer next to him on his table. Another, almost empty, bottle was in his hand. There was another guy in business clothes and two older ladies sitting with him, all of them talking animatedly. I thought the other guy might have worked at Benson's, but I couldn't place him.
Oh jeez, Please don't let him realize I'm here. Please don't let him realize I'm here, I begged over and over again in my head. If I could have left the line, I would have, but then I'd have been in even more trouble with Tony.
It was as if my nervousness somehow alerted him to my presence. Even as I was trying my damndest not to look in his direction, I heard him start yelling.
"Ge' over here, boy!" he yelled.
"Calm down, Taylor," the woman next to him, said audibly, trying to pull him back into his seat as he stood up. He started to walk towards the wraught-iron fence that seperated the diners from the rest of the mall traffic. He put a foot up on it.
"Angelus! Can't you hear me, boy?! I told you to get over here!"
Even if Tony would be pissed, I was going to run. The two situations were entirely different. I did not need to be castigated by an drunken, irate highschool baseball coach after everything else that had happened to me today.
I turned and started limping away, but I felt a hand close on my shoulder before I had gone more than a couple of steps. It was the same shoulder Tony hit me in earlier.
My painkillers had well and truly worn off, because it hurt!
"Don't you dare ignore me, Angelus!" Monroe growled. He had climbed over the fence to grab me and started roaring in my face.
I tried my best to keep from crying out like a girl. My shoulder hurt, my crotch hurt, and I was starting to panic again. I wasn't nearly so calm and cool without the chemical enhancement my prescription offered.
"Taylor! What on earth is the matter!" the other man yelled from the table. "What has that boy done?"
"Well, Angelus!? Answer me, you little pussy!"
Monroe reached back, his fist almost convulsively clenching.
"Stop it!" a high-pitched voice cried out.
There, in front of me, was a swirl of black hair. I saw Monroe's fist fly, opening into a open-handed slap at the last second. It didn't hit me, but the girl who had suddenly wedged herself between me and the enraged coach.
She rocked back and hit the ground between us.
"Stop it!" she begged again, her face going to her rapidly reddening cheek. "Please don't hit him!"
"Hey!"
I whipped around to see Tony tearing back around the restaurant. My eyes focused on the crotch of his slacks, where he had a tiny wet spot. He'd no doubt zipped up too fast once he heard the commotion outside.
Monroe was gasping like a fish, staring alternately between me and the dark-haired girl, whom he'd just knocked down.
Tony tried to pry Monroe's hand off my shoulder, but the guy who'd been eating with Monroe was now behind him, forcing the man into a wrestling hold. His arms flailed uselessly up over his head.
"What on Earth are you thinking, Taylor, just attacking a woman in public like that?!" the man asked in horror.
It suddenly seemed like the world was beginning to revolve around me like time lapse photography. Tony and Monroe's dining companion had both forced the drunken coach to the ground and were pinning him down. The diners were all standing around, staring in horror at me and the strange girl still sitting at my knees.
One of the waiters walked up, "I called the police. Can you two come this way?" he gestured to me and the girl.
"No! You can't call the police!" one of the women with Monroe cried out. "He's a teacher!"
That matters when you just go slap the spit out of someone without any kind of provocation?
Regardless of what she wanted, a couple of overweight mall security cops were muscleing Tony out of the way. They roughly handcuffed Monroe.
"Yeah, some moron got drunk at Bennigan's and hit a lady shopper," one of them barked into a walkie-talkie.
* * *
The three of us, Tony, the dark-haired girl, and myself were hustled through the restaurant and into the back office by a guy in a coat and tie. I guess he was the manager.
"This is really quite embarassing. I can assure you that we don't tolerate this kind of behavior from our guests here at Bennigan's," he rambled to the girl.
I guess more than anything, he was trying to save his own bacon. If any one of us decided to sue because we had been attacked at his restaurant, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
The dark-haired girl looked like she didn't really understand what was going on. I know that I certainly didn't. One second she says, 'I know your secret' and the next, 'Please don't hit him.'.
Him. So she did or didn't know my secret? What exactly did she know?!
"Ah, Mister Fazzi, and Mister Angelus, from Mrs. Fielder's homeroom."
It was Monroe's dining companion, the same guy who helped Tony pull drunken man off of me. After a few seconds, I realized where I had seen him before. He was Principal at Benson's. It was no wonder he was out drinking with Monroe.
"I hope the both of you understand that what you saw was unusual," he said, a hint of apology in his voice. "Taylor-- Coach Monroe, has been under some stress lately. I assure you that this will be dealt with in an appropriate manner."
He went on like that for a little bit, talking over the top of the restaurant manager, doing his damndest to convince us that nothing had really happened, but he was very sorry about what *did* happen anyway.
I felt sick to my stomach. The dark-haired girl was shaking.
"--matter will be taken care of by St. Benson's school board," he continued. "But I'm afraid I don't know you, miss. You're not a student at St. Benson's, are you?"
"Er... no. No, I'm not."
"What's your name, child? I'm sure we should contact your parents to take care of any concerns they may have."
"Lillith! I mean, Lily Bolique," she snapped out like she was being interrogated.
"Yeah, I know this has been a bad day, but we need to get out of here," Tony said in a forceful tone. "All three of us have places to go and things to do. My parents will be extremely upset if I'm late getting home," he threatend.
This seemed to take the Principal aback somewhat. Like I said, Tony's family's money can do a lot of talking for him.
Tony more or less bullied the three of us out of the room and through the restaurant. Both the principal and the manager were trying to keep up with us, but they lost us in the crowded restaurant pretty quickly.
The crowd was made worse by the small group of mall security and police that had gathered outside. We walked by them without saying anything.
Once we were out of sight of the restaurant, Tony turned and glared angrily at me.
"God, Angelus, Monroe wants to kill you. What'd you do?" He accused me. "Sleep with his daughter or something?"
"Nothing. You saw how drunk he was," I answered, still wavering. My voice seemed too high again. "I was doing my best to lay low."
"That man's not going to hurt... Mister Angelus again, is he?" Lily asked in a quiet, hesitant voice.
Regardless of what she knew about me, I suddenly realized that she didn't know my name-- my first name, at any rate. She didn't know my last name until the principal identified me.
"Damned if I know," Tony snapped. "We'll be lucky if we're not both kicked out of school on our asses for that stunt. Dammit, Angelus! Will you quit picking fights with the goddamned faculty?! My mom's gonna kill me," he lamented.
My wits, what was left of them, were frayed to their absolute breaking points. My shoulder still hurt from where Monroe had grabbed me and my crotch felt like I had sit in a pile of broken glass after running. When Tony put his hand on my shoulder, I slapped it off as hard as I could.
He stared at me in shock. Was that hurt on his face?
"When the hell did I ask you to be my protector, Tony?!" I demanded angrily. I was screeching again. "Will you quit acting like you have to watch out for everything I do and fish me out every time I look like I'm gonna get in trouble? I never asked you to and it's starting to piss me off!"
"Fine. The next time Monroe takes a swipe at you, I'll just sit there and watch you get pounded," he retorted.
"Please," the dark-haired girl, Lily, interrupted. "Please!" she said more loudly. "You shouldn't yell," she scolded the both of us.
Tony blinked in surprise. He scowled darkly at her.
"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I didn't mean to get involved in your fight, but if that man is angry at you, shouldn't you help each other?"
Tony was about to say something else, but the girl was staring at the ground like she was about to cry. She started sniffling loudly and two big teardops fell to the floor in front of her. Tony stammered to a stop before he managed to get anything out.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm always doing this." She turned and started to run away.
Tony was about to go after her, but he saw me wearily shake my head in exhaustion. I had run after her once and was far too sore to do it again.
"She's good at getting lost," I said tiredly. "You can go after her if you want, but I'll bet ten bucks you can't find her."
* * *
Mike wasn't home by the time I actually managed to limp in. This wasn't a rare occurance by any means, so I didn't think very much about it. Chances were he was working yet another overtime shift, covering for someone who called in sick or because it was busy or just because he needed an excuse to work more hours.
I felt like warmed-over shit. My shoulder felt bruised where Monroe grabbed me and the pain in my ass was continuing to be a very real pain in my ass. I never did get anything to eat other than the french-fries I had at Conan's, so I was starting to get pretty hungry as well. I still wasn't sure why Lillith, or whoever she was, was following me around or what 'secret' she knew. I knew for sure that the next day at school was going to be hell.
Not only did I have to be in the same building as Monroe again, but Tony and I didn't speak at all on the way home until I got off the bus. There was no telling how he was going to act the next day.
I felt bad about yelling at him, but I meant what I said at the time, even if I didn't feel that way now.
I didn't want to be hit by Monroe, but I don't want Tony to protect me like a jealous boyfr...
Don't. Stop it. Don't think that.
It occured to me that I might be taking a lot of crap I've been dealing with lately out on Tony. He didn't deserve that, but I didn't deserve to be treated like a weakling, either.
Avoiding the effort of feeding myself, I flopped down on the couch and turned on Cinemax with the remote. I watched a couple movies that skirted pretty far north of their 'R' ratings to try to take my mind off what had happened. They weren't quite graphic-- nothing on Cinemax really is-- but they were fairly explicit. There were more than a few bared bodies.
Midway through the second movie, the phone rang. I glanced over at the caller ID box from the couch to see who it was.
St. Benson's Academy. Yay. Now they were trying to tell Mike what I had gotten into. Things were just going to go from suck to blow from here on out, weren't they?
I didn't answer the phone. I didn't want to hear what whoever was calling was going to say and I *certainly* didn't want Mike hearing it.
My body still aching, I decided to take another pain pill like I should have hours ago. I fell asleep before Mike got home.
* * *
Surprisingly, the gestapo wasn't waiting for me when I approached the school the next day. Nor was I halted in the hallway by teachers or the principal like I expected to be. I met Tony in homeroom. He looked a little sore, but returned my 'Morning' when I came in.
"They call your mom last night?" I asked.
He nodded. "It was funny. I don't think they actually told her what happened. She asked me what happened, but I didn't say anything. I'm gonna be in the hotseat for weeks now."
"You shouldn't get your balls busted for me," I told him. I tried to be nicer about it than I had the night before and he seemed to take it that way.
"What am I gonna to do? Let some asshole punch my friend?"
I shrugged.
"I'm starting to think you're right about that Lily chick," he said, changing the subject. "I think she's stalking you, man," Tony continued.
"Why me?"
"Do I have to spell it out?" he said.
I didn't get it.
Before I could ask and before our homeroom teacher came into the room, a chime sounded out over the PA system in the classroom. The school secretary began to read the day's announcements over the speaker.
Most were fairly routine. Lasgna and Spinach casserole in the cafeteria. Students needed to return library books by the end of the month. Tutoring sessions for finals were coming up.
"Finally, all boys' PE students should report to the auditorium today instead of the gymnasium," the woman's voice called out. "Afternoon baseball pratice is cancelled today. It will be rescheduled for Friday afternoon."
I bit my lip.
Tony raised on eyebrow in suspicion. A few of the guys in our class began to groan at the idea of giving up their Friday afternoon for baseball practice. I started wanting to smile, but I thought better of it and continued biting my lip until it hurt.
When our teacher, Mrs. Fielder, came in, one of the baseball players immediately demanded to know what had happened.
"Raise your hand, Ryan," she scolded him. "I'm afraid I don't know a lot about it. I understand Mister Monroe had to go into the hospital last night, so that may have something to do with it."
"Hospital," Tony murmured under his breath. "Sure."
"Where can we send cards?" I asked, holding my hand up.
Tony kicked my shin roughly under my desk.
"Get permission before you speak, Gabriel. I'm afraid I'm not sure to which hospital he's been admitted," she answered me, convoluting her grammar like only an English teacher could. "I can probably talk to the principal this afternoon. If you'll come by my desk after school, I'll probably be able to tell you."
"Don't even think about it," Tony warned me in a whisper.
"Who, me?"
He scowled angrily at me. It was probably because I was grinning like a hyena.
* * *
The next few days passed relatively quietly. If the school tried to call Mike again, I never heard it and he certainly didn't mention it. Nobody at the school mentioned the altercation to either Tony or myself. After a few days of Coach Monroe's abscence, the rumours started to fly fast and furiously.
Coach Monroe was dying of cancer. He had been in a nasty car wreck. His wife shot him when she found out he was having an affair. He had assaulted a female student.
I nearly coughed out loud at that last one.
"My dad heard about it. He was busted for public intoxication at a bar," I heard one of the Juniors mention at lunch. He was sitting at a table near Tony, Joey, and myself, so we could overhear the conversation pretty clearly. "He hit a lady but she ran off before she could press charges. The cops let him go, and now he's spending the week in a rehab center in Dallas."
Joey had been telling us about a concert he went to at the University auditorium, but Tony surreptitiously crossed his finger in front of his mouth, indicating he was intersted in listening.
"After getting drunk one time?" one of the other guys said.
"He shows up drunk to practice half the time," Another one added.
"Ah, forget about him. What did you guys think of that new girl in class today? I didn't get to see her real close."
"What's her name. Libby?"
"Lily," the first guy said. "Lily Bolique, I think she said."
The name sounded like someone had shouted it. My head began to spin.
"She hot?"
"Too skinny. She's got big titties, though."
She was here?! She transfered here?! What did she want from me?!
"May I sit here?" a voice said from above me.
I looked up and nearly choked on long black hair.
Tony glared darkly, but Joey was grinning at the both of us from over the top of his lunch tray. You could almost see the dirty thoughts going through his head.
"I'm Lily," the tall girl introduced herself. "We met at the mall a few days ago."
"Uhm... Hi."
- - -
~to be continued...
Gabriel
by Space Pirate Hamster
Chapter 5: Protection
------------------------------
She knew. I don't know how she knew, but she knew.
Get hold of yourself, Angelus. You have no clue of if she knows or not. She just said 'I know your secret'. She could be some whacko who runs up to everyone and says that.
Yeah, but why would she follow me all the way here just to tell me that unless she really knew?
She couldn't possibly know. Who would have told her?
Suddenly, the face of the dark-haired girl resolved in my mind. I finally remembered where I had last seen her. It was in the doctor's office. I had been sitting there in a tee-shirt and a pair of sweatpants while she was sitting across from me with a bandage over one eye.
I must have said something. Or she could have overheard Doctor Esculto. Or a nurse could have left my chart out where she could see it. Or...
A dozen possibilities flew through my head, each less likely than the last. Even more consequences began to rain down. What if she told Tony? What if she told *everybody*? What if she started to blackmail me? What if she told someone at my school?
My heart was pounding and I was breathing rapidly. I ran out of the alcove after her, trying to figure out what direction she ran. There were really only two ways out of the store. One took her back into the store and the other out into the parking lot. Since Tony and I had seen her out in the mall, chances were good she came in through another door. If she were running, maybe she'd be running towards the mall so she could make good her escape.
I sprinted. I even saw a few flashes of flowing dark hair in the distance as I ran through the maze of the electronics store, but never caught up to her.
Desperately, as I ran out of the store into the less confusing mall, I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I caught up with the girl. Would I attack her? Would I hit her?
It wouldn't really be a guy hitting a defenseless girl, now, would it?
Would I scream? Would I threaten? Would I beg, promising to do whatever she wanted if she'd keep my secret and never tell anyone anything about the horrible freak of a--
I felt a hand close over my shoulder. I yowled out loud, like someone had kicked the cat. I tried to simply collapse on the spot in terror, but another hand reached around my arm to hold me up.
"Hey, Angelus! What's the big idea, loser?!"
"Yaa! Tony!" I stared up into Tony's brown eyes. I must have looked like a frightened little girl.
"Dammit, Gabe. I felt like a complete retard sitting alone in that piece of shit. You could have at least waited instead of abandoning me ."
"Gah--"
I was shaking. My lips and nose felt numb. I tried desperately to think up some lie that would protect me from my best friend's wrath, but ultimately decided against it since the truth was adequate.
"I think you were right," I finally admitted. "Th-that girl was following me. She's some kind of stalker."
"Ah, dude! You scared her off!" Tony accused.
"She followed me into the bathroom!" I exaggerated.
"You're full of it," he told me, letting me down. I felt like I dropped several inches when he let go of my shoulder. "C'mon."
"What? Where are we going?" I asked, limping along beside him as he started to walk off. My eyes were still working, going from face to face, desperately trying to find any trace of the black-haired girl.
Apparently, Tony realized how uncomfortable I was.
"Seriously, Angelus. You need to calm down. I'll buy dinner, and we'll sit down for a while."
"We just ate," I replied weakly.
I was starting to realize that I had lost her. Even if she was still after me, she knew I was looking for her and was well out of sight. How someone could 'hide' so lamely one minute and be totally hidden the next was beyond me.
"You had a handful of fries. That's not a meal."
Typical. Tony was used to comfort eating, one of the side effects from living in a big Italian family, I guess. He expected me to act the same way. Truthfully, as my heart started to slow, I really started needing to sit down again. My body was aching from the panicked exertion, and my crotch was absolutely throbbing.
"Seriously, man, you need to calm down and act more confident in front of the ladies," Tony told me as he led me towards a restaurant on the other side of the mall. "She's probably just trying to get to know you and you keep screeching like a wounded rabbit any time she so much as looks at you."
"I am not screeching," I screeched.
Did Tony realize what I had done? Quickly, I made the mental adjustment to try to start talking in a lower tone of voice.
"Sure you weren't," he patronized me. He slugged me in the arm in an overblown 'manly' gesture.
I very nearly collapsed in agony.
"You mind waiting in line a few minutes?" he asked when we approached the crowded restaurant. He exhcanged a few hand signals with the hostess just inside the front door.
"Nah--" I lowered my voice. "Nah, I don't mind."
"You shouldn't worry about your voice so much," he continued as we stepped into line. "My older brother, Leo, sounds like a complete fag. He's even a little limp in the wrist--" Tony pranced for a step.
"Maybe he is gay," I suggested weakly, suddenly struggling to find a 'normal' tone of voice.
"--And he has an extremely hot wife and a baby daughter. And don't try to tell me that some other guy is screwing her, becuase my little neice looks just like me," he added, smirking like an idiot. "Seriously, Angelus, some guys just have high voices. Don't sweat it. You only make it sound more gay if you do."
I couldn't look my friend in the face. Instead, I studied the line ahead of us. It was rapidly becomming apparent that it wasn't moving. The restaurant was fairly crowded, and it was dinnertime. Most of the people eating and drinking on the fenced-in terrace nearby didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon.
"Maybe we should find some other place to eat," I suggested.
"Are you kidding? This place is cool. Check out that waitress," he said, nodding towards the hostess at the front of the line. She was a rather thin blonde woman, with long hair, pink lipstick, a mini-skirt. and a scooped sweater that reavealed only a minor amount of cleavage. She was attractive, I guessed, if you were into skinny blondes.
After a few minutes, however, even Tony was starting to get restless.
"Now, I need to go take a leak," he said. "And unlike some people, I'll be right back, so wait for me."
"Yeah. Whatever."
I realized, after Tony left, that I was still looking for the dark-haired girl. I was staring at the people on the terrace trying to place her face.
I realized after a few seconds that I was staring into Coach Monroe's face.
His eyes were slightly unfocused. There were a few empty bottles of beer next to him on his table. Another, almost empty, bottle was in his hand. There was another guy in business clothes and two older ladies sitting with him, all of them talking animatedly. I thought the other guy might have worked at Benson's, but I couldn't place him.
Oh jeez, Please don't let him realize I'm here. Please don't let him realize I'm here, I begged over and over again in my head. If I could have left the line, I would have, but then I'd have been in even more trouble with Tony.
It was as if my nervousness somehow alerted him to my presence. Even as I was trying my damndest not to look in his direction, I heard him start yelling.
"Ge' over here, boy!" he yelled.
"Calm down, Taylor," the woman next to him, said audibly, trying to pull him back into his seat as he stood up. He started to walk towards the wraught-iron fence that seperated the diners from the rest of the mall traffic. He put a foot up on it.
"Angelus! Can't you hear me, boy?! I told you to get over here!"
Even if Tony would be pissed, I was going to run. The two situations were entirely different. I did not need to be castigated by an drunken, irate highschool baseball coach after everything else that had happened to me today.
I turned and started limping away, but I felt a hand close on my shoulder before I had gone more than a couple of steps. It was the same shoulder Tony hit me in earlier.
My painkillers had well and truly worn off, because it hurt!
"Don't you dare ignore me, Angelus!" Monroe growled. He had climbed over the fence to grab me and started roaring in my face.
I tried my best to keep from crying out like a girl. My shoulder hurt, my crotch hurt, and I was starting to panic again. I wasn't nearly so calm and cool without the chemical enhancement my prescription offered.
"Taylor! What on earth is the matter!" the other man yelled from the table. "What has that boy done?"
"Well, Angelus!? Answer me, you little pussy!"
Monroe reached back, his fist almost convulsively clenching.
"Stop it!" a high-pitched voice cried out.
There, in front of me, was a swirl of black hair. I saw Monroe's fist fly, opening into a open-handed slap at the last second. It didn't hit me, but the girl who had suddenly wedged herself between me and the enraged coach.
She rocked back and hit the ground between us.
"Stop it!" she begged again, her face going to her rapidly reddening cheek. "Please don't hit him!"
"Hey!"
I whipped around to see Tony tearing back around the restaurant. My eyes focused on the crotch of his slacks, where he had a tiny wet spot. He'd no doubt zipped up too fast once he heard the commotion outside.
Monroe was gasping like a fish, staring alternately between me and the dark-haired girl, whom he'd just knocked down.
Tony tried to pry Monroe's hand off my shoulder, but the guy who'd been eating with Monroe was now behind him, forcing the man into a wrestling hold. His arms flailed uselessly up over his head.
"What on Earth are you thinking, Taylor, just attacking a woman in public like that?!" the man asked in horror.
It suddenly seemed like the world was beginning to revolve around me like time lapse photography. Tony and Monroe's dining companion had both forced the drunken coach to the ground and were pinning him down. The diners were all standing around, staring in horror at me and the strange girl still sitting at my knees.
One of the waiters walked up, "I called the police. Can you two come this way?" he gestured to me and the girl.
"No! You can't call the police!" one of the women with Monroe cried out. "He's a teacher!"
That matters when you just go slap the spit out of someone without any kind of provocation?
Regardless of what she wanted, a couple of overweight mall security cops were muscleing Tony out of the way. They roughly handcuffed Monroe.
"Yeah, some moron got drunk at Bennigan's and hit a lady shopper," one of them barked into a walkie-talkie.
* * *
The three of us, Tony, the dark-haired girl, and myself were hustled through the restaurant and into the back office by a guy in a coat and tie. I guess he was the manager.
"This is really quite embarassing. I can assure you that we don't tolerate this kind of behavior from our guests here at Bennigan's," he rambled to the girl.
I guess more than anything, he was trying to save his own bacon. If any one of us decided to sue because we had been attacked at his restaurant, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
The dark-haired girl looked like she didn't really understand what was going on. I know that I certainly didn't. One second she says, 'I know your secret' and the next, 'Please don't hit him.'.
Him. So she did or didn't know my secret? What exactly did she know?!
"Ah, Mister Fazzi, and Mister Angelus, from Mrs. Fielder's homeroom."
It was Monroe's dining companion, the same guy who helped Tony pull drunken man off of me. After a few seconds, I realized where I had seen him before. He was Principal at Benson's. It was no wonder he was out drinking with Monroe.
"I hope the both of you understand that what you saw was unusual," he said, a hint of apology in his voice. "Taylor-- Coach Monroe, has been under some stress lately. I assure you that this will be dealt with in an appropriate manner."
He went on like that for a little bit, talking over the top of the restaurant manager, doing his damndest to convince us that nothing had really happened, but he was very sorry about what *did* happen anyway.
I felt sick to my stomach. The dark-haired girl was shaking.
"--matter will be taken care of by St. Benson's school board," he continued. "But I'm afraid I don't know you, miss. You're not a student at St. Benson's, are you?"
"Er... no. No, I'm not."
"What's your name, child? I'm sure we should contact your parents to take care of any concerns they may have."
"Lillith! I mean, Lily Bolique," she snapped out like she was being interrogated.
"Yeah, I know this has been a bad day, but we need to get out of here," Tony said in a forceful tone. "All three of us have places to go and things to do. My parents will be extremely upset if I'm late getting home," he threatend.
This seemed to take the Principal aback somewhat. Like I said, Tony's family's money can do a lot of talking for him.
Tony more or less bullied the three of us out of the room and through the restaurant. Both the principal and the manager were trying to keep up with us, but they lost us in the crowded restaurant pretty quickly.
The crowd was made worse by the small group of mall security and police that had gathered outside. We walked by them without saying anything.
Once we were out of sight of the restaurant, Tony turned and glared angrily at me.
"God, Angelus, Monroe wants to kill you. What'd you do?" He accused me. "Sleep with his daughter or something?"
"Nothing. You saw how drunk he was," I answered, still wavering. My voice seemed too high again. "I was doing my best to lay low."
"That man's not going to hurt... Mister Angelus again, is he?" Lily asked in a quiet, hesitant voice.
Regardless of what she knew about me, I suddenly realized that she didn't know my name-- my first name, at any rate. She didn't know my last name until the principal identified me.
"Damned if I know," Tony snapped. "We'll be lucky if we're not both kicked out of school on our asses for that stunt. Dammit, Angelus! Will you quit picking fights with the goddamned faculty?! My mom's gonna kill me," he lamented.
My wits, what was left of them, were frayed to their absolute breaking points. My shoulder still hurt from where Monroe had grabbed me and my crotch felt like I had sit in a pile of broken glass after running. When Tony put his hand on my shoulder, I slapped it off as hard as I could.
He stared at me in shock. Was that hurt on his face?
"When the hell did I ask you to be my protector, Tony?!" I demanded angrily. I was screeching again. "Will you quit acting like you have to watch out for everything I do and fish me out every time I look like I'm gonna get in trouble? I never asked you to and it's starting to piss me off!"
"Fine. The next time Monroe takes a swipe at you, I'll just sit there and watch you get pounded," he retorted.
"Please," the dark-haired girl, Lily, interrupted. "Please!" she said more loudly. "You shouldn't yell," she scolded the both of us.
Tony blinked in surprise. He scowled darkly at her.
"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I didn't mean to get involved in your fight, but if that man is angry at you, shouldn't you help each other?"
Tony was about to say something else, but the girl was staring at the ground like she was about to cry. She started sniffling loudly and two big teardops fell to the floor in front of her. Tony stammered to a stop before he managed to get anything out.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm always doing this." She turned and started to run away.
Tony was about to go after her, but he saw me wearily shake my head in exhaustion. I had run after her once and was far too sore to do it again.
"She's good at getting lost," I said tiredly. "You can go after her if you want, but I'll bet ten bucks you can't find her."
* * *
Mike wasn't home by the time I actually managed to limp in. This wasn't a rare occurance by any means, so I didn't think very much about it. Chances were he was working yet another overtime shift, covering for someone who called in sick or because it was busy or just because he needed an excuse to work more hours.
I felt like warmed-over shit. My shoulder felt bruised where Monroe grabbed me and the pain in my ass was continuing to be a very real pain in my ass. I never did get anything to eat other than the french-fries I had at Conan's, so I was starting to get pretty hungry as well. I still wasn't sure why Lillith, or whoever she was, was following me around or what 'secret' she knew. I knew for sure that the next day at school was going to be hell.
Not only did I have to be in the same building as Monroe again, but Tony and I didn't speak at all on the way home until I got off the bus. There was no telling how he was going to act the next day.
I felt bad about yelling at him, but I meant what I said at the time, even if I didn't feel that way now.
I didn't want to be hit by Monroe, but I don't want Tony to protect me like a jealous boyfr...
Don't. Stop it. Don't think that.
It occured to me that I might be taking a lot of crap I've been dealing with lately out on Tony. He didn't deserve that, but I didn't deserve to be treated like a weakling, either.
Avoiding the effort of feeding myself, I flopped down on the couch and turned on Cinemax with the remote. I watched a couple movies that skirted pretty far north of their 'R' ratings to try to take my mind off what had happened. They weren't quite graphic-- nothing on Cinemax really is-- but they were fairly explicit. There were more than a few bared bodies.
Midway through the second movie, the phone rang. I glanced over at the caller ID box from the couch to see who it was.
St. Benson's Academy. Yay. Now they were trying to tell Mike what I had gotten into. Things were just going to go from suck to blow from here on out, weren't they?
I didn't answer the phone. I didn't want to hear what whoever was calling was going to say and I *certainly* didn't want Mike hearing it.
My body still aching, I decided to take another pain pill like I should have hours ago. I fell asleep before Mike got home.
* * *
Surprisingly, the gestapo wasn't waiting for me when I approached the school the next day. Nor was I halted in the hallway by teachers or the principal like I expected to be. I met Tony in homeroom. He looked a little sore, but returned my 'Morning' when I came in.
"They call your mom last night?" I asked.
He nodded. "It was funny. I don't think they actually told her what happened. She asked me what happened, but I didn't say anything. I'm gonna be in the hotseat for weeks now."
"You shouldn't get your balls busted for me," I told him. I tried to be nicer about it than I had the night before and he seemed to take it that way.
"What am I gonna to do? Let some asshole punch my friend?"
I shrugged.
"I'm starting to think you're right about that Lily chick," he said, changing the subject. "I think she's stalking you, man," Tony continued.
"Why me?"
"Do I have to spell it out?" he said.
I didn't get it.
Before I could ask and before our homeroom teacher came into the room, a chime sounded out over the PA system in the classroom. The school secretary began to read the day's announcements over the speaker.
Most were fairly routine. Lasgna and Spinach casserole in the cafeteria. Students needed to return library books by the end of the month. Tutoring sessions for finals were coming up.
"Finally, all boys' PE students should report to the auditorium today instead of the gymnasium," the woman's voice called out. "Afternoon baseball pratice is cancelled today. It will be rescheduled for Friday afternoon."
I bit my lip.
Tony raised on eyebrow in suspicion. A few of the guys in our class began to groan at the idea of giving up their Friday afternoon for baseball practice. I started wanting to smile, but I thought better of it and continued biting my lip until it hurt.
When our teacher, Mrs. Fielder, came in, one of the baseball players immediately demanded to know what had happened.
"Raise your hand, Ryan," she scolded him. "I'm afraid I don't know a lot about it. I understand Mister Monroe had to go into the hospital last night, so that may have something to do with it."
"Hospital," Tony murmured under his breath. "Sure."
"Where can we send cards?" I asked, holding my hand up.
Tony kicked my shin roughly under my desk.
"Get permission before you speak, Gabriel. I'm afraid I'm not sure to which hospital he's been admitted," she answered me, convoluting her grammar like only an English teacher could. "I can probably talk to the principal this afternoon. If you'll come by my desk after school, I'll probably be able to tell you."
"Don't even think about it," Tony warned me in a whisper.
"Who, me?"
He scowled angrily at me. It was probably because I was grinning like a hyena.
* * *
The next few days passed relatively quietly. If the school tried to call Mike again, I never heard it and he certainly didn't mention it. Nobody at the school mentioned the altercation to either Tony or myself. After a few days of Coach Monroe's abscence, the rumours started to fly fast and furiously.
Coach Monroe was dying of cancer. He had been in a nasty car wreck. His wife shot him when she found out he was having an affair. He had assaulted a female student.
I nearly coughed out loud at that last one.
"My dad heard about it. He was busted for public intoxication at a bar," I heard one of the Juniors mention at lunch. He was sitting at a table near Tony, Joey, and myself, so we could overhear the conversation pretty clearly. "He hit a lady but she ran off before she could press charges. The cops let him go, and now he's spending the week in a rehab center in Dallas."
Joey had been telling us about a concert he went to at the University auditorium, but Tony surreptitiously crossed his finger in front of his mouth, indicating he was intersted in listening.
"After getting drunk one time?" one of the other guys said.
"He shows up drunk to practice half the time," Another one added.
"Ah, forget about him. What did you guys think of that new girl in class today? I didn't get to see her real close."
"What's her name. Libby?"
"Lily," the first guy said. "Lily Bolique, I think she said."
The name sounded like someone had shouted it. My head began to spin.
"She hot?"
"Too skinny. She's got big titties, though."
She was here?! She transfered here?! What did she want from me?!
"May I sit here?" a voice said from above me.
I looked up and nearly choked on long black hair.
Tony glared darkly, but Joey was grinning at the both of us from over the top of his lunch tray. You could almost see the dirty thoughts going through his head.
"I'm Lily," the tall girl introduced herself. "We met at the mall a few days ago."
"Uhm... Hi."
- - -
~to be continued...