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Jack Hamilton Is Not A Nice Person
Chapter 11
THEN
"Look at the little girl cry!" the sniggering teenager taunted.
Elliott was on the floor, cowering in fear from the three bullies. At ten years old they were only a year older than him, but they seemed so much bigger than him as well as having the number advantage.
He had been sitting on the swing, minding his own business when the three older boys had come along and started calling him names. At first he tried to ignore them, as he had always been taught to do, but they seemed insistent on getting a response from him, their shouts growing more and more aggressive as they started to surround him.
Worried for his safety, he had taken off at a full-speed run in the direction of his home. Unfortunately, one of the older boys was a lot faster than him and caught up quickly, sticking a leg out to trip him up. Elliott had hit the ground hard, hurting his leg and knocking the wind out of him. Scared of what was to come and in a lot of pain, he had started to cry as they towered over him.
"Only little girls and little faggots cry, so which one are you?" the lead boy sneered.
Elliott couldn't respond, he was sobbing too heavily.
"Why don't we take a look and see for ourselves!" one of the other boys suggested. He reached down and grabbed Elliott's shorts and underwear, yanking them both down at once while the other two held his arms to stop him struggling.
"No, please!" Elliott begged as his clothing was pulled off.
"That little thing barely counts as a cock, so I guess he really is a little girl after all!" the lead boy taunted as Elliott was exposed.
"Hey, what are you doing?" a voice demanded angrily. "Leave him alone!"
Another boy was running towards them. He looked younger than the three bullies, but his aggression and the determined look, coupled with the element of surprise caught them off guard. The new arrival knocked the first boy down before he could react, then faced the other two who immediately released Elliott's arms in preparation to defend themselves.
"Come on then, let's see how tough you are with someone who can fight back!" the boy snarled at them.
"Whatever, we're done here!" the lead boy said, climbing to his feet and backing off, attempting to make it look like he wasn't retreating.
Elliott sniffed and wiped his eyes, pulling down the front of his t-shirt to try and cover up a little. Glaring at the retreating boys for a moment, the other boy reached down and grabbed the discarded clothing, handing it to Elliott and awkwardly looking away while he dressed.
"Thanks," Elliott sniffed quietly.
"No problem," the other boy said back casually. Able to look round now, he flinched as he saw the large cut on Elliott's leg, just below his left knee. "Ouch, that looks nasty. Want me to help you home?"
Elliott nodded, not wanting to look down at the wound. He accepted the hand that was held out to help him, wincing as he put pressure on the leg. "Thanks," he repeated. "Erm... my name's Elliott. Elliott Farnsworth."
"Hi Elliott," the other boy said back with a big grin. "I'm Jack Hamilton, nice to meet you!"
NOW
Jack awoke and opened his eyes as he heard his door open. Ben and Elliott arriving to choose his outfit and take him to school had become his new alarm clock. As he looked up today though, he only saw Elliott. Finally, he had his former friend alone. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he needed to ask, but none of it would come out. Instead, he lay there motionless, simply staring at the other teen.
Elliott stared back, standing frozen to the spot.
It must have been at least ten minutes they remained there, eyes locked on each other, so much to say on both sides, yet no words passed either of their lips. Elliott was the one who eventually moved, silently walking to Jack's closet and looking through the selection of clothes they had got for him.
Taking that as his cue to move, Jack dashed to the bathroom and quickly showered. He returned minutes later with a towel wrapped around his waist. He almost smiled as he saw Elliot had made his bed. His Mom always nagged him for not making it and Elliott was obsessively today, so back when they used to hang out together, he had always made Jack's bed upon arriving in his room. He wanted to say something about it, but just like before it seemed no words were going to pass his lips. On the bed, his outfit for the day was laid out for him, a pair of white cotton shorts and a plain white t-shirt, quite a conservative choice really, considering some of the other things he had been made to wear so far.
As Jack approached the bed, Elliott stepped in front of him. With his eyes once again fixed on Jack's, albeit momentarily, he reached down and pulled off the towel, letting it drop to the floor. He dropped to his knees and reached out for Jack's chastity cage. He undid the padlock and started disassembling it.
Jack was already getting hard even before Elliott had finished removing the device. He glanced over at the chosen outfit for the day and noticed unhappily the lack of underwear once again. He had a feeling that he was going to be hard for a lot of the day, and in the light shorts, it was going to be more than a little obvious to his schoolmates.
With the device removed, Elliott stood up, placing the device into his bag and gesturing for Jack to dress. Minutes later, they were heading out of the front door and getting in the car. Jack wasn't quite sure where to sit. All week, Elliott had driven and Ben had sat beside him while Jack was banished to the back. With Ben absent, the passenger seat was empty, but Jack didn't want to presume anything.
Elliott glanced round, sensing the hesitation. He sighed and gestured to the seat. "Just get in!"
Jack got in as instructed and they set off for school. They had been driving a few minutes before Jack asked, "No Ben today?"
"Nope," Elliott replied flatly.
After a few more moments of silence, Jack asked, "Is he... off today?"
"Nope," Elliott said again.
"For fuck's sake Elliott, can't you even talk to me?" Jack asked, exasperated.
"Nope!" Elliott answered once more.
"You're gonna have to talk to me eventually!" Jack said insistently.
Elliott turned his head and glared for a second before looking back at the road.
"Oh wait, let me guess... nope?" Jack asked moodily. He was determined not to get himself in any more trouble today. He was going to obey every command to the letter, be respectful to his captors, anything that was necessary to get him closer to potential release and avoid unnecessary punishments, but his frustration with Elliott was really testing his resolve. "Fine, whatever. Silent treatment means no orders. That's good for me!" he said, relaxing back into his seat.
Elliott wanted to talk, or at least a part of him did. He wanted to just grab Jack and shake him and spell out for him exactly why they were doing all of this, to guide him in the right direction, but he couldn't do it. At the same time, another part of him also wanted to grab Jack, but that was the part of him that wanted to start hitting him and not stop until there was nothing left of him. In a way, it was these two conflicting personas that prevented him from speaking. Letting them remain balanced against each other seemed to keep them in check. The good side would ruin all of their plans if he allowed it out and the bad side... mostly he was just scared of what would happen if he gave in to that part of himself.
Both seventeen-year-olds were relieved when they got to school, glad to be out of the car and away from each other.
No commands were given and Elliott quickly ran off towards the school, so Jack just began making his own way over. He was greeted by an increasingly-varied range of taunts from the other students. Some continued to tease him about the week's fashion choices and others continued to target his personal grooming habits but today now had the added bonus of comments about his humiliating crawl out of the school the previous afternoon. Thankfully he was able to carry his bag in front him to hide his erection, which seemed to automatically pop back up seconds after managed to get it down.
He breathed an audible sigh of relief as he got inside the building and made his way to his locker, dropping his bag on the ground in front. He glanced round as he opened it. Something was strange, too many people were watching him. He realised just a moment too late that his locker had been booby-trapped. He thought back in that split second to all the things he had rigged lockers with over the years and prepared himself for the worst. As the door swung open, several large containers of water tipped out towards him, drenching him in a sudden deluge.
"Oh!" he said as he realised what had happened. Compared to some of the other possibilities, a bit of water didn't seem too bad. It was a warm day so he would dry soon enough with no harm done.
Other students were laughing at the prank, but Jack was confused by just how much they were laughing. That was when he looked down. He realised that Elliott's choice of clothing had been very deliberate. The thin white material of his shorts and t-shirt clung to his body and had gone almost transparent. Every bit of him was on show, the shape of his pecs, the firmness of his nipples, the outline of his abs and then most embarrassing of all, a painfully obvious erection and his balls which felt achingly large from his two-day abstinence.
"Don't even think about covering up!" Danny hissed in his hear, approaching from behind. "Just walk to homeroom... slowly!"
"Oh God!" Jack whimpered quietly as he closed his locker. Why did this have to be today? This was even worse than the tiny outfit he had worn on Monday. That had at least hidden the essential parts. The wet clothing he wore now left absolutely nothing on the front of his body to the imagination.
He started walking, unsure whether the wetness on his face was from the prank or his own tears. He had never felt so exposed in his entire life. Every student in the school seemed to be in the hallways that morning, watching in hilarious amusement as the football Captain basically did a naked walk through the school.
Aaron was waiting by the door when Jack finally reached his destination. He burst into raucous laughter as he saw Jack's embarrassing approach. "Hey 'muchacho'," he said sharply. "This one's for that time you stole my clothes. You remember that, do you? Well this is how exposed you made me feel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!"
Jack stared back at the younger teen, thinking back to how he had humiliated him. He wanted to reach out and strangle him, punch him, anything to wipe the smug grin off of his face. Instead, he just walked into the room and sat at his desk, ignoring the teases and taunts from the other students.
By the time Jack headed to first period, he had dried off enough so that his clothes were no longer transparent, but they were still moist enough to cling slightly to him. His t-shirt clung to his chest, the material moving ever-so-slightly back and forth across his nipples whenever he moved, helping to ensure that his cock remained either hard or semi-hard almost constantly.
Jack sat at the back of the room for his first lesson of the day, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. When Elliott and Danny sat either side of him, he figured he was in for more torment.
As soon as the teacher started talking to the class, Elliott slipped his phone out of his pocket and sent Jack a message. [Get your cock out and start jerking!]
Jack heard his phone vibrate in his bag. It was water-resistant, so had survived his drenching on arriving that morning, but he had decided to keep it in his bag just to be safe. Subtly he reached down and retrieved it, knowing it was from Elliott. He read it and looked at his former friend in dismay.
[Now! And keep going til I tell you to stop, but no cumming!] Elliott added when Jack hesitated.
Looking round nervously, Jack pulled the front of his shorts down, tucking the waistband under his balls. He took hold of the thick shaft between his thumb and two fingers, stroking it gently, trying to to avoid any overt arm movements.
From the opposite side, Danny had pulled out his phone to record it. They were always looking for new clips to add to Jack's site.
His two days of teasing and denial meant Jack was on edge within minutes. Somehow, as much as he hated it, Jack found that doing it in such a risky place actually heightened the excitement. He had to keep stopping and starting to avoid cumming, hoping constantly that Elliott would allow him to stop soon. By the end of the class, none of which Jack had paid the slightest bit of attention to, all it took was for him to slide a single finger down his shaft to make his boner twitch wildly.
As the bell rang, Jack looked to Elliott who nodded his approval to stop. Jack quickly pulled the shorts back over his cock as he went to stand from the desk, but almost doubled over as the material rubbed against his sensitive cock head.
As the three of them headed out of the room, they were greeted by Ben who eagerly ran up to them as they emerged. "Oh my God, you gotta see this!" he said excitedly, holding his phone out to them.
The small group moved to the side of the hallway and Elliott took the phone, Danny and Jack moving in close on either side of him to look. What they found was a blog titled 'The sexy styles of Jack Hamilton'.
"What the fuck?" Jack asked, eyes wide with fear. "What have you done? You said you wouldn't share!"
"We didn't!" Ben replied, grinning. "Just read it. Sounds like you've got a fan!"
They went to the blog's first post, reading it quickly. 'Hi and welcome to my blog. I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Jack Hamilton!' Underneath it was Jack's yearbook picture from the previous year. 'Jack's a student at my school. He's probably the most popular guy in school and the Captain of the football team too!' next was another picture from the yearbook of Jack in his football gear, helmet held under his arm. 'Another thing you should know about Jack, which you've probably already noticed, is that he's fucking hot!' What followed next was a little more surprising. There were a range of photos of Jack, some taken from Facebook or Instagram, others seemed to be candid pictures that Jack had never seen before.
"Oh my God, I don't know whether you should be flattered or frightened!" Danny said with a snigger.
The first post went on. 'As you can tell by my picture collection, I've always been a fan, but it wasn't until this week that I was inspired to share his hotness with the world! If you think he looks good in normal clothes or in his football gear, just wait until you see how he's started dressing now! Stay tuned, I'll be posting every day from now on. Today's post will be up as soon as I've gathered all the pics!'
"Oh fuck, who is it? Whose blog is it?" Jack demanded, looking from Ben to Elliott and back again.
Ben shrugged. "No idea, they haven't put their name on it, guess they want to remain a secret admirer!" he said with a coy grin. He reached out and grabbed the phone back. You'll have to look it up yourself if you want to see more, I gotta get to class!"
Jack barely acknowledged the younger boy's departure, he was already fishing his phone back out of his bag. He opened up the browser and typed in 'the sexy styles of Jack Hamilton'. The blog came up as the first result. Jack went straight back into it and skipped over the first post as he walked slowly towards his next class.
The second post seemed to be all about his outfit on Monday. Right at the top of it was a picture of Jack in the tiny denim shorts and tight tank top. 'Check out this hot little number. He actually came to school dressed in this outfit. Bit of a change from his usual look but I'm not complaining! Check these out!' More than a dozen pictures followed, taken from various angles throughout the morning. There were ones showing him walking round with his midriff showing, revealing his furry stomach and pubes or the top of his butt crack.
The blog went on. 'It looks like Jack was enjoying the outfit as much as I was!' Next came a bunch of zoomed-in shots clearly showing the bulge of his erection.
'Looks like it really was a 'hot' look for Jack!' the next comment said, followed by a load of pics showing his sweat patches forming on the tank top around his pits, chest and back. They grew progressively bigger as the pictures went on until the entire tank top was drenched with sweat, sticking to his body.
"Holy shit!" Jack muttered to himself as he saw the pictures. It was bad enough just seeing that the pictures existed, but knowing they were online for the world to see was almost more than he could bear.
"Damn!" Danny said, scrolling through the pictures. Jack hadn't even realised the other teen was walking along behind him, headed for the same class. "I hate to say it Jack, but you look fucking HOT in these pics!" Danny said in amazement. Throughout the week, he had been so caught up in embarrassing Jack, in making him feel totally humiliated that he hadn't really given much thought to what the other students might have actually been thinking. He had heard their taunts and mocking, but what they were actually thinking about was not something that had crossed Danny's mind.
"Gee, thanks. I'm so glad my online exposure gets you so fucking horny!" Jack hissed angrily.
"Hey, watch it, I get that your pissed, but just because Elliott isn't here that doesn't mean you can talk to me like that!" Danny warned him.
Jack gritted his teeth, inhaled sharply through his nose then let out a disgruntled sigh. "Fine, I'm sorry Sir!" he said quietly as they reached the door to their next class.
Once again Jack paid no attention to the lesson, instead he continued reading through the blog. Tuesday and Wednesday's each had their own posts along with increasingly large numbers of photos. He had seen a large number of students throughout the week taking pictures of him and his humiliations with their phones, but figured they were for their own amusement only. He had not dared to venture onto Facebook yet for fear of what he might find. Whoever owned this blog seemed more than happy to troll through everyone's pages and gather every photo that had been taken of him.
He was surprised to see that there was already a post for that morning. The blog said, 'Jack got pranked this morning. Looks like Jack chose a bad day to go commando!' The pictures that followed were virtually pornographic. You could see everything. It was like Jack's worst nightmare come to life, exposed for everyone to see!
'Aaron. This one was all him! I'll fucking kill him!' Jack thought angrily, eyes widening with barely-concealed rage.
At lunchtime, Jack was actually glad when he got summoned to the store room. The prospect of going into the cafeteria, knowing they would all be looking at him, taking pictures of him, mocking him openly, it was not something he particularly enjoyed the thought of. Compared to that, an hour of sucking cock almost sounded appealing.
Once Jack got there, he realised it was not going to be quite as easy as he thought. On arriving, he was stripped and tied to a chair. He was a little reluctant to let them restrain him. He spent most of his time in the store room scared of someone walking in, but knew that he could at least cover up moderately quickly. If he was tied up, he would be reliant on someone releasing him before he could conceal his modesty.
All it took was a stern stare from Elliott to convince Jack to comply and before he knew it, he was entirely at their mercy, tied to the chair with the vibrating replica of his own cock shoved up his ass.
Lincoln, Elliott, Ben, Danny and Aaron all set about teasing and edging Jack. They took it in turns, three at a time while the other two watched, chatted or just ate their lunch.
"Oh God!" Jack moaned repeatedly as they teased his nipples or played with his cock. He had felt tongues all over his body, hands exploring every intimate inch of him, all while the toy buzzed away inside him.
Every time Jack felt like he was as desperate to cum as was possible, it seemed to grow even stronger. A couple of times he actually attempted to free his hands, intending to simply grab his cock and stroke himself to satisfaction. Fortunately the ropes were too well secured and all he achieved was a lot muscle-flexing, the sight of which only spurred Ben on to tease him more.
After half an hour, Jack's moaning had turned to begging. "Oh God, please, please you have to let me cum, please, I'll do anything. ANYTHING! Seriously, I'll do it just pleeeeease let me cum!" he begged. He had completely disregarded the last remains of his dignity by this point. He didn't care what he was saying, he didn't care what they thought, he just needed the release more than anything.
Attempting to push himself over the edge, he started raising his ass off the chair and dropping back down again, fucking himself on the vibrating replica of his own erection. As had been the case two nights before, it got him close but not quite over the edge.
'Oh God, I need Bryce. I need his cock!' Jack thought to himself. He looked round, confused as he realised everyone had stopped moving, staring at him in shock. That was when he realised he had actually said it aloud instead of just thinking it! "Oh, I... I just..." he stuttered, but it was too late, they had heard it.
"Wow, now that's a pretty... faggoty thing to say, isn't it!" Elliott taunted, reaching down and giving Jack's boner a single stroke.
"Aaah!" Jack moaned as his cock twitched, just another single stroke away from orgasm. "No... I didn't... I was..."
"It's okay, Jacky!" Elliott said, his tone gentle but his choice of nickname teasing. "There's nothing wrong with it, I thought you'd see that by now!"
"Yes there... is. It's just... wrong!" Jack gasped, his cock still spasming slightly from its near-orgasm.
"What's wrong? Being a 'dirty faggot'?" Elliott asked, throwing Jack's own words back at him. At the same time, he reached down to give another gentle squeeze as the others all stood around, intrigued by the exchange.
"I never... used... those words!" Jack said defensively. He had finally learned not to use the derogatory term he was so fond of, so he wasn't about to let Elliott punish him for something he hadn't done. "Just being... gay. It's... wrong! It's.... it's disgusting!"
Elliott was unsure whether to be pleased or pissed. Jack actually seemed determined not to call them faggots any more, which was probably the most progress he had made so far, but for him to still have the attitude that gay was wrong was so disappointing.
"Well in that case," Elliott said, giving a final teasing stroke, "I should probably stop touching you. After all, it'd be 'wrong' for another guy to make you cum, wouldn't it. That'd just be 'disgusting', wouldn't it!"
"Ah no, wait," Jack pleaded, realising he had just talked himself out of a possible ejaculation. "I didn't mean..."
"Too late! Untie him!" Elliott snapped, cutting him off as he turned away.
The others looked a little disappointed. There was still time left in their lunch break so they could have teased him a lot more, but they understood why Elliott was ending it.
As his hands were released, Jack genuinely considered grabbing his cock and jerking off. Realising that even if he could manage it before they restrained him again, the repercussions would likely be horrific, Jack resisted.
Elliott reached into his bag and turned back to face the others. The chastity cage was in his hand. "Well as Jack doesn't want to do any wrong, disgusting gay stuff, we may as well lock him back up for the day!" he said with a wicked grin.
"Yeah, good luck with that!" Ben sniggered. He was on the ground in front of Jack, untying his ankle. He looked at Elliott, then nodded towards Jack's erection.
"Oh I think we can make that go down!" Elliott said slyly. "Stand him up and hold his arms!"
"Wait, what are you..." Jack started as Aaron and Danny pulled him to his feet and held his arms behind his back.
Elliott stepped forward and swatted his hands at Jack's balls, an audible slap echoing round the room, for a moment, soon joined by a grunt of pain from Jack. "Just do that every ten seconds until he goes down, then put this on him!" he said, handing the device to Ben.
Ben took the device, taking hold of Elliott's hand for a moment at the same time. He smiled up at his lover for a few seconds, getting a brief smile back before he scowled once again and headed out, leaving the others to finish off without him.
The slap certainly seemed to be doing the job. The pain rippling through Jack was quickly softening his boner. The slap was nowhere near as hard as the kick he had received in the park a few nights earlier, but it was still enough to feel extremely unpleasant.
Not entirely soft right away, Ben added another couple of slightly more gentle slaps before the cock had shrivelled down completely.
Satisfied that their presence was no longer needed, the other three headed out, leaving Ben to secure the cage alone. As he did it, he occasionally glanced up at Jack. There was wetness around his eyes from the hits to his balls. He wasn't looking back down at Ben though, his eyes were fixed on the door.
"Why won't he talk to me?" Jack asked sorrowfully.
Ben shrugged. "Guess you'd have to ask him that yourself! I'm his boyfriend, not his keeper!"
Jack stared down in shock. "You're his what?"
Ben clicked the padlock into place on the chastity cage and stood up, facing away from Jack. "Oh, nothing, forget it!"
"No, you..." Jack started, reaching to grab the boy's shoulder. He stopped though, suddenly very aware that he was still naked. He grabbed his shorts and started pulling them on as he asked, "He's your boyfriend?"
Ben wasn't sure why he was so weary about confirming it. While Elliott wasn't 'out', the other guys knew they were together and in a way he figured Jack must have guessed it by now. It wasn't like they were all over each other all the time, but they hadn't exactly hidden it from him either. If anything, it served to show how oblivious Jack truly was to his supposed-best-friend's life.
"Yeah, okay, he is. Guess that makes us both pretty 'wrong' and 'disgusting' to you, right?" Ben asked, shaking his head as he turned to see Jack pulling on his t-shirt.
"No, well... erm, kinda, but... erm... how long?" he stammered. "I mean, how long have you two been together?"
Ben tilted his head, thinking about it and working out the dates in his head. "We've been hanging out for about... six months I guess! Properly dating, only about a month or so" he replied with a non-committal shrug.
It was like all the pieces had suddenly dropped into place for Jack. All the times Elliott had been 'unavailable' over the Summer, every time he explained his absence with a dismissive 'I was just busy' or some other lame excuse. That must have been time he was spending with Ben. Jack wanted to ask so much, but the questions eluded him as he stammered, "So... are you two..."
"Look Jack," Ben interrupted, "I get that you've probably got questions, but I'm honestly finding it kinda hard to stand here talking to someone who thinks I'm wrong, just for being the way I was born. Catch ya later!" He explained moodily as he dashed out of the room.
Since the incident on the store room, Jack had mostly been left alone. He wasn't really sure whether it was a blessing or a sign of bad things to come, but the afternoon passed fairly painlessly. Having quickly finished his homework, as best he could having missed most of the first two classes of the day, he headed eagerly to football practice.
After what had happened in the showers on Tuesday night, Jack had convinced himself that it was all over. The team would never listen to him, the Coach would remove him as Captain and his entire football career would be over. It still amazed him how quickly it had all returned to normal. He was glad the team had come to their senses and realised that how they had acted was unacceptable. He had no doubt from the fear on Trent and Evan's faces that they had delivered his message to the team word-for-word. Hopefully now that meant they were all back under his control.
Obviously there were four clear exclusions from his control, Aaron, Danny, Lincoln and Bryce, four of his tormentors. While he expected they would follow along with the rest of the team and obey his ordered, he was under no illusion that he actually had any kind of power over them!
As Jack reached the locker room and began to change, he cursed himself for forgetting something quite significant – he was still wearing the chastity cage. Being seen with it would actually be worse than when he had walked into the showers with his erection. A boner was normal, it happened to all guys, but being locked in chastity, that was something he doubted any of them had even seen before. More importantly, it gave a very clear message that Jack wasn't the one in charge, his keyholder was!
He faced the wall as he pulled down his shorts, quickly pulling on his uniform before anyone could see the device. Once he was fully prepared, he headed out to the field where most of the team were already jogging slowly round the field to warm up.
"Everyone, get your asses over here!" Jack yelled as he neared Coach Sanders.
The older man raised an eyebrow as he looked round at Jack inquisitively.
"What? I'm the Captain, I'm in charge!" he said bluntly. He knew that in reality, the Coach was very much the one in charge, but he was determined to convince the man that he still had the authority to hold his position. "Okay, I want ten laps from everyone in full pads, then onto the field. First string is taking on second!"
The other players all glanced at each other hesitantly, not responding at first. Jack was about to yell at them again when he heard someone clear their throat which seemed to prompt a response from everyone else, who called out in unison, "Yes Captain!"
As the team started piling on their pads, Jack glanced sideways at Coach Sanders.
"Okay, point taken!" the Coach said with a wry grin.
As the last of the players finished the laps and made their way onto the field, Jack gestured for them to split into the two teams. He had a definite reason for the exercise he had chosen – Aaron. The feeling of walking through the halls, wet and exposed was still fresh in Jack's mind and he wanted to make someone pay for it.
Jack was the first string quarterback while Aaron was a second string linebacker. Against a strong team, Jack knew he could rarely run the ball himself, often passing it (reluctantly) to another player, but against a weaker team such as their own second string, he liked to showboat and claim all the glory for himself. All he needed was one good run and revenge could be his!
The practice match started and annoyingly, Jack kept finding himself forced to hand off the ball. Just as he was beginning to think he might miss his chance, he found an opening. He rushed the field, heading straight for the end-zone, avoiding the entire defensive line. The way was clear, he could easily get the touchdown, but he had other plans. Accepting that Jack was getting through, most of the second string gave up the chase, not wanting to waste their energy pointlessly. Aaron, however, charged at Jack.
'Perfect!' Jack thought to himself. He could have veered away, dodged the tackle entirely and scored, instead he turned the opposite way, heading straight for Aaron. He lowered his shoulder, piled on the speed and slammed into the younger player hard. The tackle lifted Aaron off the ground for a moment, Jack's momentum twisting him in the air. He could have just carried on, there was nothing Aaron could do to stop him now. Instead, Jack discreetly grabbed at Aaron's shirt and pulled him down hard, making out he had lost his footing in the tackle.
Aaron landed head first into the ground, weighed down by the extra bulk of Jack pulling down on him. The two tumbled onto the grass, landing in a heap. Jack scurried round quickly to look Aaron in the eye.
"Sorry bout that, 'muchacho'," he said with a wicked snigger. The smile quickly dropped from his face as he saw Aaron laying there motionless, eyes closed. "Aaron. Aaron!" he repeated frantically.
By now, the rest of team was gathering, worried about the hard tackle and painful looking landing.
"Don't move him!" Coach Sanders called out, running towards them.
"I... I was... he...." Jack stuttered.
"Someone call 911!" Coach Sanders called out, dropping to his knees beside the unconscious sixteen-year-old.
At the hospital's insistence, most of the team had gone home. With the exception of Jack, pretty much the entire team had followed the ambulance that had taken Aaron away. Now, just a few of them remained in the waiting room along with Coach Sanders and Aaron's parents.
Jack walked in nervously, spotting Mr and Mrs Carson. He headed straight for them. Before he could get there, Danny jumped up out of his seat and ran at the team Captain.
"WHAT THE FUCK D'YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?" he yelled grabbing Jack by the throat and slamming him against a wall.
"Hey, ease off!" Coach Sanders called out, jumping up to pull Danny off of the other student.
"YOU DID THIS TO HIM!" Danny snarled, not loosening his grip despite the Coach pulling at his arms.
"It was a tackle that went bad, could have happened to anyone!" the Coach said, attempting to calm Danny. "Now let go before I have to make you!"
Danny was panting furiously, virtually foaming at the mouth with rage as he stared at a terrified-looking Jack. Reluctantly, he let go and stepped back, fists still clenched.
Before any of them could say any more, a Doctor emerged from a door on the opposite side of the waiting room. "Mr and Mrs Carson?" he enquired.
"That's us!" Mrs Carson said frantically. The half-Mexican woman looked very much like she had been crying. "What's going on, is he okay?"
"He's regained consciousness and we have started our assessment. There don't seem to be any serious head injuries beyond a fairly sever concussion..." the Doctor started.
"Oh thank God!" Aaron's mother declared happily.
"But... I'm afraid there appears to be some... loss of movement. We're still looking into how severe it is." the Doctor explained.
Mrs Carson burst into tears, her husband didn't look like he was far behind doing the same thing as he wrapped his arms around her.
"You paralysed him!" Danny said, eyes glazing over as he started to look back in Jack's direction.
Jack turned and ran, fearing for his own safety around Danny and horrified by the results of what he had done.
Bryce hung up the phone. He had been calling Danny every half hour to see how Aaron was doing, hoping there might be some good news, but so far it only seemed like bad. He slumped onto his bed, thoroughly miserable.
His week had started off so well. The plan to bring down Jack was going exceptionally well and there had even been the unexpected side of effect of 'something' happening between himself and Jack. Every time he closed his eyes, he was back in Jack's room, holding him as he slept. It was a bizarre feeling. In almost every way, he hated Jack, yet there he was, thinking about him constantly.
Then the week had taken a sudden and seemingly-endless nosedive. First Jack had completely pissed him off by denying what had happened between them, belittling it and lying to the others about it. It didn't matter that they all knew the truth, that wasn't the problem, it was the fact that Jack, who he had genuinely started to care for could so casually turn on him and lie like that. Despite the older teen's betrayal, Bryce had still spent all week doing his best to try and help Jack, not that he actually knew about any of it! The only attempt Jack had made at reconciliation had turned out to be a very transparent attempt to get him back into bed, simply to take care of his own physical needs. Now, to top it all off, Aaron, one of his best friends was laying paralysed in hospital.
As he lay there, thinking about what to do he heard a tiny tap at his window. Then another, and another. Someone was throwing small stones at it, clearly attempting to get his attention. He got off his bed, dimmed the lights so he could actually see outside and pulled open the curtains. Standing there, arm positioned ready to throw another tiny stone was Jack.
Bryce stared at him for several seconds before he sighed, opened the window and called down quietly, "Stay there, I'll be right down."
He had just been wearing boxers, so he pulled on a t-shirt and crept out of his room. It was late enough that everyone else in the house had gone to bed already so he did his best not to disturb them. As he got to the back door and opened it, he found Jack waiting right outside. Instead of inviting him in, he stepped out onto the deck, the wood cold beneath his bare feet.
"If you're here for a fuck, I'm not in the mood!" he said sharply.
"I'm.... I'm sorry," Jack mumbled, barely even daring to look at Bryce.
"For what?" Bryce demanded. He knew that no apology ever came easily to Jack, he was just so used to being right all the time, and even when he wasn't, the people around him were usually just too scared to disagree with him.
"For being a dick and... and... for lying to Elliott and Ben about you making me sleep with you," Jack said, his voice weak and croaky.
Bryce sighed. "Okay, thank you for apologising," he said, then thought back to their text conversation the night before. "But I'm still not gonna fuck you! We're good, but we're not... there, not yet anyway!"
Jack shook his head. "That's not why I came," he said back in barely more than a whisper.
"Then why are you here?" Bryce asked, curious.
Jack finally raised his eyes to meet Bryce's. Even in the dim light, Bryce could make out the pain and sorrow in them. "Because I don't have anyone else!" The statement was as much a shock to Jack as it was to Bryce.
Jack had never been alone before, not truly alone as he felt right then, isolated, forced to bear his burden alone. He was carrying so much and it was threatening to crush him at any moment. "I hurt Aaron!" he said shakily.
Bryce wanted to tell him to leave. He had accepted his apology, but forgiveness was still a long way off and he was right, he had been the one that had hurt Aaron, even if it had been by mistake. So why wasn't he saying the words? Why wasn't he making the older teen leave, forcing him to suffer alone. That had been the plan. Isolate him, take everything, break him down to nothing. It seemed so simple in theory. In practice though, it was substantially harder. Knowing what a terrible person Jack was, knowing how he had hurt Aaron knowing that he was supposed to be miserable for his own good, it made no difference to Bryce.
"Come here!" he said holding out his arms.
Jack fell into them, closing his eyes as he felt muscular arms encircling him.