Rave Boy
Rave Boy
Chapter Thirteen
"You heard WHAT?" I asked her, grabbing Leigh's arm.
"Chill! Nothing's wrong. Jon and his dad got in a fight and a neighbor called the cops. Nobody was hurt. They think Jon's dad had hit him, but Jon didn't say anything about it so they couldn't really do anything. `Sides, it's not like they would've taken his dad to jail, anyway. I just thought that since he wasn't here today he'd have come to you about it, and you guys would be somewhere else," she explained as my grip loosened. I looked down, thoughts scrambling around in my brain.
Why hadn't Jon come to me when it happened? He used to just come and knock on my window. I never really wanted him to knock, since it usually meant something bad had happened, but I did want him to come to me so I could help. I could've done something; my mom could've helped somehow. I'm not sure what I could've done, but at least I offered a safe haven and advice from a caring adult. Of course, that probably wasn't what Jon came looking for. Come to think of it, I wasn't exactly sure WHAT Jon came looking for.
"Thanks, Leigh. I'm gonna duck out before they have it on record that I actually came today. We still have like thirty minutes before school actually starts... can you please give me a ride to my house? You should be back in time to not be late."
"Of course, poppet!" Leigh smiled. We were sneaky about it, but finally got out of the school parking lot and off campus, so we managed to avoid getting caught. Five minutes later, I was giving Leigh a huge hug and hopping out of her car. I walked into my house and into my room to take off my backpack and change clothes out of the fucking uniformed bullshit. Strangely enough, I found a sleeping Jon on my bed.
I looked him over suspiciously. There weren't any big bruises on his face or anything. I hiked his shirt up a bit, peering at his stomach and chest for any marks. Nothing there, either. The warmth from his skin distracted me, and I thought about the first time I'd felt that warmth the day I met him. It just made me happy, so fuck off. You know it'd make you all warm and fuzzy, too.
"Couldn't wait for me to wake up to rape me?" Jon asked with a yawn as he sat up. I sat beside him, and hugged him tight.
"Course not." I nibbled on his ear a bit, and he moaned in response. This was no time to be getting it on, though. I ran a hand through his hair and heard him wince as I came across one bitch of a goose egg.
"Careful, that's sore!" He squirmed back a little, and I looked at him hard. "I'm fine, Joey!"
"No, you're not. What happened? Why didn't you come to me? Leigh told me you and your dad had gotten in a fight, and the police came, but they didn't do anything."
"Nothing happened, Joey. I'm fine, he just pushed me and I fell and hit my head on the baseboard. No big. All I got from it is a bump and a headache," he told me.
"It doesn't matter! You can't let that bastard do stuff like that to you. You can leave, you can come over here. My mom told you that anytime you needed you could come over!" Even though I had no idea what I would have done, it still sounded good.
"Yeah, I know, that's why I came over here today. I didn't feel like going to school with the headache and I just wanted to catch some sleep without risking my dad coming home," he said. I nodded, but kept on.
"But why didn't you come last night?"
"My dad would've called the cops and told them I ran away, and it would've gotten your mom in trouble. I don't think he would've done it, but I didn't want to risk it."
"Oh... okay. I'm sorry," I said.
"For what?" he asked, smiling.
"For not killing him for you. Or not fixing it. Not doing something," I said as I cuddled into his chest. He was so much more solid than me. It flew through my head that if he couldn't do anything, then what was I going to do to magically fix everything?
"It's all good, Joey. I'll be fine. Only one more year, remember? Then it's on to college and the rest of my life. Well, hopefully our lives, given that you don't actually kill anybody and get locked up."
"Okay, I'll spare him. But only because my boyfriend wants me to, and I can't guarantee how long that'll last. The day may come when I just decide to up and shoot him in the face!" I said with a grin.
"I love you, Joey." I gripped him in a hug, and mumbled it back. The sound just kind of got all fuddled up while I was kissing his neck. Sounded more like "Ah lummoo oo, On."
"You know, there's nobody here right now," I told him. That was after I yanked my lips off his collarbone.
"Yeah, I know. What should we do?"
"Well, I was thinking some nice needlepoint, or maybe we should learn to crochet."
"Oh, I can make a mean afghan!" he told me with a smirk. I popped him on the shoulder before pushing him back on the bed and crawling on top of him.
"What do you want to do, Jon?" I held a serious tone.
"I don't wanna, Joey." My eyes fluttered for a bit in confusion. My first thought was there was something wrong with me, but I pushed it away. That was a bad habit, and Jon would have smacked me if he knew I was thinking it. Still, it was a little hard to talk in an even voice after that.
"Why?"
"Because I love you, and I want to not have a terrible headache so I can make it as good as I can. Otherwise you'll be all bitchy and complain about how it sucked. Besides, my goods don't work so well after painkillers."
"Aw, okay. I can wait, but in the meantime you should take some more." I grinned at him, and lightly tickled his tummy. My fingertips slipped under his shirt and I scrunched the skin lightly. He squirmed under me, pressing his body into mine. I tried hard to keep it clean, but I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid getting aroused.
"Sorry," I said as I pulled my crotch back away from his. He smiled, kissed me, and pulled me back down.
"It's okay. I like it, I just can't do anything with it right now. I wanna be close to you, so stay still. I'm still really tired, sexypants. Sleep with me? Clothes on, I mean?"
"Course I will, limpy." I stuck out my tongue at him, and he nipped it with his teeth. We settled in for a nap, cuddled together in my bed. I actually fell asleep first, Jon still whispering in my ear about things that didn't make much sense to my failing consciousness. I remembered them later, though.
"Sleepyface. I love you so much. Nobody ever helped me as much as you have," he said. It didn't register as anything but nonsense. Helped? Me? Sleep... sounds good.
***
Mary Lou paced faster than her arthritic hips would willingly permit. She felt the grind of old bones against dry joints, but she didn't care. She lit one cigarette off the butt of another, and petted the orange tabby hard enough to make him sink down onto his haunches and slip away from her.
"Goddamn bullshit excuses fer police. Fucking idiots, don't never do nothin' right. I tell `em what to do, they don't fuckin' do it. Stupid bastards. Just leave the boy there after he gets beat on..." Her colorful description of the city law enforcement continued and expanded. A sailor wouldn't have blushed, though. He'd have fell the fuck over and died from the filth coming out of her mouth.
"FRANK! Answer yer goddamn phone!" she screamed after the beep she'd gotten for the fifth time.
"Damn it, Nibbles, there's somethin' goin' on! I don't know exactly what, but there's some shit stirrin'. It's gettin' on my nerves, people don't wanna work with me here. I hope they're bein' careful." A spotted cat squirmed out of her tight grip and made for the back of the couch as if chased by the flea-devil herself.
"Well, maybe I'm wrong. I been wrong before. `Member when I thought the soviets were goin' to blow us up? Didn't happen."
***
Frank flipped his phone closed after talking to almost every officer and social worker he had been able to get a number for. He knew Mary Lou would be calling, and he would rather deal with bureaucrats than her. At least they wouldn't immediately go for disembowelment.
It seemed nothing could be done, since the boy hadn't spoken up for himself. Frank couldn't just step in and make everybody do what they were supposed to; Jon had to come to him or some other authority figure with the problem first. He could, however, make it obvious that if Jon had a problem that there were solutions.
"Terri, could you call Jonathan Morrow in here, please?" he popped his head out the door and asked the lady behind a desk in the main office.
"Got it, Frank," she said, and repeated the message over the PA system. A few minutes later, Jon came through the door. Well, more like came stumbling through the door. He must have tripped over something, but he was definitely off-balance as he came over the threshold.
"You okay?" Frank asked as the boy caught himself. Jon looked a bit confused at first, but smiled quickly and nodded. "Well, c'mon in here. How are you today?"
"Fine, you?" Jon replied as he was led into Frank's office. He sat down gingerly in a chair, not wanting a repeat of the incident in the doorway.
"I'm great, thanks for asking. Look, I know it's none of my business, but I wanted to call you in here to tell you something. I'm not stupid, and I pay attention to my students. If there's something going on at home, then you can come to me or someone else in the administration and we can help you deal with any problems." Frank decided to lay out exactly what he meant in no uncertain terms so that later Mary Lou would have no reason to turn her mouth on him; no reason to leave any validation to her argument in favor of skinning him alive.
"You mean what happened the other night?" Jon asked, blushing. He wondered briefly if being the principal of a school meant you were suddenly endowed with an omniscient knowledge of your students' lives.
"Yes, Jonathan. So is there anything I can do?"
"Well, actually, what could you do... I mean... if what you think happened, happened..." Jon started haltingly. Frank's eyes widened as he hadn't expected the boy to immediately ask for help, but he continued as if it hadn't had any impact.
"I would put you in contact with a social worker who knows more about this than I do. I can't help you directly, but I can put you in a position where you can receive any help you need, Jonathan. Would you like me to call someone for you?" He waited for a reply, and was met with a slow nod of Jon's head. "Okay, then I'd like you to just hang around the office, please. You can go out there with Ms. Brown and give her a hand with those books, I know she's tired of picking them up and lugging them down to the storage room. I'll call you in here when I need you."
"Alright. Thanks, Mr. Platt."
Frank smiled and picked up the phone, actually wanting to for the first time that day.
***
I sighed, and tapped my foot for a minute against the concrete pillar in front of the school. Jon still hadn't come out of the building, and it was about five minutes after the bell had rung already. Leigh was waiting, but I didn't want to hold her up forever.
Jon came out, staring at me as if in surprise about ten minutes later. I hugged him, as did Leigh.
"Hey, why are you still here?" he asked.
"To take you home, silly!" Leigh replied for me.
"Oh, I thought I told you guys I'd be a little late today and you could go on without me if you didn't want to wait... I could've sworn I told you at break, Joey."
"Nope, you didn't, sexy. At least I don't remember you telling me." I shrugged it off and we started walking towards Leigh's car.
"Oh, well, can I hang out at your house for a while, Joey? I have one bitch of a headache and I don't wanna go to my house after what happened today." Jon said. Leigh and I looked at him for an explanation. "I'll tell you later, let's just go home."
"Okay, we're heading out."
***
Jon explained to me his conversation with the principal, and I asked my mom if he could stay over. She, of course, had no problem with it, so we just lazed about. It seemed like there was something wrong with Jon, though. I knew he had a headache, and he didn't feel good, but he just didn't seem to be himself.
Sometime around one or two in the morning, I felt him shake me awake. I blinked to clear my eyes, and he looked perplexed and a little scared.
"Joey, I think I need to go to the hospital. Can your mom take me?"
MUAH HA HA! You thought the LAST one was a bitch of a cliffy?!?! I'm so sadistic, I'm sorry! More to come quickly, but I have to get my keyboard fixed first. I hope you guys are enjoying it!
As always, hit me up at greeneyeliner39429@hotmail.com and visit my site at http://members.gayauthors.org/razor You'll like it, it's kinda cool, all my stories in one place plus some great forums to have fun in. :) Hope to hear from you guys, keep reading!