BROKEN

Teenage Wasteland

Chapter 10

Reuniting with Scotty had an immediate positive effect on my mood. My parents even commented on it. Sure, we had to sneak around but at least I knew that he didn’t hate me. I could smile again.

The sullen, angry, disconnected Jimmy of the past few months past slowly faded away. Foster and Steven were delighted. Coach T even noticed. I began to open up more.

Over the next few weekends, I spent a good bit of time in the woods with Scotty and working on my trailblazing project. It was hard work but it was worth it. If I made that ride every morning, I would only get stronger. By December my school trail was done and I could kiss off the bus except on rainy days.

I treasured my time with Scotty but I was very disturbed by some of the things he told me. He was being constantly harassed and roughed up. His grades were suffering. I didn’t have any classes with him as I was in a whole different part of the school so there wasn’t much I could do about it. After I had beaten Eric Rainer’s ass, I had been removed from the situation but Scotty was still in the middle of it. He tried to act like it didn’t bother him but I knew him too well.

After some intensive cross-examination Scotty finally told me that the worst offenders were Billy Wheeler and Todd Taylor, a fat dofus that followed Billy around. He made me promise that I wouldn’t do anything. After securing my promise, Scotty told me that he had a surprise for me but I would have to wait till next weekend for it.

I started using my new path to school during the run up to winter vacation. The homeward bound part of the trail was a lot more fun. The morning dew made the trail treacherous and slippery. There were some pretty cool jumps that I could get some good air on but there were some tricky places. Wiping out was a distinct possibility.

Over the week, I worried about Scotty. It had bugged me all semester but to have my fears confirmed was disquieting. I had always been around to protect him but I didn’t know what to do this time. I toyed with the idea of asking Coach T if Scotty could join our class but I wouldn’t ask with out his input.

When Friday’s classes were finally in the can I headed home down my trail. I stopped off by our hidden fort and found a note from Scotty inside that asked me to wait there. I got out my history book and read the thrilling chapter on the industrial revolution and the rise of the labor movement. Before I had gone completely to sleep Scotty showed up with Brian Edwards in tow.

On seeing my old pal, I jumped up and rushed to greet him. As elated as I was to see Brian, he looked sadder than I’d ever seen him. I couldn’t think of anything to say so I just embraced him and he held on tight.

The three of us settled on the floor and Scotty retrieved 3 canned cokes and some Fritos from his backpack. I thought Brian was going to cry.

I tried to break an awkward silence by saying, “Damn good to see you again. How is it going?”

Brian looked down and spoke softly, “It’s been a hell of a lot better Beast. You heard my Dad kicked Doug out?”

Scotty answered, “Yeah. I told him last week.”

Brian’s voice was pained and low, “It sucks man, I really miss him. My Dad won’t even let me talk to him.”

“I miss him too Brian. I miss everybody. I don’t know what the fuck Rainer was thinking but he sure messed up a lot of people’s lives,” I growled.

At the mention of Rainer’s name Brian’s face flashed with anger. “Old Bob sure ain’t my favorite person. I would have paid real money to have seen you kick Eric’s ass.”

Scotty shifted uncomfortably. “He lied to us. He lied to us all. He told us that we needed to trust him and be honest and no one was going to get hurt.”

“Rainer didn’t really know anything. He just assumed that he knew what he was talking about. Do ya’ll know what he told my Dad?,” Brian asked with a quiet fury.

I shook my head. “I haven’t heard shit about shit since it happened. All I know is he talked to my Dad, my Dad went bezerk and I haven’t talked to anybody since I ran into Scotty a couple of weeks ago.”

“Rainer accused Doug of molesting some of the younger boys in the troop. He named you two, Nick and a couple of others. He was in jail for a week before they figured out it was a crock of shit.”

Scotty and I were both astonished. We both said, “Doug a molester? That’s so much bullshit!”

Brian smiled for the first time. “You guys had better watch it. You two keep finishing each others sentences like that, they’ll accuse you of molesting puppies or something.”

I gave Brian an uncomfortable look and he said before I could speak, “It’s all right. I’m cool with it. I’ve known you two were an item for a long time.”

Scotty and I blushed a glowing color of purple that made Brian laugh so hard he rolled over.

I stuttered and said, “How..how did you know?”

Brian said between chuckles, “It’s cool man. It was little things really. The way you two treated each other. Mostly it was because I’ve known that Doug was gay for a few years and saw how he was around his boyfriend.”

I was stunned, “Doug is gay?”

Scotty moaned, “This is so fucked up. Doug is fine as hell. He doesn’t have to molest anybody.”

Without thinking I whined, “Scotty?!”

Brian started rolling again. Scotty scooted over to me and pecked me on the cheek.

We were being silly. It had been way too long since we had had the chance to be.

When Brian finished laughing, he opened his book satchel and pulled out a little metal box. He asked, “You guys ever smoked any weed?”

I replied, “Errr.. ummm no actually.”

Scotty grinned, “Duh.. We got high last weekend Brian.”

Brian smiled and said, “Then you’re in for a treat Beast. Trust me. It helps.” He pulled a funny looking cigarette out of his tin and some matches. He struck one and lit the joint taking a couple of puffs and held the smoke. He passed it to Scotty who took a big hit and then tried to cough his lungs out. Scotty handed it to me. I looked at it dubiously and thought what the fuck and took a hit.

The smoke tasted rich and smelled much better than I had heard. I held it for a few seconds and let it out slowly. Then I passed it on to Brian.

The joint went around our little circle a few times and then Brian took it and said, “I’m going to blow you two a shotgun. Get ready.” He took a hit and then reversed the joint, moving close to Scotty. He then blew the smoke back though the joint as Scotty inhaled it out of the air. Then he turned to me and did the same.

Whoa... My head got all tingly and fuzzy. I felt a little dizzy. I exhaled and coughed a couple of times. I felt light and the turmoil that had constantly been in my head for months was gone.

We sat with Brian and talked about nothing and giggled for about an hour. He finally looked at his watch and said, “Well it’s four and I’ve got to get home. Good to see you guys.”

We shook hands with Brian and thanked him for sharing that joint.

I felt so good. I wasn’t stressed. I wasn’t hurting. I wasn’t worrying about words that I didn’t understand.

Scotty went in his pack and said, “I was a Boy Scout. I came prepared.” He pulled out a bag of peanut M&Ms.

I noticed that I was hungrier than usual. Man those things were good. We tore through that pack in nothing flat. When we finished, Scotty sat beside me. I engulfed him in my arms and he lay across my lap looking up at me with those eyes.

His head was propped on my left arm and I gently stroked his hair with my right hand. He was so beautiful lying in my arms like that. Tears started rolling down my face.

He reached up and wiped them away. He quietly asked, “What was that about?”

I stammered, “It hurt so much when I thought that I had lost you. I wanted to die. With you here, now it’s like, I didn’t know I could be happy again.”

Scotty sat up and put his arms around me. He spoke quietly in my ear, shaking with emotion, “For a while I was afraid that after all the shit that happened that you would hate me. I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore. When I would see you from across the street, I could tell your big heart was breaking. I wanted to run to you. I knew that you could never hate me.”

I moved to where our foreheads were touching. Up until then I had been preoccupied with my own pain. I had not given much thought to how much Scotty and the others were hurt and confused too. My sweet boy had gotten burned just as bad as I had.

On the floor of our little hideaway Scotty and I lay down side by side, arm in arm and talked softly like we had always done. I drank in deeply of his face, his eyes and his energy. It was like recharging our batteries.

Too quickly it began to turn dark and we had to part. I asked him to think about changing to Coach T’s class for the spring semester.

Before we parted he gave me a big hug and said, “Getting you back was the best present I could have gotten this Christmas.”

I went home and my Mom was fixing supper. Still glowing from the time that I spent with Scotty and still buzzing, I gave her a big unannounced hug.

Things had been tense with my Mom for a long time. Her Christian beliefs were seriously at odds with my sexuality. I think that she might have preferred me taking up devil worship or robbing banks.

She returned my hug with gusto and asked, “What was that for?”

I smiled and answered truthfully, “Well, supper smells awful good and... that hug was overdue.”

She hugged me again and said, “My sweet boy is finally home.”