Chapter 1111 Amy and Christine!
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Alan, Sean, and Christine walked briskly across the school with Mr. Jackson. Because the teacher was there, they couldn't say much with each other.
Alan was relieved that Mr. Jackson didn't show impatience and say things like, "This had better be good." But he did seem skeptical about Alan's claims.
As they crossed a grass field and drew near the school gym containing the locker rooms, Alan saw one football player who appeared to be a lookout walk inside the building. Alan assumed he was reporting to Ryan and Rock that Alan was coming.
Right as they came to a short staircase leading into the building, Alan stopped, bringing the progress of the group to a halt. There was uncertainty on his face. On one hand, he wanted to be a take-charge leader, but on the other hand he very much wanted advice and encouragement on what to do.
Christine could read his face and said, "Relax. Don't worry. We've got a teacher with us, so there's no way there's going to be any violence. Let's get this over with. The longer we wait, the more time they have to harass Amy."
Alan was filled with dread. He envisioned a dozen or so beefy football players attacking him as soon as he walked through the door, teacher or no teacher. But worse than that, he was horrified by visions of Amy being gang raped right before his eyes. It was the latter vision, plus the words from Christine, that gave him the resolve to go through with whatever might be beyond the doors in front of him.
They walked in through the main doors of the building and entered a well-used hallway. From it, there were doors leading to the men's showers and lockers, women's showers and lockers, plus various offices, storage rooms, and so forth. There were no people to be seen.
They came to the door leading to the men's section. There was another pause as Alan said, "I guess we should try here, first." The tension was rising, and even Mr. Jackson seemed a bit spooked.
Alan opened the door and... nothing.
No one could be seen, just the usual rows of lockers. Normally there was a big rush of activity in the lockers right before the last school bell and for a few minutes after, then again periodic rushes as various sports groups with after school practices finished their activities. But between ten and fifteen minutes after school, as it was now, the lockers were usually empty or nearly so.
However, as the doors finished swinging shut after them, they became aware of the sound of voices. They began heading towards the voices wordless and very quietly, as if they were police sneaking up onto criminals.
As they made their way down a long row of lockers the voices became clearer. Alan could recognize Amy's voice, which set his heart beating faster than its already quick pace.
He reached the end of the locker row first, turned the corner, and...
He couldn't believe his eyes.
There, on a long bench in front of yet more rows of lockers sat Amy and Ryan, talking and smiling and carrying on in a friendly manner. They both were looking at a book in Amy's lap and staring at it with rapt attention. That was the last thing Alan expected.
Elsewhere, now that they stood at a crossing point between sets of locker rows, Alan became aware that there were other athletes milling about here and there. One peeked around a corner to look at them, stared at Christine in surprise, noted the teacher, then looked at Alan.
Alan was shocked to realize that the guy looking around the corner at him was none other than Amy's brother Brad. Alan felt a brief moment of relief until he realized that Brad's gaze was filled with not only cold disgust, but open mistrust and distaste.
Brad motioned over a couple more guys from the other side of the lockers, pointed at Alan and said something.
Alan couldn't quite make out all the words, but he gathered Brad was criticizing Alan for being an uncaring and unsatisfying boyfriend to have his girlfriend hanging out inside the boy's locker room.
The guys all laughed, slapped Brad on the back with a loud round of "Good one, Brad!" before going behind the lockers again. Even after they all disappeared from sight, the snickering and crude joking could still be heard.
Ryan looked up at Alan, then took in Mr. Jackson, Sean, and Christine. He smiled triumphantly then said, "Hey! It's the Plummer boy and his posse. I was just hanging out with your girlfriend, talking about art. I hope you don't mind."
Alan walked up. "Actually, I DO mind. What's going on here? What's your game?"
"Game? No game. What are you talking about?"
Alan looked at Amy. "Aims, are you okay? Did he force you to come here or try to hurt you?"
Amy looked at Alan quizzically. "What? No. Of course not. He's just showing me his etchings." She lifted up the book in her lap.
Alan was flabbergasted. He looked back to Christine and Sean, as if they had some kind of explanation. He looked all around, but there was nothing to see except some half-dressed boys in the middle of changing. He seized on the only oddity in the scene: "Something's going on! If the two of you are just talking about art, why the hell are you doing it in the middle of the boy's locker room for crying out loud?! Girls aren't allowed in here! And where's Rock?!"
Ryan grinned, "Oh that. We were hanging out in the hallway up until a minute ago, but I just had to come in here for a second to get something from my locker. Girls come in here from time to time when it's emptied out, no big deal. Look, you're standing next to a chick right now," he said as he nodded in Christine's direction. "As for Rock, I don't know what you're talking about. He got suspended and doesn't go to this school anymore. Duh!"
Mr. Jackson spoke up. "Amy, it's not a good idea to come in here, even for a minute. It's against school policy and we've had reports of harassment before. Now, Alan, is there something else you wanted me to see about, because I really need to be going."
Alan looked around and especially stared at the look of snide satisfaction on Ryan's face. He walked down a corridor between rows of lockers, motioning Mr. Jackson to come with him. As soon as he got out of Ryan's hearing, he said to the teacher in a low voice, "Mr. Jackson, I don't know what's going on, but I tell you, this is not normal! Ryan is up to something. I don't know what. Maybe they were waiting for the last few stragglers to leave before doing something dreadful to Amy."
Mr. Jackson shook his head dismissively. "Alan, I understand you're feeling a bit spooked. I heard about how you fell down the stairs and some of your other recent problems."
"I was PUSHED down the stairs, Mr. Jackson," he corrected him testily.
"So you say. And that may well be. Some of these guys, like Ryan here, I know they're a bit questionable and full of themselves. But next time, before you drag a teacher halfway across the school, you need more evidence. Now, can I go?"The inception of this chapter's publication is linked to n(0)vel(b)(j)(n).
"Wait a minute." Alan had visions of Ryan waiting for the teacher to go before springing his trap. He walked back, brushing past Christine and Sean, grabbed Amy's hand, and pulled her up. "Aims, we're leaving. Now. Please. It's important."
"M'kay." She turned to Ryan. "Thanks for sharing your drawings. It was nice to see you."
Alan growled, "It was NOT nice to see you. I don't know your game, Ryan, but you're not going to win."
"Oooh! I'm so scared," Ryan mocked with staged fright. "Boy, this was a real crisis situation. It's not like you're paranoid and jealous of Amy sitting with a REAL man, are you?"
"Shut the fuck up." Still holding Amy's hand, Alan headed out the room with Sean and Christine in tow. Mr. Jackson was already ahead of them.
Alan's face was burning with embarrassment as the group walked out of the building, down the stairs, and back into the light of day.
Mr. Jackson waved and walked off, not wanting to waste any more of his time.
Alan continued to walk with the others until he was well clear of the building, then stopped in the middle of a grass field. He turned back towards the gym and said while facing it, "Will someone tell me what that was all about? I thought the plan was going down! The plan was going DOWN!" He turned and looked to Christine.
Now it was her turn to look sheepish and embarrassed. She raised her hands in the air then waved them helplessly. "I don't know. That's how it seemed. I mean Rock coming to school, Amy with Ryan..."
Sean spoke up. "Dude, I don't know what's going on, like, AT ALL. But I saw the way he looked at you, all triumphant and full of himself. You would have thought he'd just finished beating you up or something. He's up to SOMEthing, that's for sure. I don't know, man. It seems to me like you just got played."
Amy was looking most befuddled. "Alan, love, can you tell me what this is about? I'm all in a muddle."
Alan spun around to look at his girlfriend. "Amy, you were told these football players are up to something. Well, Ryan is the obvious ringleader of the group out to get me and you're just sitting there, pretty as you please, looking at his etchings! 'Come look at my etchings' is one of the most clichéd come on lines of all time, didn't you know that?"
Growing more agitated, he said in a rising voice, "Not only that, but were you OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND to go into the boy's locker room all by yourself? You were just telling me, like, right at the end of sixth period that you had security taken care of. You had your own bodyguard, you said! What the heck?! Aiii-mee!"
Amy looked sad. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'd never met Ryan before. I didn't know him from Adam. Is he one of the ringleaders? Nobody told me that. I'm really super sorry to get you all worried! But I DID have a bodyguard. You may not have noticed, but my brother Brad was there. He wasn't, like, THERE there and standing next to me or something, because I asked him to keep his eye on me from a distance. He was a couple of rows away, listening for trouble. Those guys wouldn't have done anything with my brother close by."
Everyone looked over at the gym, and sure enough, there was Brad leaving with some of the athletes who had been in the locker room. They were walking away, headed to the school parking lot.
It occurred to Alan that even now, Brad had been keeping an eye on Amy, but was doing it in such an unobtrusive way that his friends didn't notice.
Alan looked from Brad to Amy a couple of times, then to Sean and Christine. Finally, he said, "God, I feel so stupid. Sorry, Amy, but communication was bad. I should have warned you explicitly about Ryan and a lot more. And you, Sean, you're totally out of the loop and you must be wondering if I've gone mad. Duh. I'm so stupid. It's just that so much has happened today that some things slipped through the cracks."
Christine spoke up, "No, it's my fault. At least partially. I told Katherine to warn Amy but I forgot to mention so many key things, like Ryan or Rock for that matter, wherever he is. I let everyone down."
"Nonsense," Alan said, still glum and frustrated. "It's just that things have been moving too fast. This whole plot just came out of nowhere hours ago. Look. Why don't the four of us go get an ice cream or something, and compare notes and figure this out? For one thing, I still feel vulnerable standing here in the middle of the school. Who knows what Ryan is planning. I have to admit, he totally surprised me. I'd feel better in a store."
Amy, Sean, and Christine had bicycles while Alan did not, since Susan drove him to school that morning. So they got their bicycles from the bike racks and walked to a Ben and Jerry's located just a couple of blocks from the school.
The mood at the shop was one of frustration and distress as they discussed what had happened and filled each other in with information. Then, as they licked their ice creams, the question was asked: just what was Ryan trying to do with this seemingly meaningless encounter?
There was a long silence after that, but then Christine spoke up. "I have a theory. Only a theory, mind you. You know about the two guys who backed out, right?" (A few minutes before, she had told Sean and Amy about the morning meeting of footballers and what Dave and Gary had done, though she didn't mention Dave and Gary by name to protect their identities.)
She continued, "If you look at it like a military operation, when they defected the operational security was blown. They WERE going to do something after school today, but they didn't know who knew what. So they went ahead with kind of a practice run of what they were going to do, just to see what kind of reaction they'd get. Who would turn up? Alan, would you take matters into your own hands and gather up a posse, or go fetch the authorities, or what? What information had been leaked, and who had leaked it? Actually, when you think about it, it's pretty smart. Now they can plan again and be much better prepared next time."
Sean nodded, adding, "On top of that, they've got the whole 'boy who cried wolf' thing going on now. I'm sure Mr. Jackson will complain about how he was all put out for a big ado about nothing, and other teachers will think twice if Alan asks them to go check out something without a lot of evidence first."
Alan dropped his head. "Damn. That sucks. It makes sense. Now they know that my so called 'posse' is a posse of two. That's pretty sorry-assed. And it's not like I really had more people to go to who would know how to fight if I'd had more time to round them up. And not only that, but now that I think about it, Christine, they're going to be wondering big time why on earth you were there. If they do some digging, the element of surprise about the extent of your martial arts training will probably be blown. Dang! This sucks!"
The others all nodded glumly.
Amy grabbed Alan's arm and held him for support. "I'm worried about you. Really worried!"
He looked into her eyes. "And I'm more worried about you, Amy! I don't like this whole idea that you might be used for bait. If anyone harms a single hair on your head, I swear, I'm totally going to go postal!"
Sean lightly punched Alan in the shoulder to get his attention and as a brotherly gesture. "Hey dude, whatever help you need, just ask. I had no clue. I thought we were walking into a lion's den to get our asses kicked by a whole squad of big Neanderthals. But I was totally ready to duke it out, shoulder to shoulder. That's what friends are for, right? It's the least I can do, especially after everything you've done for me lately."
Christine's curiosity was piqued by that last comment. She filed it away as something to be investigated when she had the time.
Alan lightly punched Sean back. "Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Now, we just need like twelve more of you to even up the odds. I'm worried. I thought these guys were pretty stupid, but apparently this Ryan has a brain. That look he gave me - it was almost like he was saying to me, 'I'm going to attack you soon, but you don't know where, you don't know when, you don't know how, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.' What a prick! That's what really kills me, this not knowing. If it was just something like, 'come fight me at McGill's after school,' I could deal with that. But this! They could be planning anything now!" He turned to Christine. "We need more information."
She replied, "That could be a tough one. I think they've successfully tested the loyalty of their group and flushed out the ones who couldn't be trusted. They'll probably figure out at least one of the guys, you know the one I was telling you about who was talking to all the others and trying to moderate the plan? I'm sure they'll make an example out of him, which will cause the remaining pack to stick together that much tighter. I can try to ask around, and I will, but with school out and Thanksgiving coming up, I can't see how we'll learn anything new until Monday. And even then, I don't know. We're pretty much flying blind now."
Alan paused, then emphatically cursed, "Damn!"
The group finished the rest of their ice creams in silence.
But Amy hated to see when people got sad. Suddenly, she grabbed Christine's arm and said, "Hey, everybody here needs to take a chill pill. Why the sad faces? I say we go back to Alan's house and have some fun! What do y'all say?" She leaned into Christine conspiratorially. "You know what they say, Christine, I'm the girlfriend that loves to share her boyfriend with others. Or maybe you'd prefer Sean here?"
Christine found herself so flustered that she couldn't think straight. "Wha- what do you mean? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Amy leaned in even closer and whispered conspiratorially, "I'm saying, sex is a great way to relieve stress."
Christine was so flummoxed by that that she was rendered completely speechless. Her face grew red as a beet. She tried to look around to see if anyone else had heard that, but Amy still held onto her tightly. She was suddenly very regretful that she'd unbuttoned two buttons on her shirt since leaving school to better entice Alan. She felt that all eyes were on her two suddenly hard nipples.
Suddenly Amy broke into laughter and everyone else followed suit. "Just joshin' ya, Christine! Geez, Louise! Relax, already!"
Christine laughed along, but it was more of a nervous laughter. She couldn't relate to Amy's easy going ways and couldn't tell when she was joking and when she wasn't. She wanted to crawl under a rock and die, but continued to smile for appearances' sake.
Alan looked at Amy continuing to playfully cling to and prod a resistant and stiff Christine, and thought, God, that's so hot: Amy and Christine together. Just the thought! And I can see Sean is thinking the same thing. It's funny, 'cos Christine is this self declared "goody-goody," yet she has the face and body of a porn star... Damn, it's so frustrating. I've made a promise to myself that I can't get involved with her, and I swear I'm gonna keep it if it's the last thing I do. She's just too good for me and my fucked up sex world. Damn!
At least Amy's kidding had broken the morose mood. The group began talking and joking again.
Sean pointed out to Alan, "You know, dude, your whole situation is kind of like the end of 'The Empire Strikes Back', don't you think? I mean, think about it. When you first watch that film you're thinking Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are finally gonna have it out and that'll be the end of it. But noooOOOoooo! Climax denied."
Christine was now freed of Amy and feeling more like her usual self. She said in an acidic tone, "Looks like somebody here needs to get out more often."
But Alan ignored that and said to Sean, "I see what you mean. And think: the people who saw that when it first came out had to wait three whole years to get to the ending. Harsh!" Making a reference to how Luke Skywalker had one of his hands chopped off at the end of the film, he joked, "But on the plus side, at least I still have both of my hands!"
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