“Get out of the pool, fags. I don’t want any of you eyeing my dick in my swim trunks and getting all hot over me,” Slate yanked off his shirt and stood there, flexing his muscles. God, he was huge, intimidatingly huge,and watching me. He pecked a kiss on his biceps and winked, “Like what you see?”
I gagged.
The three other students who had been swimming laps with Joey climbed silently out of the pool, quickly grabbed a few towels, and ran for the lockers.
Damn, I hoped they were getting the stupid coach.
Joey slowly made his way out behind his teammates, but stayed by the edge of the pool across from me. I knew he wouldn’t leave me alone in here with Slate and his minions.
Spiky-gelled-haired-stupid-guido #1 walked behind me, and Joey’s eyes flared with anger.Crap on a guido, I wish Jase was here. I glanced up at the clock above the door; his lab was over two minutes ago. Where the heck was he?
Spiky-gelled-haired-stupid-guido #2 walked behind Joey and without warning, shoved him hard into the pool.
“Leave him alone, you piece of shit!” I screamed, moving closer to the edge of the pool.
“Hey, baby, we’re just having a little fun is all,” Guido #1 said as he grabbed me around the front of my chest and yanked me away from the pool.
I watched in horror as the rest of the guidos dove into the pool and swam for Joey. Slate stood at the edge and goaded them on.
“Let me go, or you’re going to be sorry,” I calmly told the son of a bitch behind me.
The idiot behind me laughed and held me tighter.
Joey was too fast for the greasy guidos, and he made it to the ladder. Must have been all that hair gel that made them all too slow. But, Slate was there to cut him off and shove him back in, slamming his body on top of him and pushing Joey under the water.
I could see Joey’s arms and legs ferociously kicking and flailing and struggling to get free as Slate held him under and laughed.
“Let him go!” I screamed. He was going to drown him!
Instantly, my arms reached up, one grabbed the collar of the jerk behind me, the other took hold of the arms that he had tight around my neck. Pushing my jaw into the crease of his elbow, I whispered, “Goodnight, big boy,” and did a perfectippon sainagi.Kneeling and rolling forward, I threw the dumbass guido through the air and face first into the hard, tiled floor. He landed with a glorious wet smack, so loud it caused all the guidos to stop and stare at me.
No one but me saw Jase walk into the poolroom.
I lunged at Slate’s arms, sliding along the wet edge of the pool, as Jase dove into the pool towards us.
Clawing at Slate’s arms to free Joey until he finally let him go, Joey broke through the surface of the water sputtering and coughing.
Frantically, I yanked him over the side at the same time Jase caught up to us and helped me push him up and lay him flat on the ground.
I felt the tears spill out over my face, watching Joey throw up pool water, while desperately gasping for air, and I clung to his heaving chest, sobbing loudly.
The coach was beside us in seconds, and the school safety officers were pulling the sick guido pieces of shit out of the water.
They brought us to the main office and called Joey’s mother and the police. I still clung to him. We sat shivering, soaking wet, until they brought towels and wrapped us both together to try to stop our bodies from shaking.
Jase sat in front of us on the wooden chairs of the office and silently watched us. His eyes never left us. They scanned back and forth over Joey and me, wide and angry, over and over.
By six o’clock that evening, Slate Marshall and the other four students involved in the attack were expelled from the school and brought up on charges. The words were said to me, and my statement was asked, but I couldn’t focus on anything but holding Joey.
Even when we were driven home, they couldn’t pry me off him.
That night, Jase and I took Joey back to the beach, and the three of us just sat silently watching the waves lap against the sand. We stayed and watched the sunset and looked out on the cold dark ocean we conquered just the day before. I could distinctly remember sitting there, the gritty sand against my skin, the smell of salty water, and thinking that one day soon the tide was going to come in and wash my friends and my life away from me, sweeping them all out to sea…
As the memory faded and I sat across from a passed-out Bren, I knew that I needed to go visit Joey. It had been too long since I was near him; he always had the ability to ease my heart without ever having to say a word. Then, maybe I could figure out what it was I needed to do with the rest of my life.
Because every time there was
Something good in my life,
