< Chapter 21

Chapter 22

There were just over two weeks until Christmas vacation. The last set of exams were on December 22nd and there was only one more week of regular classes until exams started. Exams started on the 13th and would proceed until the end of the school day on the 22nd. Everyone had been counting down for weeks now, unable to wait until they had two whole weeks without homework, school and all of the drama that had been building up over the course of the past four months.

It had now been over a month since Justin and Nick had last spoken and although they hadn’t had any harsh words exchanged between them, they had taken to avoiding each other entirely. Neither would admit to it, but they were more miserable than ever. It was now a matter of being used to ignoring the problem than anything, as neither cared what the start of it had been, they just missed their best friend. Each day both of them longed to go over to the other in science and put an end to the fighting, but as their eyes would meet, doubt would set in and they would assume that the other didn’t want to talk to them still, so they kept silent.

Nick and AJ headed towards the Sophomore Quad, laughing and joking, unaware that anything was wrong. It was the appearance of Josh at their table, waiting for them with a serious expression on his face that alerted them that there was any sort of trouble. "Josh, what’s up dude?" AJ said as he sat down. His eyes darted towards the door as they always did, waiting for Lance to show up. They had been going out for two whole weeks and AJ had never been happier. It was better than he’d ever thought it would be, although they didn’t do anything really different to how they had before they’d decided to go out, it was just the knowledge that they felt the same about each other that made it so special.

"We need to talk," Josh said as he nodded a greeting to both Nick and AJ. "When will Lance be here?"

"He should be a few seconds," Nick responded. He didn’t like the serious expression on Josh’s face, and that mixed with his early appearance was unsettling. He looked up at the door and was even more surprised when he saw Christina and Britney with Lance, accompanying him into the Sophomore Quad. Although Christina and Josh had been going out for a few weeks now, she still usually ate in the cafeteria with their other friends. Josh would stop by the Quad, say hey and talk for a few minutes before meeting her at the cafeteria doors so they would spend the rest of their short lunch together. Never once had she come to eat with them. Nick knew it was something extremely serious and almost expected Justin to come through the doors. Nothing would surprise him at this point.

"Okay, good. We’re all here." Josh said grimly. When Lance and the girls sat down, he briefly kissed Christina’s lips before turning to face the rest of the group. "When was the last time you guys spoke to Justin?"

"Friday in science," Britney answered. Josh shook his head. "Not you girls, I mean you guys." He looked at Nick, AJ and Lance.

Almost instantly, all three boys became defensive. "Look, he runs in the opposite direction when we try to talk to him," AJ argued.

Josh held his hands up in defense. "I’m not attacking, I’m curious. I’m hardly here, so I never know. But how long has it been?"

Lance, Nick and AJ exchanged glances. They all shrugged. "He’s been avoiding us even more in the past few weeks. Won’t even acknowledge us."

Josh nodded, his expression still grim. "He phoned me on Saturday night. He stayed over at my house."

Everyone was shocked at the news. Although Justin and Josh were friends, they hadn’t been known to really hang out together, just the two of them. Josh wasn’t finished talking and held his hand up to signal for everyone to let him finish. When he was certain that they were going to stay silent, he continued.

"He phoned at around eleven thirty. He was at a party, out in West Hill." West Hill was a small town just outside of Middletown, about a half hours drive away. "He’d gone with some of the guys from the Varsity team. I’d just got home from work and was about to get into the shower when my mom called up, said that the phone was for me.

"Joshua, the phone. Who the heck is calling you this late? It’s nearly midnight."

Josh hurried from the bathroom to his bedroom and picked up the phone. His parents were up and he couldn’t figure out why they would be so annoyed that someone was calling, but at the same time he too was curious as to who would be phoning him that late. He’d already talked to Christina that night, and Billy and Kyle had stopped in to see him for his break earlier. "Hello?"

The only thing Josh could hear on the line was someone sniffling. At first he thought it might be a crank caller, but why would they have asked specifically if they were pulling a prank.

"Hello? Who is it?" He asked again. This time the person answered.

"J-josh? It’s Justin."

Josh felt his stomach churn sickly and was immediately concerned. He knew Justin had his phone number, but never once had the younger boy used it. From the sounds of Justin’s sniffling and coughing, he was in trouble.

"Oh my god, Justin? What’s wrong? Are you okay?" He prayed that the answer was yes, that Justin was okay.

"No. I’m not okay, and everything’s wrong." Justin paused and Josh could hear him start to cry again. There was faint music playing in the background and before he’d realized it, Josh was dressed not in the pajamas he’d intended on putting on after his shower, but a pair of jeans and a long sleeved tee. He had his car keys in his hand and was slipping his wallet into his back pocket. "Can you..."

"Where are you?" Josh asked. He was trying desperately not to panic. When he looked up, he saw his mother in his doorway, her frown now turning into a look of concern.

"Is everything okay Joshua?" She asked. When he shook her head, she came further into the room and sat down on his bed.

"Justin, tell me where you are."

"I don’t know," Justin admitted. "We’re at a party ...in West Hill. Some guy that Liam knows."

"Where are you?" Josh asked, closing his eyes. The more he talked to Justin, the calmer he seemed to be getting, which was putting him at ease, just slightly.

"In West Hill!" Justin repeated.

"In the house Justin, where are you in the house?"

Justin chuckled, despite the tears that were coursing down his cheeks. He felt stupid for crying like a baby, but the panic attack had hit him so suddenly and there was nothing else he could do. He’d began hyperventilating and ran out of the main party room towards the first open door he could find. Not that he’d expected them to, but no one followed him in to make sure he’d been okay. Justin had never felt so alone and scared in his whole life, and he had no way of getting back home. He'd been about to call his mother, who he knew would kill him for lying to her about where he was going, when he’d gotten the idea to call Josh. "I’m in ..." He looked around and realized that he was in an office of some sort. "...an office."

Josh was confused, "an office?"

"Someone’s home office."

"Oh, a study." Josh took a few cleansing breaths and forced himself to calm down . "Look around, see if you can find something with their name and address on it." He heard Justin rustling papers around until finally he gave a soft cheer.

"Okay, this says 5214 Hazelton Drive. It’s by the water, I know that much."

"Mom," Josh asked. "Do you know West Hill all that well?"

Mrs. Chasez gave a nod in response. "Yes, I had a friend in high school who lived out there. Is everything all right Joshua?" She felt a pang of guilt for being so angry at the late hour of the phone call when it seemed to be an emergency.

"Not really, mom." Josh admitted with a frown. "Do you know where Hazelton Drive is? It’s by the water?"

His mother nodded again. "Vaguely, it’s not a big town. Won’t be hard to find. Let me put on something more appropriate."

"Justin," Josh said into the phone. "We’re on our way. Are you hurt?"

"No," Justin wasn’t hurt, at least not physically. His pride had taken a pretty bad beating though. And the worst part was that he was going to have to go out of that door and walk past everyone he’d just embarrassed himself in front of to get out the front door. But the knowledge that when he did, Josh would be outside waiting to take him home was more than worth it. "I’m sorry to bother you Josh, your mom sounded pissed."

Josh chuckled. "Nah, now that she thinks you’re in trouble she’s feeling all guilty. We might even get to stop for big gulps on the way home, on her if we play our cards right."

Justin felt an overwhelming sense of relief fill him. He hadn’t been expecting Josh’s next question. "Did you want me to pick anyone up? Nick or Lance maybe?"

"No, just you."

Nothing more was said. Josh understood completely.

"We’ll be there in about a half an hour, sit tight."

And with that, Josh hung up the phone and went downstairs to find his mother already waiting for him. "I’ll explain in the car," Josh promised as he received a concerned look from his mother.

It had taken them just over thirty-five minutes to arrive at the address Justin told them he was. The freshman was sitting at the foot of the driveway, arms wrapped tightly around his legs, head resting on his knees. "J?" Josh called from the front seat.

Justin looked up to see two people in the car, his heart leapt to his throat and he started to panic until Josh turned the interior light of the car on and Justin realized he didn’t recognize the woman in the passenger side of the car. He stood up, and slightly embarrassed, slid into the back seat. Once he’d done his seat belt up he spoke. "Thanks for coming to get me Josh."

"Thanks for calling." Josh nodded towards his mother as he pulled out of the driveway and headed in the direction they’d just come. "This is my mom, mom, this is Justin."

"Nice to meet you sweetheart," Mrs. Chasez said warmly.

"I’m sorry for bothering you. I know it was late but ..."

"Oh, don’t worry about it Justin. Never hesitate to call if you’re in an emergency."

"I don’t know West Hill all that well, so I had her come with me," Josh apologized as he looked at Justin in the rear view mirror. He hadn’t seen the younger boy in a few weeks and he was shocked to see just how exhausted he looked. Josh’s heart went out to him. "Do you need me to take you home?"

Justin blushed and looked out the window. "I ...kinda called my mom after I called you. After I calmed down a little. She thinks ...we went to the movies tonight and that I'm staying at your house. I hope that’s okay."

"I think that sounds fine," Josh’s mother said warmly. "I don’t condone lying as you were clearly not at a movie, but I think you have a lot of thinking to do before you go home."

"Mom, he’s had a rough enough night already, he doesn’t need you lecturing him."

"Did you want those big gulps you promised him, or not?"

Josh looked over at his mother in surprise before bursting into laughter. Even Justin was laughing from the back seat.


"Well, then you’ll listen to a bit of advice from your mother young man." She then turned to Justin and gave him a sympathetic smile. "I don’t know what happened tonight sweetie, but I can see how unhappy you are. You should really think about why that is, and why it was you felt the need to be rescued. If it was important enough to lie to your mother about it, it should have been a fun party, right?"

Justin nodded solemnly. He didn’t say anything and she simply nodded. They understood each other.

When they reached Josh’s house, the two teens immediately went up to Josh’s bedroom. A cot was rolled in and Mrs. Chasez gave him a few blankets. By this time it was almost one in the morning and both teens were exhausted, but neither could speak. In the silence, Josh could faintly hear the sounds of muffled cries.

"Justin?" He whispered softly. The sobs paused and Josh knew Justin was holding his breath.


"Yeah?" Justin pressed his face in the pillow. He didn’t want to cry in front of Josh, but at the same time couldn’t stop. The word came out muffled and hoarse.

"Come here."

"What?" Justin didn’t even try to hide the sound of that sob, he’d been taken so off guard by Josh’s command.

"Please come here."

Justin was off the cot and scrambled onto Josh’s bed, falling immediately into his arms. He pressed his face into Josh’s tee shirt covered chest and cried for everything that had happened over the past month.

"...and I was so mean to Nick and he hates me and I don’t blame him. I thought he was just jealous of me, but it’s me jealous of him. He’s so perfect and lucky and everyone likes him and he doesn’t even care that we’re not friends anymore. He doesn’t miss me at all and it’s just not fair."

Josh listened while Justin released all of his pent up frustrations and emotions. Most of what Justin was saying was false, but he didn’t know that. He was seeing things on a very skewed scale, but Josh needed Justin calm before he could begin to tell him that.

"I wish I hadn’t have made the team. That’s when it started."

"What happened tonight?" Josh asked when Justin took a pause. Justin had talked about everything but the reason he’d phoned him.

Justin’s cheeks blazed in embarrassment and he shrugged. "I don’t want to talk about it."

"I do."

They stared each other down until finally Justin relented. "I’ve been eating lunch with some of the boys on the Varsity team. They pretty much ignore me and tease me, but they let me eat with them so I go."

"Why don’t you eat in the quad? I know everyone really misses you in there."

Justin ignored Josh’s question. He continued with his story. "So they were talking yesterday about this party, the one we went to tonight. How fun it was going to be and how there were going to be hot girls there. Well, they never ever ask me if I want to go to anything, so yesterday when Liam asked if I wanted to come, I was so surprised I said yes. I thought maybe they were finally starting to like me so I agreed to go. I didn’t care that it was in West Hill and that it was all going to be people I didn’t know. Liam and Mike were going and I thought that if they were asking me, they really wanted me to go too. So we went."

Josh nodded as he listened. He stroked Justin’s back gently, trying to comfort the younger boy.

"It was fine but the second we got there they ditched me. Liam went into some room with some girl and Mike just said ‘later’ and went into the kitchen. I followed him but they were all drinking in there. There was beer and other stuff and everyone was getting loaded. I went into the living room to stay in there and maybe talk to people who weren’t drinking. B ut everyone was. The later it got, the more everyone was drinking and when Liam finally came out of the back room, he was doing up his pants and wasn’t even wearing a shirt. The girl he had gone in with was wearing it and her skirt was on backwards. They’d been drinking in there because everyone was drunk."


Josh felt his stomach churn and he held Justin closer, thankful that the teen called when he did. "What happened?"

"I asked when we were leaving and they laughed and said they’d leave when they were ready. I said they were drinking and they shouldn’t drive but they made fun of me and told me that maybe if I drank, I wouldn’t be such a little kid and would be cooler. So then everyone was trying to get me to drink. I wouldn’t, so the girl that had gone into the bedroom with Liam said that if I had a beer, she would ..." Justin shuddered and closed his eyes tight. A few tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes and he took a few breaths.

"Shhh," Josh soothed, "it’s okay."

"She said she would give me a blow job and then started to undo my pants. Everyone was laughing at me and so I ran through the crowd and into the room where I called you. It was so embarrassing."

"I know it was, J." Josh said softly. He was going to find Mike and Liam on Monday and kick the shit out of them. He knew exactly who Justin was talking about and knew exactly what type of assholes they were.

"And then when I told them I was leaving, they laughed at me and called me names. Everyone was making fun of me and so I grabbed my coat and went outside. They’re such fucking assholes, I hate them."

"Yeah, they are J." Josh took a few deep breaths before forcing his body to relax. "J, why don't you just talk to Nicky. I know he misses you, and he’s so hurt. He doesn’t know what he’s done to make you hate him so much and it’s killing him that you’re not friends anymore. And I know you’re hurting too."

"Because I was so horrible to him, he won’t forgive me. I’ve made such a mess out of everything. All because of that damn team."

"Oh J," Josh assured him. " He does forgive you. He just needs you to talk to him. And he’s so proud that you made the team. He’s been to every game, has the schedule posted in his locker over Kevin’s football schedule. God, you should hear him when someone talks about you, he’s so happy that you made the team, and doesn’t care that you only sit on the bench, he knows you’re there because they saw something in you."

"I don’t deserve it," Justin said with a yawn.

"You do, god you do Justin. Why can’t you see it?" Josh could feel Justin’s body relaxing and knew that he was falling asleep. "Talk to him, tell him what you told me."

He waited for Justin to respond. It was when he heard a faint snoring when he realized that the younger boy had fallen asleep. Josh laid awake for at least another hour, trying to figure out what he was going to do to help the young, broken boy in his arms. He knew the first thing he had to do was talk to the others, and let them know what had happened.

Josh finished his story with a sigh, not surprised to see tears in Britney and Christina’s eyes. Lance and AJ were staring at him in shock while Nick’s expression was harder to read. On one hand he was sad and forlorn, but on the other, there was a rage that Josh had never seen in his eyes. The whole table jumped a foot when Nick abruptly stood up.

"I’m going to fucking kill them." Nick stormed through the quad and down the hall, heading towards the junior lounge where he figured Liam and Mike ate lunch. He barely even acknowledged the sounds of his friends calling after him to not do something he would regret. Nick was outside of the Senior Lounge when he saw the two teens in question. They were most likely going from their lockers to the Junior Lounge, which was just around the corner. Nick wasn’t sure what he was going to say or do until he heard the last bit of conversation coming from Liam.

"You should have seen the look on Fresh Meat’s face. He looked like he was going to piss himself. ‘You shouldn’t be drinking and driving, it’s not safe’." Liam mocked Justin’s high voice and started to laugh. "And when Ashley said that she’d blow him if he drank a beer, he didn’t have a clue what to do. Probably wouldn’t know what to do if a girl did get on her knees and open her mouth for him."


"So, what happened?" One of their friends asked, clearly interested in the story. Mike stepped in to continue.

"He started to cry and ran to call his mommy. He’s such a fucking infant, I mean, you have Ashley "Hoover" Warner willing to suck your dick, you don’t question it."

"What happened next?"

"I told her that I’d drink five if she promised to blow me! Thing is, she’d have done it anyways."

The three friends started to laugh and high five, which only further enraged Nick. "Shut up!" He screamed loud enough to grab the attention within a hundred feet distance. Everyone in the hallway, and even some people from the Senior Lounge turned to look at what was causing the commotion.

Liam, Mike and the third boy turned to look at him. "Excuse me?" Liam sneered.

"I said for you to shut up! Don’t you dare talk about him like that."

"Who?" Mike asked with a laugh. "Timberlake?"

"What are you, his girlfriend?" Liam asked chuckling. "That’s why he didn’t want Ashley sucking his dick, he’s already got this girl to do it for him."

"That’s not a girl, dude, that’s a guy."

Both Mike and Liam looked at their friend as if he was stupid. "We know that ass wipe, that’s the joke."

"No, you’re the joke." Nick countered. He was scared at the prospect of these three boys beating him up, but he was so mad at the way they were talking about Justin that he didn’t care. "You’re such idiots. You think it’s cool to treat people like that? I can’t believe he wanted to be your friends. And he was right, you shouldn't be drinking and driving."

The last comment caused for them all to burst into laughter once more before Liam approached Nick, towering over him. "And who are you? The road police?"

"I’m someone who thinks you’re an idiot. And you better stop talking about Justin like that or else."

"Or else what? What are you going to do? You’re no one!"

"If he’s a no one, then so are you," A voice said from behind Nick. He turned around to find a very angry looking Brian and Kevin walking towards them. Behind Brian was Craig Lyons. Nick’s jaw dropped open for a moment before he remembered what he had been interrupted for.

Nick continued to speak his mind. "You think he’s an infant? You think that it’s okay for you to make fun of him and that he’s not cool because he didn’t want to drink or have sex with that girl? Well he’s a hell of a lot smarter and cooler than you’ll ever be and you should have been lucky that he’d even want to be your friend."

"You want to know what else he is that you aren’t?" Craig said, clearly not impressed. For the first time since Nick had started this, Liam and Mike looked afraid. They shook their heads and both swallowed thickly. "On the team."

"What?" Liam screamed in anger. "What’s that supposed to mean!"

"What part of it didn’t you get," Brian spat. "You know the rules and ...do you need to tell me how many you broke this weekend?"

"Not to mention that I don’t want someone who would treat another member of this team the way you’ve treated Justin this weekend," Craig added.

"Did that little bitch tell you what happened?" Mike growled. "Because Timberlake’s a little liar."

"No, Justin, not surprisingly, isn’t at school today. I got a message that he wouldn’t be at practice tonight because he was ‘sick’. So he hasn’t said anything. It was YOU TWO bragging all morning that spread the word around. You really do need to worry about who you talk to when you’re discussing your weekend exploits because there are a lot of people who disagree with how highly you regard yourself. I’ve had about a half a dozen people tell me your ‘cool’ little story from the weekend. I was on my way to find you, but it appeared that Carter here did it for me." Craig smiled at Nick who was still seething with rage at Mike and Liam.

"You can’t kick us off the team!" Liam said hotly.

"I can," Coach Griffith said as he revealed his presence. "And I just did."

"But Coach.."

"Do you want to talk about this here?" Coach Griffith waved his arms at all the people who were watching, wide eyed. "Because we can. We can air out all of your dirty laundry so that everyone knows what type of people you are. Or did you want to discuss it in private? It’s your call"

"This isn’t fair!"

"Neither were the events of a party in West Hill in Saturday night where a boy is, from what I've heard, too embarrassed to come to school today because of what his teammates had done to him. So if you want to discuss fair, I’d be happy to go into detail about that as well."

Liam turned to Nick and scowled at him. He approached the blonde who kept his ground. "You’d better watch out Carter. You and your girlfriend Timberlake."

"You don’t scare me," Nick’s voice portrayed a confidence that he wasn’t exactly feeling. But the last thing he was going to do was stand down from these two bullies.

"Do we want to go for suspension instead of just being kicked off the team?" Coach Griffiths asked sternly. "Because that can be arranged. Right now I’d be all too happy to do it."

"No."

"Then follow me. Everyone, good day. Be on your way, the show is over. Lyons, Littrell, Carter, I will be seeing you this afternoon. Expect my call."

Slowly, the crowd started to disperse and eventually, Nick was left alone in the hall with Kevin and Brian at his side, Josh, AJ, Lance, Britney and Christina down the hall and out of the way. Everyone was watching Nick with caution, unsure of what he was going to do. Finally, when the rage passed Nick sighed and turned to Brian.

"I’m really sorry for causing such a big scene." He jumped in surprise when Kevin laughed.

"Holy shit, that was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. They were going to shit themselves when we came out. And then when the Coach appeared."


Despite Brian’s anger, he couldn’t help but chuckle. "What?"

"Are you kidding? I saw him coming like a mac truck down the hall, full of piss and vinegar. I thought you were going to haul out and deck someone," Kevin laughed as he nodded towards Nick. "And you didn’t back down. He was trying to be intimidating but you just gave it to him, called him on and everything."

Nick couldn’t help but blush at Kevin’s attention. He didn’t know how to respond.

"You are mean when you want to be, almost growling. Remind me to stay on your good side! First you nearly take Joey’s head off, and then you take on two guys bigger than you. That’s balls kid."

"Don’t apologize Nick, it’s us that need to be apologizing, although the person we should be doing it to isn’t here." Brian frowned as he thought about Justin and how the rumours he’d been hearing all morning had in fact been true. He couldn’t even imagine how mortified the freshman was.

"It’s really cool that you stuck up for him like that," Kevin said with a nod. "Especially knowing they might have beat the shit out of you. Not that they would have gotten far, but still. It was three on one, they would have at least tried."

Now that the adrenaline was slowly dissipating, Nick found he was exhausted. He looked down the hall to see his friends standing there, watching him with awe in their eyes. A blush covered his face and neck as he shrugged. "Whatever. I just ...couldn’t not say something. You know?" Realizing that they’d been kicked off the team, Nick was curious. "So, does that mean they’re really not going to be on the team?"

Brian nodded. "And they can’t try out next year. We have rules that we have to follow, because we’re leaders right. It’s a whole leadership thing, when you’re on Varsity or on Student Council and stuff like that. And drinking is a big thing."

"So is taking freshmen to parties with drinking and sex and shaming or forcing them into doing things they don’t feel comfortable doing. We’re supposed to be here to help you, not hurt you." There was an angry tone in Kevin’s voice and Nick could see his lips had formed a thin, tight line. "It’s a reason why they haven’t put a freshman on Varsity ever, it’s just too much pressure. You’re so young and impressionable.."

"We’re only three years younger!" Nick argued.

"Still, it’s three years. It makes a difference."

"Whatever."

"Anyways, he shouldn’t have been brought to the party in the first place, and second, they shouldn’t have been drinking and trying to force him to drink. What would have happened had they driven home and got hurt?"

"They did drive home," Nick said.

"But he wasn’t with them. He wasn’t forced into the car knowing it was wrong."

Nick shuddered to think that Justin would have gotten in and something might have happened to him. He was forced to blink back tears. Kevin and Brian noticed. "See?"

"What’s going to happen now?"

Brian shrugged, "I don’t know. Coach Griffiths said he’d talk to us, so I assume he’ll let us know then."

The warning bell rang, Brian and Kevin looked at each other. "We’ll see you later Carter," Brian said with a smile. Kevin nodded as he headed in the direction of his locker.

"Come on Killer," Josh said affectionately. He put his arm around Nick’s shoulder and directed them towards Fresh Meat Lane. The blonde smiled thankfully at him, surprised when Christina took his hand on the other side. She squeezed it affectionately and winked.

"We can talk about it more in science if you want."

Nick was thankful that she understood that what Josh had said to them had been weighing heavily on his mind. He hadn’t realized how upset Justin had been. Where Nick thought it was anger, it was really anxiety that was keeping Justin away from them. Anxiety and a sense of being not wanting or cared about. That knowledge made Nick want to cry, because nothing had been further from the truth. The day had already been emotional and he had a feeling it wasn’t going to get any better.

End Chapter 22


Chapter 23 >