Know Your Enemy
Chapter 4: Harrassed
The bullies tormented Zade for the next few weeks. All because he actually had the guts to come out of the closet. They would put crude drawings on his locker; they would trip him and call him 'princess' in the hallways. Zade never cried, though. Not at school, anyway. He was strong there. I knew he was depressed, though, because of his drawings.
Gabriel, Gloria, Hunter, Gina, Mat, Jason, Presley, Zade, and I were hanging out in Gabriel's basement; the HorrorPops were blasting from the large stereo in the background. I saw that Zade was drawing a very dark, cynical picture. This was unusual for him, because he normally made very bright and perceptive drawings. Something was wrong.
"Is everything ok, man?" I asked Zade.
He immediately dropped his sketchpad and got up from the couch, "I don't know, Jonas. I have no effin' clue anymore," and he ran upstairs. I picked up his sketchpad and saw that he was shading in a bleak, empty road.
"Damn," said Jason to Gabriel, "your kid brother needs help, Gabe. That one bastard . . . whatshisface . . . Logan Mayer - yeah. He's been tormenting your brother like crazy!"
Gabriel was very stiff and unsettled by Jason's remark about Logan Mayer; Gloria immediately sat down next to him on the couch across from where Zade previously sat. She began to massage his back to calm him down. The two of them had gotten very close since their first acquaintance that one day at lunch-time our freshman year. They started dating that October. For a while, it was an on-again, off-again relationship. Both of them would be seeing various people when they started dating, but they would always return to each other in the end. This past year, they've become inseparable. It's like, if Gabriel's there, so is Gloria. And vice-versa. They make the perfect odd couple.
"He'll be ok, Gabe," Gloria whispered into his ear, "He's a tough kid."
"He's not ok, Gloria," said Hunter from a bean-bag chair, "I've seen Logan and his crew harass the poor kid. They've beaten him up! And Logan? God. I wouldn't mess with him. I hear he's a member of some infamous street gang in the area - the Cripz? It's scary."
"Well, what are we gonna do about it?" asked Gina, "We can't fight them. That will only make things worse - we would be egging them on."
We all looked toward Gabriel for an answer; he almost always made the big decisions in our group. Where to go, what to do, etcetera. He always had a confident answer for us. This time, however, he was not as secure; he seemed much more apprehensive.
"I'll talk to Logan tomorrow," he answered firm as he could.
Gabriel, Gloria, Hunter, Gina, Mat, Jason, Presley, Zade, and I were hanging out in Gabriel's basement; the HorrorPops were blasting from the large stereo in the background. I saw that Zade was drawing a very dark, cynical picture. This was unusual for him, because he normally made very bright and perceptive drawings. Something was wrong.
"Is everything ok, man?" I asked Zade.
He immediately dropped his sketchpad and got up from the couch, "I don't know, Jonas. I have no effin' clue anymore," and he ran upstairs. I picked up his sketchpad and saw that he was shading in a bleak, empty road.
"Damn," said Jason to Gabriel, "your kid brother needs help, Gabe. That one bastard . . . whatshisface . . . Logan Mayer - yeah. He's been tormenting your brother like crazy!"
Gabriel was very stiff and unsettled by Jason's remark about Logan Mayer; Gloria immediately sat down next to him on the couch across from where Zade previously sat. She began to massage his back to calm him down. The two of them had gotten very close since their first acquaintance that one day at lunch-time our freshman year. They started dating that October. For a while, it was an on-again, off-again relationship. Both of them would be seeing various people when they started dating, but they would always return to each other in the end. This past year, they've become inseparable. It's like, if Gabriel's there, so is Gloria. And vice-versa. They make the perfect odd couple.
"He'll be ok, Gabe," Gloria whispered into his ear, "He's a tough kid."
"He's not ok, Gloria," said Hunter from a bean-bag chair, "I've seen Logan and his crew harass the poor kid. They've beaten him up! And Logan? God. I wouldn't mess with him. I hear he's a member of some infamous street gang in the area - the Cripz? It's scary."
"Well, what are we gonna do about it?" asked Gina, "We can't fight them. That will only make things worse - we would be egging them on."
We all looked toward Gabriel for an answer; he almost always made the big decisions in our group. Where to go, what to do, etcetera. He always had a confident answer for us. This time, however, he was not as secure; he seemed much more apprehensive.
"I'll talk to Logan tomorrow," he answered firm as he could.