Status: Complete!
I Had It All
All Is Not Fair In Love And War.
-Flashback-
“This isn’t any fun without Rian here,” Kara pouted, flapping her lips together, resting her head on her hand, which was propped on her knee with her elbow.
“You’ll get to see him third quarter, and again after the game,” Kelsey reminded her. Rian was in the marching band, so Kelsey, Kara, Jack, Matt and I were at the game. Zack even came with his girlfriend Dani, even though they both didn’t even go to this school. We were sitting in the stands across from the band section, just so Kara could occasionally talk to Rian. Between songs, he’d turn and make silly faces at her just to see her giggle.
Rian turned and stuck his tongue out at his girlfriend, causing her to blush and laugh uncontrollably.
“You two are so disgustingly cute,” I told her, pretending to gag.
“Shut up!” she retorted with a smile.
“Yeah, don’t make fun of them! They’re adorable,” Dani mused, resting her head on Zack’s shoulder.
“Why don’t we do that, Alex?m” Kelsey asked me, her eyes wide, reminiscent to a puppy’s.
“You mean, why don’t we make stupid faces at each other?”
“Yes! They’re so cute together…”
“Kelsey, babe, we don’t do that because then we’d look like dumbasses,” I said seriously.
“No! Come on, just try it,” Kelsey coaxed.
In the background, I heard the announcer yell, “And here’s Ian Gordon, going in for a touchdown!” Cheers erupted from the home crowd, and normally I would have joined in, but not when it was Ian. To distract Kelsey from hearing anything more about Ian, I thought fast and bulged my eyes out, scrunched my nose, and stuck out my tongue at her. She giggled, and I smiled at her. At least she wasn’t paying attention to the field.
“What’s the score? I can’t see the board from here,” Matt inquired. He was sitting directly behind a group of people who were blocking his view.
“We’ve got thirteen points, they’ve got twenty-eight,” I answered. There were just under two minutes left of the second quarter, so once the band’s halftime show was over, Rian would be able to hang out with us until fourth quarter.
“Aw, damn, we’re never going to beat them!” Jack complained.
“Since when do you care about the football scores?” Matt questioned him seriously.
Jack shrugged. “Since about five minutes ago.”
The Dulaney band director called his band to get ready and get on the field, so Kara ran to the fence to get a clear view and cheer Rian on.
-------
When the game finally ended, our team was still stuck at thirteen points, and the opposing team had somehow racked up forty-nine points. “Damn, we lost,” Jack sighed.
“Who cares? It’s just a game,” Kelsey reminded him.
“Yeah, who cares if we lost? It’s not like we weren’t expecting it,” Matt laughed.
“No offense you guys, but your school’s team sucks!” Dani teased, laughing along with Zack.
“Our team sucks?” Not knowing where the deep voice came from, we all turned around, only to be faced with Ian and his football player friends. His face was one of anger; clearly, he was livid. Puffing his chest out, he tried to act tough, despite the fact that he looked like a complete tool, and his hair was still wet since the team just got done showering.
Dani looked horrified, since she had just been confronted by Ian. Zack stood in front of her, nearly chest-to-chest with Ian. “Yes, you guys suck.”
“Okay, Towson dipshit, if we suck so bad, why did you come to our game instead of your own school’s game?”
I just rolled my eyes at how stupid Ian was and grabbed Kelsey’s hand, trying to get her to walk away with me before this escalated any further. “Kelsey, just come with me. I’ll take you home.”
“No, we can’t leave them behind. Matt, Zack and Dani came with us; they won’t have a ride home.”
“Just don’t worry about it, Kels. They can get a ride home with someone else. I have a feeling that if I’m anywhere near Ian for any longer that I’ll punch his face in,” I seethed.
Kelsey and I were almost out of earshot of the scene, but not nearly enough. I heard, “Oh, who’s that? Slutty Kelsey Gates, heading to the back seat of the car for a quickie with her fuck buddy?”
Immediately, I dropped Kelsey’s hand and turned around. “What the fuck did you say?” I screamed at him.
“You heard me,” Ian smirked.
I left Kelsey to stand alone in the grass and headed back over to the scene. “SHE’S a slut?! How the fuck can SHE be the slut, you motherfucking rapist?!”
All of the people who were witnessing the scenario unfold instantly stopped talking, allowing their jaws to drop. Whispers and gossip overtook the air as Ian and I glared at each other, waiting to see which one of us would plunge at the other first.
“You’re calling ME a rapist?” he asked calmly. This was it; the suspicious calm before the storm. We stood and stared at each other, our jaws clenched and our fists balled.
“Yes.”
Ian thundered over to me, his footsteps sinking into the dirt ground with each step he took. He pulled his tightened fist backward, ready to thrust it at me, but I ducked my head just enough to avoid the brunt of the punch. I pulled the same move, but he was slow to react. The sound of bone connecting to bone was sickening; his nose wept with thick, red liquid, and his mouth dropped. His vicious eyes craved vengeance as he quietly stared at me, his hand covering his cracked nose. Just as I was about to do something more to him, the presence of someone behind me was evident.
“IAN GORDON! FIELD HOUSE! NOW!” Turning around, I saw the huffing, fuming face of the football coach. “And you!” he pointed at me. “What’s your name?”
“Alex,” I answered simply, still trying to catch my breath from my rage.
“Come with me. Your ass has got some explaining to do.”
I tried to avoid looking at Kelsey’s face as I followed the coach to the field house. She was bawling, with her hands covering her face as Kara and Dani attempted to comfort her. I knew I betrayed her by beating up Ian even after I promised her I wouldn’t. But he deserved it so much, and I couldn’t hold myself back. Calling Kelsey a slut was crossing line. Being her boyfriend, there was no way in hell I was going to let that slide from him.
Coach Thompson threw me onto a bench in the locker room by the back of my shirt next to where Ian was already sitting. Instinctively, I slid over a few inches away from him.
The coach, clearly outraged, stood in front of us, his hands on his hips and his chest puffing. “What in the hell were you two thinking?! Especially you, Ian! This could get you thrown off the team, and God knows we need you!”
Ian just shrugged. “That bastard thought it would be funny to call me out in front of the whole fucking crowd.”
“Call you out?! Don’t flatter yourself; you know you deserved it. You fucking know what you did.”
“Alex, dammit! Don’t yell at my players like that!” Coach Thompson seethed. “Now, Ian, what in God’s name did you do to make this dumbass punch you?”
Again, Ian shrugged.
“He’s a goddamn rapist!” I yelled.
“WHAT?! Ian, you better fucking explain yourself. We’re going to get all of our funding cut if what this boy says has any merit. Our school can’t fucking afford that!”
Ian stood up, clenched his fists at his side, and yelled in his coach’s face. “He seems to think I’m a rapist, when in reality, his girlfriend is just a dirty, conniving, whore!”
The tension in the room thickened, if that was even possible. Ian’s nose was still dripping with the shiny, red liquid, but that was the last thing on anyone’s mind at this point. Coach Thompson attempted to calm himself down by slowly breathing in and out, and finally, he pushed Ian backward onto the bench. “Don’t you fucking stand up. You sit there, and don’t you dare move. Alex, come with me.”
I obliged, and followed the coach into the back room. I felt my cell phone buzz in my back pocket, but thought better than to answer it. He led us into his secluded office and picked up the black phone and dialed. “Yes, this is John Thompson… Yeah, Dulaney’s football coach…” He looked at me and calmly pointed at a red seat across the desk, signaling for me to sit down as he listened to whoever was on the other end. “Right. I was just informed of some allegations of someone on my team… Oh, you have no idea how hard it is for me to turn one of my players in, but these are extreme circumstances… Ian Gordon. He’s being accused of rape.”
There were a few more verbal exchanges between the coach and the person on the other end until they hung up. I sat quietly in the chair, staring at him as he hung up the phone and returned my gaze. We looked at each other quietly, sizing each other up. His hands were folded on top of his desk, and I could tell he was upset with me for beating up one of his players and accusing him of something so serious. But he knew he had to do the right thing, even if he didn’t want to.
“You know boy, I don’t like you. I won’t pretend that I do. Not after tonight. But I can’t let Ian go, not after something like this. Are you sure he raped your girlfriend?”
“Positive, sir.”
He sighed and relaxed into his chair. “I just informed the police. They’re coming. You’re free to go, son.”
“Don’t I have to talk to them or something?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
He simply nodded and pointed to the door.
When I arrived outside, it was dark since it was so late, but my friends were still here, which surprised me. “I thought you guys would have left,” I told them.
“I thought about it,” Kelsey seethed. “But you drove me.” Dani and Kara were still hugging her, trying to comfort her, and their stern eyes didn’t look at all forgiving.
“Damnit, guys, what was I supposed to do? He was asking for it! I had the best intentions, you know that, Kels,” I pleaded.
She just glared at me. “I don’t fucking care, Alex. I told you not to get involved. This will just mean I’ll have to deal with him even more, because he’s going to torment me now. And what about the rest of the school? When everyone finds out that I’m the reason he’ll probably be kicked off the football team, no one will want to talk to me!”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” I whispered, staring at my feet.
“Of course you didn’t THINK, Alex. You never THINK!” Kara yelled, chiming in.
Kara, Dani, and Kelsey began walking away towards Rian, apparently to get him to take them home. Zack trailed behind, smiling apologetically at me as he followed Dani.
“Guess she isn’t going home with me,” I whined to Jack and Matt, who were the only people who were evidently still on my side.
“It’s okay dude. She’ll come around soon,” Matt said insincerely, just trying to make me feel better.
“I doubt it,” I responded sadly. I really wish we hadn’t gone to the football game.
-------
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
But now it looks as though they’re here to stay,
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be,
There’s a shadow hanging over me,
Oh yesterday came suddenly.
Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Yep, as you've probably figured out, this entire chapter was a flashback. Thanks so much for all the comments! There aren't tons of them, but I do appreciate them.Do you have any predictions as to what's going to happen? I'd love to hear them! There are still a few very important twists coming your way ;)
The song lyrics at the end are taken from "Yesterday" by The Beatles.