Have We Gone Too Far?

The bus! Great! Absolutely perfect! This is all I bloody need right now. And it’s not as if I have something that’ll draw even more attention to me than usual is it? Oh wait, there is! I’m in non uniform and I look like a total scruff. How could this get any worse?

“Do you want us to stand away from you?” Liza asked me. “We wouldn't want to ruin what you have with your mates and everyone.”

I stared at her for a while before realizing what she was on about. I'm still one of the most popular guys in school. The gossip would get even worse if they saw me hanging around with people at the bottom of the food chain (no offense to them, I love them but not every else does).

“Thanks,” I whispered feeling awful.

Even though she offered to stay away I still feel as if I’d just told them to get lost for my own selfish reasons. Man I feel bad now!

“See you later,” they both smiled at me and then turned the corner to their bus stop. I decided I’d wait a while before joining them; I didn’t want anybody getting suspicious over anything.

At first I got a few odd looks for being in my, well Zander’s, clothes but after a while people seemed to be used to it. No one even questioned why I was at their bus stop; well, not until Miranda came.

She managed to look like an utter tart even when she was wearing her uniform. I mean he skirt was so short that if she bent down, even just a little bit, you’d see everything. And her shirt was way too tight and she had her top three buttons undone. What’s up with that? Then there was her makeup. She has to be the most orange person I have ever seen!

“Why are you here Zacky Wacky?” she asked when she was next to me with some of her mates. “I thought you walked to school.”

“I just felt like getting the bus today,” I mumbled.

“So... why aren’t you wearing your uniform?”

“I didn’t like it,” I smiled. “What about you?” I asked her. “Why are you wearing an orange on your face?”

That was a little pathetic, I know but someone has to point it out to her. Maybe she’s color blind or something and actually has no idea how ridiculous she looks.

“Grow up Zack,” she hissed.

“I’ll grow up as soon as you-”

“Why are you here?” Kyle interrupted.

I had a great come back lined up as well. I can’t believe Kyle ruined it for me. Stupid Kyle; I didn’t even see him coming. Wait, why’s he even here? Don’t tell me he was with Miranda.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I muttered.

He laughed at me and then wrapped his arm around Miranda.

“I was spending some quality time with my new girlfriend,” he said as he pecked the tart on the cheek.

I’d have laughed so hard if he sucked off part of her makeup so that she’d have a white patch surrounded by horrible orange.

“You haven’t answered my question,” he hissed.

“I can go on the bus if I want to,” I smiled.

“Yeah but you don’t live around here.”

“How would you know?” I hissed at him. It’s not like he’s ever been to my house. Heck, no one’s been to my house; I couldn’t risk it.

He just shook his head at me seeing as he had no proof that I didn’t live around here. That was a close one.

“Wait, I know why you’re here,” Miranda shouted. “You spent the night with your creepy girlfriend!”

I stared at her for a moment; I must have been giving her a really confused look. I have a girlfriend? What?

“Ewww, you and Liza! Together! That’s priceless,” Kyle laughed.

“Shut up!” I shouted causing people around us to laugh. “We’re not together so just leave it!”

“Someone’s been rejected,” Kyle laughed.

I'm not even going to give that a response. I walked away from him and waited on my own for the bus to come. God Kyle can be so annoying at times. To think he’s suppose to be my mate. Why’s he acting like this with me?

Quickly I began getting bored of waiting and pulled out my phone from my pocket. A smile spread across my face when I read the text I’d received from Beth.

You mean a hell of a lot to me and I really care about you x it said.

Seconds later another one came through which left me feeling a little worried.

Please don’t hate me... I need you to do me a favor. It’s stupid to ask but please consider it xx

What’s wrong Beth? I’ll help you with anything as long as you tell me about it I wrote back to her.

Please be alright! I’d hate her to have some really serious problem to deal with; that’d be awful. What if she tells me about how she got raped? Maybe that’s it. Maybe she wants me to know now; she’s ready to tell me.

I’ll tell you in school... it’s not to sort of thing you can text

As the bus pulled up I put my phone back in my blazer pocket. Where should I sit? Kyle and his lot will kill me at the back but there’s no chance that I’ll sit at the front. It’ll have to be the middle then.

I walked on and sat down on my own, slouching back in the chair and staring out of the window. My message tone went off again. Beth must really need someone to talk to.

My eyes squinted a little when it said it was from an unknown number. I have almost everyone’s number; how can I not know whoever this is? I opened up the text and my heart skipped a beat. There was a picture. It was a picture of Cole. A picture of Cole naked. A picture of Cole naked that had been signed by Mr. Baker. Cole and Mr. Baker; no! How did someone take this?

Seconds later another text came through from the same number almost making me cry. I took a deep breath and read it.

If you tell anyone about what I did to you I’ll send this to everyone, post it on the Internet and hang it up around school.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure what I was reading was right. Mr. Baker’s going to ruin Cole. Crap! I've already told Cole about it! He won’t mind Cole knowing though, right? God, of course he will. Now that Cole knows Mr. Baker’s at risk too. What should I do now?

Suddenly loads of texts started flooding my phone. What the hell? None of them were from people I knew which scared the crap out me. I have no idea who these guys are! That can’t be good.

I opened up some of them but there was no chance I’d be able to see all of them; there was way too many and more kept coming.

Hey, can’t wait for tonight babes x

My place or yours?

I'm picturing you now... hot x

A sick feeling washed through me as I turned my phone off and went back to looking out the window, knowing that tears were dripping down my face again.

What did all of those texts mean? Why would...? How...?

I ran my hands through my hair and started panicking all over again. We’re nearly at school. What if they’re waiting for me? What’s Mr. Baker going to say to me? God I’m so scared.

Stop crying! People are looking at you Zack! You need to take a deep breath and just calm down. It’ll be alright. What am I saying? It’s not going to be alright!

We pulled up at school and everyone stood up, rushing to get off, but I stayed sat down.

“Take it all off baby,” Miranda whispered to me as she walked of the bus.

What the...? Does she know? What was that meant to mean? God I’m getting paranoid now. I doubt I even heard her right. She wouldn't say that to me, especially with Kyle right behind her. You really need to calm down Zack!

I got off the bus and carefully made my way towards Cole’s room, making sure I didn’t get caught. I really needed to speak to him about all of this.

“Cole,” I cried as I walked into his room.

Luckily he was in there on his own. Thank God.

I ran up to him and wrapped my arms around him as I cried into his chest.

“Zack... what’s happened?” he asked squeezing me tightly and sounding really scared.

“Turn it on,” I sniffed. “Look at the texts,” I said as I passed him my phone.

He gave me a teacher mode look at first as if to ask why I had my phone with me but he them just did as I asked him to.

“Zack,” he sighed. “Who are these people?” he asked me.

“I don’t know,” I cried. “I'm so scared Cole. What if they come and get me? What if they don’t leave me alone?” I panicked.

“It’ll be alright,” he mumbled as he stroked his hand through my hair a few times. “I’ve got your back sweetie.”

“There’s a picture too,” I cried. “It’s of you.”

He instantly knew what picture I was on about. How did someone get that of him? Why?

“I'm sorry,” he whispered.

“Why did you do it?” I asked him as I pulled away and looked into his eyes.

“If I didn’t he would’ve told people about me and you and I didn’t want to risk that.”

“So you slept with him!”

That makes no sense! He wanted to help our relationship by sleeping with a filthy pedophile like Mr. Baker. What was he thinking?

“It made sense at the time,” he sighed. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“So your way of protecting me was having sex with him!” I cried. “Why would you do that?”

I was actually bawling my eyes out now; I can’t believe Cole did this to me. Why would he do this?

“I'm so sorry, I thought I was doing the right thing,” he explained.

“Well it wasn't right was it?” I hissed.

“No... It wasn't and words can’t explain how much I regret it,” he said sounding on the bridge of tears. “Do you really think I enjoyed that? It was one of the worse things that have ever happened to me.”

When he said that, it made me feel even worse. Cole went through pain. The way I felt now that I knew that made it clear that I can’t risk losing him. He’s clearly sorry and I don’t want to drag out an argument when it can easily be resolved. He’s said sorry. Step two: forgive him.

I pulled him into my arms and hugged him tightly.

“I'm so sorry,” he cried.

“So am I,” I whispered. “It’s okay Cole,” I said softly. “I understand now. You didn’t know.”

“I should’ve known though.”

Step three: forget.

“Look let’s just leave this in the past. I can forget about it if you can,” I told him.

“Thanks Zack,” he whispered. “So what are we doing about these texts?”

He said we! That means he’s going to help me deal with this. Thank you so much baby!

“I was hoping you’d help with that...”

He thought for a moment.

“Leave your phone with me for now, I’ll see what I can do and I’ll speak with Mr. Baker about it.”

“Don't talk to him!” I gasped.

“Okay,” he sighed. “But I’m going to need to do something.”

I nodded at him. Maybe I should just let him do whatever it takes. At least that way there’s a pretty high chance that it might work. If you try everything, one thing should work out of them, right?

“Zack?” he asked. “Where were you this morning? I waited for ages and you didn’t show up at the café.”

Oh Crap! I completely forgot about that.

“I'm sorry,” I sighed. “It just slipped my mind and-”

“Don't worry,” he whispered pecking my cheek. “I couldn’t hold anything against you.”

“Thanks Cole,” I grinned. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

That was true; without Cole I’d be nowhere now. Heck I might not even be here. If I’ve changed at all in these last few weeks it’s because of Cole. And it’s defiantly for the better.