What Do You Want From Me?

Whoever thought it was a good idea for birds to chirp at ass-o’clock in the morning was a complete and utter idiot in Matt Sanders’ eyes. It was barely 6:00, and the birds that liked to sit outside Brian’s window were making a vexatious racket, which successfully awoke the three men dozing.

Matt was the first to make any sort of motion, rubbing at his eyes and groaning in discontent. He sat up from his little cot of sorts and stretched his arms high above his head, enjoying the crackling sound of his bones that followed.

“Wake up, fuckers,” He voiced to the men unmoving on the bed. Both were shirtless and tangled together, and Matt could only hope that they were wearing at least some sort of under garments beneath the blankets hung loosely over their hips.

“We’re up,” Brian grumbled back, taking his arm off Zack’s side and sitting up. Zack still didn’t move, and tugged the alabaster sheets up over his head in an effort to hide from the irritated gaze Matt was shooting him. “Zacky, Matt’s going to pounce on you if you don’t get up, Baby.”

Zack countered with a distressing moan, thrashing about on the bed as though he were a child fighting with their parents on the morning of their first day of school. Brian chuckled and yanked the blankets off of him, and Matt was about ready to cover his eyes in fear of there being a naked form, but was very much relieved to see the younger one wore a pair of boxers. Brian, who stood from the bed and stretched, wore pretty much the same thing and it was Matt who flashed them both a dirty look at remembering just what exactly they did the night before.

“You guys are gross,” He commented. The two lovers laughed at that, but virtually ignored his statement.

Brian moved to his bureau to begin the process of getting changed, while Zack and Matt pulled out clothes they’d packed for the weekend sleepover. Zack practically lived at Brian’s house, as his own home life wasn’t much better than Matt’s, but he was most likely going to have to stop home sometime soon to refill the bag and let his parents know he was still alive. Matt, himself, was also going to have to stop back home. He’d left his mother alone the whole weekend, and didn’t bother to call or accept any of her calls; he knew the only reason she was calling was to ask him to go out and buy her more alcohol, and he really didn’t want to deal with that.

Upon dressing and readying themselves completely for the day, they headed downstairs and were met with an empty house, as per usual. Brian’s parents were up and out the door by 5:00 every day, to a job that took up most of their lives and left little to no free time at all for their son. This wasn’t to say Brian cared, because he’d rather not be around his selfish, overbearing parents, but he did sometimes wish they showed just a tab bit more personal interest in him and less about their work.

Brian made coffee, and they each drank a cup to awaken themselves more. It was going to be a long day, and no one knew just what exactly would be waiting for them, so the best thing to do was prepare for anything and that was only possible if they were fully alert and aware of their surroundings.

“We’d better get going,” Matt said, looking at the time and seeing it was already 6:30. The other two men nodded and downed the rest of their coffee, picked up their school bags, and readied to exit the house. Brian grabbed his keys from the hook by the door, and pulled it closed behind him as they walked out to his car. Matt, having had been picked up from his house Friday night, was without a car and therefore had to ride with Brian and Zack. He’d made a reminder in his head to be dropped back off after school at his own house, lest something completely horrible happen to his mother in his absence.

The familiar rifts of Metallica filled the car once it was started, and they each moved their heads to the tune. Matt sighed happily and relaxed in the seat, as the soothing voice of James Hetfield calmed his nerves. He’d discovered long ago that music could solve any problem. All one had to do was make the effort to pop in a CD or turn on the radio, and every issue faced became a thing of the past. Well, at least, this was the case for Matt. He sometimes forgot about this little remedy, but made it a precedence to try and remember in the future.

They pulled off Brian’s street and onto the main road, which was as busy as it always was in the morning, and were immediately hit with traffic. Matt sighed and couldn’t help but think of Jessica. These cars were inevitably going to make the three men somewhat late, and he knew for a fact Jess got there early every day. What if she got to school and was met with the wrath of her former friends, and Matt wasn’t there to help her? He couldn’t let that happen. Immediately, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts to Jessica’s name. Texting wouldn’t nearly be fast enough at a time like this, so therefore, he hit the call button and listened as it began to ring. ‘Please answer…’, His mind pleaded. ‘This is no time to mess ar-‘

“Hello,” Her gentle, soft voice answered.

Matt smiled at the sound. “Hey, it’s Matt.”

“I know, I have caller ID,” She said with a chuckle. “What’s up?”

“Brian, Zack, and I are stuck in traffic on Laramie. I don’t want you going to school and running into Jason without us there to help. Is there any way you can avoid them?”

“Uhm,” Jessica said thoughtfully. “I could go right to homeroom. They don’t usually make the trek all the way over to my hallway just to see me when I skip out on chilling with them before school actually starts. It’s different now, I know, since I’ve been ignoring them all weekend, but we can only hope that’s what they’ll do.”

“Yeah,” Matt sighed. “I guess that’s all we really can do. Where are you now?”

“I’m actually about to pull into the school parking lot. I know better than to take Laramie in the morning, unlike some people.” She giggled at the end, and Matt couldn’t help but crack a grin.

“Oh, listen to you, being a smart-ass and whatnot,” He said with a snort. “I tried to get those ass hats awake but they had a…long night.”

“Hey!” Brian exclaimed from the front.

“And it wasn’t even that long, for your information,” Zack quarreled and eyed Matt with contempt. Brian’s head shot in Zacky’s direction with something close to offense.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He asked, his voice heightening a few octaves in outrage.

“Wait, I didn’t mean it like-- see what you did, Matthew!” Zack’s arm flew into the back seat and he slapped the bigger man on the thigh.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve got your hands full so I’ll let you go,” Jessica started again with amusement.

“All right,” Matt replied, reluctantly. “Just, please do what we talked about and avoid them at all costs until there’s absolutely no choice but to see them, okay?”

“I will, trust me. When do you want to meet up?”

“We have lunch together, right? And I’m usually out before you or any of those douche bags are, so how about you just wait for me by the doors and that way we can all walk out together?”

“Sounds good.” It was obvious to Matt there was a smile in her voice, and he flashed one of his own without even thinking about it. “Well, I’ll see you guys then because I’m about to head in.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Bye.”

Matt waited until he heard the other line disconnect, before pressing the end button on his own phone. He felt a lot better now knowing there was a plan in place, and also knowing there was a good chance Jessica would be safe until he could get to her. That was all he really cared about at the moment, was her happiness and safety. If Jason Kiegan did anything to threaten her security, there was no doubt in Matt’s mind he would bring the utmost harm and misfortune to the man. He promised Jessica he’d protect her, and that was just what he’d do.



It seemed as though the day dragged on longer than normal, and Matt was the epitome of skittish. He could barely concentrate in his classes, which wasn’t too out of the ordinary considering he was on his way to repeating the twelfth grade for the second time. School just didn’t interest him. He’d thought about dropping out, but then cogitated that he would most likely never get a real job anywhere. Being a drug dealer wasn’t going to cut it in the real world, and a high school diploma was usually needed in order to obtain a good paying job. So, essentially, he was stuck in there until he smartened up and passed.

Sitting in his fourth period class, Matt tapped his pen against the paper in front of him. This was the second test in under a week Mrs. Downey gave, and the woman was slowly becoming Matt’s most hated teacher ever. He acknowledged the fact that this was sort of a contradiction, as her class was one of the few he was actually passing. None of that mattered at the moment, though, as the stupid test was successfully making his stress level worse and he just wanted to crumple up the paper and throw it in Mrs. Downey’s face. He didn’t, of course, but merely let his eyes trail over the words with distaste. He circled answers that looked familiar to him, and guessed on the others he didn’t feel like taking the time to think over.

By the time Matt was finished, it was five minutes before the bell would ring, and he packed up his things quickly and shoved them into his backpack. He planned on being the first out of the room, that way he could assure Jessica wouldn’t have to wait and risk running into the douche bags before he got there. That plan was quite literally squashed the minute Mrs. Downey’s voice called to him, the very second before the bell sounded. Matt groaned to himself and sealed his lips into a straight line as he walked up to her desk.

“I don’t want to hold you from your lunch period, so I’ll make this fast,” She said, as she sifted through some papers on her desk and pulled a stray out in view. “Take a look at this.”

Matt took the paper from her and glanced at it briefly. It was the test he’d just taken, and it was marked with an A. He nodded with a forced smile. “Oh, cool.”

“It is. I’m very proud of you, Matthew. You show a great amount of pride in the work you do in this classroom, but I’m told by some of my fellow teachers that your work is less than dignified in their classrooms. Why is that?”

Matt only shrugged and did his best to stand still, wishing and hoping she would just shut up and let him go. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t apply myself enough in other subjects. I’m not that smart.”

“Don’t say that. You’re a very smart young man. I just have a feeling you’re more interested in other aspects of life than you are school, and that won’t get you very far. You only have what…a month or two left? You can still bring your grades up to at least passing if you just put in the effort to do so. I’d hate to see you back in my class another year, when you have all the wisdom to move forward. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Matt nodded again and sighed. She had a point, of course, and for a moment he thought deeply about her words. He really did need to just pull it together. Another year at Huntington Beach High School, most likely without Brian and Zack, would be the death of him. He needed to do something, anything, to make sure that didn’t happen.

“Well, go on ahead to lunch. I’ll see you tomorrow and maybe we can discuss some of your options more thoroughly.”

“All right.” He smiled. “Thanks, Mrs. Downey.”

Matt turned and walked to the door, exiting the classroom in a sort of daze. His steps were semi slow, and for the time being, he completely forgot about Jessica. That is, until he heard distant shouting, and he let out a slight gasp. He picked up the pace and was soon met with a small crowd of students standing just outside of the lunch doors. He pushed through the hallway the best he could, earning shoves back from some and filthy words spat at him. He knew it; he could just feel that what he was about to run into would not be good.

Propelling himself out the doors, Matt could now distinctly make out Jessica’s voice. It sounded distressed, and anger welled up deep in his chest. The crowd of people broke off into a circle of clearing, to which Jessica stood in the middle, and the lean form of one Jason Kiegan stood directly in front of her.

He was shouting at her, louder than needed and it was obvious he wanted everyone’s attention. His arm was outstretched and gripping Jessica’s own, as she cried out and did her best to fight him off. Matt saw red; a burning, searing red, and he immediately charged forward.