[B][U]Chapter 25: The Oldest Letter
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock, Jacob lying next to me. I was wearing just a shirt and a diaper, while Jacob wore just padding. He was doing that more and more often. I half expected him to be wearing nothing upon coming to bed. Sitting up, I leaned my side lean against the wall next to me. Peering over at Jacob; I began to shake him awake.
“Come on, it’s our first day back.” I told him. Eleventh grade. I felt like I just wasn’t ready. But I had to do this; I didn’t have a choice. Though I’d passed all my tests, I still felt unprepared.
“Wake me up later!” He groaned in a whiney voice. I sighed, and smiled a bit as I looked down at him. I couldn’t help but chuckle at my next little idea.
“If you wake up now, I’ll give you cookies for breakfast!” I offered. His eyes shot opened.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yup. A promise!” I responded.
“You’re such a good boyfriend; you know that?” He joked.
“Of course I do baby.” I teased, kissing him. I hopped down from the top bunk and stretched. I lied back down on the floor rather quickly as Jacob jumped down as well.
“Now let’s make this quick before we miss the bus!”
After quick change for the two of us and a goodbye hug from my mother, we were out the door. I couldn’t shake this feeling I had. It was weird; a tingle going up and down my spine that I could just barely feel. A feeling that invaded my gut, my legs, and even my arms. It caused me to feel uneasy, and I twitched slightly. Jacob turned to his left and looked at me.
“You okay?”
“I… I think so. Just this weird feeling I got. I dunno, it’s probably just first day back jitters. We ARE, in fact, juniors now!” I reminded him. There was something to finally feel happy about in my life, it seemed. I was a junior in high school now! No longer would I worry about the trivial ideas of kissing the upperclassmen’s ass; for the most part anyways. It was a new world, a new venture.
“So, are we going to the bus stop, or walking?” Jacob questioned.
“Well, since AJ and Ger aren’t coming back, I guess we might as well just walk. But if the bus is pulling up when we pass, we can hop on I guess.” I explained. AJ and Geremy were the only reason that I ever went to the bus stop. It was good fun, good conversation; and most of all it looked good on me that I was hanging out with upperclassmen. That’s all I could seemingly think about. It was just too perfect! I was a semi-famous kid, with his whole life ahead of him; ready to take on the world as a member of high school who WASN’T on the bottom of the food chain!
“Aw, but I want to ride the bus! Besides, I wanna talk to Josh! See what he’s been up to. And I know YOU’RE curious to see what he’s been up to babe.” He winked. I couldn’t help but blush a bit and giggle. “Alright, we’ll hop on the bus. But no public displays of affection unless I say it’s okay, got it?” I stated.
“I dunno little guy; I don’t think you’re quite the dominant in this relationship.” He chuckled. Over the summer, Jacob had grown at least a good three or so inches on me. I felt tiny in comparison now, but I didn’t exactly mind that.
“I would expect that you would still want to be the baby though Jacob?” I queried.
“I think I’ve had enough of being the baby for a while. Besides; it’s fun to watch you act little, baby Twi Twi.” He giggled, ruffling my hair. “Don’t worry Tristian, I’ll keep it cool.”
“Thanks.” I blushed. We soon arrived at the bus stop, seeing a new face there. Jacob and I said nothing to him, the short boy seemingly being a freshman. I felt as if he needed help, he’d ask. I myself didn’t look like a junior, but even still. If intimidated him, he wouldn’t be able to survive this school. High school really is a dog eat dog world, I suppose.
“Tristian, we still have the same classes; right?” Jacob questioned.
“According to our schedules we do, yeah. Let’s see… first period, Advanced Algebra 11 with Ms. Thorton, right?” I asked.
“Oh hey, I have the same class as you guys!” We heard. The two of us turned to the new kid.
“I don’t think so fresh. That’s an eleventh gra-” I was cut off.
No, look! I have period one, Thorton! Room two seventeen!” He bellowed. He held out his class schedule to us. Jacob and I each took a side, and peered down at the page.
“Kif Rogers, grade 11. Period one…” I stood nearly shocked at the page. “You’re not a freshman?” I asked.
“Nope! Names Kif! Everyone just calls me K, or something else. I used to be on the track team, do triathlons and marathons and…” The child seemed to just continue spitting a million words a minute! As nice as this kid seemed, it just began to annoy me! I was being driven MAD here! All these little bits of information that had no rhyme, reason or real significance to mine or Jacob’s lives; was just being spit out at us faster than I could comprehend or absorb into my cornea!
“Kif! K! Whatever your name is, calm down.” I barked. I hadn’t meant to yell, but the constant sensation of his voice hitting me was driving me nuts! I felt like a loony toon stuck in a bad episode of jibber jabber.
My loud yelp hadn’t seemed to startle the boy though; he just seemed to slow down in his speech. I was amazed at how he was able to articulate these sentences so fast, and so fluently without a single error! Just then though, the bus pulled up. We flashed our bus passes, and walked towards the back of the bus. Kif seemed to stay up in the front, immediately beginning conversation with another poor soul.
I took my seat next to Jacob, and looked left at Josh. The other boy from last year wasn’t apparently on the bus today, but it didn’t matter.
“Hey Josh! Haven’t seen you all summer!” I said, greeting him.
“Yeah, been real busy with, uh… lots of family stuff. You know, vacations and what not.” He replied, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry!”
“It’s cool man. I’ve just been bored out of my mind with Jacob here all summer. Nobody to really talk to!” I explained.
“What about Rebecca?” He asked. This struck a chord with me. I didn’t quite know how to respond.
“I guess she’s been busy too…” I responded diligently. The rest of the ride was kind of silent. I looked up at Jacob’s white hair and wished I was just lying in it, imagining it to be soft as snow. I remember seeing her email to me… how nasty it was. I was scared. Scared because she knew who I was, and what I was. She knew I was a TB, and gay, and that wasn’t going to be something I’d expect her to keep her mouth shut about. Not after her email.
“I can’t believe you! God HATES you Tristian! He hates you for falling for that fag Jacob’s tricks! The DEVIL is in him Tristian! THAT’S why his eyes are red! Don’t let him deceive you! Don’t let your heathen lifestyle become a habit! Run from him! Run away from it all! He just wants to CORRUPT you!
I couldn’t stand it. Since when did she get so religious anyways! She was always one of those laid back Christian types to begin with!
I didn’t have time for that though. I needed to just get to class, and try to deal with things my own way. I had a feeling I’d be seeing her today. But I knew that that wasn’t causing the odd tingles in my spine. Something was amiss at this school. Something was very off.
I entered the building, being greeted by familiar faces and groups of kids. Some seemed less welcoming than others, but it didn’t matter. I strode with Jacob by my side to my first class, and went to walk in. Jacob grabbed my arm though. He pulled me aside from the crowds and hugged me. “It’ll be okay Tristian, it’s all good. Don’t be worried.” He assured me. He always seemed to know just what to say, simply by reading my body language. Then I felt something slip out from the front of my pants.
“Well, at least you’re still dry.” He commented. I put hands over his lips, even though he’d said it quietly.
“BE QUIET!” I demanded. He removed my hands from his mouth.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure not to embarrass you, even if we do have a few… close calls.” He chuckled. I could easily tell what was going on. Jacob was exploring our boundaries; he was exploring me. He wanted to see what I’d do in certain situations. This wasn’t the old Jacob. I knew that. But now that we were in public? He seemed to be really enjoying things. I couldn’t help but kind of enjoy this dangerous play too. It was… interesting. Just as I went to look away to see if anyone was staring at us, I glanced out the window for a second. And just for a brief fraction of a fraction, OF a fraction of a second; I could have SWORN I’d seen someone duck down and hide. I blew it off though, seeing as it was either my imagination, or some very stupid kids playing an even more stupid game.
We finally went into our classroom and took seats next to each other. We sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the show to come. Our teacher greeted us with the usual lecture about how the class would go, what we would need and so on and so forth. We were told what everything in the room was meant for, and why we would all eventually have to use each item at one point or another. It would have been boring if it wasn’t for the fact that Kif, or K as he liked to be called, seemed to be overly chatty; asking questions with obvious answers for every five words the teacher could get out of her mouth. It was funny, but still annoying. I tensed up a bit, but calmed down just as quickly.
Out of nowhere, though, we heard a loud crash. Everyone scattered out the door, running towards the sound; looking for what or who had caused it. We had found a brick with a note attached to it, and a broken window.
“Let me see!” I cried. Jacob too was grabbing for the object. The teacher swiped it from a student’s hand, and we all crowded around her to look at the strange brick. I was luckily able to read the note though.
“The oldest letter in the alphabet is the key to the trouble.” It said. I was perplexed.
“The key, to the trouble?” I questioned aloud. I looked to Jacob, hard at thought.
“Weird.” He said. And that was that. What was the key? What was all this all about?
Little did I know that this ‘key’ of sorts, would lead me down a road, which I couldn’t imagine ever making myself not follow.