Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

"I don't have a problem with 'female anatomy', I just don't need my half-naked sister crawling all over me," Zach replies.

He raises an eyebrow at her offer. "As if you would actually want me there," he says. He shakes his head. "No, you just go there and enjoy yourself. Not too much, though. I'll just talk to Abby. Or maybe go out and get myself a burger later. I don't really feel like anything too social today." Suddenly, he has a thought. "Speaking of social, did you notice that Romanov and Polensky both showed up hungover and looking like a mess today? Pretty sure they had some kind of social encounter last night."

Freddie's eyes are a blur and he accepts the rebuke from Debby. It's what he wanted isn't it? A reaction? An acknowledgement of the elephant in the elephantine room of their house.

And then Sarah, unexpectedly, bitter. The one thing he most wanted to hear from them and the one thing he refused to admit he knew. It was a trap, a stupid trap.

"I know," he blurts out, trying to hold his own fragmented composure together. "Every night, when it happens over and over in my nightmares, I think there is a moment when I could avoid the cliff, get control, and ... I wonder if I hesitated. On purpose. And I don't know!"

There it is. The big lie to hide the monstrous truth. Out in the open.

"Aww, look at you," Zach replies when she repeats her offer. "You're so sweet, trying to take care of your big brother." He knows she's right. Ever since moving here - hell, ever since he started transitioning - he's been spending a lot more time just at home, since that's easier. And it is tempting to come along just so he can have an eye on Marco during the ride. "But I don't think they want me there, Rose. Don't worry, I'll be fine by myself."

He's glad when Rose gets sufficiently distracted by his comment about the two teachers. "Probably. My guess is Polensky's wife is out of town so he invited her over and they enjoyed each other's company all night." He chuckles before adding, "And then poor, hungover Polensky got roped into math class first thing in the morning. Edge never showed up, even though he was apparently at school."

"No! Don’t…" she says dramatically then.

"It’s too late for me! Promise… promise you won’t forget about me! Promise you’ll visit!" and then she wiped an imaginary tear from her cheek.

"Ugh, I don’t know what they’re going to do! Should we… go back and check?" she says, conspiratorially.

"Ugh. Yeah, I was thinking he might come and talk to us. You know… fitting in in a new town and all that." she says with a shrug.

"But I guess not! We could… grab my camera and see what we see back there. Is that… legal?"

He wants to ignore the "you know" questions, but he nods quietly, his face burning with shame. His nervous stomach roils and churns but he turns back to the front, and engages the car. He doesn't throw up.

"We have to talk about this. But, I know I ambushed you. This weekend, okay? Make time for me? We need to heal from the wounds our father left. Somehow."

Wiping the tears away, he drives them home.

Now Emily feels bad. Their life hasn't been a bed of roses, in fact quite the opposite what with their parent's selfish pursuit of their agendas with little to zero regard for them, and now here they were in a new town with new names and new lives. Life was hard.

I'm sorry too, Steve. Look, I'll find someone, I'll ask ... um ... Zach, or Freddie. Just try to be a little more ... subtle with your admiration, okay? Don't make it so obvious. You'll get a reputation and girls don't like to be leered at, at least not the kind you'd want to get to know."

As the car goes silent, hopefully with Steve taking in her advice, Emily has to hold back a chuckle at the irony of the situation. Here she is telling Steve to lighten up and find a nice girl, and yet she is replaying the meeting with Mr. Edge on a continuous loop but imagining different outcomes with each replay.

For God's sake Emily he's old enough to be your dad and he's your math teacher!

She chides herself and then proceeds to imagine yet another scenario. She's annoyed that they were interrupted by the principal yet she wasn't handling herself as well as she would have hoped to either. Would she really have gone to a tutoring session with the attractive man? Her reverie is interrupted by their arrival at home with their Dad doing something entirely mundane, washing the car. It was hard to believe that he had been laundering money for a cartel and with Emily's help.

"Hi dad. I have a few things to do and then I'm going out to study for a bit with friends." Racing into the house she puts together a few baggies of buds and grabs her pipe, quickly descending the stairs and leaving the house with a bang of the screen door.

"See ya later daddy."

On the drive to the river, Emily wonders what Mr. Edge was doing to make him miss his own test.

"Have fun, Rose," Zach calls after his sister as she leaves. Once he hears the front door click shut silently, he lies back on her bed again. Maybe he should have gone with her. He doesn't like how careless she is around creeps like Marco.

He takes out his phone and texts her,
Zach: Let me know when you get to the river
Zach: And if you need anything. A ride home or whatever. I'll get something for you sorted out
Zach: Be safe
He then decides to clean up a bit, sorting all the clothes Rose tried on but didn't end up picking back into her closet and throwing the tanktop she wore at school into the laundry, before returning to his own room where he just spends some time hanging out. At one point, Abigail texts him, asking about his test, so they start writing back and forth. Abby mentions that she has a date this evening, which makes Zach remember the uncomfortable lie he told Freddie about their texting the last night. He doesn't bring it up to Abby, though. Obviously.

Eventually, he grows hungry so he decides to actually do what he told Rose he'd do earlier and go out for a bit and get himself something to eat. He throws his hoodie back on before heading into the bathroom to inspect himself in the mirror. It looks mostly fine. Luckily, he doesn't have too much of a chest in the first place - less than Rose even, as he noticed earlier - but it still looks visible to him, so he resigns himself to a bit more discomfort. Heading back into his room, he takes off hoodie and T-shirt again, puts on his binder and then those two pieces of clothing again as well. Then he stops and takes the hoodie off again before returning to the bathroom. It looks fine like this, right? He wears a shirt like this for gym class and nobody ever noticed anything. And how many people is he realistically going to run into? It's not like school where hundreds of eyes are on him at all times.
He considers his options for a moment longer, then decides to just go for it. He takes his phone and quickly shoots another message to Abby.
Zach: Sorry, had to get changed. Going to get myself something to eat
Then he makes his way to the front door. "Be right back," he calls out to his parents before slipping outside and closing the door before they have time to fuss over him. It's a bit of a walk to get to that one burger place Freddie recommended, but Zach doesn't have anything else to do for the rest of the day, so he just starts walking, phone out and continuing to text with Abigail about everything and nothing.

After a long uncomfortable drive the rest of the way home, Freddie drops the girls off at home and tells them he'll be back later, but doesn't explain.

When he arrives at the Banks, he has a pair of Vietnamese subs and a couple of bottled drinks. He sits down on the grass, and watches the water, trying desperately not to think. The weird vibe with Emily, the plan with Clutch about Priya, Zach's request about Rose, the dismal math score setting him back from his dreams, and then the strange attraction he suddenly had to Wendy. He decides to focus on Ms. Maidstone, her kindness is only topped by her hotness, so there is plenty for him to consider. Maybe I should ask her to Homecoming! The ludicrous plan brings a smile to his mouth, but he imagines how jealous Priya would be with her in his arms.

Ah, Priya. His boyish mind moves to her. They had dated awhile. She was prim and proper, a real joy for her parents, who he also really liked and they seemed to accept him as a proper young man, somehow. But when they were alone, with no risk of getting caught, she was a minx and loved to neck, their hands roaming freely.

They'd gotten carried away, here at the Banks, and he'd thoroughly rounded second base headed for third (new territory), her lips groaning into his with the forbidden pleasure, when the lights flashed. They'd struggled to arrange their clothes, but her bra was in the front seat plainly visible when her father yelled through the window. The devastated look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know about how she would react. Disappointing her parents was something she never wanted to do.

His mind runs through these over and over, with only the occasional glimpse of a cliff face flashing in the rain, his father reaching into the back seat...

Pulling the beat-up van beside Freddie's car, Emily realizes she is famished but she's also relieved to see no other girls have shown up. She thought Rose might be there and for some reason, she didn't like the girl. She had a feeling that she was a little on the loose side when it came to boys and boys being boys .... she let that line of thought drop though because she was no saint herself and she did like Zach.

"Hey, Freddie. I could eat a small horse but we might want to save some food for after." Sitting down beside him Emily pulls out her stash and loads her pipe. "I brought some goodies. Want some?"

Whipping out her cheap bright yellow lighter she points it at the bowl and takes a deep drag holding it in for what seems an impossibly long time. A long trail of pungent smoke makes its way out of her mouth and she deliberately angles it so that Freddie has a few tendrils of it wafting under his nose. "Doncha just love that orange glow? Um ... word of warning, this stuff hits hard and fast. You might want to go easy on the amount you inhale."

Freddie smiles at Emily. For all her brains, she wears these ridiculous glasses that seem to hide her best features. And that haircut, just not attractive. But then she whips out that bowl, and starts puffing. Suddenly, the nerdgirl image vanishes and he sees the girl behind the mask. Thoughts of Priya and Brittany float away like smoke.

"I got two subs from the Vietnamese place I was telling you about. One beef satay, the other their veggie special. Don't know what you'd like. Couple drinks too, Dr. Pipps and an Arizona Ice Tea."

He takes the pipe when it comes to him and contemplates it. He's had puffs off a joint at a couple parties, but never this kind of complicated device. He flicks the flame and holds it to the bowl, and draws the way Emily did. A light puff at first, he holds it in keeping the reflexive coughing in his throat and not letting the smoke out until he gets a little dizzy. On a whim, he leans toward her, his mouth to hers, lips an inch apart, and exhales it directly into her mouth, assuming she goes for it.

Emily watches Freddie struggle with the pipe while trying to be cool about it. It was odd that she'd never noticed his cute smile before. Or was it the weed going to her head? She started feeling the familiar lightheadedness and devil may care who gives a shit attitude. She started to relax and felt her lips form into a goofy smile. He had such nice thick hair and imagined her hands running through it.

She was about to giggle and ask him if he had much experience with weed when he unexpectedly shotgunned it at her, opening her mouth just in time to inhale it.

Wow, Freddie. She kind of whispered that and didn't move away, the subs forgotten for the moment.

"shoot first, ask questions later!" came to mind, but wasn’t verbalized.

"Ew! You’re such a perv! I knew it!" she jokes, and then leads the girl on.

"They’ve probably forgotten about us by now! They’ll be busy!"

Lily almost licked her lips. This had the makings of a great story for next week!

Freddie saw two girls do this at a party, and thought it was cool and sexy. Emily knew what to do, so maybe she had done the sharing smoke thing before. Had she done the next part though? Did he even know how?

He leans a little closer his lips brushing hers in a sensuous kiss, and then forms a seal over her mouth, ready to breathe in her exhale when she's ready. His lips tingle with the rush of blood, and his head buzzes with the exhilaration of a first kiss. His hand rests lightly on her side as if to steady them, but mostly just for the touch.

Surprised yet not, and feeling a little dreamy, Emily responds in kind, her mouth parting ever so slightly as a low moan of pleasure escapes and she releases the smoke back to Freddie's mouth followed by a tentative probe of her tongue as it explores and then abruptly withdraws.

Hell! Am I being too forward? she asks herself in a semi-haze of reality.

Damn this pot strain. Should have taken the other ....

Leaning back, wearing a goofy grin she says "Whoa! This stuff is strong ... isn't it? It's not what I usually smoke." She was definitely not comfortable in her sexual skin and the pot had served to remove some inhibitions.

"How do you like it? I mean the pot." Quickly reaching for the subs and a drink, she unwraps hers, hands Freddie his and puts the pipe down on the grass. "It does give you cotton mouth doesn't it? I'm trying to breed that out of it."