Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

"Girls, beware of young horny douchebags isn’t exactly a fresh story! But if I could put a name to the story. A face…"

She looks at Zach, and sees it won’t fly!

"Oh, that guys a puppy dog, anyway! Since Freddy and his ‘bros’ beat him up… quiet as a mouse!"

She sighs.

"I’ll guess we’ll just do a running tally of how many days Romanov has been wearing the same outfit!"

"Trust me, I'm aware," Zach sighs. He considers it for a moment, his eyes moving around the room, subconsciously looking for his sister, then he adds, "I'll think about it and get back to you, alright?"

In response to her comment about the running tally, he snorts in amusement.

"Ew gross, Lilly. You can't write stories like that anyway without absolute proof. I think that crap falls under the heading of libel or slander. I always get those two words mixed up."

Meanwhile, Emily is becoming more and more curious about what Zach wants to tell her in private but she doesn't want to appear too enthusiastic. She glances at him with raised eyebrows hoping he'll get the hint.

Freddie ponders Zach's question, and she, "Yeah, Marco said some stuff about Rose. Probably the stuff a brother doesn't want to hear, you know? Maybe it was just guy talk. And maybe that's the kind of stuff he tells other guys too. I don't know. "

He laughs at the running jokes about teachers getting busy in the paper.

Zach is really tempted to ask Fred for details, but the boy is probably right. Zach doesn't want to hear those things about his little sister. He bites his lip, considering it for a good moment longer, then just gives Freddie a nod and turns to Emily instead, who looks like she's eager to finally find out what all this secrecy and his call yesterday is about. "Hey Em," he says, trying to sound all casual. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

When she agrees, he gets up, wincing as his bruises hurt again at this, and leads her into a corner of the lunch hall that's not out of sight from their table but out of earshot. And, as far as he can tell, out of earshot of anyone else as well. He hesitates for a moment, trying to figure out how to broach the subject. He's thought about it for a while now but hasn't come to a satisfying solution yet. "So, uhm, yesterday..." he begins, kind of awkwardly. "Nothing, like, weird happened when you were out, right?"

"No, what? Look Zach spill the beans already will you? Stop with the cloak-and-dagger stuff okay? The only weird thing was your behavior on the phone."

Admittedly Emily was too stoned to drive yesterday but that was neither weird nor unusual.

Zach takes a deep breath, then he says, "Those guys who were bothering me, the ones that pushed me into this ditch and..." He indicates his bruises to let Emily know that these 'guys' he's talking about were responsible for them. "One of them showed me a picture. He asked me if I knew the people on it." His eyes are fixed on Emily's as he tries to read if she can guess what he's leading towards. "It was you and your brother on that picture."

Emily drops the attitude when Zach starts describing where he got his bruises but her blood runs cold when he mentions that they had a photo of her and her brother.

"What kind of photo?" she croaks. "Like ... where were we? Any background details in the photo or anything? Describe these men ... what did they look like. What did they say exactly?" She fires off questions rapidly, fear crawling up her spine.

"I don't know," Zach replies, his curiosity piqued even more now that he sees Emily's reaction. "You looked younger in it. It was probably a few years old. A family photo, definitely posed." He shrugs. "As for the guys, they kind of looked like..."

He stop mid-sentence, his eyes focused on Emily as he instead says, "You already know who they are." He crosses his arms. "Whoever they are, they attacked me. I deserve to know."

"What’s up with those two?" Lily asks Fred and Wendy, as they cross the room and start a private conversation.

"They're going to Homecoming together, so I bet he is asking her about touching protocol."

He switches to an awful impression of Zach. "Waist, great. Ass? Yeah? Boobs? No, are you sure? Damn."

"That’s something we need to discuss!" Lily jokes with Wendy! She nudges the girl with her elbow, and then winks.

Let’s bully Fred…

"Later! Who are you going with, anyway? Did you decide?"

Freddie sighs. "No it's getting desperate. I don't want to go alone, but I doubt there is anyone left. Who wants to be a last minute choice? It's a -- what do you call it? -- a conundrum."

He nods at the table where Rose usually sits. "Zach's sister has got a real reputation, according to my sister. I'd ask her but then Priya would think the worst of me. And rightly so!"

He rubs his head. "You two are lucky."

"Why do you say that?" she asks, in reference to his last comment!

"Is Priya going with anyone?" she says, tenderly enough.

"Some people don't like my parents, that's all. I'm sorry you were involved." It wasn't a lie. But Emily needed to text her parents. She'd wait a bit so it wasn't obvious and then let them know. In the meantime, she had better chill.

"Thanks for letting me know about this. I'm just going to go the bathroom." She decided not to wait.

Freddie blanches. Did he misinterpret things? "Oh, I thought you were going together. My mistake. Well maybe one, or both of you two would like to go with me? We can go as friends, but still have a proper time, right? And if you want to dance with other people or even hang out with others, that's cool with me."

He looks around, and adds, "I don't know if Priya is going. I am hoping she does get asked and goes, so I can talk to her."

"No, Emily!" Zach says, trying to step into her path and stop her from leaving, if necessary by blocking the door. "There's more going on here. These guys were dangerous. You need to tell me who they are. Am I in danger? Are you in danger?"

"I don't need to tell you anything. Look I have to ... to go to the bathroom. Please let me pass." She refuses to say anymore and her eyes say that she will push her way past Zach if it comes to that.

"I was attacked, Emily," Zach reminds her. He's already grabbing her arm with one hand to stop her from leaving when he realizes that he might be going too far.