Chapter 2
It was the slap heard around the world, or at least around Downey High.
By lunchtime, the entire school seemed to have heard about the scene in the parking lot that morning. Marcie had come flying out of a car, driven by her older brother and rounded on me as I was just unlocking the Mustang’s driver-side door. Hours later, I could still feel the sting of that slap, and wondered what the hell my younger self of this timeline had seen in her.
Sure, she was good looking. Davey had often overlooked the fact that I was bisexual more than I was gay, but then he’d never had cause to doubt my love for him. Physically, I could see why I would be interested in Marcie, but her attitude left a lot to be desired.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She’d yelled at me after slapping me. “First, you blow me off like I’m nothing on Saturday and then you don’t pick me up this morning, making me get a ride from my stupid brother! What’s going on with you, Brian?”
“I’m grounded.” I’d growled at her and she’d laughed in this high, shrill tone, throwing her blond hair over her shoulder. She was dressed in this short mini-skirt and tight top that left little to the imagination. Yeah, she definitely had a good body, but everything else was the shits.
“What the fuck is that supposed to matter?” She screamed. “Who cares if your idiot parents ground you? You’re supposed to care about me before anyone else, remember?”
“Get a grip.” I’d growled, and had gotten another slap before she stormed off without saying another word.
“Dude, you’re going to have to do a lot of making up to her.”
I didn’t want to end up in a mental institution or a government lab.
“Did you forget you’re supposed to take me to lunch?” Marcie’s voice pulled me out of my reverie and I turned to look at her with a frown. Apparently I had the same lunch period as her, and she expected me to take her somewhere. Damn, there went my plans to ‘meet’ up with Davey for lunch.
“No.” I answered her, trying to put a smile on my face. At that moment I had never missed my Davey so much. How the hell had I ended up with this bitch instead of the calm, loving man I had just spent seven decades of my life with? “Where do you want to go?”
“The usual.” She said flatly.
“Aren’t you tired of that place yet?” I asked, trying to get her to tell me exactly what ‘the usual’ meant.
“No way in hell am I tired of that place.” She frowned. “Everyone sees us together there so they know you’re mine. I thought you liked that. You told me you did.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes the food gets old.” I temporized and she frowned even more.
“What’s the matter, Brian darling?” She asked in the most sickeningly sweet voice as she stepped up and put her hand on my chest. I wanted to shudder. “You haven’t even kissed me yet, and now you don’t want to go to Furnow’s for lunch?”
“Sorry.” I said as I hugged her and planted a kiss on her cheek. A little voice in my head was yammering about this being a betrayal of Davey and it got louder when she tried to kiss me on the mouth.
“Dude, you going to lunch?”
“That would be good.” I said quickly, ignoring Marcie’s frown. Katie must be the black-haired girl that was with
Marcie wasn’t happy about the company, but she looped her arm through mine and practically dragged me towards the parking lot. My dislike for her was getting to be extreme, and as I unlocked the passenger door for her, I debated on whether dumping her would be a ‘small’ change or a ‘big’ one. Davey had always said big changes were bad, but if dumping her was a big one, I might have to risk the consequences. Brandon and his girlfriend got in the back seat, and I had to keep a smirk off my face. Trevor and I were bisexual, although he leaned more towards girls as he got older, while Davey, Sean and Brandon had always been gay from everything I’d heard. Sure
As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed Davey in a blue
“BRIAN!” Marcie’s screech reminded me I was driving and I slammed on the brakes just in time to keep from slamming into a car that was stopped for a red light. “What’s the matter with you? You’ve been acting all weird since Saturday! Snap out of it!”
“Shut up.” I growled at her, and she glared at me, accompanied by the noise of two people in the back seat sucking in their breath in surprise.
“What did you say to me?” Marcie’s voice grew dangerously low as a honk from behind told me the light was green and I started driving again.
“I’m not a doormat, you know.” I said with a hint of anger in my voice.
“Who said you were?” She retorted angrily.
“You do with the way you talk to me.” I replied, enjoying the surge of anger and the tingling it brought to my fingers. I’d forgotten how strong emotions were at this age, and it felt good.
“I do not.” She huffed as she crossed her arms just below her bosom. “You better take that back right now if you want to keep my love.”
“Stop being such a little girl.” I snorted as a fresh wave of anger came over him. I was too old to be dealing with shit like this.
“How dare you say that to me?” She roared and made to move as if she was going to open the door.
“If you’re going to jump out of the car you better wait until I can pull over.” I said as they pulled to a stop at another light.
“Take me back to the school right now!” She demanded and I was only too happy to agree.
I’d barely had time to stop the car in a parking spot at the student lot before she was out the door. She paused while waiting for
“What is wrong with you, Brian?” Marcie demanded angrily after stomping around the car and getting in my face. Spittle flew from her lips and landed on my face, but I resisted the urge to wipe it off.
“Nothings wrong with me.” I answered after thinking for a moment. “I just don’t like being treated like a doormat.”
“How long have we been going out?” She asked, and I froze, sparing a quick glance at
She turned on her heels and stormed off, pulling
“Dude, what the fuck is up with you?”
“You don’t think she treats me like a doormat?” I asked and he chuckled.
“Dude, something wrong with your memory?”
“Yeah, she is.” I agreed with a sigh, glad to be rid of her.
“Who are you and what have you done with the real Brian Breckenridge?”
“That was last week.” I replied with a shrug, unnerved by the question. Once again Davey Jones was right. You might think it would be easy to pass yourself off as a younger version of the same person, but it was really difficult.
“Yeah, well, you want to grab some food from the cafeteria?”
“How much time do we have left?” I asked.
“Just over a half-hour.”
“How about fast food?” I suggested.
“McDonalds?”
“Isn’t that David?”
“Who?” I asked and
“David Jones.”
“Ex-girlfriend.” I corrected him while trying to ponder why Davey was working here at this place. Sure, fast food was a good first job for many high school kids. But this was Davey Jones. He was so much better than this. This guy had saved the world several times, gotten his father from being a dead beat to the office of the President of the
“Yeah, ex and all that.”
“Dude, you okay?”
“Screw that.” I snorted and
“Good, can’t say she was my favorite person.”
“Yeah, let’s go before we’re late.” I said.
“No worries, we have German, remember?”
“Well, let’s not push her today.” I suggested as we got up and threw our garbage away. “With the way things are going she might be having a bad day and decide I’m the sourest thing on earth.”
“Yeah, well that’s what Marcie said after you splooged in her mouth.”
“What the fuck.” I snarled as the conversation with my father about selling Uncle Rich’s apartment came to mind. Could my younger self of this time line have been so fucking blind as to let a bitch use him like that? Then something else struck me. “Damn it
“What?”
“Calm down?” I fumed. “You knew the bitch was fucking using me like this and you fucking wait to tell me until I’ve broken up with her? What would have happened if I hadn’t broken up with her? Huh? Would you have stood beside me as my best man at the fucking wedding and fucking smiled while she took me for all she could? Is that how good of a friend you are?”
“Dude, public place!”
“So god damn what!” I shouted. “Tell me, do you think you’re a good friend when you don’t tell me a bitch is sinking her claws into me and taking what’s mine?”
“Would you have fucking listened?”
“Okay, you’ve got a point.” I said as
“So am I, but you’re better off without her.”
“I know.” I said as I headed for the car. I waited until we got inside before deciding to drop a bombshell on him. This should be pretty safe, after all Davey had told me that it had been pretty constant in all the timelines. As I started the car I turned to leer at him. “Who knows, maybe I’ll give guys a chance instead of dealing with bitchy women.”
“Dude, not even funny.”
“Well, there’s always you or Trevor.” I said as I backed the car out and headed back to school.
“I ain’t a fag, and neither is Trevor.”
“Trevor’s not a fag, he’s bisexual.” I said.
“What?”
“Please, surely you don’t think I had no idea what’s been going on in Trevor’s barn, do you?” My voice was dripping with sarcasm as the anger of earlier leaked out. That was another thing Davey had mentioned but I hadn’t understood until now. Our bodies impacted how we behaved, and the younger body of mine had a whole lot more hormones and stuff floating around in it than the body I’d left in the last timeline. As a result, I was reacting more from emotions than calm, cool, collected planned words.
“Uh, I, uh…dude.”
“Let’s talk later.” I said with a soft smile. “Maybe during P.E. if we can swing it? I’m still grounded so the old man expects me back home right after school.”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
It was just after Algebra II that a thin brown-haired girl wearing a skimpy top and very tight jeans accosted me. She had a bright smile on her face and was trying to simper like Joan Collins from Dynasty, but it wasn’t working on me as she stood in my way. Her name flowed up from long-forgotten memories of another time.
“What is it, Laurie?” I asked her after she hadn’t spoken but stayed in my way.
“Is it true?” She asked. “Did Marcie really dump you?”
“I hope so.” I said before I could catch the words from forming on my lips. Her smile grew brighter.
“So you could like, ask someone else out now?” She asked with a perkiness that was altogether too fake for me.
“I’m grounded by my parents thanks to her.” I answered, barely registering the pouty expression on her face before stepping around her and heading to my locker. I passed Marcie in the hallway and got a glare from her as she saw me, but that didn’t stop her from storming over to me.
“I need to get my things from your locker, asshole.” She demanded in a voice that cut over the buzz of students passing by us in the crowded hallways.
“Fine, I’ll put them in a box and have Katie give them to you.” I replied and she started to say something but I moved off too quickly for her. The whole situation felt weird, like a page out of someone else’s life, which it was in a very real way. Davey and I should have been a couple for two years now.
It was time for P.E. and for me to have my ‘chat’ with Brandon, and probably Trevor. Both of them were giving me sharp looks as we changed for class, but when it came time to line up for roll call I received my first surprise. Coach Cole, who was the former Navy Master Chief I remembered from the last timeline was calling out roll and he called out Davey’s name twice before shaking his head and muttering to himself.
This P.E. section was usually for guys who played on sports teams. It let us leave school earlier for away games, and also kept us from being as able to pick on the little guys. That was something I remembered clearly. I also remembered Davey telling me he hadn’t played sports in this original timeline after coming back to
“Okay, we’re doing basketball today.” Coach Cole said. “Let’s get through the warm-ups and then we’ll divide you up into teams.”
That effectively killed my plans to chat with Brandon and Trevor. They knew it as well and
Halfway through the period while I was taking a breather on the side of the court and
“Master Chief, can I ask you something?” I asked and he stared at me for a moment.
“You planning on joining the NJROTC, Breckenridge?” Cole asked with a little bit of humor in his eyes. “I’ll be honest, we could use someone like you. Last semester there were barely enough kids to keep it going. Think you could convince your two buddies to join as well?”
“I…uh…I’ll talk to them.” I stuttered with surprise. I’d forgotten how… pushy he could be about his NJROTC. I also remembered that Davey’s sister had been a big member of that group in the last timeline. Yeah, that would be good.
“Good, we’re meeting tomorrow after school.” Cole said with a nod and I realized how easily he had drafted me. Oh well, I still remembered how to march just fine and all the other crap that went with his little club. Besides, it’d give me more time away from grounding.
“What about when baseball starts?” I asked as another thought struck me.
“You’re going out for the team this year?” He asked with surprise. “You skipped it last year.”
“Yeah, well, Marcie and I broke up today.” I said with a shrug, deciding there were a lot of things I could blame the girlfriend for.
“Hate to say it, but I think that’s a good thing.” Cole said with a shudder. He had my full agreement on that. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, when you called out attendance, you shook your head at the fact that Davey Jones wasn’t here…” I let my voice trail off and he gave me a sharp look.
“I didn’t know you were friends with him.” Cole answered after a moment of silence.
“I…I’m not. Yet.” I answered honestly. “I knew him a bit back when we were freshmen and he played on the football team.”
“He any good?” Cole asked and I had to think for a moment to how Davey described his football abilities in this timeline, not necessarily how it had been in ours.
“He could be if he made the effort and had some help.” That answer should be accurate.
“Well, he won’t be eligible to play anyway the way he’s going right now.” Cole said with a grimace and he gave me a long look. “Breckenridge, I don’t know why I’m going to tell you this because at the end of last year I’d pretty much written you off as a pussy-whipped boy without a brain of your own, but you strike me as having changed a bit over the break.”
“More than you can imagine.” I muttered and almost regretted it when I realized he heard what I said. That got me a look of curiosity, but he shrugged it off when I didn’t offer anything.
“So, your friend, Jones.” Cole said softly. “He pulled a ‘C’ in this class last semester because he was at the limits of excused absences already. His absence today makes him even with the number of excused absences for the entire year. If he misses three more days, or fifteen individual classes like he’s been doing, he’ll get expelled.”
“For missing classes?” I asked with surprise and Cole nodded.
“It’s in the student guide, Breckenridge.” Cole answered. “He got suspended two weeks before finals and I think he was happy about it. If he doesn’t turn his head around and start paying attention, he’ll be out the door and in alternative education by the end of the month. His mom’s probably getting a phone call personally from the principal right now.”
“Oh.” I said, dumbstruck by the news.
“It’s time for you to get back on the court.” Cole said, ending the conversation. I made a couple of stupid mistakes in the game, mostly because my mind was spinning with the news of Davey’s problems at school. Until now, I’d been thinking I had plenty of time, weeks or months to get to know him and encourage him to make some good changes, but now… now I knew I didn’t have that much time at all and I was still grounded.
“Let’s go.”
“So what’s this shit about you thinking we’re fags?” Trevor said with a frown after we’d all remained silent for a while.
“I never said it like that.” I said defensively.
“You’ve never used anything but fag or fudgepacker to talk about people like that.”
“Since when have you used anything else?” I shot back as a flash of anger welled up. A deep breath calmed it down. Damn it to hell, I was an adult, not a kid! “Look, let’s calm down here. We’ve been friends for half our lives already, right?”
“Yeah.” Trevor said with his eyes squinting at me and his arms crossed. “Of course as soon as you and Marcie started going out it was like we ceased to exist unless you needed us for something with her.”
“Then let me say I’m sorry about that.” I said with a frown. “I was stupid to let anyone, especially a bitch like that put our friendship in danger.”
“You mean it, don’t you?”
“As long as you don’t do the same thing with another bitch.” Trevor added with a hint of sulkiness.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Trev.” I said with a smile and he smirked at me.
“You really turning queer on us?” Trevor asked with a smirk.
“If I was, I’d trust the two of you to be cool with it.” I said with a smile but they frowned at that.
“I don’t know why you think…” Trevor started to protest while
“You two started doing it with each other the summer before seventh grade, right?” I asked and they both looked up at me with shocked expressions. “Jesus, Trevor, your parents aren’t stupid people. Do you really think they missed you going out to the barn?”
“They know?!” Trevor’s voice actually cracked at that. “They told you?”
“No, but they’ve guessed.” I said with a shrug. “You know, they have to be cool about it if they haven’t said anything.”
“Dude, your parents know.”
“I’m never going to be able to look them in the eyes again.” Trevor mumbled before looking up at me. “Dude, if you’ve known, why didn’t you ever say anything? I mean, I’m not really queer, you know, but I do like getting it where I can. I guess you could say I’m tri-sexual you know…I’ll try anything at least once…”
“Yeah, okay.” I said with a nod and a smile. “Whatever works for you bro. It’s your business, not mine, okay?”
“Yeah.” Trevor grunted. “Dude, you’ve always hated queers or anything smacking of stuff like that. What’s changed you?”
“I can’t really say.” I said, not really wanting to lie to them, but neither did I want to tell them everything yet. They were different people than those I’d known for so long before. It would be smart to get to know them a little better.
“I remember the first time I heard you say the word ‘fag’.”
“I remember that.” Trevor said. “We thought you weren’t going to be friends with us anymore, but you started hanging out with us again later that month.”
“My Uncle Rich died that Christmas.” I said with a heavy sigh. That was one story Davey had told clearly, how during his first time travel, what he called the second timeline, Uncle Rich had died as well only he’d been there that time.
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“I think I remember you talking about going to see him during the sixth grade.” Trevor said with a glazed look in his eyes as if he was trying to remember. “You never mentioned him again, though.”
“My mom and dad always thought it was best if I didn’t mention my gay uncle at school.” Brian said, remembering that from his own childhood and guessing it applied here. “They weren’t ashamed of him, but they didn’t want me to get into fights when other kids said something bad about him if they knew I had a gay uncle.”
“That makes sense.”
“Yeah, well he died from AIDS that Christmas and I got a little angry.” I said, guessing from knowing how I would have reacted if my Uncle Rich had died.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry dude.”
“So this is what’s been bugging you ever since then?” Trevor asked softly.
“Yeah.” I answered. “Sucks, don’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why you cover your stump before you hump.” I joked as the hug broke up and we all grinned at each other.
“So did Marcie turn you off girls so much you’re going to do guys now?”
“Is that why you went after that Jones guy this morning?” Trevor asked with a thoughtful look on his face. “I mean, I’m not sure how you’d know that he and I did the deed last semester, but he does have a pretty hot mouth.”
“Dude!”
Their words, each and every one of them struck home as I listened and tears came to my eyes again. My Davey… we’d been virgins that first time, or at least he’d physically been a virgin. I knew in his first life we’d never ended up with each other, but I’d never thought he’d have done it with… our friends. Had he secretly looked at them while we were dating and remembered what he’d done with them?
“Brian?” Trevor’s voice got my attention. “You okay bud? That didn’t gross you out did it? Or are you upset because you thought you’d be the first to bag Jones?”
“Um, I’m fine.” I said after clearing my head with several deep breaths. No, it was as much my fault as anything Davey might have done. If I’d gone back further, to 1981, maybe, I could have stopped all this from happening. Instead, I had to deal with the world as it was now, and go from there. Davey had done all these, and probably more, in the original timeline and still ended up with me in the second, and had stayed faithful to me, except the time I rejected him. No, I couldn’t let what I’d just heard poison my love for him. He had told me once that a lot of the things he went through as a late teenager, after his father’s arrest had made him the man he was when he went back in time. I couldn’t begrudge those experiences altogether, could I, if they had produced the man who’d made me so happy for so many years?
“So, what now?”
“Who knows?” I asked in a voice almost as soft. “As far as I’m concerned, the rest of the world doesn’t need to know our business, right? We’re friends, good friends, and what we share with each other doesn’t go no further, right?”
“Right.” Brandon and Trevor said in unison.
“Now I have to go.” I said with a smile. “I’m already supposed to be home and I’m still grounded.”
“See ya tomorrow, Bri.” Trevor said, patting me on the back as I took off from the dugout and headed back out to the car. It was as I was driving off that the location of our talk triggered a memory of another talk, and the things that had been said. Almost, I turned around to tell my friends the rest of the story, remembering Sean, but I didn’t. There was too much else going on right now.
This story brought to you by a lot of hard editing from Emoe, and
beta-reading by Trebs.
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