19

  Brad

  We got our mid-terms back when we came into school that Tuesday. Cody and I got top marks in every class and secured the pathway to a polished and improved transcript for college all thanks to Christian’s tutelage.

  It’s amazing how someone so smart didn’t have a 4.0 himself. Maybe it was because of all the nonsense he went through outside of class. Had he been able to be tested and evaluated in a neutral and controlled environment, a place without shoulder checks and spit in his milk, he would have probably been our classes valedictorian. I found that Christian’s lack of aptitude in school came mostly from his survival instinct. That’s why he wasn’t a part of any club or extra-curricular activity. He felt that there was no reason to stay in this monument to torture any amount of time longer than he was legally obligated to. He came to school, he survived, and then he left. He kept his head down, talked to no one, tried to avoid any interaction that would only lead him to more pain and abuse, and at the end of the day got out of that accursed building as soon as he could.

  I found Cody in the west hall, and we gave each other a high five without even saying anything. We both knew what the other was thinking as the both of us were carrying those, “I freaking survived,” smiles on our faces in the wake of our mid-term exams.

  “93 in Pre-Calc,” Cody said as he slapped my hand.

  “91 in civics, and it was all short answer,” I said back.

  “We scored higher then Brandon and Simon, I should try to make an argument to Coach Brewer, we should start for the last game of the season, who gives a damn? The seasons over and we’re not making playoffs, let’s have one more go, you and me. We’re playing at home on the schedule, let’s make some memories, I’m in a real mood to make some memories. I’ll throw you a fifty yard bomb, you slam over a guy and get there, and we impress some cheerleaders just in time for the big end of the year festivities,” Cody smiled. He hadn’t told me anything, and I hadn’t told him anything, but I saw Susie taking him aside, out of the party. And I had noticed they were gone for the rest of the night. I won’t have the indecency to accuse them of what I was sure happened, but I didn’t see them until the next morning when we gathered outside the lake. I knew when Cody said he wanted to impress cheerleaders, there was only one cheerleader he was focused on impressing.

  “You think he’s going to let us play?” I asked, “I know under the duress of mono he put us in, under protest, and we had a good game, but you really think he’s going to sideline Simon for the last game of his season?” I asked.

  Cody leaned in towards me, “You didn’t hear this from me, but Simon got busted with weed, buying it form some kid in the boy’s room when Mr. Blair walked in and caught them red handed, he’s screwed. No way they’ll let him play, I’m up, I’m the guy Brewer has to call, and if he calls me, he calls you, we’re going to glory again my friend,” he smiled.

  Glory again, yes, we did see glory together. Glory slaying the Wolf in the other world, among other adventures we had had together. “Put the ball in my hands, I’ll push it through,” I said as Cody and I slapped our hands together and gripped each other. “We’re playing Atkinson right? They didn’t do so hot this year either,” I said, “We can take them, me and you,” I smiled, thinking something as petty as a high school football game with no upside could be considered a great victory even after I had my hand in slaying the Big Bad Wolf of all things, “Me and you can take anything,” I smiled.

  “You hear about Joseph’s party? His parents are gone for the week, Cassie asked me if I was going to be there, I said sure and then, you’ll love this, she asked if that sexy Fullback is going to be there, the tall, dark, and handsome one,” Cody raised his eyebrows.

  I laughed, “Really, Cassie said that?” I smiled, wrung my hands together for a second, “I’m there if you’re there, brother,” I said.

  “Great, I already talked to Susie, she’s on board,” Cody smiled, “Now, stop me if this is a bad idea-”

  I cut Cody off, “You sure I’m the best guy to run something by?” I asked.

  “I would run anything by you,” Cody put his hand on my shoulder, “I’m thinking of bringing Christian,” he said, “I know he’s not good at parties, at least he wasn’t before, but man, you’ve seen how he is Somewhere Else, that world got him out of his shell, that world really changed him, for the better as crazy as it sounds,” I said.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea, I mean, he’s at home Somewhere Else, he has confidence over there. Do you think some of that has been able to rub on him enough to show that kind of backbone here?” I asked. I felt one of those weird mixes of concern and hope in that moment. Concern that Christian would never truly find himself in our world, and hope that maybe the constant influx of confidence somewhere else had given him had changed him for the better.

  “Dude, think of how far we’ve seen him come, he could barely talk to Susie of all people before we found Somewhere Else, and Susie is so easy to talk to,” Cody had been talking about Susie a lot since our last visit. Save for his wish to give Christian a happy memory in his high school experience Susie seemed to be all he thought about.

  We’ve seen him drinking with maidens and even impressing and swooning them, if he can pound Bud-lite with the same confidence he can down Somewhere Else’s mead with, he’s going to have no problem. We go, have a few drinks, Christian’s going to shine, I just know it,” Cody said.

  “I mean, I got to give it to you, he has changed, and changed for the better. He’s confident now, I saw him in civics class, he has this newfound confidence, I even saw him chatting up Bailey, that soft spoken brunette, always has glasses and her hair in a pony tail, I overheard them talking about the Once and Future King, he was giving her some pointers for the English test, I could see he had some swagger with her, she was hanging on his every word. He didn’t have the balls to ask her out to eat lunch together, but if he did, from what I saw, she probably would have accepted,” I really did notice a change in Christian, we all did. He walked through school with his shoulders high and his chin up for a change. Somewhere Else had really done wonders for him.

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  I remember one time I was in audience to Gary REDACTED giving Christian another shoulder-check one day. Usually, Christian just took the punishment he seemed to deserve for some reason and moved on with his life. But on this fateful day Christian stopped, turned, and asked, “Do you have a problem with me?” he said. He had been recently rewarded a stunning and amazing sword for the symbol of his bravery. Gary should have thanked God that Christian didn’t have that sword on him in this moment.

  “Shut up, faggot,” Gary laughed.

  Christian moved up, he was an inch shorter than Gary, and quite a mass of muscle thinner, “You think you’re big, you think you can kill a wolf?” Christian said. The people around them, ignorant that Christian was telling the truth, were stunned. This was going to change the routine for all those students who walked that same hall all semester and for them seeing Gary shoulder check Christian and seeing Christian walk away defeated was just another part of life.

  “Get the fuck out of my face, faggot,” Gary put two fingers to Christian’s chest, pressuring him, or at least trying to pressure him. Gary had no idea who he was crossing. He wasn’t crossing that pathetic kid who just took the blows of the world as if it was a natural state of things, as if it was the way of the world. Right now, Gary was face to face with the kind of man who can stare down a monster, and opposed to fleeing, raise his sword, scream in great boldness and bravery, and charge forward to a threat that challenged his honor. He had no idea who he was messing with this time.

  “What, you think your tough, faggot,” with both hands he shoved Christian’s chest. Instead of falling back like he usually did when he was shoved by be it Gary, some abusive teacher, or even his own father did, he stood strong, unmoving.

  “You think you’re the worst thing in my life,” Christian said. Third period be damned, everyone on their way to class had gathered around to watch this.

  Christian shoved Gary back, “You’re nothing, you’re a fucking stain to me, I don’t give a damn about you,” he said.

  That’s when Gary got in his face, almost pressing his forehead to Christian’s “Oh, did your boyfriend give you a reach around last night, everyone knows you’re a faggot, you’re the kind of guy who takes it up the ass, you fucking pussy,” he said.

  I was in that crowd, watching. I wanted to get involved, but I also didn’t want to risk getting called to the office and getting a suspension that could take me off the team. But I could see it in Christian’s eyes, that same fire he had when he slayed the Big Bad Wolf, Christian wasn’t in any danger at all in this moment.

  “I’m done with you,” Christian swung his arm up, his hand balled into a fist. He caught Gary right under and to the left of his chin, hit him right in that button my dad explained to me was the place to go for when you’re in a fight. That button you can find at a slight angle right under the jaw and that will knock any man down when it was struck with even a little bit of force.

  Gary fell backwards, this encounter was over. Christian laid him out and no damage that would last for life had been done. This had ended the way any fight in a place as meaningless as high school should end. One man on the ground, the other standing over him.

  “Fucking pussy, you hit like a girl,” Gary said as he tried to push himself up and get to his feet. To him, being knocked on his ass just meant that Christian got a lucky shot. That he didn’t get that surgical precision hit that Christian knew he had gotten.

  What happened next was Gary’s own fault, it was his fault for trying to get back up. Christian, a cold and dead look in his eyes, a look I would see again soon, knelt to the ground, lording over him. He clenched his fist and brought it back.

  “You’re done,” Christian said as he reigned his fist down directly on Gary’s face, he had to have busted his tormentor’s nose into a million pieces. It even looked crooked through the mounting blood that began to gush from it. Christian reared back and brought his fist down again, right under that poor bastard’s right eye. I could hear the back of Gary’s head slam against the linoleum floor of the school hallway and saw him go limp. He was out, he was done. No more shoulder checks and spit flavored milk for Christian, not from Gary, not from anyone, not after that.

  The school faculty that had broken up the fight, if it could be called a fight, they had even called an ambulance for Gary. As they dragged him away, they could see that his eye was starting to swell, it would be black and big for several days after this incident. He would carry the shame of being knocked out by ‘that faggot Christian’ for a while.

  Everyone in witness to this, including myself, had the same story. Christian was defending himself. The fact that he had been a model student and never involved in a fight after the countless times some other bully had been called to the office for causing a scene tormenting him must have given Christian some credit when he had his sit down with the school’s senior administrators. He got a two-day suspension for fighting. Hardly a punishment for Christian, it just meant two more days, two more weeks, that he could spend Somewhere Else.

  Gary had to wear a brace on his nose for the rest of the year, he’s wearing it in his graduation picture, and he was wearing it when he, somehow, got his diploma.

  As for Christian, he earned a bit of social clout after this. Everyone hated Gary, not because he tormented them like he did Christian. They hated him because he was an asshole. Most people agreed he had what Christian had given him coming. Christian even confided in us that some of the more popular students had been giving him high fives and fist bumps when they were away from the watchful eyes of teachers and administrators.

  Cody’s idea to invite Christian to a party sounded like the perfect thing to do. He had become so much more confident. He was so far from that scared boy that fled to the side of a lake at his first party. He was a man now, a man who could stand up for himself, stand up for what was right. He won his first fight, first fight in the real world at least, and won it handedly. Many a student saw him as someone who rid a menace from our community. The more time he had spent Somewhere Else, slowly turned Christian into the kind of man who could be sure of himself. We thought it was healthy for him, at the time, we thought Somewhere Else was making him a better person.

  “Yeah, bring Christian,” I told Cody, “After laying out Gary, people know he’s a badass now, he could get some attention,” I smiled. Just like Cody at this point in the story, I really wanted things to get better for Christian. I thought they would, I really thought that he could have had a chance in our world.

  “Great, I already texted Susie, she got invited by the squad so she’s in,” Cody smiled, “This is going to be great,” Cody said