The students were eagerly awaiting the final bell of the school year when about 10 minutes into the final class period, the Principal's voice came over the pa speakers startling everyone with his words. "Attention Teachers and Students, we are initiating a lock-down at this time. All Teachers and Students are to remain in their classrooms until further notice. Also, please be advised that there is police activity in the building and you are to follow the instructions of law enforcement. Again, this is a lock-down. Teachers please follow lock-down procedures and report any discrepancies. Thank you." Mrs. Badaloto leapt from her seat behind her wooden desk and locked the door.
"Alright everyone, quiet please! Samantha, would you please close the blinds?" And with that, Mrs. B quickly took roll call to ensure that all of her charges were, indeed, present. They were. Nobody skipped Mrs. B's class, ever. Mrs. Badaloto or Mrs. B for short, was a middle aged veteran of Eau Gallie High School. She showed respect to all of her students and in return, she was very highly respected, too.
"Well, it looks like we're going to be here for a little while longer, so why don't we continue our discussion of..." She was abruptly interrupted by loud knocking on her door. "Mrs. Badaloto, this is Sergeant Caldwell of the Melbourne Police Department. Please open the door!"
"Oh my!" She stated more to herself than to her class, as they began to rustle around in their seats and talk among themselves. No doubt hypothesizing why the police were in the school. "Everyone stay in your seats and be quiet!" she demanded and the class quickly complied.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry to barge in here like this but we need to speak with three of your students. Are Patric Peebles, Shawn Craig, and Austin Kennedy in this class?" My entire body went completely numb at the sound of my name, Austin Kennedy, being spoken by that cop.
"Why yes. Yes they are. Austin, Shawn, Patrick they need to see you out in the hall." The whispers and gasps became louder as the three of us slowly made their way to the door. All three knowing exactly why we were being singled out and all three knowing exactly what fait awaited us in that hallway. Standing just outside the classroom door was the Principal, Head Football Coach, The Chief of Police, and the Dean of Students. None of whom looked happy to be there.
The Dean, Mr. Greene spoke first. "Boys, do you have any idea why we want to speak with you?" Our heads hung low as I cast my gaze to the floor. "Well?" asked Coach O'Brian "Answer him!"
Almost in unison, the three of us mumbled our affirmative response of either yes, yeah or my even more intelligent "uh huh." Mr. Greene then continued "I'm surprised at you three. You've never been any trouble before today. Why did you do it?" he asked but didn't wait for their answer. "What has he ever done to you? Hell, he's half you size and the three of you had to gang up on him? You had better pray he lives!" That final statement drained the blood from my face and send a chill up my spine. "What had I done?" I asked myself willing the tears forming in my eyes to dry.
"W--W--What do you mean 'hope he lives' sir?" I asked, my voice cracking with fear and sorrow.
The Police Chief spoke up "He's a diabetic, boys. Do you know what happens to diabetics when they are exposed to excessive heat without food, water or medication? Come on, we need to bering you down to the station." Then a Sergeant Caldwell and two other officers handcuffed the three of us and the Sergeant read us our right...
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?"
The Chief then stated that they won't be asking any further questions until our parents are present. We were escorted into awaiting police cars and driven, separately, to the police station where we were fingerprinted, photographed, processed and formally charged with aggravated battery, false imprisonment, bullying and a handful of minor charges.
Shortly after the arrest, the lockdown was lifted and all but the three of us were sent home for the summer. Word spread like wildfire about the arrests and that Trevor Lindsay had died.
One by one, each of us were called into an Interview Room with our parents and an attorney. Each was asked to write a detailed statement as to our involvement in this incident. Neither of us denied involvement, so the police and the State Attorney were simply trying to determine culpability before deciding on how to proceed. It wasn't until after each of us recanted that day's events and were released into our parents' custody that the news of Trevor's release from the hospital made it's way to the police. To say that I was relieved is the understatement of the century, but I still felt like the worst had yet to happen. On the way home my parents didn't utter a single sound. Once home I went to my room and fell asleep ignoring the 17 text messages, 65 Facebook notifications and the 11 missed calls on my phone, all from friends wanting to know what happened and If I was okay - but mostly people wanting to know what happened. I just wanted to sleep.
In the morning, 6AM to be exact, my Mom and Dad forced me out of bed to face their wrath. To say that my parents were livid would have been a gross underestimate. I sat quietly at the kitchen table in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts as, first, my Mom spoke of the embarrassment and shame that I caused and how disappointed she was of me. Then it was Dad's turn and he listed the activities that I'd spend my summer forgoing "Absolutely no Facebook, Youtube, computer, iPod, cell phone, car, music, television, going out unless accompanied by us, no friends coming over, no swimming pool, and you will be in bed every evening by 10 and up every morning by 6. If you have no chores around the house, you'll come to my office and work there."
I knew better than to object, rather I simply nodded my head and muttered a soft "yes sir, yes ma'am." I knew that I had screwed things up and I knew that I had to pay the price. "I'm really sorry. Really I am."
"One more thing, son" Dad said "You need to get dressed because you're going over to the Lindsay's house and you're going to apologize for what you did and you're going to offer to work off your debt to them, as well." The look of horror and shock must have been obvious because before I could utter a sound Mom simply and very coldly spoke "Don't even think about saying anything. Just do as you were told, if you want to continue living here, you'll do as you are told." That sent a chill deep into my soul, as this was the first time I'd seen this side of my parents. I always knew they were heartless business people, but now they were turning their venom on their own child.
After a very quick shower, I emerged in the kitchen dressed in a white polo shirt that clung to my chiseled upper body, with hair still damp from the shower, blue eyes a bit darker and clouded by the day's events, a pair of tan cargo shorts that highlighted my firm butt and provided just a hint of bulge in the front. Tan and muscular legs, developed from years of football and baseball, were covered in bark hair but didn't seem too fury and were accented by a new pair of black zig zags and no-show socks. "Yeah I look hot" I thought to myself.
When Dad pulled into their driveway, I noticed that their house was much smaller than ours and was in need of repair. The paint was faded and pealing in some places, the window on the front door was broken and covered with cardboard, the grass was in need to mowing and the flower beds were overgrown. I followed Dad, who walked with determination, to the door and rang the bell. It seemed like 20 minutes had passed before the door finally opened. A very frail old man in a wheelchair answered the door.
"Mr. Lindsay?"
"Yes, how may I help you?" he answered with a quizzical look and a sad smile.
"I'm Marty Kennedy, Austin's father."
"Oh, I see. What can I do for you, Mr. Kennedy" his sad smile now very obviously a frown.
"I brought my son over here because he wanted to apologize to you and your grandson. We're not trying to persuade you to drop the charges, he got himself into this mess and he'll damn sure suffer the consequences as far as my wife and I are concerned. But, we raised Austin to always do the right thing and apologizing for his bad deeds against your family is a step in the right direction, so, Son..."
"Um, well, s-s-sir, I-I-I am really very sorry for what I did to your grandson. I really didn't..."
He cut me off "I'm not the person to whom you should apologize. My grandson is upstairs in his room, why don't you go to him and apologize?" he said, more so than asked while pushing back away from the door so as to allow room for me to pass. As I entered I couldn't help but notice how bad the inside of the house looked. The walls were dirty and in need of paint, there were holes where the old man had punched with his wheelchair, the kitchen was a mess. As I walked up the stairs the second floor was in stark contrast to that of the lower level. It was clean and looked to have been hardly lived in. At the top of the stairs there were two doors to my right and two to my left. One of those was closed and I could hear music from behind the door so I slowly crept to the closed door and knocked softly and received no reply. I knocked again, a bit harder and louder and still got no reply. Then I tried the doorknob to open the door and that's when I saw him, for the first time, like a beautiful human being. He was asleep on his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of basketball shorts and black no-show socks. His right arm was resting underneath his head showing off a light dusting of hair on his armpit. His eyes were closed tight and he had the most angelic smile on his face. His smooth chest and stomach were pasty white and moved rhythmically with his breathing. I allowed my gaze to continue surveying his beautiful,almost feminine, body. There didn't seem to be any bulge in the front of his shorts, but I really didn't expect there to be, because he was very small. I noticed his legs, hairless but seemed to be well defined for his size. I had to resist the urge to caress his thy. He looked so peaceful at the moment.
Not wanting to wake this sleeping beauty, I slowly retreated from his room and closed the door behind me. It was at that very moment I decided that I was going to do everything in my power to protect him from anyone and everyone that tried to hurt him again. I just had to get to know him. Hell, I didn't even know his name.
I was startled out of my thoughts when I felt a violent shove against my chest causing me to lose my balance and fall backwards onto the floor. "What the hell are you doing in my house!" My not-so-sleeping beauty spat with what appeared to be fire in his eyes.
I crawled to my knees in front of him, not wanting to appear as a threat. "This must look ridiculous, me being over six feet tall and weighing 190 pounds, on my knees in front of the most beautiful creature I've even seen in my life. Wait! What? No, I mean on my knees in front of this scrawny little kid begging for forgiveness" I thought in an instant.
"Listen, I just came here with my dad to..."
"To what? Buy us off with your money so you can stay on the freaking football team? God, you're pathetic. You're just a dumb jock who is spoiled and gets his daddy to buy his way out of trouble. Well, fuck you!" he spat and glared at me. My shoulders dropped, my head hung low and I just mumbled "I'm so sorry. I really am sorry. Maybe someday I'll be able to prove to you how sorry I am. I know you'll probably never forgive me, and I don't blame you. I've been a real prick and you never ... never deserved that kind of treatment." I looked up into his eyes and held his gaze for well over a full minute before he finally spoke. Still locked in a stare he just said, very softly "I believe you are sorry" before walking past me and going downstairs. I quickly followed.
The ride home was awkwardly silent, but I was more determined to make thing right. "Dad?"
Sigh. "What?"
"Dad, I am so sorry for all of this. I promise I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you and Mom proud of me again. I'm s-s-sorr..." I began to cry. My dad put an arm around me and squeezed.
"We are proud of you, son. That's why we came down on you the way we did. We love you very much, you just disappointed us but your mom and I both know you'll do what's right and you'll take the consequences like a man. Now, let's get home, you've got some work to do."
"Yes sir" I said with a smile. I knew I was going to be spending some long hours at his house, and would prove to him that I'm a good guy.
To be continued
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