Disclaimer: See first chapter
I love knowing your thoughts on any of my stories. Please send all comments, questions or critiques to Madasonaysha@aol.com (mailto:Madasonaysha@aol.com) I always answer.
You can find links to all my stories currently on Nifty under prolific authors, Maddy A.
Join my yahoo group for faster updates on all my stories http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MaddyA_Stories (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MaddyA_Stories) (take note of the underscore between A and Stories)
"I HATE ANTHONY"
BY MADDY A.
CHAPTER EIGHT: TO MAKE A PLAN
"Hey Riley, what's popping kid? I ain't see you in a hot minute!" Jackson exclaimed as he slapped hands with Rye. Brian had persuaded him to come back to school a few days sooner than Riley had planned. Most of the bruising and swelling of his face was still visible, but he claimed to have had a skateboard accident and no one questioned him about it. Jackson was the only one in the group who truly had no idea of Rye's home situation and the truth about his wounds. Tracy was being extra nice to Riley and he loved the attention even if he would admit that to no one. Despite wondering why she was being so nice to him, he didn't voice his concerns; he was unaware that she and Regina knew.
"I know bro. Just been chilling for a while." Rye replied and the two of them continued to talk as they walked down the hallway leaving Brian and Tracy alone.
"Brian...maybe we should-" Tracy started and was cut off mid -sentence by Brian. He took of the black-rimmed glasses that he wore for style and threw her stern look.
"Look Tee Tee don't start. I already told you that we can't do that!" He exclaimed as he looked around the hall to make sure no one was watching them. Tracy couldn't understand why Brian wouldn't let her tell the authorities about the abuse that Rye's father was doing. In her eyes it was wrong not to tell anyone. Her father was a military man and although some of his views on life were a little extreme, for the most part he had taught her the difference between right and wrong. Her father would want her to tell, but more th an that she wanted to tell. They may have fought like dogs at times, but there was a bond of friendship between her and Riley that as warped as it seemed to outsiders, they understood it.
"Dizzy he needs help! You see what that mutha fucker did to him!" She hissed. Brian knew that she was right. They needed to get Rye help, but he couldn't betray his confidence. It was like he was thrown against a fence and told not to climb. If he told someone about the abuse, he would surely lose his friendship with him, but if he didn't then Riley would have to continue living with his father and dealing with the daily abuse. It was a lose - lose situation.
"I know! Damn it, I know! It's complicated." He argued feebly. Tracy slammed her locker shut as she glared at him. Brian knew that she was just upset about Riley's situation and so was he, but he couldn't tell anyone. He couldn't betray Rye's confidence and he wouldn't.
"This is so shitty Dizzy! I don't see why we can't just tell somebody?" She continued.
"Look, I know he's in trouble, but he doesn't want help!"
"He may not want help, but he needs it." She replied as she stopped to take a drink from the water fountain. As Brian was trying to think up a way to discourage Tracy from telling, he looked across the hall way and spotted Anthony leaning against a locker and talking with Lucia. Against his will, Brain couldn't help admiring his attractiveness. He was almost a foot taller than him and where Brian's body was slender, Anthony's was well defined with muscles. His shoulders were thick and broad with his waist tapering narrowly, but the bagginess of his dark blue jeans hid that. His pants hung down so low that the tips of his boxers peaked through. Brian noticed that they were white with stripes of baby blue; his favorite shade of blue. It was the Friday before the big game on Saturday so the entire basketball team wore their maroon wool with the white leather sleeves varsity jackets. Anthony's short, jet-black hair stood up on top and was cut closely on the sides. He used gel to give it that `wet' appearance, but Brian preferred when he styled it naturally. Brian heard Tracy saying something, but he was too mesmerized by Anthony's appearance to pay her any attention. He held his books close to his chest and not for the first time, he was left in awe.
As they were growing up, Brian always admired Anthony's adventurous sprit. Brian may have been shy and quiet, but that was only until you got to know him. Once you knew him, you could see that he was funny, in a smart-ass kind of way, but he was never as daring with life as Anthony used to be. Being funny was Brian's strong point. His humor could be dry at times, but always entertaining. The only problem was he rarely let anyone with the exception of his close friends know that side of him.
Brian possessed qualities that unbeknownst to him, Anthony had always admired, but it was Brian who used to wish he could be more like Anthony. Where Anthony could walk up to a complete stranger and start a conversation easily, Brian needed to be introduced. In a sense, they were polar opposites, but they really were the same; a contradiction that could not be argued.
As if Brian's staring eyes called out to him, Anthony looked up at him and had to catch his breath with their eyes met. Brian was looking at him curiously and Anthony fought the urge to smile at wondering what Brian was thinking about. Brian was wearing yet another rock n roll t-shirt, but this time it was red, not the usual black and it glowed against his smooth dark brown skin. His pants were loose, but not very baggy and against his will he tried to imagine what his backside would look like; but he already knew the answer. On more than one occasion he would sneak a peak at Brian. Whether it be a glance as he walked past Anthony's desk or a glimpse inside the locker room, he was aware of every curve, groove and arch of Brian's body. Like self-torture, he studied everything that made up Brian down to his very essence. Anthony's reverie was broken by the feeling of someone shaking him. Looking down, he noticed it was Lucia who was trying to get his attention. Annoyed, he turned his attention to her.
"Yes!" Anthony stated a little too roughly. Lucia looked at him curiously before she rolled her eyes and gave him just as much attitude as he had just given her.
"What da fuck is your problem?" She shrieked. She thought that he would be on his best behavior; treating her as if she was a queen, which at the moment he wasn't. Against her better judgment she had taken him back after he had cheated on her and now he had the nerve to talk to her as if she meant nothing to him. She was preparing to dig in to him when his turned to her with his face softened as he realized how inappropriate he was acting.
"Sorry Chi Chi. What up baby?" He asked with that patented sly smile on his face.
"I said do you want to go to lunch tomorrow afternoon?" She asked impatiently.
"I can't babe". He replied as he continued to glance over at Brian. Excitement coursed through his body as he realized that each time he would look over at him, Brian's dark eyes would meet his every time, without fail. It was a game that they were playing; both winning and losing at the same time.
"Why not?" She whined.
"Baby I got plans, but how about after the game?" Anthony replied. He had plans all right and they included Brian. He had been counting down the days until Saturday. He and Brian had made plans to work together on their paper and he was looking forward to it; even if he made it seem like he wasn't.
"What you gotta do?" She asked suspiciously. Anthony threw one arm around her and pulled her close to him so she would relax.
"I gotta work on the stupid fucking paper wit dat Nigga Brian." Again, Anthony glanced over to Brian who now instead of looking curious, looked bothered. Whatever moment they were briefly sharing was broken when Tracy pulled on Brian's sleeve and he looked away from him at her.
"What!" Brian asked. He had zoned out while Tracy was talking to him. Tracy followed where Brian was looking and she was surprised to find out that he was looking at Anthony.
"Jeez don't get all bitchy on me! Why you looking over at him anyway; do you want him to come over and start fucking wit you today?" She asked making Brian nervous. He hadn't realized he was being so obvious. He quickly turned his gaze to Tracy and she hooked her arm in his and led him down the hallway, trying to convince him to let her tell someone about Riley`s situation. Brian didn't look back, but if he would have he would have noticed Anthony watching him.
"Can't you do that some other time baby?" Lucia whined as Anthony got up from the lockers he had been leaning against and started to walk her towards her class.
"Baby, I wish I could, but dat shit is due in like two weeks and shit." He replied and tried to make it seem like he wished he could be doing something else, but there was nothing else he would rather do. Against his better judgment, old feelings for Brian were coming back up and stronger than ever. He tried fighting his confusing thoughts, but as of late he was losing the battle. He knew all the reasons and risks that he would be taking, but he was starting to wonder if maybe taking a chance would be worth it. He was unsure of a lot of things, but certain of others. One thing that seemed to never change was the feelings he had for Brian, once friendly, but now something completely different. And as the years past, they only grew stronger from afar.
"Damn! Well, I guess we could do dinner after the game then." She replied and smiled up at him. Lucia felt someone's eyes burning a hole into her back and when she turned around, she saw Brianna. Anthony saw her too and knew that trouble was headed their way in the form of a short, cute Puerto Rican girl.
"Congratulations! I heard you guys are back together." Brianna said as she walked up to them with a sneaky smile hidden behind her fox like eyes. Lucia knew that Brianna was just there to cause trouble. She had once thought that they were close friends, that is until that whole non-sense with her hooking up with her boyfriend. How someone that was so pretty could be so vicious and manipulative was a thought lost on her. Brianna twirled her fingers through her long, black curly hair and kept her gaze at Anthony. She was making him uncomfortable and he wanted to leave, but Lucia was not about to be chased away. Once she found out Brianna; her supposed friend had messed around with her boyfriend, she none to politely ended their friendship with a mixture of insults and eye rolls.
"Cut the bull shit Brianna! You don't give a fuck about me and Anthony being back together!" Lucia stated as she unconsciously leaned closer to him. Brianna's smile disappeared and she knew that her act of civility was not being bought.
"Ai'ght, you got me. I really just came over here to warn you about ya man. " She replied with her Puerto Rican girl sassiness. Anthony's ears perked up in curiosity as he glared at Brianna.
"Oh really? Please tell me what YOU know about my man that I don't." Lucia replied giving her just as much attitude as she was giving. Brianna looked Anthony over from head to toe and smiled wickedly. `Just what is she trying to get at?' Anthony asked himself.
"Umm...I think I'll save that for another time. But, I will leave you wit this." Brianna stated as she stepped closer toward Anthony and caressed his cheek. "He has a really big dick!" She laughed and walked off leaving Anthony to hold back a red faced and ready to fight Lucia.
"God Damn her! Anthony you stay away from dat bitch!" Lucia hissed and received no arguments.
As Anthony sat in earth science class, Plate Tectonics was the furthest thing from his mind. He was wondering just what Brianna meant when she said she wanted to warn Lucia about him. What could she know about me?' He asked himself. Then his mind flashed back to the night they had hooked-up. She was rocking her hips fluidly over his lap and at the peak of climaxing he mumbled something. What did he mumble he thought? Oh shit! I moaned out Brian' s name! Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!' His panicked thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bell. It was time for him to go to English class, but at the
moment he didn't want to go. He couldn't face Brian. He knew that he could find solace in the work out room at the gym so that was where he went.
Five minutes past and then ten. The bell had rung twenty minutes ago and Brian wondered where Anthony was. He wanted to talk to him. He knew that they had agreed to meeting on Saturday, but he didn't know if it was going to be at his house or Brian's. He didn't even know if Anthony still wanted to meet up the next day. But, for whatever reason Anthony never showed up so it looked like Brian would have to wait for his answer. He was partially relieved by the fact that he didn't have to talk to him. A part of him despised Anthony for the years of insufferable abuse he had placed upon him, but a small part of him still liked to think back to the times when things were simpler.
Lunch was an experience. Riley was back to his usually jovial self and he and Tracy were going at it; throwing harmless insults to each other left and right.
"What the hell are you eating? Is dat mayonnaise on your sandwich? Gross... you white people and ya mayonnaise." Tracy said as she rolled her eyes and buttered her bagel.
"Hey! I like mayonnaise." Regina interjected looking offended.
"It's true. I've seen this girl eat a wish sandwich before." Jacky added. Riley put down his food and looked over at them.
"What the fuck is a `wish sandwich'? He asked.
"You are so fucking white! You would think your cracker ass would know dat shit living around all these black folks." Tracy through in and everyone rolled their eyes at her.
"What the hell? I don't even know what the fuck a `wish sandwich' is?" Brian replied which earned a French fry being thrown at his head courtesy of Jackson. It took a few moments for the laughter to die down.
"A wish sandwich is when you take two slices of bread, put a little mayonnaise on it, and there you go." Regina replied.
"Mayonnaise...where's the meat?" Riley asked and Jackson answered.
"Exactly...you WISH you had some meat!" Everyone continued to crack up. Brian looked around at his friends and felt thankful.
Carlos was sitting down enjoying his lunch when he heard loud laughter coming from a few tables ahead of him. He looked over to see that faggot ass Brian joking around and having fun while he sat at his table alone and miserable.
He couldn't stand the little punk; always walking around like he thought he was better than everyone else. As long as Carlos could remember he never liked him. Although Brian had never done anything to make Carlos fell that way, he just did.
"What's up man?" Reggie asked as he took his seat across from Carlos.
"Nuttin bro. Look at dat faggot ass punk over there." Carlos said. Reggie looked over at Brian and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He didn' t know him and truthfully he could care less about him; to him, Brian was just another random face in the crowd. But, he had noticed in his short time of being friend with them, that Anthony and Carlos for some unknown reason both seemed to hate Brian. It wasn't in Reggie's style to pick on other people so he never joined in when they started hassling Brian and he never stopped it.
"Why you care bout him anyway?" Reggie asked and Carlos didn't have an answer for that. The truth was there was no valid reasoning for his hatred ; he just knew that was how he felt.
"So you ready for the game tomorrow and shit?" Carlos asked him, clearly changing the subject.
"Yeah, but I'm a little nervous though." Reggie replied.
"Don't be. We went over the plays and we gonna whoop East High School's ass tomorrow night."
"Yeah, you right. I would just feel better if we met up earlier tomorrow to practice, but Anthony said no when I asked him to." Reggie replied and Carlos looked at him curiously.
"Wait..Huh? What did you ask Ant?"
"I asked him if we could all meet up tomorrow afternoon to go over some basketball drills, but he told me that he couldn`t."
"Did you ask him why?" Carlos asked. He wondered to himself why Anthony wouldn't want to get an extra practice in; and more importantly what would he be doing on Saturday afternoon.
"No...I assume he probably had a date with Lucia or something." Reggie replied and Carlos accepted that answer.
"Where is dat nigga anyway?" He asked.
"I saw him in da weight room earlier. He looked like he was stressing some shit so I left him alone." Reggie replied and began to talk to the other people at their table. Carlos wondered what was wrong with Anthony, but his thoughts were interrupted with the incessant laughter coming from Brian's table.
He really hated that kid.
"Rye, what you doing tomorrow?" Tracy asked Riley who caught off guard with her politeness.
"Huh?" He replied and she laughed. They were on their way to the last class of the day. Although they didn't share the same class, their classrooms were next to each other so they usually found themselves walking together after lunch.
"I said what are you doing tomorrow?" She laughed again.
"Oh, nothing...why?"
"Me and Regina are going to the basketball game tomorrow and I wanted to know if you wanted to roll with us?" She replied all in one breath. She didn' t know why she was so nervous inviting him out, but she was. Riley smiled down at her and she noticed how nice his smile was. His hair may have been a bright shade of green, but it suited him. His bruised chubby cheeks made his face appear to be hardened by life, but as Tracy noticed, when he smiled, his face softened into a gentle look of passiveness.
"Sure...yeah...um...what time?" He asked. He was just as nervous as she was.
Their body language was awkward yet at ease.
"We're gonna leave at four because we have to catch the bus. Jackson is trying to make Brian go, but you know how he is with sports."
"Yea, but its not the sports. He just doesn't want to risk running into Anthony."
"I know, but Jackson's working on him as we speak so maybe we all will be chilling tomorrow." She replied and waved good-bye to him as she walked into class. He stood there for a minute admiring her lithe feminine frame. She turned around to look back at him and clumsily bumped into the doorway. Flustered, she laughed at herself and continued to walk inside. Riley didn't realize he was smiling until he felt the itching pain coming from the cut above his lip. `Maybe there is a little light in my life.' He thought to himself.
"I said maybe!" Brian whispered to Jackson. For the last half and hour Jacky had been trying to convince him to go with all of them to the basketball game tomorrow night. He had never attended a game and had no plans to. Besides the fact that he didn't follow the game, he never wanted to risk running into Anthony and Carlos. But, now he was starting not to care so much about that. Life was ever evolving and so was Brian, but change can be slow.
"Come on dude! It's the last home game and I really want you to come and see me play!" Jackson whispered back and it was the truth. He did want Brian to see him play. As the days were passing his feelings were growing stronger and stronger for him. He tried fighting it and he tried pushing them away, but after the kiss that they shared it was hard to. Looking into Brian's deep eyes, Jackson knew he had fallen hard.
"Alright fine! I'll go now shut up and let me finish this damn quiz!" A smile sneaked across Brian's face as he noticed out the corner of his eye the grin on Jackson's.
Brian stared at the phone wondering if he should call Anthony to make sure that there plans were still on. He picked up the phone and dialed the first six digits and paused when it came to dialing the last number. He chickened out and hung it up. He repeated this three times before he took a deep breath and dialed with determination. The butterflies in his stomach were twisting up and causing his stomach to cramp up. Each ring of the phone caused another knot to form. After four rings Anthony's hoarse voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Ah...Anthony...hey it's Brian." Brian nervously spoke.
"Hey Brian! Wassup?" Anthony replied instantly woke up. He was tired and sore from his two-hour work out. His basketball coach let him spend two periods working out when he should have been in class. One of the many perks of any player who played sports were free access to hall passes; something that Anthony had taken advantage of on more than one occasion.
"Umm...hey. I...I Just wanted to make sure we still on for tomorrow?" After a few seconds of hesitation Anthony responded.
"Yeah, One o'clock right?"
"Yeah...One." Brian replied. They both spoke to each other with deep raspy voices. It was Friday night and instead of being out partying Anthony opted to stay home and clear his mind while Brian stayed in with the Charles Dickens classic, "Great Expectations".
"Cool..." Anthony replied and they were both silent. They didn't know what else to say to each other yet for unknown reasons they didn't want to hang up. They stayed on the phone in silence for an awkward minute or two before Brian cleared his throat.
"Well, tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow...oh and good night." Anthony whispered and Brian could feel a tingling inside of his boxers.
"Night Beetle." Brian whispered back and hung up the phone without realizing he had just slipped up and called Anthony by his childhood name.
Anthony laid back on his bed with his back resting against the headboard. A broad smile was spread across his face. He cradled the phone close to his body. Not even the annoying voice of the operator coming on, followed by the shrill sound of a busy signal could make him hang that phone up. "Did he just call me Beetle?" He asked himself. The smile on his face grew even wider as he realized Brian had indeed called him that. It was in that moment he knew that he was getting himself into trouble again...but he didn't care... tomorrow was going to be very interesting....
**Wanna know what happens next? You would have known weeks ago if you were in my yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MaddyA_Stories (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MaddyA_Stories) (take note of the underscore between A and Stories)
Copyright 2005