Omorphi (43 page)

“Okay,” he whispered as he awkwardly gave Jake’s neck a quick squeeze and released him.

“I’ll be careful from now on, man.”

Christy gave him a small smile and mouthed, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Christy withdrew his pad and pen and scribbled
Was thinking
.

“You sure that’s safe to do? When Michael does that, it’s dangerous.”

“Shut up, bro. What were you thinking?”

Christy took a few moments to write
Jake escorts me after art class when I intro Jerry to Stephen. Jerry could believe Jake is queer.

Michael laughed and turned the pad to Jake.

Jake shrugged. “Who cares? I know I’m not gay and you know I’m not gay. More importantly, Sophia knows I’m not gay, so what’s to worry about?”

Christy scribbled
If Jerry likes you not Stephen?

Jake laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll straighten him out. No pun intended.”

Christy mouthed, “Okay,” and they set out for class.

Michael kissed the top of Christy’s head. “I’ll see you after second period, babe.”

Jerry walked past them, and Christy caught his sleeve. Jerry turned back, startled. “Oh, hey, Christy. What’s up?”

Christy gestured to Michael and whispered, “Michael.”

To Michael, the guy looked like Harry Potter, version 17.0, special feature: pink streak in hair. “Hey, Jerry, Christy says you’re quite an artist,” Michael ad-libbed.

“He did? You did?”

Christy nodded and gestured to Jake. “Jake.”

“Hey, Jerry.” Jake held a fist out to him.

Jerry bumped it awkwardly and looked at all three of them suspiciously. “What’d you want, Christy?”

Christy scribbled
Do you want a date?

“Ah, well, maybe, I guess. I mean, I haven’t seen any girls who I like lately, though. Why?”

Christy scribbled
Not girl
.

Jerry flushed crimson. “Ah, I don’t, ah… I’m not….”

Maybe Christy’s gaydar wasn’t so great after all. Michael moved in for a save. “No worries, Jerry. We were thinking we might go down to Sylvan Beach later this week and thought you might want to come along. Maybe meet someone, you know? But we didn’t know how you felt about being around Christy and me.”

“Because you’re gay?” Jerry blurted.

Michael smiled. “Yeah. It’s awkward for some people.”

“Yeah. I mean, no, it’s okay with me. Why’d you ask if I wanted a date?”

“’Cause we were going to set you up with someone but, if we made a mistake, we’ll skip it.”

Jerry pulled Christy by the sleeve away from the classroom door. Jake and Michael exchanged glances and hung back.

“How’d you know?” Jerry’s whisper was harsh.

Christy rolled his eyes.

“Don’t tell anybody.”

Christy mouthed, “Okay.”

Michael came to stand behind Christy. “No worries, Jerry. I’ll call Stephen and tell him no hookup.”

“Stephen who?”

“Engel.”

“The guy on your track team? He’s gay?” Jerry’s whisper was incredulous.

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. Sorry if we offended you.”

“No, you didn’t, I mean, I didn’t know he was gay.”

“Do you know him?”

“I know who he is. I have biology with him.”

“Do you want to meet him after this class?”

“This class? Art?”

“Yeah, art.”

“I’m not, ah….” He leaned into Christy. “I’m not, ah….”

“Like I said, sorry if we got it wrong and offended you,” Michael continued.

“Yeah, no, that’s not, I’m just not….” Jerry’s whisper wasn’t so much a whisper anymore.

“Don’t worry about it, Jerry. It’s all good.”

“Out!” It clearly took every ounce of Jerry’s strength to set the single word to flight on the air.

“Oh. Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t meet Stephen. Now that I think about it, I don’t think he’s totally out either.”

“Can you find out?”

“Sure. Hang on.” Michael guided Jake away with him and tried like hell not to laugh aloud as he dialed Stephen.

Jake snickered. “You’re terrible. You have that kid confused, terrified, and excited all at the same time.”

“I know. Yeah, hey Stephen, it’s me…. Yeah, you’re still on for after first period. I had a question for you.” Michael lowered his voice so only Jake could hear him. “Are you out…? I didn’t think you were totally out. That was all I needed to know… because neither is who Christy’s going to hook you up with…. Yeah, and he’s shy…. Okay. Later.”

Michael and Jake walked back to where Christy and Jerry stood exchanging fierce whispers.

“You’ll be pleased to know, he isn’t either.”

Jerry looked up at Michael, pushing his purple glasses back up on his nose with a finger. “Ah, okay…. Can I think about it?”

Michael looked down at Christy, who scribbled
Will arrange during art
.

Michael ruffled Christy’s ringlets. “Okay, I’ll leave it in your capable hands. See you after second period.”

Jake gave Christy a quick wave. “See you after art, Christy. Nice meeting you, Jerry.”

Jerry offered an awkward wave, clearly lacking in the social skills department.

“You should feel horrible, bro.”

Michael laughed. “Should I?”

“You just denied that kid the opportunity to make the most of his precious education over the next hour. He may not even recover by lunch.”

Michael laughed again. “I hope he forgives me.”

“You better hope he doesn’t take it out on Christy.”

Michael shrugged. “I get the impression Christy can handle him. If not, they’re evenly matched for size.”

Jake cracked up and jogged away, his “later, bro” barely intelligible through his laughter.

M
ICHAEL
smiled to himself as he headed to his locker after first period. He wondered how the hookup between Stephen and the Harry Potter clone was going. He hoped Christy would text him and let him know. He reached his locker, spun the dial with precision, opened the door, and froze. He slammed the door and leaned against it as he scrolled through his phone and found Nero Santini’s number. His secretary answered. “Hi, this is Michael Sattler. May I please speak with Mr. Santini…? Yes, I’ll hold.”

“Michael, I know you wouldn’t call unless it was important.”

Michael spoke softly. “I just opened my locker. There’s a picture of me and Christy pinned to the back wall with a knife, and there’s a dead squirrel hanging from the knife.” The dead squirrel pierced by the curved blade and dripping blood all over his books served its purpose, enhancing the implied threat nicely. “The squirrel is still bleeding, so someone did it recently, and the picture of us is from the surveillance footage in Christy’s cabin.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Christy and I are… well, we’re, ah,
in flagrante delicto
,” he admitted, his cheeks flaming red.

Nero swore softly in Italian. “Is Jacob nearby?”

“No, he’s getting Christy to his next class.”

“I’m going to call the detective and have him meet you at your locker. Don’t touch anything that you haven’t already touched.”

The bell rang loudly over Michael’s head.

“I’ll call the school as well and let them know that I’ve asked you to remain at your locker.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mr. Santini.”

“Can you describe the knife?”

“It’s big, the blade is about eight inches long, and it looks heavy. The blade is also curved, and the handle is black with an inlaid design in white or mother of pearl, something like that.”

“A
kopis
. Interesting.”

“What’s that?”

“A Greek knife. Tell me, Michael, who has the combination to your locker?”

“Jake.”

“No one else?”

“No.”

“Christy?”

“No. I don’t have the combination to his either.”

“Can you get it?”

“Maybe.”

“I’m afraid if he opens his locker he’ll find something equally as disturbing. For Christy, this could be devastating.”

“Okay, if I can’t get it from him, can you get it from the office?”

“I will when I call. Wait by your locker until you see the detective.”

“Okay, Mr. Santini. Thanks.”

Michael hung up and sent Jake a text message.
Don’t let Christy open locker!

2 late
came back in a flash.

OMW!
Michael sent back as fast as humanly possible.

Michael cursed the artistic layout of the school as he flew across campus, turned corners, and scaled sculptures and artistically designed trashcans. This was one of those times he wished the school hadn’t won an award for architectural achievement. Michael saw Christy squatted in a small ball before his locker, and Jake hovering over him like a worried mother. He ran faster. “Christy!”

Michael skidded to a stop and squatted down next to him. “Christy? Christy?” He lifted Christy’s chin so he could see his face. Christy’s eyes were blank, sightless. “Come on, babe, talk to me.”

Christy remained silent.

Michael looked up at Jake. “What’s in the locker?”

“Someone painted a Greek word in… I think it’s in blood.”

“Is it open?”

Jake tipped the door out with a finger. On the back of the door were Greek letters in dark, drying blood.

“Come on, babe. Can you stand?” Christy allowed Michael to lift him to his feet, and he cupped Christy’s face. “You all right?”

Christy’s beautiful eyes finally focused on Michael, and he nodded. “What does it say? Can you tell me?”

“
Tsoula
. Slut,” Christy whispered. He held on to Michael as he half turned, reached out with a trembling hand and slammed the door, then turned back and buried his face against Michael’s chest.

“Does anyone have the combination to your locker?”

Christy shook his head.

“Are you okay to go to class?”

Christy nodded.

“You sure?”

Christy nodded again.

“Okay, come on. How’d the Stephen-Jerry thing go?” Michael asked, desperately trying to take Christy’s mind off what he’d just seen.

Jake glanced at Christy before answering for him. “Fine as far as we can tell. I’m sure we’ll hear about it at lunch.”

“Have you checked your locker?”

Jake gave Michael a cynical look. “Did you check yours?”

“Yeah. Not good.”

Christy looked up at him and whispered, “What does it say?”

Michael hesitated before telling him a partial truth. “Nothing. There’s a dead squirrel in it.”

Christy flinched.

“Give me the combination to your locker, and I’ll get it cleaned up for you.”

Christy stopped walking and tried to scribble the numbers on his pad, but his hands shook too much to write. Michael took the pen and wrote the numbers down as Christy whispered them.

“You sure you’re okay to go to class?”

Christy looked up at him, stubborn defiance in his eyes. “I can do it. I am brave.”

Michael smiled. “That’s my pretty Christy.”

They dropped Christy at physics with an apology to the teacher for being late. Michael promised he’d be there to get Christy after class and guided Jake from the room.

“W
HERE
are we going?” Jake asked Michael.

“Your locker.”

“We’re late for class.”

“Don’t worry about it. Your dad’s calling the school.”

“You called him?”

“Yeah, there’s more than a dead squirrel in my locker, and the blood on the door wasn’t the only thing in Christy’s locker.”

“I didn’t see anything else.”

“You didn’t see the back of it?”

“No. I guess when we saw the door, we didn’t look any further.”

“The back of the locker is painted with upsilon. It’s the letter Y in the Greek alphabet. My guess would be for Yosef. It matches one of the brands on Christy’s inner thigh.”

“What?”

“He’s branded with the first initial of everyone who abused him.”

Jake turned to him, his dark eyes boring holes into Michael. “What do you mean, ‘everyone’ and ‘branded’?”

Oops
. He hadn’t told Jake anything about Christy’s abuse. He thought for a moment and quickly decided Jake was safe to confide in. “Christy was abused by more than just this Yosef guy, and his inner thigh is branded with the first initial of everyone who used him.”

Jake stumbled on an invisible step and cursed less than softly. “That’s just outrageously sick, man.”

“No shit.”

“What else is in your locker?”

“A picture of me and Christy taken from the surveillance footage in Christy’s cabin yesterday. We’re in an embarrassing way, if you know what I mean. It’s pinned to the back wall with a knife.”

Jake shot a nasty glance at Michael and sped his pace to his locker. They skidded to a stop, and Jake spun the combination dial and opened the door. A long blond ringlet hung suspended from the top of the locker.

“
Che cazzo!
” Jake swore in Italian.

Michael’s hand shot to his mouth. “Oh my God, that isn’t….”

Jake leaned in and sniffed it. “It’s Sophia’s. I can smell her perfume.” Jake hit speed dial and relief filled his face when he heard her voice. “
Ciao, cuore mio
…. No, no, everything’s fine. I only wanted to hear your voice…. That’s great to hear…. Okay, give me a call later tonight.
Ciao
.” Jake met Michael’s eyes. “Someone’s screwing with us besides Jason.”

“It’s Yosef. It has to be. Jason would never be able to get close enough to Sophia to cut her hair.”

“You’re not helping, bro. That means Yosef got close enough to do it.”

“Or paid someone who is close to her to do it.”

“Either way, it’s bad for business. How the hell did he get into our lockers?” Jake asked in disgust.

“Probably paid some kid to watch us open them and get the combinations.”

“Let me see yours.”

They sped down the hall, out the door and into the next building. Michael covered his fingers with the tail of his shirt to dial the combination and open the door. Not that it would do any good, but he’d promised Nero he wouldn’t touch anything more. He stepped back to allow Jake forward.