Chapter 5
Liam woke up and crawled out of his bed. He could feel, even in his room, that the weather outside was freezing. It had been snowing all night, which was expected since it was already December. He smiled as he saw his bed hair in the mirror. He definitely needed a shower. He had always paid a lot of attention to his appearance, and his father often joked that he spent more time in front of the mirror than his mother, which was probably true.
His expression became serious when he recalled the recent events at school. Liam had learned to wait until one of the teachers entered the dining room before getting his lunch. Even Sam wasn’t stupid enough to try something when adults were present, and most of the time, Liam was able to eat his lunch from the plate instead of the dining room floor.
However, Sam had innovated new ways to torment Liam. One day, he had gotten his chance to push Liam’s head into a sink and turn on the cold water. After that, Liam had avoided the bathrooms, even when his bladder was about to burst. It was humiliating to run home with his legs crossed, but it kept his hair dry.
Liam picked up the new vanilla shampoo that his mother had bought and began to wash his hair. The hot water felt so comfortable, and soon all of the glass surfaces in the bathroom were covered with steam. He rubbed soap on his body and thought about the blond jock, which caused his erection to start to grow.
Twenty minutes later, his teeth were brushed, and his hair was perfect. It was time for one final check of his bag to make sure that he had packed all of the books he needed.
As he was leaving, his mother shouted from the kitchen, “Honey! Are you not going to eat anything?”
“I’m not hungry,” he replied as he shut the door. It was going to be a long day at school because of some extra classes, and he was worried that, if he ate too much, he wouldn’t make it without a bathroom break.
I’m an idiot, Liam thought as he headed through the blizzard toward the school. He couldn’t understand why he was so obsessed with the blond swimmer boy. Despite his divine appearance, the jock was an idiot, whose gang got satisfaction out of bullying Liam.
Speaking of the devil, he saw Sam, the blond swimmer boy, and their dark-haired friend walking from the parking area toward the main gate of the school. Liam’s first thought was to run to the schoolyard before the jocks saw him. It was unlikely to work, but maybe he would be hidden by the snowfall.
But it was too late. “Well, hello there, pansy boy! How are you?” Sam yelled in a mocking tone.
“I’m fine. Thanks for asking, tiny boy,” Liam answered. “Unfortunately, my schedule is full today.”
Liam was tired of the gang constantly bullying him; still, he wasn’t sure where he was finding the courage to confront Sam in front of his friends. Surprised by the answer, Sam stopped walking.
“What do you mean?” Sam asked, unsure of what else to say.
“I appreciate your money, but like I said, I don’t have time to suck your tiny dick today. I’m fully booked. Sorry,” Liam said, taking as honestly a regretful expression on his face as he could.
The blond swimmer and his friend burst into laughter. Sam didn’t. His face turned red with anger.
Sam stepped to Liam and grabbed his jacket. He dragged the small boy to the snowbank on the side of the road and pushed him into it. Sam had lost the verbal battle but wanted to make his physical dominance very clear. Still, he didn’t want to make any more of a scene in front of the school than he already had. He marched, swearing, to the schoolyard. “Fucking faggot,” were the last words Liam heard him say.
Liam was lying in the snow. The blond swimmer kept looking at him, and his expression was serious. For a moment, Liam thought that he would retaliate on behalf of his friend, but he didn’t. On the contrary, he was almost smiling as Liam rose from the snow and brushed off his clothes. Finally, the blond swimmer and his friend turned to follow Sam, who had already disappeared into the yard.
After that, the rest of the school day was startlingly uneventful. Liam saw Sam a couple of times during the day, and the tight look in his eyes made it clear that the war was far from over. If he knew Sam at all, it had just started. Liam was worried about the jock’s next move, but he had decided that it was time to start fighting back.
The sun was setting, and long, dark shadows surrounded the Fairmont High School campus. Alex pulled the zipper of his coat higher and kept hiding behind a snow-covered bush that grew by the main entrance of the swimming hall. A hundred-and-fifty yards from him, Sam was talking to two suspicious-looking older men.
Alex was worried. After the incident with the new guy in front of the school that morning, Sam had been behaving strangely. Alex had to admit that the small kid’s courage had surprised him, but he was worried about what Sam’s next move would be.
Sam and the older men were too far away for Alex to overhear their conversation. It looked like they were arguing about something before one of the men pushed Sam on the chest. The other man pulled his friend back, placing himself between them to calm the situation, preventing a potential fight.
The first man looked frustrated and started to walk away. His friend pointed at Sam, and then he left, too. Alex watched Sam wait for at least five minutes before walking to his truck.
What’s going on? Alex thought. He saw Sam pull out of the parking lot and heard his mother’s warning in his head: “Think about your future. Sam isn’t good company for you.”
Alex drove home and started on his homework. An hour later, Sofia called him, but Alex was too worried about Sam to answer. He picked up his phone and read the text message that Rick had sent him a week ago: “Is Sam in trouble? He asked me for money but didn’t say why.”
At half-past eight, Alex decided to drive to city hall to see the opening of the Christmas market. Many of his friends wanted to watch as the Christmas lights were switched on. Alex liked Christmas; he liked all the lights, food, decorations, and atmosphere. But, more than anything, he wanted something to think about other than Sam.
He had driven less than a mile when he saw Sam’s truck. With a heavy sigh, he decided to follow his friend. He had a hard time keeping the truck in sight; it was speeding aggressively and swerving from side to side. Within five minutes, Alex no longer knew where Sam was. It started to snow again, which made chasing his friend even harder.
Alex drove here and there for twenty minutes before finally giving up. He cursed. If Sam was stupid enough not to let him help, why should Alex try to force his help onto him? Sam was stubborn. He had always been.
The snowfall became thicker as Alex turned back toward the center of Fairmont. He was passing a gas station when he hit the brakes. His car skidded on the slippery road before stopping. Sam was carrying something in the lot of the gas station, and he was clearly drunk.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Alex cried in amazement when he saw Sam carrying a cash register to his truck.
“I’m a rich boy now,” Sam slurred and put the cash register in the back seat.
“Are you crazy? You can’t steal that money,” Alex said.
“Screw you, rich boy,” Sam replied and got into the driver’s seat.
Alex ran around the truck, pulled the passenger door open, and jumped in next to Sam. “You’re not going anywhere before we talk!” he shouted.
“There’s nothing to talk about, pretty boy,” Sam snapped. “You’ve got rich parents, good grades in every fucking class, and a hot chick.”
“Um…,” was all Alex was able to say. Was Sam jealous of him? “Listen, let’s—” he began, but then they heard police sirens. Soon, flashing blue lights illuminated the night.
“Shit, cops,” the jocks said at the same time.
Before Alex could do anything, Sam started the engine and hit the gas. The black SUV attacked the snowy road, and Sam could barely keep it on track.
“Fuck! What are you doing? Stop!” Alex cried in vain as the massive truck accelerated toward the city center.
“Can you at least explain why you robbed the gas station?” Alex asked when he realized that Sam wouldn’t stop.
“I need money,” Sam said, as if it explained everything.
“Yeah, that’s a fucking good reason,” Alex said sarcastically.
Sam looked at his friend and sighed. The boys could still hear the sirens, and they saw the lights of a police car in the back mirror.
“Look, Alex, I got problems with my buyer, so I had to borrow money from the Grimm brothers to pay my dealer for the stuff,” Sam said.
“What buyer and what stuff and what dealer?” Alex asked. Then he realized what Sam meant. “Oh, please … are you fucking nuts? Loan money from the Grimms!”
“Like I had a choice!” Sam shouted back.
Then Sam saw something. Here and there, people were walking along the road toward the town center, and Liam was among them. He was walking on the road’s shoulder, his back facing them.
“The pansy boy!” Sam cried out cheerfully and turned the wheel.
“What? You’re not seriously about to drive over him?” Alex said in a panic.
“Why not?” Sam said. “I didn’t like him in the first place.” He pressed the gas pedal.
As they got closer, Alex saw other high-school-aged kids near Liam but couldn’t make out their faces. Shit, this won’t end well, he thought.
The next events happened in slow motion. The vehicle sped toward Liam, who saw it at the very last moment and tried to jump before it hit him. At the same time, Alex pulled the wheel to change its course while Sam was laughing hysterically. The truck hit something, and Alex felt how it turned around. It skidded a good distance before a lamppost stopped it.
One-hundred feet from the truck, Liam was lying on the ground. His head was bleeding, and his eyes were closed. He didn’t witness the arrival of the police officers or see them arrest Sam. Nor did he see the ambulance, which arrived some minutes later.
The evening was dark, and the snowfall soon covered the marks of the collision in which a young high school student lost his life. Soon it would be Christmas, and far away, the Christmas lights of Fairmont’s City Hall were twinkling merrily.