James was pretty short with him after that incident. He didn’t talk much only when he had to, Justin thought he was showing him that he was an employee and that he was doing his job. He wouldn’t help him out anymore, no Justin got that message loud and clear. The weeks went by pretty quickly. After four weeks James began to lighten up more and more, he still made sure Justin saw he wasn’t going to help him out anymore but he got friendlier, like before the last incident. Justin was happy about it things going back to normal slightly. He always hated it when people were angry with him but sometimes you couldn’t avoid it.

Justin smiled once again as he closed his locker, another message from Josh; all loving words which always brought a smile to his face. That someone loved him so much was incomprehensible sometimes. Some people would search all their lives for a love like this and Justin couldn’t be anything else but grateful for finding true love at such a young age. It wasn’t always easy, hell it was never easy but when he thought about how lucky he actually was he forgot about all the sneaking around, the hiding and the lying. He only saw Josh, with his eyes that only sparkled when he walked in the room and it was all worth while.

Justin stuffed the beeper in his backpack and scrambled to the toilets, locking himself up in a stall at the very end as he started his reply to Josh, mindful not to use full names just code words, their code words just in case.

A few minutes later he emerged from the bathroom as the bell rang. He walked towards his locker to get some books, setting the backpack on the floor in his haste. Before he could register what was happening his backpack went sliding through the hallway and an object he thought he’d tucked away carefully slipped out and glided a few feet further, stopping when two pair of feet cut off the journey of the little device. Justin watched with fearful eyes as Mr. Stevens picked up his beeper from the floor and demanded,

“Whom does this belong to?”

The few boy’s that were in the hallway, which were classmates of Justin and had purposefully kicked against his backpack, pointed in Justin’s direction with an evil grin,

“Timberlake’s” Bill, one of the boy’s, answered.

Justin turned to look the other way as he closed his eyes, shit he thought.

“Mr. Timberlake, is this yours?” Mr. Stevens asked, wanting confirmation although he’d seen it coming out of Justin’s backpack himself.

Justin nodded reluctantly, “Yes sir” he choked, shyly meeting the man’s eyes.

“Alright, follow me Mr. Timberlake” Mr. Stevens instructed before walking out in front of him towards the principal’s office. Justin slowly walked after him, casting a glance at the boy’s who’d dobbed him in and they were smiling about it as well.

“Fuckers” he told them softly, knowing in how trouble he was. He bend down to pick up his backpack before he caught up with Mr. Stevens who was already waiting for him at the principal’s office.

“Have a seat, I’ll be right back” Mr. Stevens told Justin firmly.

Justin nodded, “Yes sir” he said before dropping to a seat, bouncing his leg nervously while biting his nails. He anxiously looked around, were they deliberately making him wait he wondered as he glanced at the clock, time never went this slow he thought as it seemed like the hands of the clock were frozen. He shook his head knowing his mind was playing tricks on him, when he looked again the hands moved, slowly but they moved. I’m not loosing my mind he told himself. He was so fucked he thought as he thought about what the school would do not to mention his father when he heard about this because he was sure the school would call him and inform him of his son’s screw up.

Justin dropped his head in his hands,

How was he ever going to contact Josh again?

How did he not see Bill and his lackey’s come up?

He knew why; because he was on cloud nine, he’d had no clue what went on around him.

Damn!

If he only paid more attention, he would be in class right now, thinking about Josh. He sighed heavily,

How could this have happened?

He’d been so careful and one little screw up and everything was fucked up.

“Come in, Mr. Timberlake” a stern voice called him out of his thoughts, recognizing it as his principal’s. Justin lifted his head out of his hands and looked up at the man, trying to read his thoughts but it was impossible. He slowly got out of his seat and walked inside the man’s office at the same pace, dreading his execution.

“Alright well…” Mr. Thomas, the principal started.

“Mr. Stevens informed me he found a beeper that belonged to you?” he asked, gesturing towards Mr. Stevens who’d taken a seat next to Justin, before folding his hands on the table to wait for the boy’s explanation. Justin didn’t know if it was a statement or a question directed at him and he choose to stay silent, thinking it probably wasn’t a question. He waited for what would come next as he let his gaze travel around the room, anything to avoid the man’s eyes.

“Is this your beeper, Justin?” Mr. Thomas asked directly this time, for the record, staring intently at the boy across from him. Justin’s gaze flew to meet his principal’s eyes. He swallowed hard and quietly said,

“Yes sir, it is”

He dropped his gaze almost immediately when spoken the words, more ashamed he got caught then anything else. He wished he could have denied it because he would have lied about it if it were possible.

“Where did you get it from?” the principal questioned curiously fingering the beeper, drugs were not absent in schools, not even in expensive schools unfortunately. Although he knew Justin wasn’t the type of kid to be involved in drugs circulation maybe he knew something that the principal could use.

“Does it matter, sir?” Justin asked, already figuring out what to say if the man answered his question with a yes. Mr. Thomas stared at him hard, making Justin squirm in his seat.

“I got it from a friend” he answered vaguely, hoping he wouldn’t have to tell this man anything else.

“It was just a present” Justin added softly. Mr. Thomas sighed, alright so he wasn’t involved in any drugs situations, although he’d known that before he asked, he wanted to be sure.

“Do you know that beepers are illegal on school grounds?” the man asked.

“Uh, no I didn’t” Justin admitted softly, he hadn’t known seriously. If he had; he would have never taken the thing to school or he would have at least hidden it better.

“Alright, thank you Mr. Stevens, I’ll handle it from here” Mr. Thomas addressed his employee, excusing him from the further conversation. Mr. Stevens nodded before he stood, looking down at Justin before he walked to the door and left the office.

“Well Justin, beepers are illegal in this school but… we know your father…” the principal started his lecture.

‘Great’ Justin thought, special treatment, yippy ya yoka yay.

“And we know that you’re not that kind of kid but I’m afraid we cannot not punish you” the man told him seriously.

Justin nodded, actually he didn’t care as long as he would be able to see Josh he could care less.

“Normally you would get suspended for this for a week but I’ll let you off with a detention for three weeks” he said as if it was a bargain.

Justin’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

Fuck, three weeks? For having a beeper?!

That meant three weeks of being grounded if not more. Josh would be so worried, Justin thought because he didn’t have any way to contact him. He was close to crying but knowing that wouldn’t help his situation he held it back.

“I’ll call your parents and notify them of this incident. You can come to collect your beeper at the end of your detention today but I suggest you leave it at home from now on” Mr. Thomas told him and Justin’s heart sank. The tears coming closer; he knew they would call his parents but then he only thought it, now the man had voiced his thoughts which made them real and Justin was afraid. Afraid that his father would discover the beeper came from Josh, that they’d been sending text messages but what he was most scared of was the fact that he would never see Josh again.

“Yes sir” Justin replied brokenly, shoulders slumped.

“You may go now, I expect you in detention room 215 at 4” the man instructed.

“Yes sir” Justin acknowledged before standing slowly and shuffling to the door.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Justin cursed as he walked down the hallway towards his class which had already started but of course Mr. Flemmings was aware to the fact why he was late so he took his time. He rested his back against the wall to let it all sink in., coming up once again with just one word; fuck.

“Justin, I’m very disappointed in you son” Howard announced once Justin shut the front door. Justin rested his back against the door, sighing inaudible.

“What are you still standing there? Sit down, we need to have a serious talk” he scolded when he saw his son resting against the door, gesturing towards the couch in the living room. Justin wearily pushed himself off from the door and sullenly walked towards the couch in the middle of the living room.

How many times have I sat here, listening to his lectures and punishments? Justin wondered as he sank in his seat. Howard took his normal seat on the opposite site of his son, sitting on the edge of his seat with his hands folded together.

“I got a call from the principal today” Howard informed Justin although Justin already knew he did.

“Would you mind telling me, why the principal would call me?” Howard asked putting emphasis on the word why, trying hard to keep his anger under control. Justin took a deep breath as he sat up in his seat.

“He called because…” he paused for a second, “I had a beeper” he breathed the words. He hated this part; sometimes his father would let him tell him himself what he had done wrong and man did he hate that.

“Exactly! Now why do you have a beeper?” Howard shot his second question. Justin thought for a second, debating his answer.

“Because, I like the thing” Justin informed his father.

“But why would you even have it?” Howard asked incredulously, not understanding what the reason was for his son having a beeper.

Justin shrugged in response, something that was not accepted by Howard.

“You better answer me properly son. I don’t have a lot of patience with you right now young man” he told his son harshly and Justin cringed at the words.

“I don’t know why I have it, dad” Justin quickly amended. Howard’s angry glance softened slightly as he asked,

“Do you still have it?”

Justin nodded, “Yes sir”

“Hand it over” Howard instructed, extending his hand so Justin could place the illegal item in it. Justin eyed his father for a moment before he dug in his pocket and retrieved the small device, reluctantly placing it in the palm of his father’s hand. His father examined the little thing and Justin thanked God for the earlier thought to remove all the messages which were stored in his inbox. Howard grumbled frustrated as he saw the machine was empty, shifting his angry gaze to his son he asked harshly,

“Where did you get this?”

“It um… it was just a present from a friend, nothing much,” Justin told him, he shrugged again.

“It’s no big deal”

“Yes it is!” Howard exclaimed angrily, almost jumping out of his chair.

“Now they think you’re some sort of drug dealer, beepers are illegal on school grounds” Howard informed his son through gritted teeth, angry his son didn’t understand that it was indeed a big deal.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know” Justin apologized.

“Joey gave it to you didn’t he?” Justin didn’t answer, he didn’t want to blame Joey but he couldn’t say Josh gave it to him either.

“That’s it,” Howard said throwing the beeper in the trashcan with angry force.

“No more tutoring, you’ll come home straight after school”

“But dad, Joey needs it, I promised him”

“That’s too bad then. You are on detention at school and you know what that means; you’re grounded for three weeks, no TV, no music, no nothing just school and homework” Howard lectured.

“Dad please, just a couple more weeks, he’s got a really important chemistry test and I told him I would help him. I can’t just walk out on him” Justin argued, maybe he could manage to squeeze out a couple more weeks with Josh and to let him know what was going on.

“When is the test?” Howard asked simply. Justin’s mind worked fast, how many weeks would he be able to say, would he accept it if he said two months? No he would never believe that,

“Two weeks, I’ll go over to him after detention and come straight back, please dad” Justin pleaded, trying to get the most out of it.

Howard shook his head, dashing Justin’s hope of soon seeing Josh again.

“No I don’t want you going to his house” Howard said angrily, no way was he going to let his son go to that boy’s house.

“I’m probably too soft right now,” Howard started and Justin could barely contain his sarcastic laugh, his father soft? Never.

“I’ll ask your principal to allow you to tutor that boy during your detention” Justin’s eyes grew wide at this piece of information; no, no, no, this couldn’t be!

“No dad, that’s alright you don’t have to do that” Justin said quickly, trying to get that idea out of his father’s head because if he went through with it, Joey would be joining him in detention and that was not apart of Justin’s plan when he asked if he could tutor him twice more.

“Didn’t you just say he needed to be tutored? You wanted to tutor him for two more weeks?” Howard asked knowingly.

Justin nodded reluctantly.

“Then why are you complaining now?!” Howard asked fiercer this time, his anger seeping through. He already thought he was too soft on the boy and now he had the nerve to complain about it as well?

“I’m sorry, thank you” Justin said reluctantly, his eyes darting away, seeing there was no way back. He accepted the proposal and with that allowed him to involve Joey in his mess. He’d tried to stop it but it failed, it would look suspicious if he just said it wasn’t necessary anymore when he’d just told him how important it was. He’d set his own trap and Joey’s as well, hoping Joey could forgive him.

“Good” Howard nodded disappearing into his office with the silent command; stay put.

Ten minutes later he came out of his office after his conversation with the principal.

“Mr. Thomas said it was alright”

Justin nodded in acknowledgement, actually hoping he wouldn’t agree but he knew his father and if he wanted something he got it done.

“Two weeks then it’s over, no more tutoring and Mr. Thomas and I agreed on giving you some extra assignments to work on during detention and your grounding” Howard informed his son. Justin suppressed a sigh, everything had gone good the last few months and it seemed like it all came crashing down in just one day. As if he needed to pay for the happiness he’d received those last few months.

“You’re grades haven’t been that smashing lately,” Howard told him with a disappointed undertone.

His grades hadn’t been smashing, Justin repeated in his head; no he’d gotten A’s instead of A+’s.

Oh no the end is near!

He mocked his father silently, it was the only way to get rid of the anger that was building inside of him because protesting audible would be the end of his freedom or what was left of it anyway.

“And I think you need to concentrate on your own studies again instead of Joey’s” Howard continued explaining with a knowing tone of voice.

Justin nodded agreeable, fine whatever he thought again arguing silently while his father’s lecture continued.

“You’re grades are dropping and this way you won’t get into Harvard or Yale”

Screw Harvard, screw Yale Justin thought, he was only 15 he still had three years of high school in front of him and his father was already shoving Harvard and Yale in his face.

“Yes dad” he said, his mind adding ‘whatever’.

“Good, now get started” Howard ended the more or less one way conversation.

Justin nodded,

“Yes father” he said before getting out of his seat and heading for his room where he would spend most of his time in the coming three weeks.