Chapter 3
“So this is it” the teenage boy muttered to himself
as he took in the school’s building, he scrunched up his nose as he stared at
it. He knew he convinced his parents to let him go to a public school; he was
sick of private schools all those fancy rich boys wanting to outdo each other
either by money, fame or clothes and he was sick of it but as he stood in front
of the school he suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore that this was indeed the right
decision. He started towards the entrance anyway and headed towards the
guidance counselor, who he knew would be waiting for him.
After a brief meeting including the rules, his
class schedule and the expected results he was left standing in the hallway 30
minutes later. Looking around he had no idea where to go, he checked his
schedule and saw he had to be in room 206 with no earthly idea where that was
or how to get there. Him looking around without a clue must have caught at
least one person’s attention as he walked over to him.
“Hey you lost?” the boy asked with a friendly
smile, the new kid chuckled in response,
“I believe if you’re lost you know where you’re
supposed to go in the first place”
The boy laughed with him, “What classroom do you
have to go to?”
“Uh, room 206” he answered without looking at his
schedule.
“Ooh you got biology too?” the boy asked.
“Yeah” the new one responded, more at ease with the
friendliness of this boy. Maybe public school wasn’t as bad as he thought when
he arrived just 30 minutes earlier.
“I’m Justin by the way, come on I’ll show you
around” the boy offered while he led the way.
“K, thanks” the new one nodded, “I’m Lance”
“Nice to meet you Lance” the boy said friendly,
giving him a smile.
Justin gave him a tour of the building, stopping here
and there to talk to some people and he was even nice enough to introduce Lance
to the people they came across. When they turned the corner, heading for their
classroom, someone caught his eye on the far end of the hall.
His breath got caught in his throat seeing a face
that’d played through his head for the past two months; ever since he’d let him
go and he’d fled out of sight. He thought he’d never see him again, he’d given
up hope, he didn’t even know why he wanted to see him again, he guessed it had
something to do with the fact that he wanted to know why the boy had broken
into their house but in fact it was much more.
That look in his eyes had haunted him ever since.
“Hey who’s that?” he inquired as he pointed towards
the young man at the end of the hallway.
“Who?” Justin asked, following Lance’s line of
vision.
“Ooh, that’s Josh Chasez, you don’t wanna get
involved with him, he steals everything that isn’t nailed down” Justin informed
him.
“Really?”
“Yes, he’s stolen a lot of wallets and stuff since
he got here, I’d be careful around him” Lance let the information sink in, he
wasn’t too surprised, nobody would go from nothing to breaking into a major
house right?
“Come on we’re gonna be late” Justin got him out of
his thoughts as he gently nudged him in the side.
“Ooh right yeah” Lance said a little distracted,
casting one glance in Josh’s direction before he followed Justin to their
classroom.
***
Lance smiled shyly as he walked behind Justin into
the classroom. He found a seat next to Justin, who’d nicely offered him the
chair next to him, and glanced around as they waited for their teacher.
Two minutes to 9 a thin, dark haired boy sullenly
walked in. Lance’s eyes were immediately drawn to him and he recognized the
thief he’d caught; Josh. Lance followed him with his eyes as he sauntered
passed him and took a seat in the far left corner, away from everyone. He kept
his head ducked the whole way; never meeting his eyes, his right hand held onto
his backpack the other was shoved into his pocket. Lance watched as Josh slid
down in his seat, his head still ducked.
The sound of the door closing brought Lance’s
attention to the front of the class where a man in his fifties set his
briefcase on the desk. Josh looked up briefly, he’d felt someone staring at him
and he quickly looked up, scanning the room. He noticed a new kid in the row
next to him, a few seats in front of him and eyed him for a second however when
he felt something bouncing off his head he quickly ducked his head again.
The teacher noticed his new student almost right
away and asked Lance to introduce himself which he did. He stood up, said hi
and introduced himself as Lance. Everyone twisted in their seat to check him
out, everyone except for Josh. He didn’t even look up and he certainly didn’t
meet Lance’s eyes. He kept his head ducked and continued to stare down at his
notebook that was laying closed in front of him. Lance sat back down, a frown
upon his face; why didn’t Josh look up? He eyed him for a little while before
the teacher spoke and he focused his attention on him; shortly. During the
entire class he kept sneaking glances at the lonely boy. Eyeing him, looking
him over as if that would provide him with the answers he was looking for.
There was only one way to get an answer to his questions; ask him.
***
“Hey” Lance said shyly when he finally built up
enough courage to go over to the young man he’d recognized the moment he walked
into the building. Standing by his locker Josh quickly looked over his shoulder
to see who was talking to him before he turned his attention back on the
stuffed locker.
“What do you want?” he asked detached.
“I just wanted to um… to to” he stammered not
really knowing what to say, he didn’t even know why the hell he was doing. Except
that he did, he did know, he’d been curious, when Lance saw the look in his
eyes two months ago, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was so intrigued by
this young man and wondered what he was doing breaking into people’s houses at
such a young age. When he saw the boy he just had to ask, he had to know. Josh
slammed his locker shut, tucking his books under his arm.
“What?” he asked exasperated.
“I… I just…” Lance stuttered again, getting
frustrated that he couldn’t get a simple word out of his mouth, what was wrong with him?
“Look kid, if you don’t have anything else to say I
gotta go to class” Josh said irritated, who
was this kid and why the hell was he talking to him? He wondered as he
watched the boy.
Come
on say something! Lance’s mind screamed.
Anything!
But nothing came out, not a word and Josh turned on
his heels and walked away. Lance stared after him; that went well.
***
“I’m Lance” he blurted, he had to start somewhere
and stuttering wasn’t going to get him anywhere so he learned earlier. Josh
turned in surprise.
“You again” he groaned when he saw the same boy
who’d been bothering him before.
What
was his problem?
“Why did you do it?” Lance blurted, not thinking
about what he was going to say seemed to help since he already got two complete
sentences out of his mouth.
“Why did I do what?” Josh asked still irritated.
“Why did you break into my parent’s house?” Lance
asked staring at Josh, wanting to see his reaction. Josh stared down at the boy
and recognition slowly crept into his eyes as they widened. He cursed inwardly, he’d been thinking he
saw this boy before but it was crystal clear now and he was screwed. Josh
didn’t say anything to deny it but he didn’t confirm it either.
“What do you want?” Josh asked trying to not sound
so desperate, already giving into the request he knew was about to come in his
mind. He couldn’t get caught, if his step dad found out he was dead. He’d been
caught before and it wasn’t pretty when they got home. He promised himself he’d
never do something like that again to irritate his stepfather the way he had
that day and when Lance decided to tell on him he was screwed, really screwed.
“I didn’t mention you were there” Lance informed
him, taken Josh by surprise. He’d expected a demand or a question, why he did
it, not this, what the hell was that
supposed to mean?
Did
Lance expect him to be grateful and throw himself at his feet?
“What? You want a medal now or something?” Josh
asked annoyed but still careful he wouldn’t anger the boy. He couldn’t believe
his bad luck; what were the chances this boy would come to this school? He’d
forgotten about that night as quickly as possible, forced himself to forget but
he had a feeling Lance wouldn’t let him forget, now that he was here.
“No” Lance said simply still staring at him, “But I
could have you arrested” he added seeing the confusing look in the other boy’s
eyes although he could see Josh was trying hard to get the look out of his
eyes.
“Well why didn’t you then” Josh asked angrily, this
boy was fishing but he wasn’t going to bite. Stupid Josh cursed himself, Great!
Encourage him Chasez! He hoped he hadn’t done that and he let out a sigh of
relief when he caught the boy shrugging.
“What do you want from me?” Josh asked, wanting to
get straight the point.
“Nothing” Lance denied innocently. Josh was
searching his face, was it a scam to look innocent or not?
“Look just tell me what you want and I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Lance asked still innocently and
Josh was really starting to wonder if maybe, just maybe this boy didn’t intend
to make demands.
“If you’re thinking about blackmailing me I’d…..”
Josh threatened, taking a different course but Lance cut him off.
“Why would I do that?” he asked innocently. Now the
innocence was starting to tick him off.
“People aren’t always out to get you,”
“Right! And you come and tell me you saw me break
into your family’s house because….” Josh said irritated but remembering to keep
his voice low, letting his sentence trail off to make his point.
“Because...” he said confident, looking in Josh’s
eyes, “Because I just want to help”
“Why would you want to help a criminal?” Josh
countered disbelievingly.
“Because of the look in your eyes”
“Don’t get all sentimental on me, I’m not good at that
stuff”
“I’m not but it’s true” Lance shrugged. Josh rubbed
a hand over his face, tired all of a sudden of a conversation that was
obviously going nowhere.
“Look, say what you want or leave me alone”
“I want to help you”
“Well you can’t so, bye” Josh said dismissing the
boy, leaving him alone in the hall while he hurried to catch his next class.
***
“Mr. Chasez, can I talk to you in my office?” the
principal, Mr. Henman, had sought him out in the middle of the hallway again.
Josh had been through this more times than he could count and he was beyond the
point of feeling embarrassed.
Every time something went missing everyone pointed
to Josh as it was public knowledge, at least in school, that he stole
everything that wasn’t nailed down. That was his reputation, at least I’m living up to it he thought
bitterly.
His step dad had started with ordering Josh to
steal from school at least the people in school. Of course at the beginning
Josh refused but as usual he soon had no other choice than to give into his
stepfather’s demands.
Where else would he live?
As pathetic as it sounded, he had no where else to
go. His mother had died a little over two years ago. Maria, his mother, had
been married to Henry for only two years when she died.
At first they’d been happy together; the three of
them, although Josh had never really liked Henry they could get along. Josh had
never known Henry had always been a thief; Maria had been a good influence on
him and he’d quitted; took a real job but Henry fell into old habits only 6
months after they got married. Josh had heard them arguing for nights on end.
He noticed how Henry started drinking more and more and it escaladed over the
months. They fought more frequently till it was almost every night. And then a
few months after their first year anniversary Henry hit her. Josh noticed; he
saw the bruises on her arms sometimes although she tried to hide it and he
definitely heard the sounds, the yelling over the littlest things.
One night after Henry and her fought she got in her
car and drove off. She never came back, she hadn’t been paying attention and
she didn’t notice the car coming from the left side. She left Josh behind with
Henry….
Both Josh and Henry
had been in shock when they heard she’d died. For a whole month the world
passed them by till Henry smacked him around for the first time; telling him
life went on not much later, after Henry taught him his thief’s skills and a
few months later Josh stole for the first time, in school.
In school he was pretty soon labeled as the thief.
Since Henry had him switching schools when he started stealing the principal and everybody else hadn’t known the shy,
quiet and friendly Josh and therefore assumed he’d always been like this.
Friends he no longer had partly because of switching schools but mostly because
of the death of his mother. They did not know what to do or say and Josh was
also pretty sure Henry had scared them away.
Henry was really all
he had left.
“Now” Mr. Henman added when it didn’t go fast
enough for his liking.
“Yes sir” Josh responded as he followed the man to
his office, he made it a point to not meet anyone’s eyes but someone else did
see him; Lance.
“Have a seat young man” the principal offered but
the tone in his voice made him cringe.
“Now I’ve talked to you a lot of times about this
and I can’t believe you still keep doing it” he started his lecture without
saying exactly what it was about, although Josh had a pretty good idea he
wanted it to be clear.
“What is that?”
“Ooh come on Josh, don’t play dumb with me. You
know what I’m talking about” Josh still waited for an answer.
“Stealing” the man finally answered to get it clear
since that was obviously what the young boy in front of him wanted. Josh sighed
a little frustrated waiting for what was coming next.
“You got some nerve boy, stealing my wallet!” he
accused, certain he’d found the culprit.
Josh was first to admit that he’d stolen a lot over
the past years but he hadn’t done this. He would not push his luck like this
and do that when he already had a crappy reputation, knowing he would be the
first they’d blame. In fact he hadn’t stolen from school in a few months, Henry
mainly took him to the mall now to steal.
“What have you got to say for yourself son?” he asked
in his fatherly voice, something Josh only knew from his principal.
“I didn’t do it sir. I didn’t steal your wallet” he
said looking at the man in front of him.
The principal sighed, “Now I can’t prove it…”
“Of course there is no way that someone else might
have done it” Josh muttered, cutting him off earning him a glare from his
principal which made him shut up at once.
“Look son, I’ll be straight with you; you already
got away with a lot and this was the last time. The next time you steal something
from my school and I suggest you think twice about it and then not do it at
all… but if you do, you’ll be expelled. Have I made myself clear?”
“Perfectly sir” Josh said staring up at him, he’d
moved towards him during his speech and was now hovering over him.
A knock on the door interrupted their stare down
and the principal glanced up to see a new kid poking his head around the
doorway.
“Come back later, I’m busy” he dismissed the boy
without giving him a chance to tell him what he was doing here.
“But it involves Josh, sir” the boy said and Josh
whipped his head around to look at the boy.
Lance.
What
the hell was he doing here?
And
what was he going to do?
Ooh
no! Josh thought frantically, he won’t tell on me would he? He said a quick prayer but he knew it
didn’t have a right to be answered, he knew he should have been nicer to the
boy after all he could hold this over his head and now he would pay the price.
However the slight smile in the boy’s eyes made his eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve got an
idea” Lance started, stepping into the office himself. Mr. Henman looked at him
skeptically, waiting for an answer to his silent question.
“Lance Bass, sir” Lance answered, catching the
hidden question from the expression on his face.
“What is he here for?” Lance asked.
“Mr. Bass, this doesn’t concern you now if you
don’t mind waiting in…”
“He accused me of stealing his wallet” Josh spoke
up all of a sudden. Lance was surprised at Josh’s answer but he knew it was for
his benefit.
“When would he have done that, sir?” Lance asked
turning his attention back to the principal.
The man crossed his arms over his chest, “First
break, I left it in my drawer when I went to the staffroom” he answered.
“Well then it couldn’t have been him, we sat
together” Lance answered, making sure he didn’t say it too quickly, he didn’t
want to make it look like he was planning on saying this for every time. Mr.
Henman nodded but obviously didn’t believe him, anyway he didn’t have any prove
to begin with and now he had an alibi as well, a fake one probably but
nevertheless.
“I think you owe him an apology” Lance said, trying
to hide the smile in his eyes. Mr. Henman wanted to kick them both out of his
office, the nerve! He thought but
still found Josh’s eyes.
“Josh I’m sorry, I jumped to conclusions” he said
although it didn’t sound too sincere, Josh didn’t care. This was humiliating
for the man and he liked it that this man finally knew what he put him through
every time he accused him of stealing.
“Thank you sir,” Josh said with a smile.
“Am I excused?” he asked.
“Yes, both of you” the principal said, Josh picked
up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.
“But remember my warning Josh” he called after him
as he headed for the door, Lance already outside. Josh turned.
“Yes sir” he said before closing the door behind
him. He broke down laughing and Lance soon joined him, they looked at one
another and then Lance could literally see Josh’s face darkening. He saw his
walls coming back up, they’d been broken down temporarily as Josh laughed with
him but unfortunately that didn’t last long.
“Don’t expect anything from me, Bass” Josh said
before he walked off.
For a brief moment Lance had seen the real Josh. A
friendly, amusing boy and in no longer than 5 seconds he was gone, he put up
his defenses again and didn’t allow Lance in. Lance could only hope that he
would let him in someday, he just knew it wouldn’t be today although he made
improvement.
The first step was made.