Roads: Chapter One: Introducing a Solution
He sat in a beanbag chair in the basement with the lights out, staring at his screensaver with the rapt attention he saved only for occasions like this. Portishead pleaded through Roads, and Adrian sank into the rhythm. The glowing blue haze around his glazed eyes pulsated, teased the peripheral, caught attention in the shadowed corners he couldn�t see, and so Adrian closed his eyes.
This was his self-inflicted hell. The track on repeat: sun to moon to sun to pitch black sky: guitars looping out the threat of another dawn. Adrian kept his eyes shut.
~
Charlie was beautiful in the striking tones of a Greek God cast down from Olympus, a countenance and mold of tortured loss. His physique did not accurately reflect his emotional self in the slightest�it was incongruent with one of the most sociable personalities present at Jefferson High. He was a first-glance smirker and a double-taker�s devil, teasing his audience only long enough to draw them closer.
Nobody �goes steady� anymore, but the concept applied to Charlie and Kerrie, the celebrities of the inner city concrete block of a school. Kerrie took easily to her role as an accessory; a dancer with a vapid grin and a mouth shaped perfectly for gossip, her dedication to her relationship was her one saving grace.
Three years the IT couple, three years the center of attention, three years an obsession akin to Brad, Angelina, and Jennifer. Never exactly what the other wanted.
Charlie was one of the first to turn 18, and one of the only to register to vote in his graduating class. He felt a responsibility to go to school, despite his boredom and frustration with the classes he didn�t need to graduate. He moved through the third floor hallway with the ease of familiarity, returned smiles from friends and shot looks that inspired fear in freshmen. He met Kerrie at the door to 306 with a kiss and an arm for her bare shoulders.
It should have been a normal Tuesday, a normal 4th period, a normal sensation of getting reacquainted with patterns he�d practiced since age five, and a slow second week into his final year of high school. He should have been allowed to enjoy the one class he had with his sweetheart. Unfortunately, expecting the norm is a karmic crime.
�Good morning everyone,� Mr. Brown began in time with the bell, �Today we�re going to start our unit on the psychology of sex. Please take out a blank piece of paper.� A voice shot out from the back of the room.
�Don�t you think Charlie should be teaching this one Mr. B.? �Cause he sure as hell knows better than anyone else here the way to get laid.� The class snickered and began whispering, which led to louder laughter. Kerrie blushed a deep red and shifted uncomfortably out of Charlie�s lap and back onto her own chair. Mr. Brown took on an authoritative, chastising tone. He had been so hopeful that the unit wouldn�t provoke this sort of behavior. He reminded himself that teaching was only a temporary source of income and took a breath.
�Sex as in gender. And that was an extremely inappropri��
�At least I can get laid, Woodland. Not like your sorry ass. We don�t hold it against you though, Buddy. Everyone knows you�re ill-equipped for the job.� Charlie retorted with mock sincerity. The students continued to laugh, but this time a chorus of low pitched �ooh�s joined the chatter.
�Oh, sure. You want to do it right this time, Hunt? Stand up for the little slut?�
�Adrian Woodland, I will refer you to the office again if you continue to use such disresp��
�You know you want her.� Charlie addressed the teacher in a matter of fact tone. �That's exactly what all this is about, Mr. Brown. He�s taking out his aggression on me because he wants my girlfriend, and she turned him down. Years ago! And speaking of Kerrie,� he stood up, crossed the room, and placed his palms on the front corners of Adrian�s desk. The class became eerily quiet.
�If you ever even think about saying something like that about her again,� he said calmly, looking Adrian in the eyes, � I�ll rip out your vocal chords right as fucking rain.�
Adrian�s dark eyes smiled.
�What are you trying to prove, Hunt?�
Charlie�s fist flew back.
�Both of you OUT of my classroom, NOW!� Mr. Brown seethed, grabbing Charlie�s tense arm and forcing it to his side. �I will not tolerate this behavior, not now, and not ever! Security is on the way!� He released Charlie�s arm and pointed to the door.
Charlie Hunt regained his composure. It was unlike him to ever get angry, but this boy� 13 years since the day they�d met, there was still a deep animosity, founded in nothing, executed to perfection with the aid of time and rehearsal. He took a deep breath to shake it off, and extended the formerly fisted hand toward the cold, infuriatingly amused face in front of him.
�Shall we hold hands and skip off to Rogan�s office together, little boy?� he asked, grinning semi-maliciously.
Adrian cocked an eyebrow and grabbed his unopened backpack without looking at the hand. He pushed past Charlie and walked toward the door, where a security guard was waiting for the two of them. Charlie blew a kiss to Kerrie and skipped out singing, �We�re off to see the bastard, the stupidest bastard of all!�
The class laughed nervously as the door shut behind him. Mr. Brown surveyed his students soundlessly.
�Will there be anyone else visiting Principal Rogan�s office today?� he asked. He was met with silence.
�Now. Would you all please take out a piece of paper, and we�ll begin.�
~
Adrian�s deep blue hair spiked naturally, cut to just the right length to require no maintenance. He was just about as tall as Charlie, but not quite as muscular, and a generation too late to be tagged as one of the British founders of punk rock. He could have been a twentieth century painting of the cherub-cheeked son of a French model posing as a classic WWII war bride, jaded but beautiful. His features had not matured since that baby�s-first-step snapshot, and never would; it was predicted that he would still get carded at 40�if he lived that long. Adrian was the archetypal bad boy, subtly attractive when hidden under layers of leather and metal, eye catching because of his attire. He had hollow black eyes that sharpened unexpectedly, and gained clarity only when he was interested in something. He was typically silent, but not for lack of things to say. He always looked to be a bone-weary kind of tired; like a musician outside of a bar before sunrise, his professional insomnia left a beauty mark under each eye. People feared him. He didn�t mind.
He glanced at Charlie over the head of the short security guard who held them by the wrist on either side of her. It wasn�t so much that he hated Charlie as that he envied him, not so much that he despised him as that he liked to see the guy squirm. Nobody deserved to be that carefree�that callous! It wasn�t so much Kerrie as it was the girl Adrian had dreamt about, and it wasn�t so much the girl of his dreams as the exposure of said girl�s terrible taste in men. The whole situation made his insides congeal, but Charlie was smiling.
It wasn�t so much the fact that they were gong to Rogan�s office�he�d been there before, and would be again�it was that shit eating grin on Charlie�s face.
It shouldn�t have been so much to make him angry. Damn it all.
~
Rogan�s office was situated at the front of the school, with his door facing the one and only gate that remained unlocked during school hours. The administrative building acted as a sentinel, with Rogan�s angry little eyes scanning the chain links as if waiting to announce invasion in the moment prior to gunfire.
Rogan�s perfectly visible and student free pathway was suddenly marred with the spectacle of stony, blue-haired Adrian and blithely skipping Charlie on either side of �Moms,� the security guard. It created a sense of dread somewhere below Rogan�s ribcage. This couldn't be good.
He instantly knew Adrian from their countless meetings regarding his truancy and �disrespect� to teachers, but only vaguely recognized Charlie�s name when Moms announced it upon entering his office. The kid had something to do with photos in the student newspaper. He read Mr. Brown�s angry scrawl on the torn, neon green post it Moms had handed him before leaving. He did not invite the boys to sit down.
�Mr. Hunt,� he addressed the quickly sobering brunette, �Mr. Brown has indicated that you verbally and physically threatened Mr. Woodland here.� His tone was tight, annoyed by the disturbance. The pair of boys in front of him was the third to be escorted to his office that day.
�I was provoked.� Charlie muttered, eyes averted, hoping this would be explanation enough.
�That is no excuse. And Mr. Woodland,� he looked at the sulking boy on the left of his desk and sighed deeply. � I won�t ask. If I know you well enough, you did provoke him, and more than that. � Adrian exploded.
�That�s completely unfair! I should get a chance to defend myself against th��
�That is enough from you Adrian Woodland.� He cleared his throat. �Both of you have one month of detention, every day, cleaning the school. I will expect you in my office no later than 3:30 today to start.� It was Charlie�s turn to grow indignant.
�Every day for a month?! That�s ridiculous!� he started to reason, � Dr. Rogan I�m sure that��
�BOTH of you will stop this insolence now. Two months.� The boys gawked. �Do you want three?� Rogan�s tone was almost gleeful. �Today. 3:30.�
The boys� left Rogan�s office disgusted, with passes in hand. For a moment, they stood outside taking in the sentence, looking at the sky and ground, anywhere but at each other. Charlie broke the silence.
�Fuck.�
Adrian found Charlie�s eyes.
�You think I�m any happier? Two months with you are the last thing I need.�
�What�s the matter princess, you have somewhere else to go? I don�t care about you or Rogan�s anal retentiveness. What the hell am I supposed to tell Kerrie?�
Adrian rolled his eyes to the sky and then locked them back on the ground. He crumpled his pass in his hand, and started trudging toward the main building.
The walk back to Psychology was a silent one.
Chapter 2
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