Chapter Three

"Whut exactly is your problem, Del Mar?" Coach Aguirre was right in Ennis's face, spraying warm droplets of saliva, doing his best to intimidate the boy with his size and fury. "Why would Chet tell me ya stood up for this faggot?"

"Three against one," Ennis mumbled. "Didn't hardly seem fair."

"Fair!" Aguirre's small eyes nearly disappeared into his scowl. "Are ya that big a idiot that ya think life's fair?"

"No, sir. Just didn't like it."

"Chet tell ya it was my idea to lean on Twist a little?"

"Yes, sir."

The deep red of Aguirre's faced edged into purple at this candid admission of defiance. "Del Mar, you might think your shit don't stink 'cause your old man has a pile a money, but that don't cut no ice with me. Cross me, and you'll regret it. That clear enough?"

"Yes, sir."

"Git outta here, and don't bother suitin' up Friday night. Your ass is on the bench."

Ennis wanted to holler that it wasn't fair, but knew how much good it would do him. Instead, he kept his eyes on the linoleum as he left the office. Benched. That wouldn't please his daddy none, and could throw a real kink into Ennis's plans. No winning season meant no chance for a scholarship and Ennis knew Daddy wouldn't ante up for an out of state college. Daddy didn't see the point of college at all. Ennis was starting to think that he would be stuck here for the rest of his life. If that happened, he reckoned he'd just have to shoot himself. And who'd he have to thank for this disaster? Jack fuckin' Twist.

::x::

"Where's your friend Ennis been the last couple days?" Sarah asked as she put the bowl of field peas on the table. "Thought he'd come by again for supper one a these nights."

"We ain't exactly friends, Mama. He just helped me out."

"I thought he liked you."

"Mama," Jack said in a paroxysm of embarrassment.

Uncle Harold looked up from his drumstick. "I miss somethin'?"

"Jack's made a friend at school already," Sarah said.

"That right? What's his name? Or is he a her?"

"Uncle Harold," Jack said in the same tone of excruciating mortification.

"His name's Ennis," Sarah said. "I thought he was real polite."

"Well now," Harold said. "Hobnobbin' with the rich folks already. Reckon we don't have to worry none 'bout how Jack's gettin' on at his new school."

Jack zipped his lip and let them think what they would if it made them happy. Truth was Ennis hadn't been in school today and Jack had spent most of his time avoiding members of the baseball team. It might've been his imagination, but it seemed like all his teachers had it in for him too, and he wondered if Coach Aguirre hadn't said something to them. Jack brooded about it until he fell asleep. Friday was even worse and it didn't end when Jack got home. He found his mother in a tizzy and bubbling over to tell him about it.

"One a the PTA ladies stopped by today," Sarah said, her eyes alight with a glow Jack hadn't seen in some time. "She said how nice the flowers were looking and I invited her in for some coffee. We talked a spell and then she asked me to join the PTA. I said I'd be proud and we talked some more. Before she left, she signed me up as a chaperone for the dance tonight, so I can meet some a the teachers and other parents."

"That's real nice, Mama. I'm purty tired; think I'll eat somethin' and go t' bed."

"Oh Jack, I was really hopin' you'd get smartened up and drive me to the school. It'd be good for ya, too. Ya might see some cute li'l gal ya wanna dance with."

Jack went red to the tips of his ears. "Do I hafta?"

"Well, f you're that tired…" she said, the excitement fading from her voice.

"Reckon I ain't that tired," Jack said quickly. "Just let me warsh up some."

"I think it'll be real nice, Jack. I put a clean shirt and pants on your bed."

Jack cast an envious glance at Uncle Harold on the porch swing as he escorted mama to the car. His uncle raised his mug in good-natured cheer and went back to listening to the frogs and crickets. Jack got the old bucket of bolts started and babied it to the school parking lot. The lights were on in the gymnasium and sounds of someone trying and failing to hit the closing notes of Roy Orbison's "Crying" floated out the open doors. The song mercifully ended and the band segued into "Stand by Me", as Jack walked his mother into the dance. He endured introductions to various adults before Sarah became distracted enough for him to escape. Telling her he was going for some punch, Jack walked toward one of the side exits. Stepping out into the humid night, he wished he dared smoke, because he could use one now. As if he'd conjured it, Jack smelled cigarette smoke and followed it to the back of the big building. Coming around the corner he saw several kids puffing on butts, including a couple of members of the baseball team.

Jack faded back out of sight before anyone saw him, but headed away from the gym toward the scrub just in case. He could always circle around through the small stand of scrawny pines and go in the front doors. Jack was feeling like he was home free when he heard noises in the dark. Ahead of him, where the trees ended at a sandy lane, he could make out the bulk of a pickup truck. The tailgate was down and the moonlight was strong enough for him to identify one of the people sitting on a folded sleeping bag as Ennis. Jack didn't recognize the girl, her features in the dim light were soft and vague, but her voice was clear as a bell.

"Don'tcha want to, Ennis?" she asked.

"Course I want to, Alma," Ennis replied. "I just want ya to know I respect ya is all."

"I know ya do Ennis. I know you'd do the right thing if… Never mind that. You got a rubber, don'tcha?"

"I tried to get one outta Daddy's medicine cabinet," he said evasively.

"It's all right. I brought one," Alma said.

Jack could see Ennis's look of shock and imagined that it mirrored his own. He supposed Alma was Alma Beers, and he was a little surprised at how fast she was. That sure wasn't the impression she gave at school. Even after hearing her name, he had a hard time remembering her face. Jack looked away as she took Ennis's hand and put it on her breast. It was definitely time for Jack Twist to make himself scarce. Glancing back once, Jack saw Ennis push Alma's skirt up as she pulled his arousal free of his jeans. 'No drawers,' he thought extraneously, rooted to the spot as Alma drew Ennis between her thighs by the hard length of flesh. She put a hand on his nape, trying to drag his head down for a kiss, but Ennis's gaze was locked on the place where her legs came together as he fumbled the condom on and took himself in hand.

"Do it, Ennis," Alma whispered in a rapid, feverish patter. "Put it in me. Do it. I want ya to. Come on, Ennis. It'll be so sweet; I just know it will."

Jack took a step backward and his boot heel hit a rock. His arms flailed in a vain attempt to keep him upright and he went down on his backside. Small branches snapped loudly, and the couple in the truck bed sat up.

"Who the hell is that?" Ennis growled.

Alma hurriedly rearranged her clothing and jumped down from the tailgate. "Do ya think they saw anythin'?" she asked anxiously. "If word a this gits back to my pa…"

"I aim t' find out," Ennis said.

"I ain't waitin' around," Alma said. "Come by the house tomorrah."

Ennis was already moving through the trees intent on finding whoever was spying on him and Alma. Being that close to going all the way had taken some of the sting out of having to watch the game from the bench and somebody was going to pay for the interruption. Jack lay where he'd landed, trying not to make a noise. Ennis sounded mad, and Jack wasn't counting on any prior kindnesses or cherry cake to save him from getting his ass whupped this time. His heart was pounding so loud, he was afraid that Ennis would hear it. It had started racing when Alma had grabbed Ennis's dick and it was still beating madly even though most of his blood seemed to be concentrated south of his belt buckle. On top of everything else, watching Ennis and Alma had given Jack an aching hard on.

He was about to risk standing to have a look around when Ennis piled into him from behind, taking him to the ground on his belly. A hand on the back of Jack's skull pushed his face into the pine needles, as Ennis's knees tightened on his ribcage. Jack tried to spit out a mouthful of dirt to yell at Ennis just before the world changed forever. He felt the hard ridge of Ennis's arousal against his backside, digging in as Ennis rested his full weight on him. Jack's bulging crotch was pressed firmly against the ground, sliding back and forth as he tried to escape the blows Ennis aimed at him with one hand. An open-handed smack caught Jack over the ear and he bucked at the sudden ringing pain. His butt rubbed firmly against the other boy's groin and Ennis made a funny choking noise as he bore down harder on Jack. Jack bit his lip to stifle a cry of fulfillment as his gun went off in the holster. Ennis collapsed on top of Jack, his cheek hot on Jack's neck, breathing heavily in his ear.

"Whut the hell're ya doin'?" Jack gasped.

Ennis rolled off and sat up, looking dazed in the scant light. "Whut're ya talkin' 'bout?"

"I'm talkin' 'bout that." Jack got to his knees, pointing at the dark spot at the crotch of Ennis's faded jeans. He didn't mention the stickiness hidden in the darker material of his dress pants.

"That don't mean nuthin'," Ennis said. "I was set t' pop when ya come up on us."

"All right then," Jack got his breathing under control. "Reckon that makes sense. You and Alma fool around a lot?"

"Some."

"Sorry. I mean… it wasn't on purpose. I was just walkin' by."

"All right," Ennis said. "Reckon Alma's madder'n a wet hen though."

"Sorry."

"She'll git over it."

"I better go find Mama," Jack said, brushing off the pine needles as he got to his feet.

Ennis stood and awkwardly tucked the back of his shirt in. "See ya around then."

"Yeah," Jack said. "See ya 'round."

Jack walked quickly away toward the lights of the gym, glad that Ennis hadn't seen through his act. It had taken every ounce of will power he had to keep his voice and hands from shaking with the force of the climax that still reverberated in his every cell. Never in his life had he felt anything to compare with the orgasm that had strobed through him like heat lightning, galvanizing his muscles in a rictus of ecstasy, holding him helpless in its power. It was the scariest and most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him and there was no one he could tell, no one to talk to about this force that commandeered his body. And he had so many questions. Was it a fluke? Was he queer? Was Ennis? What the hell had just happened to him, to them?

Sarah Twist could see that her son was preoccupied and that he had managed to mess up his good clothes, but she didn't pry. The evening had been such a success that she didn't have the heart to scold Jack for playing in his Sunday best. Boys would be boys after all. And there was the chance that he had been out in the woods with a pretty young thing. Sarah remembered the church socials she'd attended as a teenager. The boys clumsy, the girls patient, they danced and drank punch and occasionally slipped off behind the chapel to steal a few kisses in the dark. No harm ever came of it that she knew of, only a few hasty weddings. Like her own. For a moment, the pain of that first miscarriage, like a judgment from God for her sin, gripped Sarah's heart like a sudden frost. Blindly, she reached over to stroke the hair of her only surviving child, longed for and cherished as the miracle he was. The real sin was that his father never saw him that way.

"Are you missin' Daddy?" Jack asked as he pulled the car into the driveway.

"Maybe a little," Sarah lied. In fact, Jack's dad had worn down any feelings she had for him years ago when Jack was just a little thing. "Why don'tcha go on in and look in the icebox? I think there's some ice cream left and I feel like settin' on the porch for a spell."

"Okay, Mama." Jack kissed her cheek and waved to Uncle Harold as he went into the house. Somehow he didn't think ice cream was going to make things better this time.

Read Chapter Four of Bailey's Just Another New Kid in Town