PJ was still silent. He stared down in to his half-empty coffee cup. He wanted to open his mouth, to talk to Chris. But his jaw wouldn't move. What would he say if it did? That he had a girlfriend? That he didn't feel the same? That would be lying, though. He did feel the same. He'd had enough of lying to himself. He loved Chris.
"I love you too" he said quietly, raising his head and looking deep in to Chris' eyes. They stayed there for a moment, just staring in disbelief. Then they grinned. Wide smiles spread across their faces. They were in love, the feelings were mutual and neither had ever been so happy.
The blissful moment was interrupted by Brittany Annis running in and leaping on to Chris' lap.
"Crab! Crab! Crab, you bought pretty Peeeeej"
"Yeah, Shrimp! This is PJ, he's my boyfriend. PJ, this is Brittany, or Shrimp as I call her" Chris introduced his two friends, PJ's grin widened as Chris said he was his boyfriend.
"Hello Brittany!" PJ beamed at her. She looked about six or seven to him. Her long curly red hair was tied up in 2 blue bunches that matched the exact colour of the school cardigan she wore over a white polo shirt and black skirt.
"Hello! You are pretty Peeeeej!" Brittany propelled herself off Chris' lap and scampered round to the other side of the table. She tried to jump on to hiss lap, but missed and hit his shin with her shiny black school shoe. PJ winced in pain.
"Hey, hey, don't kick PJ" said Chris
"Sorry" Brittany frowned "I didn't mean to kick the PJ"
The boys paid for their coffee and left at half 8 when Miss Annis closed the shop to take Brittany to school. If they hurried, they'd make it back just before 9, when the whole school would be in assembly. They held hands as they walked along the winding country roads, jumping out of the way of a combine harvester and a cattle truck at one point. They made it back at 8:57 and hurried back in through reception and up three flights of stairs and along the silent corridors to North Wing.
Chris turned the key and opened the door to room 164. The two stepped inside and locked the door behind them. They headed to their beds at the far end of the room and threw their bags on them. PJ saw something, out of the corner of his right eye, something tall and wide. A human. A human in a purple shirt with a black stripe across the middle and white collar. Shit! A rugby boy! He spun around quickly. "Chris" he gasped. Chris turned his head and swore.
A crowd of 8 boys, all dressed in the purple and black Dark Wood rugby kit, blocked the doorway. Mark and Kevin stood at their head, arms folded, faces expressionless.
'They must've been waiting behind the door' thought PJ 'how are we going to get out of this?'
"How did you get in?" Chris said, trying to keep his voice as calm and steady as possible, not wanting to give the boys the satisfaction of knowing how terrified he was.
Mark grinned, holding up a key with a blue tag attached. The only people who had spare keys were housemasters. "McCartney left his office open, stupid bastard"
"What do you want?" Chris asked
"We saw you two last night in the woods," Kevin said, his face twisted in to an evil smirk "making out"
"You followed us? You fucking creeps" PJ looked disgusted
Mark and Kevin exchanged glances before Kevin stepped forward and slapped PJ across the face
"Our den is right next to the clearing. We go there to drink and smoke. We were there. And we saw you two queers making out" said Kevin, stepping backwards towards Mark again
"Rugby practice was cancelled this morning, so Kevin and the boys and I decided we'd come up and find you for a fun little game of Fuck Up The Faggots" Mark grinned, displaying two rows of wonky yellow teeth.
"Never heard of that one, did you make it up?" Chris said, mockingly, attempting to disguise his fear and panic
"I did" Mark nodded
"'Fuck Up The Faggots' what does that involve?" Chris tilted his head to the right, looking straight in to Mark's muddy brown eyes "Are you gonna ass fuck us until we're straight? That sounds like fun!"
Some of the rugby boys let out stifled laughs. This made Mark angry, he turned his head and glared at them, then turned his head back to Chris and PJ. "We're gonna beat you to within an inch of your gay little lives" he stepped forward and swung a punch at Chris, sending him flying backwards in to the radiator beneath the window.
"Hey!" PJ screamed, hurling himself at Mark. Kevin grabbed him from behind and swung him sideways. He hit his head on Chris' desk chair. He felt dizzy, everything was blurry, he couldn't see for a few seconds. He whimpered helplessly.
Chris, slightly more used to these batterings, pulled himself to his feet again. His nose was bleeding and the back of his t-shirt ripped. Mustering all the power he could, he took a swing at Mark's face, he missed and fell against PJ's bed. The rugby boys laughed. Another boy stepped towards him, Chris recognised him as Henry Hill. A tall, tanned and handsome boy with chocolate hair and eyes. He looked down at Chris, almost sympathetically, before planting a kick to his side and knocking the breath out of him.
Kevin and two other boys had advanced on PJ, who still lay, huddled in a ball, under the desk. The toes of their muddy rugby boots hit his arms and face. His cheeks felt wet, he wasn't sure whether it was tears or blood running down them. A couple more blows to the head and he'd be unconscious. Maybe, if they hit him hard enough, he'd be dead. PJ didn't mind now, though. He didn't care. He just wanted it to stop.
"STOP!"
The boys stopped and turned to see who had shouted. Chris craned his achy neck to see around the legs that blocked his view. The person who had shouted he recognised as Richard Dwight. Richard stood at just over six foot, with short blonde hair and large round blue eyes. He was one of Dark Wood's best players.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Richard shouted, his voice had a slight Australian twang "Mark, Kevin, you absolute twats! You said we were just coming up here to scare them. You never told us why and you never mentioned anything to do with beating them up. Look at them! They're black and blue! You didn't even have a reason to do this!"
"They're gay, Rick, they deserve it" shouted Mark
"Really. Really, Mark? They deserve to be beaten to the point where they could suffer permanent brain damage because of something they can't help? Wow, Mark, that's low. That's real low."
"Shut up, Rick! Or I'll kick you off the team!"
Henry, the boy who had kicked Chris piped up "Rick is right. This is sick."
Mark stared at Henry in disbelief. Nobody stood up to him. Ever. Especially not his own team. "You shut up, too! Or I'll kick you off the team as well"
"No you won't," said Rick "we quit!"
Henry nodded, picked the door key up from the floor where Mark had dropped it, unlocked the door and left the room. Richard followed.
"You're fucking pussies!" Mark screamed after them "You're probably gay, too! I bet you wish you were half the men these guys are!" he gestured to Kevin and the four remaining boys.
Another boy stepped forward "If beating up people because of their sexuality means you're a man, then I'm a woman. Sorry, Mark, you're going to have to find a new scrum half. I quit."
"I quit, too!" called Ali
"And me!" Taylor cried
The last boy, who Chris didn't recognise, shook his head at Mark and Kevin and exited the room behind the other three.
Mark looked at Kevin, who was frowning, a line appeared on his forehead. He looked up at Mark and shrugged. "Well, Mark, now is the time to say it" he said "I'm sick of your shit. I'm sick of going along with you and your stupid plans and trying to act tough and mean and like a bully when I'm not. You've got issues, Mark. Sort them out" he offered Mark a cold glare before turning to Chris and PJ on the floor "I'm sorry, guys. I really am. For everything I've ever done to you. If there is some way that I can make it up to you, then I will. And so will the other boys." and with that, he left the room.
