Bye Bye

12

Dean took a deep breath as he rummaged through his backpack for his cassette player.

What was Justin hoping to accomplish by threatening Dean? Was this all part of his sick plan?

Dean's eyes started to burn as tears of anger and fear began to form, but he quickly wiped them away.

He found his cassette player in the pocket of the pants he had worn yesterday and his fingers wrapped tightly around it.

The tape that Justin had sent sat Dean's bed on the top bunk, haunting him.

What was on it? More death threats?

Just then a loud voice boomed over the speakers and Dean instantly recognized it as officer Cleary.

"Alright you little brats, I want you to all in the backyard in 5 minutes, no excuses or I'll beat your a-!" Cleary yelled over the speaker but was interrupted by a familiar voice that Dean somehow recognized as the blond guy from the Dr. Bohr's office.

"Hello students this is your new program director, Mr. Mackenzie, we're starting the week with a couple of friendly games outside, all students are required to attend or there will be consequences!" The blond guy said cheerily over the speaker and ended with a soft click.

Dean stood up and stretched his arms. He was a little relived almost... he had a lot of pent up anger and needed a distraction desperately.

In about 10 minutes all the students, officer Cleary an Mr. Mackenzie were in the bar wire fenced in back yard.
It was more of a concrete parking lot than a "yard" but the fresh air was good, and Dean wasn't complaining.

Mr. Mackenzie was standing next to officer Cleary, he was was about three or four inches taller with a considerable less amount of muscle. They were both wearing black and white track suits and a whistle hung around officer Cleary's neck.  

"All right you little shits, we're all gonna play dodgeball and have a good time whether you want to or not," Cleary crossed his arms over his burly chest. "Me and Mackenzie will pick teams."

Thankfully, Dean wasn't the last one picked, and surprisingly enough, even Jude wasn't. John was picked last, which, even though he was a little odd, was strange, because he was kind of athletic looking. He was lean instead of scrawny, like a lot of the boys there were and had good build. He looked like a runner.

"Alright, John is on my team," Mr. Mackenzie cracked his knuckles and walked over to his side of the court.

Dean had been picked by officer Cleary and walked over to the opposite side and waited as Cleary and Mackenzie set up the balls in the middle.

"Damn, what a waste of time..." Dean heard Roy say as he walked past him to the other side. He had been picked by Mackenzie near the beginning. It wasn't a surprise that he had gotten picked early on, he was tall and slightly muscular, and definitely intimidating. But something told Dean Roy wouldn't be trying very hard for this game...

"Alright everyone get ready..." Cleary readied himself at the end of the court. "Whichever team wins doesn't have to do dish duty for the next three days!" A cheer came from both sides and suddenly there was an actual air of competition floating around.

Dean glanced over at Roy who's eyes were now sharp and attentive as he waited for the whistle to blow.

Tweeeeet!

"Chaaaaarge!" Mackenzie and Cleary both darted forward and began pelting balls at the other side, their teams following their lead.

Dean rushed forward, grabbed the nearest ball and threw it just as a ball pelted him in the chest. The blow knocked the wind out of him and he fell on his butt.

"What the..." Dean glanced down at the ball in his lap. It was a basketball someone had chucked instead of a dodge ball.

"You're out, Travis!" Dean heard John yell a couple feet away.

"Hold on!!" Dean stood up, anger building inside him. Usually he would let this kind of thing go, but today he was at his last straw. "Someone threw a basketball instead of a dodgeball!!"

"What's going on over here? TIME OUT EVERYONE!" Officer Cleary walked over to the scene. "Did you say someone threw this at you?"

"Whoever threw it should get out instead of me, plus that could've hurt someone!" Dean grunted as he stood up.

"God, can't we just finish the game? You got hit fair and square so just leave," Roy, who was standing nearby, crossed his arms and sighed loudly. "Does it matter what ball you got hit with?"

Dean picked up the basketball from the ground, walked over to Roy and stared him in the eye. "Why, did you throw this at me?" He slammed the ball against Roy's chest.

Roy chuckled under his breath. "Damn you're really fucking stupid aren't you," his facial expression faded into a deep scowl, glaring back at Dean. He grabbed the ball and slammed it back into Dean.

"Hey you two!" Cleary shouted and pointed at Dean and Roy. "Cut it out!"

Dean ignored Cleary and threw the ball aside as he grabbed the front of Roy's sweatshirt. "You know ever since I came here you've acted like a little piece of shit!" Dean swallowed as he felt his eyes forming tears. He was so exasperated and tired of this place already.

Roy pried Dean's hands off of his sweatshirt and pushed him to the ground harshly. "Don't fucking touch me," Roy growled and turned to leave.

"Stop right there!" Mackenzie practically screeched.

Cleary jogged toward Roy, who was ignoring everyone, and grabbed his arm before he could leave the court. "Do you really think you're just gonna go back to your dorm and do whatever you do in there after that show you put on?" Cleary gave a fake laugh and pulled Roy back over to Cleary and Dean.

"Get off of me, I didn't do anything that he wasn't asking for," Roy tried to pry his arm from Cleary's iron grip but failed. 

"Everyone's dismissed except this two assholes." Cleary said simply as he held his grip on Roy's arm. The rest of the boys who had been watching the scene reluctantly left.

"Stop swearing in front of the kids," Mackenzie smacked Cleary's arm. "It's a bad example!" Cleary ignored him and threw Roy onto the ground next to Dean. 

"You two will learn to get along even if it kills both of you!" He exclaimed, his hands on his hips. "I won't have any violence or fighting here, got it you little brats?"

Dean remained silent and so did Roy.

"Answer me!" Cleary yelled and kicked at Roy's shoe. Roy flinched and nodded. Dean nodded his head as well, afraid of Cleary's wrath.

"Don't think you're getting out of this unpunished," Mackenzie frowned. "Both of you report to the kitchen, right now!"

Dean groaned inwardly as he saw what was coming.

"T-that's not fair!" Roy scrambled to his feet. "It takes at least four people to clean the kitchen in an hour! Plus I'm not working with this idiot!" He pointed at Dean. 

"No arguing or I'll make your punishment even worse!" Mackenzie exclaimed. "Now get to the kitchen, and I don't want to hear any sort of fighting in there!"

Dean got to his feet and sighed as Mackenzie and Cleary left the court.

"Dammit..." Dean heard Roy curse under his breath as they both made their way to the kitchen.