Presence

Chapter Six

Alice by Mononoke

Polen was flanked by his followers and stood with his arms crossed as he looked down on me slightly.

"Polen, please-" I began, but he cut me off.

"Spare me the begging G. It's not going to make a difference."

The people seated at the tables nearest to our confrontation were starting to stare at us with curiosity. A couple of them whispered amongst themselves. I didn't care if Polen beat me up again, I just didn't want it to be in front of the entire school.

Then, suddenly, Shadow was there.

"What do you think you're doing, little shit freshman?" he asked menacingly.

I grabbed his arm and whispered, "Shadow, please. It's okay. You don't have to..."

Instead of listening, he took my hand and gripped it tightly.

"What's it matter to you?" Polen asked. His toughness seemed to waver for an instant when he caught sight of our hands.

"All that matters to me is that you stop tormenting G, or else you'll regret it."

"Shane!" A rough voice rose over the mutterings of the crowd that had formed. I looked around for the speaker and found the principal striding toward us, followed by two police officers.

"Oh, shit," Shadow whispered and I realized that he was Shane.

"Did I hear you threaten this young man?" The principal asked.

"You could say that. But I wouldn't call it threatening when it's due revenge." Shadow answered.

"I don't need your smart comments. You, you and you-" he pointed to Shadow, Polen and I. "-my office now."

-

Shadow plopped himself in the fluffy chair in front of the principal's desk, but Polen and I remained standing; I too paralyzed to sit, Polen out of what I assumed to be some form of retaliation. I was terrified of what would happen. I kept trying to reassure myself that I hadn't technically done anything, but Shadow was the one in the hot seat.

"Explain," the principal said once he was seated and had laced his fingers together on his desk. "You. What's your name?" He looked pointedly at me.

"I'm Aaron, sir. I'm a freshman." I paused, but no one said anything. "Um...Shadow didn't do anything wrong, sir. Polen was threatening to beat me up and Shadow was just trying to protect me." I silently scolded myself for how pathetic that made me sound. I needed a junior to come be my bodyguard.

"Is this correct?" The principal questioned Polen.

Surprisingly he nodded, rather than trying to lie or negate what I said. This was another odd occurrence. Since when does Polen let me get the better of him?

"Well, since this doesn't seem to be too much of an issue between the three of you-"

"Doesn't seem to be too much of an issue!" Shadow burst out in an outrage as he stood up. This little fucker has been bullying my boyfriend for years, and you don't think that's an issue?" His voice was dripping with venom.

"Language Shane," was all the principal said.

"Don't call me that! My name is Shadow! And if you expect me to just sit around and let G get beat up, you need to pull your head out of your ass. If you aren't going to do anything, I most certainly will."

"Excuse me?" Polen said. His voice was smaller than mine.

"What?!" Shadow turned on him angrily.

"You don't have to worry about me. I won't do anything, I promise. I just don't want to get in trouble."

Shadow's anger slipped and the principal said, "There you go Shane. You got what you wanted. Now, you are suspended for the remainder of this day because of your language when speaking with me. You two are free to go."

I hurried out of the office, looking back at Shadow, who flashed me a quick smile.

"G. Hold up for a second," Polen caught up to me and I stopped, eyeing him warily.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, okay." He looked at his feet which he shuffled uncomfortably. "I'm sorry that I bullied you. I shouldn't have. I didn't know that you were actually gay." His eyes moved to mine. "So, does like everyone know?"

"No." I wasn't giving him that satisfaction of complete sentences although there were so many questions I wanted to ask.

"Oh, okay. I won't tell then if you don't want me to." He turned towards his next class.

"Wait, Polen." I said. "Why? What happened to you hating me?"

"I never hated you, G. I couldn't hate you." With that, he turned and strode away."

-

"So what the fuck was all that with Polen?" Shadow asked me before he bit into the grilled cheese I had made him.

Shadow had picked me up after school and brought me to his apartment. He lived alone, so the apartment was tiny, but it was cute and I liked it. His parents had kicked him out when he came out to them. So, he took his college fund and the car they had given him and, after spending a week living in his car, got a good deal on this tiny place.

"I don't know. Something happened to him because he never acts like that. He'd never let me win. And then after we left the office, he apologized for bullying me." I watched Shadow eat and pondered what Polen had said.

"That's weird. Did anything happen differently? Well, apart from him getting caught."

"I don't think so. Maybe he just needed to be told that it was bad. Or maybe it was your threat to basically kill him if he tried anything."

"Strange. Anyways, the back to school dance is this Friday. Want to be my date?" Shadow asked and cleared his plate.

"I don't really like dances."

"That's okay. With The Crew, dances are worth it, believe me." Shadow took a seat on his bed and opened his arms for me. I sat gingerly beside him, but he pulled me onto his lap. "Plus, we'll get to dance."

"Okay, fine." I sighed and Shadow pressed his lips to mine.