Chapter - Bay #4
"Calm down. All the school saw was that someone doesn’t like you and decided to pull a joke at your expense, and that doesn’t mean they know what happened on Halloween. Popular guys have enemies, so stay calm and act like nothing happened."
"But…"
"Right now it feels like the world has collapsed and you’re going to die of embarrassment, but push through it! Get through this day, then the next, then the next. Got it? Keep a stone-cold face so they never see what you really feel, because the moment they smell weakness, they’ll go after you."
His words surprisingly help me settle down, I feel this wave of relief spreading through my body and I take a deep breath. Maybe he really is right and maybe waiting it out would be the smartest choice?
"There’s one more thing, I am absolutely convinced that right now, with your nerves all over the place, you would make a mistake, and when it comes to eliminating people there is no room for mistakes.
The police have incredible methods now, they can pull DNA from places you wouldn’t even imagine, they can trace everything, and you really have to be on top of your game if you want to get away with something like that. "
I keep taking deep breaths, Ennio’s speech sinks into me, he is right about everything, I am going to have to gather some patience, despite the humiliation, despite the anger, I have to get through this somehow.
"Fine, but if you knew how fired up I am inside right now… I feel like I could tear them apart with my bare hands!"
"I’ve got a solution for that, a safe way to channel all that energy. You could really use a sparring session with real people, not a robot."
A moment of silence follows, then Ennio sighs.
"You need a trainer. All my cousins train with a guy who used to be an underground cage warrior. It just so happens he lives halfway between my family’s place and yours, he has a training room where he takes commercial clients, and I could get you in if you want."
I blink, the offer is almost too generous. Does he have some extra interest in this? Why is he helping me like this? Of course I can’t refuse. And don’t want to.
"I’d really like that, thank you for the offer. That f-AI-t program is still good, it teaches me a lot, but sparring with a real human is something completely different."
"Great, call me tomorrow and I’ll give you the contact and the time for Gurco. What phone are you calling from?"
"A regular burner."
"Very good, try to use burners whenever you call me. I hope you’re not standing outside your house right now."
"No, I’m downtown."
"Perfect, at least you remembered something, there’s still hope for you."
"Thanks, Ennio, really, for knocking some sense into me, you’re the only person I could talk to about this because no one else would understand, not even Alex."
There is a moment of silence on the line, then he says, "Come on, Bay, I’m not your friend or your confidant. I’m not doing this out of charity."
I don’t answer. And yet, on some level, I feel like Ennio does share a sense of kinship with me and that his help and advice are not just an investment.
He keeps going. "Above all, keep it together, live your surface life like a normal teenager, handle the rest in a way that no one would ever suspect you, spread everything out over time, patience, patience, Bay."
"Alright, I’ll do what you say."
Ennio hangs up.
I stand there for a moment, taking deep breaths, letting the wind brush against my face.
I am aware that I am a teenager, of course I am, it’s impossible not to be aware when waves of violent anger and hormones hit you like that, but I was just one step away from doing something stupid, and I can’t let myself run down these blind mental paths again.
I need to work on who I am, I need to rebuild the way I think, be less reckless, more calculated, this could be a matter of life or death. Provocations like this give power to the enemy, pull me out of my safe place, make me an easy target.
I take out my normal phone and deactivate the burner.
Of course there is a whole list of missed calls: Alex and my dad.
For some reason, I decide to call my dad first.
"Oh my Fate, Bay, I’m so glad to finally hear your voice, I was super scared, where are you, son…"
"I just had to get some fresh air, let my emotions settle."
A short silence.
"Bay, I am so sorry, we’re already dealing with it, we talked to the principal and he said he will make sure the students responsible for this situation are removed from the school, and Alex’s dad, Prosecutor Strada, ordered the police to get involved, they are on the case and they will find out who was behind this.
We can’t let something like this slide…"
I stay quiet for a moment. Right, help could also come from that side. Removing Vin and Rob from school will certainly help, but that doesn’t mean everyone else will forget.
"Where are you, Bay? Come home…"
"I’ll be back in a minute, I’ll grab an Uber," I mutter.
I hang up because there is nothing left to talk about. Sharing my emotions with them could be a mistake, I have to show them I can keep myself under control too.
Then I call Alex back.
His voice is tight, he probably had an asthma attack.
"Bay, Bay! I’m so glad you finally called back, I was crazy worried, those idiots, I swear we will deal with them, my dad will help, he has connections in the police and the courthouse, we’ll make sure they never step foot in that school again…
" Alex is rambling, his words spilling out at a hundred per second.
"Thanks, Alex, I just went out for some air, everything is fine, it was just a stupid joke, kids do that, right?
" I murmur in a calming tone, like I am trying to convince myself first, but well, to the outside world I have to look like a regular teenager who has to deal with bullies and somehow survive the next day.
"There’s just one thing, Alex, something really important, something about our safety.
I think we should carry something, like a taser, and we should always stay close to each other.
Hanging around the school parking lot, especially now, if those guys get expelled because of us, could be dangerous. "
"I know that, my dad said the same thing, he even suggested we could transfer to another high school."
I stay silent, thinking it over.
"Maybe that’s not a bad idea, for next year, but for now we just have to get through the second semester. And I have to survive going back to school after what the whole audience saw."
Alex takes a deeper breath. "Bay… as you said yourself, people will understand, stupid pranks happen, it’s just how it is, I think most people have experienced something like this. A lot of them are jealous of your popularity, of your spot as the lead vocalist in the band."
He is right. There are more reasons to bully someone than just knowing their unpleasant past. I feel grateful for his words, another drop that fills me with strength.
"Fortunately it’s the holidays now, and for two weeks you won’t have to see anyone from school, the emotions will die down a bit in that time," he adds hopefully.
"Thanks, Alex, you’re right, maybe by then people will forget or it won’t feel so sensational anymore. I have to go…"
"Wait, can I come over tomorrow?"
"Maybe the day after, okay?"
"Sure."
He wants to say something else, but I hang up.
I stand in the supermarket parking lot, feeling the strong wind hitting my body, a storm must be forming, literally and metaphorically.
I let my anger scatter, let it shift into other forms, let it crystallize, transform, change. I will come out of this a winner, I make that decision deep inside myself.
The problem is… winning takes time. And that is what I am learning.
The school really does launch an investigation with the help of the police, and it’s confirmed that the two Hansons, Rob and Vin, were behind it, and both of them are expelled.
It happens by the principal’s decision, there is no private lawsuit involved, so when it comes to explaining themselves to their parents, Rob and Vin have to take the full hit, because they were the ones who decided to pull something so public in the first place.
I find out along the way that they did it pretty cleverly, that tracking them down wasn’t easy, but eventually they managed, and Prosecutor Strada pulled some strings and the police actually put real effort into it.
I spend the holidays in a not-so-great state of mind, the aftershock of the whole situation holding me in its grip, because the real upset isn’t that some students made a joke out of me, but why they did it, because they know what happened to me.
Their brothers told them about what happened on Halloween.
Throughout the holidays Alex spends practically every day at my place.
He does everything he can to keep me in a better mood, he keeps building small, clumsy nests around me, we watch funny shorts together, Alex reads me random positive comments under my videos, and he even encourages me to record a few holiday songs that I upload to my channel, and my version of Let it Snow breaks the record with fifty five thousand views for the first time.
As I sit next to Alex I realize that even though two months ago I thought I wouldn’t be able to live with what happened, I somehow am living, I really am pushing myself forward step by step, just like Ennio said, one step at a time and somehow it works.
I manage to get up every day and not think about what happened a year and a half ago or what happened two months earlier.
Alex is tireless, loyal, steady beside me, his big amethyst eyes constantly searching my face, his mouth smiling at me, and I feel this energy coming from him, bright and uplifting, giving me strength.
Thanks to Alex there are moments when I truly forget for hours about everything, when we laugh together and record videos…