Chapter Four
“I’m sooo freaking bored,” a tall, awkward boy said, watching the activity on his street from his shadowed porch. Aside from the late-night dog walkers, it was mainly teenage couples making out in their cars. “Vern, is it so much to ask for a girlfriend who will do that with me?” he asked, motioning towards a couple down the road.
His best friend Vernon smiled and self-consciously fingered his acne. “You like Heaven so much, Barry. Why don’t you walk up to her house and ask if you can get some action?”
“Shut up,” Barry said, punching his smaller friend in the shoulder, then looking up at her window. “She’s with that pretty guy now. I don’t have a chance.”
“You wouldn’t have a chance either way,” Vernon said. “She’s a senior. You’re a freshman. And you’re built like an anorexic scarecrow.”
“I know I am,” Barry said, frowning. “Dammit, she used to babysit me and she was always so nice.” He smiled. “Maybe I can ask my parents if I can still have a baby-sitter.”
“That’s messed up,” a third voice broke in, this one belonging to an older-looking boy with clear skin. “It wouldn’t be unheard of for a freshman to date a senior.”
“Ugh,” Barry went on, “yes, Cole, we know that your sister made you watch Sixteen Candles which forever changed your life—”
“It was a good movie,” Cole said. “It was old-fashioned as hell but my sister seemed to like it and the ladies are into that stuff.”
“The ladies?” Vernon repeated, laughing out loud. “Cole, I gotta say, you are damn lucky you’re good-looking because you’d be screwed if you had to rely on anything else to get a girlfriend.”
“Hey, shut up,” Cole said, “don’t be jealous. I can’t help it if you two morons won’t get out there and give things a shot.”
“I don’t have a shot with Heaven,” Barry said. “I don’t mind looking at her for now, even if she is with another pretty boy like you, Cole.”
“So what are the plans tonight?” Vernon asked after a few moments. “Are we seriously just going to hang outside?”
“Well we can’t go into my house,” Barry said. “My brother is home from college with his girlfriend and they’re staying in my room.”
“Nice,” Cole said. “Though I have to agree, it makes more sense to just stay outside. We can keep a lookout.”
“A lookout for what?” Barry asked. “This street’s about as boring as it gets.”
“Damn right,” two voices said simultaneously as they emerged into the light of the streetlamp.
“Well if it isn’t the Watch brothers,” Vernon said, eyeing them up as they came closer. “What are you two doing up so late? Don’t you have to get home to your mom?” The two lanky boys came up to the small gathering and leaned against the nearest car in almost the same motion. They really were twins.
“This place is so boring it’s barely even worth it to sneak out,” the one Watch brother said. “As if our mom would be worried about what we do. We’re old enough.”
“You’re barely in middle school,” Barry said.
“So what?” the brothers said in perfect unison.
“Maybe you should worry about your own mother,” the same brother added, smiling deviously.
“What for?”
“Because she’s real tired after what I did to her before I came outside,” he said, laughing and slapping five with his brother.
“You guys are messed up,” Cole said. “Why don’t you two just go home and go to bed?”
“Aww, come on,” the other brother said. “Don’t think that I don’t know what you guys are up to.” He clucked his tongue and wagged his finger at them. “Everyone knows you like to pray at that window, Barry, hoping to catch a glimpse of Heaven – hopefully while she’s changing.”
Barry’s face lit up like wildfire. “I…I do not,” he stammered. “I just like to see how people come home from parties, you know? A lot of kids from high school drive or stagger by drunk and it’s funny.”
“You mean you like to blackmail them,” Vernon chuckled.
“There’s nothing wrong with a little blackmail,” Barry said. “I’m keeping a lookout, though.”
“Ever see anything interesting?” one of the brothers asked.
“I have,” Barry said. “And I’ll tell you this: most of the people who come back in their car from a party will lie straight to your face if you’re not careful. They’ll do anything to get out of getting in trouble with their parents. Plus, you have to steer clear of the bigger guys after a party.”
“Why?” the Watch brothers asked.
“Those are the ones who just want to beat the crap outta you,” Barry said. “Avoid those guys at all costs. If you guys ever see a guy that looks like he can beat you up, hide in the bushes because he most likely will beat you up if he sees you.”
Vernon rolled his eyes. “You are such a complete and total wuss sometimes.”
“Next time we see Bennett or Clark, I’ll point them in your direction,” Barry said.
“Speaking of people who can beat the shit out of us,” one of the brothers said, jutting his chin down the street. “Isn’t that Bordin?”
“Duck!” Barry said, pulling his friends down behind his mother’s shrubs to conceal them. A moment later the Watch brothers slipped behind the bush next to them. Once they were all situated, they looked up, keeping their voices low as two people stumbled out from behind Heaven’s house. “What are they doing there?” Barry whispered to his friends, who were all too nervous to speak.
“Connor,” Bordin hissed, looking around him. “Connor, dammit, where are you?”
“I’m right here,” Connor said, appearing next to him, both young men oblivious that they were being watched. “Why are you whispering like that?”
“I don’t know if we’re actually alone,” Bordin said, still keeping his voice low. Raising his hand to the sky, a few drops of rain struck him on the palm. “Dammit, as if this night couldn’t be any more annoying.”
“You didn’t seem that annoyed earlier,” Connor said, laughing. “In fact you seemed quite proud of yourself.”
“Oh, I am,” Bordin said.
“This is lame,” one of the brothers said. “I don’t think this is anything interesting.” As he went to free himself from the shrubs, Cole grabbed his arm, jerking him back into hiding.
“Stay here,” he whispered. “I think something’s going on.”
Bordin grinned wickedly, convinced that he was alone with his friend. “I’ll have you know that because of what I said, I’m sure that Jason is going to set me up with some much needed private time with that tease, Heaven.”
“Tease?” Connor asked. “She has a boyfriend.”
“Not for long,” Bordin said. “She was promised to me if I was able to do something for a friend.” He burst out laughing again, an eerie sound to the boys hiding in the shrubs.
“No…” Connor said, “no one could have her. Heaven’s a good girl. She wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
“Who’s to say that she’s giving it to me?” Bordin asked. “I said that I’m going to be set up with her, whether or not she has a choice in the matter is not up to me.”
“Bordin’s such a sleaze,” Cole said softly. “Guys like that piss me off, they think just because they come from a rich family they can do whatever they please. He doesn’t even live in this neighborhood, but the next one over for the super-wealthy brats. What’s he even doing here?”
“Did you hear something?” Bordin asked, looking around.
“So now you’re choosing to be careful with your words?” Connor asked. “You’re unbelievable.” The two stepped into the street as Bordin sent a text message. “Why, though? Why’ve you asked me to meet you here of all places? Where’s your car?”
“My car?” Bordin asked. “Don’t worry about it, my car is fine. I wanted you to pick me up.”
“But why? Why at Heaven’s house?”
“Can you keep a secret?” Bordin asked, looming over his friend.
“Sure, whatever,” Connor said. “What’s going on? Why’re you so hyper?”
“I’m not hyper,” Bordin said. “Actually I’m in a pretty good mood. As good as a mood can be considering I took some personal pictures of Megan.” He held up his cell phone towards Connor who turned away.
“That’s hardly a surprise,” Connor said. “I can’t believe you called me for that.” As he started to walk away, Bordin reached out and grabbed his arm, tugging him back.
“Don’t you think you should look around?” Bordin hissed.
“What for?”
“Does this look like Meagan’s house to you? Or anywhere near it?”
Connor froze up, looking around. “No actually. Meagan lives a few streets down. What are you on about, then? Where did you and Meagan hook up this time?”
Bordin grinned, enjoying holding the moment of suspense for as long as he could have. “We hooked up in Heaven’s bedroom and she let me take some pictures of her.”
Connor gasped. “Where was Heaven?”
“She and her dad were watching some movie with the volume turned up,” Bordin said, waving him off impatiently. “The point is that I have plenty of pictures and called her Heaven the whole time because that’s something Meagan likes—”
“Creepy.”
“Creepy,” Bordin agreed, “but convenient. I left the window open so anyone who walked past would hear her screams and see the flash of my camera in the dark.”
“And…who walked by?” Connor asked.
“Let’s just say that Jason arranged for Clark and Donnie to hear this lovely encounter.”
“That’s disgusting,” Connor said, taking a step backwards. “Clark will think Heaven was in the room with you.”
“Or some other guy,” Bordin said, shrugging. “I don’t remember if Meagan said my name or not but it doesn’t really matter. Clark and Donnie were convinced that Heaven was up there in her room making love to some other guy who was photographing it. Jason talked to Donnie and Clark earlier tonight, telling them he was convinced that Heaven was a liar and thanks to me, the rumors have been confirmed. Clark was pissed, humiliated. And Donnie’s upset because he set the two up.”
One of the Watch brothers couldn’t take any more of Bordin’s confession and he leapt out from behind the shrubs. “How could you do that to Heaven?” he shouted, looking at the two larger men.
Rolling his eyes, Cole reluctantly emerged as well. “I can’t believe you guys would do something like that. You won’t get away with it.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Bordin said lazily, walking past them. He shoved whichever Watch brother was closest to him to the ground, causing the other one to jump out.
“You can’t do that to my brother!”
“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Connor said. “If you think that I won’t kick your ass then you must be stupider than you look.”
“I know what you look like,” the second brother said. “I’ll make sure that no one believes you.”
“And what proof do you have?” Bordin asked. “You heard what I said, and Clark and Donnie heard what I did. They’ll never believe you. You’ll be lucky if they give you the time of day.”
“Heaven would never sleep with the likes of you,” Barry said, standing up. “And she’d never let anyone take pictures of her! Clark will never believe it.”
“He already does,” Bordin said. “Now if you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget what you saw and head home.” He walked up to Barry, and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, pulled him up so they were face-to-face. “Are you going to make a scene?” Barry swallowed. “I’m aware that this is probably a hot piece of news to you and your little band of followers, but we have to get going.” He dropped Barry to the grass, spinning on his heel as he headed for their car. “Let’s get out of here before anyone else sees us.”
“Agreed,” Connor said, trailing behind. “If you guys know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouths shut about anything you think you saw or think you heard.”