Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:36:51 -0400
From: walrus
Subject: the swedish effect, chpter 3

To be honest, Sunday went by a lot quicker than I would've liked. My
anxiety was slightly alleviated by getting to spend the night at Matt's,
surprisingly, but it was still there. Have you ever been in a spelling bee?
Or perhaps you were expecting someone to start a fight with you the next
day. That's how I was feeling, because we honestly didn't have a way of
knowing if the whole school knew we were gay yet or not.

I knew that the reason Matt wasn't as angsty as I was because he felt like
he had to stay calm in front of me. Why? I mean, he knows that I know he's
human, right? Whatever. I kind of wanted the day to come already, but not
really. Nevertheless, at about midnight, we finally fell asleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite only getting six hours of sleep, we didn't feel tired at all the
next morning. "Do you feel as apprehensive as you look?" he asked me.

"You have no idea."

"I might."

"Feel like getting to school early?"

"Hold on speedy. It's only six AM."

"I know kids who get there at five."

"Well, you see, we have brains."

"Okay. What're you doing?"

"Going to check my MySpace, duh."

"Who the hell uses MySpace?"

"Cool people."

"I don't think so; everyone has one."

"Well, not everyone is a pessimist."

"Okay. You win."

"I always do." That got him a punch in the shoulder.

"Ow, you're already starting on me!"

"I'm preparing you for today."

"Ugh, don't remind me." he said bitterly. "What the hell is this guy's
problem?"

"Who?"

"I don't really know him."

"Wow, he looks depressing; 'life is pointless'?"

"I guess if I looked like that, I'd think the same thing."

"Haha, you're such a dick." Just then my phone buzzed. "Hey, look; Lily
just texted me."

"Yeah? What's she got to say?"

"It says, 'Omigod, d'y'all see Lee's status? What the hell is up with
that?'"

"Is that his name?"

"Oh my god, wait! I recognize him! He's in the same Art class as Alister
and I!"

"Oh well, it's not like he matters. Come on, let's get to school." My mom
courteously gave us a ride to school, but I wish we would've walked
instead. Right as we got out, stares met us. I felt my throat sink to my
stomach, and it wasn't a nice feeling. In the distance, I could see Alister
and some jocky sophomores whom I had never seen in my life scoffing at
us. What was his deal?

Rachel, Anna, her friend Ariel, and Lily approached us. "Hey.. it's like
we're at a graveyard or something.." Lily said quietly. It was,
too. Everyone had kind of stopped the chatter to stare at us. What the hell
did they take us for, exhibitions? It was really annoying.

"Can we HELP you guys with anything?" Rachel said in annoyed tone to no one
in particular. They all kind of just shrugged and turned around.

"I feel like we don't belong here." I said randomly. Why was it still so
quiet?

"You don't!" said one of the sophomores that were hanging out with
Alister. Matt looked up. "Yeah, y'all! Get the hell out of here!" the
sophomore yelled again.

To everyone's surprise, Anna started towards them. I was also surprised
that Matt didn't stop her.

"You foul bigot! How dare you say that!" she screamed angrily as she
approached the guy. He was a lot taller than any of us, but that didn't
stop her from doing what she did next. SMACK. Yes, she'd just slapped him
across the face.

"What the FUCK?" he sounded angry and confused at the same time. "You
stupid BITCH!"

"Hey! Watch your fucking mouth!" Matt yelled. Irony at its best.

"Or what you jackass?"

"Oh now I'm the jackass? Burn in hell." he growled, approaching the guy at
alarming speeds.

"Dude chill." the sophomore backed up.

"Matt, what do you think you're doing?" Alister sounded bored.

"You; don't talk to me." I tried not to laugh. One would've thought they
were discussing the weather by the tones in which they were speaking.

"No, really." he stepped in front of Matt.

"Do you mind moving?" Matt said.

"Yes."

"That sucks." Matt grabbed him and kneed him in the ribs so fast that it
was a blur. People in the on looking crowd gasped in shock.

"Matt!" Anna gasped.

Let me tell you a little bit about the situation, if you didn't already
know. The human ribcage is comprised of bones; not muscles. Therefore, even
though Alister's body was nothing to scoff at, his ribcage was just as
strong as mine. The knee, however, DOES have exercisable muscles in it, so
you can imagine the loud THUMP we heard as Alister hit the ground,
clutching the right side of his ribcage.

"You rude little bastard." Matt said rather calmly as he approached the
sophomore. Just then, he started to run; I don't blame him,
either. However, I wish I could have given him my notes; don't try to
outrun Matt. "Don't run away from me!" he yelled, more angry than
before. Needless to say, he caught up with the sophomore pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, Alyson approached Alister. "Are you okay??" she asked worriedly.

"My rib.. it's broken!" he cried out, lifting up his shirt. This may be
totally inappropriate, but he had some hot abs. In any case, it was not
pretty. The area around where Matt had kicked him was so red it wasn't even
funny.

"Matt!" Anna yelled for him. Funny thing, that, because he had the guy in a
triangle hold. The sophomore was tapping Matt's calves in hopes that Matt
would let him up, but to no avail.

"Matt you'll kill him!" Rachel yelled.

"Dude get off of him!" another sophomore yelled, although apparently too
taken aback by the whole situation to approach him. I realized that I had
to do something, so I reluctantly ran towards him.

"Matt let him go." I said quietly.

"No, he's going to--"

"Matt, let him go please." I repeated. To my relief, he looked at me and
complied. As he released the guy, he fell on his back, gasping in hopes to
restore the oxygen to his brain.

"You fool! I hope you're fucking happy, jackass!" Alyson screamed as we
came back to where they were.

"It's funny that you should say that." Matt said darkly. "I'm sorry." he
added to Alister.

"Do not talk to me, you filthy bug." Alister retorted. Wow, he was
cool. Seriously, 'bug'?

"Mr. and Mrs. Hästö! Come with me, immediately!" The principal, who had
apparently been summoned, yelled at Anna and Matt. To nobody's surprise, he
mispronounced their last name. "You too Mr. Vlahos! You'll need to see a
doctor!"

I felt gloomy was they walked away; it just wasn't fair. Okay, so Anna had
slapped some guy, and Matt beat the guy up; did the school not see that
they were provoked? Or were we to face homophobic authority as well?

"Alyson, what the hell is your problem?" Rachel said once the principal was
out of earshot.

"And what the hell is yours?" Alyson said.

"Well, I don't know if you're blind, or just stupid, but I'll explain
anyway; your fucking friend just got Anna and Matt in trouble!"

"Tristan did nothing wrong."

"Oh, is that what he's going to tell the court when we sue his ass for
discrimination?"

"What are you, a dyke?"

I felt myself getting angry. "Alyson, are you three, or just immature?" I
said.

"There's nothing immature about it!" she said rather loudly. "Rachel, Lily;
you're ruining our friendship because those two guys went fruity on us."

"Yeah? Well we're glad that your true colors are starting to show; if you
think that Matt and Ryker should have to hide who they are, then you're
twisted."

"They can be whatever the hell they want; I'm just not going to be a part
of it!"

"Alyson, the only reason you're so pissed is because you love Matt!"

"No I don't!" her voice waved midsentence.

"Fine, you know what? You and Alister can go wallow around in self-pity!
When you guys realize you're being dickheads, THEN come back to us!" the
girls yelled, turning on their heels and walking away. I soon followed,
leaving Alyson and the speechless sophomores behind.

Before either of the girls had a chance to rant, the unnecessarily loud
bell rang through the area. I felt really uncomfortable walking the halls
without Matt, like I was really vulnerable or something. It sound silly,
but I also felt kind of paranoid. Every time someone said 'gay' or
'faggot', I'd look around, thinking they were talking about me. I've said
it before, but my life is never smooth sailing, and that was proven by
someone butterflying my lock. I'd never know who had done it, so I saw no
point in investigating.

First hour was not so bad, because I had Lily in that class, and she helped
me in shooting menacing looks towards the people with staring
problems. However, second hour was a different story. Half way through the
period, I got called to the principal's office. Naturally, this isn't a
good thing. However, in this case, it did have a plus side; I got to escape
the torment from other students. That thought soon left my mind when I
reached his office.

Anna, Alister, Alyson, Lily, Rachel, and the sophomore were all in the main
office in the waiting chairs. The principal lead me into his own office and
told me to sit.

"Now, I'm sure you're aware of why you are here." he said. Honestly, I
didn't, so I just stared at him. If he was going to try to make me feel
scared, then I was going to make this very difficult; and that's teenage
logic for you.

"You are here because you are a witness of the cruel acts of violence that
took place this morning." he said. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Are you aware of the meaning, 'cruel'?" I asked, somewhat smartly.

"Please cooperate. So, tell me what happened."

"Well, that sophomore-" I emphasized the word 'sophomore' with disgust,
"-told us we were not welcome on school grounds. So, Anna Hästö walked up
to him and slapped him, who in return, called her a bitch." He looked
somewhat surprised at my non-censorship, but whatever. You hear worse in
the hallways.

"And then?"

"Then, Matt Hästö, Anna's brother, naturally became angry at the way that
his sister was being treated, so he-"

"Assaulted Mr. Vlahos-"

"-walked up to Alister Vlahos, who stood in his path to Tristan, and after
he wouldn't move, Matt kneed him in the ribs-"

"thus breaking one-"

"Excuse me, sir, but are you telling the story or am I?" Wow, that sounded
a lot ruder than I meant for it to, but seriously, whom did he think he was
fooling?

"That's enough. Stay here." he said, getting up from his desk. I formed a
very mean face and began to stare him down; he ignored me.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hästö, Ms. Bargar, and Ms. Davison; come into my office." So,
there came Matt, Anna, Rachel, and Lily, one by one, with the principal
following close behind.

Shutting the door at last, he spoke, "First off, Mr. Hästö, you are off the
soccer team. The coach has agreed that it's best-"

"What!?" he exclaimed in shock.

"-and you will have a month of before school detention." Matt got up and
headed for the door, but I grabbed his arm.

"You'll just get in more trouble." I whispered. Complying with my unspoken
wishes, he sat down.

"Now, all five of you will be suspended for two days-"

"That's outrageous!" Rachel stood up, taking no mind to keep her voice
down. "I will not comply with a biased school's wishes!"

"Ms. Bargar, you can kick and scream all you want-"

"If you think this is a joke, then you're dead wrong. I'll see you in
court." She was being serious.

"Ms. Bargar, if you walk out of this room then you will not step foot in
this school for the rest of the year-"

"Mr. Stevens," she spat out 'Mr.' as I had 'sir', "If you don't revoke our
punishments, then you will not see a penny of any of your future
paychecks. If you don't revoke our punishments, you'll also find your
school's name being on the headline of every newspaper in the state!"

"You know," he started, standing up. "For such a powerless student, your
words are quite big. But you WILL SIT DOWN AND LISTEN." he yelled, grabbed
her arm.

*SNAP* "Oh this is so sweet." Anna said, almost lustfully as she held her
Blackberry up at the scene. "Wait until the judge sees this picture." she
grinned gleefully.

"Get OFF of me!" Rachel yelled, yanking back her arm. "I'm leaving. This
school is full of psychos." she said.

But the principal had a much larger problem on his hands than Rachel's
bitter complaints; Anna's picture was all we needed to get this guy thrown
in jail. "We can compromise." he said hastily.

"No, we can't." Rachel said. We all then stood and opened the door, walking
into the main office where Alister and Alyson still sat.

"You five; if you walk out now then you'll be in so much trouble!" he
yelled fruitlessly. I didn't think he believed that his words held much
authority any longer.

"So sue us, you creep!" Lily yelled for the first time. I thought that the
situation was rather comical. So sure, Matt had broken Alister's rib, but
what can one do when people won't even listen to you? I'd love to see the
face on the school's staff if we explained that we were gay and the attacks
were homophobic. Oh man..

"How mature of y'all." Alyson said as we walked past.

"How ironic that you would say that!" Lily cackled like an insane
woman. Wow, I think the state of euphoria was getting to us
all. Nevertheless, we ran out of the school. It was pretty crazy, in all
actuality. I was considering putting this in a blog on MySpace, but that'd
be kind of silly, so I decided against it.

"Let's go to our house; we need to explain this to our mom." Matt said,
talking for both Anna and himself. So we all piled into Lily's car and
started to discuss the ridiculousness of the situation.

"He was being totally irrational!" Rachel said.

"Yeah; when he was interrogating me, he wouldn't even listen!" Anna said.

"Same with me. It's preposterous. Seriously, y'all will most likely have to
pay a hospital bill for Alister, but that'll be nothing compared to what
the principal will get." I said.

"It's just mind boggling how all this happened on the first day." Matt
said.

"Well now that the school knows you're a psycho, they probably won't say
much." Lily joked.

"The school can go--" That was rude, Matt. "--themselves! I can't even play
soccer anymore, oh my god!" He sounded like a kid who could not find his
video game.

"You think mom will get mad?" Anna asked.

"No." He didn't sound so sure. We were about to find out, because we pulled
up to the big yellow house of the Hästö's.

"Mamma!" Anna called out. Her mom came in from the kitchen, wearing a pink
apron. She was slightly taken aback by all of the children in her house,
but Anna and Matt allowed her no time to collect herself. After what seemed
like hours of Swedish explanation, Matt and Anna finally stopped
talking. When their mother spoke, she didn't sound too frustrated.

Matt and Anna eventually turned to us. "She's going to call our lawyer, and
Anna's going to upload and print the picture on our computer. According to
her, we don't have to pay anything unless the Vlahos' contact us."

"What about our suspension? Do we go to school or not?" I asked.

"Well, she said yes, but I don't really know if we can just blatantly
disobey the school like that." he said.

"We already have." Lily pointed out.

"You're correct.. I guess." Matt said.

"Well, since we've got all that figured out, Rachel and I are going to go
home so we can look up the state law on child abuse." Lily winked. In all
honesty, what the principal did wasn't that severe, but it's times like
these that one becomes happy that such wide parameters exist. So, even
though I didn't think it was that severe, it was still apparently child
abuse. If the principal hadn't grabbed Rachel like that, then we would have
little to no argument in court. But now we, figuratively speaking, have the
firepower of the country's army on our side.

Later that night, Anna, Matt, and I got to talking. It was one of those
emotional talks, you know? Where you feel like you just want to cry, but
you don't, because people are there.

"It's just not fair." Matt said hollowly.

"I know, Matt. You know I love you for sticking up for me like that, don't
you?" Anna said.

"I'm your brother; that's what I'm here for."

"But still.. it's not right that we have to succumb to such acts in the
first place. Just because we can't fit in with the cookie cutter society of
this town, we have to be subjected to such violence?" I sighed.

"Justice will prevail; it always does, even in the Bible Belt." Anna said
softly.

"But even so.. do you honestly expect us to feel truly safe when armed
bible thumpers are allowed to wander the streets? I asked.

"I guess I can't say I do."

"I wish we were in Sweden." Matt said, his voice cracking.

"I do too." Anna hugged her brother lightly before getting up. "I'm going
to go to bed."

Matt quickly rose to his feet and looked at his sister. "Don't lose sleep
over this; our friends are here with us through the thick and thin." he
said seriously.

"I won't. Good night, guys." she turned off the light and walked out of the
room, leaving Matt and me to lay on his bed.

"Got any good proverbs for this situation?" I asked bitterly.

"Yes, actually; one you already know, yet it still applies to this
situation."

"Oh?"

"A bee has a sting, but honey too." he recalled.

"How does that apply to our predicament?"

"We are experiencing the homophobia from this situation, the sting, but
good is sure to follow, the honey. Don't frown; it only brings down the
mood."

"What shall I do then?"

"You could try laughing."

"Not in the mood."

I should've kept my mouth shut, because he began to relentlessly tickle
me. "See? You are in the mood!" he said.

"So what does this tell us?" I laughed.

"That a shadow cannot exist without light." I kept his words in my brain
all night as I drifted into my rather emotionless dreams. One was rather
disturbing, though; I dreamt of a large, metal object lying in the middle
of the main hallway, and I cold hear Alyson screaming from afar. It was
only until the next day that I would truly know the meaning of this
nightmare.