Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 22:35:00 GMT
From: Lucky Redwood <wanna_get_lucky@hotmail.com>
Subject: Time Will Tell - Chapter 22

Hey people, had quite a few people interested in the prequel. If you didn't
read my little comment thing on the top of the last chapter, then I've
written a prequel which you will need to e-mail me for with the subject as
"Prequel Please" on wanna_get_lucky@hotmail.com Hope you all liked it,
those of you that did get it from me.  Here's the new chapter anyway. Keep
the feedback coming in guys!

Time Will Tell
Chapter 22 - Rage

I made my way up to the bar and leant against it waiting for the busy
bartender to get to me. There was nobody around that I would count as a
friend, people I knew and smiled to, that sort of thing but nobody who I
was close to.

"Great song Danny, who was it for? Who's yer boyfriend?" My heart froze. I
recognised the voice instantly. It made me feel physically sick, it made me
want to lash out wildly at the person who used it, but it made me
scared. It made me feel like a two year old does when an Alsatian on a
frayed rope is barking it's head off. My knees started shaking and I wanted
to cry. Meyrick had put me through so much torment that I was terrified of
him. The last time I had spoken to him I had made him cry, this time he
sounded so confident it scared me. I wouldn't let him know though, I
couldn't let him know what he was capable of reducing me to.

"Leonardo DiCaprio John, didn't you know?"

"That's good, that's good. Yeah, funny. I'm glad to see your sense of
humour hasn't changed."

	I didn't want to hear anymore. I turned and walked away, I'd get
the drinks later.

"So who is he really? Is it that Fullerton guy, I always thought he might
be gay? Or Trix maybe. Is that him, huh? Is it Tristan Race that likes you
up his ass?"

	I wouldn't stop, I kept on walking getting more and more frantic
walking into people who were dancing around. I had to get away from him but
he wouldn't stop following me.

"No, I know! It's that Shears kid isn't it? Yeah, you spend a hell of a lot
of time with him don't you."

	I wasn't looking at his face, I was trying to walk away. I was
battling to keep myself from crying and I couldn't let him see. I just
couldn't. I hated him, I loathed him. Why wouldn't he leave me alone?

"It's him isn't it? Conner Shears, he's your bum chum isn't he? I wouldn't
have thought you were his type though Danny. Him being a sporty guy and you
being, well, a tag along to the sporty guy's. What makes you think they
want you with them huh? You think they like you? I've been trying to figure
out for a long time what they get out of your friendship with them. It took
me a while to figure it out but I guess it's just so that they have someone
to laugh at when they're bored. You didn't think they really liked you did
you Danny?"

I knew it wasn't true and I knew that he was trying to crush my spirit. It
worked though. I knew the guy's liked me and everything, but he was making
me feel so small, draining my morale so quickly and effortlessly. It was
something I had forgotten he could do to me so well.

"I'm going to tell them Danny. I'm going to tell them what really happened.
I'm going to tell them that you're the one who is gay."

"Go ahead! See if I care." I turned to him letting him see my tears. I had
a good idea as to what would happen if he did.

"No, it's not that easy for you I'm afraid. You have to be there with me
when I tell them so that they can hear you confirm it, which you will
otherwise I'll beat the living shit out of you." With that he grabbed me by
my collar and dragged me over to the table where the others were.

We got through a clearing in the crowd and he pushed me towards the
table. I looked around at the others. They looked at me with surprise on
their faces having seen me crash against the table and the tears on my
face.

"Tell them!" I didn't hesitate, the music was loud enough for anybody not
at the table or near it not to hear. So only my friends and John could hear
me.

"John wants me to tell you that I'm gay and he isn't and that I framed
him."

"And I reckon that one of you others is his arse mate too."

"Yeah, that would be me." Conner said looking John straight in the face.

"There you are. I was right about him in all. Their queers."

"Yeah and?" Trix asked casually.

"What?" John was confused suddenly. Trix, Conner, Scott, Luke and Sean
stood up, almost at the same time. They surrounded John and started taking
him towards the exit. I just stood there watching as they escorted John
outside the hotel. I didn't know what to do. The girls didn't say anything
to me, just left me with my own thoughts for a minute.

"I want to see this."

"Are you sure Danny?" Kate asked quite concerned.

"Yeah." I started to follow the others. My upset began to turn to anger and
hatred. I ran to catch up with them. I ran outside the hotel and took a
look around to see where they had taken him. I ran round the corner
suspecting that that was where they were. I was right too. I arrived to
find Trix holding John to the wall with his hand around his throat. John
looked like he was shitting himself.

"Trix! Don't."

"No Danny. I won't take anybody threatening my friends like he did. He's
going to regret what he just tried to pull."

"Trix! He's mine." Trix didn't move for a minute, he held John there and
finally relaxed his grip and took a step back from him, never shifting his
menacing glare from John's face. John coughed a little, obviously Trix's
grip had been tight enough to restrict his breathing a fair bit.

"Good boy Danny. Good boy! At least I have a chance against you."

"Why do you hate me so much John? Why do you treat me like you do?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yeah."

"OK, you're a fucking poof. That's one reason."

"You and I both know that that can't be the reason."

"Do we?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about."

"No, what?"

"Surely you remember what happened in the park?"

"Oh! Right, yeah. That! Well just so you know, I'll get your pretty little
boyfriend here with that too."

	Red! I saw red! I felt adrenaline shoot through my body as I
launched myself at him. I released hit after hit after hit after hit, each
to the face. He had threatened my Conner and that was that. Before then I
was going to keep things civil and just have things go on as if nothing had
happened that night afterwards, but it was too late. He had pushed me over
the bitter edge and I was pummelling him with everything that I had in
me. I was hitting him fast and furiously, I was crying at the same time
too.

	I was pulled off him eventually, by Trix. He pulled me off him and
I struggled out of his grip and back down to carry on with my assault on
John but I was stopped again before I could get back to him.

"That's ENOUGH! Danny, you'll kill the bastard."

"That's something I should have done A LONG TIME AGO! Don't you EVER
threaten Conner again you piece of fucking shit!" I spat on him and kicked
him in the stomach.

"Jesus Christ Danny!"

	I felt different. I had never wanted to have to do that to another
person.  Not even John Meyrick. He was curled in a ball on the pavement
gripping his stomach and with blood dripping from his lip and the signs of
black eyes coming through already. I looked down on him feeling strange,
like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  I felt free. He didn't
scare me anymore. He no longer posed a threat to me, he knew that he had no
control over me whatsoever now and that I was strong enough to take him on.

"Let's get back inside Danny before you chew his neck open or something.
Meyrick!  You keep away from everyone of us or next time I won't pull him
off you."  Trix warned.

	I was still crying though, I couldn't really tell why anymore.

"Danny? What did he mean? What did he mean when he said he'd get me with it
too?" He looked really concerned. I couldn't tell him though, not even
Conner. I couldn't tell him what he'd been threatened with.

"I can't. I'm sorry but I can't Conner."

"That's OK, maybe some other time. Do you want to go home?"

"No, come on. We'll go back in. I want to get pissed and have a good night.
It's Valentines Day isn't it? Let's enjoy what's left of it."

"OK, well dry your face. We don't want everyone knowing that you've been
crying."  I did. And we went back in. My knuckles were feeling really sore
now.

"I'm going to find some ice for my hands. I'll be back in a minute."

"You go and sit down with the others, I'll go and get some for you. Just
rest, no arguments." And he was off. I followed the others back to the
table and sat down. The girls found out what happened and checked that I
was OK. Sean came back to the table with a glass of something. He held in
front of me till I took it off him. I looked quizzically at him to find out
what it was.

"Just down it." I took a sniff of it. Whiskey. Strong stuff, it must have
been about a triple. I tipped my head back and slid it down my throat. I
recoiled from it a bit, the taste making my eyes water. This stuff was
fucking strong. My screwed up face sent the others into piss fits! Conner
came back with a wine bucket full with ice and water after about ten
minutes.

"Thanks babes."

"So what was he threatening Conner with Danny?" Luke had sobered up a
little now.  He had been swaying when he was outside but he was better now,
must have been the fresh air.

"It doesn't matter. He wouldn't dare now anyway."

"No I don't think he would!"

	The rest of the evening went fine. I cheered up as I got more drunk
and I was singing along to the songs that the DJ was playing. I apparently
went nuts when he started playing Back In My Life by Alice Deejay. I
wouldn't have said that I had gone nuts from what I remembered, but I'd
enjoyed singing along with it anyway.

	Before too long I had forgotten about the fight earlier (at least I
did when I didn't knock my bruised knuckles on anything) and was having a
good time until the evening drew to a close and we were turfed out. Once
again we caught taxi's home.

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you gunna be OK?"

"Yeah, why?"

"After your fight? Aren't you worried about what will happen with Meyrick?"

"How do you mean?"

"What if he goes around telling people what happened? What if he goes to
the police with you beating the shit out of him?"

"That's not his style, he hates police because of how much trouble he gets
himself into. If he goes down to the police he'll probably be laughed out
of the door and told he got what he deserved."

"Really? How come he hasn't had the book thrown at him if he gets into so
much trouble?"

"Since his dad's an advocate he's treated like an ambassador with police
immunity which he in turn abuses the system with so he won't get done for
anything, that's why he can afford to be such a fucking criminal and get
away with it. He's a police criminal basically."

"Shit."

"Uh huh. And he's already told everyone about me once and they don't seem
to believe or care anymore so it doesn't bother me that much. They'll
probably just think he's lying."

"I suppose so. You going to the town tomorrow?"

"Yeah but Conner and I were going to meet up with James, Ryan and Toby to
go to the cinema, you can join us if you like though?"

"What you watching?"

"The Green Mile?"

"The, err, new Stephen King one?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I'll tag along if that's alright. Ring me in the morning then."

"Cool, see ya Trix."

"See ya Danny, Conner."

"See ya." Conner and I set off on a walk back to my house. The town was
deadly silent, the occasional sound of cars in the distance and the odd
barking dog, otherwise a special serenity had descended over Parkway that
Valentines night.  Conner and I held hands as we walked home. It felt nice
walking hand in hand, even though we were only doing it because nobody
would see us at three in the morning.

"Danny?"

"Uh huh?"

"If you don't want to talk about it, I understand, but I'd like to think
that we can talk about anything with each other."

"Go on." I had suspicions about what he was going to ask next.

"What did Meyrick mean when he said he'd do to me what he had done to you?
What had he done to you? It made you wild, you scared me actually. I didn't
know you had that sort of anger in you."

"To be honest I didn't either, I just couldn't stand him threatening you."

"With what?"

"I don't know if you want to know."

"Being outted? Telling the school, that's the only thing that Trix was able
to suggest.  Is that what he was threatening me with?"

"You don't have to worry about that babes, nobody would believe him. He's
been labelled as a liar because of doing it to me."

"I know that but is that what he was threatening me with?"

"Yeah." I didn't want Conner to know that he had been threatened with
something much more sinister than that.

"You're lying." He said it in a very matter of fact way. He could tell
instantly.

"Yeah. I, well I, oh, I'm sorry babes. I really don't want you to know,
it's nothing to do with you in that respect, I mean, it's not like I don't
trust you, that doesn't even come in to it. It's difficult to explain, I
want to tell you because we can talk about anything, but I really feel at
the same time that it's best that you don't know."

"What could he have done to you to make you so scared of telling me? It
upsets me to know that there is some kid out there who can have such a
negative influence on our relationship like this. You came back to our
table in tears because of him tonight Danny, I had barely ever even seen
you angry before, but tonight you were like a different person when you
attacked him. If you had been alone, I'm damn sure you wouldn't have
stopped hitting him until he was dead. How can he make you go through such
extreme emotions so easily? I don't like the influence he has over you."

"He scares me, he always has. I used to hang around him because I was
scared of him, I was afraid that if I didn't I'd be on the receiving end of
the shit he put everyone through. He ruled me through fear and I was too
blind to understand that back then, but now I realise it because I felt
that same fear again. I know this sounds all pretty weird and sort of like
Jerry Springer's final thought sort of thing, but it's true. He doesn't
scare me as much anymore, I know that I can beat him and that I have my
true friends to stand by me and help, whenever I need it."

"I'm glad, you should have known that before though. You don't realise just
how much the others respect you do you? Luke told me earlier tonight how
proud he was to have you as a friend. OK, so he was drunk as a skunk, but
you know it's true."

"I do. I know I do. I guess it's just hard for me sometimes because I feel
like I have something to prove to them, you know. I think that what it is,
is that since I am gay, it feels as if I have to be different. It's as if I
have to act normal, you know? And in doing that I keep distance from
people, even my friends which I'm beginning to realise that I don't need to
do. I know that I can talk with any one of my friends about anything that I
need to."

"Good." And he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"I think that's enough introspection for one night, don't you?"

"I suppose so. You want ice cream when we get in?"

"What flavour you got?"

"Guess."

"Toffee Ripple?"

"In one! You want some then?"

"Hell yeah!"

"You want your chocolate sauce with it too?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Anything else?"

"Hell yeah!"

"What then?"

"You babes."

"Flirt!"

"Sue me!"

"Blow me!"

"Again?"

"You up to it?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Good good."

*****

"Carry on? Sure. That's a great idea." Trix was in.

"Yeah, that would be cool." Trace was in.

"Definitely." And Sean was in too. Conner had already agreed with me the
night before.

"Excellent, then it's settled. We're a band."

"What do you want to do? Keep on with covers or shall we write our own
material?"

"Could do both. I've got about seven songs that I've written though."

"Wow! I thought you said that you'd only done the one?"

"Yeah but I enjoyed seeing it take shape you know? I wrote more when I got
bored in classes and stuff."

"Yeah. If all your songs are as good as that one, then we'll make the big
time."

"That might be a little too optimistic Trace."

"No seriously, I was actually honoured that you wanted me to play Knowing
That You Love Me. It was pretty good stuff Danny. If it's all like that and
we can play it well enough then I'm serious, we could go somewhere with all
this."

"Would we want that? To be rock stars?"

"I would!"

"Yeah!"

"Would be pretty damn cool."

"I think so, yeah. Like I said though, we're looking ahead of ourselves. We
haven't even finished school yet."

"If we were on a record deal, we wouldn't need to go to school, we'd be
made for life."

"That's true."

"Listen to these guy's Luke! Filling their heads with dreams of living the
high life!  They'll be expecting OBE's for long time service to the British
Music Industry before long!"

"Ahh! Don't worry Scott! We won't forget to call you every now and then
when we're on our world tours!"

"Oh Trix! You running a temperature?"

"Ha ha! When do you want to rehearse then Danny?"

"I don't know, every other day after school, every three days? Something
like that?"

"Sounds cool. Shall we do anything tonight after school?"

"I have footy club, I missed it last week for a rehearsal. I shouldn't
really miss it again this week. How about tomorrow?"

"Fine by me, anyone who can't make it? Excellent, tomorrow after school it
is."

"Can we come along? You know, just listen to you play?"

"Yeah if you want, just don't laugh if we fuck up that's all."

"I have no idea about music and that. I probably wouldn't be able to tell
if you'd fucked up or not anyway."

"Probably better that way."

"So what are these songs you've written then Danny?"

"I'll show you tomorrow."

"Cool, guess who I saw this morning?"

"Who?"

"I'll give you a clue, his face is out here." Trix made what was obviously
an exaggerated gesture with his hands.

"Oh."

"John Meyrick."

"I guessed."

"What? I thought you would have been happy?"

"Trix, I don't like people knowing that I'm violent!"

"You're not, usually."

"I don't want them thinking I am ever though, I'll get a bad name for
myself."

"Well it's the first time, nobody will make that much of it."

"I hope so."

"Trust me."

*****

"Hey Danny."

"Hey James."

"I want to congratulate you on your singing the other night. You really
were great. I had no idea that you could sing like that man! You were
fucking cool, and did you write that song?"

"Yeah, I wrote it, I wasn't that good though I don't think."

"You were! Everyone thought so. Conner should be proud." He whispered the
last sentence so that nobody in the school could hear.

"Really? Well the others were good to, that would have helped a lot."

"Yeah obviously, but you were damn good."

"Thanks."

"Any time. You should think about doing a concert or something like that.
House charity maybe, that's coming up soon, you'll have to think of
something to do anyway, that way you can get people listening to you and
you can give the proceeds to charity."

"That might not be a bad idea actually."

"You should seriously think about it. If I were you I'd make a demo tape
too and send it off to record companies."

"Yeah, but to who at the companies?"

"I don't know, maybe if you just send it they'll give it to the right guy."

"Hmm, I'm not sure, they probably get like fifty of those a day."

"Nothing to loose."

"I suppose so."

"I would if I were you. That is if you want to become, like, famous and
all."

"We were talking about that at break time actually. I think it's something
that if it were to happen, it would be really cool, but it isn't something
that we wouldn't, you know, ruin our A-levels and University degrees over."

"Yeah, but it's a good fall back plan."

"Yeah."

"OK, well I gotta split. I'll give you a ring tonight OK?"

"Sure, yeah. Speak to ya later James."

	That was a good idea. He had set the wheels turning in my mind
now. A concert, where people would be willing to pay to come and listen to
us. If we had made as big an impact as James had said we did, then it
should go down pretty well. I liked that idea!


OK stay tuned for more instalments and don't forget to write
wanna_get_lucky@hotmail.com