Chapter 12 - Retribution.

"You ready to go, Bri?" Michael came barreling out of his last class of the day, yelling for his best friend before he was even halfway down the hall.

"Shit, Novotny," Brian shook his head disdainfully at the eager little puppy imitation his friend was performing as Mikey bounced around and around the much larger boy who was putting books away in his locker. "Would you calm the fuck down already? I'm going to get whiplash just watching you bounce all over like a damn superball."

"I can't calm down, Brian. Today's the day the next issue of Captain Astro comes out. The last one ended on the biggest cliffhanger ever and I've been waiting three months to find out what happens. I can't wait to get to Buzzy's. So let's go already, okay?"

"No can do, Mikey," Brian shook his head and tried to look even a tiny little bit disappointed for his friend's sake. "I'm afraid I've got Chemistry Club today. I guess you'll just have to go to Buzzy's on your own. I'm sure you'll give me a complete blow-by-blow recap of the entire issue tomorrow morning, though."

"Damn, Brian! Can't you blow off Chemistry Club? I have no idea why you still go to that lame ass club anyway. I mean, c'mon - Captain Astro is so much cooler than Chemistry Club," Michael whined, grabbing ahold of Brian's arm to physically pull him away from the very idea of Chemistry Club.

"Ah, but Chemistry Club is where I'm learning how to build the bomb I'm gonna use to blow up the school, Mikey. You'll thank me later when you get like the last three months off school," Brian teased, enjoying the look of shock displayed on his friend's face - silly little twat, thinking Brian could actually be serious.

"Brian, you . . . You can't . . . You won't really blow the school up, will you? Shit. What if you get caught? What if somebody gets hurt? And I doubt they'd let us have the whole rest of the year off anyway - we'd probably just get bussed to some other schools or something. It's not really a very good idea, Brian . . ." Michael's voice sounded nervous as he tried his best to dissuade his friend from doing anything so rash.

"Oh, fine," Brian 'allowed' himself to be talked out of his brilliant plan. "I guess you're right, Mikey. I probably shouldn't blow up the school. Well, I guess then I'll just concentrate on my next favorite area of research - I think I'm close to inventing synthetic cum."

"Gross, Brian!" Michael giggled at his best friend's crazy idea, more than relieved that the topic of bombs was put to rest. "Whatever, though. I guess I'll have to go to Buzzy's by myself then while you go play with yourself and your 'cum'. Have fun and stay out of trouble, Bri!"

Brian watched his overly enthusiastic little buddy bounce off down the hall towards the front door amid the crowd of other students. He really was tempted to blow off Chemistry Club today. It was one of those rare warm days that occasionally pop up in the middle of winter and the hint of spring in the air was almost enough to lure him outside in Mikey's wake. Besides, having Chemistry Club on his transcripts didn't really mean much to him now anyway. Since his father and Vice-Pricipal Saluka had combined efforts to end his Senior Year soccer season early, his hopes of getting an athletic scholarship to college were probably tanked. Would it really matter if he had impressive extracurriculars on his record if he couldn't find a way to pay for college?

As Brian stood there debating with himself about whether or not to skip Chem, he happened to catch a glimpse of one of the reasons behind his current sour mood. Ms. Saluka herself was standing just inside the front doors, watching suspiciously as her potential victims filed past, scanning each for any possible rule infractions that she could bust them on. The condescending look of superiority on her face as she loomed there made Brian's skin crawl. The cunt looked like she enjoyed her job far too much. The sow might have ruined his one chance for a college scholarship, not to mention having handed him gleefully over into the arms of his father for punishment - she didn't deserve to feel so good about herself.

Brian decided right then that Ms. Saluka needed to have that superior scowl wiped off her ugly face.

With newfound resolve, Brian slammed his locker shut and headed down the hall towards the chem lab. He'd been joking with Mikey earlier about having invented a type of synthetic cum. But he HAD accidentally stumbled on the chemical formula for a substance that looked a lot like cum but which turned out to be a pretty remarkable adhesive. Maybe now that he'd thought up the perfect application for his new discovery he'd whip up a nice big batch of the goop . . .

~**~**~**~**~

Brian had a hard time getting a parking space the next morning as he pulled into the big lot next to the school. It seemed like there was a lot of activity going on around the front entrance. Brian parked Big Bertha in the grassy field the students used for overflow parking and then he followed the rest of the crowd of students and others up towards the building.

The paved courtyard area surrounding the main doors was packed full of people this morning. There seemed to be a lot of adults and people other than students standing around in groups talking in hushed tones. Right up in front there was what looked like a camera crew from one of the local television stations. The atmosphere seemed expectant with an undercurrent of humor just under the surface. Whatever was happening, it was quite the event for the usually dull high school.

"Brian. Brian! Over here," Michael hollered as soon as he caught sight of his best friend ambling unconcernedly up walk.

"Morning, Mikey," Brian drawled calmly in spite of the circus-like goings on around them. "Why are we all standing out here this morning? Did somebody set off another stink bomb in the school? You know it still stinks from the last time Tommy Richards did that. If he keeps this up we'll never get rid of the stench."

"It's NOT a stink bomb, Brian - it's better!" Michael almost crowed with delight at the news he was about to relate. "Apparently, somebody glued Ms. Saluka to the toilet in the school office last night! She's been stuck here all night. Nobody found her until the secretary came in this morning. I hear the fire department rescue squad has been trying to get her free for two hours already, with no luck! Isn't that fucking hilarious! We're all waiting to see if they get her out. Somebody said they might have to take apart the whole fucking toilet in order to free her - can't you just see it? Hah!"

"Really?" Brian's comment was terse but his wicked grin gave away exactly how he felt. "So, do they have any idea who did it?"

"None at all!" Michael laughed. "Since she was the last one in the office last night, there weren't any other witnesses. Whoever did it must have snuck into the offices late yesterday afternoon after everyone else left. Serves the bitch right, anyway, she was probably here late, busy thinking up new ways to torture more students," Michael was even less of a fan of the Vice-Pricipal than Brian was.

Brian laughed at his friend's vindictiveness. It was nice to know that at least one other person out there understood how unfairly Brian had been treated. Michael's unquestioning attachment to Brian helped assague his bruised self-respect just a bit. As the two boys stood milling around, waiting to see what would transpire and enjoying taking pot shots (all puns intended) at Ms. Saluka, they were joined by some fellow students, all of whom seemed to share in their dislike of the school's disciplinarian. Brian felt even more vindicated.

While they were all standing around, one of the teachers who'd been waiting in their own small huddle nearby, approached their little group.

"Morning, Brian. Hope you weren't held up too late last night in the lab. Did you get all that stuff cleaned up? You looked like you had quite a mess on your hands when I left," Mr. Jacobs, the chemistry teacher, asked his favorite student.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Mr. Jacobs," Brian replied politely. "I didn't mean to make such a mess. It's all cleaned up though."

"Glad to hear it. Before you try that particular experiment again, though, maybe I should have a look over your formulas? I really don't need my lab covered in sticky white gloop every week after Chemistry Club," the teacher teased jovially before he moved back over towards the rest of the waiting teachers.

"Hey! That's right. You were here late yesterday for Chemistry Club, Brian. You might have been here at the same time as whoever did this to Saluka," Michael commented unthinkingly. "Did you see anything, Bri?"

"Me? No, I didn't see a thing. I was too busy," Brian replied aloud, very matter-of-factly, but his tone of voice was off just enough that it caused Michael to look up at his friend more closely. "That synthetic cum I was trying to make kind of exploded all over the lab and it was a pain in the ass to clean up. It's really quite sticky, you know. You'd probably need a chemistry degree to dissolve it once it dried hard," Brian added quietly enough so that only Michael could hear the end of his statement.

"Brian?!?" Michael beamed up at his daring friend adoringly. "You didn't? Did you? No fucking way," Michael whispered violently and pulled Brian away from the rest of the crowd. Brian meanwhile was trying desperately to hide a mischievous grin by rolling his lips under. "Brian . . ."

Michael's attempt to wheedle a confession out of his friend was cut short at this point as the doors of the school banged open and a large congregation of rescue workers started backing out of the entrance. The waiting crowd pushed forward, everyone trying to get a better view of what was happening. A group of paramedics and firefighters pushed their way back, apparently carrying a heavy, bulky something between them. A couple moments later, several policemen emerged and started moving the crowd back far enough to form a corridor so the rest of the rescue squad could move their burden down the front walk towards a waiting ambulance. The cleared space not only gave the group carrying the 'victim' room to move - it also allowed an unobstructed view for all those who'd been waiting by the doors.

With the news cameras rolling, Vice-Principal Saluka was finally carried out of the school by six burly firemen, apparently still attached to a partially dismantled toilet stool. The sight was met with stunned silence as the humiliated woman was carried past the openly staring eyes of the crowd comprised of her co-workers, students and sundry strangers. When a gust of wind accidentally blew by, taking with it the lightweight blanket which had been draped over the lap of the poor woman for the sake of modesty, she shrieked and doubled over to hide her nakedness. The silence of the onlookers was broken by one lone snicker after another until the entire moil of gaping, nosy, busybodies eventually joined in. The doors to the ambulance closed on the peals of riotous laughter from the crowd, but couldn't blot out all the sound, engendering even more hysterical sobbing from the patient who was hurried away forthwith.

"Serves the stupid cunt right." Brian was just a little shocked to hear such virulence come from the lips of his angelic invisible blond - he'd never heard the kind-hearted youth say anything quite so vicious ever before, even about Jack.

It didn't mean it wasn't true, though. Saluka was an uncaring cunt. Brian agreed wholeheartedly with Justin's statement and it made him smile. It made him smile even more to think that he'd won the approval of his longtime guardian and friend.

It looked like Brian's final semester of high school was going to turn out to be rather fun after all.

~**~**~**~**~

"Shit! Did you see her face when that blanket blew away! Did she look FLUSHED to you?" *hahahahaha*

Saluka's downfall was still the primary topic of conversation even hours later when Brian and Michael found seats at their usual lunch table. Everyone was talking about her, laughing at her and making jokes at the poor Vice-Principal's expense. Then again, she wasn't liked by anyone in the school and toilet jokes were so easy . . .

"Getting glued to a toilet - what a SHITTY way to start your day, right," Bridget MacDonald quipped, elbowing Brian who just happened to be sitting next to her at the moment.

"I bet it's the top story on the news tonight," Chris Spenser offered next. "And after that, her career will definitely go down the crapper!"

The jokes just kept on coming. Some people were laughing so hard, Brian thought it was a miracle they could still breathe. Michael was chortling so loudly right next to Brian's ear that it was almost painful. All Brian did though was sit quietly and smile. To be honest, he was getting a little bored with all the toilet humor and wished his friends would talk about something - anything - else already.

Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to think the same. Really, though, how many potty puns could there possibly be? All the horrid bad jokes were starting to cheapen Brian's sense of righteous retribution.

"I bet old Saluka's POOPED after being stuck on that shitter all night. Then again, nobody's more full of CRAP than she is so maybe she feels right at home there." Unfortunately, to add to Brian's annoyance, one of the most vocal of the punsters turned out to be none other than his ex, Lars.

Brian hadn't seen much of Lars Nielsen once he'd finally returned to school after his suspension last fall. By then the semester had already been more than half over anyways and, outside of the few classes they had together, they'd easily avoided each other. What with Brian serving umpteen hours of detention on top of everything else, it hadn't been too difficult to keep away from each other throughout the fall term.

Brian had also been relieved that he didn't have to actually confront the boy upon his return - it seemed their unannounced, undiscussed 'breakup' was already understood and universally accepted throughout the school. Brian was more than happy to let Lars learn of their breakup via the school grapevine rather than in person, no matter how impersonal or tacky it might seem. Brian knew that if he never spoke to the lying sack of shit again it would be just fine with him. Michael had very effectively spread the story about how Lars was responsible for Brian's suspension while Brian was still in the hospital, so most of their friends already knew the score and they were actively shunning Lars on Brian's behalf before the popular boy's suspension was even finished.

Lars quickly found himself not only without a boyfriend, but without any other friends and with a shattered reputation. He seemed happy to hide out in the shadows and lick his wounds for awhile. And so, the relationship that Brian had never planned on, seemed to end just as uneventfully as it had begun.

However, most teens have notoriously short memories. After everyone had returned from Christmas break, Lars seemed to resurface again. He still hadn't dared to approach Brian directly, but he HAD started to hang around with some of their mutual friends again. Mikey was openly and vocally hostile every time Lars dared come within sight, but most of the other students had heard it enough that they stopped paying any attention to Mikey's rants. Brian, meanwhile, remained cool and simply ignored the young man's presence as if Lars was beneath his notice.

By February, Lars had reinsinuated himself completely back into the various cliques Brian hung with - cliques that Brian had introduced Lars into in the first place. Brian continued to ignore him and had yet to speak a single word to his former boyfriend. Since there hadn't been any tangible repercussions, though, Lars seemed to regain some confidence and his social standing. He let himself be more outspoken and put himself out more. Brian's friends took their cue from him - since Brian hadn't seemed to care about Lars coming around again, they didn't bother fighting it either.

Which is why Brian wasn't surprised to see Lars sitting at his lunch table or hear him trying to out-joke the rest of the toilet bowl jokesters.

"I doubt they'll ever find out who did it, though," Lars seemed to be on a roll with his potty humor. "Since they had to take the toilet along with Saluka, investigators will have nothing to GO on!"

*Uuuuggggggh* That last joke was so bad even Brian couldn't hold back a loud groan. "I should have known you'd excel at crappy jokes, Lars," Brian commented with a sneer. "You're almost as full of crap as Saluka."

"What's the matter Brian? You should be glad to see the back end of old Saluka," Lars shot right back, apparently confident enough in his position again to dare confronting Brian directly. "I mean, even if she doesn't get CANNED for this, if she ever gives you shit again about being hooked on pot, you can just remind her of her past attachment to her own POT! Hah!"

Brian didn't join in the riotous laughter that Lars' ongoing puns aroused from the rest of the cafeteria group. He sat there quietly glowering at the primary punster. Knowing Lars the way he did, Brian shouldn't have been surprised at the way the manipulative boy was using this event to further worm his way back into the group. Brian might have continued to ignore the slimy git even then. However, Lars just had to push it too far, hadn't he? Bringing up Brian's run in with Saluka and referencing the pot that had been Lars' to begin with was a huge mistake. Lars was now back on Brian's radar and not in a good way at all.

Only Michael recognized the silently seething rage Brian was hiding after Lars' last comment. When his best friend got up and dumped his tray after having hardly touched any food, a concerned Michael trotted after him. Neither of them said a word until they were both out of the cafeteria.

"Just ignore him, Bri. Lars is an ass but you don't want to do anything you'll regret later. You really don't need to draw attention to yourself right now with this whole Saluka thing, you know," Michael tried to warn his friend.

"You should know by now, Mikey, that I never do anything I don't want to do and I'll take whatever comes as a result. I'm not going to live my life being sucked down by a bunch of stupid regrets like Jack," Brian announced proudly. "No excuses. No apologies. No regrets. That's going to be how I live my life, Mikey . . . However, I'm not opposed to making shitheads like Lars have a few regrets . . ."

“Hey, Nielsen. Wait up a sec,” Brian called out just as the target of his latest scheme walked by them.

Lars halted and looked up, clearly surprised that Brian was speaking directly to him. Brian winked over his shoulder at Michael as he trotted off to catch up with his next unsuspecting victim. Michael really didn’t like the nefarious grin Brian was sporting. If Lars knew what the hell was good for him he would start running right fucking now, Michael thought to himself.

“Just . . . be careful, Brian,” Michael pled under his breath as the tall brunet boy sauntered towards the waiting Lars and then casually draped his arm across the shorter youth’s shoulders.

It took only moments for the disbelieving look on Lars’ face to turn into obsequious fawning. Even from where he was standing, fifty meters or so down the hallway, Michael could see that the Kinney charm was already having its usual effect on the boy. Whatever Brian was saying to his ex, it was working. Lars was practically beaming up at Brian.

~**~**~**~**~

Things had been going so well lately that Justin hadn't been spending much time dogging Brian. Now that Jack's threat had been effectively neutralized, there wasn't as much to worry about. Brian had been coasting easily through life ever since Christmas.

Therefore the insistent, almost painful, pang of worry that the guardian spirit felt this afternoon came as a big surprise.

A thought was all it took and Justin was hovering next to his charge. At first glance Brian seemed fine. The youth was exactly where he should be - in school. Justin scanned the hallways and didn't detect any physical threat. But why did he still feel so uneasy?

That was when Justin got a glimpse of Brian's face. He'd just turned away from a shorter boy he'd been talking to at the far end of the hallway. As he spun around and started walking back down the hall towards his own locker, Justin got his first real glimpse of Brian's face and was shocked by the look of cold, hard hatred he saw there. This wasn't his Brian. His Brian could never be this angry or vindictive. Could he?

Initially, Justin hadn't been able to see who the other boy was since he'd been hidden by Brian's larger form. Looking back now, Justin saw that the boy Brian had been talking with was none other than his evil ex, Lars. That did explain, to some degree, Brian's expression of animosity. Justin knew that no matter how nonchalant or resigned Brian tried to appear, he still secretly seethed with anger at the betrayal he'd experienced at Lars' hands. Apparently, though, even Justin hadn't known the extent of Brian's bitterness.

"Brian. Brian, wait up," Michael chirped as Brian stalked past without bothering to stop at his locker or acknowledge his friend. "Brian, where the fuck are you going?"

"Shopping," Brian replied while shaking Michael's restraining hand off his arm. "I've got stuff to do, Mikey. Got to get ready for the big night I've got planned with Lars."

"Plans with Lars? You've got to fucking be kidding me, Brian. Why the hell would you make plans with that asswipe. Especially plans that involve you skipping class. You're gonna get in so much shit if you're caught, Bri."

"I'm not going to get caught, Mikey. And even if I did, there's no Saluka here today anyway, remember. I'll be fine," Brian reassured his buddy with a disdainful grin.

"But what are you and Lars gonna do, Brian?"

"I'm gonna fuck him, Mikey," Brian responded with a return of his earlier cold, hard expression.

"Why . . . I don't understand, Brian. Why the hell would you want anything to do with that ass, let alone have sex with him?"

"It's simple, Mikey," Brian started to explain as he led Michael down the front walk towards the school parking lot. "I told Lars I wanted a chance at some Break Up sex - you know, so I could get 'closure'. The scumbag fucking jumped at the idea, of course - I'm sure he hasn't been fucked half as good by anyone since he screwed me over. Anyway, I'm meeting up with him tonight after school and then I'm gonna fuck him the way he deserves to be fucked. Well, fucked over, that is. Then we'll see if he still finds it amusing to make jokes about me."

"Shit, Brian. You can't . . ." Michael probably would have continued to try and talk his friend out of whatever he had planned if only Brian hadn't slammed the car door in his face.

Michael just stood there, alone in the parking lot, and watched his friend drive off. Justin stood unnoticed and silent right behind him. Neither of them could see anything good coming out of this scenario. Even if Brian actually got away with whatever he was planning, his revenge would never make him happy. All it would do was further injure his already wounded soul.

~**~**~**~**~

For the second day in a row there was a huge chaotic crowd standing around in front of the school when Brian arrived the next morning. Small groups of students were huddled in various locations along the entrance walkway and all around the large courtyard area. Each group was talking loudly, laughing and pointing at something. Every so often one group would migrate over to another location, each move inevitably accompanied by another upwelling of hilarity.

When Brian got closer, he could clearly see what appeared to be Polaroid pictures mounted on the walls of the school, light posts, windows, the side of a trashcan, the front doors, and everywhere else. It took a huge effort, but the oh-so-cool brunet managed not to even crack a smile at this well orchestrated tableau. With studied indifference he ambled over to join one group in order to get a closer look and hear what his fellow students were saying.

The Polaroid photo posted here on the wall next to a large boxwood shrub depicted a very sorry looking Lars Nielsen. The youth's eyes were heavy lidded and he wore a sloppy grin that hinted that the boy hadn't been entirely sober at the time the photo was taken. Unfortunately, that was all Lars was wearing other than a pair of handcuffs and a bright red thong shaped like an elephant's head covering his private parts.

As Brian stood there admiring the photo and listening to the laughter of the crowd around him, all of whom were busy viewing similar photos - the same subject only in different provocative poses, but always wearing the lovely red elephant thong - he noticed that the courtyard suddenly became hushed. Along with all the others, he turned to see what was engendering this pause in the proceedings. Gradually, the mass of students blocking the main walkway parted, allowing one lone figure to proceed unimpeded up to the front of the school.

Lars didn't look his best this morning. His coppery brown hair wasn't styled in its usual carefully mussed strands - in fact, it looked like it hadn't even been combed. The boy's skin was a greenish color and he had huge bags under both eyes that weren't hidden even by the dark sunglasses he was wearing. His shirt was rumpled and buttoned up incorrectly so that it hung askew. On top of everything he was moving sluggishly, acting as if each step he took required a gargantuan effort. Basically, the boy looked about as hungover as a person could possibly be and still manage to walk upright.

Probably because of his sickly state, Lars didn't seem to notice the expectant hush that preceded his entrance. Nor did he look up at any of the milling students standing around the entrance to the school. He merely shuffled dejectedly up the walk and into the building without even realizing that everyone was staring at him.

With a quiet murmur, the entire student body followed behind as the boy shambled inside and slowly approached his locker.

From his place near the back of the crowd, Brian couldn't actually see what happened next. He and all the others waiting with him DID hear the short embarrassed scream when Lars noted the Polaroid that had been used to decorate the front of his school locker. After that, though, it was kind of hard to hear anything more over the bellows of laughter that broke out everywhere. There might have been a 'Fuck!' or two yelled by the boy who frantically tore the incriminating photo off his locker and then turned to glare at his guffawing fellow students. There was probably even more cursing when Lars noticed that there were dozens of more photos taped up all over the nearby walls, but it was impossible to hear anything by that time as the gales of shrieking laughter were simply too overwhelming.

Brian Kinney was laughing almost as hard as the rest when a distraught Lars ran by him, pulling down every embarrassing photo he passed. The look of hatred Lars flashed him didn't seem to faze Brian in the least, though. In fact, all it did was strengthen the steely cold glint in his former lover's eyes.

Justin could only shake his head at the sight as he felt Brian’s heart grow even colder and harder.