Take Me From This Pain, Brian's story

The months until prom passed quickly. Matt was stunned at just how quickly. The big day was less than a week away and he and Sherry were planning to go in style.

\"Everyone\'s going to be floored when they see us there together, you know,\" she grinned at him after gym class. \"Despite our truce, they still think we hate each other.\"

\"I know.\"

\"Thanks for taking me, Matt,\" she said suddenly serious. \"I know you weren\'t planning on going.\"

\"Well, Brian has a point. It is a once in a lifetime event,\" he reasoned. \"Besides, it\'ll really piss your ex and Darren off knowing that you not only went, but I took you.\"

\"I knew it was stupid to date Steve,\" she wrinkled her nose. \"But it\'s my senior year and you know how much I want to go to prom.\"

\"I know.\"

\"He did, too,\" she sighed. \"You know what he said to me when I broke up with him?\"

Matt shook his head.

\"He said, \'You won\'t do it. You won\'t toss your only chance to go to the prom for that little freak.\' Unbelievable!\"

\"I should break his neck!\"

\"As flattering as that sounds,\" Sherry laughed, \"I know you\'re madder about what he said about Brian.\"

Matt\'s face colored and he looked to the side as they walked down the hallway.

\"It\'s okay, you know,\" she went on gently. \"I can see how you feel about him.\"

\"What!?\" Matt was stupefied. Only Jason knew how he felt.

\"It\'s okay,\" she said again. \"I guess part of me always knew that was mainly what was wrong between us.\"

Matt stopped and stared mutely down at her, unsure of what to say or do. He was grateful the hallway was deserted. They had study hall this period anyway, so they weren\'t in a hurry to get anywhere. He prayed she was telling the truth and wasn\'t planning to start rumors to get back at him for the way he\'d treated her when they broke up. Brian shouldn\'t have to go through that. Matt was worried about Brian more than anything. He, himself, could handle any rumors she threw at him. But the small blonde boy was too vulnerable right now to withstand it.

\"Sherry . . .\" he began.

\"I mean it,\" she cut him off. \"I\'m not angry at you anymore for what happened and I\'ve been watching you with him. Everything seems to click now and I\'m actually relieved.\"

\"Relieved?\"

\"Yeah,\" she laughed. \"It was a blow to my ego when you dumped me, Matt. I kept waiting for you to start up with someone else and rub my nose in it. I was afraid it would be Cecily. You know how I hate that bitch!\"

\"Yeah, I remember,\" he smiled, albeit warily.

\"She used to tell me all the time how she was going to steal you from me.\" Sherry looked down. \"She said I wasn\'t cool enough to be with you and she was going to make you see that. Then, when you said you couldn\'t be with me anymore, I thought she made good on that threat. And when you started calling me those names, she gloated like crazy and told me she knew it all along!\"

\"I\'m sorry I treated you like that,\" Matt said feeling his face heat with shame. \"When I broke up with you, I really meant to end up just being friends. But then Cecily told me you weren\'t exactly upset over it. That you\'d been seeing her cousin for a couple of months behind my back anyway.\"

\"Ugh! Jeff?\"

Matt nodded with a small smile.

\"He\'s the biggest slug I\'ve ever met!\" she exclaimed. \"I would never have cheated on you! But in the rare, twilight zone chance that I would, it could never be with HIM!\"

\"I know that now,\" he chuckled. \"And I\'m sorry I flew off the handle about it. I should have just talked to you.\"

\"Yeah, you should have.\" She gave him a playful glare. \"I really believed you were going to get with her.\"

\"That plastic bitch?\" he laughed again. \"I told her to screw off when she came onto me after we broke up. You know her father gave her that chest for her fifteenth birthday, right?\"

\"No!\"

\"Yeah,\" Matt nodded. \"Jeff told us all that he did the surgery himself. Can\'t beat having the best plastic surgeon in town for a dad, right? Jeff really is a sleaze.\"

Sherry giggled.

\"So, we\'re okay, right?\" Matt asked tentatively.

\"Oh, of course!\" she assured him as they resumed their walk. \"I\'m not mad at you anymore. And I would never do anything to hurt Brian. He seems so much better since he moved in with you, you know. I think he may have feelings for you, too.\"

\"I don\'t know. I hope he does, but I don\'t want him to feel like he has to. He\'s been used enough for one lifetime.\"

\"I\'ll say. But that doesn\'t mean he couldn\'t be happy with you. Are you ever going to tell him how you feel about him?\"

\"Maybe,\" Matt replied. \"But not until I\'m sure he\'s out of danger. That way he won\'t feel obligated to be with me.\"

\"Obligated? Why are you suddenly so unsure of yourself, Matthew? You never had that problem before.\"

\"It\'s different when I\'m thinking about guys, Sher. I know it sounds dumb, but it is.\"

\"Not dumb at all,\" she smiled.

\"How do you figure?\"

\"Girls were never important to you,\" she said simply. \"That\'s why you were so confident.\"

Matt grinned back at her. It was nice to have her back as a friend, he decided.

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\"Man, we should do something to that kid already, Darren!\"

Steve paced in front of his friend and brushed back a lock of his unruly reddish brown hair.

\"He\'s the reason Sherry broke up with me. It was so cool having a senior girlfriend! I was going to go to the prom for her, and then get me some action afterwards.\"

Darren watched his friend with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. He knew that Matt was going to go to the prom with Sherry, and that was going to piss Steve off even more.

\"Hey, Canton\'s going to be defenseless next year,\" he said easily, knowing what Steve\'s reaction was going to be.

\"I want to fix him now! I want Henshaw to know about it after.\"

\"I guess we could get him on Saturday.\"

\"Saturday?\" Steve stopped pacing. \"Prom day?\"

\"Yeah,\" Darren said nonchalantly. \"Matt won\'t be home, seeing how he\'s taking Sherry to the prom and all.\"

\"What!?\"

\"Sorry, dude,\" Darren faked an apologetic grimace. \"I thought you knew.\"

\"No! I didn\'t know! How did YOU find out?\"

\"I heard Trina and Sherry talking about it on the bus. Trina\'s going with Matt\'s buddy, Ryan Trevors.\"

\"SHIT!\" Steve exclaimed. \"First he ruins MY date with her, then his friend ends up taking her instead? I\'ll bet she sleeps with Henshaw this time! She told me they never went all the way when they were together!\"

\"Chill, man,\" Darren smiled evilly. \"While Henshaw\'s away, we mice can play. You do know Canton\'s stepfather\'s looking for him, right?\"

\"I heard. But what does he have to do with it? And how are we supposed to get to him when he lives in Henshaw\'s gated complex?\"

\"Hey, one thing at a time,\" Darren held up a hand then used it to push back his white blonde hair. \"I called this Gary guy already and told him I might be able to get him to see his stepkid. He offered me five bills, can you believe that? We can get back at this kid, get paid for it, and never even get in trouble for it.\"

\"I want Henshaw to know!\"

\"Oh, he\'ll know!\" Darren placated Steve. \"How else could a bum like this Gary guy get into a place like that without someone\'s help?\"

Steve tossed him a wicked smile, then asked, \"Okay, but HOW do we get in?\"

\"Oh, that\'s easy. Jeff Snowden lives in the same complex and said he\'ll get us in. We just won\'t tell anyone we have an extra passenger in the trunk. We let Gary out. He goes on his way and we stay at Jeff\'s for a while.\"

\"An alibi.\"

\"A good one, too,\" Darren continued. This was almost too easy. He could see Steve practically was salivating over this plan. He hated Brian intensely ever since Sherry broke up with him. Who knew the bitch would side with the twirp? Well, now the kid was going to pay. \"Jeff\'s dad\'s a cop. And there\'s going to be prom traffic going in and out, too. They\'ll never think it was us.\"

\"Slick, my brother!\"

\"I thought you\'d be up for it!\"

\"I can\'t wait to see Matt\'s face when he finds out the kid is gone!\"

\"Me neither,\" Darren grinned.

The plan was set. The kid was as good as gone.