A Wave Of Desire

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Ocean

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Wednesday had been the same as Monday had been. The only upside was that none of us had gotten suspended. However, that only made things more awkward and worse in a way. This meant that we had to endure it all day long and not just half of it. It meant that practice had been three times worse after school and then there were no breaks in between.

After Monday's torturous and tumultuous beginning we got to go home and have a day off before we had to go back to school and deal with it again. Now, though, it was Friday and this was the third consecutive day of Brittney and Justin pulling the same old bullshit. Practice was marginally better after Coach told Justin that he would not tolerate any fighting among us. And most of the classes were bearable because the teachers came in to keep an eye on us throughout the day.

Lunch was the worst of it all. No matter where we sat, where we moved to, they followed us. I couldn't enjoy my food, I couldn't relax, I couldn't do anything except lay there with my head on the table. It was miserable, so very miserable. And it was giving me the worst headache of my entire life.

To make matters worse, I was trying to figure out ways to console and reunite Ben and Ryan. Ryan had skipped school on Wednesday and yesterday, but he was here today. He was here, but he was ignoring the three of us. I think he was a little pissed off because Ben had basically been at our house since the incident on Monday. He went home Wednesday night, and Thursday night as well, but he spent both days completely with us, and we picked him up and drove him to school yesterday and today.

From what I knew, Ryan hadn't even made an attempt to see or talk to Ben since Tuesday morning. Not since he told me that he went to Ben's house to see him. I know he was mad and felt betrayed that Ben hid something so major from him for years, but I hoped that he would come to terms with his emotions soon and the two of them could at least talk.

It was hard, looking at either of them. They both looked so miserable and heartbroken. Why couldn't they see that they needed each other? Maybe not romantically, but it was clear that they couldn't live without each other. They just needed to stop and think about it for a little bit.

Following lunch, I just needed to get through the rest of the day and afternoon practice. My head was killing me. My patience had all but disappeared. And it wasn't a secret from anyone that I was beyond annoyed. I could even see worry in Makai's eyes every single time that he looked at me. I was angry at myself for causing him even more trouble and I was getting to the point where I just wanted all this torture and abuse to stop.

Throughout my afternoon I had a lot of different thoughts and images run through my head. I thought about just beating the shit out of Justin, effectively putting an end to the shit that he was saying. And if I did that, it might possibly make Brittney shut her fucking trap as well.

I also thought about just quitting school altogether. But that wasn't really an option though, was it? My parents would kill me, not to mention that I've already been accepted to the university that I really want to go to. Quitting wasn't an option, but I didn't think that I could handle this for much longer either.

Makai, Ben and I were walking toward the locker room, ignoring anything and everything that was around us like we had been for the rest of the week. It was while we were walking that it seemed like Justin had had enough of us just ignoring him.

"Ocean!" He called my name at the same time that he grabbed the collar at the back of my shirt.

He had grabbed a hold of my shirt so roughly, pulling it and slamming me back into the lockers that I was passing as I walked, that my shirt ripped along the seam. The t-shirt, which was just something simple and relatively cheap, was no longer wearable, it was just something trivial, but it still pissed me off and instantly made me start to see red.

"What the fuck, Justin?" I basically roared the words into his face like I was some kind of angry beast.

"I am done with you, Ocean. I am done with you ignoring me. You're going to stand here and you're going to listen to what I have to say."

Ben and Makai, who had been walking in front of me, had already stopped and I could see the both of them trying to push through Brittney's goon squad.

"What the hell do you want from me, Justin? Huh? What the hell is it that you think you're going to accomplish?"

There were so many people around that I knew this was going to get back to the office. Justin was an idiot for doing this. He was just going to get suspended again.

"What do I want to accomplish? Huh, let's see." He smirked at me like he thought he was such a tough guy. "I want to make you miserable. So miserable that you quit the team, possibly school and life all together. I refuse to let you stay on my swim team. I don't want to have to worry about what you are going to do while in the locker room with me. I don't want your sorry ass anywhere near me when I am practicing or competing."

"Could you sound more homophobic? Do you know what this sounds like to me, Justin? It sounds to me like you're in love with me and jealous that I am not with you. That the rumors have me with Makai and not you."

"Fuck you!" He screamed into my face, his spit unfortunately flying from his mouth and landing on my cheek.

"Leave me alone." I told him as I used my ruined shirt to wipe my face.

I tried to push past him then. I tried to leave and just ignore him, like I had been, but the moment that I tried to move, he grabbed my shirt and pushed me back against the locker with all of his strength. The push caused me to hit my head hard enough so that I heard a slight ringing in my ears after it.

That was it, my patience was completely gone. The red in my vision that I was trying so hard to contain exploded. I felt like I was losing all control and I wasn't responsible for what was about to happen.

I felt my hand ball into a fist and started moving of its own accord. I hadn't consciously moved to punch Justin, but when my fist slammed into the left side of his face and caused him to stagger backwards, I knew that it was too late for me to even think about it.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Justin." I roared at him. "Just stop it."

"You're in for it now, Ocean." Brittney was marching up to me now, knowing full well that I wouldn't hit her since she was a girl and much smaller than me. Not to mention, my mom had raised me to never raise my hand against a woman, ever. "I am going to be the witness for him. You'll be arrested, you're going to jail." She was standing next to Justin as he cradled his face. I could see blood pouring from the side of his mouth and a massive bruise was already forming on the side of his face.

"Well, I think I have a pretty good defense because of the harassment you two have been throwing at me." I snarled at her.

"You're done for." Justin went to come at me again, his fist raised, but there was a loud shout from down the hall.

"JEFFRIES!" Coach Dickson was coming toward us fast.

"He hit me, Coach. This is just self defense." Justin was pointing at me while looking at the coach.

"Yeah, and that blood on the locker behind his head is just a colorful show of self expression, right? You have no idea how it got there, do you? Or how his shirt got ripped?" Coach was glaring at him and not accepting anything that he was about to say. "You're lucky it's the weekend, or I would suspend your ass right now. As it is, Justin, I want you to go home now."

"But-."

"NOW!" Coach didn't give Justin the chance to argue back, he yelled so loud that the entire hallway went silent after hearing it. "And you, Shores, go home. I can't have you getting hurt worse because of this. If you feel dizzy at all, go to the hospital." I hadn't even known that my head was bleeding after I was thrown against the lockers, but I guess that made sense with how hard he had thrown me.

"The rest of you, go home, practice is cancelled for today. Go, get out of here. Oh, and Justin" Coach called after him as he started to walk away with Brittney.. "I may not be suspending you right now, but I am going to be talking to the principal about this, we will see you on Monday."