Location: Behind the School
Interaction Between: Matthew and Trent then Matthew and Miriam
While his sister had decided to go to homeroom that morning, Matthew had decided to skip again and go sit under the tree they had the day before. When he got there he instantly shoved his earbuds in his ears and pressed play on his phone, letting his music drown out any other noise as he sat down leaning against the rough trunk of the tree.
Closing his eyes, Matt had begun to drift off when he felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his hoodie. Pulling it out he noticed a text from an unknown number and simply shrugged it off for the time being. All he wanted to do was nap for a bit during homeroom time and just ignore the rest of the world, but as Matt felt his phone continue to vibrate every few seconds for the next minute it looked like he wasn’t going to be getting any sleep.
Letting out an angry sigh, he pushed himself into a sitting position and opened the messages. Scrolling to the top his face paled and his phone slipped from his hand to the ground. Matthew ran a hand across his face before running it through his hair as he stood up and began pacing.
This couldn’t be happening… Someone else knew… “Fuck… fuckfuckf uckfuck…” He didn’t know what he was going to do, now there was the risk of him going back to the stupid correctional place his parents sent him and even the risk of the secret getting out to the community which would surely end with worse punishments from his parents.
Did this person want something from him? Were they going to give Matthew a chance to try and keep them from posting the stupid picture of him kissing another boy? He sure hoped so because if not he was screwed.
From the ground Matt could hear his phone begin to vibrate as a call came in. With shaky hands and a shaky breath Matthew bent down and picked the phone up, answering it and brining it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey Matt. I really liked that picture of you showing your true colors. Didn’t you?” A voice answered through the phone, the voice was familiar but he wasn’t quite able to figure out who it was.
“Who is this? What do you want?!” Matthew all but shouted into his phone.
“I’m surprised you don’t recognize my voice, we used to be such great friends in church and even here at school Matty boy. But I guess I know what changed now, you must have had the hots for me and grew too nervous to hang out with me anymore.” Things finally clicked and Matt grew angry now knowing who it was.
“Trust me Trent. You aren’t my type.” He growled out, remembering the real reason they stopped being friends. “Now what the hell do you want? You obviously aren’t just showing me these pictures before you show it to everyone else, you would have just sent it to the whole community if you wanted everyone to see. So what’s the catch?”
A laugh was heard over the phone from Trent as Matt finished speaking, ”I’d be careful if I were you Archer. You are walking on thin ice and I have the only rope to pull you out if you were to fall in.” Matt bit down on his lip hard to keep from saying anything stupid. “But you are right. I do want something. I want you to help me with a conquest of mine. Something that will prove I can’t be stopped and can get anyone I want into bed while also giving you the ability to live your life normally without a single person knowing your little secret other than me and whoever else already knows.”
Matthew furrowed his eyebrows, not knowing why Trent would ask for help from him regarding a girl, it was obvious that Matt wasn’t a girl’s guy so what could Trent mean. “How do you expect me to help you with a g-” He froze as he realized just what girl Trent was talking about and it just made pure anger begin to build in the pit of his stomach.
As Matt was about to go off on Trent, Trent cut him off, “Now, now, now Matt. Don’t answer yet. Maybe get your sister’s opinion on this too; she does know what is happening. I texted her before calling you and she will probably be coming to see you soon. She doesn’t know about our little deal though so don’t tell her all of it. Just tell her that for now I want to get closer to her. I’d hate to spoil the ending.” With that the call ended and Matthew was left standing with a mixture of shock, anger, and sadness written on his face.
It felt like hours of him standing there as his thoughts clashed and collided, wondering where he went wrong and what he would do. He couldn’t just let his sister be thrown to the wolf that Trent is but he also didn’t want his secret getting out.
The hours to him were, in reality, only a few minutes, and it was after those few minutes that Miriam came bursting out the door to the school, when her eyes locked onto Matthew she immediately ran to him and hugged him tightly.
“Everything is going to be okay. We are going to take care of this. ” Miriam stepped back from the hug and looked over him to make sure he was fine physically and once she made sure she was she looked him in the eyes with a serious yet concerned expression, “Now, what does Trent want in order to keep him quiet? Whatever it is we can take care of.”
Matt shook his head, “No… no I can’t. I can’t have you do anything for me… I should just deal with the consequences of my actions…”
“Matthew Joseph Archer. You tell me right now or so help.”
“He wants to spend more time with you like a lot more time with you Mimi… You’re my baby sister I can’t throw you to a wolf like him to keep my secr-“ Matthew was cut off my his sister covering his mouth with her hand.
“First of all. Elizabeth is your baby sister, in fact she is our baby sister. I am not your baby sister. Second of all Matty, I told you when you got home that I’d help you no matter what and I meant that. I’m here to do that and always will be. I saw what the hellhole did to you and I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure you never step foot in one of those awful places again Matt. I won’t let them do that to you ever again. I especially won’t let Trent get away with this crap he is pulling if it is threatening your mental health, even if that means going along with what he wants. You mean too much to me Matt, you have played the protective big brother role our whole lives. Please let me take over this time and protect you.” Miriam finished her small speech and looked at her brother with hope in her eyes.
Looking at his sister, Matt couldn’t say no. She was far too determined at this point and saying no would just make her go behind his back to do it, which was not what he wanted. So he simply nodded causing his sister to smile, seeing her smile then lead to him smiling too.
“Good now that we have that settled let’s just relax for the rest of homeroom. No talking, no music, just the sound of the wind and nature until we have to face the rest of the day and begin putting up with more Trent in our lives.” The two siblings laughed lightly together before sitting down and leaning against the trunk of the tree, both just closing their eyes and relaxing for the rest of homeroom.