TABOO TALES(erotica)

The men smiled at each other. “She did mention she thought you were a dirtbag, but your assailant had a gun.”

TJ’s head was hurting badly. Who had a gun and wanted him dead? The list of suspects wasn’t zero, but it still didn’t make sense to him. He closed his eyes. “It had to be the bitch’s brother! H-he threatened me!”

One of the detectives snorted. “We read the police report and saw him in person. He’d just been hit by a car and was heavily medicated, unconscious at the time. So nice try, but it couldn’t have been him. The extent of your injuries and the bruising on your throat also show it couldn’t have been Ms. Marin, so this means your assailant is still out there. Luckily, you will not be out there for him to try again. With your priors and the weapon we confiscated, you won’t be out there for years.”

“Unless you’d like to start talking and give up your source,” the other detective said with a smile.

TJ looked at them with a sick expression. If he talked, he was a dead man. If he didn’t, he was doing time.

Shit! He’d fucked up big time.

The officers were looking rather pleased with themselves.

The week went by with relative ease… for Andre. He was concerned that Cassandra was taking on too much above her already demanding work schedule and night school. He dutifully relaxed as much as possible to let his injuries heal, but he continued to do light-duty house cleaning when he wasn’t resting. He made her lunches and was back to doing the cooking from Wednesday night onward.

Friday morning, Cassandra contacted Principal Wallace and wasn’t pleased that the man had made no progress tracking down the culprit. She demanded to know what the school would do to make Andre’s remaining time in the school less uncomfortable. Earlier, Andre mentioned he preferred sitting at the back in his classes, so she insisted that would be a good start. He agreed and told her this would go into effect upon his return next week.

They went out for a walk on Saturday and Sunday to ensure Andre could make it through the day.

When Monday rolled around, Andre ensured he arrived at school just before the first bell, so most students were already in their seats when he walked into the class.

His homeroom teacher, Mrs. Phillips, gestured for him to approach her as he entered the room.

“Mr. Marin, please accept the apologies of the entire school population for the gross violation of your privacy. Your teachers have been asked to adjust the seating to ease your return.” She looked away from Andre’s red face to the back of the classroom. “Mr. Zeigler. Gather your things and move to Mr. Marin’s spot.

Kevin’s face lit up with a wide smile as he’d be getting a seat in front of his girlfriend. He missed the look of dismay Lindsay sent to Brigette, and the look of sympathy Mary gave her.

Andre didn’t wait for any more speeches from the teacher and headed for the last seat at the back.

The ladies plastered fake smiles on their faces as Kevin settled into his new spot with a smug look for Henry and Rick.

Andre felt a little better with his new spot at the back. He wondered if Cassandra had somehow worked out this magic.

Most of his teachers felt the need to publicly embarrass him in the same way as Mrs. Phillips had, but he kept his eyes down and got through it. The new seating worked much better for him, so he was grateful for that.

The rest of the week went by with less fuss, but he was overly conscious of the looks he was getting from the other students, especially the clique of Brigette Harrison, Steph MacGraw, Lindsay Martine, and Mary Rossini. They seemed to go out of their way to smile at him, wave when he entered classes they shared with him, and they even attempted to speak to him on at least two occasions, but he ducked out the nearest door. He didn’t know how to talk to them, and he didn’t want the trouble that might bring him.

Thursday morning, he arrived at school early, so he headed to the library to review his homework. The moment he was seated, he found himself surrounded by the four ladies.

Brigette sat in the chair on the opposite side of his table and grinned at him. “Andre, we’re not letting you run away today.”

Steph smiled and sat in a chair next to him, blocking his escape down the aisle to his left, while Mary stood blocking the right aisle. That probably meant Lindsay was somewhere behind him.

“We’re having a party tomorrow tonight to celebrate the success of the basketball team for making the semi-finals. We want you to come–”

“No.”

Brigette blinked in surprise at being interrupted, and her smile slipped a little.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun–”

“No, please.” Andre shook his head firmly.

Steph was equally surprised. No one had ever turned down an invitation to one of their parties. “It would be good for you to do some socializing–”

“Thank you, no.” Andre’s eyes were aimed at the surface of the desk. His heart rate was climbing, and the noises in his head were making it difficult to concentrate.

“Do you hate us?” Mary asked, point-blank and out of the blue.

That made Andre turn to look at her. He gave his head a brief shake.

Mary smiled and reached out to pat his arm.

The noise spiked in Andre’s head, and he was moving.

He grabbed his bag and books, clutching them to his chest as he leaped up onto his chair, then onto the tabletop. He made a mighty leap to freedom, and once he landed, he ran straight out the doors of the library.

Lindsay walked up to the others and grinned. “He’s a slippery one! Did you see that perfectly executed spring upward and leap forward? He could be on the gymnastics team!”

“What the hell is wrong with him?” Brigette asked in frustration.

“He doesn’t hate us, at least,” Mary sighed.

Steph shook her head. “But he doesn’t like us enough to want to spend any time with us, either. I don’t want that.”

“Nor do I!” Brigette insisted. “I want him to come to our party!”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Lindsay sat, and the four ladies discussed strategies until it was time to get to homeroom.

They took their seats and noticed that Andre was still missing.

The classroom slowly filled as the students took their seats.