Chapter Thirty-Eight – Operation: Rescue
His roommate was the picture of inconsolable rage when he walked into his dorm room. During the time spent in John's company – through no fault of his own – he had come to learn a few of the different faces the guy he was sharing such close quarters with wore, and this one was new. For a moment, Matty thought of ignoring his parents' advice to offer comfort whenever he could and skip this one. But John looked at him while his hands were still clutched on his textbook so hard that his knuckles had turned white, while his eyes looked large and shiny behind his glasses. His face was spattered by red blotches, which could mean a number of things, and that made it simply impossible to ignore him.
"Zoey told me that neither you nor she were called to take part in this morning's rally." It was better to grab the bull by the horns and then patiently convince the unfortunate beast that being part of a cult specializing in brainwashing and party-pooping was not a big deal, after all, and that he was all the better without it.
"Yes, that is true," John said in a strained voice. "Connor says that he forgot," he added, as the tension in his voice rose, "but he's lying. I know he's lying." The last few words had been forcefully pushed through clenched teeth. Wow. Talk about barely contained anger.
Matty sat on his bed and examined John slowly. Damn, he looked like a bottle of champagne ready to pop, minus the fun part and the midnight countdown. Seeing how John had no idea how to get his rage out so that he didn't burst a vein or something, Matty continued carefully. "And how is that making you feel?"
John closed his eyes, clutched his hands even tighter on the textbook and then threw it away suddenly. He pushed his closed fists against his eyes – or just tried to do so since his glasses were in the way – and then started bawling. He did it so abruptly and loudly that Matty jumped from his place.
He hurried to his roommate's side and put a cautious arm around him. "There, there," he said slowly, "it's not the end of the world."
John turned and hugged him tightly, pressing his head against his chest. Matty had to brace himself not to fall off the edge of the bed. There was something more to all that hurt, and it was in his nature to see what he could do to ease the other's pain. "John," he asked quietly, "do you happen to have feelings for Connor?"
The way the bawling intensified told him that he had hit the nail on the head. Not that he could entirely understand how someone could fall for that weasel, but it wasn't his place to judge such things. Therefore, he continued to pat John on the back and let him cry out his pain and outrage at being rejected like this by his leader. "You know," he said, "maybe it's all for the best." If it had been anyone else involved in that little drama, he would have mentioned that perhaps there was no use blowing things out of proportion and that people were allowed to forget about this or that on occasion. But, as things stood, he thought it better not to give John any hope that the leader of the Implacables was anything other than a conniving lying bastard.
Lost as he was in those thoughts, he missed how John stopped his crying and was now staring at him intently. It was too late when John attacked him, trying to plaster his lips all over his. He reacted, but that only made it worse for his balance, and soon they were both on the floor. Matty immediately put one hand against John's chest and pushed him away. As guilty as he felt at seeing how hurt John looked back at him, he said in a heartbeat, without thinking twice. "I can't. I'm committed to Rusty Parker."
John stared at him in disbelief for a moment and then pushed himself up, his face closing and darkening. "I understand that you don't like me, Matty, but you don't have to lie, too."
"I'm not--" Damn, maybe he should keep his mouth shut more often than not.
"That guy," John interrupted him, "is a womanizer who gets girls pregnant all over the place."
"That's not--"
John pointed an accusing finger at him. "Unless you turned that guy and made him gay, Matty, you're just plain lying."
Matty bit his tongue. Maybe he had turned Rusty, after all. But letting the cat out of the bag just like that wasn't okay at all. Damn, he should have thought before talking. John didn't believe him, so that was all for the better, but he really needed to watch that tongue.
"Forget about it. About all this," John said hurriedly, gesturing vaguely at Matty, as he lay there, sprawled on the floor.
"Consider it forgotten," Matty said quickly.
John nodded and disappeared into the bathroom, where he spent around ten minutes. When he came back, his face was such a mask Matty felt his cheeks hurting just by looking at him. "Look, John, it's actually better that you're no longer with those guys."
His roommate threw him a withering look. The failed attempt at a romantic overture must have tipped the guy's fragile balance in the wrong direction. Matty felt a bit too weary to continue, but he did nonetheless. "Zoey wasn't invited to participate, either."
John sat on his bed and looked down, hands clasped and held between his knees. "Yeah, but she was new," he whispered. "Almost as good as an outsider. I think it's because I brought her in that she had to suffer this injustice."
Matty waited for John to continue. That line of thinking had to lead somewhere if only he was willing to be patient.
"No, Connor has something against me, something he's not saying." John took out his phone and checked it for a moment. "I'm waiting for him to call."
"Why? Did he tell you that he has a better explanation than that?" Matty questioned.
There was something resolute in John's stare when he raised his head. "I will convince him that he's making a mistake if he pushes me away."
Now that sounded a bit ominous, and Matty didn't know exactly what to say. "John," he said slowly. "What are you thinking of?"
John shrugged and his eyes became unfocused for a moment. To Matty, it looked like his aloof roommate was scheming. What about, that was a mystery he wasn't sure he wanted revealed.
"I've been with Connor from the beginning," John eventually began talking again. "He wouldn't have this big of a following if it weren't for me. You know, I went from door to door to spread the word. For him. And now, he's pushing me away."
There was clearly a matter of hidden knowledge, but Matty didn't know John well enough to press him for the truth. Still, he felt like he needed to prove that he could be a friend, or at least someone his roommate could count on for the time being, while he was still so raw and vulnerable after being rejected twice. "It would be good to remind him of all that, but, for your sake, I'd say that you should be ready to walk away. If he doesn't see it, your support, that is, then he's not worthy of it."
"You should start your own campus group, Matty. You have a way with words," John said with unhidden admiration.
"It's not something I'm interested in."
"Too bad." He checked his phone again. "I knew it. Connor is calling a meeting for this afternoon. I'll tell him a few things then."
"It looks to me like he still wants you to be in the thick of things with him."
John shook his head slowly and then lifted his chin up in forced importance. "With all due respect, Matty, you don't know anything about politics. I'll go armed, so to speak," he added under his breath as he looked away.
Matty wasn't sure he wanted to know more. After all, John was a grownup like everyone else on campus, and he was responsible for his own choices, especially since he didn't want to share them.
"About earlier," John started. "I didn't mean to… you know."
"No worries. It was but a moment. Don't sweat it."
John nodded solemnly. "And I'm sorry that Zoey got in the mix-up because of me."
"I'll tell her that." Matty suspected that more than her association with John, other things must have hurt his bestie's standing with that crazy crowd.
"No, I will." John fiddled with his phone. "She's going to be at the meeting this afternoon, too."
***
Matty lay in bed and held the phone in his hand, frowning at his unread messages to Zoey. How long was that meeting going to last? John wasn't back, either, but he didn't exactly keep tabs on his roommate. One thing he could do was text the guy and ask him about seeing Zoey, but while he and John had exchanged numbers during the first day of senior year, they had never spoken on the phone or even messaged one another.
Well, it wasn't that important seeing how he only wanted to hang out and not much else. Could he just ask Rusty if he was in the mood for a bit of that? But he had told him that he'd be busy with Zoey all day, and that meant that Rusty could have made other plans. Could those plans involve playing Rybalt around the campus again? Matty closed his eyes so that he could easily fantasize about Rusty's alter-ego. He was so sexy; if he hadn't already been in love with Rusty, he would have fallen for that guy, for sure. And what about that amazing talent? Why was Rusty hiding something like that? Matty couldn't figure it out and thought it best to let Rusty tell him all about it when he wanted to reveal himself and his motives. Hell, he was playing at prancing around dressed as a cat boy, and he hadn't told anything about that to Rusty either. In other words, their telling and not telling were in perfect balance.
His musings were interrupted by an incoming message. Finally, Zoey had escaped that boring meeting.
He straightened up in alarm as he read the message. It wasn't from Zoey.
S.O.S. they got us
***
Rusty had no trouble shooting the breeze with Maddox and Jonathan, the only problem being that those two were so into each other that he felt like a third wheel. Just looking at them reminded him of Matty and how cute he was, and especially how well they got along, too. Only that Matty had told him that he and Zoey would hang out this afternoon, which meant that they wouldn't see each other until tonight. How long was it until tonight anyway? He checked his phone and sighed.
"What was that sigh for, Rusty?" Maddox teased him, his arm wrapped comfortably around Jonathan, who was deep in a book. They were both reading it, actually. That reminded Rusty that Matty hadn't read to him from that kinky book in a while. He'd remind him and then fall asleep to stories of horny zombies.
"It's long until tonight," he answered Maddox's question. "That's when I get to see Matty."
The mention of that name made Jonathan forget about his book. He stared at him with a knowing smile. "Why don't you ask him to come earlier if you miss him?"
Rusty put his tongue between his teeth and frowned. Why did Jonathan think he was missing Matty? True, he was missing Matty, but that wasn't the point. Of course, he made it sound like that by sighing and staring in envy at his bestie and his better half. "Because he's busy doing stuff that doesn't involve me," he offered promptly.
"So find something to do," Maddox suggested.
"I am doing something."
"Like what?"
"Sitting here and staring at you two."
"And you're not getting bored?"
"Hey, I never skip the intro on any porn videos. So, I'm waiting for that moment when one of you is going to get a glass of water and then pretends to slip and spill it all over the other so that the undressing can begin."
Naturally, Jonathan and Maddox began laughing at the same time. That was good. He had gotten them to drop the book. He was about to rope them into some inane conversation to kill time, when his phone began ringing. "It's Matty," he said triumphantly and showed the screen to his two friends as if they wouldn't believe him otherwise. "Hi, Matty, what's up?" As he listened, his mood changed. "Come here and we'll take care of it."
Jonathan and Maddox stared at him curiously. "What's going on?" Maddox asked.
"Something completely whack. Matty's on his way. He just got a message from his roommate that he and Zoey are being held hostage or something like that."
"Hostage? By who?"
Dex and Kane walked in that very moment, while Rusty was still explaining the situation.
"Those shitheads are going too far," Kane said and shook his head with a sour expression on his face. "Let's do something about it. Dex?"
"I was getting a little bored with all this studying, now that you mention it. Let's do some party crashing, boys."
***
"Both their phones are dead now," Matty explained as he cast curious looks at the entire group. "I tried and tried, but they're obviously turned off."
Rusty was quite proud of his friends. They were all up in arms, so to speak, and they were marching toward Connor's lair with determined looks on their faces. He would have suggested some war paint for their faces, but there was no time to lose.
"No matter how we look at this," Dex commented, "it's beyond freakish. What else did the message say, Matty?"
"That was all. Just those few words. But I know from John when I talked to him earlier, Connor didn't invite Zoey and him to join this morning's rally but asked them to be part of this meeting. I suppose it took place at their lair."
"My good dudes," Rusty said, "let's synchronize our watches. What are the parameters of Operation Rescue? Do we knock or just barge in?"
"We'll knock," Jonathan said. "Connor has some serious explaining to do. You don't grab people's phones and then hold them against their will. I have a mind to see Mr. Preston at this point. I wonder if he truly condones such behavior."
"Way to go, Johnny boy," Rusty said. "And if Preston gives you the finger, let him know that Francine might want to have a word with him, and he really doesn't want that."
"I'm not going to use my mother as a shield," Jonathan argued but his lips quirked in a smile.
"All the better. Your mom is a weapon of mass destruction, not a shield."
"Before we get to that point, Connor needs some shaking up," Dex intervened. "I mean, I heard about that poor keg, man. Spilled all over the lawn. Such crimes shouldn't go unpunished."
"We're actually going there to save Matty's friend and roommate," Jonathan reminded him.
"Okay. Although, just so you know, I don't know either of them," Dex said.
They were still exchanging ideas between them as they climbed the stairs and stepped in front of the same door Rusty had so carefully decorated with candies not too long ago. Jonathan was the one to knock, while the others waited patiently. He leaned closer and listened. "They're inside. I hear voices."
Rusty was just as startled as Matty to hear a girl's voice, high pitched and troubled, coming from inside. "Help! They're keeping us here against our will!" Some muffled sounds followed and a thumping noise like something falling to the floor came next.
Jonathan raised his hand and knocked energetically. "Connor," he shouted. "Open this door immediately!"
"Jonathan, get out of the way," Dex said. "Everyone, give me some space. I have a beer keg to avenge."
They barely had time to do so because Dex dropped a heavy kick right above the knob. The wood splintered and the door gave a little.
"Wow, like in the movies," Kane commented.
Dex was about to drop another kick to the door when it opened wide in front of them. Connor was staring at them from the other side. "Are you people mad? What the hell--"
Time was a wasting in certain people's universe because Dex took the guy by the front of his shirt and pushed him inside. "Where are the hostages, you freak?"
Wow, never come between that guy and his beer, Rusty thought as they all pushed their way inside. There were about a dozen shitheads in the room, and Rusty noticed right away that John and Zoey were being held down by a couple of guys each. "Drop them or I'll drop you," he warned, and it was enough to walk menacingly a couple of steps before the assholes immediately let go of their victims and scurried away to safety.
John remained standing there, looking spooked and disoriented, while Zoey did the opposite. She barreled forward, and Rusty opened his arms to catch her, but she brushed past him and smashed into Dex, who was still holding Connor by the front of his shirt. "You came to save me! My hero!"
She pushed Connor away and wrapped her arms around Dex, who was looking down at her, rightfully confused. However, since she kept on staring upward at him with a look of adoration in her eyes, he hiked her up in his arms. Zoey promptly wrapped her arms around his neck and looked straight at him. "Winter is coming," she whispered. "But I forget how the rest goes."
***
'Tis the season for a little bit of purging? More importantly, Connor, is your favorite color red? Like blood-red? Hmm, and we thought for a moment we were looking at a true leader for the masses. Nope, we just lied. We've never thought of you that way.
For anyone who hasn't been in on the gossip this afternoon, The Amazing Four… wait, that's not right. The Amazing Dexter Solomon broke into a secret meeting of the Implacables and saved a little damsel in distress. Her name's not important. What's important is that she was being put on trial like a veritable witch when our football star smashed against the door with such commendable valiance that the poor wood didn't hold.
Connor, we feel the need to tell you. Witch hunting has been out of fashion for centuries. What gives, man? What gives?
"My name's not important? Gosh, I hate Xpress," Zoey moaned theatrically.
"Be thankful that they left you out of it. You don't really want to get that much attention. Unless, of course," he smiled slyly, "it's a certain star of our football team that you're interested in getting attention from."
Zoey rolled her eyes theatrically. "I so totally botched that one. I mean, I've rehearsed that moment so many times in my head. And then, when I finally got to it, I ruined it."
"Is this about your pickup line? Frankly, I don't think that it matters. Look at the bright side. Now Dex knows who you are."
Zoey groaned and covered her face with both hands. "I've made such a fool of myself. Things like this only sound good when you're just imagining them. In reality, they're totally cringe."
"Don't be so hard on yourself." Matty patted her on the back. "No one paid attention to what you barely whispered to Dex. On the other hand, why didn't you tell me he was your secret crush? I could have gotten Rusty to put in a good word for you."
Zoey rested her head on her linked hands. "Because I thought it was pretty silly to have a crush on a guy who's basically thrice my size. Although, I thought it would be pretty badass to get him to notice me, and I got it into my head to make it happen. But it was all just a fantasy, anyway, not like I really thought it through," she added quickly.
Matty doubted that was the whole truth. "Okay, but now you've been in his arms, so you must know if you're really attracted to him or not," he stated the obvious. "Which is it?"
"I might like him," Zoey said so quietly that he had to almost touch his head to hers to hear her. "But, whatever, he didn't get the pickup line because I botched it, so there's that. No harm done, and there won't be any winter coming."
"Zoey," Matty said slowly, "don't tell me you're afraid."
"Afraid? Who's afraid? I'm not afraid," Zoey said quickly. "Well, except this time. Connor was super freakish and in a bad way."
She was changing the subject, and Matty decided to let her off the hook for the moment, since he really wanted to understand what had been going on when they had barged in on that secret meeting of the Implacables.
"What was that all about anyway?" Since Zoey had declared herself pretty shaken, he had brought her to his room. John had made himself invisible during the whole thing, and that was good since Matty wanted to have a heartfelt conversation with his bestie and learn all about that crazy afternoon. After the rescue mission, the two sides had exchanged threats - Connor that he'd bring campus security if they didn't leave, Jonathan that Mr. Preston was going to hear about the whole thing, aka the truth. Rusty hadn't minded about his leaving with Zoey to take care of her. And, of course, someone must have tipped off Xpress with the speed of light, so probably the whole campus knew about the incident.
"Let me tell you everything," Zoey began. "So, it looks like my roommate saw the cat boy suit and thought it funny to tell some douchebag friend of hers."
"What? Oh, fuck, Zoey," Matty murmured. "I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. So, did they put you on trial for being a cat girl?"
"They didn't think it was me. They're stupid, but not that stupid. There's almost one foot difference in height between us."
"Well, I'm expecting people to be stupid and crazy on a daily basis now. So, what did they accuse you of?"
Zoey straightened up and stretched as she smiled. Matty was pretty sure that, despite the scare, a part of her enjoyed the thrill of it all. "First, they started as if it was a regular meeting, but then, Connor asked me and John to come forth - I kid you not, those were his words - and recite the oath."
"The oath? S.H.I.T. has an oath? Never mind. I shouldn't be surprised. Okay, so he was testing your loyalty to the cause."
"Just setting the stage. And then, he began circling us like a hyena, sneering and talking about betrayal in our midst. Again, his words. In the meantime, I was trying to use my phone, which kept buzzing with messages from you. So, Connor stopped in front of me and began yelling like a freak. He grabbed my phone, and then he stared at John and told him that he must give him his phone, too. He did but then leaned toward me and whispered quickly that he had messaged you. So, I was expecting the cavalry. Not all of it, but I'm glad," she said and grinned.
"Those people are completely nuts," Matty stated. "I mean, I had a little bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when you decided to infiltrate them, but now, they've gone too far. I didn't think they'd be capable of taking you and John hostage, forbid you from using your phones, and all that. By the way, how did John get mixed up in this? I understand why Connor would yell at you for having some connection with the cat boy… that was what you were on so-called trial for, right?"
"Yep," Zoey confirmed. "John, I think he just got caught in the crossfire. Evidently, Connor thought that John knew everything and was a willing participant in my little ruse." She used the air quotes to make a point.
"What happened next? Did they question you about the cat boy's identity?" At this point, Matty wasn't so sure it mattered since the chances were high that Rusty had already guessed the truth. He didn't exactly care about other people's opinions. However, as a matter of preferences, he wished to reach that point with Rusty on his own terms, not Connor's or Xpress's.
"They tried to, but I told them that they could burn me at the stake and I still wouldn't say a word."
"Wow, so dramatic. You didn't even deny that you were in cahoots with the cat boy the whole time, did you?"
"How could I? I'd never deny my friendship to you, regardless of the presence of furry tails and claws."
Matty grinned at Zoey. "That's my girl. Now, please, stay away from those creeps. Since the beginning this infiltration thing had the potential to become dangerous from the get-go, and now that potential came to fruition. What on earth did they want to do with you?" He shuddered just remembering how John and Zoey had been held by their arms by those crapheads.
Zoey shrugged. "I doubt they would have kept us there indefinitely, but they wanted to make an example out of us, like shaming us for betrayal and stuff. You know, I feel bad for John. He was so shocked that he was put in the same boat as me. Still, he was quick to think on his feet like that."
"Honestly, I think it would do him good to break free from those assholes. He is already too easy to influence, and their influence is just plain bad. I hope that Connor and his little reign of terror is getting its ignominious end after this little stunt."
"Yeah. My infiltration would really pay off then. Since my pickup line left me when I needed it the most."
"Don't worry so much about that. I'll prod Rusty to see what Dex thinks about the whole thing."
Zoey's eyes went wide with terror, unlike when she was still being held hostage by Connor's morons. "Don't, just don't, Matty! I'll die of shame."
"Why?" he asked, completely dumbfounded by her reaction. "Don't you want to know what he thinks about you?"
"He thinks I'm a weirdo who likes to talk about the upcoming winter," Zoey moaned. "I'll never recover from a thing like that. It's like the blunder of the century."
"Come on. You can't mean that. There must be at least a few other blunders committed already that surpass yours. Plus, we're barely into the third decade of the century," Matty joked.
"Don't rope Rusty in, please," Zoey insisted. When she got stubborn like that, there was no way to convince her otherwise. "I prefer to nurse my shame in the shadows."
"You better not do that," Matty warned.
He would have to find a way to help Zoey without her knowing. There was no way Dex hadn't been at least a bit impressed by someone as daring as she was.
***
"That was weird as fuck," Rusty declared as soon as they were back at the house. He would have liked to have Matty there, as well as his bestie, to question them a little more about Connor's nasty plans. But Zoey had proven to be quite shaken by the experience, so Matty was on comfort duty now.
"You can say that again," Kane added. "I mean, Preston really needs to hear about it."
"Connor said he'd inform him that Dex broke the door to his little nest of vipers," Rusty reminded everyone. He had had a mind to grab Connor even harder than Dex had earlier and shake him into a human being, although the chance of that were slim.
"And? He was right to do it," Kane hurried to his best friend's defense. "I mean, they were holding Zoey and that other guy hostages. Dex, don't worry, we're with you, mate."
Dex, however, seemed to be a bit out of the conversation and acted surprised when all heads turned toward him. "Yeah, yeah," he said hurriedly, shaking his head from some daydreaming that he must have been doing until that point, "I mean, it was for a good cause, and I'm going to tell Preston all about it."
Rusty hadn't missed how Zoey had climbed into Dex's arms like a tiny monkey and whispered that quote to him like it was code or something. "Hey, do you happen to know Matty's bestie, Dex?" he asked.
"I've never seen that girl in my life. I mean, before today."
Dex wasn't the kind to lie. Zoey had been a student at Sunny Hill as long as everyone else. But it wasn't that big a surprise that they didn't know everyone on campus. He hadn't been aware of Matty's existence until the beginning of senior year, so that made sense. However, there was some story there, one in the making most probably, and Rusty was dying to know more about it.
"She definitely acted like she knew you," he pointed out.
"Yeah," Dex agreed. "Totally weird. And she said something about 'winter is coming'. Poor girl, she was probably in shock."
Shock didn't appear the right word to describe Zoey, although Rusty couldn't say that he knew her well. That left room for other interpretations, of course.
"I will talk to Mr. Preston," Jonathan announced. "You are all Dex's closest friends, and while I am close to you, as well, he'll have a harder time accusing me of taking sides."
"Because you're a Hamilton," Rusty said with a knowing grin.
Jonathan offered him the same sly smirk in return. "Yes. It looks like Connor has some leverage when it comes to Mr. Preston. If that's the battlefield, we should go in prepared. Fair enough?"
Rusty nodded. And if Jonathan failed to impress upon their Dean of Students that Connor was the douchebag of the century, he was willing to beg Francine to intervene for Dex's sake.
TBC