Halo II
Angels & Monsters

By: Micah Diablo
(© 2010-2011 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 1

The Man With No Shadow

"SAY CHEESE!" I said as Matt and I took a picture on my phone. I smiled but he kissed me on the cheek as the camera clicked for the picture. "Matt!"

"What?" he asked with a sheepish grin. "I love kissing you. Although I prefer your lips, anywhere on your body is good."

It had been two weeks since we had begun dating and I've got to say it's been heaven-sent. If this was a dream, I didn't want to wake-up-ever. He leaned into me and gave me a kiss, but I put my finger to his lips.

"For a guy who isn't out, you can't seem to keep your hands off me in public," I said with a laugh.

"What can I say? My chocolate prince has me feeling for a taste of him," he said, making us both laugh. "But yeah, you're right. Wal-mart is like the hang-out spot here in Atlantic City. I don't know why, though."

"Because you can't have fun without the rollback man," I joked, climbing out of his car.

"Why are we here anyway, rich boy?" he asked as we headed inside. "Wal-mart isn't the store I expect to see you in."

I punched him in the arm and winced in pain. "I really gotta stop doing that," I said shaking my hand. "It hurts me more than you."

"You gotta do it like this," he said tagging me in the arm. I looked at him with a shocked look. "I couldn't resist," he added.

"Domestic abuse," I whispered as I stuck my foot out to trip him. "Anyway, we're here because Josh has been talking about getting 'Guitar Hero' for the longest. I figured I'd surprise him."

"I love that fucking game," Matt said excitedly. "See? I got a reason to go to his house, now."

I rolled my eyes as he looked around at the video games like a little kid. I was really happy for once in my life. Somehow, I began establishing myself with my own identity. Ky and I seemed to be closer, if that were even possible. Josh was really into this whole supporting-me-thing, but I felt Ky needed it more than I did. Giselle, for some reason, wasn't hanging around with us, but without seeing her, I was actually even happier. To top it off, I had the most amazing boyfriend. I doubted that anything could ruin my high.

I looked past Matt and saw a face that I hadn't expected to see, standing in front of me.

Looks like I spoke too soon. Matt was so entranced with the games that he didn't hear me call his name. I pulled his arm.

"Matt, come on," I urged, pulling him away from the games. Never knew my boyfriend was a gamer geek.

"But we didn't even get the game for Josh," he whined, hoping to look at the games and play some more. "Hold on. I gotta play this game; move it, brat." He pushed a little boy away from the PS3 game console.

I looked for the face but he wasn't there. I walked down the aisles to see where he'd gone, but there was no sign of him in any of the aisles.

'Was he really there?' I wondered. I turned and found myself face to face with my worst nightmare.

"Hello, Coy," Tony said with the same devilish look in his face. I felt suffocated. Like I couldn't breathe. Almost as if he were on top of me again, smothering me.

"Oh, my God," I said, taking a step back. "No."

"Told you I'd be back," he said, unbuttoning his pants. I was looking around at the other customers. But they were oblivious to what was going on.

"MATT!" I screamed out. I felt paralyzed like I couldn't move. "MATT!"

"You can't save yourself," Tony said, grabbing me and turning me around. "Not this time."

He bent me over the cart. I could feel his erection pushing up against the back of my basketball shorts. "I promise you, it won't hurt," he said in my ear.

"NO!!!" I screamed out as I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable. I opened my eyes and found myself sitting in my homeroom class. My class all looked at me, shocked at my outburst.

Ky looked at me worriedly. "Coy?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I answered, shaking my head. "I'm fine."

I sighed and looked down at my desk. I knew that was a lie; I wasn't fine. Far from it.

The bell rang and Ky hurried to catch up with me as I quickly left the classroom. "What was that all about? You looked like you saw a ghost."

"I just dozed off," I said to him as we walked to my locker. "I just had a bad nightmare; that's all."

"Matt must be keeping you awake at night," he joked as he put his books in my locker as well. I flashed him a curious look. "I don't want to go to my locker," he explained.

"Why not? Your locker is closer to most of your classes than mine is."

"Just avoiding somebody that's all," he said, with his face darkening. Just as soon as it did, he smiled. "Besides, we're brothers ... twins at that ... we share everything. Right?"

"Yes, unfortunately," I said, closing the locker, and we started down the hall. "So how are you doing? I know I've been hanging with Matt a lot for the past week, so I haven't had a chance to do movie night like we always do."

"It's cool," he said with a shrug. "I'm fine. It's just ... I gotta get something out of my system, Coy."

"Something? Or ... someone?" I asked, and he flashed me an alarmed look. "I mean ... because you're avoiding going to your locker."

"Oh," he said, relieved. He didn't want to reveal that he was avoiding Nick and had been for the past two weeks.

"Don't worry about it," I said to him. "You know my locker combo. Use it as much as you like."

"Thanks, man," he said as we came to his first period class. "I guess I'll see you at lunch."

"Alrighty," I said flashing a smile and walking toward the front office. I wasn't in the mood to be a tour guide, but I didn't want to skip because Matt said he was going to try to skip the last few minutes of Gym so we could hang out in the Student Union.

"Coy," the receptionist said with a smile, reading my name tag. One thing about our college is that they couldn't seem to keep receptionists for very long. Or an Assistant Dean.

"Hello ... Miss ... Peck," I said, reading her nametag on her blouse. "How are you settling in?"

"Very nicely, thank you," she said with a warm smile. "But it's MRS. Peck, by the way."

"Oh, sorry," I said sheepishly. "I ... you're just so young ... you look like you just graduated from high school."

"I did," she said with a warm smile. "I graduated from Ocean City before it burned down a few years ago."

"Ah," I said with a nod. "Well, it's nice to have you and not some stuffy old lady barking at me. How long have you been married?"

"Newlywed," she said, flashing her ring. "Three weeks. My first day back in the States after spending eighteen days in Jamaica, tanning my butt off."

"Well, congratulations," I said with a grin on my face for her. She just beamed with a glow of happiness.

"Thank you," she said, handing me a folder. "Mr. Augustus is meeting with our newest addition to the school."

"Wow, we get like ten new students a week, here," I said, opening the folder. I choked on my spit when I read the inside of the file.

"You okay?" she asked. Before I could respond, the Registrar walked out with the newest student.

"Coy James, meet our newest addition to Atlantic City College and the lacrosse team," he said with a proud smile. "Tony D'amato."

I looked at Tony with a look of fear, and he flashed me a smile.

"Hello, Coy," he said with a knowing look.

Something told me this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. This was reality.

Josh sat in his Lit class with a lot on his mind, not realizing that his professor had called on him to read.

"Joshua," he said for the fourth time. "Has the contact of football damaged your hearing? I've called on you four times.  You're no longer in high school. Are you deaf?"

"No, but I wish I was," he said, rudely shocking him, Carmen, Giselle, and the rest of the class.

"Excuse me?" the professor asked Josh, taken aback at his answer. He looked him in the eye.

"Why don't you quit wasting our parents' tax dollars and actually teach us something worth listening to?" he continued his meaty diatribe. "Because Shakespeare was NOT my cup of tea in high school, and it's NOT my cup of tea here, either."

"Josh, shut up," Carmen hissed at him. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his books.

"How about I save you the trouble, and I'll escort myself to the Dean's office?" he said, getting up. He walked to the door in the back of the classroom and slammed the door behind him.

"Professor Tate, may I ..." Carmen asked him with a nod toward the door. He smiled at Carmen. Although Josh wasn't one of his favorite students, Carmen did have the highest grade point average in the class.

"Go," he said with a smile.

Carmen nodded and headed out to find her boyfriend. Giselle raised her hand.

"Professor, may I please be excused?" she asked with an angelic look.

"No; you, of all people, belong in this lecture hall."

Giselle gasped in embarrassment and flicked the professor off as he turned to head to his desk.

Josh walked out to the parking lot toward his car. Carmen followed behind him.

"JOSH!" she yelled out after him. She ran as fast as she could in her stilettos, but Josh still was a faster walker.

He stopped at the car and waited for her to catch up. She slapped him across the face.

"What the hell, Carmen?" he asked, rubbing his face.

"Exactly. What the hell?" she replied. "That wasn't like you ... to snap at a professor."

Josh sighed and looked at his girlfriend with a blank look on his face.

"Care to explain what's going on inside that curly head of yours?"

"Just stuff," he said, turning to get inside the car.

Carmen reached out and grabbed his arm, and he winced in pain.

"Josh..." she began, looking at him worriedly.

"Look, I feel like getting out of here and skipping the rest of the day," he said. "You coming?"

"Josh ... we don't skip," she replied.  "This isn't high school anymore.

"You don't ... but I do," he said getting in his car.

Carmen watched as he pulled away, out of the parking spot, and out of the parking lot. It hurt her that Josh was hiding something from her. They'd never kept secrets from each other, even as little kids. 'What's different now?' she wondered to herself. She pulled her cell out of her pocket and texted Giselle.

*Meet me in the student parking lot. It's a 911 situation*

Closing her cell she walked to the bench and took a seat, trying to figure out exactly what she was going to do.

I sighed to myself as the buzzer signaled the next lecture period. That meant that I could escape from Tony and the silence.

"Hey," he said grabbing my arm. I shook him off and walked on. He followed after me.

"Come on, Coy," he said, walking side by side with me. "What's with the attitude?"

I looked at him, speechless. "You have got to be kidding! You seriously asking me that?"

"About the sex?" he asked.

"It's not sex if I didn't want it," I spat.

"It's not rape, like you tried to say, when you did want it," he countered. "You were all over me at that party."

"That isn't true," I said, shaking my head. "I was not all over..."

"Coy! Tony!" Matt said running over to us.

I looked at my boyfriend with a surprised look. "You know him?"

"Of course I do," Matt replied. "Tony here is the new lacrosse player. He was supposed to play football for us, but he was overseas on vacation and just got back like last week."

"Vacation, huh?" I said looking at Tony with an amused look. We both knew that was a lie, but I was shocked to see him standing there in front of me.

"Yep, I'm glad to see you met my best friend, Coy," Matt said proudly. "Coy is really good people."

"Oh he is, is he?" Tony said flashing me a smile that only I knew what it meant.

"Well, I think I should get on over to my next lab," I said to Matt, clearing my throat.

"I'll catch you at lunch, man," he said to me as I walked off without acknowledging Tony.

"You got to meet the rest of my crew at lunch," Matt said as I was leaving.

I wheeled around. "Um ... Matt ... remember? We're supposed to be eating off campus? Just to talk. You and me."

Matt flashed me a look saying to shut up. I guess he was worried I was going to out us to Tony. Little did he know...

"If you guys already made plans, then I don't want to intrude," Tony said with a faux look of sincerity.

"Nah, man; Coy and I were just going to talk about his new workout plan," Matt lied. "I'm sure we can talk about that later; right Coy?"

I looked at Matt, who was expecting me to say yes, and Tony, who had an amused look on his face.

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes and storming off.

My worst nightmare was coming to life. My past had definitely come back to haunt me and was now affecting my present AND future.

Ky was leaving from the bathroom when he noticed down the hall Nick was coming out of one of the faculty's bathrooms. Nick walked past him and smiled, and just kept walking. Ky noticed the door open again and two guys walked out of the bathroom and rushed to their lectures. It was then that Ky put the clues together and rushed after Nick.

"You were getting fucked in the bathroom, weren't you?" Ky asked angrily. Nick shrugged.

"What can I say?" Nick asked him with a sly smile. "I'm fuckable ... I'm hot."

"You're a fucking slut," Ky said angrily. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I'm living my life," Nick said. "What's it to you."

"Because ... Because ..." Ky couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

"Because what? You wished it were you fucking me?" he asked Ky. "After all, I am just a fuck to you."

"Maybe I do wish it was me," Ky said defiantly. "So what?"

"So that will never happen again," Nick said to him. He pushed Ky into the wall and pinned him.

"Get the fuck off of me," KY said. He was stronger than Nick physically and could've easily pushed him off, but for some reason he felt weak.

"Why? Because being this close makes you hot for me?" Nick teased him. "You're fucking pathetic."

"You are the pathetic one," Ky spat. "For waiting around for me to commit to you. NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!"

"Open your eyes, fool," Nick said letting him go. "I'm already moving on. With Bruce and Alex from the baseball team. They know how to fuck the hell out of a real man's tight ass."

Ky growled in frustration and tackled Nick. The two wrestled around on the floor while Ky tried choking him. He hated Nick. Ever since he finally admitted to himself he was gay, he'd become extremely attracted to Nick. He didn't want to be with Nick, because he was afraid that by dating him, it would soon become true in every way. He was gay.

Nick was a wrestler and, while not as strong as Ky, he was able to catch him off guard and flipped him over and got on top of him.

"I see why you like the top," Nick said, pinning Ky to the floor and choking him. "It makes you feel stronger and more dominant. Maybe I should fuck you instead."

Ky kicked Nick into the lockers and the two began to brawl. The noise attracted a female professor who yelled for help. Two guys each grabbed Ky and Nick, separating the two of them.

"Alright, Nick, Coy," the she said to the two. "Let's head to the Dean's office."

Ky and Nick flashed each other dark looks as they were dragged down to the office.

"You're coming with me," I said, pulling Anthony out of the conversation he was having with somebody I'd never seen.

"Okay, Coy. I can walk without holding your hand. What's going on?"

"Nothing," I said letting go of his hand.

"Does this have to do with our brothers fighting?" Anthony asked, curiously. "I hope you know that their beef has nothing to do with..."

"I didn't even know they were fighting," I said as I walked out to the parking lot. "That explains why Ky wasn't waiting for me as usual for lunch."

"Then what's wrong?

"We are skipping and going to my house to eat and hang out, because I need to be away from here," I said to him as we got to his car.

"I thought you loved college, though," Anthony said with a laugh. "With you being a nerd and all." I flashed him a dirty look. "Okay, fine. I'll shut up and drive."

***

Carmen and Giselle watched as Josh got out of his car. They were several people back, and he didn't know he was being followed.

"What the hell is Josh doing here at this park?" Giselle asked Carmen as they watched him just stand there as if he were waiting for somebody. "In the middle of the ghetto."

"I don't know," Carmen answered, concerned. "He looks like he's meeting somebody."

"Maybe it's a girl," Giselle chimed in, but cowered when Carmen shot her a look. "Or not."

"Trust me, Josh knows what would happen if he ever cheated," she said. "That would explain why he was acting weird in class today."

"Ooh, who's that?" Giselle asked, pointing at a guy who was walking toward Josh. "Oh, my God! He's going to get mugged."

"Shut up," Carmen said nervously as she watched the two talk.

Giselle and Carmen both gasped as the guy pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Josh.

"Oh, fuck," Giselle said, looking at Carmen with a confused look. "Were those..."

"Drugs?" Carmen finished Giselle's question. "He's doing drugs?"

"Maybe not," Giselle surmised, trying to figure out something to explain the scene unfolding. Josh handed the guy some money and took the bag from the guy. The two shook hands and the girls watched as Josh headed back to his car.

Carmen wasn't so sure, because based on what she saw that morning and just then, she wasn't entirely sure about who Josh really was.

"What's your problem with me?" Nick asked Ky as they both sat outside the office. The Assistant Dean was busy with other students and hadn't seen Nick and Ky yet.

"I don't like you," Ky said. "Simple as that."

"Since when? Because ... before we ... you know ... we were cool," Nick said sadly. "Every since we did it ... you've been weird, and I deserve to know why."

"Why? You wanna know why?" Ky hissed at him. "Because I hate how I feel when I'm around you."

"What?" Nick asked, confused.

Ky sighed, annoyed. "I hate how it feels so right to be around you and with you," he said quietly. "It shouldn't feel right because I don't want to be this way. But I can't fight being gay."

"You can't fight being attracted to me, Ky," Nick said, no longer angry anymore. Just hurt. "Your heart wants what it wants."

"I just want to be normal," Ky said shaking his head. "I'll fight my feelings for you as long as it takes. I'm strong. I can survive anything and I can survive not being with you."

Nick was going to say something but the door to the office opened and the Assistant Dean stood there.

"Come on in, Mr. James … Mr. Pagan." He said with a stern look on his face.

"Let's get ready to be benched for the next two games," Ky whispered to Nick who just looked sad.

***

I watched Anthony as he dived into my pool. We had been in for a few hours and just relaxed. He was really cool and helped me forget about my problems.

"In all these years, have I ever told you how much I love your house?" he asked, splashing me with water. I laughed at him.

"Only a million times," I said, hearing the doorbell ring. "Hey! I'll be right back. Somebody's at the door."

"Bring back some sodas, if you don't mind," he called out as I ran inside.

I opened the door to see Matt and Tony standing there.

"Hey, no practice today, so I figured we would crash over here for awhile if that was cool," Matt said as I let him in. "Wait. Is that Anthony in the Pool?"

I was too focused on Tony to be worried about Anthony and Matt's impending argument.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him. I looked back to see where Matt was and as I knew, he was arguing with Anthony.

"Here to keep my word," he said, licking his lips. "I told you I would be back. This time, I'm not going anywhere."

To be continued...

Angels & Monsters has now begun and I can't wait to see what you guys think of it. Feedback is always welcomed. I loved the emails I got from you guys so far. Thanks a bunch.