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 5
Superhuman (pt.2)

I opened my eyes to see an angry Matt standing over me. "Where am I?"

"Nurses office," he replied gruffly. "Look, Coy, we gotta talk."

"It was Ky," I said, quickly, as I sat up on the cot I was lying on. "He … he pretended to be me and…"

"Coy, I have known you for awhile now, and I think I can tell my own boyfriend from his brother," he replied. "I swear I'm gonna kick his ass."

"No, you will not touch him," I shouted. "Ky, regardless of how much an ass he is, he is still my brother, and I gotta talk to him."

"Your brother may have very well destroyed my reputation, Coy," he spat. "Trust me…"

"Trust you? You want me to trust you?" I asked, as I began remembering the conversation yesterday when I'd learned about him.

"Of course I want you to trust me," he said with a scoff. "Why shouldn't you?"

Before I could answer, the nurse walked in and gave us a warm smile. "I'm so sorry to interrupt a lover's quarrel, but I am going to have to ask you to leave so I can check my patient out."

Matt rolled his eyes and walked out of the office while she sat on the cot. She still smiled at me. I looked at her with a sideways grin.

"What?"

"You two are so adorable," she said happily. "I love the gays. Is it true love?"

I looked down at my hands. I wasn't entirely sure anymore.

Matt walked outside in the hall to see Miranda standing there. He sighed to himself.

"Not right now," he said pushing past her. She smiled and clapped her hands.

"Great job," she said, laughing. "I swear, you had me and the whole school convinced you were straight."

Matt froze in his steps. His heart was beating fast. He didn't know what to do. When in doubt, though … deny.

"I AM straight," he said, turning around slowly. "I fucked you didn't I?"

 

"What a good job you did too," she said, walking toward him. "But the thing about you fucking me is that there was no connection there. See … you could fuck the hell out of me day in and day out. But then, it was the type of fuck that made my knees weak, but not the thought of it. There was no feeling there. You were just doing it because you weren't getting any."

"What are you trying to get at?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"I'm getting there," she said putting a finger on his lips. "Yesterday when we were together, I had a suspicion it was Coy that you were truly in love with. I see how you two are always together. But it was just a suspicion. Then I wondered why your face always seems to darken when Anthony comes around. I see you watch him as he walks down the hall. I heard you two in the nurse's office. I got all the proof I need."

Matt wasn't sure if he could believe what he was hearing. It was happening all over again.

"But then I thought if you and Coy were together why aren't the two of you humping constantly?" she continued. "But I remembered something about last year. It was something I heard my dad talking about toward the end of the year. Something happened to Coy, and I realized that's why you came to me. Because Coy wasn't giving it to you, and you needed to fulfill that void with me."

"Miranda…"

She kissed his lips softly. "I don't blame you," she said to him softly. "Coy's a very hot guy. Nice lips and nice slim frame. But the mistake you made was underestimating me to be some stupid chick. I'm far from stupid. In fact, I'm smart enough to help you help me."

"What do you want?" Matt asked weakly.

"I want you and all of you … not just your dick," she said simply. "Now I know that after yesterday, everybody is going to ask if you're gay. So I offer you the choice. Be my boyfriend and I can help you get rid of the rumors of being gay, or I will be one of the metaphoric village people burning you at the stake."

Matt stood looking speechless.  He wasn't sure of what to think or believe. "Is this really happening to me?" he kept asking himself that very same question.

"Let me know by tomorrow," she said kissing him on the cheek. She left a stunned Matt standing there in the hallway.

***

Ky, Anthony, and Nick sat in the lobby of the Dean's office waiting to be seen by him.

"I can't believe you, Ky," Nick said to him. "Why are you doing this?"
 

"Because I am getting help for this problem," he replied simply. Anthony scoffed.

"What problem? The only problem I see is some dumb guy who refuses to deal with the reality that he likes dudes. He likes fucking guys in the ass," Anthony said, annoyed. "All this is, is an overblown temper tantrum that somebody needs to beat the hell out of you."

"Anthony, calm down," Nick said to him. "We are already in enough trouble as it is, now."

"Why should I calm down? I mean it's bad enough that he outted the two of us," Anthony said heatedly, pointing at Ky. "Even that asshole Matt, he outted, and I don't even like him, but still that wasn't right. But your own brother? Your own twin?" Anthony glared at Ky.
 

"My brother and I are none of your concern," Ky said softly.

"Correction: YOU are not my concern," Anthony said, standing up. "Your brother, however, IS my concern."
 

"Don't you think it's sad that you're still chasing after something you'll never have?" Ky asked him, not even bothered by Anthony. "Coy is stuck on Matt, and as long as Matt is all he sees, then you will never, I repeat—never—have a chance. Take a cue from your brother, here. He never had a chance with me and he moved on. Although, I did mess that up for him, but I say a good start for you, Nicky."

Nick sighed and grabbed Anthony and forced him to sit down. He looked at Ky hard. Was this the same guy he was falling in love with? Was this the same guy he wanted to be with?

"What happened to you, Ky?" Nick asked, concerned. He grabbed Ky's face and forced him to look in his eyes.

Ky looked Nick deep in his eyes. Was it really so bad to just allow himself to be happy with Nick? To allow himself to be the way he was with no fight?

He looked past Nick to see Reverend Taylor standing there with a skeptical look on his face.

"Looks like our get-out-of-jail-free card is here," Ky said, getting up and moving away from Nick.

Reverend Taylor smiled at the Pagan brothers, and headed into the Dean's office.

"Want to know why this is all happening?" Ky asked the two of them. "Because if I were to give in to my feelings for you, Nick, I would have to constantly worry about people who want to beat my ass because I'm gay. It already happened once. If I'm straight, the main thing I have to worry about is people hating me for being black, something I knew I didn't choose. But being gay … I feel like that was a choice. Somewhere, sometime I made that choice to be gay but now I get the choice to be straight. I'm trying to save me and my brother. So before you judge me … know the whole story before you do."

"But are you sure Coy wants saving?" Anthony asked, realizing it all stemmed from Ky's bashing. It was almost as if he understood why Ky was doing this … but it still wasn't right. "Isn't that Coy's decision to know what he wants."

"Coy was raped," Ky said to them both. Shocking both Nick and Anthony.

"What? When? Did you know this?" Nick asked Anthony who looked down at the floor. "When did this happen?"

"Sometime last year," Ky replied to him. "He used to scream a lot in his sleep, and didn't want to be touched. I didn't know why for the longest … Figured he was being weird. But I was in his room one day when I was looking for some notebook paper, and I saw a pamphlet for a rape victim's meeting hidden in a stack of papers. So I put two and two together. I don't know the entire details of what happened, but something happened to my brother, and I couldn't save him. I'm saving him now before anything else bad happens. Because something will happen. Anthony … Nick … as twins, yourselves, I know you two can relate. You can sense when something is wrong with the other. Coy sensed it when I was bashed that night. I sense something is going to happen. I want to prevent it, and this is the only way I know how."
 

Nick and Anthony were both speechless. While they didn't agree with Ky's entire thought-process, they could agree to wanting to protect a brother. No matter what…

Reverend Taylor walked out of the office after the three had been sitting in silence for a few moments.

"Men, you can all go back to class," he said to the three of them. "I was able to get you guys off without getting in any trouble. Kyle, be sure to stop by my office at the end of the day."

He waved to the three of them and took off down toward his office. Ky sighed and headed off toward his class.

"Ky … wait …" Nick said, going after him. "You don't have to do it this way. You can let us help. Just let me help."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't do that," Ky said, without turning around. "Nick … before all this goes down, I want to say this. You weren't just some fuck to me."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Ky," Nick pleaded trying to get through to him.

"Just remember, that when all is said and done, and the dust clears, remember the Ky you both knew and loved," he said, continuing down the hall.

Giselle sat filing her nails in class. She really was frustrated. Matt was the first guy she ever allowed herself to fall for completely. But he wasn't the perfect boyfriend by any means. He rarely knew how to be romantic, unless coaxed by her, and then it was how he was always flirting with the other girls. Then … the gay thing appeared out of nowhere. She didn't want to believe it … Hell! She didn't at first. But when a good friend of hers, Devin, had accused Matt of being gay, she started being suspicious. He would disappear at school, skipping classes and sometimes be seen hanging around questionable people. But she just couldn't allow herself to fully doubt Devin, so she chose to believe him.

She'd gone to Atlantic City High hoping for a new beginning with Matt, from the rumors of most of the people from her old school chose to go to another school, but things still weren't perfect. He didn't seem to want her, really. She thought it was maybe because of all the new flocks of girls here at Atlantic City College, but she discovered it was because of a guy.

'Coy,' she muttered angrily to herself. She looked over at Carmen and Josh who were all huddled up working together on a project.

Not wanting to admit it, she was jealous of Carmen as well. Because somehow, everybody else was happy except Giselle. She thought she could be happy with Nick but that seemed further from the truth. She just wanted  to be fully happy like before. But the difference was between THAT Giselle she was before, and the one she was now. She was waaaaay too nice, now. She didn't fight Carmen as hard as she wanted to over the cheerleading. She allowed her boyfriend to be taken by a guy. She allowed her ex to turn gay. Because she was too nice.

Watching Carmen, she realized that she was sick of being nice. Sick of being the sidekick. She wanted to be back in the limelight.  The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the class.

Josh and Carmen packed their things up while Giselle smiled a devious smile and cleared her throat.

"Did you guys get a lot of work done?" she asked with a fake cheerful voice. "I saw the two of you doing those little cutesy faces. It was kind of sickening."

"Jealous much?" Josh joked.

"Of what?" Giselle countered. "You? The junkie? Ha, no; I think I am good."

"Giselle…" Carmen warned.

"Oh, come on, Baby C," she said, getting out of the chair. She grabbed her bag. "You still haven't told Josh that we followed him to the Park that day and saw him mixed up in that drug deal?"

"What?" Josh asked his girlfriend. "You were following me?"
 

"I think I'll let you two chew on THAT fat for awhile," Giselle said, getting up and walking out of the classroom.

"Josh, before you…"

"I can't believe you, Carmen," he said, storming out of the classroom.

***

I stood while a bunch of eyes sat staring at me in the Cafeteria. I felt like I had three heads.  I walked over to the table with Anthony, Nick, and Carmen.

"Where is Josh?" I asked sitting down. "Not wanting to be seen with a bunch of homos?"

"No, it's not like that, Coy," Carmen said to me with a sigh. "Giselle felt it okay to reveal some secrets this morning in class."
 

"Seems like everybody is wanting to reveal secrets," I said angrily. "How did you two guys fair?"

"Okay," Anthony said with a sigh. "It's you we're worried about, though, Coy."
 

"Why are you worried about me?" I asked them. Nick and Anthony both looked at Carmen. "What's going on?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked me. "About … the rape?" She'd whispered the last part, but loud enough for those at their table to hear.

"Anthony!" I said, annoyed. "You told."
 

"Well, I told Carmen, but Ky told us this morning," Nick replied. "Look, I know I'm not as close to you as Anthony is, but I do care about you, Coy. You mean a great deal to my brother, and I want to help you, if you'll let me."
 

"There's nothing to help because I don't want, nor do I need any help," I said firmly. Tony plopped down beside me in the seat next to me.

"What's up, people?" he asked with a cheerful grin. Anthony caught the uncomfortable look I had on my face.

"Hey, Tone," Nick said reaching over to give him some dap.

"Hey, Tony," Carmen said with a warm smile. "How are you?"
 

"I should ask these three the same thing," he replied, taking some food off my tray.

"You know if you can't afford lunch, the school does have a free lunch program," I quipped. He chuckled to himself.

"Good one, CJ," he said and looked Carmen in the eye. "What's going on with Josh? I saw him hanging with the stoners. Not the first people I would imagine him being friends with."

"Well, it's a long story," she replied with a sigh. I felt there was more to it than she was telling us. "Where is he?"

"Outside on the soccer field," he replied. "Tell him, he still needs to pay me back the twenty bucks he owes me."

Carmen got up and excused herself from the table. Anthony looked at Tony pointedly.

"Shouldn't you … like … be somewhere else? This table is for friends only," he said to him.

"Relax man," Nick said to his brother. "Tony, here, is my friend. Probably the only real friend, I have outside of you guys."

"Aw, shucks," Tony said with a mock embarrassed look. I rolled my eyes. "Even though you guys are homos, I still got mad love for you. Especially, Coy, here. But Ant is right. I probably should go and see what's going on with Matt. I heard that some of the jocks are not too happy with the news about him. We might have another brawl on our hands by the end of the day."

"Good," I replied. "A good ass-kicking is what he deserves."

Tony chuckled and got up and left the three of us sitting by ourselves.

"What's your deal with Tony?" Nick asked Anthony who, in turn, looked at me.

"You wanna tell him or should I?" Anthony asked.

***

Matt sat by himself at lunch. Never had he done that before. He was always the most popular guy and was used to having flocks of people around him. There, sitting by himself, he felt as if all eyes were on him. Thinking about it, he was almost positive that all eyes were on him.

"YO, Matty G," a voice said from behind him. He turned to see the Lacrosse team walking toward his table.

"Um … what's up?" Matt asked with a surprised look on his face. They all took a spot around the table.

Ryan Kelly looked at the others and finally at Matt. "We gotta know … is it true? Are you really a fag?"

Matt swallowed painfully as he'd never been called that word before, so it stung a little bit. Now he knew how the kids he called fags felt when he said it.

"Well?" a guy asked from the table. Matt sighed to himself. He couldn't let this happen to himself.

"Hell, NO!" he replied firmly. "I've fucked Giselle and so many other girls. Hell, I go with Miranda, the freshman girl."
 

"Damn, she be bad," a guy said with a pleased look on his face. "Anytime you wanna flip that, let me know."

The team gave Matt their approvals before Ryan cleared his throat. They quieted down still smiling at Matt.

"We never believed Coy in the first place," Ryan stated. "We just wanted to hear the words come from your mouth. However, there is a problem. We can't have Coy James walking around the campus spreading bullshit like this."

"What … what do you mean?" Matt asked nervously.

"I mean we should teach him how to keep his mouth shut," Ryan replied.

Matt looked at the guys and was fearing what they had in mind. "You guys know that was his brother, Ky, right? He was posing as Coy when he made that announcement."

"Even if that is true, the whole enrollment thinks it's Coy," Ryan said. "Which means … we have to deal with Coy."
 

"Deal with him … how?"  Matt asked, growing more nervous as the conversation went along.

"Beat his ass," Ryan said simply and the rest of the team agreed with him. "We can't risk him developing a crush on us and trying to ruin us like he is trying to do to you."
 

"It wasn't him," Matt said trying to get them to understand.

"You seem awfully against this, man," Ryan said to him with a sideways look. "Sure there's nothing you want to tell us?"

"I'm sure," Matt replied.

"So are you in or out?" Ryan asked him.

Matt realized this was wrong. But his reputation meant everything to him. So many people respected him … looked up to him. He was an amazing athlete in lacrosse, football, and baseball. He couldn't lose it all. Not over this. He glanced over and saw Anthony and me laughing. That gave him all the ammo he needed.

"I'm in," he replied with a dark look on his face.

***

Carmen walked outside to see Josh blazing with some of the skater dudes from their Culinary class.

"JOSHUA JACKSON!" she yelled out as she stormed across the field. "Put that blunt out."

Josh and the dudes laughed in their stupor. She snatched it out of his hands and stomped it out on the grass.

"Hey, man, that was some expensive shit," one of them said, but he fell back laughing.

"Hey, babe, you mad that I didn't invite you?" Josh asked her. "Here; there's plenty for all of us."

"Josh, what the hell is wrong with you?" he asked him. "Doing this shit on campus?"

"It's fun," he said, laughing stupidly. "Sure you don't want some?"
 

She pulled him away from the group. "Josh, what are you doing to yourself?"

"Trying to forget my problems, babe," he said to his girlfriend. "Hey, you know what? I forgive you for following me. I shouldn't hide this from you, should I? I should help you get into it with me."

"I am not a drug user," Carmen said to him, slapping him across the face. "And last I checked, neither are you J. Jax. You are gonna get yourself in trouble."
 

"I'm already in trouble as it is," he said with a shrug. "Just let me be me for right now. If you don't like what I'm doing, you can walk."

"Wha…" Carmen was about to say something, but Josh turned and walked back toward the group.

Carmen sensed her boyfriend was slipping away from her and she didn't know why. Was it her?

"Is it me?" she asked herself as she watched the group light up a blunt and head toward the parking lot, obviously ready to skip.

Giselle stood watching Nick, Anthony, and me as we walked out of our last lecture. She was livid, but she wanted to know if she could possibly work things out with Nick.

"Nick," she said with a hopeful look on her face. "Can we talk?"
 

Nick looked back at Anthony and me with an unsure look on his face. "I … um … sure."

"Want us to wait?" Anthony asked him. He shook his head. "Okay, I guess I'll see you at home."

Nick walked down the hall with Giselle while Anthony and I continued walking the opposite direction.

"You ever going to confront Tony?" he asked me. "I mean, I know it's hard, but you know I'm here for you."
 

"I don't know," I said to him as we sat on the bench outside. "I'm just not ready to confront it. When I actually do, I guess, I'm afraid it's gonna become real again. I don't know. Maybe I'm just crazy."
 

"No, you aren't crazy," he said to me. "You're just hurting. It's okay."

"Thanks," I said looking in his eyes. Anthony was an amazing person. Always knew what to do to make me feel better. Always knew exactly what I was thinking.

Out of nowhere, he leaned in to kiss me…

Matt was walking around looking for me. He had gotten cold feet and realized he wasn't able to go through with what the Lacrosse team had in mind. He knew he had to find me before the they did. However, he didn't intend to find me kissing Anthony.

"What the hell?" he shouted, and the two of us jumped and broke apart.

"Matt," I said, shocked by his being there. "OH, my God … it's not what it looks like."

"Really? Because from where I'm standing I see my boyfriend kissing another guy," He said, hurt. "Coy, how could you?"
 

"How could I? How could you lie to me and tell me I was your first guy?" I asked him.  "How could you cheat on me with Miranda?"

"I don't have time for this," Matt said angrily as he stormed off. I growled in frustration.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him. "Why?"

"I'm tired of trying to hide my feelings for you, Coy," he said. "You chose the wrong guy. You deserve somebody who's going to be your everything and not pressure you to be and do something you're not ready for."

"You shouldn't have done that," I said with a sad look. "I need to find Matt."

Anthony sighed as he watched me run after Matt.

***

"I can't believe you," Giselle said to Nick as she cried. They sat in her car.

"Look, GiGi; I'm sorry," he said to her. "It's complicated."

"Yeah, it's so hard to tell a girl that you're gay," she said to him. "You just used me."

"No, I didn't. I really do like you, Giselle."

"But not in that way. Not the way that you like Coy."

"That wasn't Coy on television," Nick said wiping her eyes. "That was Ky. Ky was pretending to be Coy because he's … trying to save them from some non-existent threat."

"Ky wouldn't do that," Giselle said, shaking her head. "Ky is one of the good guys. He wouldn't do that. Especially not to his own brother."

"He would if he thought he was helping his brother somehow," Nick said. "You have got to believe me; this isn't Coy's fault."

"Why should I believe you, when you've been lying from the start? Just get out of the car and stay the hell away from me."

"Giselle…"

"Get out of my car," she said trying to stay calm. Nick hesitated, and she leaned over and opened his door and pushed him out.

Nick watched as she drove off, out of the park. He realized he was stranded at least fifteen minutes from his house.

"Fuck," he said dialing his brother's number.

***

Behind the school, I walked around the woods hoping that Matt might have gone there to think. I had tried calling him, but it kept going straight to voicemail. I heard a twig snap behind me, and I turned to see some of Matt's Lacrosse team standing there.

"Oh," I said a little startled. "Um … hi."

"Hello, Coy," Ryan said to me. I smiled at him as I recognized him as Matt's and Josh's friend.

"Hey, Ryan," I said walking toward him. "I'm looking for Matt; have you seen him?"

 

"No," Ryan said shaking his head. "But we were looking for you."

"You were looking for me?" I asked them. "What's up?"

"I think we should have a little talk," he said cracking his knuckles. "About you and Matt."

 

I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach which was soon replaced by a punch to my stomach.

***

Ky clutched his stomach as he sat in his meeting with the Christian Soldiers in the college's auditorium.

"Something wrong?" Shane asked him. Ky began to feel an intensified pain all over his body. Almost the exact pain he felt when he had been attacked.

"My brother … something's wrong with him," Ky stammered out.

Shane laughed. "You mean besides him being gay," he joked. Ky pushed past him and stumbled toward the door.

"Where are you going, KY?" Reverend Taylor asked, but Ky ignored him and stumbled out of the door.

Ky had to find me. He had been sensing that something was going to happen for a while, and now, this was it. He had to save me…

He saw Josh walking out of the Lacrosse coach's office. "Hey man, I need your help," Ky begged. Josh shoved him back.

"After what you did to Coy?" Josh asked with a scoff. "You're lucky I don't kick your ass right now for him and the guys. I'm pissed off enough as it is. Coach thinks I'm using steroids thanks to Carmen running to blab on me. God! As if this day couldn't get any worse. He's making me go to some freaking 'steroids anonymous' bullshit class."

Ky just pushed past Josh and kept looking for me.

"I swear … you think you know somebody," Josh muttered to himself. "Brother turning against brother…Girlfriend turning against boyfriend … Ha, maybe I should go gay …. Nah … too much trouble, and I hate the smell of ass."

Matt lay in Miranda's bed. He realized that he was ALMOST willing to give it all up for a guy, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't allow himself to be gay, because he would become an outcast. She kissed him softly.

"I knew you'd come around," she said with a smile as she unzipped his jeans.

Matt knew he wasn't a bad person. He was a lost soul. He wasn't entirely sure of what love was when he was with Giselle … and Devin. It was a word he used to get what he wanted, even if he didn't feel the emotion.

'But Coy,' he thought to himself. 'Whenever I'm around him, it feels right. I feel complete. I feel like I've found the one.'

It was in that very second that Matt realized it wasn't that he was IN love—He WAS in love. But it was the fact that he was afraid of letting down someone whom he truly cared about, while at the same time admitting that he needed somebody other than himself to get him through his life.  He's had an epiphany.

"I can't do this," he said, jumping up and startling Miranda. "I can't believe I hurt him."

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"I love Coy Matthews," he said. "I love Coy Matthews. I love Coy Matthews." He kept repeating it. He could actually say it, and not be afraid.

"I will ruin you," she said to him bitterly.

Matt blew her a kiss. "As long as I've got him, you can try your best," he said to her with a smile, and took off hoping to stop what was already going down.

***
 

Anthony walked up his driveway with Nick following closely behind. It was a long day for him. Surprisingly, he didn't get as much grief as he expected to get, but he might have lost the one fella he truly cared about the most.

"You hear that?" Nick asked Anthony as they walked up the stairs of their porch.

The twins froze in their tracks as they could hear what sounded like shouting coming from inside Josh's house, across the street.

"Um … Nick … go inside … I gotta check on Josh," Anthony said to his brother. Nick shook his head.

"Nope; sounds like some trouble and I'm not letting you go by yourself," he said firmly. Anthony sighed and the two made their way toward Josh's house.

They heard what sounded like glass breaking inside, and heard Josh scream out in pain.

"What the hell is going on in there?" Nick asked his brother.

Anthony couldn't stand by any longer and allow this to go on. He walked up to the door and was about to open it when an angry man—with the same curly hair Josh had—stood in front of him.

"Ant," Nick said nervously as he stood watching the burly man tower over his brother.

"Yo; you're one of them faggots my son hangs out with, ain'tcha?" the man asked Anthony. He shoved a bruised Josh out of the house and into Anthony. "Then he can go stay witcha. I don't raise no fuckin' faggots in my house." With that, he shut the door.

"What the hell is going on?" Nick asked, as he saw Josh standing there looking bruised, with had a cut on the side of his face.

"My dad heard about what happened to you guys at school, and he knows I'm friends with you and Coy, and he just automatically assumed I was gay," Josh replied. "Guilty by association."

"You have got to be kidding me," Anthony said in disbelief.

"Nope.  Doesn't look like he is," Nick said as they made their way across the street. "Look; till we get this figured out, you're staying with us."
 

"What about your dad?" Josh asked them.

"Dad's never here," Anthony said to him with a sigh. "He hates child abuse. He might try to…"

Nick knew what his brother was going to say. Their father was a powerful man.

"Might try to what?" Josh asked.

Anthony feigned a smile. "Might try to help; that's all. Nick, why don't you take him inside the house and get him cleaned up?"

"Come on; a child called it," Nick joked trying to make light of the situation. Josh playfully shoved him.

'Those two would make a cute couple,' Anthony thought to himself. He took his cell out of his pocket and dialed my phone number.

It rang a few times before…

"Hello," Tony said, shocking Anthony.

Anthony looked at the phone to make sure he dialed the right number. It said Coy, so he was confused.

"Tony, what are you doing with Coy's phone?" he asked.

"Well, Coy was in some trouble when I found him, and I helped him out," Tony explained. "He was getting jumped by Ryan and some kids from the Lacrosse team."

"What the fuck?" Anthony asked angrily. "Is he okay?"

"Oh, yeah, he's fine," Tony said. "He's here with Ryan and me."

"But you just said Ryan…"

"I know what I said, Anthony."

Anthony began getting an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right.

"Where are you guys?" he asked Tony. "I'll come pick him up and take him home."

"Like I said, he's fine," Tony said, before disconnecting the line.

Anthony rushed inside the house in a panic. "Guys, Coy's in serious trouble." He dialed Matt's phone.

***

Matt knocked on my front door. He noticed his phone was vibrating and checked to see that it was Anthony.

"Yeah, right," he scoffed, sending it to voicemail.

Ky opened the front door, relieved to see Matt standing there. "I called Coy's cell, but it went straight to voicemail," he said happily. "I take it he was busy with you?"

"No, I called his cell and got the voicemail, too," Matt said. "I figured he might be ignoring me. So I stopped by to see if he was here.  You know, Ky, if you weren't his brother I'd…"

"Hold on," Ky said, answering his cell phone. "It's Coy. Hey, bro."

"Ky, I need your help," I said softly, just above a pained whisper, into the phone. "I'm in trouble."

 

"What's wrong?" Matt asked Ky, noticing his dark look.

"Where are you?" Ky asked me.

"Tony has me," I said, then I felt some strong arms grab me and grab the cell phone. "Let go of me."

 

"Coy! What's going on?" Ky yelled into the phone. He heard the line disconnect. "He's in danger. We gotta call the police."

"No, I think I know what's going on," Matt said and the two rushed toward his car.

Tony slung me onto the bed while Ryan tied my hands behind my back.

"You see, I was trying to make you comfortable as possible, Coy," he said to me. "But you had to be a busybody and call somebody."

 

"Please, why are you doing this?" I asked Ryan. "You already did enough to me when you jumped me? Why are you helping him?"

"Because I want a piece of you, too," he said with a dark look in his eye. I could see lust inside of his eyes.

 "HELP!!!!" I SCREAMED ALOUD. "HELP!!!" 

To be continued...
 

Author's Note:

Angels & Monsters is almost over. I felt like Tony's character was kind of lingering around, so I decided to go ahead and give him a forerunner. One of the mysteries is out in the open. Matt's past …which came out in the last chapter. Matt's character was a favorite in the beginning, by some readers who like Matt and Coy (MATOY my friend called them, lol) together. I realized his character was becoming a lot more of a villain than I wanted him to be. I never meant for people to dislike Matt or even any of my characters (because, fiction or not, they're all human, or should I say, they personify qualities of humans we all know). Matt is probably everybody's high school fantasy of a hot jock who is being gay but he has his reputation to worry about. Matt's character is so afraid of disappointing Coy that he does just that. Josh is like so many teens who are being abused, but who cope with this on a daily basis. His outlet (negative as it may be) is drugs. Carmen is the person who is trying so hard to make her relationship work when she feels it slipping away and blames herself. Giselle is the wild person we wish we all were at some point. Seemingly confident, seems like she may have it all but in reality she is just a regular person trying to find her way. Ky represents so many homosexual and lesbian people who are afraid of who they are because of what society tells them is right, and because he's trying to find his way. Anthony is probably the guy we all wish we had. The heroic type who worries about those he cares about versus himself. Nick is the boy who is tough on the outside but incredibly sensitive on the inside. Coy … we share a name. And we share certain character traits. The story is mostly fictional except there have been times when I had a troublesome relationship like Coy has and when I tried to get people to understand me. While I don't have quite as bad a life experience as Coy has it, I can relate. Coy and Ky both are my favorite two characters because Coy is more of my natural personality but I feel like Ky is the dark side of my personality. A dark personality that I think we all have. HAHA BEYONCE has Sasha fierce, and I got KY, lol. Like I said, Angels &  Monsters is almost over. It doesn't end with Tony though.

I will give you a hint … Coy and Ky have a show-down, lol. Coy is forced to choose between Anthony and Matt. Josh goes down an even darker road while Carmen and Giselle clash. 

In the next chapter, however, we find out what happened with Coy…both in the present and the first time. This chapter begins months in the past where we learn more about Anthony and Nick's characters while we discover the early problems Josh faced with his father.. Ky's bad-boy side is explored in this chapter. 

I so can't wait, so I'll see you guys next chapter. I appreciate all the views and emails I have gotten for Halo and I hope to get more as we progress on!