I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 05

**********

While he showered and got ready for the day, Patricia packed lunch for him and Joel and made breakfast. When Joel appeared, she greeted him as she always did.

"Good morning!"

Joel looked at her trying to decide if Kenji had said anything to her about their discussion about his feelings toward her. He let out a sigh of relief when she greeted him as she normally did and saw the lunches sitting on the counter.

"Did Kenji mention that I might be moving?" he asked.

"Yes he did but you know that you're welcome to stay here don't you?" Patricia asked.

"I know and thank you but you and Kenji need your space and privacy, I'm going to talk to Abby about moving in with her." Joel said.

"You know, I think that's a great idea! I worry about her over there all alone." Patricia said.

"Then it's settled provided Abby agrees." Joel replied feeling oddly relieved, "oh, did Kenji also mention that I would stay until classes are over?"

"Yes and its fine." Patricia replied.

********

It was the weekend before they knew it. Patricia was much happier with her first period class and Bernard had started to speak to her even outside of class but had continued to decline the offers of an introduction to Kenji and Joel.

She shrugged it off and went to meet Kenji for their break.

They were in the middle of making plans for the weekend when there was a commotion about a hundred yards to their left.

********

Joel was coming out of the building and went in the direction of the school's bookstore when he heard someone crying. He looked around to see if he could pinpoint where the sobs were coming from and headed toward the sound that was coming from around the corner of the building.

"You bitch!" he heard a male voice say, "You said that you were breaking up with him!"

"I... I'm going to but I haven't had a chance!" the female voice replied.

"Yeah? Well what did you do when he took you for a ride?" the male voice asked angrily, "Why didn't you do it then?"

Joel was about tot walk away deciding that it was a lover's quarrel when he heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the agonized cry of the woman.

Before he could stop himself, he walked around the wall to see one of Andrew's friends hitting a woman who he knew to be Andrew's girlfriend.

"Hey!" he called out.

Ernie and Becca both looked at Joel in shock. Of all the people to interfere, he had been the last person that either of them would have expected.

"Get out of here Jew boy!" Ernie hissed not releasing his grip on Becca.

"I.... I can't." Joel said softly. What he really wanted to do was to run as fast as he could but he couldn't. Not if he wanted to be worthy of someone, not if he wanted to start standing on his own two feet.

Ernie shoved Becca away from him and walked up toward Joel, "Get the fuck out of here before I break your other hand."

Joel swallowed hard but held his ground. "I... I don't think that A...Andrew would..."

"Andrew?" Ernie sneered. He grabbed Joel by his shirt and threw him to the ground. "What I want to know is why a fucking Jew is defending a cockwhore!" Ernie exclaimed.

"A what......"

"This bitch sucks cock for fun and to bribe guys! Did she suck yours so that you'd help her? What did you promise to do for her?" Ernie asked as he kicked Joel in his side. "She should have chosen better!" he exclaimed as he kicked again.

Joel rolled out of the way and ended up in full view of several students. Suddenly students all of whom were shouting and cheering whenever Ernie got another kick in surrounded him and Ernie.

"Stand up you Jew bastard!" Ernie screamed.

Joel lay on the ground not moving hoping that Ernie would just walk away. As he lay there, he began to think about one of the things that Kenji told him.

"You cannot allow people to treat you this way."

It was now or never.

Slowly Joel got to his feet. The crowd went wild as Ernie gave Joel a dismissive smile and then changed his mind; he was going to kick this Jew's ass.

*******

"What's happening?" Patricia asked.

"I don't know." Kenji replied as he stood up. "Come on, let's go see." he said offering Patricia his hand.

By the time they got to the crowd, they couldn't see but knew that there was a fight. Uninterested, Kenji turned to pull Patricia away from the crowd when he heard someone say, "Come on Jew boy!"

A feeling of dread filled his stomach; he knew that it had to be Joel. He looked down at Patricia, he didn't want to leave her in the crowd alone but he had to know that it was Joel. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled Patricia through the crowd until he could see who was fighting hoping that he was wrong.

"Oh my god." Patricia whispered as she looked at a bloody heap lying on the ground.

********

Joel got in one good hit before Ernie began to beat him landing blows wherever he could. All he could do was drop to the ground, curl up in a ball, cover his head and pray for it to be over. He could hear the crowd screaming for him to get up and he wanted to, he wanted walk away under his own steam.

"What's wrong Jew?" Ernie taunted as he started to kick him again.

Joel braced himself for the kick that never came. The crowd had gone silent and he wondered why. He risked a peek through his arms and saw Kenji standing face to face with Ernie who was no longer looking so brave. The next thing that happened was that he heard Patricia calling his name. He didn't reply because as much pain as he was in, he wanted to see how Kenji handled Ernie.

"So now we have the Jap!" Ernie said loudly, "You suck his cock too?" he shouted back at Becca who had the grace to turn beet red as she realized that if everyone didn't know about her, they did now.

He turned back to face Kenji who hadn't moved.

"You want your ass kicked too?" he asked.

********

Joel started to get up but Patricia stopped him.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she pushed him back down.

"I... I have to get up." he whispered. He knew that if he didn't, that he would never stand up for himself again.

"Joel...."

He rolled away from her, slowly got to his knees holding on to his sides. When Patricia offered to help, he waved her away. Finally, he was on his feet swaying from side to side as if he was drunk. He fastened his gaze on Kenji's back and slowly stumbled toward him only vaguely hearing the roar of the crowd. He took one agonizing step after another until he stood next to Kenji who was still regarding Ernie with something that Joel had never seen him display before-anger.

Ernie was about to say something when Andrew's voice rang out.

"What in the hell is going on here?"

He looked over at Ernie, then Kenji before finally looking at Joel.

"Get the fuck out of here." he said.

"No, I'm not going." Joel said standing as tall as his aching body would allow.

"Joel, you have made your point, it is time to go." Kenji said softly and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"But...."

"It is over for now." Kenji said, "You have made your stand."

Reluctantly Joel turned and walked away under his own strength. It was important that people see that he didn't need Kenji or Patricia's help. The crowd parted as they walked through but no one touched or spoke to them as they passed.

Patricia went ahead, gathered her and Kenji's things, and headed for the car.

"Class." Joel whispered.

"Missing one class will not hurt anything." Kenji said.

"Class." Joel said and headed in the direction of the building where their classroom was.

"Kenji?" Patricia asked worriedly.

"I'll stay with him and when your class is over meet us in front of our classroom." Kenji replied.

"Shouldn't we take him to see Paul?" she asked.

"Yes but he will not go."

"Make him!" Patricia demanded crying.

"Kirei, today Joel stood up and faced difficult odds. He wants to send a message and that message includes that he is no longer afraid and that he will not hide."

"That's just stupid!" Patricia replied angrily.

"We will take him to Paul as soon as class is over." Kenji assured her as he watched Joel walk unsteadily into the building.

********

Andrew watched as Kenji, Joel and Patricia walked away and wondered what happened that made the Jewish man grow a set. He looked over at Ernie and walked over to him noting that he was swallowing nervously. He also noticed Becca standing off to the side looking equally as nervous.

"What happened?" he asked Ernie when he reached him.

"I.... I don't know... he butted in on me and Becca's conversations and...."

"He touched me!" Becca called out "and Ernie stopped him." she added.

"Is that true?" Andrew asked not believing it.

Ernie's face had gone a brilliant red, one of the sure signs that he was lying.

"Sure, that's what happened." he replied.

Andrew looked at Ernie and smiled at him, "Thanks for looking after my girl." He said.

Later when Becca wasn't around he was going to find out the truth but for now, he needed to maintain control.

"Listen up!" he said to the group surrounding him, "Leave them the fuck alone! If I find out that they've been touched there's going to be hell to pay is that understood?"

Satisfied that his orders would be obeyed, Andrew headed toward class. It wouldn't look right if all of them missed. He was surprised to admit that he felt a little respect for the Jew; he had taken one of them on knowing that he would get his ass kicked.

Joel and Kenji were in the room when Andrew and his crew came in. To his credit, Joel didn't even flinch when he heard the voice of the one who beat him. Kenji kept one eye on Joel ready to move if he began to have trouble and kept his ears tuned toward Andrew and his group. He missed most of the lecture but wasn't worried about it. From what little he heard it was on a subject matter that he was familiar with and knew well.

After class, Kenji packed up their books and waited as Joel got to his feet.

"I did it, I got my ass whipped but Kenji, I did it! I didn't run!"

"But you didn't lose." Kenji replied.

"Of course I did!" Joel replied, "Look at me!"

"You may have lost the physical battle but Joel; you won a much more important one, a personal one. We are proud of you."

"Why is it that as much as I hurt, I feel so damned good?" Joel asked.

"It is because you stood up for yourself." Kenji replied, "We need to go, Patricia is waiting for us and I promised her that we would take you to see Paul."

********

"Jesus Christ son!" Paul exclaimed when he examined Joel. "And I suppose you don't know who did it?" he asked.

"I... yes sir I do but I'm not saying." Joel replied as Paul palpated his rib area and sides.

"Doesn't matter, I already know who did it." Paul said as he sat back. "You're lucky. The ribs are bruised but not broken and you're going to look and feel as if you've gone a few rounds with a heavyweight fighter but you're going to be all right. Just take it easy for the next few days and go to the hospital if you have any trouble breathing."

"Yes sir!" Joel replied wincing as he stood up.

"You three watch yourselves." Paul said as he helped Joel with his shirt. He had been the one to report Hathaway after slipping in and observing his class not once but twice. He had also been hearing things from other faculty members of which only one agreed to go to the dean with him.

Paul watched as the three of them walked away and looked at his watch. He had a meeting with one Bernard Hammond who was the son of a friend who happened to be taking the same classes as Patricia. It was actually he that told Paul what was going on. There was only one concern that Paul had about Hathaway losing his job and that was that he would blame Patricia for it and find a way to go after her.

"Shit." he cursed as he realized that he might have just inadvertently placed Patricia in danger. After the meeting with Bernard, he would call and talk to Kenji.

*********

The walk to the car was agonizingly slow. Kenji wanted to run ahead and get the car but he didn't want to leave Patricia and Joel alone. The parking lot was deserted when they got there and much to Kenji's pleasure and surprise, the car hadn't been touched. Just to be safe, Kenji examined the tires of the car. Deeming them untouched, him and Patricia helped Joel into the back seat.

*********

Andrew watched the trio as they made their way to the car. Once again, he was reminded of the fact that none of his supposed friends would stand up for him as the Jap had stood up for the Jew, which reminded him, he and Ernie had to have a little chat. He waited until they drove off before heading to his own car, Ernie and the gang was waiting for him.

********

John and Hattie were waiting for them when they got home worried but not quite panicked but getting close. Hattie took one look at Joel and went into full mother mode.

"My lord! You poor baby!" she exclaimed as she grabbed a washcloth.

John rolled his eyes and let her finish fussing before he asked what happened.

"Hurt like hell but feels good don't it?" he asked when Joel finished telling him what happened. "I knew there was a backbone in there!" he added.

"It sure does feel good." Joel agreed although he hoped that he never went through anything like that again.

"I got an idea." John said, "Why don't me and Kenji there teach you a thing or two? I used to be a boxer and Kenji can teach you some more of that stuff he does."

Joel felt a surge of excitement, his pain temporarily forgotten as he considered John's offer.

"I accept!"

Kenji and John looked at each other and nodded, this is what they had been waiting for.

*********

Ernie sat between Brad Monk and Dean Elderman. His stomach churned with nerves, he knew that Andrew hadn't believed Becca when she said that the Jew had tried to touch her. In retrospect, he realized that it was a stupid lie and that they would have done better if they had stuck to some semblance of the truth if not the truth itself. There was no way in hell that the Jew would have gone anywhere near Becca if he hadn't been trying to help her, Andrew and everyone else knew it. One thing was for sure, he wasn't taking all the blame for this and he sure as hell wasn't about to be disciplined on Becca's behalf, the bitch had lied to him. She had no real intentions of leaving Andrew, she had used him in order to get him to write and draw on the desks of the Jew and the Jap and if he was punished, he was going to take it out of her hide.

********

Ernie wasn't the only one who knew that Andrew didn't believe the lie. Becca had no plans of saying what she did, it just slipped out and now that impromptu lie was going to come back and bite her in the ass. She could only imagine what was going to happen, Andrew would talk to Ernie and the fool would tell the truth in hopes of saving his own ass.

It occurred to her that between the Jew and Ernie, the Jew was the one who showed true strength but not only that, he had come to her defense. Something that no one not even Andrew had ever done for her but that was beside the point, he was still a Jew. If she was sorry about the lie, it was only because she hadn't gotten away with it.

The question was what would Andrew do once Ernie told him the truth? Would he accept that she did it because she loved him so much and had been hurt? No, she decided, he would not buy it because he would not care. Maybe now would be a good time to go visit those relatives down south. She would drop out of school, she was failing anyway and had been biding her time until Andrew proposed to her and leave town. She might have thought about staying if there was even the slightest chance of that Andrew could love her. But that wasn't going to happen her ill thought out plan assured it.

She practiced in her head how she was going to tell her parents that she was wasting their money by dropping out of school and that she was in fact failing all but one class. After several minutes she concluded that there was no way that she could tell them that they wouldn't go nuts.

The next question was, did she do it now or wait to see what happened with Ernie? She debated for over an hour before deciding to wait.

********

"Care to tell me what really happened today?" Andrew asked Ernie as he sat down across from him.

"It's like Becca said, the Jew tried to touch her and I helped."

Andrew looked at Ernie and shook his head.

"I'm not buying it." he said. "You and I both know that that Jew boy was afraid of his own shadow. There's no way in hell that he would have touched something that he knows is mine so I'm going to ask you again, what in the hell happened that got the Jew riled enough that he confronted you?"

Ernie's face turned bright red as he realized that he had to tell the truth.

"I... we were arguing." Ernie said quietly, "and I guess he heard us."

"He picked a fight with you because he heard you and Becca arguing? That must have been one hell of an argument, what was it about?"

"A misunderstanding." Ernie replied already anticipating the next question.

"About what?" Andrew asked.

"Ummm it, private." Ernie replied.

Andrew nodded his head and a few seconds later, he and Ernie were alone.

"Is this private enough?" he asked as he scooted closer.

Ernie nodded his head and spilled his guts without being asked another question.

"It was you who did the star and graffiti?" Andrew asked.

"Yes."

"And for a blowjob from my girl?" Andrew asked his tone icy.

"S... she said that she was going to break up with you and...."

"Is that what the misunderstanding was about? And don't lie." Andrew warned.

"I... I got really mad and I hit her."

Andrew's eyes hardened. That he had already dumped Becca was of no consequence. It wasn't officially over until he said so and he hadn't said so. That Ernie had done something that even he wouldn't do fueled his anger further but that he and Becca had screwed up the time table for the Jap and the Jew was the final straw.

He stood up, went to the door and called the other two men back in.

"It seems that Ernie here thought it was more important to have his cock sucked rather than obey a direct order." Andrew said. "Not only that, it was Becca who he let suck his cock. And that was like a slap in the face. Their little session just set us back in how soon we dealt with the melting pot."

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" Ernie said regretting that he had allowed himself to be used by Becca.

"Yeah well, here's the problem, you didn't come to me when she came to you." Andrew said as he walked over to Ernie and punched him in the face. "You ruined any plans that I had for them for a fucking blow job!" he punched Ernie again in the face. Hs shook his hand, looked at the to men, nodded and walked out confident that they wouldn't go overboard but would make sure that he got the message and would get Ernie home.

His next stop was to see Becca.

*******

Becca's anxiety level rose with each passing moment. She jumped when she heard the doorbell and Andrew's voice as he amiably chatted with her parents before asking to speak with her. She ran a brush through her hair, touched up her lipstick and went down the stairs with a fake smile plastered on her face. Andrew greeted her with a fake smile of his own.

"Are you available for a ride?" he asked.

"Sure... let me grab a sweater."

Several minutes later, they were at the same vacant lot where Becca had made her feelings for Andrew known.

"Do you know what I hate?" he asked as he shut off the engine.

"Liars and cheaters." Becca said softly. She didn't offer to suck his cock or make apologies or promises. He wouldn't listen to her.

"Right, liars and cheaters." he replied, "is there something that you want to tell me?"