Page: The Unexpected Surprise

People are complicated. Much of the time their motivations for doing something are hidden. And many of those motivations are hidden even from themselves. I'm no different than anyone else in this respect. I'll do things and have no clue why I've done them, until I sit and reflect on it and puzzle it out. But other times I know in a flash why I'm taking a certain path. This story starts with me doing just that: taking action because something rubbed me wrong...

As a kid in high school I was a quiet kid, you know the one who always stood apart, didn't say much, who had a few (very few) friends and who was never included in the cool kids group because I was how I was. It's not that I couldn't be crazy and wild. With my friends I was and we did some really wild stuff, but I was very shy with everyone else.

And it wasn't because I wasn't tough. Hell my father beat me with willow switches from the time I was 7 or 8. I could take almost any physical pain sent my way. But that also built into me a hatred of bullies and those who would take advantage of the weak. I wasn't physically weak either. I worked on my family's small farm every day and every weekend tending the stock, cutting wood and any other chores needed.

The work on my family's farm kept me from joining any clubs, sports or doing other extracurricular activity. We lived 12 miles out of town and I didn't have a car until I finally saved enough to buy one a month before this happened, so I never had the chance to date much either. It was a combination of all those things, the lack of social interaction with kids my age (other than the few afore mentioned friends who were in the same boat I was). It remained the same even after I was 18 and into my Senior year.

That was me on the fateful day, shy, insecure, trying to just slip under everyone's radar. Our school campus was large and open. The buildings were spread out and there was close to 1/4 of a mile from one end of the campus to the other. I had just gotten out of English class and was headed to my Biology class on the other end of campus. I was hurrying to make the class when I rounded a corner and was startled by the sight in front of me.

Charlie Corrigan, a Senior classmate and the star left tackle for the football team, was holding a skinny kid by his skirt front and had him pinned to the concrete wall of the building. Two of Charlie's buddies were standing behind him grinning. Charlie had his fist cocked back and was talking as I rounded the corner "...your kind here. I'm going to mess that pretty little sissy face of your's up real good."

Charlie swung and I saw his fist hit the kids jaw and a split second later the back of the kids head bounced off the concrete wall. The kid's head wobbled like a dolls head, then Charlie drew back to hit him again. Charlie had 40 lbs and stood 3" taller than me, but something about that scene triggered me. Before I could think about it I stepped forward and grabbed Charlie's wrist before he could strike again.

"Hey, don't," I said, "He's a lot smaller then you and I think you've hurt him pretty badly already."

Charlie looked over his shoulder and grinned, an evil nasty grin. He let go of the kids shirt and the guy slid down until he was sitting on the sidewalk leaning back against the wall, his head resting limply on his shoulder.

Charlie turned to face me and said with a smirk, "I guess you want the beating I was going to give him."

"Hey all I'm saying is I think he's hurt bad and I don't think you should..." I never got a chance to finish.

Charlie lashed out and hit me hard on the left side of my face. I staggered back and he swung again, landing a hard punch on my jaw. How I kept my feet I'll never know. I looked up to see him standing in front of me with that evil grin on his face.

As if from a distance I heard Charlie say, "Oh a tough guy huh? Well I'm going to enjoy beating your ass to a pulp."

The last thing I remember was that grin. I felt a surge of anger and all I saw after that was a wall of red. The next thing I remember was looking down at Charlie sprawled on the ground. His face was covered with blood, his eyes were swollen shut and he was unconscious. His two friends were staring at me like I had two heads.

A second or two later I heard the voice of the Assistant Principal as he ran up to the scene yelling, "Stop! Stop right now! Bowie Garlick, you stop right where you are!"

As my name was called I turned to look at Mr. Franco. I could only see him out of my right eye because my left was swollen shut.

"Now what in the name of hell is going on here?" Mr. Franco said as he stopped between me and the supine form of Charlie.

"I...aw...I..." I stammered not having the sense right then to know what to say.

Mr. Franco bent down to check on Charlie just as he moaned and began to sit up. He made sure Charlie was sitting up then turned to the skinny kid who was still sitting against the concrete wall. The kid had come to but was whimpering and holding his mouth with his hand.

Mr. Franco looked him over then stood and demanded, "I'm still waiting for an explanation of this!"

Frank Carlin, one of Charlie's friends who had been watching piped up, "That dude jumped Charlie while he was talking to Trent and began to beat on him for no reason!"

Mr. Franco looked at Charlie, then Trent, then me and finally back to Frank and said, "This is very serious. Trent has a tooth missing, it looks like Charlie has some serious injuries and Bowie is pretty beat up too. I think the first thing is to get them to the hospital for treatment, then we will sort the rest out later."

An ambulance was called. Charlie, Trent and I were transported to the emergency room. After they checked us out Trent was the least hurt. He had one tooth knocked out and a split bruised lip. I had a black eye and my jaw was swelled to the point I could barely talk. Luckily it wasn't broken. Charlie was the worst. He had a broken cheek bone, a fractured jaw, a broken nose, both eyes were black and he was missing three teeth. I was released and my father came to get me.

When I explained what happened the only thing he asked was, "How did the other guy look?"

When I told him the extent of Charlie's injuries he grunted and replied, "Good, cause if you'd a lost I'd have kicked your ass again."

So much for parental concern.

I arrived at school the next morning and was taken straight to the Vice Principals office. The kid, Trent, was sitting in a chair in front of the office. Frank and the other guy who was there the day before (I later found out his name was Carl) were sitting in chairs down the hall.

When I walked up I greeted Trent, "Hey. How's the face and tooth?"

He smiled nervously and replied, "It's..aw...fine thanks."

Mr. Franco came out and told me to take a seat, which I did. Over the next hour Trent, then Frank and finally Carl went into the office. I was wondering where Charlie was and asked Trent, but he said he hadn't seen him. Finally I was called in.

When I entered his office Mr. Franco waved at a chair and told me to sit. He then asked me what had happened the day before. I recounted the whole story from the time I rounded the corner to the time he had arrived.

After I was done Mr. Franco looked at me with a puzzled look and asked, "I take I t you don't know Trent before this?"

I told him I hadn't met the kid before.

"And you jumped in with a bruiser like Charlie to help Trent?" He asked.

"Yea." I replied.

"Are you gay?" Mr. Franco asked.

I was totally taken by surprised and stunned by his question. The only thought I had was, 'Where the hell did that come from?'

The only thing I could do was to yell, "No! Hell no!"

"Watch your language young man! Now you had no idea Trent is gay?" Mr. Franco asked, frowning at my use of profanity.

Again I was stunned.

"No...hell no! I...I had no idea!" I replied.

"I told you to watch your language! Ok, so far here's what I've been told: Frank and Carl swear you attacked Charlie without provocation and from behind. Charlie tells a similar tale. He said he was talking to Trent and you jumped him from behind and beat him up."

"I..." I began to say.

Mr. Franco held up his hand to stop me and said, "Trent tells a different story. He says Charlie hit him and smashed his head into the wall which knocked him out. When he came to he saw you standing in front of Charlie with your eye swelled shut and blood running down your face. He said he watched you attack Charlie and hit him three times before Charlie collapsed on the ground. Then you tell me you grabbed Charlie's wrist to stop him from hitting Trent a second time, where upon Charlie strikes you twice. After that you don't remember anything until you see Charlie laying on the ground."

I hung my head and replied, "Yes. That's...all I remember."

"Well," Mr. Franco said, "If I were to believe Charlie and his friends you attacked him and are the cause of this altercation."

I opened my mouth to protest, but again Mr. Franco held up his hand and said, "However, I know Charlie, Frank and Carl. They are bullies. This has happened before but no one would stand up and tell anything against them. I don't believe even a small part of their story, while I do believe you and Trent. All three of them are being expelled from school. Being an innocent party to this, Trent will be sent back to class with no punishment. You however were part of it. I know you were defending yourself but you did engage in a fight on school ground so I have to give you something. You will be suspended for three days and receive three weeks detention."

When I left his office I was both elated because of the relatively light punishment and pissed because I felt I shouldn't have received anything. As I headed down the hall Trent fell into step with me.

"Thank you for helping me yesterday." He said with a smile.

"Yea no problem." I replied, then asked, "Mr. Franco says your gay, is that true?"

"Yes, but I don't normally broadcast it." He replied.

"Is that why Charlie was getting ready to smear your brains all over that wall?" I asked.

Trent shuttered and replied, "Yes. I must have let it slip and someone told him I was gay and he wanted to prove a point."

"Well, if I were you I wouldn't tell anyone else in this school anything like that again."

Trent grinned sand said, "I don't think that will be a problem."

I was puzzled by his statement and asked, "Why not?"

"Words already gotten around. You hit Charlie three times, messed him up badly and knocked him out. He's a lot bigger then you are. No one, and I mean no one in this school is going to bother you again. That's not all though, because you were protecting me I don't think there will be anyone who will bother me because I'm gay. "

I was shocked at what Trent said and my mind jumped to the conclusion that if everybody thought I was protecting him because he was gay, they might think I was too.

After a moment I said in a angry voice, "Hey! I didn't protect you cause your gay! I did it cause I didn't think it was right for Charlie to be picking on a smaller guy!"

"I know that," Trent said, then smiled and replied, "but the rest of the kids won't so they're going to assume you are."

"AW FUCK!" I yelled, "I'M NOT GAY!"

Trent grinned and replied as he walked off, "I will tell everyone you aren't, but I don't know if it will do any good."

My friends all knew I wasn't gay so when I saw them they teased me about being Mr. Bad Ass, but I also noticed a lot of others whispering and pointing at me. Over the next few weeks a couple of things became apparent: most of the student body thought I was gay and all of the tough guys in school went out of their way to stay away from me.

All of the other kids, besides my friends, avoided me. I realized after a short time it was because they thought I was not only a bad ass, but also gay. It was like I had an invisible shield around me. I'd walk down a crowded hallway and a space would open up for me pass, then close as I walked through.

The spring dance was approaching and I was trying to get up the nerve to ask a girl, any girl, to go with me, but none would even talk to me. It put me into a state of terror. I was way to shy to ask anyone of them right out of the blue and I also didn't have the courage to just start talking to one of them, so I really didn't know what to do. I had avoided Trent since the incident, but one day rounding a corner of a building I found myself face o face with him.

"Hi." He said.

"Hey." I replied as I tried to hurry past.

"Roger says you're trying to find a date for the dance."

Roger was my best friend, but also a huge bucket mouth. I was a little pissed at Rog as I turned to face Trent.

"Yea, but I haven't had any luck. I'll find someone." I said trying to skirt the issue.

Trent grinned and said, "Look, you did a huge favor for me, even though you didn't intend to. I owe you. Would she, " He held a wallet sized picture up so I could see it, "do?"

The girl in the photo had raven black hair cut short, dark eye lashes green eyes and pale cream colored complexion. She had on bright red lipstick, which stood out against her dark hair and pale skin. She also had an eyebrow ring and a nose ring. She stared into the camera with a sly half smile. I'd never seen or met anyone that looked like her, but I was instantly attracted to her. As I stared at her photo I heard Trent asked, "Well?"

"Aw...sure." I replied as I shook myself, "Who is she?'

"She's my older sister." Trent replied, "Would you like her to go to the dance with you?"

"Sure, but I..aw...I don't know her and ...well damn it Trent, I have a problem talking to girls!" I blurted.

"I know, I've been talking to your friends." He said, "You don't have to talk to her she already said she'd go with you."

"What? Why?" I asked startled by his statement.

"Because you did what you did for me. Page said you deserve a reward and since you want to go to the dance, she would love to be your date. So, will you go with her? If you say no it will hurt her feelings."

At the time I didn't know it but Trent understood and used my weaknesses. He knew I'd be shy about accepting, that I may feel to shy to accept her offer, but I'd also feel guilty about hurting her feelings so he used that to good effect.

"Ok, yea, sure, I'd love to go with her. So do I call her? Come over and ask her to go? How do I do this?"

"Don't worry about any of that, just show up at my house," Trent scribbled his address on a piece of paper and handed it to me, "and she'll be ready to go."

That afternoon I told Roger what had happened. He spent at least 20 minutes teasing me about not getting pecker tracks on my car upholstery, then grinned and told me he'd see me at the dance. At the time his teasing ticked me off and I determined to make sure I got there before he did, but as the dance grew closer I got more and more nervous.

By the time I was ready to drive over and pick Page up on Friday night I thought I was going to pass out from the anxiety. At the appointed time I drove over and stopped in front of her house. I spent at least 10 minutes getting up the courage to go knock, but finally managed to get out and make it to the door. As I knocked I thought my knees were going to give out.

When it opened Page stood framed in the doorway. She had on a pair of tall black boots, a black dress, the hem cut at random lengths and held at her waist by a wide black belt, black eyeliner and the same bright red lipstick she had worn in the picture. This was the first time I had actually seen her, so being a male I automatically took in her body. Her breasts were small, but showed nicely through the material of her dress. She was shorter then me by about 6". The most startling thing was her skin. It was a lot paler then it appeared in the picture and with all the dark clothes she had on appeared to be paler still.

I stood staring at her until she grinned and said, "So you're Bowie. Cool name. "

"I..aw...a ...aw...pleasure to meet you Page." I stammered stiffly.

"Trent told me you were shy." she said as she lead the way to the car.

As I opened the door for her she put her hand on my arm looked into my eyes and with a smirk whispered, "We'll just have to do something about that."

As I drove to the dance Page turned to me and said, "Look, I'm going out with you because I think it's really cool what you did for my brother. He's been beaten up more then a few times because he's gay."

I had no idea what Trent had told her so I said the first thing that popped into my head,: "I'm not gay."

Page giggled and replied, "I know! Trent told me, but that's what makes what you did so much cooler. You did it just to protect someone, someone you didn't even know."

She reached over and took my hand. She pulled it to her and held it with her's, allowing both to rest on her thigh. As she did I felt the titillating feeling of her bare skin against the back of my hand. When I glanced down at our hands I found they were laying on her bare thigh. The sight and feel of her bare leg sent my cock into an instant steel like state. I heard her giggle and looked up to find her eyes on my crotch. When I glanced down I saw that my cock had pushed my pants out into an obvious tent.

"Oh...I...aw..." I began to stammer trying to think of something to say.

"Don't worry," She said with a grin, "I'm flattered."

After a few seconds Page said, "Did Trent tell you anything about me?" I shook my head and she said, "Ok then I think we should get acquainted. As you can tell I'm into Goth. One of these days I'll show you my ink."

I looked at her blankly, not knowing what she meant.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You are naive aren't you?"

That pissed me off and it must have shown in my face because she grinned and said, "Relax! I didn't mean to piss you off. I only mean you don't know about things."

"I know about a lot of things." I huffed.

She grinned and said slyly, "We'll see."

I didn't know what she meant, but didn't have time to think about it before she returned to telling me about herself, "I'm a Sophomore at Western and..."

"What did you say?" I asked wondering if I'd heard her right.

"I go to Western as a Sophomore." She repeated.

"You're..in college?" I asked stunned.

"Yes I am." She said, that sly look again filling her face.

"Pull over." She said.

I did, as she pulled a half-pint bottle from some where. I have no idea where she had it hid, but a few moments later we were taking turns gulping down the fiery liquid.

After the third mouth full Page handed me a pill and said, "Take this."

I hadn't a clue as to what it was but she gulped down the one she had, chased by a mouthful of liquor, then handed me the bottle.

I wasn't sure about it until she said, "Take it. It will make the night so much more fun."

I shrugged and popped the pill, chasing it with a mouth full of liquor.

We lapsed into silence and didn't say anything more until we got to the dance. The pill had taken effect and I was feeling fabulous as we pulled up to the dance.

As we entered I felt a lot of eyes on us. Page and I danced most of the dances. She was a wild one, belly sliding, body slamming and just letting it all out. But when it came to the slow dances, which were few, she snuggled close and caused my cock to stand up. She took those opportunities to rub against me. By the end of the evening my balls were hurting, As we left the dance I again could feel every eye in the place on us.

As we headed back to her house she asked, "Would you like to see my dorm room?"

I really didn't want the night to end and when I heard her invite the thought that I was going to be alone with her made my cock stand even taller as I said, "Sure."