The Humper Game Pt. 01 Ch. 08

Mr. Miles took the stand and corroborated what Ms. Miller had said.

One of the defense attorneys, Mrs. Church, asked why I had also been called in.

Mr. Miles answered, "We had a completely unrelated matter, involving one student abusing another, during the previous gym class. That abuse was psychological rather than physical, for the most part anyway, and very much less serious, but serious enough—a matter for class and school discipline, not a criminal matter. Mr. Morris had been a witness to part of that, and reported it to Ms. Miller in much the same way. We needed to discuss it with him, so I spoke with him while Ms. Miller spoke with Miss Brown. And he spoke about it, briefly, with both of us after we were through speaking together with Miss Brown."

"Oh, great!" I thought. "Now Sharkey will have it in for me, and also everyone will know to watch out for my talking to Ms. Miller."

Mr. Miles continued. "This proved to be very convenient, though. Not surprisingly, Miss Brown was somewhat nervous about walking to the infirmary and back by herself. We asked Mr. Morris to accompany her, and he did so. Otherwise, I think one of us would have wound up doing it."

And I realized that here was another case, one I had missed, where Mr. Miles set things up so that one action took care of multiple problems.

Mr. Peters noted that it was near lunchtime, and called a recess. He set as the time for it to continue half an hour after the nominal end of our normal lunch period, the end of the serving period. He warned us that those with direct knowledge of the matter were still not to discuss it until the entire trial was over.

As we walked, Jenny took my arm. She spoke quietly, but probably some of those around us could hear. "Phil, I see why you've kept your mouth shut so firmly on all this stuff. And I won't ask you to discuss any of the issues, until the whole trial is done, anyway."

We arrived with some time to spare before serving began, and I was more than ready to visit the lavatory, so I went off there as soon as we got in. As I was washing my hands, as I'd feared, there came Sharkey. He hadn't made my life miserable to date, the way Wagner had, but he was bigger and definitely tougher than I was. He came up to me and said, "So you're the reason I got in trouble! You'll live to regret it, Morris."

And two other guys, two who looked like they might be built like Mr. Robbins in say ten years, came up to him. One of them told him, "As I remember it, you kind of got yourself in trouble, Sharkey. If you'd been behaving the way you should, Morris wouldn't have had anything to say."

And the other said, "You know, Roberts is one of the nicest girls I know. I didn't come and discuss it with you at the time, because it seemed like you got what you deserved. But you know, if I hear of anything happening to Morris, and he can't tell me for sure that you didn't do it, I'll come and you and I will have a little chat. You think you're tough, and you're sneaky, so you think you can do things to other people. What Miles says all the time is right on target. If you think the rules are for everyone but you, then I don't think anyone else has any reason to let the rules protect you."

He went on to me, "Morris, if you have trouble with Sharkey, let me know, if you can't settle it yourself. I know you aren't the kind to go running to mommy, I saw how you acted with Jasper and even with Bruja. You never, ever complained about the way Bruja treated you, that I heard. Or even Wagner. But I mean what I said. If Sharkey hassles you and you can't deal with it, you let me know."

They turned and went off, and Sharkey left really quickly too. These were guys I barely knew, certainly not friends of mine, but I was really grateful to them. Later on, I made sure I mentioned to Moira what the second one had said about her, mentioning that I agreed and that I was really, really glad he hadn't felt I was taking advantage of her. I was, however, amazed that they had connected what was referred to at the trial, about an unrelated matter, to what happened to Moira, and I told her so.

"Don't assume he's dumb because he's big and works out a lot," she told me. "He's not. He's really smart. And he's really nice, too. I'm glad he spoke up like that."

At lunch people tried to pump me again, now that they had information, but I said, "About all that I should say at this point is that what Maggie told me agrees with what she said today. The court is going to ask me questions, and you all need to wait for that."

Maggie was sitting next to me again—she stayed eating with us through the trial and another day or two. She did have her own friends, and when it was all over people finally quit asking her for information. Anyway, she said to me, "Phil, talking about it again really brought it all back, how awful I felt—and the physical pain was the least of it—and how kind you were to me. And now you've been protecting me again, letting me sit here where Jenny belongs." She gave me a hug, and then turned to Jenny and hugged her, too.

I was glad to listen to people talking about what had already been said in the trial, as long as they didn't try to ask me, or Maggie, for comments or information. Some of the speculations were amazingly wild, though. For example, that I had killed Wagner by challenging him to a duel and stabbing him. When we heard someone at a nearby table suggest that, Maggie and I looked at each other both just burst out laughing. I'm not sure anyone else at our table registered the comment enough to understand what we found so funny. I hugged Maggie for just a moment, and said, "I think we both needed something to laugh at right about now." She reached over and hugged me, equally briefly, with a big smile on her face.

I made sure to go to the lavatory again before we were gathered to travel to the auditorium again. The last thing I needed was to miss part of the trial, especially to cause a delay when I was called to testify, because of a full bladder. I was pretty sure they'd let me go if I needed to, though I thought someone might be told off to accompany me.

I was still feeling fluttery in my guts. There were all kinds of questions I might be asked, that I wasn't ready for. I felt like I'd gotten off pretty easily so far. Maggie's description of the game, well, all of the students and surely the staff members had understood that what she had said meant I'd been screwing her less than twenty-four hours after she had been gang-raped, but I hoped that the parents and guardians who were there hadn't gotten it. Looking back, I was ashamed of what I'd done. I had had some reason to worry, but not enough. I should have just gone straight to Mr. Miles or Ms. Miller, without screwing Maggie. At least Maggie didn't feel that I had wronged her greatly, but it must have hurt. And at least she'd made it clear to them all that she'd found what I did comforting.

I didn't know whether my own parents had been asked to attend. They weren't there in any case, but that might merely mean that Dad was dealing with some difficult situation somewhere out of the country. But I was only a witness, not an accused party. Not even a victim. We were on the way, and Maggie was right there beside me, so I asked, "Maggie, are your parents among those who are here?"

"Yes, and I'm a little worried about them. They weren't allowed to talk to me earlier, because I'm part of this trial. And hearing what happened to me must be killing Ma. I'm sure it just made Pa mad, but things get to Ma."

"Like her daughter?"

She looked at me in surprise. She hesitated. "You know, you're right, and I never thought of it that way. But you know how fragile I was the next day, and that really is just like her, when something's gone wrong. And you don't even know them." She hesitated again. "That's why I tried to keep the sex out of it, when I described the game. I'm glad they let me get away with that. Ma would be brooding about my having to lose my virginity that way, even if it had been someone as nice as you, and even though it never happened. And it would have been you, if all this hadn't happened the night before. I never thought of that, either.

"Of course, what really happened is way worse, but she has to learn about that."

We arrived and went on in. Once everyone was accounted for and seated, the trial resumed. Samantha Bruja was called to testify.

It sure looked to me like she was in some kind of turmoil, holding back tears at every moment. But only knowing how clear her voice could be really told me that. She spoke firmly and without hesitation.

"I happened to overhear Wagner and his friends, that's those boys sitting there as the rest of the defendants. They were complaining that other people were getting plenty of sex, and they weren't, and they had in mind doing what they did to Brown, but to someone else. I'm not going to reveal her name, because in the end they didn't do it to her, and it's not something everyone should know. I did discuss that with Mr. Miles after it all. Their problem was that this other girl was just never alone at a time and place where they could get at her.

"Well, I was resenting Brown, for personal reasons. I had no good reason, pretty much everyone in our class knows I sometimes went after people for no good reason, people who had done nothing offensive. I'm ashamed of it, especially in this case, but I did.

"Anyway, I went to them and pointed out that Brown was still a virgin, they could have that, and she was out on the track by herself almost every evening. I insisted that they let me go along when they grabbed her. And I kind of acted as lookout, too, for them. So they made some kind of excuse to the door monitor about wanting to do something outside, and they went around to the other end of the running course, that's hidden from the building. I had heard Brown saying she was going to run that evening, and I watched from cover and signaled them with a bird call when she started. When she rounded the curve, out of sight, Wagner and his best buddy—" she named him "—ran after her very quietly. On the grass they were quieter than she was, and she's really slow. So Wagner grabbed her and got his hand over her mouth, and his buddy put a bag, a couple of pillowcases, over her head and tied it around her mouth so she couldn't make any noise to speak of. They tied her hands behind her back, and two of them picked her up, and they carried her around behind some big bushes. By this time they were all there.

"They pulled her shirt and bra up so her breasts were exposed. They couldn't take them off, because they'd tied her hands, and getting that tee shirt up over the bag without dislodging it would have been hard. They pulled off her shorts and panties, and Wagner pushed her onto the ground and had a couple of guys hold her, while he pulled off his pants and briefs and lay down on her hard and shoved his way into her. I could hear her crying, and I found out later she could hardly breathe because of it, her nose stuffed up and the gag, the bag where it was tied I mean, didn't let her breathe through her mouth much at all.

"Wagner got himself standing up, holding her, while he screwed her. He told his best buddy—" again using his name "—to get busy and go into her ass, they didn't have all night, and he did that. Wagner came, ejaculated I mean, and pulled out of her, and told off one of the others to get busy and go into her where he'd been. A minute later, the one who was in her ass came, too, and Wagner told off another to take over there.

"Well, a couple of them had their clothes off, they all did, and they weren't happy about having to wait. Then one of them had the bright idea that there was another girl there, me, and they grabbed me. I went to scream, and one of them swatted me across the face so hard that my teeth were loosened. The inside of my mouth got all scratched up against my teeth, and one side of my face was all swollen and turning black and blue by the time I got inside, later. Pretty much the whole class can testify to how bruised I was, for a week thereafter. He threatened to shove my teeth down my throat if I made any noise, and I believed him by that time. Wagner just stood by and laughed at me.

"So they gagged me, another pillowcase I think, with a rope or something tied around my head to hold it there. And they tied my hands behind my back, too. But before they did that, they stripped all my clothes off me completely.

"Well, the two who had grabbed me got two others to hold me up, and they went in the same way the others were with Brown. One in my pussy, one in my ass, with me stuck between them. I wasn't a virgin at that point, but it still hurt a lot, I was completely dry, and my ass wasn't relaxed at all, given the situation, and that was dry too, so it hurt even more. As soon as one came and pulled out, of either one of us, another one was ready and shoved his way in.

"Well, eventually they decided they were done. They just dropped me on the ground, face down, leaving me gagged with my hands tied behind me. Wagner went over and untied the rope that was gagging Brown, pulled up the very bottom of the bag in front, and told her to get her mouth open and not make any noise and not to bite him or he'd slap her head off her. So she did, and he fucked her mouth, too, until he came. He'd come out of my ass last, and just waited until he was hard enough to do it.

"When he was done, he told her not to tell anyone and to leave that bag on for a long time, and then he untied her hands and left her. He threatened her if she didn't do what he had said. And when she finally pulled the bag off, the first thing she did was to come over and untie my hands and then my gag! She was crying hard.

"And here's the part you probably won't believe, but it's true. Somewhere in all this, I had an epiphany of sorts. Brown hadn't done one thing to deserve what happened. I'd gotten the same treatment, plus that swat across my face, but I deserved it all, and worse. I was spending my life treating everyone like dirt, especially, well, a couple of people, and now Brown. And I deserved every bit of what happened to me, but I made it happen to Brown.

"I wanted to just go inside and tell the monitor, or Mr. Miles, or someone what I had done. And I looked at Brown. She's kind of a timid type, and I knew she would be afraid of what those guys would do if either of us told anyone. So I told her all this, that I'd gotten her into it, and yes, I'd gotten the same thing, but I deserved it and she didn't. And I told her: Look, if you don't want to go tell about this, I won't either, I won't do it for myself because I deserve it. But if you do report it, I will back you up completely and tell everything I know, even though it will get me in trouble too.

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't ever have told anyone, except that she was Morris's partner the next day, and he convinced her to tell him. And I know he was worried about what it would do to her to have all this come out, but he was more worried about the next girl they decided to grab. No, I'm sorry, that last part I don't know of my own knowledge, but of my own knowledge I know that's the kind of thing he would do and the way he would think about things. I've seen him, and that's the way he is.

"I don't know any more than what Ms. Miller said about how he passed things on, but he did, since I was called in, quietly, and it was obvious that they knew the basic facts, so I knew I couldn't protect Brown by clamming up. I told them everything I've told you."

When offered the chance to ask questions, both Miss Williams and Mrs. Church asked for clarifications on several points. I thought Mrs. Church was kind of in a bind. How could she defend a defendant who had pled guilty? And it didn't seem like there was anything for her to get hold of that would help the rest of them. But, well, the purpose of the trial was to determine the truth, and from that to determine guilt and innocence, after all.

When Bruja had returned to her own seat, Mr. Peters said, "That completes the testimony regarding the events of Sunday evening, September 20, almost four weeks ago. We now turn to events which took place one week ago, on October 8. These events are the source of one charge of kidnapping, the charge of attempted rape, one charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and one charge of conspiracy to commit rape, for each of these six boys."

"Miss Brown, please return to the stand."

Silly to call it a stand, I suddenly thought, when the witnesses sit.

When Maggie was seated, Mr. Anderson said, "Miss Brown, you are still under oath. Please explain what led up to what happened one week ago, and then the events of that evening."

I thought that if they called it being under oath, they probably said 'sworn in' too.

"A couple of days earlier, I think on Tuesday but I could be wrong, Mr. Miles again made arrangements for me to see him in his office, without its being publicly known. He arranged for one of my other instructors to ask to see me, in her office, regarding material in an assignment, but when I arrived at the staff wing I was directed to Mr. Miles's office instead. Ms. Miller was also present.

"He told me that they would like to arrange for me to again go in the evening through a secluded location, after announcing publicly that I would be doing that, in the hopes that the same group of boys might attempt to rape me again as they had before. He said that they would have staff members on hand to apprehend them, if they did so.

"We discussed the details, and agreed on Thursday as the time to do this. And Thursday afternoon in gym class Ms. Miller told me, in passing, the our plan was still on. We had agreed that I would receive some such signal.

"So at supper I made sure that I was sitting near some of Wagner's friends, and I complained loudly to my own friends about having a terrible headache and upset stomach. By this time, that was actually partly true. I was determined to do what I had said, and I trusted Mr. Miles to be ready and protect me, but I was feeling terrified, nonetheless, and I felt sick enough to my stomach that I couldn't really eat. I was fortunate enough to have one of my friends suggest that I needed to go to the infirmary. I had been planning to announce that I needed to do that, but it was much easier to agree to someone else's suggestion. One of my friends, and later another, offered to accompany me, but I declined.

"I waited, dawdling over my food, and actually trying to eat, to give Wagner and his friends time to plan and get ready. I saw them heading for the door carrying some sports equipment, and waited longer to allow them time to get themselves set, and—I trusted—for Mr. Miles to get his men into position.

"I checked out with the door monitor and set out for the infirmary. I walked more slowly than I had intended, because I was so afraid. I was worried that I might throw up. Anyway, almost as soon as I was to a point that could not be seen from the building, hidden by some trees and bushes, I was grabbed from behind and a bag was put over my head and tied to gag me. I was picked up and carried, toward the trees it turned out, and then Mr. Miles loudly ordered them to stop.

"I couldn't see anything, of course. I heard Wagner shout something defiant at someone, apparently Mr. Miles, and then there was a dull crash. After a minute one of the men told Mr. Miles that someone was dead, and Mr. Miles replied that being attacked with a knife he hadn't had time to be careful.

"Mr. Miles told one of the men to take me over to Phil Morris and let him untie me. Phil later told me why he happened to be there, of course, but you only want me to testify to things I know of my own knowledge, so you will have to ask someone else about that if it's important. Mr. Miles came over to us, when he had time, and spoke briefly to us. He thanked me for helping, and warned me that there would be a trial and so that what had happened to me would become public knowledge, and he asked Morris to escort me back to the seniors' building and there to the girls' wing. He did so. Oh. Mr. Miles said that Morris was grounded, apparently for leaving the building when the door monitor had ordered him not to. The girls' wing hall monitor, who happened to be Ms. Miller at that point, emphasized this in more detail, so Morris was sent off to his own room in the boys' wing. And I think there's nothing more I can tell you."