Trouble (8 page)

“
That wasn’t hard was it,” he said gently.

“
No that wasn’t hard,” Byron said. “In fact I was going to hug
you as I walked around like Tarzan in school. But I thought you’d
be embarrassed.

Quentin
looked stunned. “You wouldn’t dare. You’re just saying that to make
me happy,” he said politely.

“
I hope you don’t think I have a phobia or anything like that.
For your gay parents I mean.”

“
No. No,” Quentin said.

“
I thought I might be a little upfront with you.” Byron began.
“It may seem that I’ve been uneasy with you. It’s because I didn’t
know you that well and was afraid I might say or do something that
might insult or hurt you.”

“
You mean about my parents.”

“
Yes and also you. I was always tense because I was always
trying hard to think through what I said before I said
it.”

“
Now you can be yourself.”

“
Of course, because I understand you better.”

Byron saw
Matt and Natalie walking towards him.

Quentin
said, “Byron. You have a cool name.”

“
I know. Everyone says that and they expect me to love reading
poems and drinking wine and that sort of stuff.”

He was
looking closely at Byron. “And you have a nice sensitive face. Wish
I had a face like that.”

“
That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Byron said trying to be witty.
“People would just expect you to write poems, sing hymns and do
brotherly kind of kisses.”

Quentin
sensed the subtle unhappiness over the last point but pretended not
to notice. He hoped that Byron would get over it and perhaps find
another girlfriend. He felt that tense moments were drawing
closer.

“
Sensitive face indeed. Natalie, I’ll kill you,” Byron muttered
under his breath and laughed as he walked towards them.

Chapter 14: The Chase

It seemed
that all good things often had to come to a temporary
end.

That was
the impression Byron, Matt and Natalie got when they reached the
car park. They had been walking along at a leisurely pace
exchanging pleasantries when they were confronted by Russ and his
group who were waiting patiently for them.

They
seemed confused by this as they thought the matter had already been
settled.

Russ
seemed to have intuitive knowledge of when they would arrive in the
car park just as he seemed to be very familiar with Quentin’s
movements when they attacked him.

Did he
have some advanced tech with spiffy algorithms that could hack into
their phones’ geographical locations?

They had
no time to think through these thoughts because Russ very casually
held a handsome looking switchblade that shone sinfully in his
hand.

“
You thought you could ride off to the sunset with my girl?” he
said to Matt without any trace of malice or bitterness in his
voice.

“
Russ it has nothing to do with him. I told you I was through
with you. Now let us go,” Natalie said

“
It’s not as simple as that,” Russ said looking bitterly at
Byron. “We were going to make up but he deliberately came between
us. Then Mr Hulk showed up just in time,” he said waving to
Matt.

“
Russ you made a promise. Be a man and keep it,” Byron
said.

“
Lord Byron!” Russ teased and his group snickered and cackled.
“I promised I wouldn’t hassle fags and other low life. I didn’t
promise anything about Romeo here prancing into school on the first
day and taking off with my girl.”

“
Let go, Russ,” Byron pleaded.

“
That was very sneaky of you to get your horny face on
her.”

“
I’m not horny and I don’t like your tone,” he
retorted.

“
After I’ve finished with him (he waved to Matt) we’re going to
have another talk.”

“
Don’t do this Russ,” Byron warned.

“
Okay Tarzan, you tricked me back there. You became a hero at
my expense showing off your cloned body. Don’t push me otherwise
your carcass won’t be worth a dime.”

“
I’m not a clone,” he retorted.

“
Whatever. You do get around,” he said to cackles from his
gang.

“
I don’t get around. I resent that,” Byron said. It was futile
arguing. “Be reasonable Russ.” he said as he moved towards Matt
with the switchblade.

“
What do you want?” Matt asked quietly as he came menacingly
closer.

“
We are going to have a competition. I’ll race you to the
cliff. The first one who chickens out walks away and the winner
gets to keep Nat.”

“
It’s a crazy idea,” Natalie said.

“
It’s dangerous!” Byron said.

“
I like danger!” Russ said.”And to make it sweet, you will ride
with him. I know you two don’t get along.”

“
We’re like brothers. We get along,” Matt said
fiercely.

Byron was
thankful that Matt had stood by him in front of Russ.

“
This racing doesn’t sound good,” Natalie said.

“
The other alternative is for you to give her up right now and
walk away from here.” He held the switchblade so close to Matt’s
neck.

The move
came so suddenly that Russ seemed totally unprepared for it. Matt
moved with reckless speed holding up Russ’s hand and cartwheeling
his body around. He lay flat on his back on the ground with the
knife in Matt’s hand.

Russ’s
friends reacted very slowly as Byron dived for Russ and took hold
of the gun in his pocket. Before they could all rush back to the
car to get their firearms he had pointed the gun at
them.

“
Don’t try anything foolish. I know how to use this
thing.”

They all
froze as Natalie, Matt and Byron rushed to the car.

“
You can’t run away from us. We’ll come for you,” Russ
screamed.

+++++

“
We can lose them in traffic?” Natalie said.

“
They have a faster car,” Matt said.

“
So what do we do?” Byron asked.

“
Let’s hope they don’t get carried away with being Clint
Eastwood.”

“
Let’s hope so because I’m very good at using this,” Byron said
brandishing the gun.

“
I hate guns,” Natalie said chiding Byron for the trigger happy
way he waved it..

”
And I hope I don’t have to use it.” He groaned as he looked
back. “He’s coming very fast. If they start shooting I’ll have to
shoot back.”

“
Don’t hit anyone,” Natalie pleaded.

“
I’ll shoot them all between the eyes,” Byron said. She gasped.
“No I’m just joking. I’ll shoot their tires but only if they shoot
at us.”

Matt used
the brake without slamming it on.

“
Oh my God. He’s going to rear end us,” Natalie
screamed.

“
Can you guys let me drive? He’s got a faster car. Please trust
me,” Matt bristled.

He
swerved violently into the next lane just as Russ’s car was within
inches. That took them in the opposite direction.

Russ
slammed on his brake violently and he almost lost control as he
followed them.

His car
was fast approaching at much greater speed. He was trying to put
the front quarter of his car to the rear quarter of Matt’s car.
Russ assumed that Matt was not familiar with this
maneuver.

What he
didn’t know was that Matt had deliberately got himself in this
situation. Russ’s vehicle was a little faster than Matt’s and made
a swerve. Too late. Russ was slow in hitting Matt’s back end. He
tried to straighten the car but he lost control and it landed into
a ditch.

They were
preoccupied with their own thoughts. It had been a very dramatic
day and it seemed as if the worst was still to come.

“
Let’s go somewhere for a while to think things through.
They’ll probably try to get us at our homes.”

“
I’m okay with that. I’ll tell mum I’ll be late
home.”

“
That’s okay with me. I’ll ring my grand dad and tell him I’ll
be delayed,” Matt said.

Byron
knew his dad was hardly home so he wouldn’t be missed. But out of
consideration for Juanita who was like a mother to him, he rang to
say he would be quite late home.

“
There’s a mansion in Franklin Hills that a good friend of my
dad owns. I’ve been there so many times. He’s hardly ever there.
Let’s go and talk there for a while and then think through what we
have to do.”

“
What if someone is in the mansion?” Natalie asked.

“
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a trio of law abiding American teens
stopping by for constructive discussions.”

Matt
shrugged as he took directions from Byron.

They were
all quiet each lost in their own thoughts.

Then
Natalie’s Galaxy rang.

It was
Russ’s number and Buzz one of his sleazy friends on the line. She
put the call on the speaker.

“
Nat you really have to come. Russ is injured and wants to see
you. He just wants to see you before he goes.”

“
He’s faking it. He thinks he’s some kind of a dying star,”
Byron warned.

“
He thinks you’re his supernova to complete his fall.” Matt
said wittily.

“
Stop it,” Natalie protested feebly. She thought about it for a
while. “If he’s injured, there’s nothing much we can do as the
medics will have taken him by now. We’ll report this
later.”

Byron’s
Iphone buzzed. He put the call on the speaker. It was
Quentin.

“
Hi Byron. Is everything okay? I saw that commotion in the car
park.”

“
Everything’s fine at the moment. We managed to evade
Russ.”

“
Where are they?”

“
At the moment in a ditch.”

“
We’re just going to Franklin Hills to talk about this and see
what we have to do.”

Quentin
asked for directions and said he’d drop by later. He spoke to
Natalie who felt much better afterwards.

Chapter 15: Overcoming obstacles

Matt and
Byron swam in the large kidney shaped swimming pool. Natalie was
changing and would come down later.

“
You love Natalie,” Byron said as he stood by the poolside
looking down at him. He tried to make his voice as casual as
possible.

Matt
suppressed the urge to groan in the water. Apparently this issue
was not over yet. He had still not gotten over the loss of Natalie.
There were still the festering wounds that had not healed. How was
he to deal with this? Every time he opened his mouth, he seemed to
get on the prickly side of Byron. Should he just remain silent and
ride this out?

“
I thought we’d covered this ground already,” he said sounding
as conciliatory as possible.

“
I guess I don’t know you that well which is why I’m sort of
making one last check.”

“
I didn’t know you were guarding her so closely.”

Byron
squatted looking down at him. His face was tense. “I hear your
dad’s a very rich doctor with a hotshot hunk of a son like
you.”

He didn’t
know where this was leading and he didn’t like the tone of Byron’s
voice, “And I guess you also heard that I was troublesome back
there and got shipped out here.”

“
I still haven’t come to that chapter.”

Matt came
out of the water, “What are you trying to say?” His voice had a
dangerous edge to it. “Ever since I got to know you, you’ve been on
my back.”

“
I just want her to be happy.”

“
She’d have chosen you if she wanted you.”

“
I’ve accepted that she likes you.”

“
Why do I have to tell you what my plans are?”

“
You don’t. But think about it. I comfort her when she gets
bashed. I put myself on the line for her. I humiliate myself to
save her dignity. You come along out of the blue to win her. You
call me your brother. I want to walk away knowing you have good
intentions. What’s so hard about that?”

Matt was
getting angrier; ”You have everything in life and a rich dad.
You’re intelligent and handsome. You could have any other girl you
wanted.”

“
Don’t be so dumb. I don’t want any other girl.”

“
At least make use of the Jacuzzi and all those things in your
home.”

Byron
could barely control his anger, “You’re sick if you think that all
I think about is the Jacuzzi and doing it to girls. I’ve never been
so insulted.”

“
I’m sure those thoughts go through your mind sometimes.” Matt
sensed that he was contributing very poorly to these tense
discussions. His words had touched a raw nerve. Byron felt that
most boys went through sexual urges but that their values of
respect triumphed over their desires. He felt that Matt was unfair
to imply that all he wanted was torrid sex in the Jacuzzi. These
innuendos were too much for him to contain.