Those old days - Part II

Lucas knew he was responsible for it and although the officers looked at him strangely, he made it clear from the beginning his brother had nothing to do with it but that it was his own. He didn't mention his cousin, but he couldn't say anything about the person they were targeting either. Of course it was too late, as he was afraid of losing the contact phone number, he had written it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in the box. He was forced to call the person to whom it was destined, but when they heard that the young man did not mention his cousin's name on the phone, they sensed something was wrong and refused to meet him and hung up.

By the time they traced the phone number, the apartment was empty.

His brother wasn't even talking to him, and Lucas knew, it was just the beginning.

The first night they both spent at the police station until the family lawyer arrived in the morning and after some back and forth Alex was released but Lucas was sent to a youth detention center until the judge ruled otherwise. Lucas would never forget that gray building in a small town on the outskirts of Rome, the white andcold corridors that housed teenagers.

He stayed there for two days until finally, one afternoon, after receiving no news, his parents showed up to pick him up accompanied by the lawyer.

The lawyer was in charge of explaining to him what would come next: he should attend some therapy sessions recommended by the juvenile justice, twice a week for 3 months.

Being under 18 and not having a criminal record helped him a lot and also the fact that his family was wealthy, they had one of the best lawyers in the country and could afford to pay the fine that was required.

When he arrived at the house, his parents sat him down in the living room for questioning. Lucas just looked down at the floor, he wasn't furious with his cousin, far from it, he just felt so stupid that the only anger he felt was at himself.

His father was the first to speak.

"We are very disappointed Lucas. I would like to know how my perfect son came to this. I don't understand, you have absolutely everything, if you needed money you could have asked for it, but this..." he put his hands to his head "I don't understand."

Her mother paced nervously around the room.

"I..." Lucas began, it was difficult for him to speak, "I'm sorry."

"Who gave you the package? Why didn't you report them?"

"Because I can't..."

"It's probably one of those weird, disgusting people you have as friends," added the mother.

"No, he's not a friend of mine..." Lucas defended himself, hurt by his mother's words.

"Then who is he?"

"..."

"It's not good for you to cover up for people like that."

"My... cousin gave me the package."

Both parents looked at him for a few seconds and finally the mother approached him, obviously angry.

"How dare you bring your cousin into all this?! And we are supposed to believe a lie like that? I don't understand what you have against Giovanni."

Lucas looked at her for a few seconds. He felt lost at words, this must be a bad joke, thought. His mother was distrusting him and defending his cousin.

"Lucas..." it was his father "I understand that you are angry with him because he has told us about the party but trying now to take revenge on him this way, it seems a bit exaggerated. Lucas I don't know what has happened to you, I don't understand, you are a brilliant student with a great future ahead of you. If you go on like this, you'll ruin your life."

Lucas looked at him in despair, they didn't believe him, and it was frustrating, how could they distrust him? He was only 15 years old. It was evident that he was just an immature kid, as he had been told so many times. Why didn't they believe him now?

"Lucas," his father stopped when he saw the young man get up from the chair.

"I don't want to talk anymore, give me whatever punishment you think is best. You don't want to believe me, then don't believe me. After all, you are never at home, I can't expect you to know me either."

"Lucas," his mother called to him, "Lucas come back here at once!"

But the young man locked himself in his room, put the music on full blast and dedicated himself to painting.

For the next 3 months he was restricted from going out, something he didn't care about, and a week later, when it seemed that everything was starting to calm down, his aunt showed up his house, as expected, his mother told her what Lucas said, so he had to endure his aunt shouting all kinds of insults and threats at the door of his room.

Lucas chose to keep quiet, to speak would be to dig his own grave. So he let her scream until she got tired. That night he cried himself to sleep.

Between the boring days locked up in the house and classes, school year seemed eternal. He has been attending that group therapy as ordered by the juvenile justice for a month and since it was his only entertainment, it was already fun. He met a couple of people but he knew that if he made friends with any of them, his parents would leave him in the house locked up for life.

It was in those days when he noticed a slight change in the attitude of his classmates. He felt that some of them were whispering and making bad jokes behind his back. His friends distanced themselves, although considering that it had been a long time since they had gone out together, he was not too surprised.

One morning to his misfortune he discovered the problem, when he entered the classroom he saw written on the blackboard...

Lucas is a faggot!

He smiled, "that's it" The worst thing that could happen, has already happened, nothing matters now.

All his classmates laughed under their breath. Lucas, who was tired of having his life screwed up, took a piece of chalk and wrote underneath:

"And he's been in detention center for drug dealing and carries a knife with him."

He threw the chalk on the floor and sat down, while a silence filled the room.

When the teacher came in and saw this, she erased it immediately, and stopped looking for a culprit and continued with the class.

On the way out of the school, a group of three boys were waiting for him at the door.

"Hey baby girl. If you're carrying a knife, why don't you show it to me?"

Lucas turned around.

"You want to see it? Well, come and get it," he was tired of everything and didn't care if he got beaten up.

The boy was about to approach him but one his friends grabbed him by the arm.

"Faggots don't deal with drugs," added the other one quietly.

"And how do you know that?" asked Lucas, immediately making a gesture with his middle finger, "I don't give a shit what they think...".

He turned around and went back to his house.

He knew that it wouldn't end there, surely they would bother him to exhaustion but he didn't care, the only thing that made him sad was that his friends wouldn't talk to him anymore.

And so it was, his friends didn't even say hello to him anymore, the whole school whispered about he being gay, liking guys and other things, like trying to pick up one of the boys. The stories were renewed every week, but he would pass on the subject as much as he could even though sometimes, just sometimes he thought it got to be too much.

Once one of the boys in biology class raised his hand to ask if it wasn't dangerous to have a gay in the class since his father said they were the ones who transmitted diseases. Lucas thought he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to scream.

Luckily not everyone was like that, once in the restrooms he met a boy two grades older, he looked him up and down.

"You should be careful, many people here have their heads full of shit against homosexuals."

"I know, thanks anyway."

"I've also gone out with Vincenzo's group."

Lucas looked at him without understanding.

"Well, I know Vincenzo and Giovanni's group."

Lucas looked at him, guessing where the gossip was coming from.

"Do you know who started the rumor?"

"Of course, didn't you know? Vincenzo's best friend attends this school. And Vincenzo told him about you two and well he couldn't keep his mouth shut, we all know he talks too much."

"I don't have anything to do with Vincenzo."

"You don't? Well that's not what they say. I heard you were fuck buddies. And everyone knows Vincenzo likes more younger types."

"WHAT?!"

"Well yeah... that's what your cousin said last time."

Lucas looked at him for a few moments, so his cousin was again behind everything. But what has he done to him? He even covered for him like an idiot and now he was dedicated to ruin his life.

At that moment he felt so furious that he decided next morning he would skip first thing in the morning and go to his cousin's house to talk to him, as he knew he always slept in.

At 8 am he was already there waiting for him, a half hour later his cousin came downstairs.

"Giovanni!" Lucas called him.

He turned around and looked at him, obviously surprised.

"What are you doing here? And school?"

"Yes, you can see I'm here. If you want, you can call my parents to tell them."

"Maybe I will, after what you've done to me. You would have deserved it."

"And what have I done to you?" Lucas was really getting really upset, he couldn't stand to see him so angry when he was the one who was taking all the flak.

"Telling on me in front of your parents."

"And, they didn't believe me anyway...."

Giovanni smiled at him

"I already know that... Wasn't it obvious?"

Lucas couldn't believe his cousin, where was the guy he slept with and loved so much?

"And then why did you have to lie about me and Vincenzo?! You asked Vincenzo to say that, didn't you?"

"Yes..."

Lucas looked at him with obvious contempt.

"And you're not even going to mention the drugs, are you?"

Giovanni looked at him pretending not to care.

"Lucas, it was your fault, you told me you were going by car. If you had told me you were going by plane, I wouldn't have given it to you, it was obvious that it would never pass control at the airport. Really, are you that stupid?"

Lucas could not believe what he was hearing.

Giovanni smiled at him

"I already told you once, I don't like kids, I admit it, I had a great time with you, at the beginning it was fun... but then..."

Lucas realized instantly that he didn't want to hear the answer.

"I needed someone to do the job for me. Of course, if I had known you were going to ruin everything then I wouldn't have even bothered. I lost a fortune because of you and your stupid joke."

Lucas looked at him and had to admit, that he hated him, and before he could measure the consequences of what he was doing, he punched him in the face. He turned and walked away.

That was naturally the end of any kind of relationship with his aunt's family. Giovanni did not take long to report him for "assault" to his mother.

Luckily Lucas' mother was on a trip, and did not have to put up with her insults and threats.

His father sat him down again in the living room.

"What happened this time? I know that you missed the first hour of class and then the incident with your cousin."

"Yes, that's right, I went to meet my cousin. I wanted to ask him why he lied about everything," took a deep breath, "Dad, I know you don't believe me, I'm telling you anyway: I got mad at him because he tricked me, among other things, and I hit him. When I realized what I have done it was too late."

His father looked him in the eyes for a few seconds, Lucas thought he saw a hint of trust, but he didn't expect too much.

"Look Lucas, we will do following, since you always attend therapy and so far you have behaved, this will stay between us. Your mother will be back soon. By the time she returns I hope everything have calmed down. From what I understand your aunt has cut off relations with us and you are forbidden to go near her house, if you do and she sees you, she will report you to the police. Do you understand?"

Lucas nodded, he felt overwhelmed. Luckily after a few months of absence, his sister came back to Torino to stay for a weekend. 

That Friday night when she opened the door, his brother was watching TV, as soon as he saw her, he went to her and hugged her tightly. Manon looked at him a little surprised, apparently there was nobody home, she caressed his head and realized with astonishment that her brother was crying.

She knew he didn't want to talk so she took him to the couch and cuddled him in her arms and kissed his forehead every time she saw new tears were coming out.

Lucas never said anything about the crying, and Manon never referred to that episode. She simply asked if there was anything new, he replied "No". Truth is, Lucas was afraid to tell his sister and find out that she wouldn't believe him either, he knew he couldn't take such a blow.

Manon heard from her their parents that Lucas has been attending therapy sessions, and when she asked the reason, they limited themselves to say that it didn't matter the reason. She also discovered that Giovanni was forbidden to come near the house but nobody explained her the reason, there was a silent agreement around everything that overwhelmed her. She saw her brother, and noticed him terribly changed. She knew that if she stayed longer she could find out what had happened, but she had to return to finish the course. Lucas did not say goodbye to her for the first time.

"Whatever it was, it broke Lucas into pieces" thought the young girl, worried.

At last the school year came to an end, at the end of the school year party most of the students left, Lucas decided to leave early and take refuge in painting again.

His mother returned just in time for the summer she heard about the incident but since things has calmed down, subject was no longer mentioned.

Lucas took advantage of one evening to talk to her.

"Mom"

"What?"

It was a coward to be running away like that, but there was no other way out.

" I would like to change school"

"And why is that?"

"I don't want to go to that school anymore."

"Well, but there must be a reason, you were so happy before."

"I used to be before, mom. I want to change, please, if you want in exchange I can stay the whole year locked up at home, I don't care."

"We'll see... we'll see..."

Lucas turned around and with blurred vision hid in his room. He had to find a way, he would do anything not to go back to that school. He lay down on the bed, tears running down his cheeks...he felt so lonely.

The best of all was that he had finally found a way to change schools, he also believed that changing cities would help him to never cross paths with Giovanni again, but there he was sleeping in the room next to his. That night he dreamed again of the airport scene, and the youth community center and his ex, but all that was part of the past and now he had to concentrate on the present.