290. Chapter 290

After Hedge Fund Homeboys

Episode 1.03

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, homie! Rating: K Time: See above.

"You're the new kid. Rodgers, right?" The biggest of the three said.

Rick smiled. "That's right. I'm Rick Rodgers. Who are you guys?"

"We were here first."

Rick frowned. "You were where first?"

"This part of the playground. You're on our space, punk."

Rick shrugged. "Okay. I'll move."

One of the other boys spoke. "Your mom is that redhead. She does those crappy commercials for that car dealer on TV, doesn't she?"

"My mom's an actress."

"My dad says your mom's a bimbo." All three boys laughed.

Rick wasn't at all sure what a bimbo was, but he was sure his mother wasn't one. "She is not." He said sharply.

"You calling my dad a liar, doofus?" The bigger boy took a step closer.

"Of course not." Rick said.

The three boys looked at each other and laughed.

"I'm saying you're a liar. You don't know who your father is."

Rick saw the punch coming, but wasn't fast enough to dodge it. Five minutes later he was sitting in front of the headmaster's office with a black eye, a bloody nose and a satisfied grin on his face.

The three boys left Headmaster Williams' office smiling. Williams called Rick in and told him to stand in front of his desk. He looked at a file in front of him. "Mr. Rodgers, isn't it? Your second day here and you're already fighting? This is not a good start for you."

"The big one threw the first punch." Rick said.

"That's not what Mr. Tyler says and his two friends back him up."

"They're lying." Rick said stubbornly.

Mr. Williams glared at Rick. "Mr. Rodgers, those three boys are from some of the finest families in the city. Do you really expect me to believe that all three of them would lie?"

"You might at least have asked me for my side of the story first, before deciding I was guilty." Rick said nastily.

"That's quite enough, Mr. Rodgers. "Williams said coldly. "Four days afternoon detention. And this will go in your permanent record."

"That's not…"

"Out of my sight, Mr. Rodgers."

Rick left. But he remembered.

….

"Rick Rodgers, isn't it?" The kid sneered as he said it. His bigger friend laughed.

"Right." Rick decided to say as little as possible.

"Well, we like to come to this boy's room to relax after lunch." He took out a cigarette and lit it, strictly against the school rules.

"I had to pee." Rick said.

The two other boys exchanged glances. "You don't have a father, do you? I saw your records. Do you know what they call people who don't know who their father is? The word is bastard."

Rick had learned from his prior experiences. He smiled and drove his fist into the face of the boy with the cigarette. His friend, however, was bigger and faster.

Later that day, in their apartment, Martha sat him down. "Richard Alexander Rodgers! Three days! You were in that school for three days and you were expelled for fighting. Do you know the value of a good education? Do you appreciate how hard I have to work to pay for these schools that you seem to feel are an inconvenience to you? Do you?"

"He called be a bastard. And the two of them were looking for trouble."

"And you do know trouble when you see it, don't you?" Martha's expression softened. It wasn't easy to not have a father like the other boys, she knew. "Richard, I'm not one of those people who say that violence is never justified. Sometimes violence is justified. But not in middle school. There was no reason to strike that boy. Next time, just walk away." Martha shook her head. "Now go read, like a good boy."

…...

"Ricky, you're cute and you're funny and I do like you." Blonde, pretty and smart Lisa Pendleton said. "But I'm not going to go to the Spring Fling with you. Barry Conroy asked me. He not only has a driver's license, he has his own car. An Italian sports car."

A Fiat. Rick thought. Not that much of a car. But more than I have.

"If I went with you, we'd have to take a taxi, or worse." Lisa's smile brightened. "And Barry promised to take me to Le Cirque before the dance. It's just too, too much to pass up." Lisa leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I do like you, but not that much."

As she walked off, Rick wondered about her. To him, Barry Conroy was a world class jerk. All he ever talked about in the locker room was how many girls he'd had. Rick didn't like braggarts and he didn't like boys who treated girls like things. He especially didn't like Barry. He wondered if a ride in a Fiat and a nice dinner was worth putting up with Barry. He decided it was worth it to Lisa.

After the dance he heard Barry boasting that he'd gotten Lisa drunk and gone all the way with her. He even had some photos of her that he'd taken. Rick felt sick looking at them.

Later he saw Lisa in the library with some of her friends. As he walked over to talk to her, he saw that she was crying. Before he got to her another girl, Patty Owens, came over and smacked him.

"What did I do?" He asked, shocked.

"You're a male and therefore a creep." Patty had said. "Get lost."

Thinking it over that night, he decided that Lisa had been wrong to want a ride in a car and a fancy meal. But she hadn't done anything to deserve what had happened to her. But he couldn't figure out why Patty thought he was a creep.

….

"Pledge Rodgers!" Hal Marsh, the fraternity president said. "Tonight we'll find out if you truly have the makings of a Delt. Are you ready?"

Rick nodded. "I guess."

"You guess, Pledge Rodgers? That's not good enough for a Delt. Not good enough at all. You must know that you are ready. It's very simple, Pledge Rodgers. You have a date tonight with Bonnie Gianelli. Hell, she's not a sorority girl, she's not even a college student. She's a townie. A waitress. She's skinny, flat chested and not that good looking. I mean, we're Delts, Pledge Rodgers. We wouldn't stick you with a total dog. And she's thrilled to have a date with a handsome rascal like you. Absolutely thrilled. You know the plan?"

Rick nodded.

"Then tell me the plan, Pledge Rodgers."

"We go out, I bring her back here. We go out on the back porch of the frat house. I try to get as many clothes off of her as possible. Doug Barnes will have a camera with telephoto lens taking pictures of the whole thing."

"Pledge Rodgers, I have a feeling that you have the makings of a world class Delt."

That night, Rick had gotten her blouse and bra off when Doug had made a noise and Bonnie figured out what was going on. She hit Rick hard and left. He tried to find her later, but never saw her again. His fraternity brothers decided he was a world class Delt.

….

Rick Castle finished his story and looked over at Kate Beckett, seated across from him at her desk. "I told you there were parts of this that you'd like."

She shook her head. "I didn't like any of it."

"That's something, I suppose. I got my revenge on the Delts, sort of. I was the Pledgemaster my senior year. I told everyone that the old getting a girl undressed routine didn't test the pledges as Delt pledges should be tested. I made up a mixture of stuff in the kitchen that I told them I'd gotten from Haitian voodoo woman in the Village. I said it was urine, woman's menstrual blood, ground up rat intestines and a bunch of other gross stuff. I had the pledges drink it. Then I had a buddy call my cell. I told them that it was the old Haitian woman calling to tell me that she had accidentally mixed poison in my stuff. I told them they all had to vomit to get rid of the poison. The whole frat house smelled of puke for a month."

Kate smiled and shook her head. "So that's why you don't like Brandon and all the rest?"

"Pretty much. They reminded me of the rich, entitled, cruel kids I met when I was younger. They remind me of me at one time." Rick looked at her. "Are you sure you didn't enjoy that story? I was sure you'd like hearing about me getting beat up."

"Only if I do the beating up." Kate looked at him. "Do you ever run into any of those people?"

He nodded. "Some from college and high school. Most are rich and successful, so we do run in some of the same social circles. They tend to gravitate to Wall Street and the legal profession. I don't know for sure, but I think they do insider trading, suborn juries, cheat on their taxes and sleep with their secretaries."

"None of them turned out well?" Kate asked, a little surprised.

"Doug Barnes, the photographer, is a war correspondent. He's in Iraq somewhere. Does good work. He cares, I think." Castle thought for a second. "Mike Petty, the guy who bloodied my nose in middle school, is a lawyer in LA. He runs some kind of legal project seeking to free people who have been wrongly convicted. I really don't know about anyone else."

I know about one who turned out pretty damned good. Kate thought to herself. Not that I'll ever tell Castle that.