Chapter 34
"I think he's coming around."
I opened my eyes and everything was a blur but slowly focusing. And the first people that I see were Nick and Jeff.
"Welcome back to the living, Mr. Smythe." Nick teased. Then his expression turns solemn. "You alright?"
"What happened?"
"Well." Jeff started. "Hunter went raging towards Trent. And you jumped on him. He nearly choked you to death. But Jon and Nick had managed to get him off you. The nurse managed to get to you on time and get your breathing again."
"I have got to stop getting my ass kicked."
"Yeah you do." Nick said with a chuckle. "That was really brave of you standing up to Hunter for Trent."
"I am sorry." I said. "I honestly didn't know about Hunter..."
"It's alright." Nick said. "Some of us suspected that you wouldn't have known. I mean seriously, most of us know about Nerdy Sebastian. And the Protective Sebastian. So we kind of figured. You would know the side effects of those drugs and would not actually let anyone take it even if it were for desperate times."
"That didn't stop Thad now didn't it?" I said bitterly. Nick and Jeff exchanged a look.
"Actually, we were meaning to talk to you about that. Why didn't you tell us?"
"Tell you about what?"
"You know Barry." Nick said. "And the adoption."
"I didn't think it was such a big deal." I said with a shrug "Thad told you."
"Well, he just revealed that your mom's last name is Smythe. And in order to officially take that name is either a. your mom is a single mom which doesn't add up since the man you call dad also has the surname Smythe. Or b. you were adopted."
"We figured. It was the latter since you changed your name all the way." Jeff said. "And you could only do legally that if you were placed in the witness protection program or adoption."
"So we sort of connected the dots."
"Who else knows?"
"Well I'm not sure who else suspects." Nick said. "But everyone knows about Barry. And would demand an explanation."
I groaned. Lying back on my pillow.
"It's alright if you don't tell us." Jeff said. "We all have our secrets."
"It's alright." I grumbled. "You two will probably try to look deeper into it if I didn't tell you anyways. Or make up some weird story on how I was actually Sebastian Verlac coming for revenge."
"Hey those series are awesome." Nick said. "Sebastian is the best villain I have ever seen."
"Next to Voldemort that is."
"So I guess it started when I was eleven...
~()~
I explained to Niff of my whole story. How my mom was murdered and they thought my dad killed her. Living with Iris. Losing my friends, and moving to Westerville.
Strangely enough they were very supportive of it.
"There are a lot bad that has happened to you." Nick had said. "If that happened to anyone else. They'd probably be bitter yet despite your killer defense, you are one of the kindest and nicest people we know."
It was good to know that despite all that happened here in Dalton, I still had some pretty good friends here. I was allowed to go back to my room in strict instruction to take it easy. Which means I was excuse from classes, no Warblers, no lacrosse and utter boredom.
I was playing on my phone when Clark all but barged into the room with suitcases in his hands.
"Hey Roomie" he said in his usual ecstatic tone. "How are you doing?"
"You're my new roommate?" I asked. "How did you manage to get the administration to get you as my roommate?"
"I applied for a change of room. And of course the Warblers aren't going to let you go through this alone."
"I'm not..."
"I know you have a girlfriend." Clark said. "Good job by the way. But Warblers have a code, Once a Warbler always a Warbler. And in times of disaster, Warblers flock together."
I shrugged. "After all that happened, I'm not so sure anymore."
"Stop it." he said putting his stuff on his new bed. "We've discussed this before, you are not quitting the Warblers, and you are going to let everything fall into place."
"I didn't know that you were so bossy." I asked with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to the nice quiet Clark from Central City?"
"He's in the closet in Central City." He said. "And he's staying there."
"Well for the record, this Clark is a much better friend than Thad had been."
"Don't be so bitter." Clark said. "Thad is just jealous."
"Jealous of what?"
"Hunter." Clark said. "You two have been hanging out a lot. And you've been shouldering so much responsibility within the Warblers. Thad might be feeling a bit left out."
"I eat with Thad every meal."
Clark shrugged. "Perhaps a bit of drama, especially since you have."
"Drama."
"Things might not have been well with Richard and I. But I am pretty good at spotting people's emotion."
"So you think Thad likes Marley."
"Not Marley." Clark said.
"Wait, what?"
"I'm going to shut up now."Clark said. "We are going out."
"Now? Why?"
"We are having a Warbler Intervention."
"You do know that I am under strict bed rest right." I said. "The nurse doesn't even want me to go to Warbler practice."
"Well," Clark said after mass texting. "having a Warbler Sleepover in the Library is not going to kill you. It'll be fun. We'll watch movies and eat popcorn and all that. All of us needs a bit of comforting."
"Not from me."
"Of course not." Clark said. "That's because you are the one that needs comforting. Come on, Niff are already there."
"I'm not going anywhere." I said. "And you can't make me."
Clark just raised an eyebrow. He then strutted out of the room.
I quickly got to my feet and locked the door behind him. I got back on my bed. And started to close my eyes. This has been a weird week.
After an hour of silence, I was sure that Clark had given up. Until the door opened my Jon, who I forgot was the RA for this year, flanked by Clark and three other Warblers.
"Hey Bas." He greeted then I got to my feet evade attack of the Warblers. But four against one isn't exactly the best plan. Even when I attempted to lock myself into the bathroom until they left. One of the other boys had already blocked off that route and I was practically running out the door, laughing my head off.
We ran across the halls causing some of the Freshmen to look out their doors. The other students were already used to the Warblers causing some sort of commotion in the middle of the year.
I managed to dodge them until I literally ran into Trent near the main staircase.
"Hey Seb." Trent said. "Are you going to the Warbler Sleepover."
Before I could respond, the other Warblers were already behind me grasping my arms.
"Nice catch Trent." Jon said. "Bas wasn't as evasive last year."
"That's what happens when you have to room with Drill Sergeant Dickhead for a whole semester."
"Well, enough of this games." Clark said "Let's get this party started!"
~()~
As the former captain, I felt like I had some sort of responsibility with these guys. And I have no idea how the hell they got their hands on alcohol. But I guess if I start telling everyone off I'd sound like a hypocrite, especially since I was sulking in Scandals for a big part of my Junior year.
In the end, I decided to just let them be and make sure that the freshmen don't drink too much and that no one actually gets alcohol poisoning.
Clark ended up hosting a spin the bottle game with a bottle of Wine. He got together the usual group and a few of the new kids. And everyone in the little circle was holding a red cup filled with the content of the wine bottle.
Nick spun the bottle we watched it spin as it landed on one of the new kids Skylar.
"So Sky, Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"So I hear that you know about the school wide Sophie prank last year." Nick said. "Spill."
"Which one. The blue tongue or the Cattack?"
"Wait you guys were behind the Cat invasion too?" Nick demanded. "I swear there were about a hundred vicious cats. It took animal control forever to get them out of Dalton."
"You didn't hear that from me." Skylar said. "Anyways the blue tongue thing was for team spirit. I think it was a Junior that told us that questioned our strength in the inter year games. So some of the others had a bit of fun and put like food dye on their water during their training. The main target were the Juniors. You know the usual animosity between Sophomores and Juniors."
We all nodded. There was this eternal rivalry with the Sophomores and Juniors. The Sophomores basically losing their initial shyness from their freshman year and the Juniors being a bit too daring. The freshmen are usually a bit shy since it was just their first year, and the Seniors were mostly a bit tired of the rivalry. The whole 'it's our last year and we don't want to waste our time messing around with the younger years.' It's a never ending cycle.
"Oh the Juphie rivalry." Nick said "I remember when we were in that stage."
"You guys almost burned the school down." I pointed out. "Just be glad you weren't expelled."
"We didn't burn it down." Jeff countered. "We just gave everyone a bit of a scare."
"Well, you're lucky that you didn't get expelled." Thad pointed out. "So Sky, your turn to spin."
He spun the bottle and it ended up landing on me.
"Truth or Dare, Bas."
"Truth."
Some of the other boys had a disappointed look on their face but Skylar was just contemplating on what to ask.
"Okay, I got one." Skylar said. "Why did you transfer to Dalton?"
I paused. I honestly expected a question related to the whole Barry reveal. But this was a lot more embarrassing.
I instinctively rubbed the back of my neck. "Is passing an option?"
"No." Clark said. "We are getting through this. I think it's time for some of your best friends to finally know what's going on."
"You honestly think this is easy for me to tell?" I demanded. "You were there. You knew what I was going through."
"And here you are safe." Clark reassured patting my shoulder. "And we are your friends here. brothers."
"This was all part of your plan isn't it."
"Pretty much."
I groaned everyone was looking at me expectantly.
I took a large sip off my cup. And took a deep breath.
"Well, I am like every other Dalton boy who transfers here." I said. "I was bullied back in my old school."
"You, Sebastian Smythe, was a victim of bullies?"
"I wasn't always like this you know." I said. "Most kids where I came from were homophobic. So they assumed that one of my closest friends were gay. And I was his boyfriend."
"Were you?"
"No. I am not very tolerable with bullies."
"Then what's with the slushie last year"
"That was what I called a lapse of judgment mixed with a lot of misunderstandings" I said. "I grew up loving science and math. And the fact that I have experienced all the bullying tactics of typical Neanderthals by the age of thirteen, made me rather protective as well as the victim of most bullying cases. And then my friend Jonny died..."
"Who's Barry?"
I sighed. "Bartholomew Henry Allen, or Barry is my birth name." I said. "And Sebastian Smythe is the name I adopted when my Uncle adopted me and when I lived here in Westerville." I chuckled under my breath. "You could say he's my alter ego."
"Why didn't you ever tell us?"
"It's embarrassing." I said. "Transferring out of your old school because you were too scared to face them after one of your best friends died. I was practically he cause of his death."
"You think that the possibility of getting killed from high school bullying is not a big deal?" Jeff asked incredulous. "If I were in that situation, I would've gone to the police."
"They didn't believe me when I told them my dad didn't kill my mom." I said. "What makes you think they wouldn't forget that eleven year old boy who they think is just trying to protect his father? When I was right there in the scene of the crime."
They were silent. "I always see the best in people. That was what made me most vulnerable. When I moved here, I swore I would never get pushed around again. What I didn't see, was that I was becoming like the people who made my life miserable."
I felt Clark wrap his arms around my shoulders and some of the other Warblers who had heard were also gathered.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say this." Nick said. "But you are a great person, Bas... uh Barry."
I smiled. "Sebastian is fine, I'm changing my name back after we graduate"
"Barry." Nick said. "You are a great person, you just have a killer bitch mask that you've been hiding behind for a bit too long."
"You're our brother." Trent said. "We just need you to know, that with us, you don't need to hide."
I smiled as I wrapped my arm around Clark and Trent who were sitting on my either side.
"So, why don't we stop the interrogations, and let's get this slumber party started.
We all started to set up a horror movie marathon that would probably keep us up until breakfast. And all was great.