Chapter Two
Cocktail hour was a misnomer.
Sparkling grape juice and water were about as daring as Beaumont High School got, but Pip didn’t mind. Law-abiding and lacking a rebellious bone in his body, underage drinking didn't appeal to Pip. Besides, it weeded out the problem kids. Oli and his gang left the reception fairly early, undoubtedly to celebrate in all the ways Pip didn’t care for and possibly weren’t legal. That suited him fine. He wouldn’t run into them, and the less he had to worry about, the better.
Before long, Pip saw Uncle Joe cutting through the crowds and lifting a hand over his head to wave. In response, Pip lifted his champagne flute filled with sparkling grape juice. He had his diploma clutched firmly in his hand.
“Pip!” Uncle Joe exclaimed once he’d reached Pip’s side. He opened his arms for a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Pip fitted himself against his uncle’s chest and hugged him, Uncle Joe’s arms locking around him and squeezing him tight. “I’m… Well, I’m glad, really.”
“It’s a big step,” Uncle Joe said as he released Pip from the hug. “I’m so glad you’ve made it. Your mother and father would have been proud.”
The loss still stung—Pip didn’t believe there’d be a time when the death of his parents didn’t hurt—but he smiled anyway. He’d risen above his loss to accomplish something great. He had every reason in the world to be proud.
“So,” Uncle Joe continued, “now that you’ve gotten your diploma, what’s next on the agenda?”
They crossed the room together, walking side by side.
Pip sipped at his sparkling grape juice. “I’m going to stay here a little with you, return my graduation robes to the people waiting in the gym, then go over to see Alex so he can feel excited about graduating, too.”
Uncle Joe chuckled. “I meant in the long term.”
“Oh.” Pip’s cheeks burned. He shrugged a shoulder, unwilling to commit. He hadn’t brought up the topic of college with Uncle Joe or Aunt Lauren because he didn’t want them to feel pressured. They’d done a terrific job of taking care of him after Pip’s parents had passed away, and Pip didn’t want them to think he expected a handout. “I’m…um…I’m not sure. I’m going to work for a little while and save up so hopefully, I can go to college in the future, but that’s, you know, not a for-sure thing, or anything.”
“College.” Uncle Joe hummed under his breath. They arrived at the refreshments table, and Uncle Joe snagged a flute of sparkling grape juice for himself. “Your Aunt Lauren and I were discussing it earlier. I wish we could afford to send you.”
“Oh, no.” Pip shook his head. “You’ve done so much for me already I couldn’t ask you to do that, too. I’ll figure it out. I always do. Besides, I’m going to landscape this summer for Mrs. Nohart, so I’ll be making some money, and if I'm truthful, I don’t even know what I’d study if I did end up going to college. I, um, I never decided exactly what it is I want to do.”
He never told anyone of his ambitions. It seemed too lofty and unreal to explain. He felt it nevertheless, a kind of inspirational draw—he’d felt it ever since a young age. It seemed childish, but rather than growing out of it, the sensation had gotten much stronger in recent years. Like an invisible thread wrapped tightly around his sternum, it pulled him toward…something.
So far, he'd just never managed to figure out the something.
Pip's mediocre drawing ability proved it wasn’t art, and it certainly couldn't be anything academic, because he was an average student at best. Sports were out of the question. Pip was slender and willowy, and he didn’t have the coordination for gymnastics or the endurance for the track.
But now and then, especially when the seasons changed, a thread tugged at him, as though to remind him he had a future elsewhere, if he could only figure out where. All through the last year, it had been tugging harder than ever. As winter melted into spring, there’d been a point in time when Pip had spent a whole weekend in bed, simultaneously filled with wonder and excitement over the boundless energy in his veins, yet anxious, because he couldn’t figure out what it meant.
He had a destiny to fulfill, a vocation. But he had no idea how to find it.
“You’ll figure it out,” Uncle Joe promised. “You’re a resourceful boy.”
“I know.” They made their way across the room to a quiet corner. “I just don’t want you to feel bad about it. I’m going to figure this out, no matter what it means. You can count on me.”
After polite conversation with teachers, pupils, and other kids’ parents, he was free to move on.
With a bow of his head, Pip said farewell to Beaumont High. He’d returned his robe and parted ways with Uncle Joe, intending to walk the distance between the high school and Alex’s place. He didn't live all that far from the school. Pip cut across the football field, hands tucked into the back pockets of his pants. He wondered, briefly, if Alex would be awake. Bordering on ten at night didn't seem late, but Alex was officially ill.
As Pip walked, he pulled out his phone and composed a brief text message.
Hey, coming over. Get ready to celebrate :)
The message sent, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and collided with something solid. Pip grunted, the air knocked from his lungs, and promptly fell on his ass.
He looked up. Towering over him stood Oli, with his cronies, Jason and Rhett, flanking him on either side.
“If it isn’t the Pipsqueak again.” Oli’s vicious smirk chilled Pip to the bone. “Back on your butt. What did I say back there? You’re always going to be underneath us, Underwood.”
“He’s so clumsy, he might as well live on the ground.” Rhett laughed. “Pretty sure being so low is his natural state of being.”
“Cut it out, Rhett.” No one ever called the bullies off. The sickly sweet cruel tone in Oli’s voice warned this time was no different. “He’s graduated now. We all are. We’re young adults with our whole futures ahead of us. I think it’s time to turn a new leaf.”
“Like what?” Jason asked. He mimicked the tone, and it sounded as if he were in on the joke. The moonlight glinted off his teeth as he grinned maliciously. “You’re not thinking of helping the Pipsqueak get back on his feet, are you?”
“He made it through high school, somehow.” Oli shrugged and slipped his hands into the pockets of his pants. “It’s a time for a celebration. I think we should help him get back on his feet and keep him supported. Teach him how to stand tall.”
Lying on the slightly damp ground, Pip curled his fingers into the blades of grass. Like the metal blade of a sword, the grass beneath his hand felt cool to the touch, and its sharp points stabbed his palms when he pushed his hands down.
Unable to explain how, he drew the strength for endurance from the endless ground beneath him, feeling his own heart beating against it. He knew he could only feel it because his heart raced from fear, but in the moment, his heart and the earth were as one.
“I’m okay,” Pip murmured. He didn’t attempt to stand. “Thank you for the offer, though. That’s very generous.”
“It’s not an offer. We insist.” Oli reached down and grabbed Pip by the front of his shirt, yanking him to his feet as if he weighed nothing at all. Adjusting his grip but not letting go, Oli guided him across the field toward the woods that framed it. Pip staggered and tried his best to find his footing, with his mind racing to find a solution to his predicament.
He couldn’t fight Oli, let alone take on all three at once, but if he could spring free, he could outrun them. A hopeful plan started to form. If the buttons on his shirt popped off, and he left it behind, he could escape Oli’s clutches. Right as Pip braced himself for a struggle, he saw what waited on the edge of the woods.
“N-No,” he uttered, digging his heels into the field. “No, you can’t!”
“What?” Oli grinned. He tugged Pip forward, changing the way he held him and effectively eliminating Pip’s one chance at escape. “We’re only going to help make sure you can stand up for yourself without falling on your face. In a few years’ time, you’ll thank us for teaching you a lesson.”
A coiled rope waited at the edge of the woods.
It must’ve been left there. Planted.
Rope carefully placed ahead of this abduction turned the event from a prank or an opportunist moment to extend their bullying, to something planned and, therefore, far more sinister.
Pip didn’t know exactly what Oli had planned, but if it involved a rope and the woods, he expected the worst. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t. He had his whole future ahead of him.
“Looks like he’s about to piss himself, he’s so afraid,” Jason said with a laugh. He pulled out his phone and turned on his flashlight app, lighting up the dark woods that lay ahead. “What’s the matter, Pipsqueak? Afraid to stand on your own?”
“I’m serious, you can’t do this,” Pip said. He struggled against Oli, but Oli held him tight. “You can’t!”
They reached the rope at the edge of the woods. Rhett hefted the rope into his arm and hung it, coiled, over his shoulder.
“We’re gonna,” Oli said. “And you get to decide how bad it’s going to be for you. Keep struggling, and we might tie it around that neck of yours, see how tall you can stand when your feet can barely touch the ground.”
“You’re going to kill me if you do that.” Was that what they intended? Pip’s heart beat like a rabbit’s when caught in a fox’s paws. In desperation, he glanced to the side and made a break for it, but choked as he was yanked back against Oli’s chest. The bully redoubled his efforts to keep his captive close, and locked his arm across Pip's collarbone, crushing him.
“You’re going to kill yourself if you don’t stop struggling,” Oli hissed into his ear. “You want to behave and accept our help, and we’ll only tie you to a tree so you can practice standing up for yourself. Isn’t that right, guys?”
“Yep,” Rhett agreed, patting the coil of rope on his shoulder. “That’s right.”
“So quit struggling.” Jason turned the light, shining it directly on Pip so it momentarily blinded him and their surroundings went black. “It’s getting old.”
Pip squeezed his eyes shut, pulse hammering in his ears. He knew he couldn’t trust them, but he didn’t have another choice. The bullies towered over him, each of the boys twice his size. If he couldn’t break away from Oli, he didn’t have a shot at running away. He let his body go slack, and hoped their mercy would reward his cooperation.
“That’s a good boy,” Oli said. “Nice and easy. We’re going to keep walking for a while, find a tree somewhere nice and deep in the woods where no one’ll think to look, and let you get some practice in peace.”
“If you tie me up, how am I going to get out?” Pip asked.
Jason turned the flashlight to light the way.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Oli marched forward, forcing Pip to move along, too. “You’re so good at messing things up; you’ll probably just end up falling out of the ropes.” He laughed as if he’d said something funny.
“Right on your ass,” Jason crowed. “Typical. We set you up so you can’t fail, and then you fail regardless.”
Unwilling to believe this was really happening, Pip blinked back tears. The longer they walked, the clearer it became: Oli and his crew intended to take Pip somewhere so deep and distant that even if he shouted, no one would hear him. After everything they’d put him through, when he finally thought he was free of them, they were just going to tie him up in the woods and leave him for dead?
They had to realize what they were doing.
This wasn’t some prank, and it went beyond bullying.
With a real genuine fear for his life, Pip could see no way out of the predicament. He couldn't reason with these assholes.
As they went deeper, swirling mist hid the ground from view, but Pip’s feet saw for him. They traversed uneven ground, tangled roots, and crunching leaves.
“Please, please don’t do this,” Pip begged when they came to a sudden halt. They’d reached a part of the woods that Pip didn’t recognize. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“We want you to tie yourself to a tree, then,” Jason said. He hooted at his own joke. “God. And if you could shut up, that would probably be nice, too.” All three of them giggled like preschoolers at a birthday party.
Pip could see nothing funny in the dire situation.
Oli thrust Pip forward, and he collided head first with a sturdy, gnarled tree with thick bark. An abrasive piece of bark scraped his cheek, the searing sting intense enough that Pip was sure it drew blood. Before he could lift a hand to assess the damage, Oli grabbed him and spun him around, slamming him into the tree. Then Rhett and Jason set about tying him up.
They bound his arms first, tying Pip’s wrists together. The binding didn't cut into his skin, but wrapped tight enough around so his hands hung uselessly in front of his body. After his hands were secure, they worked in tandem to wrap the rope around the tree, tightening as they went. They wrapped Pip’s torso six times around until he was pressed so tightly to the tree, he couldn’t move. He could only manage to lift his feet and dip his head; the rest of his mobility was stolen.
“Look at this.” Oli stepped back from the tree and opened his arms wide as if showing Pip off to the world. “The Pipsqueak, standing up tall and on his own, for the first time in his life.”
“It’s unnatural.” Jason shook his head. “An abomination. Let’s take pictures.”