Knots, Book 3
by Elias Scott
Chapter 11
Kyle's Testimony
"The prosecution rests," Wheeler said after Randy's testimony.
Judge Fienberg turned to the defense table. "Are you ready to present your defense?"
Banta stood up and answered for the group. "We'd like to call Kyle Jarvis to the stand."
Kyle entered the courtroom dressed in slacks, a button-down shirt, tie, and a sports coat. The bailiff swore him in and he moved to the witness box.
"Are you a friend of the defendant?"
"Yes."
"How do you know him?"
"I play football for Gilmore High School and I met him at a party."
Banta looked at his notes. "Who gave the party?" Kyle straightened his tie. "A mutual friend."
"So you didn't know the defendant before that?"
"No."
"Have you or the defendant had sex?"
"Yes."
"Was it consensual?"
"Yes."
Banta cleared his throat. "Did he ever mention having sex with younger boys?"
"No."
"Were you ever aware he was allegedly having sex with minors?"
"No. Not until he was arrested."
"Were you surprised?"
"Yes. He's not like that."
"Are you gay?"
"Yes."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen in three months."
Banta walked away from Kyle to let some time pass and then turned back. "Did you have sex with any of the boys involved in this case?"
"Yes."
"Who?
"Randy Barnson and Andy Gibson."
"Whose idea was it?"
"Randy's."
"You had nothing to do with it?"
"No."
Banta returned to the defense table and Leonard got up with his yellow legal pad in hand. "How did you come to know Randy Barnson?"
"I met him at Dillon's birthday party."
"Did you know he was gay at the time?"
"No."
"Did he know you were gay?"
"Yes, I told him at the party. I've been out for a couple years."
"When did you find out he was gay?"
"He kinda hinted at it at the party when I told him I was gay."
"What did he say that made you think he might be gay?"
"He asked if I wanted to get together sometime."
"What did you think get together meant?"
"I thought he wanted sex."
"Did he?"
"Yes."
"How many times did you have sex with Randy Barnson?"
"At least fifteen to twenty times since Dillon was arrested."
Leonard paused for effect. "How many times did you and Randy Barnson have sex with other boys at the same time?"
"Five or six times."
"Who were these boys?"
"A couple guys from my school and a few from his."
"How many times did you and Randy Barnson have sex with Andy Gibson?"
"One time."
Leonard walked toward the jury, stopped, and then turned back. "How did this come about?"
"Randy said Andy was hot and he'd probably be interested in a threesome."
Leonard glanced at Wheeler. "The prosecution is probably going to ask if it was Randy or you who instigated the sex with Andy Gibson. Are you sure it was Randy?"
"Yes."
"Why is that?"
"He told me about the foursome they had, and Randy said Andy was really hot and we should see if he'd be interested. Hell, I was up for anything."
"Did Randy tell you how he was going to get Andy to join you?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'I'm not sure if I can get Andy to join us so I'll tell him I have this hot guy that's interested in him. That will tweak his ego. He has a big one.'"
"And is that what happened?"
"Yes."
"Was the defendant involved with any of this?"
"No."
"Did you tell him about it?"
"No."
"As far as you know then, Andy Gibson agreed to have sex with you?"
"Yes."
"Did you or the defendant force Andy Gibson and Randy Barnson to have sex with you?"
"No."
Leonard walked to the defense table, and threw his yellow pad down. "No further questions."
Judge Fienberg rapped his gavel. "It's been a long day. Let's proceed with the cross-examination of the witness tomorrow. Court is adjourned until 9:00 AM tomorrow."
Andy
I thought my talk with Jason went pretty well, but you just never know about these things. I really tried to be helpful. Sometimes I think I'm beginning to grow up. Maybe that old quote about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger is true. It's hard for me to believe I was ready to kill myself after I found out what Dillon had done. Now that we've been to court, been exposed, and the whole experience is terrible, I feel a sense of relief. It's hard to explain. I saw Matt after his PE class and he told me all about what happened and what the coach said. I began to wonder what it was going to be like at basketball practice that day. I hoped he'd do the same thing. It was harder putting up with the silences and stares than being confronted. At least you knew what the assholes were thinking. We had no idea what everyone else was thinking.
My parents called me on my cell, which only allows family calls now, to let me know about Randy's testimony. They weren't too happy and told me to expect the worst. I guess Matt got a call from his parents too. Shit, it's those damn knots Matt always liked to talk about. Matt and I worried about what would be on the news that night.
I saw Emily between classes and to my surprise she nodded. I started to talk to her and she said, "I don't talk to best friends who keep secrets."
"Come on Em. You can't really expect us to tell you about everything we do. Don't I have the right to some privacy?"
She stopped and walked back toward me. "We're your friends. What do you think everyone is saying about us now? You act like what you do doesn't affect anyone else, but it does. Kids have been coming up to me and asking if I knew what was going on and if I was involved. After all, you did have a reputation as a ladies' man at one time. No one else in this school knew you were gay."
"Sorry Em, I hadn't thought of that. Can't we still be friends?"
She started to shake her head, but then stopped and looked straight at me. "I'll have to think about it."
"That's a deal." I said. "Let me know when you've thought about it long enough. How 'bout Gina? Matt really cares for her. He doesn't know if he's gay or not. I feel sorry for him because he's so confused. "
She frowned. "Either you're gay or you're not."
"That's not true," I protested. "You could be bisexual. And besides, Matt only did what he did because he thought I might kill myself, and I might have."
"Right, any excuse in a storm."
"No, seriously Em. He did it for me because he's my best friend and he loves me. Not like you'd think. He loves in a different way. With him it's not just about the sex. It was a way of saving me from myself. Don't you understand?"
She gave a small shake of her head. "Like I said, any excuse in a storm."
"Say what you want, but if you'd have been there with me that night, I think you would have done the same thing."
She gave me a blank stare and just said, "I've got to get to class."
I watched her as she walked down the hall, hoping she'd turn around, but she didn't.
Matt
I saw Gina right after school on her way to catch the bus. She didn't know I was behind her so when I ran up to her and grabbed her arm, she spun around surprised. "Matt?" She pulled away. "I told you I don't want to talk to you."
"Gina, I'm hurting. I need you," I said as I pulled her away from the crowd. Some kids stopped and other just stared, waiting to see what was going to happen.
I turned to them. "This is none of your business. This is between Gina and me. It's private."
Some girl yelled, "It's been all over the news. How can you call it private?"
"Never mind. It just is, so leave us alone."
Gina started to walk away.
"Please, wait until the goons are gone?"
She got a confused look on her face like she wanted to go and stay at the same time. The crowd dispersed when the bus pulled up. Gina started toward the bus. I grabbed her arm again. She started to pull away and then stopped. "I'm going to miss the bus."
"Catch the activity bus. We need to talk. Like I said, I'm hurting and I need you."
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I think not. Seems like you need a lot of other people besides me."
"Gina, it was a mistake."
"How does having sex with three other guys count as a mistake?"
She had me there. "Well, uh. Uh. It just kinda happened. I told Andy I didn't want to do it. But somehow I got sucked into it."
She shook her head back and forth. "Oh, so the devil made you do it? Whatever happened to free will?"
"Sex is powerful, Gina. I lost my free will."
"I wouldn't know, because we've never had sex. You were too busy having sex with boys."
"I tried. You said you weren't ready and I respected that."
She slapped me. "So you punished me by having sex with a bunch of other guys?"
"It wasn't like that. One thing led to another."
"Then go back to them. I'm getting on the bus," she said as she stomped off as if she was almost proud of the way she treated me. But hell, even I thought I deserved it.
I had to get to basketball practice but I wanted to one more thing before I got there. I went to the activities director and told her I was resigning as sophomore class president. She gave me a shocked look. "Do you think that's a good idea?"
"After everything that's happened, I think the class needs a new leader. I don't think I can do it."
I was hoping she'd argue with me just to help me save face, but all she said was, "If that's what you want to do, I'll accept your resignation and inform the vice-president he is now the president." She paused. "I'm sorry about all that's happened."
I wanted to say, "fuck you" but I just left her office and went to basketball practice figuring all of us were going to have to take a rash of shit.
Thomas, Randy, and Andy were all in the locker room getting dressed when I got there. They were talking about Randy's testimony. He was all cocky like he'd put the screws in Dillon's coffin, but we had our suspicions since Andy and my parents let us know that our ship was sinking.
Andy went off on him. "That's not what I heard. I got a call from my parents and they said you were screwing everything up. What the fuck's the matter with you?"
"Hey, man, I just told it like it is. I'm gay. I told them I was gay and I liked sex. What the fuck's the matter with that? What, did you guys do, tell them you didn't like sex?"
I moved in on the conversation. "That wasn't the point. The point was to testify in such a way that made Dillon look guilty."
Randy grinned. "He looked guilty all right. Don't worry about that. I admit I was all cocky and all, but that Banta dude asked me questions I wasn't ready for, like how many different guys I've had sex with. I was under oath."
Thomas moved closer and whispered, "How many different guys have you been having sex with?"
Randy grinned. "I told them eight. They wanted to know who they were. I only told them about you guys and Kyle and a few other guys who just like having their cocks sucked while denying they're not gay or at least denying they have gay tendencies."
Thomas moved back. "I'm glad I quit having sex with you. Who knows what you might be carrying."
Randy patted Thomas on the back. "Don't worry old buddy, I'm doing fine without you."
Thomas turned and walked away. "Let's get out to practice and see what kind of shit we're going to have to take today."
I remember being surprised that no one came up to us while we were in the locker room to give us a bunch of crap, but later we found out Coach Ward, the JV coach and Coach Gilbert had talked about how they were going to handle our situation and made sure the guys left us alone. But I was still embarrassed when we walked out of the locker room and found everyone sitting in the bleachers. They gave us a big round of applause as we headed to the stands.
Coach Gilbert had evidently warned them to be nice to us and applause wasn't what he probably expected, but at least he didn't looked pissed about it. The four of us went to the top of the bleachers and Coach Gilbert basically gave the same speech he did during PE to the whole basketball team. It was surprising how quiet the stands were. Once done, he asked if there were any questions.
Jackass Barnes raised his hand. "So Coach. Are you saying it's okay to do what these guys did?"
Leave it to Barnes.
"I'm not saying whether it's okay or not. It's not my place. All I'm saying is treat them with respect and keep in mind that many of you aren't so innocent yourselves."
Jarrod raised his hand. "Coach, I don't think my parents are going to like the fact that you like fags."
"You know something Jarrod? You're more ignorant that I thought. I didn't say I like or dislike gay boys or girls. All I said was, they are your classmates and your teammates, and I want you to treat them with respect. We can't win if we don't play as a team. If you can't live with that, then you are free to quit." He looked directly at Jarrod. "Do you want to quit?"
Jarrod dropped his head. "No, Coach."
There were no more questions after that and we went on with practice as usual.
The Evening News
Randy's testimony was all over the evening news. As usual, drawings of the courtroom, the jury, the attorneys, and the witnesses were flashed on the screen as the news anchor spoke.
"The alleged victim, a fourteen-year-old boy, indicated he was hoping to have sex with the defendant, Dillon Burke, and was happy to go along with whatever Mr. Burke wanted to do. He testified that his former best friend was unsure.
"The surprising part of the testimony was that the young man testifying today said he'd had sex with several boys after the defendant was arrested. He said a number of boys approached him and wanted him to give them fellatio, which he did. The general testimony today did not necessarily indicate that any of the boys initiated the sex, but that some were willing participants and as we know from previous testimony, these boys have continued to have sex with each other in pairs and in groups of three or four.
"The last witness testified that he and the young man who testified before him had sex with at least one other boy (making it three boys), on several occasions.
"It is undetermined at this time if the defendant will take the stand. Indications are that he will because at no time during the testimony did any of the boys except one say they were forced to have sex with the defendant. The one young man who accused him of raping him has had an active sex life and it appears that the defense hopes to prove that he was a willing participant and not raped as he had testified.
"Our news crew went to the school to conduct interviews to find out what other students thought about what had happened, but the principal would not let us interview students on campus. We were able to interview a couple students off campus as they were walking home after school. The students asked us not to show their faces or use their real names.
Julie said, "I was shocked when I heard the news about two of the more popular boys in the school having group sex, what we'd call an orgy. One boy is the sophomore class president and played on the varsity football team. The other was the starting quarterback for the junior varsity. We were all shocked."
Jack, also known as Jackass Barnes said, "I'd have never guessed these guys were faggots, I mean gay. They seemed like such normal guys. But nowadays I guess you can never tell."
The interviewer put the mic up to Dan's mouth. "Will you treat these boys differently now that you know what they've been doing?"
Dan, a junior, said, "Nah, nowadays teenagers are a lot more tolerant than their parents. It's the parents I'd be worried about. Coach Gilbert talked about this stuff in my PE class today and I have a feeling he's going to have a few parents come down on him. I hope not. He said some important things and made everything a lot clearer."
Alice, a senior, smiled. "Teenagers today have a different attitude towards sex than their parents, or at least we're more open about it. As long as they don't hurt anybody, I don't care."
"Do you think Dillon Burke was wrong in allegedly having sex with minors after he turned eighteen?"
"Not really. They were already having sex before he turned eighteen. So just because one day he's seventeen and on another he's eighteen, it shouldn't make any difference."
Another boy, Carl, stood back and was noticed by the interviewer. "Carl, do you have an opinion?"
He stepped toward the microphone. "I think what they did is wrong. God will punish them for it. Sex isn't some toy you play around with. It's bad enough when teenage guys and girls are having sex before marriage, but guys having sex with each other is worse."
Interviewer: "Why's that? If you think sex before marriage is wrong, what difference does it make if the sex is heterosexual or homosexual?"
Carl fumbled over his words. "Well, uh. Uh. It just is."
"Would you explain that a little more?"
"No. I don't have anything else to say."
Interviewer: "As you can see, opinions vary among the students we talked to. It has been rumored that the boys have gotten some harassment from other students, but that the administration has generally done a pretty good job of keeping things under control. The defense will be calling witnesses over the next day or two, and we will continue with our coverage of this story."
Andy
My balls were aching throughout the trial. It felt like I was being kicked in the balls every day. I realized that while Matt was my best friend and I loved him and he loved me, there wasn't any romance between us. He seemed stuck on Gina for some strange reason. I couldn't figure it out. After all the sex we had, I felt a little put off. It was almost like he didn't find me attractive. Of course I knew better, but I was looking for a real boyfriend, and I began to think about Thomas every day at basketball practice. He seemed to like Matt, but while I had caught them having sex in that vacant house, I still didn't think the relationship was going anywhere because Matt was always sniffing at Gina. Plus, he wanted kids. Not that gay couples couldn't have kids, but it's a lot harder. Besides, they're not your blood unless you donate your sperm and can find someone to carry the baby. I understood that, but I'm gay and there wasn't any way I was going to go back to girls. Maybe Matt could do it, but I couldn't. Once you've had a cock in your mouth and in your ass, it's hard to go back. But Matt had always been his own man, so who knows.
The thing was, I didn't want my desire for Thomas to come between Matt and me. There wasn't any way I would let that happen, so I guess I figured I'd better talk to Matt about this when I got the courage.
Chapter Quotes
No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things. - Demi Lovato
Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again. - W. Clement Stone
You can't make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable. - Deepak Chopra
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