Acceleration (Part 1)

“What do you think guys? Is Runt any taller today?”

Jack shoved Russell up against the lockers in the high school hallway, and he struggled against him, but his arms were several inches too short to get anywhere near Jack’s chest.

“Nah man, I think he’s just stopped!”

“Gonna be looking like he’s twelve forever, probably!”

Jack leaned in close, a cruel sneer on his face. “And a faggot too–not that surprising. I ain’t gay, but I do have something that might help you grow,” Jack said, and with his free hand he groped his crotch, making sure Russell could see the bulge through the mesh of the basketball shorts he had on. The other jocks clustered around their ringleader looked a bit nervous–it was clear that this part hadn’t been discussed, but Russell’s sexuality had been a hot topic at school for the last week or so–Jack was bound to find out eventually. “Eh? You and me, the bathroom after school? Nothing helps me grow like a good boost of protein, and you might as well get some practice, faggot.”

“Jack, leave him the fuck alone!”

Russell and Jack looked to the side, where Finn was standing a few yards away. As if things could get any worse–Russell would gladly have sucked Jack’s cock if it meant Finn could just fucking disappear. Still, Jack let go of Russell’s shirt, and he fell back against the lockers. It wasn’t very surprising, really–Jack liked to be the bully, but he knew when he was outmatched, and Finn was about the only person in school who could outmatch him–but then, Finn outmatched everyone, pretty much.

“I’ll be waiting, faggot. Be there, or fucking regret it,” Jack said, too low for Finn or his posse to hear him, and then he walked away, the guys laughing and joking, and Finn walked to where Russell was recovering.

“Russ, are you alright?”

“Fuck off, Finn,” Russell said, and hefted up his backpack, “Haven’t you done enough shit already this week to ruin my life?”

“I told you I’m sorry, Russ–”

“And I thought I could fucking trust you!” Russ said, “I don’t–fuck you, Finn. You don’t fucking know.” It was lame, and he knew it, but he couldn’t put everything he was feeling into words. He just pushed past Finn, in the opposite direction Jack had gone, and headed for his class, just wanting to get through the rest of school without the day turning into even more of a nightmare than it already was.

Why couldn’t he have just kept his mouth shut? It wasn’t hard, after all, to just not say anything. Then again, Russell had told him, hadn’t he? Holding onto it for this long had just been…exhausting, and that night at Finn’s house, with a little alcohol from his dad’s stash, it had just…popped out. “I think I’m gay.” And Finn had been good! Really good, in fact. They’d talked through it a bit, and when Russell had left, he’d felt…good for the first time in a very long time, that his oldest friend would accept and support him no matter what, and no matter how they’d grown apart over the last couple of years.

Russell and Finn had bonded during Freshman year. At the time, they’d both been late bloomers, at the time, and together they had weathered the social trials of the first year of high school. But Finn had spent the summer away from town, visiting family on the other side of the country, and when he’d returned…well, he hadn’t been the same Finn who’d left, that was for sure. He’d grown a bit over a foot taller, packed on muscle and fat, and had somehow managed to grow a full beard. Russell had barely been able to believe it, and when they’d gone back to school, suddenly he and his friend were pulled apart. Finn was recruited to the football program, and quickly became the start of the JV team, while Russell was left in the dust–and that was when Jack entered the picture as well.

Jack was a year younger than them both, and while he couldn’t hold a candle to Finn, he immediately saw Russell was a perfect target for bullying, even if he was a year older than him. Hell, that actually made the whole thing even more fun for Jack–Russell could tell. And so, two more years had passed, Russell praying for a growth spurt and puberty which would never come–all he got was a light dusting of hair around his groin, an embarrassing cracking voice that never settled particularly low, and a case of acne that made him want to hide his face for half a year. Still, even if he’d had less time for him, Finn had done his best to remain friends with Russell, but it was inevitable that they would grow apart. Admitting to Finn that he was gay–part of why that had felt so good, was that it meant he was still his friend. But Finn had loose lips, and he’d let slip about it to Amy, the girl he was fucking at the moment, and Amy had told Emma and Trevor, and so on and so forth, and now everyone in the whole school pretty much knew, or would know by the next week.