Finding Love Along the Tracks Chapter 2 – Prom’s Aftermath

Finding Love Along the Tracks Chapter 2 – Proms Aftermath

The next day at school, the student body was buzzing with gossip of what had happened to Derek the previous night, how he chased some geek because he had stolen his date from the hotel room and that he had been arrested in Illinois. What they did not know was that John was the the geek that was involved.

By Lunch time, every found out it was John, but there were other people who were skeptical about the role he played. He was too much of a loner to do such a thing. If it was not for Kelsy, no one would have believed the story. At lunch, he usually sat with Jason and Scott and they talked shop, the latest news in the railroad industry, the newest models coming out for their respective scales. John modeled N scale (1:160 in size), Jason modeled in HO sale (1:87 in size) and Scott preferred Z scale (1:220 in size). But this time, it was different. Kelsy sat with them. She could not keep her eyes off John.

This one guy who she always considered a brother had know became the person who saved her from rape, had suddenly became very attractive to her. She saw him in a point of view that she had never experienced before. As they sat down to their lunch, several of the jocks came over. They looked really pissed. One of them was Jeremy, Shelby’s date.

“Hey, fucktard!” He yelled “The fuck where you thinking of when you got Derek arrested!?”

John just ignored him. That made him even more pissed off. Jeremy stormed over to the table, and stood over John. He glanced over at Kelsy. This really made his face turn red with anger.

“Hey, fucktard, I am talking to you, boy!’ He scowled

John at this point decided it was best to face him, because the longer he ignored him, the more persistent he would be. He knew Derek was his best friend, like a brother to him, and thanks to him, he would be sent to prison.

“I’m sorry, are you talking to me?” John asked as he turned around to face him

“Bet your scrawny ass I am, I am goint to fuck you up for what you did to Derek!” He yelled, throwing a punch from the right. The punch landed in his right jaw.

The punch hurt like hell, but John was not going to show this. The punch was hard enough to hurt, but was not powerful enough to knock him down, all it did was just push his head to the side.

“Is that the best you got?” John smirked “I am sure the starting Defensive Back would be much stronger than that”

Jeremy growled and threw another punch, this time from the left. John saw it coming and managed to duck. The punch that was thrown looked like it was going to be more powerful, and when he ducked, it caused Jeremy to spin around like a top.

By this time, the commotion at his table drew the attention of everyone in the lunch room. They all laughed when Jeremy missed his punch. Even the Teacher, Mr. Smith, who had heard the commotion and walked in to investigate had to hold back a chuckle.

Mr. Smith walked up to the table, and grabbed Jeremy by the collar of his shirt. Jeremy, thinking it was one of his friends trying to stop him from further embarrassment, threw his arm back and elbowed him the in the gut. Mr. Smith was an athletic guy and it did not affect him. It was only after he grunted in slight pain that Jeremy knew that he had fucked up.

“Oh, ummm, Mr. Smith….I am so sorry….but…” He stammered

“I think this has gone far enough, Jeremy. John, are you okay? Mr. Smith asked

John nodded that he was, the punch left a mark on his cheek, but he would survive

“Come with me, Jeremy. I think Mr. Bogel will want to hear about your unprovoked attack on John, and then how you attacked a teacher. I think the Student Resource Office would love to hear about it as well.” Mr. Smith explained. “John, I think you should go to the nurse to have that bruise checked out.

Mr. Smith led Jeremy out of the room and towards the School office. Everyone could see the fear in his eyes. He knew that he was in deep shit. If he had not elbowed his English teacher in the gut, he may have only gotten off with a 180 day suspension, but since he did, he was now looking at an arrest and possible Jail time, along with the loss of any full ride football scholarship to any school he wanted.

After the two walked out of the room, everyone cheered. The train loving geek that no one knew existed until just a few hours ago had just stood up to one of the Jocks, took a punch to the face without flinching, and managed to keep his cool.

“Come on, John, let me take you to the nurse, that bruise seems to be getting worse.” Kelsy said.

“Thanks, He does throw a mean right hook.” He replied

Kelsy got up from her seat and started to walk out of the cafeteria. John was about to follow her when Jason started to say something.

“Hey John, we will see you after school, right? Remember, The UP 1989 Rio Grande Heritage Unit is supposed to be on tonight’s Dupo to LA train!” Jason said

John looked over to his friends and gave him a thumbs up. Even though he was badly bruised, he did not want to miss the UP 1989, it was the only Union Pacific Heritage unit he had not yet seen.

Kelsy and John walked out of the lunch room, and everyone erupted in both applause and cheers for him. The past few hours, he thought, he had become from invisible, to one of the most admired guys in the school.

“John, why did you take that punch? You knew it would hurt” Kelsy said as they walked towards the nurses office

“I wanted to give him a slight boost to his ego before I made him look like a fool, You saw how his next punch made him spin around like a top, right? John asked

“That was funny. You do know now that you are becoming one of the most popular guys in school, right?”

“It’s not going to change who I am. Even if the captain of the cheer-leading squad wanted to hook up with me, I would not. I don’t even like her!” He explained

“Why not? She is one of the prettiest girls in here”

“She may be, but I don’t like her attitude, she has always been rude to me. Beside, there is someone else who I think who is even prettier.” John said, he was going to be brave.

“Who would that be? I don’t think there is anyone who is more attractive than her!” She was surprised by his answer. “I know she has been rude to you, but then again, she has not gotten to know you. She is actually a very sweet person” she continued

“Kelsy, I have to tell you something.” John started to get very nervous because he was finally going to tell her. “The girl who I think is prettier than Brenda is you.”

Kelsy looked at him and blushed. She had never expected to hear him say this.

“Why, Thank You John, that means a-lot to me, I think you are very good looking myself” She said after a moments pause.

“I don’t think you understand what I am saying, Kelsy. You are more than pretty, I think you are beautiful, I have thought that for a very long time. I have kept it to myself because I know what happens when you breakup with a boyfriend, you never speak to them again, and I don’t want to loose you as a friend, I mean, I would love to be more than friends, but I don’t want to loose one of my best friends” He rambled

Kelsy blushed and looked at him. The guy who was so brave the night before and just a few minutes ago, was now rambling on like a school girl. She could tell he was nervous when he said that, but after he finished, she could tell the weight had been lifted.