Pus Junkies

by Shane McKenzie

  Zak threw the sheet over his head and groaned. “Jesus. Okay, I’m up. Close the fucking door.”

  “Hurry up. I just know Mrs. Snodgrass is going to pop a quiz on us today. I want to cram before class.”

  Kip hoped there was a quiz that day. Anytime Mrs. Snodgrass surprised them with a pop quiz, that’s when Gwendolyn usually spoke to him the most.

  God, if she was only there last night. She could have seen the new me. She could have seen me be a real man.

  She could have tasted me.

  But she would know soon enough. Kip didn’t know how he’d bring it up to her yet, but all he had to do was get her to try some of his pus. Just a small sample, and she’d be hooked. Just like Jade. As much as Kip enjoyed Jade, as much as he ached to feel her again, he would toss her aside in a heartbeat if Gwendolyn showed any interest.

  I can have anyone I want. But I only want her.

  Zak lazily slid into his clothes, already had a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.

  “Do you think any of them will remember last night? Everything that happened?” Kip said.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s like Rohypnol or something. They might not remember shit, just all woke up naked on the floor in the middle of the night, confused and lost. I hope that’s what happens.”

  They were walking down the cement steps toward the parking lot, and Kip stopped midway, spun so he was facing Zak.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Why? Because that shit was insane. You telling me you want all of them trying to drink the pus right out of your skin like that?”

  Kip squinted. “It’s better than being called Toad all the time. Better than feeling like my only friend is my mom, that I’m so fucking disgusting that nobody even wants to hang out with me. I’ve never felt wanted before, like I belonged, until last night. Why is that such a bad thing?”

  Zak flicked his cigarette. “Thought you said you don’t remember.”

  “I remember enough to know it might not be such an awful thing. I’m just saying.”

  Zak checked them out of their room, and when he walked back outside, Kip was already sitting in the passenger seat. Zak slid in, started driving home.

  “Kip…think about this, okay? Having every kid in school addicted to…you know. Addicted to your acne I guess…fuck that sounds so crazy. It won’t be good, man. You’re just one guy. What happens when they suck it all up, when there’s nothing left? What then?”

  When they finally pulled up to the house, Kip sighed. He almost showed Zak that all the pimples that had been emptied last night were already full again. They weren’t ready to pop quite yet, but nearly there. Kip didn’t think he’d ever run out, could supply the students with as much as they wanted.

  But he didn’t want to argue with Zak. His cousin was only worried about him, only wanted to protect him.

  He’s not jealous, Kip. No way. Not Zak. Zak’s different than all the rest. The only one to ever stand up for you.

  “You’re right, Zak. My head’s all screwed up, man. I remember enough about last night to know that it felt good. I’ll admit that. Having them begging for me like that felt good. And of course…Jade.”

  “Oh yeah. And normally I would be congratulating you, cousin, but she wasn’t herself. She was like a fucking junkie…they all were.”

  “I know that. But either way, it was my first time kissing a girl. First time touching one, really, except for in the hallways at school, and that’s just by accident.”

  Zak smiled, reached over and squeezed Kip’s shoulder. It felt good.

  “God, she practically fucked you right in front of everyone. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

  “You? How do you think I felt? I’m still not convinced last night was real, you know?”

  “Well, it was real. Let’s just hope the kids don’t remember.”

  “Yeah…yeah, let’s hope so. I guess…”

  They quickly got changed, Zak jumping into the shower. Kip didn’t bother. He didn’t want to wash the oil off, didn’t want to cover up his scent with soap.

  His people were waiting for him, he could feel them. They remembered. And they wanted him more than ever.

  —10—

  Zak couldn’t concentrate. No matter how hard he tried. The images from last night swirled through his mind like rubble in a tornado, and the teacher’s lecture might as well have been complete gibberish.

  He looked at the students around him, studied their faces. As far as he could tell, everyone looked normal. Then again, there were only a select few who were at the party. The “popular crowd.”

  Shawn sat toward the rear of the class. Zak remembered seeing this kid sucking on Kip’s neck, saw his lips stained red as he slurped up the white, creamy treat. But it looked like he was taking notes. The kid had bags under his eyes, kept yawning every few minutes, but nothing unusual for the day after a party.

  “Zak?”

  At the sound of his name, Zak flinched, elicited some giggles from the other students, especially the girls. The teacher stared at him, eyebrows high on his forehead, chalk pinched between finger and thumb, holding it out as if he wanted Zak to take it.

  “What? I’m sorry…w-what?”

  More laughter. The teacher pursed his lips, shook his head.

  “Senior Skip Day. What a glorious tradition,” the teacher said. “Now, if you can pull your head out from between your butt cheeks, will you kindly walk to the blackboard and solve this problem?”

  Zak forced a smile, nodded. His head was so out of it today, he had nearly forgotten which class he was in. But the problem on the board, looking like a tower of random numbers and letters, let him know he was in his dreaded Algebra class.

  “Solve for X, please.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The girls looked him up and down as he trudged toward the front of the class and took the chalk from the teacher’s hand with shaking fingers. He faced the blackboard, and felt himself sinking, melting like an ice cube in a frying pan. The problem was complete Greek to him, and no matter how hard he stared, no matter how hard he tried to remember how to do it, nothing came to him. And he just stood there, looking stupid and feeling stupider.

  “Sometime during this period would be great,” the teacher said.

  “I…uh…I can’t. I don’t know how, sir.”

  The teacher shook his head, yanked the chalk from Zak’s hand. Zak started to head back to his seat, but the man stopped him.

  “Wait a minute, now. Maybe if you stand closer to the problem as I solve it, it may sink in better, hmm?” The man’s hand worked rapidly, and he spat some equation that Zak was apparently supposed to remember, and just like that, he had an answer. Zak was as lost as ever.

  “Just take your seat.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Zak caught sight of Shawn, and the boy was still writing furiously, concentrating hard on the paper in front of him. His hand looked white from gripping the pen so hard, sweat beading and trickling over his face. His tongue kept darting from between his lips, sliding across the chapped skin, soaking in the moisture on his upper lip.

  Zak took another long look at the students, and recognized one of the girls. She had been one of the three who greeted Zak and Kip just as they had arrived at the party. One of the bridge trolls. She sat in the furthest corner, and she also scribbled like mad on a sheet of paper. Her hair was in tangles, disheveled, and she bared her teeth as she worked her pencil back and forth across the paper. She wasn’t taking any notes, but looked like she was drawing something, or rather etching it in.

  The bell rang. Zak stood, started to head toward Shawn and the girl, but was grabbed by his elbow. He turned, expecting to see the teacher there shaking his head and smirking, maybe demanding that Zak try harder or something along those lines.

  But instead, he looked into the face of a girl. He had never met this girl, though he had noticed her around here and there. Couldn’t remember her name. Something about he
r was intoxicating though. Her face was devoid of any makeup, and she wore a simple loose-fitting shirt and jeans.

  Zak couldn’t help but smile, and he shot quick glances at Shawn and the girl as they exited the classroom, both looking jittery and sick.

  “Hi,” the girl said. “I’m Gwendolyn. You’re Zak, right?”

  Zak glared into the hallway, noticed a few of the other partiers passing by, each one looking on edge, ready to tear their hair from their scalps. Zak was suddenly filled with the urgent need to find Kip, make sure he was okay.

  “Um…hello? Am I bothering you?”

  “God…my head’s all over the place today. Sorry. Yeah…I’m Zak. How’d you know that?”

  She blushed, sort of tilted her head and puckered her lips. “Dude…you have to know. Every chick in this school is pretty much drooling over you. The mysterious new guy. Ohhhhh.” She waved her hands like she was telling a ghost story.

  “Okay, okay. I might have noticed something like that.”

  “Yeah, I bet. Well…also your cousin Kip has mentioned you before. That kid thinks the world of you, you know that?”

  “You know Kip? You must be that girl he mentioned.”

  “Oh yeah? And what did he say?”

  Zak almost said it, but decided to hold his tongue. If this was the girl his cousin was so obsessed over, he didn’t dare embarrass him. “Nothing really. Just said you talked to him. Not many people do, you know.”

  “Yeah…I know. He’s a sweet kid. Smart as shit, too.”

  “I hear shit’s pretty smart around here.”

  She punched him in the arm, hard enough to kind of hurt. “Anyway, I feel bad for him. So I’ll talk with him sometimes. Had to stand up for him when that fuckhead Chuck was giving him shit the other day. If I was a man, I’d ass rape that fucker.”

  Zak burst out laughing.

  “What?”

  “You’ve got an interesting choice in vocabulary, you know that? It’s kind of refreshing to be honest.”

  She just shrugged. “Kip may have mentioned that his big, bad, and cool-as-hell cousin was coming to town, to stay with him and his mom. Got into some trouble back home?”

  Zak’s smile faded. “I guess you could say that, yeah.”

  “I didn’t mean to pry like that. Look, the only reason I even bugged you at all was to let you know that I’m kind of smart as shit too. Especially in math. If you needed some help, or wanted me to tutor you or something…no charge of course…I’d be glad to. Unless Kip already is.”

  Her face suddenly glowed pink and she could barely look Zak in the eye.

  “Yeah, that’d be nice. Kip’s…busy these days. And since we’re in the same class, it would probably do me good, right?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, right.”

  “I’m warning you, Gwendolyn. When it comes to that algebra shit…I’m kind of a retard. I’m completely lost. It’s hopeless, I’m telling you.”

  She hit him again, same spot. He couldn’t hold back his hiss.

  “It’s not as hard as you think. And I’m a good teacher too. So…wanna meet up today? After school? We could meet at the library or…someplace else.”

  “How about the Grease Shack? I have to be honest…not really eager to stick around this place longer than I have to. I’ll buy you a burger.”

  “Okay, yeah. You’ll be a math genius in no time. Smarter than the stinkiest of shit.”

  Gwendolyn shot him another smile, brushed him with her left arm as she walked away.

  Zak’s heart was pounding. There was just something about that girl, and he immediately couldn’t wait to see her again.

  “Zak!”

  Chuck’s voice. Fuck me. Here we go.

  Zak turned, hands balled up at his sides. He bounced on his feet a little, ready to do what he had to.

  But Chuck had no ill intent written on his face as he jogged down the hall toward Zak. His face was a mess, white crust fanned out from both corners of his mouth. Yellow muck sat in his eyes, and they sat deep in the dark circles of his sockets. Chuck actually smiled when he reached Zak, like they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while.

  “Hey, man,” Chuck said, out of breath.

  “Chuck. You look like shit.”

  Chuck just laughed. “You s-seen Kip around? I’ve been looking all over for him and…I just really need to see him, man.”

  “Why do you need to see him?” Zak crossed his arms and squinted.

  “I just…” Chuck stopped short, eyes moving to the ground and rolling around as he thought of some bogus excuse. “I want to apologize. You know…for how I’ve treated him. It wasn’t right and I know that now.”

  “Really?”

  Chuck nodded, smiled like a special ed student.

  “What made you change your attitude? I had to put a gun to your fucking head just last night so you wouldn’t kill the kid. Now this? Tell me what the fuck is going on, Chuck. No bullshit.”

  Chuck groaned, ran both palms over his face. He looked on the verge of crying. “If I tell you…if I tell you, will you bring me to him?”

  Zak didn’t answer, just stared hard.

  “I need him. I fucking need him so bad.”

  “Because of what happened last night, right?” Zak looked over his shoulder, all around them to make sure nobody was listening. He leaned in closer to Chuck. “Because of the pus?”

  Chuck’s eyes widened along with his grin, and he nodded so hard it looked like his neck would break. “Yes. Yes, the pus. Fuck, man…I need it. I’ll die without it.”

  Chuck scratched at his cheeks, neck, and chest, baring his teeth.

  “And Chelsea too. She’s got it bad. She didn’t come to school today…told me if I don’t bring her back any more, she’d kill herself. I have to find Kip, Zak. Please help me.”

  Chuck had taken another step toward Zak, and their torsos pressed up against each other. Zak shoved him away, and Chuck’s eyes softened. He dropped to his knees, grabbed the loose fabric of Zak’s jeans over his shins.

  “Please. Please!”

  “Get the fuck off me,” Zak said and kicked Chuck in the chest.

  Chuck landed on his ass, cupped his face in his hands, and wept.

  “What’s going on here?” The math teacher. The man scowled at Zak, but when his eyes landed on Chuck, he smirked. He was about to walk away, as if the school’s most popular jock deserved an ass kicking, but when Zak noticed the papers in the teacher’s hand, he grabbed the man’s arm.

  “What’s that?”

  The teacher yanked his arm away, looked Zak up and down. “Not anything that concerns you. You need to be concentrating on your schoolwork.”

  “I just hired a tutor, literally a few minutes after class, sir. I’m trying.”

  The teacher looked ready to launch another verbal attack, but sighed, pursed his lips. He watched Chuck cry for another few seconds, then showed the papers to Zak. “Just a couple of papers I found on two of the students’ desks. They look threatening to me, so I was going to show them to the principal. He’s your cousin, right? Maybe you’d better warn him.”

  “Yeah…right.”

  The teacher walked off, taking the papers with him. Scratched into the college ruled notebook paper in black pen and gray lead was the word TOAD. Written over and over and over again, until every inch of the paper was covered, torn in places where they had pressed down too hard.

  A hand gripped Zak’s leg again.

  “Zak, I’ll do anything. I woke up this morning and all I could think about was Kip. That’s all anyone could think about. Jade was the worst. She—”

  “Where is Jade?”

  ***

  Jade sucked on Kip’s chest in the back seat of Zak’s car. Kip ran his fingers through her hair and moaned as her teeth scraped across his skin and peeled back the oily membranes at the peak of each zit. She slurped up the cream like raw clams, rubbing her bare, wet pussy over his knee, fucking it. Her thumbnails popped the boils on his ne
ck, and she pressed her nose to them, snorted, rocked harder and growled.

  Kip was fully erect, his cock pressing up against her chest, her breasts rubbing against it in a constant up and down motion as she gorged herself on his discharge.

  But he didn’t want to take it out of his pants. If he did that, she might start playing with it, sucking it, and he didn’t want that. Nothing could have possibly felt better than Jade feasting on his pus, breaking his skin to get to the treats inside. If she started on his dick, she would have to stop popping pimples, and he didn’t even want her to stop. She had offered already, but he refused.

  “Just keep…just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  “Anything. Anything you say.” Her eyes were almost completely white, as if she was engulfed in so much ecstasy, she couldn’t unroll them from the back of her head. Her teeth chattered and her entire body spewed sweat, dripping down over Kip’s torso only to be sucked up by Jade along with his oils and secretions.

  Though her mouth stayed on his chest, her hand still coasted to the bulge in his jeans, massaged the head.

  “No,” he said. He moved her hand to his face, used her fingertips for her to pop a zit on his left nostril. The pus blew like water from a whale’s blowhole, sprayed her in the face. And she gasped, licked it up like a kid licking cupcake frosting from their lips. Her hips rocked more violently, fucking his knee, drenching it in sex juice, and she tilted her head back and screamed, slammed her palms on the car’s ceiling. A surge of warm fluid spilled over his knee, trickled down his thigh and soaked into his jeans.

  She collapsed backward, banging the back of her head against the car window. Her hands were at her tits, rubbing her stomach, then down to her sex. Eyes still white, teeth still chattering. Something like a growl rattled from her mouth, and for a second, Kip worried she was having some kind of seizure, but then her pupils rolled to the front of her eyes and she smiled at him.

  “I think…I think I fucking love you, Kip. My perfect little Toad.”

  At one time, that name infuriated Kip. Made him feel like a loser, like a freak. But now…now it just seemed to fit, had a new meaning.