Milton's Hero

“So, want to come back to my place to…work on my human biology homework?” JJ Brockwell waggled his eyebrows at his girlfriend, Maggie Jones, as they walked the hallways of Empire Preparatory after their final class of the day. “Is that all you think about?” she replied. “No, sometimes I think about chemistry. The chemistry between you and me.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You smell nice. New perfume?” She batted him away. “You bought it for me last year. I’ve worn it lots of times.” JJ nodded to a couple of fellow baseball players as he passed them. Turning back to Maggie, he asked, “So, my biology homework?” Maggie rolled her eyes. “You get all A’s in biology.” “I want to keep my grade up.” He smirked. Maggie shook her head, her auburn waves catching the overhead lights. “Horndog.” “It’s your fault.” “Huh?” JJ lifted Maggie’s hand and kissed it. “If you weren’t so beautiful I wouldn’t get this fired up.” A shrill call of, “Give it back!” plus accompanying laughter caught JJ’s attention as he and Maggie rounded the corner outside the boys’ gym. A group of seniors on the basketball team was playing Keep Away with a magazine. A shorter boy kept jumping up to try and catch it, but failed each time. “Milton!” Maggie yelled. “Who?” JJ asked. “Milton Katz. He’s in my art class. Everybody’s always picking on him.” She let go of JJ’s hand and stepped forward. “Maggie, no.” JJ took her arm to stop her. To the crowd he yelled, “Hey!” Two of the basketball players looked over at the advancing JJ. “Give it back!” JJ said. “This ain’t anything to do with you, Brockwell.” Jerome Prince glared at JJ. “I’m making it something to do with me.” Even though he was a grade below the point guard, the two were about the same height, although JJ had a few pounds on the basketball player. JJ had learned early on to stand his ground and stare down his opponents. Either things would escalate into a fight, or sense would prevail. With four against one, the odds weren’t exactly in JJ’s favor, if this did turn into something. “Didn’t know you were friends with this dweeb,” one of the players said, poking Milton in the arm. “He’s a friend of Maggie’s, so that makes him a friend of mine.” JJ knew this was a bit of a stretch—he didn’t know the guy, but hoped it would get him in good with Maggie. Besides, JJ was always a sucker for protecting the underdog—and from the looks of Milton, he was a walking definition of underdogginess. Milton’s gaze turned to JJ, hope, surprise, and something JJ couldn’t identify shining in his big brown eyes. “Jer, JJ’s cool. Give the fag back his comic,” Leroy, another of the basketball jocks, said. He reached for the rolled up comic in Jerome’s hand, but Jerome didn’t relinquish it. “Come on, man, we’ll be late for practice!” Leroy urged. Maggie put a hand on JJ’s back, but JJ’s stare didn’t waver from Jerome’s face. “Jer.” Leroy let go of the comic. “We need to get moving.” A few tense seconds later Jerome ended the staring match by dropping his gaze from JJ’s. He drew back his lips, bared his white teeth, and snarled. “Shoulda known you’d be a fag lover, Brockwell, you having two dads.” Maggie removed her hand from JJ’s back and took a step toward Jerome. JJ put an arm out to stop her. Not looking at Milton, Jerome tossed the comic in his direction. Milton fumbled the catch, the multi-colored pages fanning out as the comic sailed to the floor. This caused more laughter from the gang, who began to move in the direction of the locker room. Milton cried out, “You’re walking on it!” In a quieter voice he added, “It’s a collector’s edition.” Jerome, whose foot was on the comic, whirled to face Milton. JJ managed to insert himself between the two. Jerome drew back a fist, but his arm was stayed by one of his buddies. “It’s not worth it, man.” “Nah,” Jerome agreed. “Ain’t gonna have coach kick me off the team for fighting. Beside, it’d hardly be a fair fight. One man against three girls.” JJ feared Maggie would lash out. He wasn’t disappointed. “You think you’re a man?” She laughed. “Your last girlfriend told me that when you asked her to give you a blowjob she needed a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers.” Shit, JJ thought, way to defuse the situation. Her comment drew laughs from the other three jocks, although, judging by the look of fury on Jerome’s face, he didn’t find it amusing. “Good one,” Leroy said. “I’ll have to remember that.” Jerome pushed the guy against the wall. “Yo, shut your mouth.” Judging it was better to get out of there before things got even uglier, JJ bent down, scooped up the comic, put an arm around Milton’s shoulders, and led him and Maggie down the hallway. The group of jocks seemed more interested in pushing each other and horsing around than in the retreating threesome. “Thanks,” Milton said when they’d gotten several yards away. “That’s okay.” JJ looked down at the smaller guy. That odd look was on his face again. “Here’s your comic.” JJ dropped his arm from Milton’s shoulders and with the other handed over the comic. Milton looked crestfallen. “Might as well toss it in the trash.” JJ looked at the comic. “There’s only a slight tear at the corner, and sure, the first few pages are a bit mashed up, but I’m sure you can still read it okay.” Maggie asked, “Do you need us to walk with you to the subway or something?” Milton bit his lip before nodding. JJ knew his chances of getting any that evening had just gone from zero to zilch.