Chapter Thirty-Two: Inquisition

Jack and David both froze, and finally Jack turned around. Oscar Delancey was, indeed, standing at the door of the stable, watching them coldly. Jack swallowed hard and carefully disentangled himself from David. He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind, and he thought it was probably wiser to say nothing at all.

Finally, Oscar said, "One of my campers was puking and I couldn't find you to walk him to the infirmary. And Triage couldn't get you on the radio. I thought you might be hard to find, but the lights made it pretty easy. You and your boyfriend come here often?"

"Oscar, I don't..." Jack trailed off and reached for his radio. It was on, but the red light was dim and no matter how loud he turned it up, he couldn't get so much as static. The battery was clearly close to dead.

"This what you always do when campers sneak out? Go on, Jacobs. Get back to bed."

David hesitated, and Jack nodded. Neither of them said anything as David stood and hurried out of the stable.

"You always did think you owned this place, Kelly," Oscar said.

"I don't—"

"You act like God around here, and a lotta people got pretty sick of it. Lotta people won't miss you."

"We weren't doing anything wrong," Jack mumbled.

"Yeah, let's see. You had a camper who snuck out and you didn't report—let alone send back. And you two were screwing around pretty heavy—"

"We were not, we—"

"Yeah, well, that's what it looked like to me. And you can definitely get canned for that."

"We weren't screwing around!" Jack repeated.

Oscar snorted. "You've got this coming, Kelly."

"You don't have any proof," Jack said.

"Yeah, well, Triage knows she couldn't get you on the radio, and I went looking for you. And I don't think Mrs. Higgins is gonna just ignore this. And you know what's great, Kelly? I don't even have to lie. You really brought it on yourself." He smirked. "Well, I'll see you at breakfast. Probably for the last time."

Oscar turned and strode off, and Jack could see him head up the hill, back towards the infirmary and the office, instead of towards his cabin. And there was absolutely nothing Jack could do to about it.

*

David didn't sleep at all. He rolled over again and again, closed his eyes, breathed deeply, but couldn't get his mind to calm. He ran over scenario after scenario in his mind, each one worse than the next, unable to tell what was likely from what was just his over-active imagination. Jack would get fired, sent back to his dad's place, get beaten up, get hospitalized. That was the worst image: Jack in a hospital, when all David would have had to do to prevent it was not sneak out to meet him. But he'd done it, even knowing the potential consequences; he'd done it, and now Jack was going to lose his job, have to deal with his abusive father, and oh god.

By morning, he was exhausted but hadn't slept at all. Dawn only made him more nervous, knowing that any chance at sleep he had was shot, and not knowing what was going to happen. All he knew was that it would be bad.

He didn't move when the first bell rang, and his bunkmates began to stir. It took him ten minutes before he grudgingly slid out of bed and began to dress. And before the second bell had finished chiming, Bryan Denton had let himself into the cabin.

Everyone kind of froze and started at him, but David felt his heart sink further.

"David?" he said softly.

"Yeah," David said.

"My office, after breakfast, please."

David nodded, and Denton nodded back, and let himself out.

"What was that about?" Skittery asked, sounding as uninterested as he usually did.

David shook his head. He glanced over at Racetrack, who raised an eyebrow but didn't speak. David didn't say anything else on the way in to breakfast, even when Race kept pace with him and asked what was going on.

He just shook his head, unable to say anything aloud. Even now that it was too late.

"Jack?" Racetrack murmured.

He nodded.

"Big trouble?"

Nod.

"Crap," Racetrack murmured.

Jack wasn't in the dining hall at breakfast; Triage told the campers at his table that he was sick.

David also felt sick, and didn't eat anything. The meal felt like it dragged on for hours, and when it finally ended, David trudged up the hill to the infirmary.

Jack was sitting inside, looking like maybe he was genuinely ill instead of in trouble.

"Hey," he said miserably.

"Hi," David answered. "How're you... doing?"

Jack shrugged. "Been here since one in the morning, since I'm not trustworthy with young, male campers."

"Oh, god, Jack... I, I'm so—"

Jack shook his head. "Don't, Dave. Don't say you're sorry."

"But—"

"'Cause I'm not." Jack stood up, looked him in the eye. "And you were right. I shouldn't have turned on the light. And I was being irresponsible. So anything that happens is my fault and not yours, so I don't want you to feel guilty or bad or sorry, because I..." He trailed off and smiled sadly.

"David," Denton said, walking in behind him. "Downstairs, please."

David looked helplessly at Jack, who shrugged and waved, not speaking. David followed Denton down the set of stairs, his feet feeling as heavy as lead. He sank down in his usual seat, hardly able to believe he'd been in the office often enough to know where to sit by habit, and Denton sat behind the desk. He sighed heavily.

"Mrs. Higgins will be along in a few minutes," Denton said. "But in the mean time, if you could tell me what happened last night, I'd appreciate it."

David shrugged. "I snuck out," he said.

"And?" Denton prompted.

"And Jack was bringing me back to my cabin, Oscar saw us, and started saying all kinds of stupid stuff. I went back to my cabin and..." He shrugged. "You showed up this morning."

"What did Oscar think he saw?" Denton asked

David took a deep breath. He really didn't know how to handle this or what to say; he knew he couldn't incriminate Jack, but that even after spending the summer acting, he was not a good liar. So he shrugged. "He said something about us... like, screwing around. But that wasn't what happened!"

Which was kind of true. They hadn't been screwing around. Just making out.

"And you deny that anything happened?" Denton asked.

"Nothing happened," David said.

"Were you two in the stables?" Denton asked.

David hesitated. He knew that gave away that something was going on, but he didn't know if maybe Jack had said they were in the stable—Jack trying to help David with his fear of horses would have been against the rules, but not nearly the infraction that making out with a camper was.

Denton raised an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid of horses," David mumbled.

"So I've heard," Denton answered, smiling bemusedly.

David groaned. "Did everyone hear about that... incident?"

"I would say so, yes."

"Great," David mumbled. "Jack... He's been trying to get me over my, uh, issues. For awhile. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of my friends again, so, uh, yeah. He agreed to help me out at night because no one else would be around."

"So you were in the stable."

"Yeah," David said. "Just to pet the horses. That's all that was going on."

"You said Jack was sending you back to your cabin," Denton reminded him.

"Well, he was going to," David mumbled. "When we were done."

"Of course." Denton nodded. "Which would also explain why he didn't report it, or want to discuss it. Right?"

David nodded quickly.

"And of course that could be misconstrued by another counselor."

David nodded again.

"Makes perfect sense," Denton said. "And I'd very much like to believe that's what happened. I don't, but I would like to." He sighed. "David, I need you to understand the importance of the accusations being leveled at Jack. As a counselor, he's supposed to hold a position of authority, and to be in any way inappropriately involved with a camper is a violation of that authority. By extension, it's a violation of your safety, and of the trust your parents gave us when placing you in our care."

David said nothing.

Denton watched him for a long moment, then nodded. "I believe you do understand how important this all is, David. We aren't investigating it to be malicious. Mrs. Higgins and I would like nothing better than for Jack to be cleared of all charges, but given the seriousness of the allegations, we can't afford to take them lightly or..." He trailed off. "I hope you understand that."

David nodded, not sure what to say. He did understand why the clause in all counselor contracts existed; he could see how a counselor-camper relationship could be a legal nightmare. And the fact that they were gay would only make it worse, especially because Jack had kissed him the first time, before anyone—David included—knew he was gay. There were all sorts of ways that could be looked at as bad, and very few that were good.

Even if he knew it was good. It was his first relationship, and Jack's, and they really, really liked each other.

Mrs. Higgins broke the silence by entering the room and shutting the door behind her. She took one of the chairs and set it next to Denton's. "I trust you've explained the situation?" she asked.

Denton nodded, so she turned back to David.

"You aren't in any trouble, David," she said. "I want to make that very clear. No matter what happens, you are not to blame for any of this mess, you won't face any punishment, and no one will blame you."

David swallowed, realizing that she was probably right—Jack had said as much. That he shouldn't blame himself. But he couldn't help it, because if he hadn't snuck out to see Jack, this mess wouldn't have happened at all. He might not have been to blame, but he knew he was at least partially responsible.

But he nodded, because he knew he needed to react somehow.

She sighed. "I'd like to start at the beginning, David. I think it's safe to say you and Jack are good friends."

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"Do you believe that he's gay?" she asked.

David nodded. "He told me he is."

"Did he tell you anything about his home? His family?"

"Yeah," David said. "About his dad, mostly. And his step-father."

"So you know him fairly well?"

"I guess."

"Do you think you know him well?" she rephrased.

David hesitated, then nodded. "We talked a lot when we were sick," he explained.

"Do you think it's odd for a camper and a counselor to be so close?"

"No!" David said. "No, I mean, we're only a year apart, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be friends."

"It never bothered you that he was an authority figure?"

"Not really."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Believe it or not, I'm really not a troublemaker. Usually. And since he never had to use his authority, it never bothered me."

"So you don't see him as an authority?"

"I think he's someone I would go to if I had a problem," David said, proud of how smooth that sounded. "I mean, if someone got hurt, or, if, like... I was really upset and wanted to talk. He's someone who I'd just go to. I trust him."

She nodded. "So you think Jack is trustworthy?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you think I should find him trustworthy?"

David was on guard immediately. He realized that was a very, very loaded question. "Well, he did know about me sneaking out. I mean, he was with me in the barn, to deal with the horses and all. I'm guessing that's not your idea of a trustworthy counselor."

"Interesting answer," she said. She glanced at Denton.

"David told me Jack was trying to help him with his fear of horses in the barn. That Oscar must have thought he saw something wrong."

"Oh?" she said.

"Or lied," David said.

"You'd accuse a counselor of lying about something this important?" Mrs. Higgins asked.

David hesitated. He hadn't considered what he'd been doing before as really lying. It wasn't telling the truth, but it wasn't too far from the truth, and it was just protecting Jack. But accusing Oscar of lying was really being kind of malicious. It meant actively trying to get someone in trouble; and even though he was sure Oscar deserved it, he had technically only been doing his job, and he was, in fact, correct.

"I don't know," he said finally, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I know that Jack and I were just sitting, talking about horses, and then Oscar came in and said he had a camper who was sick and he couldn't find Jack. Jack's radio had died. And, um, obviously that was when I went back to bed."

"You two were talking," Mrs. Higgins repeated, nodded. "About what?"

"About the horses. I... I really, really hate horses. Only bad things have happened to me around horses." He didn't actually cross his fingers when he said that, though he wanted to; it was mostly true, but first getting together with Jack had been a good thing, and a very big good thing at that. David shrugged a little. "So when we got to the barn I was freaking out, and so we sat down and were talking."

"What did he say?"

"Uh..." David groped for words. "I don't really... I mean, it was about horses. He could have been speaking Greek for all I knew. Mostly, though, it was about how I shouldn't be afraid. He'd help me. So it would've been okay if... If we weren't interrupted."

Mrs. Higgins sighed. "And did you or Jack say anything, or do anything, that might have looked suspicious to Oscar?"

"I don't know," he answered aloud, thinking, Yeah, we were making out.

"I can tell you don't want to talk about this, David," she said. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm worried about Jack," David mumbled. "I mean, Mr. Denton told me how serious this is."

"Of course." Mrs. Higgins nodded. "One more question, David, if you don't mind. I realize it's rather personal—very personal. But, are you gay?"

He stared at her, and almost choked. The only people who knew he was gay were Jack and Racetrack; not even his parents, or his sister, or his closest friends from home knew. And he was hardly used to it, and had barely come to terms with it at all.

"Does it matter if I am?" he asked finally.

"Not in the least," she answered. "Not with regards to this—it just seems to me that if you are, if there's anyone who knows, rumors... accusations... Well, if people suspected it, it might lead to rumors and confusion, and of course, we want to know if there is some sort of rumor which might have led to a mistaken assumption on Oscar's part."

That made sense, David thought, though it had been a bit wordy and awkward. He realized that if he was gay—and she definitely knew Jack was—it might look bad for Jack. But on the other hand, if he was gay, and she wanted to take that as the reason for the accusation, it couldn't hurt any.

And besides, it was the truth.

"Yeah," David said. "I am, but I, I mean, I haven't told... Uh, almost anyone. Like my parents."

"They don't know?"

He shook his head no.

"Does Jack know?" Mrs. Higgins asked.

David took a deep breath, and nodded. "I was really, really confused about some... stuff," he said. "And like I said, I trust Jack, and he'd kind of been through it, so..."

"I see. Well, I'm very glad you found someone you can confide in, David," Mrs. Higgins said.

Denton cleared his throat. "You didn't sound particularly surprised to hear about the accusation," he pointed out.

"Oscar was talking about it last night, as I left," David said. "I was worried all night. I didn't sleep well, I don't feel too good... I'm worried." He hoped it sounded duly pathetic and depressed and genuine.

Mrs. Higgins cleared her throat. "Well, perhaps it's odd to say, but that works out very well for us. Why don't you go rest upstairs for awhile? We'd rather... we'd rather that no word about this gets out, as, even if it proves false—as we hope it will—it would be damaging to the reputations of several people, yourself and Jack in particular. And I'm sure you'd prefer not to be the subject of that much gossip."

David nodded.

She stood up. "You're welcome to rest upstairs for as long as you'd like. We'll talk again later."

David stood up too, and as he started for the staircase, he mumbled, "Jack didn't do anything wrong."

"I hope that's true, David," Mrs. Higgins said. "For Jack's sake."

*

Jack heard the footsteps come upstairs and inhaled deeply. David appeared, looking slightly frazzled, and shrugged heavily. Jack nodded a little, and Mrs. Higgins appeared in the hallway behind David.

"Right over there," Mrs. Higgins said, pointing to one of the small rooms where David could sleep. "Jack? Downstairs, please."

He nodded. "Yeah..." He glanced at David again. "You okay, Dave?"

"Yeah," David said. "Just... tired. Gonna sleep awhile."

Jack nodded. "Well, uh, goodnight, then. I'll, uh, see you in awhile."

David nodded and disappeared into the side room, and Jack followed Mrs. Higgins back down the stairs. She gestured at a chair, which was warm when he sat down; he could only assume it was where David had been sitting. She settled next to Denton across from him.

"Jack..." Mrs. Higgins sighed. "I believe you were told about the accusations leveled at you."

"Yeah," Jack said.

"Are they true?" she asked.

He shook his head, his heart sinking. He hated lying to Mrs. Higgins, hated it. Even when he'd be a trouble-making camper, she'd been able to keep him from wreaking total havoc; not by getting angry or yelling, but simply by shaking her head and saying she was disappointed. That had always been enough to stop him and make him feel rotten. He knew how much Mrs. Higgins had done for him; the thought of disappointing her was like a knife in his gut, twisting and destroying vital organs.

And the worst part, the absolute worst part, was that she had every reason to be disappointed. She'd given him a job, and he'd broken his contract; he'd opened up the potential for a lawsuit, he'd almost certainly get fired, and it was his own fault. Even though he knew what he and David had together wasn't wrong, it was illegal at camp. And she'd never trust him again, if she found out.

But he didn't want to lie. Not to her, who had been like a part-time mother to him (and, in a lot of ways, better than his own mother); and not about David, who he cared about more than anything else he could think of. His heart sank a little more.

"We're just going to ask you some questions, Jack," Denton said. "No one is accusing you of anything, we just want to make sure we've got our facts straight. Does Oscar Delancey know you're gay?"

"Yeah," Jack mumbled.

"Did he before last night?"

"Yeah."

"How?" Denton looked up, surprised.

"His uncle knows my step-dad, and stuff gets around. That's how they, uh, heard about camp."

Mrs. Higgins nodded, probably remembering that they were from the same town.

"So then, it is possible that this accusation was only made because he was armed with that knowledge," Denton said, glancing at Mrs. Higgins. "It's been made very clear through the last few years that neither Delancey brother is exactly your biggest fan, Jack."

"Yeah, I noticed," he said.

"But I still have trouble imagining someone making an allegation this serious with no real, concrete reason."

"So what, precisely, was going on when Oscar found you and David?" Mrs. Higgins asked.

Jack hesitated. "I..." He decided to go with as much truth as possible. "Dave and I were sitting on the stable bench."

She nodded. "What were you discussing?"

"Discussing?" he repeated. "Uh... I don't really... want to talk about it."

He didn't expected that to be good enough, since this was kind of an interrogation. But she glanced at Denton, and nodded. "I just want to make it clear, Jack, that David won't be held responsible; not even for sneaking out. This is too important. All we want is honesty."

"I, I can't," Jack said, and added, half to himself, "David trusts me."

Another sideways look at Denton, and another nod. "David has already told us about his fear of horses; you don't need to worry about embarrassing him."

Jack blinked once, hoping his surprised wasn't evident on his face. That made a lot of sense, he realized. They'd been in the stable, and he had kind of been trying to get David to deal with his horse problems, and everyone knew David was terrified of horses. So it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that they'd been discussing horses, even so late at night; surely David would have realized that...

Jack shrugged. "Then you already know."

"Did you think it was inappropriate, for the two of you to be out so late together?" Denton asked.

"Well, um..." Jack shrunk down in his seat. "I mean, I know it's against the rules. And I should have told him no and sent him back to bed and all. But... I mean, he's terrified and when I talked to his folks on parent's day, they said specifically they really were hoping he'd get over his issues. And he was embarrassed and he didn't want to do it with anyone around, so I kinda... I mean, I didn't figure it would be such a big deal if he was out after curfew for a little while, and I'd be with him so I'd know he wasn't in trouble or anything." He hung his head. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Jack," Mrs. Higgins said, almost sharply, and he looked up. "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you didn't do it."

Jack swallowed and nodded. He was sure it couldn't be this easy, and he hated lying. But he looked her in the eye and said, "I didn't."

She nodded, seemingly satisfied. But Denton spoke up. "Jack, out of curiosity—well, you and David have been very close, closer than you are with many of your friends from previous years. Do you... I realize it's a very personal question, but do you have feelings for David?"

Jack took a deep breath. This was one thing he couldn't deny, and refused to lie about. "Yeah," he said simply. "But..."

Denton nodded. "We certainly won't judge you for that; we have faith in you to control yourself, regardless."

"Uh, thanks."

"Do you know if David is gay?" Mrs. Higgins asked.

Jack froze for a moment, then shrugged. "No idea."

"Really? He's never mentioned anything which might make you think he was gay—or straight?"

Jack shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I mean, I usually figure guys are straight unless they tell me otherwise."

She looked over at Denton, who frowned.

"I think that will be all for now, Jack," Mrs. Higgins said finally. "We might have more questions for you later."

Jack nodded and stood up. He'd felt awful all day, but something about her tone of voice, and the looks she and Denton gave each other, made him think it had all just gotten a lot worse.

*

Oscar Delancey smirked. "Look, I saw what I saw," he said. "I didn't know nothing about Jacobs being gay. Yeah, I knew about Jack, so what?"

"We just thought that, perhaps, you might have been mistaken," Mrs. Higgins said. "Knowing, as you do about Jack and all; maybe it was dark and unclear." She stared at him seriously, and he shrugged.

"Look, Mrs. Higgins," he said. "I saw what I saw. They were sitting on the bench in the stables, and Jack had his tongue down the kid's throat. I didn't make a mistake, it was really, really obvious."

"You're sure about that?" Denton asked.

"Yeah," Oscar answered. "Positive."

Mrs. Higgins let out a long, deep breath, and nodded. "Thank you very much, Oscar. This is, essentially, your word against Jack's, but we will strongly consider everything you've told us. And of course, it goes without saying that you shouldn't mention this to anyone, not even your brother."

"Of course," Oscar answered.

But it was a little too late for that, and by lunchtime, all sorts of rumors had spread through the camp.

[End Chapter Thirty-Two]
Chapter Thirty-Three: Trust