Fourteen

By B K Buis

In Book Two of The Teen Series, fourteen-year-old Pete Johnson learns more about himself and relationships as he navigates through the eighth grade. Along with his best friends Scooter and Annie, Pete wades through the highs and lows of being a teenager while enduring heartaches and disappointments along with a growing maturity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B K Buis
• Release date: Jun 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005374525

B K Buis

B.K. Buis has been a high school Language Arts and Theatre teacher for twenty-seven years. He's written many skits for Pioneer Drama., and The Family Tree is his first young adult novel. He also co-founded and ran a community theatre, The New London Theatre, in Snellville, Georgia.

Book preview

Chapter One

fourteen (fore - teen) noun – a cardinal number; 10 plus 4; a symbol for this number, as 14 or XIV; a set of this many persons or things.

In this story is a death, though it doesn’t happen until the end so if you need to know who it is I suppose you can skip ahead and look so you’re not caught off-guard. My sister Kat, who I rarely listen to, hates to read a book with an unhappy ending and says I need to tell you about the death straight off so you’ll be ready for it. In this one rare instance, she may be right.

Kat and I spent a month in Hershey, Pennsylvania with our dad, who’d stunned all of us by revealing he was gay a year ago, and during the drive back to Georgia with our mom, the idea of heading into the eighth grade and being one of the big kids at school hit me. Of course I wouldn’t literally be one of the big kids as many boys and girls were bigger than me. While in Hershey, we’d celebrated Kat’s eleventh birthday, and she’d be joining me at the middle school, which I wasn’t crazy about but had no say in. Mom, however, was ecstatic about having both of us at the same school where she worked as the secretary to the principal, Dr. Rice.

As I stared out the window during the drive home, all conversation having dried up an hour ago, I imagined different animals in the clouds, mostly elephants for some reason, when Kat woke up in the backseat and asked where we were.

About an hour from home, Mom said, and Kat lay back down with a dramatic sigh before mumbling, I never want to talk to Lori again.

Oh? Mom asked, but Kat didn’t reply. Lori was Kat’s best friend in Hershey. They’d pretty much either been at Lori’s or my dad’s house the entire month we’d stayed there, so her announcement surprised us.

Thirteen had been a difficult year for me, and I looked forward to turning fourteen in a little over a month. Mom already said that Scooter, my best friend, could have dinner with us when we got home. It wasn’t exactly home for us because it was my Uncle Dave and Aunt Pat’s house, but over the last year it felt more like home with each passing month.

I also looked forward to seeing my dog Buddy, who’d lost a leg when a rattlesnake bit him on a hike the previous year. Before we left for Pennsylvania, he was hopping around as good as ever, but I’d never been away from him for such a long time. After the last hour of driving, Mom pulled up in front of the house, and we rolled ourselves out of the car to stretch. Uncle Dave, Aunt Pat, and even Buddy must have been expecting us because they were right there helping unload. Uncle Dave looked pretty good for having gone through cancer treatments the past year and insisted on carrying most of the suitcases inside, which none of us argued against. He’d gone back to work full-time while we were gone, so I could tell he was in a pretty good mood. Buddy was in his typically good mood and I carried him inside to stop him from jumping up and down too much.

Shortly after we’d unpacked and Aunt Pat started making bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for everyone, Scooter showed up with a big grin on his face and his backpack tucked under his arm. At the end of the school year, he and I had unwillingly found ourselves facing each other in the middle of a ring of jeering students wanting to see us fight but we’d somehow ended up fighting Scooter’s older brother Zeke. Luckily for us, their oldest brother Corliss, who would soon be a freshman football player at a Division II college, arrived in time to break us up before Zeke tore our heads off. After that experience, Scooter and my friendship was sealed in stone.

Scooter got a phone for his fourteenth birthday recently and texted me the last week I’d been in Hershey. His life drastically improved this summer as Zeke didn’t torture him nearly as much as usual. Zeke also finally graduated out of the middle school and would no longer be prowling the halls ready to make Scooter’s life miserable there as well.

Mom looked questioningly at Scooter because of the grin he was trying to hide but she didn’t say anything, and we excused ourselves to my bedroom in the basement before she got more suspicious. Buddy hopped downstairs with us and as soon as we all plopped on the bed Scooter tossed his backpack at me.

Open it.

Will it explode?

No.

Is it a snake?

Of course not.

I gingerly unlatched it, turned it upside down, and stared open-mouthed at a picture of a nude woman. Scooter nearly rolled off the bed laughing at my reaction.

Where’d you get it? I asked.

My brother.

He’ll kill you!

Not Zeke, Corliss!

Corliss!? Football star? AP student?! He’d always seemed too perfect.

He gave it to me. He had it so long he forgot about it. When he started packing for college he found it and gave it to me. Go on!

I hesitantly turned a page where three more nude women stared back at me.

I bet I can guess who she reminds you of, he said pointing at a woman with hair the same color as Darlene D’Angelo, every boy’s crush at school.

No, it doesn’t.

But you’re thinking about her now.

Cut it out!

Buddy sniffed at the open backpack, and Scooter pulled some cookies out and shared them with both of us when a sudden knock on the door caused us to jump off the bed. Scooter threw the magazine underneath it as Buddy added to the confusion with insistent barking.

What!?

Mom says to come up for dinner, Kat mumbled.

Okay!

What’s wrong?

Nothing!

What’re you yelling for?

I’m not! though I was.

Is your door locked? as she jiggled the knob.

Kat! Go away!

And she opened the door and stepped inside staring at us.

What are you doing? she asked.

Nothing! we both replied.

Kat, go upstairs and leave us alone!

It’s time for dinner.

Okay! Don’t make such a big deal out of it. Geez!

We waited until she stomped away before stuffing the magazine back into Scooter’s bookbag and shoving it under the bed where Buddy crawled in after it.

You don’t want to look at it? Scooter asked.

I both did and didn’t but replied, My mom would kill me.

If she saw it. Aren’t you even interested? he whispered.

Yeah, but…

Pete? Scooter? Mom called, saving me from giving an explanation I couldn’t explain. Dinner!

’Kay!

I had to call Buddy three times before he joined us as we started up the stairs where Kat stared annoyingly at us. I gave her a what?! look and she didn’t say anything.

At dinner over sandwiches, Uncle Dave and Aunt Pat asked Kat and me about our trip to Pennsylvania. I know they meant well but talking about our dad wasn’t high on our agenda. Soon after we’d finished eating, Scooter’s Mom called and told him to come on home.

Don’t forget your bookbag, I said meaningfully, and he ran downstairs to grab it before thanking my mom and Aunt Pat for dinner and heading home.

Less than ten minutes later, my phone rang.

It’s gone! Scooter exclaimed.

What?

You know. It isn’t there!

I sat in the living room next to Uncle Dave watching television.

The magazine! he continued. I opened the bookbag, and it was empty.

Uncle Dave may have noticed me hyperventilating but kept quiet as I crept past the kitchen where Mom, Aunt Pat, and Kat played Uno and downstairs to look under the bed.

It’s still here!

How’d it get there?

We threw it there, remember?

But it was inside the bookbag!

Then I saw the licked-clean cookie wrapper laying next to the magazine.

Buddy!

What’s he want it for?

No! He must have pulled it out trying to get the rest of the cookies!

Well, just keep it hidden.

Are you kidding? I don’t want it here!

Well, I can’t get it now. You’ll have to keep it til tomorrow. I gotta go, and he hung up.

Chapter Two

video (vid - ee - oh) noun – a program, movie, or other visual media product featuring moving images, with or without audio, that is recorded and saved digitally.

I barely slept that night for various reasons and couldn’t wait until Scooter reappeared around ten in the morning with another big grin on his face.

How’d you like it? he asked as soon as we were downstairs. He didn’t have to explain what he meant by ‘it’.

After a pause, I answered, It was educational.

Ha! You sound like you’re fifty years old. ‘Educational.’

I didn’t know what else to say but noticed he hadn’t brought his bookbag. What are you going to take it home in?

Nah, I don’t want it. That’s, like, old-school. The internet is way better.

Well, what am I supposed to do with it?

He raised his eyebrows before asking, Dude, what do you even do with your phone?

I don’t know. Mostly games and stuff.

Man, there is a whole world out there, and it’s all available with a few clicks.

You’ve only had it a few weeks. How’d you know all this?

I’ve got ways and means. I’ve got methods.

Well, your methods need less madness.

What’s that mean?

I don’t know. I heard it somewhere, and it sounded cool.

Aren’t you curious?

Yeah, but… I had no idea how to express myself. I don’t know. I guess I just want to figure it out myself, not have it…you know….shoved in front of my face.

Scooter laughed. There are things on the internet you could never guess at, let alone figure out by yourself. Everything I know about sex, I’ve learned from the internet.

And most of it’s wrong.

He laughed again and said, Here, let me see your phone.

Why? though I handed it to him.

A present, he said as he clicked and swiped.

What are you doing?

You’ll see. There, and he gave it back to me. You’ll thank me later.

I was skeptical but didn’t say anything.

The Friday before school started, we gathered at Scooter’s house for Corliss’s going-away party. Though his college classes didn’t start for three weeks, he was reporting for football practice, and his mom, my mom, and Aunt Pat cooked up a storm for his friends, including half the football team who were all as big as him. Scooter, Kat, and I stayed busy running food and drinks from the kitchen to the backyard while Uncle Dave manned the grill and talked blocking techniques with the offensive line and told them about the pins he still had in his ankle from an injury. Kat held onto Mom’s phone acting like it was hers after having spent the time since returning from Pennsylvania begging for a cell phone of her own without success. When it rang, she gleefully answered in her best starlet voice, Hello dahling! Oh, I’m afraid she’s occupied at the moment. May I give her a message?

But then her face fell and her voice changed.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tomorrow? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay, and she hung up. She stood thinking and a moment later asked, What was the name of the teacher you didn’t like?

Last year?

Uh-huh.

Mr. Greeley.

I didn’t remember ever talking about him to her and asked, Why? but she didn’t answer and silently stared at the phone.

We need more buns, Uncle Dave called. I turned toward the kitchen accidentally knocking Kat’s arm, and she dropped the phone into the ice chest.

Kat, you’re so stupid!

I didn’t do it!

Pull it out! Uncle Dave yelled, and I reached in and grabbed the phone. Fortunately, the ice chest was more ice than water and the phone didn’t seem any worse for its dunking, but I took it to Mom anyway and Mrs. Barnes stuck it in a bowl of dry rice to soak out the moisture just in case.

A minute after I returned with the buns Kat asked, Can I borrow your phone for a second?

So you can drop it in the ice chest?

No.

Then why?

I’m supposed to check on my school schedule.

Now?

Some of us care about school.

Uncle Dave gave a nod, and I reluctantly handed it over as Mom brought out another batch of brownies warm from the oven. Almost immediately, Kat asked, What’s this?

What?

This video?

Mom said, Let me see. Her eyes widened and her lips tightened but to her credit she didn’t explode. I’ll just hold onto this, and she put my phone into her apron pocket and marched back to the kitchen.

Minutes later I told Scooter what happened, and his eyes narrowed and his mouth fell open.

She’s got your phone?

Uh-huh.

Oh, man, you are in trouble.

Thanks to you!

Oh, man.

She only saw the first few seconds of it. What’s going to happen when she sees the whole thing?

Oh, man! I stared at him as he added, I’m glad I’m not you!

Thanks a lot! and walked away as he called, Let me know what happens!

The rest of the evening I avoided Mom and unsuccessfully tried to think of excuses short of telling the truth and blaming Scooter. After cleaning the Barnes’ house, we headed home and fifteen minutes later, Uncle Dave knocked on my bedroom door and asked if he could come in. I moved Buddy off my lap and opened the door without saying anything and he sat in my desk chair while I waited on the edge of the bed for the yelling.

Um, your mom asked me to, you know, talk to you.

I sat dumbly blushing.

I guess, uh, you know what it’s about, he continued.

I nodded.

Um, look, I’m not very good at this. But, uh, your mom is actually taking it pretty well, all things considered. I mean, she hasn’t blown up or anything.

I glumly nodded again.

You know, he continued, it’s natural to be curious. About girls and sex and stuff, right?

I shrugged my shoulders and wondered if this was turning into a birds and bees talk.

’Cause, you know, you’re growing up. I mean, you had your first date last year.

I nodded.

Yeah, and, you know, maybe it’s on your mind. I mean, you know, that’s natural.

It was clear he was as uncomfortable with this talk as I was, and neither of us looked the other in the eye.

I mean, nothing happened on your date, right?

I shook my head.

Okay. That’s good. I mean, you’re young. You know, some things don’t need to be rushed. Um, let’s see. Do you know what a condom is?

My face flushed from fire-engine red to neon glow-in-the-dark red though I managed to nod yes.

"Okay. Good. Good. Not that you need one. I’m just saying, be