“What was I thinking!” Jason thought angrily to himself as Scott sheepishly handed him a towel. “A four minute shower? Who could take that long? Why was I standing under the sprayer, and did I actually put that creamy white junk in my hair? Who would do that?”
He ran his fingers through his wet hair; they slid easily through the snotty follicles with no resistance at all.
“Gross… What even is that crud?” Jason wondered as he quickly worked the towel all over his body. “All I had to do was fill the 'Big Gulp' cup half-way, dump the water all over me, wipe the bar of soap over my belly; under my arms; and over my junk, then rub my soapy hands off in my hair and rinse it all off with a filled-to-the-brim 'Big Gulp'… Quick and easy…”
Though the shower protocol seemed so obvious in hindsight, it wasn’t going to do any good to dwell on that now. For the moment Jason needed to find some clothes to wear so he could get dressed. From what he could tell, this part of the morning preparation was a kind of group effort. The other boys were all in various states of dress, clawing through piles of laundry, picking up articles of clothing, giving them a quick sniff, and either putting them on, throwing them back into the pile, or tossing them to one of the other boys to wear.
“I found some pants for you, Spence.” “Here’s a shirt, Cody.” “Has anyone seen my right shoe?” “Yeah, here you go.”
“What kind of school uniforms are those?” Jason wondered in confusion at their pseudo-military styling. He bent down and picked up a flat rectangular folded cloth officer-style hat bearing an ornate crest and insignia reading “Pavelton Boy’s Academy.”
“Hey, Jason. Try these.” Cody called out dully before a pair of crusty boxers landed at Jason’s feet.
“Gross!” Jason exclaimed in disgust. “I can’t put these on... It looks like somebody blew their nose in them… Are they even mine?”
“What do you mean? If they fit, they’re yours. That’s the rule.” Cody replied matter-of-factly. “And they ARE clean; they should be good for a few more days. Smell them.”
“I do NOT need to smell these to know that they are frickin’ filthy. They’re crusty, with… with... I don’t even want to say what with! I can’t believe I even touched them!” Jason exclaimed, flinging the shorts away in revulsion.
Eli picked them up and gave them a curious whiff.
“They smell pretty ok to me too.” He said, a little confused.
“Yeah, like bleach.” one of the other boys blurted out with laughter.
“...Anyway...” Eli continued, “So what if they’ve got a little crusty patch? I mean… at least it had time to dry...” He added with an earnest smile, offering them back to Jason.
“No way…” Jason said, shaking his head and raising his hands in definitive objection.
Eli quickly stretched the boxers tight and played the crusty spot back and forth across the edge of the nearby desk until the fabric softened.
“Come on.” Eli pleaded fervently, offering the boxers to Jason once again. “Put these on and I’ll help you find the rest of your uniform. I’ve already started a pile over there. Keith is seriously going to kill you if you’re not downstairs in like two minutes.”
Jason couldn’t see any other option and he felt really oddly moved by how caring Eli was acting towards him. It was as if some part of Elizabeth were living inside of him, desperately trying to look out for Jason, but being forced to do it in a gross, twisted, brotherly way. He begrudgingly accepted the “softened” dirty underwear from Eli’s outstretched hand as tears started to well up in his eyes, being overcome by the bizarre mix of revulsion, gratitude, hope, humiliation and grief that occupied his mind.
Jason waited for the other boys to appear distracted with their own activities before he discretely dropped the towel around his ankles and bracingly stepped into the disgusting boxers. Having mentally committed to the abominable act, he finally foisted the garment up the length of his legs where it settled proudly around his waist.
“Please God, let that have been my own Jizz.” He prayed, before mentally tamping down his inner agony and digging into the clothes Eli had set aside for him to wear.
He hurriedly pulled on the undershirt, grimacing at the feel of the compacted layers of antiperspirant in the underarms. Then he stretched the blue dress shirt over his arms and across his back. He then reached down and held the pants securely as he quickly stepped into them and pulled them up his legs. Then he spread his legs apart to hold the pants in place while he buttoned the shirt up to the collar and stuffed the shirt-tail down into the pants.
“We gotta go, we’re out of time!” Spencer shouted.
Everyone was ready to go except for Jason...
“Go on without me. We shouldn’t all be late.” Jason suggested. “I’ll get the rest of this stuff on as fast as I can and follow right behind you.”
“No way.” Eli said sternly, throwing Jason a black tie. “We’re not leaving you behind. Just get your tie on and we’ll do the rest... Everybody help out!”
All the boys ganged up on Jason from all angles, pushing him down so that he was sitting on the bed. Two boys conducted his feet into a pair of socks while another threaded his belt loops and another unfolded his flattened officer-style hat and cupped it over his head.
“I don’t know how to tie this.” Jason admitted, holding the necktie in front of him dumbly.
“Do it for him, Spence.” Eli called out commandingly, prompting the boy to hastily extend Jason’s collar and snake the long piece of fabric expertly around his neck, before adeptly knotting the tie in record time.
Jason’s feet were pulled into a pair of shoes and he had to keep himself from giggling from the strange tugging feeling that accompanied the boys tying his shoes for him. Another two pairs of arms secured his cuffs at his side and in under 15 seconds flat his spontaneous pit crew had completed the task. He was ready to go!
-----------------------
“Everybody’s ready!” Eli announced triumphantly as the entire crew of older boys stampeded past the kitchen.
The kitchen counter was littered with packaging, open foodstuffs, young boys straddling half-made sandwiches, and a row of bulging paper sacks.
“Awesome.” Keith said, looking them all over approvingly. “Everyone take a lunch.”
The boys each eagerly grabbed a sack, and when Jason grabbed his, four-year-old Nathan smiled and said he’d made that one himself, before wiping his nose from his knuckles all the way up to his shoulder.
“Ok,” Keith continued with exasperation, “The Pavelton bus will be here any minute… but first…” He added with a sly grin, “SCRUFF CHECK!”
Keith proceeded to comically brush his fingers clumsily across Eli’s lower face before yelling ‘FAIL!’
Then he did the same to Jason and shouted ‘FAIL!’ once again.
Then Scott, ‘FAIL!’
and Cody... ‘FAIL!’
“WHAT?!” Cody demanded, looking dejected and rubbing his cheeks. “I’m not scruffy!”
“Did you shave?” Keith challenged.
“No!” Cody replied obnoxiously.
“I can tell.” Keith shot back with a cocky grin.
Suddenly everyone became alerted by the sound of a distant low rumble.
“Forget it!” Keith shouted. “Scruffy or not, you guys gotta go, just keep your heads down!”
With that, Jason followed Eli, Scott, and Cody out the door and onto the arriving Pavelton school bus.