Brendan had done something immensely stupid. When Brandon had shouted at Matthew, Brendan had whipped out the watch. Matthew's eyes lit upon it, and the mad grin appeared. It widened when Walter came around the corner behind the jocks, with the Principal and Coach in tow.
"Ah, lads, perhaps I was too harsh. What a pretty little watch you have there."
Brendan smirked.
"Oh, this thing? Yeah, why don't you look real close."
"And so I shall, but first-Hello Walter, Principal Smive, Coach James."
While the first two names had elicited sneers from the twins, the last one replaced it with cold terror as they wheeled around to face the only teacher the jocks obeyed universally. Coach James slammed a vast, meaty hand down on the shoulders of each of the boys.
"Now, you two," said the Coach in a remarkably soft voice,"young Walter says you've something of his."
Coach James actually liked the Geeks, and the Geeks liked or at least tolerated him; the reason was probably that, in addition to being the football coach, he taught several of the school's math courses.
For Coach, the link was simple; he adored math, because there was always only one truly right answer, and in football, there was only one right play for each situation. The Jocks loved him for this; they had never lost a game so long as he had been coaching them.
Now if only he didn't apply the same mathematical logic to morality.
"Coach, we didn't-" Brendan and Brandon began simultaneously.
"That's enough, both of you." Coach's voice was quiet, but there was a timbre of steel there. Principal Smive crossed his arms. He'd never say it, but he was greatly enjoying the jocks' punishment; he'd been a geek, when he was younger, but had mainstreamed with age.
"Boys, you should both know better. Especially you, Brandon, you're supposed to be the captain. Now return Walter's watch. Coach James, you'll have to punish your team members."
Coach James nodded as he forcibly took the watch and gently handed it to Walter.
"Yes. They'll both be benched."
This was too much.
"NO!" screamed Brendan.
"Coach, you can't!" cried Brandon.
"Ahem, I believe I can be of service? Coach, the quality of mercy is not strained. Why don't you substitute another punishment?" said Matthew, still grinning madly.
Walter, Brandon, Brendan, and Coach James all looked various levels of surprised at Matthew, and Smive looked disappointed. Walter was worried about the grin, Brandon and Brendan wondered what Matthew was doing helping them, Coach wondered at the interruption to his dispensing morality, and Smive had been looking forward to the twin's agony. Matthew spread his hands.
"What about community service? I know the 4-H club could use Brendan's biceps to unload the equipment for the upcoming Farm Sale tomorrow afternoon, and the Drama club could use Brandon's strong back - right now, actually. What do you say? Is that satisfactory to everyone?"
Walter/Mark paused a moment, and then nodded. He didn't know what Matthew was planing, but he was his only chance to be free.
Brendan and Brandon nodded, sullenly, because it was better than being benched.
Smive nodded, because he figured he wouldn't get to enjoy the sadistic pleasures of the Football Captain and his twin being benched.
Coach stared long and hard at Matthew, calculating the moral mathematics of the situation. This was a Hail Mary play, yes, but if it succeeded, his star players would have learned their lesson AND be able to play the next big game. He smiled slightly, and found Matthew's offer to be greater than or equal to acceptable.
"Very well. Brandon, you run along to the auditorium now. Do as Matthew says while you're there, or you're benched. Brendan, the same goes for you tomorrow at the 4-H club."
The group dispersed, Brendan back to the locker rooms, Brandon for the Auditorium, and Principal Smive and Coach James for their respective offices. Walter/Mark was about to follow his replacement as Captain, murder in his heart, when he felt a light touch on his shoulder.
Matthew was still grinning like the madness of gods.
"Come along Walter, and you too, Mark. Let's take the long way...But first, the watch, if you please."
Walter/Mark hesitated.
"How do I know you'll keep your word?"
"You don't, Mark. You're a horrible person, and so you've no reason to suspect anyone else is any different. You'll have to trust me; trust is something you should have learned on the field, but the fact that you didn't is why your in this situation in the first place."
Matthew's grin dissolved, replaced by a look of competence, serenity, and a hint of arrogance. Matthew thought of it as his "Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself..." face. He stretched out a hand for the watch.
"But I'm your god of second chance today, Mark. You'll have the opportunity to go back, to be a better person, to not engender thoughts of vengence in those who should be your most loyal. A chance to be, not just a captain, but a GOOD captain. You're pathetic now, as Walter; mind of a Jock in the flesh of a Geek. You're at rock bottom. You've nowhere left to fall, nothing left to loose. So what do you say?"
Walter/Mark's face screwed up in sullen fear. He didn't trust Matthew; that didn't change the fact that he knew what the Alpha-Geek said was true. He placed the watch in Matthew's hand.
"There, it's yours."
Matthew closed his hand over the watch, and drew it close to his body in one fluid motion.
"Thank you, Mark. Now, let's see about freeing Walter from you, and you from him."
If Mark had an ear for music, he would have noticed that as they walked, Matthew was humming a Rolling Stones Song: "Sympathy For The Devil".