Kevin's In The Loop

That God Damned Bitch.

How the fuck did she do that? How did she escape so quickly from being cornered?

Kevin kept his hands in his pockets as he stewed over all the possible things that could have happened. He had her, she'd been in his hands and then - his mind couldn't focus on what had happened next - all he knew is that she'd... left? It didn't make sense.

He knew something was amiss when he managed to slip by those two pieces of shit making out with one another in the hallway without being seen and followed the Queen Bitch to class, only to have the smoking redhead glaring at him like he was about to have his nuts stepped on.

Poor bastard, Simon. How could he put up with a weekend of those two females torturing him? The idea of imagining Jessica and Simon’s sister together was enough while pumping one out in his room.

So Samantha was working as Jess' guard dog, trying to get him to leave his target alone. That had raised his suspicions, but he knew Jessica Edwards wouldn’t dare tell anyone her secret. The blonde was forbidden to, as he remembered her mother’s words.

That smoking hot goddess gave birth to such a total waste of effort. He had had everything planned out, diving and fighting for the ring until it went out the window...

Then he blacked out and woke up at home with no idea what happened after. Simon seemed just as clueless about it. That big lug was a good friend to him, though. Maybe he would reward him once the ring was firmly in his possession.

Then he would make this entire school and town pay for all the years of torment and **** he had to suffer through because of them.

They would be but ants to that kind of power.

The lunch bell provided him with his next opportunity. Senior lunch today was going to be split into groups, and if Jessica had been as shaken up by his knowing her secret as she had acted, he knew she would be quick to run away.

Yes, run away, little rabbit.

It didn’t matter where she went, he would find that ring and make her his genie for all time!

Suppressing the dark glint in his eye, Kevin walked into the large lunchroom and saw the various cliques getting together as they always did. He listened to their inane conversations, and watched Brad Myers growl as his football teammates and friends that were trying to talk him down from something. Kevin cringed at the sight of the athlete and avoided crossing paths as he could.

Man, Brad looked about ready to kill someone. Of course, once he got the ring, Kevin would find a suitable new role for him to have, but until then, Brad’s power threatened to squish him like the bug he was.

And Kevin detested the idea of being a bug. He hated how they all just so easily treated this prison as the best time of their lives. Like high school had any meaning after this?

Maybe a few changes could improve that...

He looked over as the hall began to quiet down as Jessica approached the entrance to the cafeteria, her cheeks flushed and glancing around nervously. Kevin heard the whispers,

“Man, did you hear what happened?”

“No, what?”

“Jess charged into Jensen’s Math class screaming like a banshee. The whole hallway heard it.”

“Oh, man. That was her?”

“No way.”

“That’s why Brad looks so pissed.”

“I wonder what happened….”

Kevin adjusted his glasses, then refocused as he tried to keep away from Jessica’s sight and use the crowd for cover. She turned around in disgust from the conversations in a huff - She was frustrated, good...

The blonde genie sashayed through the hallway and closer to one of the side doors to exit outside. Kevin had tried that particular door before. The door remained locked unless the fire alarm was triggered.

Typical.

Ok, so the moment her social life and status were in danger, she’d become irrational. This made things much more manageable. Kevin glanced from the corner and saw Jessica try to press open the door, only to meet with failure. She rubbed her face with her fuzzy sweater giving him an opening.

“Can’t use that to get away.”

Her head snapped round, and she immediately looked at him with the same look of fear and panic that got a rise from him earlier. He took a couple of steps forward, keeping a gaze locked on the masquerading genie.

He didn’t see the shadow of someone more significant behind him and only realized it when he saw Jessica’s emerald orbs looking at them instead of him.

“I wish the three of us were alone in the field outside school grounds.”

Kevin’s eyes widened as he heard Jessica making a noise that sounded like it came from a porno vid he saw the other night. Then, he felt disoriented, and his body lost its footing on the solid tiled floors of Eastlake High.

Pain, in his face, planting in a patch of grass and dirt he recognized beyond the baseball and softball fields...

Kevin's ears popped. He almost wanted to puke.

Trying to get up in this situation was met with a dizzying stumble and losing his glasses. A hand from the person behind him reached down and picked them up. Kevin looked up as he now felt the warmth of the sun and the fresh air on his face, trying to adjust his vision. The same person was holding out his glasses in front of him. He placed them back on, and his eyes focused.

His confusion only rose when he saw who it was - his eyes now focusing as he watched them help Jessica onto her feet. Hands gently stroking her head of hair, the genie looking up at him worriedly. Even from behind, Kevin knew his height, clothes, and hair, it was unmistakably...

“Simon?”

His friend turned around to face him and made Kevin flinch in the process.

Ok.

He. Was. Pissed.

He was pretty sure he had never seen his friend in this state before. Simon had been upset with him in their lives. Friends got difficult with each other all the time. Hell, he was always upset when they first started playing together when they were kids.

It wasn’t his fucking fault if his only other friend hadn't wanted to play with him anymore. Shit happens, right?

No.

No, this time was different, Kevin hadn't seen Simon's face look so gaunt and red at the same time, he looked twisted up with absolute fury. It was the kind of look Kevin would expect if someone had their way with his friend’s sister. The kind if you told him his parents got killed in an alley, and he responded by turning into fucking Batman. Kevin didn’t have much warning when he was standing only feet from him.

He raised an eyebrow, “Simon. Dude, what’s going….”

His friend raised left his hand up in front of him, and Kevin let out an audible gasp.

No. No, no, it couldn’t-

-It can’t be! It couldn’t-

The sight of the golden ring and emerald was unmistakable. The same one that had been in the box he tried to snatch.

The one that enslaved Queen Jessica Fucking Edwards to someone's personal will. The one that would finally give him the opportunity for payback he desperately longed for against all of them.

It was on his best friend’s fucking ring finger!

SIMON HARRIS was Jessica Edward’s Fucking Master.

“You have it?”

Kevin immediately wanted to jump up and start doing backflips if he could! Simon could wish for anything they ever wanted! He could make Jessica pay for all the years she abused him - all the jokes, all the sneers, all the pain and bullying, they could get ****.

He could enact everything they could ever want!

So then why did his best friend look so ready to impale him in this field outside their school? And why did he wish for them to even be here?

“Dude, Simon, what’s…”

“Shut up.”

Kevin’s eyes widened at the sound of his friend’s voice cutting him off and silencing him like he was going to put a blade at his throat. Simon backed away and walked over to the blonde girl, saying nothing, watching her as she nodded with her eyes closed.

What the fuck was he mad at him for?

This silence was too much.

“Simon, what the hell are you doing with….”

“I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, KEV!”

The roar from his friend nearly caused the pasty boy to fall over in horror. His once awkward and good-natured thick-headed friend was now towering over him and walking around him, stalking him like a predator.

“I swear, I will make Jess take away your fucking mouth if you talk before me again. You got that?”

Kevin felt his tongue retreat as far back into his throat as it could, sealing his lips shut when his friend made that threat. For a moment Kevin wanted to protest - but there was a creeping cold that ran up his spine... Simon wasn’t joking. He would fucking take away his mouth if he said anything without him making his point.

Shit. What the fuck happened that night? If Jessica hadn’t been able to do anything without Simon telling her, that meant he was responsible for his blackout.

Something fucking happened. Kevin didn’t know, but now he was aware that something fucking happened involving Simon.

His best friend paced back and forth, stewing, before facing the young man again and becoming more animated with his arms and hands.

“Do you have any clue? Any inkling or reason to tell me why you fucking lied to me?” Simon asked him, “You, of all people, who knows that I can’t stand people lying with me, thinking you can keep it to yourself and that it would be fine? OKAY? That I just wouldn’t have a problem with it?”

Kevin grimaced as his friend confronted him. Kevin, however, became angry when he got defensive, and Simon was giving him an opening -

“What about you, Simon? What’s your reason for hiding this from me?”

The auburn-haired young man glared at him and got a foot closer, “Because I had to save your fucking life!”

Kevin’s eyes widened in disbelief again. Unsure what he was even talking about, as Simon began to laugh to himself in frustration, “Oh right. You have no idea what really happened at Jess’ party that night, do you? Here. Let me refresh your memory.”

He took a deep breath, not saying anything, as Kevin watched the young blonde woman slowly walk forward anxiously and wrapped herself behind his friend, burying her face into his back.

“I wish you remembered what happened that night.”

“Mmph!” Kevin heard Jessica moaning as the events of the night rushed back into his mind. His knees buckled from it, and he grimaced out in pain, re-living the entire night beyond what he remembered before - he felt it - of fighting to get the ring from Simon, being attacked by Jess after taunting her, being pummeled by her, and being placed under anesthetic.

His eyes snapped up as he looked at the young woman, freshly angered from what she had done, only to watch her fearfully hide behind Simon.

He began to piece it together, panting out as his ribs re-lived the process of breaking and healing in the same night.

“So… so you did that?”

Simon healed him and had him home in bed as if nothing had occurred at all. So that’s what must’ve happened.

His friend continued from where he left off, “Yeah, Kevin! I did! Congratulations! You did it! You got exactly what you wanted that night and made it out without a scratch!”

Jessica’s Master moved to one side, revealing his genie and waving a hand at the girl. She squinted her eyes shut, trying to avoid Kevin’s gaze.

“But she didn’t, Kev! And that’s what you wanted after all, right? For Jessica to suffer for all that she did to us! Is that it! Because buddy, you’re doing a fucking great job with that!”

“When the fuck did you have such a bleeding heart for her, Simon! Huh?” the pastier of the two friends snapped back. His confidence returning, if Simon was going to take his mouth he'd run it first, “This is Jessica Edwards we’re talking about here! You know! Bitch Queen of the School! The one who likes to trick you into running down hallways so her friends can trip you! The one who keeps calling you a stalker just when you’re trying to take photos for your fucking site! The one who’d rather date an asshole meat-head the girls dub 'Thundercock' than bat you an eye! What the fuck is with you and her! Huh?”

Kevin really couldn’t take Simon’s fucking high horse routine when it came to the one bitch who deserved to have this coming to her. He always had to pick up the young man after Jessica would trick him into something or tease him in some way just to get a laugh out of her friends!

He glared at her, seeing her cowering from the two of them yelling at each other. Good! About damn time! She was everything every guy wanted, and every girl wanted to be, Rich, Popular, Spoiled, she could be with anyone she wanted at any time!

Hell, her boyfriend was fucking cheating on her, and she didn’t bat an eye!

“Because it’s HER, Kevin!” Simon maddeningly yelled back pointed at her.

What the fuck did that even mean!?!

Because it’s HER. Because she’s the fucking genie?

“Yeah! HER. The bitch that tortures you, and the bitch you should be breaking in!” Kevin snapped.

Simon charged him and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him off the ground and making the boy’s eyes widen as his friend screamed in his face.

“No! You ignorant, fuckbrain bastard! Because she’s the one I always got fucking upset over you not being when I first started going to your house!”

Simon dropped him as he finished and began panting from all the yelling, pointing at Jessica as he leaned over to prop himself on his legs, “My friend before you! It was Jess, dumbass! It’s always been, Jess! Why else would it be SO FUCKING HARD FOR ME!”

He staggered and walked to get his back straightened out.

Kevin couldn’t fucking believe what he just had spat out of his mouth. His eyes staring at the genie again as she bit her lip nervously and motioned to walk over to Simon.

Her.

Fucking Her?

Kevin acknowledged it, but it still made him feel like his head was about to explode. Finally, he managed to stagger back on his feet after sitting on his ass, taking a few steps forward towards the blonde cheerleader who looked away from him, terrified.

“You. All this time, the fucking friend that disappeared, the one he never got over when I met him. It was you?”

He watched with some amazement as Jessica gripped the hem of her purple skirt and nodded furiously to his question. Hoping he would go away.

That only made him want to hate her more.

“You did all those fucking things to **** him, and you were his friend?”

She nodded again.

He wanted to grab her and **** her by the throat right then and there. Simon had put up with all her shit for this to…

“I-I deserve this….”

He had to snap his thoughts back. The Queen Cheerleader of Eastlake High School, Lady Pompous, Mistress of Sarcastic Barbs, the Blonde Bitch now whimpering before him like a terrified puppy, her words were stuttering nervously like a shy girl who got teased into believing what everyone called her.

“B-Because I made him f-feel like he wasn’t human, wh-when I’m not human at all, right? Th-That’s what you told me, right?”

She looked up at him as her eyes teared up, hoping for his approval so that she could make Simon calm down.

"M-Master is my Master now... there's nothing I can do... I-I'll be good..."

This girl was not Jessica Edwards. She never acted like this, but Kevin felt the words echo in the back of his mind once again as he remembered them.

She did deserve this.

She deserved to know what it was like to feel like everyone else she ever treated.

So what was making him feel bad for her?

Simon stood in front of him again. This time, he wrapped an arm around the blonde, who quickly clung to him in front of Kevin.

“I’m going to put what happened another way, Kev. On her 18th Birthday, trying to please everyone by throwing the biggest party she can, out of nowhere, Jessica gets a mystery package and brings it up to her room. Then when she opens it, she sees her mother again for the first time in, what? 16-17 years? The woman she thought abandoned her finally comes into her life.”

Kevin watched as Simon held up his hand again, the ring catching the sunlight, “Then tells her daughter, she’s a fucking genie and binds her to something so small, it fits on my finger. Then, because she is so fucking panicked about keeping Jess safe, she told her that if her daughter ever lost the thing her mother just gave her, she’d be bound to whoever finds it. Then as fast as she can, she leaves her again!”

Simon then released Jessica and stood closer in front of him, making sure he was paying attention.

“Now. Imagine losing your Mom AGAIN after finding out your life is tied to a fucking ring, and then the guy who you fucking rip on every chance you get is hiding in your fucking closet and jumps for it, without giving you a second to process what just happened.”

His eyes looked through his glasses at the blonde bombshell who looked down and shrunk inside herself like a toddler, hiding behind Simon as he explained it.

God damnit, Simon. Why the fuck would you tell him all that?

“You got what you wanted, Kevin. Jessica is so terrified of you she won’t bully or make fun of you ever again because she’s too busy being afraid of what you’ll do to her.”

No way. No way, Simon. That wasn’t what happened. That wasn’t what…

Jessica’s whimpering suddenly brought a scowl to Kevin’s face. Jesus Fucking Christ, really? Did he trigger her that much?

“Jessica wanted me to erase your memory so that you’d forget all about the ring and everything. It’s smart, it makes sense, but I can’t fucking do it!” Simon seethed out at him as he held both his hands up.

“Kevin, you know I can do whatever that fuck I want to you?” he declared. “I can make you forget. I could also make you turn into a girl that does nothing but live streams herself masturbating while playing video games! I could make you into a little Mama’s Boy with a dildo up your ass... I could do all sorts of things to you! And I know you already thought the same way about everyone around you the moment you learned about this fucking ring!”

Kevin became even more flustered and shocked as his friend began describing such things to him, and what the insinuation was,

“Simon, come on, don’t you think that-“

“Bullshit, Kev! I know you!” he growled out frustrated, Simon waved his arms around, “You wouldn’t be having this same conversation with me if you had the ring! I wouldn't matter! You’d be too busy making Jess march around the class in some perverted version of her cheerleader uniform! You'd make the whole cheerleading squad your personal army of strippers! You’d fuck my sister and make her insult Jess to her face! Hell! You’d make me okay with watching you fuck Sam! Or better yet! How about making me turn into Sam’s perfect TWIN so we could fuck each other! Then make us some twisted sidekicks or something! You’d fucking do that in a heartbeat!”

Simon waved his arms in exasperation as Kevin felt his face redden and watched Jessica turn into a tomato with a scowl on her face.

Fucking Simon, why did he have to know him so well?

What did that say about him that Simon would be able to conclude all that?

There was a pause, Simon's shoulders dropped.

“But you’re still my friend, and you’re the only fucking person right now besides Jess that I can actually talk to about what’s going on! In the whole of our fucking reality! Three people! The Master, Me; The Genie, Jess; and the guy fucking responsible for all this happening!”

Kevin watched as Simon’s index finger continued working out by pointing at him, “You. And believe me, Kevin. I can take that number back down to 2, really fucking quick.”

Simon snapped his fingers.

Then his eyes went wide as they both heard, a very loud squeak coming from the genie behind them. Simon stopped what he was doing and snapped his fingers again.

“Sorry!”

Kevin, utterly unsure about what just happened, shook his head and began rubbing his temples. He was completely lost.

What was Simon going to do or not do to him? It had become clear to him that his friend was not interested in giving Jess up as his genie, but Simon was playing his cards close to his chest as well. Why was he stringing this out...?

“Simon, whatever you’re going to do, just get it fucking over with already, okay? I get the point.”

“I’m not going to do anything to you.”

What the actual fuck?

“Then what-“

“Kevin, I already told you. You’re the only other person besides Jess who has a clue of what’s happening right now. So what’s the point of me trying to erase everything and act like everything is fucking normal.”

The auburn-haired teenager stepped out and motioned to him and the genie in the field, “You two are my best friends, and you hate each other! So let’s recap how today is going; while Jess is trying to get her life back on track, you're trying to get the ring from her. You gave her a panic attack that caused her to teleport into my class with her current boyfriend, who hates my guts!"

Teleport - Kevin blinked.

"Meanwhile, I’m having my ear talked off by a girl about the occult and reading Ancient Aramaic, and it’s hard to talk to someone about these things and concentrate on the bigger picture when you're fighting and I feel like I’m the only one that realizes there’s a FUCKING RACE OF GENIE ENSLAVING SADISTS waiting somewhere outside our reality! And that group thinks our species is infinitely times as retarded as Brad thinks we are!”

Simon snapped, making both Kevin and Jessica flinch from his screaming.

Kevin's memory replayed again as he looked around confused and pointed again at Jess, “Y-You mean. You mean the thing that happens to her if she she's not bound, right? Like the thing, her Mom said about alien space genie hunters?”

His friend’s eyes widened as he continued to rant at the question, “Yeah, Kevin! So it turns out they aren’t aliens! So far, it’s more like giant demons that like to enslave genies, including her mother! Oh, and I think they visited here thousands of years ago and it turns out they really don’t like us! Which is why Jessica has a ring that you knocked out a window, and now I’m left dealing with!”

Holy Fuck.

He had just figured that Jessica would have to do whatever her Master wished for her. So that’s what he had focused on having her do.

Now Simon was talking about the parts he hadn't cared about, like the fine print. He had always done this to him. That’s what made them a good team when it came to certain things outside school or projects. Simon’s brain was always thinking, annoyingly and consistently about the consequences.

He really should have put the fucking stink bomb into the air unit when he had the chance...

“Okay. You win,” Kevin sighed and held up his arms in a half-hearted feeling of surrender. “I mean, Jesus Christ, Simon. You’ve really been looking this all up?”

His friend wasn’t amused, remaining stoic.

“I’m going to protect Jess, Kevin. Either help me or get out of my way.”

Goddammit all. Of course, he loved her...

Simon was fucking in love with her. That was the only thing that made all of this behavior make sense. Even after everything she'd done to them, all the ****, all the teasing, all the **** for their entire lives... Kevin scowled and looked at the blonde girl, her emerald eyes becoming harder and looking back at him with suspicion.

She didn’t trust him one bit.

He didn’t trust her either, but Simon was her Master, so Kevin fathomed they had the upper hand.

If Simon trusted him, there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him. Jessica was already no longer a threat to him. She had already lost.

So why did she hug Simon so closely? How close were they? He sighed and looked at his friend.

Simon had screamed, yelled, made him want to get decked in the face, but he didn’t hate him. Instead, seeing him turn his attention to Jess, checking on her, watching her nod at him and smiling as he smiled, Kevin could appreciate something,

“Simon!” he called out to his friend, the auburn-haired young man and his genie turned back as the skinny young man closed the gap between them, “I fucked up. I’m sorry I lied.”

He looked at Jessica and frowned, biting his tongue,

“Kevin.”

He looked up, “I wish you would never reveal or speak of Jess being a genie to anyone but myself and her.”

“Mmph! Master,” Jessica moaned as Kevin felt dazed for a moment.

What were they talking about again?

Oh. Right.

Simon continued to frown, “You did fuck up, Kev. I’m going to have to stay out here with Jess for a bit to get it all fixed! Brad wants to kick my ass after what you made happen today! Jessica can teleport to me whenever she’s in trouble! So it didn’t help when she landed on my desk, and he saw me with her!”

Kevin groaned as he rubbed his head and rolled his eyes, “I don't think Jessica will be as bent out of shape over him," He turned to his friends genie, "You sleep around, right?”

She suddenly shrieked to life in her old sense of outrage, “What did you just say?!”

“You cheated on Brad before Simon came along, right?”

The blonde grew even angrier with him, “I did no such thing!”

Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two, frantic, “I did no such thing!” she confessed up to Simon with a pout.

Judging by the way he looked back, Simon believed her.

“Well fuck,” Kevin realized.

He looked at Simon and Jessica again and then pointed back at the school behind them with his thumb, “Look. I know my friend. This conversation isn't over. So right now I hate to be a bigger dick than I already am to you, but I'm only saying this because I sure as shit saw Brad cheating on you with one of your cheerleader clique this morning.”