Someone was gunning for him, had printed this letter and instructed Paul to copy it and hand it to the Dean. Paul had never been to Matt’s room before tonight. Matt had never made advances on Paul.
Matt knew only one someone vile enough to write such lies. Someone who excelled at getting gay kids kicked out of OC. Someone who had threatened Matt and his friends: Colton Langley. But Matt had warned Paul to have nothing to do with Colton.
“Who gave this to you?” Matt asked.
“That guy I thought was my friend. The one who’s been coming to my room to play chess.” Fresh tears streaked Paul’s cheeks.
“What’s his name? Is it Colton Langley?”
Paul shook his head. “Mike. Odd last name. Sounds Klingon.”
In other circumstances Matt would have smiled at Paul’s Star Trek reference. Not tonight.
“Mike Huebsch? Short? Skinny? Looks like a ferret?”
Paul nodded.
Matt’s instincts had been correct. Huebsch was Colton’s toady, and Matt had not thought to warn Paul about Huebsch. One question remained, though: what made Colton think Paul would write this letter and give it to the Dean? What leverage did they have against Paul? Matt asked him.
“You know Mike’s been coming to my room to play chess? He always insisted we play when my roommate was gone. Mike said he wanted the door closed so he could concentrate. Nothing happened, but everyone in my dorm has seen him coming to my room, seen the door closed.”
“Tonight, Mike showed me two letters. The one you’re holding is the one I’m supposed to write about you. If I don’t, he’ll hand the Dean the other letter, the one from him, claiming that I came onto him. Basically, same accusations. I just have to choose whether it is you or me that gets screwed, school-wise. I’m not gonna tell lies about you just to save my skin.”
“And I’m not gonna let you take the fall either,” Matt said. “There has to be a way out of this.”
Paul shook his head. “It’s a classic chess move. Called a ‘fork.’ The same piece, the black knight, for example, is positioned to capture either of two white pieces. The white player gets one move. He can save one piece, but not both.”