Episode 6 (2.3)
October 12, 2008 11:39 PM
* * *
“What have you been telling people about last night?” Nicki Brady stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Tucker Prince. Lee Hathaway watched the exchange, nervously. “And don’t try to lie to me, Tucker.”
“I, uh, why would I lie to you?” He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes wandering anywhere but Nicki’s face.
“You have a habit of trying to get out of trouble, Prince.” She snapped her fingers, drawing his attention back to her face. “I’ve been listening to some crazy crap all day, but then I overhear some girls talking about two guys,” she shot Lee a dark look, “who saw the entire arrest. Except, they’re making out like the cops discovered a terrorist ring in the middle of campus.”
“Can I just add something?” Lee interjected.
“What?” Nicki turned on him.
“I was completely not involved in any of this. I want it to be known.” He held his hands up defensively in front of his body.
Nicki looked him over, “Noted,” then returned to staring down Tucker.
* * *
Shane walked out of class and found Keira waiting for him; He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as the two began to walk down the school hallway.
Keira glanced over at her boyfriend, “You feeling better?”
“Huh, yea, wait, what?” Shane shot her a confused look.
“This morning,” Keira started, carefully, “You were angry, I could tell.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” Shane’s answer was a little sullen.
“I’m not upset or anything, I’m just making sure that everything is ok.”
“Well It’d all be fine if Molly would stop riding me all the time.” Shane let out a frustrated sigh. “She totally jumped the gun and had some whacked out idea of what happened last night.”
“Oh no, Shane, I’m sorry! I never meant to get you in trouble, what’d you tell her?”
“The truth, that nothing happened.” He tried to control the frustration he felt towards the entire Molly situation; no use blowing up about it at school. Digging his hands into his pockets, Shane felt a tiny little jab in his palm. “Oh wait,” He pulled out Keira’s necklace, dangling it before her. “My mind was totally elsewhere this morning and I forgot to return this.”
Keira brightly smiled. “Yes! I was wondering where that went,” She handed Shane her books and then put the necklace on. She held it up, then turned to her boyfriend. “How do I look”
“Um, beautiful as always.” Shane leaned forward to give a kiss and Keira turned to accept it on her cheek. “Come on, we’re going to be late,” She grabbed his hand and led him down the hallway; Shane looked slightly deflated.
* * *
“I know you like to tell stories, Tucker, but you had absolutely no right to start spreading lies about what happened last night!” As she spoke, Nicki’s hands punctuated every word.
“Nicki, I didn’t mean any harm and honestly, I was totally just toning down what everyone else was saying.”
“I don’t care what anyone else is saying, you’re supposed to be my friend!” Nicki threw up her hands in disgust. “My brother is in that fraternity, Tucker. You’re spreading stories about my brother.” Lee still watched the exchange, absolutely unsure if he should interject. Tucker seemed to be embarrassed, he was alternating looks between his feet and Nicki. “Don’t you have anything to say?!”
“I,” Tucker finally looked at her, “I’m not going to lie, Nick, I totally wasn’t thinking about your brother at all. I just heard people talking and they were saying some far out shit, so I thought that I could add some real information. And then, I sorta, well,” he waffled his hands back and forth in the air, “I guess I went a little overboard.” He grabbed her hands in his, “But Nick, I promise, I didn’t mean any harm, to your brother or you. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
Nicki stared at him coldly for another few seconds, then she relented. “I,” she paused, “No you’re right, Tucker. You can be a complete idiot, but you’re not malicious.” She pulled a hand free to gently punch him in the shoulder.
“Is your brother, all right?” Lee took the break in the tension as his chance to interject.
“Jackson’s home for a few more days. Mom and Dad were not really thrilled about the whole bailing out thing. They are having discussions about maybe not having him move back into the house.”
Lee raised an eyebrow, “What, where would we he go?”
“Well, that’s why it’s a discussion and not a reality. Truth, my parents can’t afford to find another apartment for Jackson to rent and the dorms are already full. I doubt they’d be keen on having him miss a semester.” She shrugged. “Things’ll return to normal in a few days, I’m sure. Until then, my house is just going to be really awkward to live in, ya know? I’m not even there and it’s bugging me out!”
Tucker was about to comment, but Lee cut him off, “Hey, let’s go out tonight, drinks on me. Blow off some steam. Besides, we were all supposed to hang out last night and that went down the tubes.”
Nicki broke out a smile, “You know, that doesn’t sound half bad, Lee. It’ll be good to get my mind off things.” She ran a hand through her hair, “I’ll stop by your place around 8?”
“Sounds good to me,” Tucker responded.
“Then it’s a date,” Nicki began to walk away, then wheeled around, “Oh and Prince, keep your damn mouth shut until then, k?”
* * *
Jillian and Alicia sat quietly at the breakfast table; Jillian flipped through a newspaper, skimming the headlines, Alicia absently stared at a book. Footsteps coming down the stairs caught their attention; Isabel slowly descended then walked toward them.
“Morning.” Jillian put down the paper and flashed her eldest daughter a smile.
“Morning.” Isabel poured herself a cup of coffee, then took a seat beside Alicia. Alicia nodded a greeting.
“Can I get you anything? Toast, Waffles,” As Jillian was asking, she’d already crossed the kitchen and begun taking food from the refrigerator.
“Toast would be nice,” Isabel responded.
“So you slept in late this morning.”
“Yeah,” Isabel answered, “I guess I was pretty beat from the night before.” Isabel took a double take at her sister, “Wait, what are you doing home?”
“Mom decided I didn’t have to go in today.” It was impossible to tell if Alicia was pleased or upset with this news. “I don’t think I am going to miss anything on the second day.”
Isabel pivoted to her mom, “Jason stay home as well?”
“No, I sent him into work,” Jillian carried over the plate of toast to her daughter, lovingly prepared with butter and jam. “We wouldn’t want him to start off on the wrong foot at a new job.”
* * *
“And that’s what will be covering for this first semester.” Jason finished his lesson with seconds to spare; the bell rang. “Alright, we’ll pick up with this on Monday. Have a good weekend.” The class began to file out, excitedly talking to one another. Jason began wiping the chalk from the board, relief pouring over him.
“Hey Champ, how you doing?” Darren was leaning against the door post, smiling at him.
“Well, I survived,” Jason replied with a smile, placing the eraser back down on the chalkboard. “I mean, yesterday was a breeze, just going over rules and what not. But today, going through that first lesson, let’s say I was a bundle of nerves. Definitely a relief to be done. Kinda feel like it should be smooth sailing.”
Darren couldn’t help but laugh, “Man, sorry, but I don’t want you thinking that a good first class is going to mean everything’s copacetic. You’ve only just begun the trials and tribulations of being a high school teacher.”
“There any words of wisdom you’d like to impact on me then?” Jason smirked.
“Well,” Darren glanced at his watch, “I don’t have the time right now to offer all my knowledge, but a bunch of us are going out after school today. It’s a friday thing, usually. You should come along, get to know some of the staff members. We love to break in the rooks.”
“Yeah, I mean, that’d be great. Definitely, man.” Jason beamed, all memories and emotions of the previous night fading for the moment.
* * *
Misha Bower leaned against the outer wall of Stella’s, watching as peopled mulled to and from the mall. In her left hand was a burning cigarette, which she casually brought up and took a long drag from it. Her eyes didn’t rest long on any single person, instead they flickered back and forth; as if she was passing quick judgments on them all. She took one final drag and then flicked away the half finished cigarette towards the trash can; while it missed, she didn’t bother to pick it up.
Misha began to walk back towards Stella’s; she dug into her bag to pull out hand sanitizer. She began to apply it when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Misha soon found herself spun and facing a thin, gaunt man of about thirty; his hair was speckled with grays and he peered at her from behind thick glasses.
“Um, can I help you?” Misha pulled away from his grasp.
“I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you are beautiful.”
“Ok, little scary man, we’re in the middle of a big crowd and I promise you there are security cameras. So why don’t you just walk away before I started screaming for help?” Misha dug into her bag, searching for her pepper spray, while her eyes never left his face.
The thin man threw up his hands apologetically, “No, wait, I’m sorry, this is coming out wrong.”
“You think?” She found the spray, but kept it hidden for the time being.
“Look, I saw you standing against the wall and I just knew you were the one.”
“You’re not helping your case.”
“I want to photograph you... for a spread! I think you’d be perfect.”
“Are you kidding me?” Misha responded incredulously, “That’s like line # 1 from the stalker handbook.”
“I promise you, I'm being serious,” The man had a smile on his nervous, twitching face. “Here,” he extended out his hand and Misha saw that there was a card. “Call me if you decide to take me up on your offer.”
Misha snatched the card and the man nodded his head, then turned and walked away.
* * *
Jason walked into the bar and was greeted immediately by Darren, who was waiving for him to come join a group of other adults. Jason walked over, smiling brightly.
Shane watched as Keira pulled away, then turned to walk into the house. Molly was leaving for work and the two passed, but said nothing.
Jillian knocked gently on the door to her son’s bedroom, but Allan lay there, unmoving, staring up at the ceiling.
Alicia and Isabel laughed as they watched the television, sharing a bowl of popcorn between the two of them.
Misha sat behind the counter of Stella’s; in her hand was the card. She flipped it over and over again in her fingers while staring up at the model advertisements displayed throughout the store.
Posted at 10/12/2008 by beck | Comments? (0)