Published: 04/02/17

A/N: References FF #7, "Claudia Gets Her Guy", but you don't need to have read it to understand anything here.

;-;

Five Days

Monday

Two minutes after Kristy arrived at school, Claudia, looking both exasperated and worried, pulled her out of the flow of student traffic and towards a bank of juniors' lockers. Sadly, this wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence since they'd started high school. There was always some sort of drama, but usually it reached a peak around Thursdays, when Kristy would then be enlisted to help out with a boy/clique/school club problem.

'What's wrong?' Kristy demanded. She just managed to hitch her backpack up before it slipped off her shoulders. 'What could have happened this early?'

'Mary Anne needs your help,' Claudia said, dodging a giggling group of girls. 'She—oh, I can't explain it. Just wait.'

Mary Anne looked quietly hysterical when they found her by a series of lockers at the end of the hall. Protective instincts kicking in, Kristy gently turned her away from the curious gazes of passing students.

'I did something stupid,' Mary Anne confessed in a whisper. Kristy braced herself for the worst. Drugs? Pregnancy? 'I put a note in Logan's locker saying I wanted to get back together with him.'

Kristy felt her brow furrow. Not what she'd been expecting. 'Okay…? I'm pretty sure you've gotten back together with him about five times this year already.'

'It has not been five times!'

'More like three,' Claudia piped up.

'That's not the point!' Mary Anne snapped. 'The point is, I just found out that he and Shawna Riverson went on a date yesterday. And now I need to get that note back before he sees it.'

'Just because they went on one date doesn't mean it's serious. You guys could still work out.'

Mary Anne didn't even bother giving Claudia's words any serious thought. 'No way. I obviously don't mean that much to him if he can just go out with someone like Shawna Riverson.'

Kristy exchanged glances with Claudia. She could feel a headache coming on, which was normal when it came to the endless Mary Anne and Logan saga.

'Why didn't you just text him about it or something?' she groaned. She turned to Claudia. 'And you! You know nothing good comes out of leaving notes in lockers. You ended up having to date Alan Gray because of a locker note!'

'Hey, I didn't know she was going to do it!' Claudia protested. 'I thought it would be at least another month before she wanted him back.'

'I am standing right here, you know,' Mary Anne said icily.

Kristy sighed. They didn't have long left before school started and she wanted to stop by her own locker at some point that decade. 'Okay, well, what do you want me to do? I can't open his locker.'

'But you know someone who can.'

'What? Who?'

'The same guy who helped me in eighth grade?' Claudia suggested. 'Cary Retlin.'

'Cary is too busy hooking up with cheerleaders to do that stuff anymore,' Kristy said dismissively. 'Besides, you know him, too. Why can't you ask him?'

'Because he always helped with things when you asked him! And he makes me nervous. Please, Kristy! I can't let Logan see that note.'

The problem with Kristy was that, these days, she was a total pushover when it came to her oldest and dearest friends in the world. It was why just last month, she'd found herself dressed like a particularly grumpy devil, helping an angelic Stacey sell tickets to the Heaven and Hell Valentine Dance. It was why she had signed on as part of Claudia's entry to a food-themed live art exhibition the following weekend. And it was why she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to voluntarily approach Cary Retlin for the first time in years and ask for his help.

;-;

Cary was hanging out at the front of the school with some of the most popular kids in the school, a mix of sporty and fashionable types. Kristy thought he was the same smirk-y idiot he'd been in middle school, but somewhere along the way, everyone else had disagreed. Stacey had declared he was "super hot" a while after he became a track star, and a lot of people apparently found something appealing about his personality, too.

As she neared him, she thought she saw something like surprise in his expression, but it fell so quickly into mild curiosity that she couldn't be sure.

'Can I talk to you for a moment?' she asked stiffly, ignoring his friends.

Cary was silent for a few beats. If he was trying to make her uncomfortable enough to leave, it didn't work. Kristy stood firm and waited.

'Yes, you may,' he finally said.

Kristy rolled her eyes and the corners of Cary's mouth lifted into that familiar smirk. He led her away from his friends and turned to face her.

'So. What can I do for you?'

'Can you still break into lockers and are you willing to do it now?'

Cary raised an eyebrow. 'Engaging in a little petty crime?'

'I'm not stealing anything,' Kristy said, annoyed. 'I need to get something back. It was put into someone's locker by mistake.'

He studied her closely. 'What was it?'

She tried not to squirm under his scrutiny. Cary had an incredibly disconcerting way of looking at people like he could read their mind.

'Was it a note of a... romantic nature?'

'Do I seem like the type of person to slip mushy notes into people's lockers?' Kristy snapped.

Cary grinned suddenly. 'No, I suppose not. Then it must have been one of your friends, who sent you to beg me for help. I seem to remember this happening before.'

'I didn't beg then and I am not begging now. And if you aren't going to help, I'm not going to keep wasting my time here.' Kristy whirled around, suddenly and inexplicably fed up with the whole situation, but he caught her wrist lightly and stopped her.

'Kristy,' he said, and it was the first time in a long time that he'd said her name with anything other than subtle mockery, 'would you really have come to ask me for help if you thought I'd say no?'

She wasn't quite sure what to say to that, but he didn't seem to expect an answer. They stared at each other for a moment. Kristy broke eye contact first and silently berated herself for it.

'So you'll help?' she asked her sneakers.

Cary sounded amused when he spoke again. 'Yeah. But Mary Anne should really look into Facebooking or texting people.'

Kristy was surprised enough to look back up at him. 'How did you know it was Mary Anne?'

'It has to be someone very important to you to make you come to me. Claudia already made this mistake once, and she and Stacey do everything through their cellphones, anyway. Abby is the "direct approach" type; she wouldn't write notes. That leaves Mary Anne.'

'I can't believe how well you know us,' she said, a little stunned by his answer.

'I don't know them; I know you,' he corrected her. 'Everything else is just based on observation and logic.'

Once again, Kristy was at a loss for words. She tightened her ponytail while she considered a reply.

'Mary Anne didn't put a note in the wrong locker, so Facebook or texting wouldn't have helped,' she finally said. 'It was in the right one, but she wants it back.'

'Okay, then,' Cary said agreeably, as if he hadn't just rendered her speechless twice in one conversation. 'Let's go rescue her.'

;-;

Stacey had joined Mary Anne and Claudia by the time they got back to the lockers.

'Hi, Cary,' she said after a quick smile of greeting at Kristy. 'I didn't see you at Sheila's party on Saturday.'

'I was there for a while,' he said vaguely, getting to work on the locker a relieved Mary Anne pointed out.

'Oh. So it's true that you went with Cokie?'

Cary glanced up just as Kristy wrinkled her nose in distaste.

'I did,' he said. He was smiling as he bent over again and fiddled with the lock.

'Did you have a good time?'

'I feel like there's something you want to know, Stacey.' He raised an eyebrow at her and leaned back from the locker door, which swung open silently. 'Voilà.'

Mary Anne practically knocked him aside to make a grab for the envelope lying on top of a stack of notebooks. She got it just in time; Claudia pushed the door closed as Logan rounded the corner into the hall. As one, they drifted away from his locker.

'Thanks, Kristy,' Mary Anne whispered. She squeezed Kristy in a fierce hug. 'You, too, Cary.'

With a final glare at Logan, she stalked off, leaving him to look bewilderedly at the rest of them.

'What did I do?' Logan asked.

'You know what you did, mister,' Claudia said sternly, but then she grinned. 'You should talk to Mary Anne. I think she'll explain it. Maybe.'

Logan didn't look very confident as he hurried after Mary Anne, but Kristy gave him points for being willing to try. Maybe they would be okay, in spite of Shawna Riverson.

Or maybe they were doomed to repeat this scene until they graduated.

She sighed. 'That's enough drama for me this morning. I'll see you guys later.'

Cary cleared his threat pointedly. 'Haven't you forgotten something?'

'What?'

Stacey and Claudia both nudged her, not at all inconspicuously. Kristy promised herself she would have strong words with them later when she saw Cary smirk at the sight.

'Thank you for helping Mary Anne,' she said flatly. Goaded by his smirk, she couldn't help adding, 'It was nice of you to stop preening in front of your adoring masses for a while to do her a favour.'

'Oh, I didn't do it for her, Kristy.' The look in his eyes was strangely warm and she felt herself flush a little, off-balance. But his next words got her fired up again. 'And since I opened one locker for you once, free of charge, you owe me for this one.'

'I should have figured. What do you want? Money?'

Cary shook his head. 'Just a favour, which I will claim at a later date.'

'If it's something illegal—'

'It won't be.' He paused. 'Well, probably not in this state, anyway.'

Stacey giggled and he winked at her. Actually winked at her. Who even did that, without looking like a complete creep and/or dork? Cary Retlin, that's who.

'See you around, Kristy,' he said with a casual salute. 'Stacey, Claudia.'

They watched him fall into step with some of the other track team guys before Stacey spun around and planted her hands on her hips.

'Kristy, you know he likes you, right?' she demanded.

Kristy wondered if she looked as surprised as she felt. She glanced at Claudia, hoping to find support for the obvious fact that their friend was losing her mind, but Claudia was nodding slowly.

'What are you talking about, Stace? We can't stand each other!'

'Well, he can stand you. He can more than stand you, if you get what I mean.'

'That's disturbing,' Kristy said over Claudia's laughter. She hoped she wasn't blushing again.

'Come on, Kristy,' Claudia chimed in. 'You have to admit he's really cute. And he's always paid a lot of attention to you.'

'Before today, we literally had not said more than twenty words to each other for months.'

'I don't know about all that,' Stacey said, 'but trust me on this. Right now, he likes you.'

'Stacey, you just heard him admit to going to a party with Cokie two days ago. And judging by the fact that you didn't see him there, he was probably busy somewhere doing unspeakable things with her.' Seeing Stacey was going to argue, Kristy held up a hand to stop her. 'There's nothing there. You're seeing things. It's probably because of all the hairspray.'

For a moment, Stacey looked like she might be offended, but then she burst out laughing instead.

'I do not use enough hairspray to affect my brain,' she said. Her voice softened. 'But you don't want to talk about this, so I'll stop. Even though you're wrong.'

Exasperated, Kristy flung up her arms and began to walk away. The bell was going to ring soon and she still had to get ready for her first class.

'Just make sure to admit she's right when he uses that favour to get you to go out with him,' Claudia called out after her, cackling along with Stacey.

Right. That was one bet she wouldn't lose.