Soon after that, we were all sent out for more community service, this time to pick up litter. We towed our trash bags and pickers out across the sidewalk, Nathan still distressed about his lack of a "power".
"What, cause you're all special and I'm not? Well I doubt it," Nathan retorted, after Kelly's comment, suggesting that he might just be powerless. "You can think what you want, but I have a superpower, and I just need to find out what it is."
"Maybe you're just super retarded," Alisha accused.
"Maybe I've got a whole SpiderMan vibe goin' on," Nathan thought aloud, ignoring her. "Maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit!"
"Yeah, cause that makes perfect sense," Curtis replied. "Why would you be able to climb stuff?"
"I don't know, how are you able to turn back time, apparently, and weird kid can turn invisible?" Nathan shot back, poking Simon with his picker. "It's not like this whole situation is backed up by a wankload of logic."
"He has a fucking name you know," I snapped, glaring at him.
"What, you crushin' on him or somthin'?" Nathan accused. "The posh totty and the weird kid, how cute!"
"I'm not fucking posh, and I don't have a crush on anybody! Stop acting like you're still in primary school!" He stuck his tongue out infuriatingly, and I gave him the finger, to which he just grinned at. "Fucking prick," I muttered, giving the ground a small jab with my picker.
We kept walking until we arrived at the parking garage where we had been told to go, and began doing our job. I pushed around disgusting pieces of litter (including more than a few crusty tissues), when Curtis spoke up.
"What is that?"
All of us turned in the direction he was looking towards. There, lying in a corner of the garage, was an older man, bare ass up in the air, completely unconscious. Carefully, we all walked towards him, until we all stood a few feet away.
"Is 'e breafin'?" Kelly asked, sticking a hand in her pocket.
"I'm not checking," I said, my nose scrunching up.
Alisha stepped forward, poking his bum with her picker. "Hey nude guy, you're naked," she stated with a smirk.
He shifted, and then rolled over, giving us all a flash of his cock, an uproar of "Oh!"s coming from us. I quickly turned, shielding my eyes and cringing. Now, sure I was no stranger to nudity—I was a twenty-one year old girl for god's sake. But I didn't have any desire to see some stranger's dick that we found passed out in an empty parking garage.
I vaguely heard someone snap a photo, and noticed Simon had his phone out. Okay, gross.
"You alright there?" I heard Nathan ask, looking over at me with a grin.
"I'm fine, has he covered up yet?" I asked quickly, feeling my cheeks go a bit red.
I noticed him turn back towards the man, a look of disgust and realization crossing his face, shouting "You!" before the man took off, running straight past us. "Hey!" He yelled again, and I finally turned around, seeing the man running off out of the parking lot, Nathan watching him go.
"You wanna tell us who that was?" Curtis asked, laughing.
"He's me mum's—he lives with my mum." Nathan responded, in obvious distress.
I couldn't help but smirk, Alisha and Kelly still cackling beside me. "Your stepdad has got a massive cock," Alisha said, pointing her picker at Nathan, causing another uproar of laughter.
"I know, Jesus! And he's not my stepdad, alright?" Nathan replied hurriedly, almost pouting.
Hmph, cute, I couldn't help but think only half-sarcastically, but quickly ignored the thought, noticing the curious look I got from Kelly. Fuck. I smiled in response, trying to blow it off as nothing. I was going to have to keep my head under wraps around her.
"Did you see that thing? That was like, monster big." Alisha winced. "Your mum'll hurt."
Nathan quickly stuck his fingers in his ears, shutting his eyes. "La la la, shut up!"
"Why is 'e naked?" Kelly inquired.
"Yeah, that's a good question," I added, smirking at Nathan. "Why's your stepdad sleeping naked in parking garages? He's not a homeless, is he?"
"He's obviously some kind of pervert. Or he's gay," Alisha replied, as if it was obvious.
"That follows," Curtis retorted.
"What?" Alisha asked, glaring. "He's cruising for rough trade! They love that shit!"
"Aw, a little light homophobia, go for it!" Curtis shot back.
"Yeah, cause it's obviously only the gay ones that runnin' around streaking, not the crazy, stupid-ass white boys," I added. I shot an accusing look towards Nathan, who sneered back at me.
"Or 'e could be a rapist, 'ere's loads of 'em 'round 'ere," Kelly said, leaning on her picker.
"Oh, thanks for that information, that'll help me sleep at night!" I retorted, crossing my arms, my trash bag on the ground and picker still in hand.
"Maybe he's a werewolf," Simon said, each of us staring at him.
Nathan pointed his picker at him. "Twat!"
"What?" He asked nervously. "It's what happens in films and stuff. You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, then you wake up somewhere naked. Like a zoo."
"What, like the storm turned him into a werewolf or somethin'?" I inquired skeptically.
"Maybe," Simon replied softly.
"Look, he's not a werewolf! The guy's such a pussy he needs my mum to open up jars for him! I'm sure if he was a werewolf he would be able to open jars of peanut butter by himself!" Nathan snapped.
"Whot if the storm did mess 'im op? Like Lacey said?" Kelly argued.
"That's bullocks. What are the chances?" Nathan said hesitantly.
After another moment of discussion, we shook off the encounter, turning and beginning to pick up again.
Once we had picked the garage clean (for the most part), we ended up back at the community center, changed back into our normal clothes—me dressed in high-waisted jean shorts, a loose black-and-red plaid flannel tucked into them, and some white Chucks.
The recreation room was now filled with tables of snacks, and a couple of sad looking balloons, and there was a severe lack in anyone under 60.
There were old people everywhere, a couple awkwardly shuffling to the tune of some awful song, some sitting and playing various cliché board games by themselves, and a few aimlessly wandering around the snack tables. It was a pretty desolate sight.
"Help out," our new probation worker, the same woman who had questioned us earlier, Sally, announced. "Talk to them, make sure everyone's having a good time." We all stood there for a moment, silent. "Move," she ordered, flustered.
We all shifted out of the line, dispersing amongst the old and dying, awkwardly beginning to hang around anyone who didn't look too horribly depressing.
I sat beside an old man who's shaking hands were attempting to pour his tea, and I quickly took the pot from him, pouring it myself before he spilled it all over himself. "Do you take sugar?" I asked with a polite smile.
Even if I thought this was shit work, I didn't want to be a bitch, since it wasn't any of these people's fault that I was stuck hanging out with them. It's not like they could've just chosen to die a couple years earlier. I lounged in the chair as the man beside me sipped his tea, thanking me and going on about how I reminded him of his granddaughter. I just smiled and pretended to listen, nodding when I felt like I needed to while my eyes discreetly checked out what everyone else was doing. Curtis was dancing with some old woman, Kelly was sitting with a man in a wheelchair (seeming in a pretty similar situation to myself), Alisha had just stalked off, and Nathan was at the snack table with another girl. A pretty girl. I blinked, trying to not let a look of surprise cross my face as I watched out of the corner of my eye.
It was a bit obvious that Nathan was trying to chat her up, smiling and not being his usual asshole-self from what I could tell. The blonde girl he was talking with started smiling and laughing, before some old bird dragged Nathan away for a dance. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, why, I was not completely sure, and I blinked, trying to ignore the odd feeling that had seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Sorry, I don't think I ever got your name."
My attention was drawn back to the old man beside me.
"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry, my name's Lacey," I said with a toothy smile, hoping that he didn't have good enough sight to see that it was fake.
"Oh, it's good to meet you. I'm Richard," he replied in a thick Welsh accent, returning my smile. He then continued on about his grandchildren, saying how his granddaughter was going to some fancy boarding school at the moment, about to graduate.
I wished things were going as good for me as they apparently were for her...I guess they had been when I was her age. God, now I'm starting to sound like one of these geezers, the old must be contagious.
I internally winced, before standing. "I'm sorry sir, but I've got to go to the loo. I'll be right back," I said, rushing out of the room, and I couldn't help be see Nathan trying to shoo the grandmother he was now swaying with away. I smirked.
I entered the toilets, surprised as I saw Alisha there, looking a bit frustrated. "Hey, everything al'ight with you?" I asked, coming up behind her as she was looking at herself in the mirror.
She jumped, turning around, letting out a sigh of relief. "Shit, ya scared me. I'm fine," she mumbled.
"You sure? I saw you run out a couple minutes ago, something happen?"
She heaved a sigh, crossing her arms. "Nothing. Some old guy just grabbed my hand, and got all disgusting, like what happened with Curtis or whatever when..."
She didn't have to finish her sentence, I already knew what she was referring to. "Do you know why it's happening?" I asked, leaning my back against a bathroom stall.
"'Course not! If I did, I wouldn't let some grandpa try to feel me up!"
I held up my hands in surrender, frowning. "Christ, that sounds pretty shit," I said, shaking my head. "Let's just hope it all blows over like Nathan said," I mumbled, running a hand through my hair.
"Let's hope," she grumbled, before strutting out of the bathroom.
I watched her go, before ducking into a stall, trying not to think to much about her dilemma. I had more important things to worry about, like why I felt my stomach shift again at the mention of Nathan's name, and getting back before Mr. Richard spilled his tea on himself.
"Someone knows," Curtis said suddenly as we were all packing up in the locker room.
The old-people box social had just ended for the day, and we had been set free, all of us shuffling back to the locker rooms to get our stuff and go. I was standing in front of my open locker, slinging my carmel-colored backpack over my shoulder, and I turned to glance at Curtis, who was clutching a sheet of paper in his hands.
"Someone knows we killed our probation worker."
There was a moment of silence, all of us processing what he had said. "Are you for real?" I asked, looking down at the paper, catching a peek at the cliché magazine-cut-out letters glued to the paper.
"Is this a wind-op?" Kelly asked, leaning against her locker. "Is this you?" She turned to Nathan accusingly.
"If I was trying to wind you up, I think if be a little more creative," Nathan said, seeming offended by the notion for all the wrong reasons. "'I know what film you saw last summer'," he added mockingly.
"Thos isn't fonny!" Kelly snapped, glaring at him.
"If I wanted to freak you out, I would've dug up the body and stuck that in your locker!"
"If it wasn't him, then who was it?" Simon inquired, all of us exchanging nervous looks.
"What if it was your step-dad?" I asked, looking towards Nathan. I saw Alisha and Kelly smirk. "It'd sure be a good way to get back at you for peepin' at his cock."
"He's not my step-dad!" Nathan snapped. "And he doesn't even know about half the shit I do! How would he even get in the locker anyway?"
"Well, maybe he'd be able to seduce the new probation worker, with the size of his—"
"Shut up!" Nathan almost shouted, for once actually a bit embarrassed. "It isn't fucking him, he's too much of a pussy to try anything like this, just shut up about it!"
A few snickers came from the group, but soon the tone lost its lightness. "Well... We've all done stuff," Nathan offered, seeming a bit uncomfortable. "They could mean anything." He added, gaining confidence as he spoke.
We all looked at Curtis.
"It was in your locker," Alisha pointed out, gesturing towards it.
"This was meant for all of us!" Curtis exclaimed, exasperated that no one seemed to be believing him. "They're talking about the probation worker."
"Okay, okay," Nathan said, waving his hand. "Let's just say you're right. If they actually knew something, they wouldn't be dickin' around stickin' notes on lockers. They'd of called the police, and we'd all be banged up in jail gettin' gang raped in the showers!" He said, making some disturbing thrusting gestures before walking towards Curtis. "But this—this mean they have no evidence, no proof. Nothing." He leaned against Curtis' locker. "And anyway, I bet this is about some totally unrelated shit that you've done. So," he straightened. "If we're all done freaking out over nothing, there's somewhere I need to be." He slapped Curtis' arm, before promptly walking out.
I never thought I'd see the day where he'd actually said something intelligent, I thought, earning another peculiar look from Kelly. Once again, I played it off as nothing.
"Please tell me you don't actually believe that prick," Curtis said, looking around at us for back-up.
"Well, 'oever did et is jus' tryin' to freak os out, right? So we jus' act normal," Kelly said, sticking her hands in her pockets.
We were quiet for a moment, before I finally spoke up. "Sounds good to me."
We all turned back to our lockers, each of us trying to dismiss the unnerving note.
I went home later that night, feasting on some Roman noodles, nursing a beer and watching some documentary on the Discovery Channel. I was interrupted as my phone started humming Carry On My Wayward Son, and I snatched it up, wearily looking at the screen, blinking when I saw the name written across it.
I sat up straight, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hand, double checking to see if I was reading it right. My eyebrows knitted together, before I rushed to answer it, quickly pressing the phone against my ear.
"Co—Cody?" I asked, fumbling with my remote to mute the television.
"Hey, sis," he answered, hearing his deep chuckle on the other end of the line.
I paused, letting out some sort of mix of a laugh and a sigh, my stomach twisting at the sound of his voice, that of which it had been months since I had last heard. Hell, it felt like years. Then again, months probably did seem a lot longer for not talking, considering I had been with him non-stop for the better part of my life.
"Hey, um... It's, uh, been a while," I said, running a hand through my hair, leaning forward on my spot on the couch. "Uh, whatcha callin' me for?"
Another laugh. "What, I can't call my big sister just cause I want to?"
"Not since we haven't talked in three months." There was silence on the other end of the line, and I knew that got to him. "Why haven't you talked to me?" I asked, not sure whether I should be pissed for the lack of communication or relieved that he had actually decided to pick up a phone.
"Hey, I'm... I'm sorry, you know that, right? I've just moved out of dad's place, and—"
"You what?" I asked, standing up quickly. "You moved out? Cody, you're barely eighteen! You don't even have a job, what the fuck are you thinking?"
"I got a job," he answered, silencing me. "Look, don't worry about it. I'm fine. I got a job helping out at this bar. I'm learning how to mix drinks so I can become a bartender."
"You're barely even legal to drink and your already trying to become a bartender?" I questioned critically.
"It's the best I could get. It's better than being a dish boy."
I frowned, running a hand through my hair. "You couldn't get a job as a waiter or something? At a store? Not some sleazy bar?"
"Hey, it's not that sleazy! Like I said, it's the best I could get on short notice. I needed to get out of the house."
I paused, processing his words. "Cody, what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"You just said you needed to get out, what the hell happened?"
I heard him sigh heavily. "I was just getting sick of dad's shit. He didn't want me talking to you 'cause of everything that went down on Sunday."
I didn't have to ask which Sunday. I knew the simple name of the day was always going to weigh heavy on me, and the rest of my family. Just the mention of the day made my stomach twist, and I cringed slightly, pursing my lips.
"He was watching my calls. It's fucking bullshit. When I told him to fuck off, he gave his whole tangent about "It's my house, my rules", and I decided that if he was going to act like that, I might as well get my own place. I was 18, I didn't need to be treated like some fourteen year old girl with a douchebag boyfriend that I wasn't allowed to see. I'm fine, don't worry."
"Where are you now?" I asked, rushing into the kitchen, snatching a pad of paper and pen.
"I'm staying at a Motel 6 for now. The one off Balfe Street. I'm gonna get an apartment soon, I'm looking at a place near the community center." I scribbled down the street name.
I tried to ignore his comment about the community center, my face burning with shame. I didn't want him seeing me everyday hanging about there, in my awful orange jumpsuit paying off my community service, but that wasn't my main concern at the moment. "Dad's just letting you live in a motel?"
"We got into it last week. I kept on defending you, and..." He laughed bitterly. "Let's just say neither of us are daddy's favorite anymore."
"Fuck," I muttered, pressing a hand against my forehead.
He paused, before speaking up softly. "Mom's been helping when she can."
I took a sharp breath, pursing my lips. I hesitated, trying to figure out what I was going to say. Last time I had seen mum had been a week or so after I got sentenced to my community service, and she hadn't been doing so well. "Is she... She doin' alright?"
"Yeah." Cody said softly, and I could almost hear him smile on the other side of the line. "Yeah, she's been better. She's been out of the hospital for a while now, and she's been able to get some rest. She's still been pretty out of it. She hasn't been taking her medicine."
"You know why not?"
"She says she feels worse on it. I can't blame her, with all those shit side affects."
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see me, heaving a sigh. "Yeah. Tell her to ring me, alright? I'm worried about her."
"I will."
We were both quiet on the line for a moment. I was still trying to absorb the fact fact that I was finally talking to Cody, even after three-plus months, as well as all the other information.
He now wasn't a total bum, and had a job, and was looking at apartments. Dad (maybe?) kicked him out. Mom was okay, and somehow able to help support Cody as well as herself, even if she could barely take care of herself. She was probably digging into her retirement funds again. I frowned at the thought, but decided that was something for her and I to discuss.
"Hey, I gotta go," Cody said softly, and bit my lip, letting out a breath.
"Oh, um... Alright. Okay. Call me, alright? Don't go disappearin' on me again," I said, a light smile creeping onto my face.
He chuckled. "Alright. Love ya."
I swallowed hard, breaking out into a smile. It was an actual, genuine smile, not just a smile you have when something's funny, or the smile you have just to be polite. It was a very real, very rare smile, that was all teeth and probably not very cute, but felt better than any other one. "Love you too," I said, my voice a bit shaky.
"Oh, don't get all soft, you pussy," he said on the other line, and I laughed, ending in a hiccup.
"Fuck off, you wanker. See ya."
"See ya."
The line went dead, and I rubbed my eyes, trying to ignore any sort of dampness from them.
A/N: Alright, so after a little week-long wait, there's chapter four! It was a bit shorter than usual, only about 3,500 words, but I just thought that would be a really good place to end. Finally, a bit of background info on Lacey. What do you think of it? What happened between her and her dad? Why was her mother in the hospital? And what's up with her and her brother Cody? All questions will be answered eventually. Do you guys like learning more about her? Should I have more scenes separate from the show-storyline with her? Do you like how she's edited into it? Please tell me! And a big thank you to LancelotAlbion567 for their review! I love hearing from you guys, especially since now I officially have 150+ views on this story-I know it's not a ton, but it's still a big deal for me.
Finally, I have a bit of bad news-this week I probably won't be able to write/update much. Sadly, I wasn't able to write much last week, and now I've only written ahead of this chapter by maybe a couple hundred words. Also, this week, I'm in a play, and it's production week, so I'll be staying after school every single night until at least seven or eight, and then I'll have homework on top of that. It's going to be like that until next Saturday, when we have closing night. I'll do what I can, but no promises on lots of updates. Still, thank you for reading, and please favorite, follow, and leave a review! Happy Halloween! See ya!