How to Fall Head Over Heels
By TheBucketWoman
Disclaimer: I'm poor; please do not sue me.
Chapter Four
Part One: Edwin and Lizzie
"Something's up," Edwin said
"Yeah," Lizzie agreed.
They were in the Davis's basement rec. room. They didn't have a games closet so this confab felt all kinds of wrong.
"What do we know so far?"
"Emily's jittery," Lizzie said. "More than usual."
"My dad called and said nothing," Edwin said.
"My mom called and said nothing," Lizzie said.
"Casey called and babbled for five minutes about how to reheat the meatloaf," Edwin said.
"That's not so unusual, though," Lizzie mused.
"And we haven't heard from Derek," Edwin said.
"He is the only one missing," Lizzie said. She paced. She didn't think as well without the cord from the light bulb to play with.
"Do you think he got arrested?" Edwin asked. "I'd have to be the man of the house!"
"What about your dad?"
"I'd have to be the boy of the house!" Edwin, for a brief, joyous, moment, pictured Derek in an orange jumpsuit, picking up trash from the side of the road, using one of those stick things. In his mind's eye, a truck came barreling by and splattered Dream Derek with mud.
"Um--Edwin," Lizzie said, waving a hand in front of his face, and, when that didn't work, whacking him.
"Ow?" Edwin said, rubbing his shoulder.
"I was just saying…" Lizzie said, "that if Derek had been arrested, your dad would go to the police station, yell at him, bail him out, or leave him there if he's mad enough. There wouldn't have been any reason for Mom and Casey to still be gone, so…"
"So,"
"So why would they all still be out and why is nobody telling us anything?" Lizzie asked. "Why would Emily and her mom pick us up from school acting like it was the most normal thing in the world and, I repeat, not telling us anything?"
"So," Edwin said. "Should we go lean on Emily?"
"Sounds like an idea," Lizzie said, one eyebrow raised. "I only wish I'd thought of it."
Part Two: Emily.
Emily read Catch 22 last year for school, and knew intellectually what the term "Catch 22 situation" meant, or at least she did after Casey had explained it to her, but never in a million years did she think that she'd have to deal with such a big one.
Derek was in the hospital. God only knew what was wrong with him, and she was supposed to keep her mouth shut. But she's never gotten the hang of keeping her mouth shut, and the one day she's prevailed upon to actually keep a secret, for something really important, she's faced with the three greatest investigators this side of Columbo. Marti, so far, was oblivious, but Mulder and Scully in there were about to strike; she could feel it.
And anyway, she didn't think it was right to lie to them. It wouldn't spare anyone any grief. If anything, it would make things worse. She wanted to tell them what she knew. The only problem was, she didn't know much, just enough to make a mess if she blabbed. So, she figured, she was going to go to Hell no matter what she did. Which still didn't make her decision any easier. She paced the kitchen like a caffeinated Hamlet, wired on the three sodas she'd just downed and still unable to make the slightest move. Except maybe toward the bathroom.
And there they were outside the bathroom door when she was done. Lizzie stood blocking the stairs with her arms folded and those two photon lasers she called eyes trained on Emily. Edwin was directly in front of her, covering the rest of the hallway, so unless she wanted to try her luck with the linen closet, she was stuck.
"What's the deal, Emily?" Lizzie asked.
"Deal?"
"Come on," Lizzie said. "I don't feel like playing."
"Me neither," Emily said.
"So then why are you?" Edwin said.
Emily looked from one to the other, then toward Dimi's room where her mom was teaching Dimi and Marti how to play Chinese Checkers.
"Downstairs," she said.
When they got there, she pointed to the island and each kid climbed up on a barstool. She leaned on the counter opposite them and took a deep breath.
"I really, honestly don't know too much," she began.
"How did I know you were going to double talk us, too?" Edwin asked. Emily didn't think he was capable of producing the look on his face. He looked angry, helpless, and unsurprised at the same time.
"I'm not lying to you guys," Emily said. "All I can do is tell you what I do know."
She told them about how she and Casey had been headed to the mall like they did every Friday afternoon to waste time and flirt with the guy behind the counter at the pizza place. Casey's phone had rung shortly after they'd gotten off the bus. They had been cutting across the indoor parking lot and her reception had been lousy at first. Casey had not gotten clear reception until she and Emily had walked through the main doors.
Casey had sat on the edge of the fountain, something she would never do, at least not without checking to see if it was clean first. But today she had just sunk down and promised whoever was on the other line that she was "on it."
"Emily," Casey said. "I need to," then she stopped and changed tacks.
"Can you do something for me?"Casey asked. She told Emily about how Derek had apparently been hurt during hockey practice and that it was serious, but nobody knew anything else. And this is what Emily told Lizzie and Edwin now.
"Oh my God," Edwin said, flatly. "This is really bad, isn't it?"
"We don't know that," Emily said.
"I think we kinda do," Edwin said.
"Do you really think that this could possibly turn out well?" Lizzie said.
"Where did you guys get this attitude from?" Emily asked.
"You know it's bad when the grownups lie to you," Lizzie said.
Part Three: George.
"What do you mean, Sam hit him?" Casey asked.
"Like I said, I talked to his mother, and she said he's doped to the gills, but from what she got from him, the kid took a shot and it went wild and hit Derek."
"Just like that?"
"Well," George said. "Apparently Sam and Derek had been arguing about something or other, and the coach had to separate them in the locker room."
"Oh my God."
"Yeah, that complicates things, doesn't it."
"So he hit him on purpose."
"No," George said. "I really don't think so. I just don't believe that Sam is capable of that, do you?"
"I don't want to," Casey said. She was starting to curl up into the car seat the way she had in the waiting room. "I just want this day to be over already, but we still have to go home and face the others."
"And," George added, "You need to pick up the car from the school parking lot where Derek left it." With that, he turned the key and started up the station wagon.
Part Four: Casey.
They pulled into the lot and Casey scampered out across the patchy blacktop, which still had tiny islands of black speckled snow in spots. She ran to the Honda that George and Nora had presented the two of them with once Casey passed her driver's test. It was cold enough for the door to stick slightly as she tried to open it. It made a crackling noise as the frost on the window broke. She bundled into the driver's seat, shut the door, and started the car, all the while saying "oh pleaseohpleaseohplease" to the heater. As if that would make it heat up faster. The dashboard clock read 9:50; this seemed both impossibly early and impossibly late at the same time. When did this whole mess start, she wondered. 2:30? 2:45? Feels like a week ago.
" Derek, you're hopeless," she said as she noticed a scatter of CDs on the passenger side, some hanging half-out of their jewel cases. Being Casey, she just couldn't stand that. She leaned over to pick them up.
One of them said "CASEY" in Derek's handwriting. She stared at it for a full minute, thinking of how only Derek could possibly have made a mix CD, put her name on it, and kept it for himself. Then curiosity got the better of her and she stuffed it into her purse for later. Then, George honked his horn, and she remembered what she was there for. She put the car in gear and led the way out onto the street.
She parked out front, allowing George and eventually her mom, access to the driveway. Then she forced herself to get out of the car and head across the lawn to Emily's.
A/N: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that you like my bit of drama. I have such a case of the warm and fuzzies now. :-)