I'm sooo sorry this took way longer than usual. I've been spending a lot of my writing time working on a request fic that I really want to finish soon O_O
Here are the answers to the trivia questions I posed last chapter:
Q1: Why Bob Dylan?
A1: The character with the guitar, top hat, and red-striped shirt singing the theme in the early season openings is a caricature of Dylan.
Q2: Why "Changing of the Guards"?
A2: That was the song Dylan recorded in 1978 to commemorate his sixteen years in the music industry.
Kevin reflected that night on his surprisingly pleasant experience bowling with Craig and his gang. They made him feel like he fit in somewhere—something he hadn't felt since Bradley left… something he used to feel with Bertha. He wished things had turned out differently with her. He cherished his friendship with Bradley, of course, and realized he only got the chance to know him after Bertha was out of the picture. Still, he wished he could find a way to reunite with her now. Craig always faces issues head-on, Kevin thought. Maybe I can learn from him and do the same.
…
The next morning, he walked over to Bertha's house and quietly knocked.
Her mom answered the door. "Kevin?" she seemed pleasantly surprised.
"Hi, Mrs. Tucker," he waved.
"I haven't seen you in ages. How are you, sweetie?"
"I'm OK. Is Bertha home?"
"Well, she's still asleep right now. Would you like to come in and wait for her?"
"No, thank you. I'll just try calling her later."
"Oh, all right. It was good to see you, Kevin."
"You too, Mrs. Tucker. Take care," he walked back home feeling a little defeated.
…
In the afternoon, Kevin made up his mind to call Bertha's cell. He decided to call from the home phone in the living room, fearing she might not pick up if she saw his cell number. It rang a couple times, but Kevin's nerves got the better of him and he hung up. Come on, Kev! he told himself. Don't be a coward! He dialed again and let it ring several times.
"Hi, this is Red," her voicemail kicked in. "Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
Kevin hung up once more and sighed.
"Couldn't get a hold of her, huh?" Esther walked in.
"Are you spying on me or something?" he snapped.
"Kevin, we're twins. We have that whole telepathy thing going on. Why were you trying to get in touch with Red after all this time?"
"If you have to know, I miss her. It'd be nice to at least talk to her again."
"So why didn't you leave a message?"
"I don't know," he flopped onto the couch. "I guess I wasn't really sure what to say—it's been so long."
"Well, you've gotten pretty chummy with her cousin lately," she reminded him. "Maybe you can ask him to help break the ice a little."
"Craig isn't exactly a smooth talker. He can be a bit…blunt."
"Between your timidity and his brutal honesty, a happy medium's bound to arise," Esther figured.
"Maybe…" he considered.
Craig, meanwhile, had invited Tweek over for a nice, safe afternoon visit, only to drag him to the local dry cleaners.
"Why can't you wash them at home?" the jittery blond asked, nervously sipping from his coffee thermos.
"I'm not taking any chances with these," Craig responded. "I wanna get Thomas's clothes cleaned professionally."
"Why? Does he have some kind of disease?" Tweek panicked. "Oh God! What if he has vampire bats hiding in his pockets that fly out and bite people? Then those people will turn into vampires and start biting other people until the whole town is filled with the undead!"
Suddenly, the bell above the door rang as someone walked in.
"GAH!" Tweek dropped his thermos and hid behind Craig.
"Hi, Craig," said Kevin.
"Hey."
"I stopped by your house and your mom said I could find you here." He peeked around Craig's back. "Uh…hi, Tweek."
"I don't taste very good!" he trembled.
"OK…" Kevin said confused. "Hey, did you drop this?" he picked up the thermos.
"AH! Gimme!" Tweek snatched it from Kevin's hand. "I gotta get outta here!" he made a beeline for the exit.
"Tweek, relax," said Craig.
"No way, man—he could be one of them now! He already tried to take my coffee; soon he'll want my blood! BLOOD!" he ran home.
"What was that about?" Kevin wondered.
"He thinks the townsfolk might be turning into vampires," he said as if it were a normal notion (which, of course, it was for Tweek).
"Will he be all right?"
"Yeah, I'll just remind him that vampires can't walk around during the day. Luckily, he hasn't been exposed to Twilight. So what's up?"
"How's Bertha doing?"
Once again, Craig had to stifle a laugh. "How should I know?"
"Well, she is your cousin."
"The Tuckers aren't what you'd call a close-knit family. I don't keep tabs on my relatives."
"Oh…" Kevin hung his head.
"Can't you ask her yourself?"
"I was just hoping that maybe you were close enough to her to help get us on speaking terms again. It's just as well, I guess… she probably wouldn't want to talk to me, anyway."
Craig closed his eyes and breathed deeply. What kind of Jedi mind trick did this kid have that made the apathetic boy want to be so helpful? "Look, I'll see what I can do. I'll swing by her house tonight and talk you up a little."
"Aw, you're the best, Craig!" Kevin rejoiced.
Don't thank me yet, he thought.
…
As dusk fell, Craig arrived at his cousin's house. His aunt let him in and directed him to Red's bedroom where she was having a slumber party. Without so much as knocking, he opened her door and said, "Hey, Big Bertha…"
"Craig!" she shouted. "I told you not to call me that! You want me to tell my dad?"
"Go ahead," he shrugged. "If Uncle Skeeter tries to lay a hand on me, I'll just call my dad over to sit on him."
He noticed the other girls whispering to each other, giggling madly as they ogled him.
"What do you want?" Red asked impatiently.
"I'd rather discuss it with you alone," he said looking over at her guests again.
"Hi, Craig," they waved flirtatiously.
He flipped them off collectively, at which they all swooned.
"Fine, let's go outside," she relented.
Craig followed Red out to the backyard. "Those are your friends up there?"
"Obviously."
"Funny…I remember when Kevin Stoley used to be your friend."
She scoffed. "What about it?"
"Maybe you should try being friends with him again."
"I don't think that's gonna happen, Craig."
"Why don't you have a conversation with him before making that decision?"
"No," she shook her head. "I can't talk to him anymore."
"Why not? He isn't popular enough?" he sneered.
"Why do you suddenly care so much if I'm friends with Kevin?"
"I don't care. I just think it's pretty fucked up to stop hanging out with someone because you aren't on the same pecking order. Token, Clyde and I are all very different people with very different interests, but we've still stayed together 'cause that's what friends do. Maybe you'd understand that if you weren't such a stuck-up bitch." With that, Craig walked away from their discussion, leaving Red speechless.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series.
SPECIAL NOTE: A FanFic friend of mine who I've beta'd for asked me to speak out against the new incarnation of the SOPA bill. From what I've read, it would make it a felony to illegally stream copyrighted material, instead of just a misdemeanor. This would affect anybody singing cover songs on YouTube trying to get their name out there, and, according to my friend, would also affect other fan uploads (like stuff on deviantART, for instance).
There have been some great things to come out of the current U.S. Administration, but this is definitely not one of them. Stay alert, and share your voice in opposing this outrageous act!