Author's Note: HYEEEEE. A year later...she finally updates! I'm pretty sure what few subscribers I had to this story don't really care much for it anymore. The only excuse I have is, my Mother died. Seriously, she died, and everyone grieves differently, & the way MY subconscious decided for me to grieve was lack of inspiration I couldn't write fan fiction or even my original fiction. But I hope that you all will understand and forgive me. Please, give this story another shot and let me know what you think! All reviews will be greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome. And, as always...enjoy!


And The Sky Fell Over Me

vii. Entering the Derby

The soft morning glow gleamed through Evelyn's dorm window, the light tickling, her body with a gentle warmth. Turning to her side, those big, bulky, red letters on the alarm clock red 9:05am. Noon was when she was supposed to meet up with Johnny. She wanted to see how he was doing after the bruising events from the night before. "Three hours to spare," she thought. "Nice."

Evelyn leaned up in bed, her bones creaking from early morning lag. A good stretch and her muscles relaxed, and she rolled off of her luxury queen mattress onto her fuzzy bedside carpet to protect her feet from the cold hardwood.

Her toothbrush wasn't even in hand, yet, and there was a knock at the door. With a sigh of annoyance, she turned and over her shoulder she called for her guest to enter, and had a pretty good idea who it might be this early. Her suspicions were correct when Christy, who already looked showered, dressed, and made up for the day, sauntered on into Evelyn's dorm room with a perky attitude.

"Good morning, Sunshine!" Oh so perky. Her ability to be cheerful before noon was sickening.

"Meh," was Evelyn's response.

Christy closed the door behind her and set the two white mugs onto the bedside table nearest the door.

"Ahh," Evelyn mused, catching sight of the two mugs. "That's your secret." She pulled on her soft pink towel robe. "That and a lot of concealer to hide those sleepless nights, I'm sure."

"Hey, if that's the attitude, I can just take this morning thunder tea back." Playfully, she lifted the mug from the end side table, watching Evelyn dart her way across the room and around the bed.

"No!" She said taking the mug from Christy. "It's okay. I'll gladly take this off your hands." She took a sip of the tea, still warm from the microwave. She didn't enjoy coffee in the morning, because all it did was give her two hours of energy and then she crashed. Mug in hand, Evelyn made her way back over to her vanity.

Christy, behind her, jumped and plopped onto her bed and watched Evelyn unscrew her toothpaste and apply it to a dry tooth brush. "So," Christy began, with an excited grin on her lips. "Have you heard about a certain Harrington House Party?"

Evelyn spit into her vanity side trash can and took a gulp of mouthwash from inside the drawer. Her mouth full, she shook her head in response.

"Rumor has it that your darling ex paid off the prefects to all either take the night off or pay special attention to the boys dorms."

Almost choking, Evelyn spit the mouth wash into the trash can. "First off, he is not my ex. We never dated. Second, that's really hard to do, pay off thirty something prefects to just…what, ignore fifty or forty giggling boys and girls all sort of sneak their up Harrington House walls?"

Christy sat up, amused. "First of all," she mimicked, "you might as well have dated. I mean, you spent like two summers together. Childhood friends or not, I know you two got it on at least once during that spaced out seven month period!"

She swiftly arose from the vanity stool and walked towards Christy in a stomp, slightly aggravated. "Whether we did or not is none of your business, and we didn't, for the record. And it was the summer house our parents always took us to for the summer, but our parents decided to dump us and all go vacation in Morocco. They decided not to get us until my father's next project started and they just sent Derby straight from the Summer House back to Harrington House."

Christy's expression of happiness and excitement faded and slowly transitioned into sadness. Breaking eye contact, she replied, "It must be depressing, for Harrington House to be the closest thing you have to home. You know, Pinky says that he hasn't seen his actual house, the one he grew up in, since like freshman year, right before he came to Bullworth."

Evelyn's expression slowly turned into that of Christy's as she slowly paced back to the stool. "Yeah, it's true actually."

Her mind shot back to the memories of her first summer with Derby. The first summer they spent alone was at first rocky. He didn't want anything to do with her, or anyone else. He took out a lot of his frustrations on the maids and butlers, but mostly on Evelyn. She was eventually able to see past that and understand Derby more. He was an extremely frustrated teenager. She always wondered why she never noticed the problem, considering that they'd known each other since early childhood, but soon realized that he suffered from an intense lack of attention from his parents. That's why he acted out. From the summer of ninth grade until three months ago, when Beatrice herself left from the Summer House, Derby had not seen the doorstep to his own home, the one he grew up in. It was like the Summer House was his new home and he lived alone.

"So are you going?" said Christy.

"What?" Evelyn said, not catching it, so consumed with her thoughts.

"Are you going to go?" Christy said again.

Evelyn hadn't seen Derby since she left the Summer House to pack for her first year of real school. Now, half way through September, it would be kind of awkward to see each other now. Especially on how the way they left things.

"Probably not."


It was 11:45am. Johnny was already showered, dressed, his hair done, and he'd already eaten breakfast. Evelyn said that she'd come by to visit at noon, and it looked like he was holding her to that. On his couch, he lounged, with an Auto Weekly magazine that he borrowed from his dad's shop every Thursday when the new issue came in. He wondered if she had meant Noon on the dot, or around, perhaps right before or right after. He found himself secretly hoping right before, which would have her arriving in the next few minutes.

Catching himself, he shook his head, and scolded himself for thinking like that. Evelyn could show up whenever she wanted. He didn't care. It didn't matter to him when she showed up or if she showed up at all! …Or so he would like to think.

He wondered if she had gotten home okay last night or not. Lefty did say that he was going to take her home, but what if Jay followed them? Or what if they got a flat tire on the way there and something happened? Johnny scolded himself again. He was sort of over thinking the situation. He began to sense a little emotional investment, and that didn't quite sit well with him.

He gave a frustrated sigh, dropping his magazine into his lap. It was himself that he was frustrated with. He wasn't really interested in jumping into a relationship. He didn't want a repeat of Lola. Not that Evelyn was anything like Lola. In fact, she was on a completely different page…no, planet than Lola. Especially considering that she had a soul.

He sat up, and gave a once over of his apartment. Pizza boxes on the coffee table, and there were so many pizza boxes that they kind of trailed onto the floor, too. Little red party cups littered the end tables, shelves, furniture, and of course the floor. There was a pile of clothes in the corner from where he didn't quite make it to the bedroom with his laundry basket once he got back from the laundry mat. That was a waste of seven quarters, because surely after they'd sat on this floor he'd be going back to re-do them.

He got up, went to the kitchen (which was an even more awful atrocity), and came back with a garbage bag. The solo cups, take-out dinner bags, ramen cups, news papers, napkins, old junk mail, and other assorted trash all went into the garbage bag. He broke down the pizza boxes and shoved them into an old beer case that was emptied two weekends ago. The clothes went into the hamper in the bathroom, and once the floor was cleared, he wondered what to do next. He guessed he should vacuum, but did he own a vacuum?

In the broom closet in the kitchen, behind an over flowing garbage can, which he made sure to empty right away, and even rinse out the garbage can in the bath tub, was the vacuum cleaner. He didn't even remember buying that and he's more than certain he never used it. He gave a quick once over the carpet. After that, he cleared out the bed room, made his bed, and just kind of figured out what to do with the dishes. There weren't that many dirty, really, considering he never cooked. Just a bunch of beer glasses and he just sort of shoved those into his dinky little dishwasher.

By 12:17pm, the apartment was looking pretty good. That's what nervousness can get you, apparently, a clean apartment, and the discovery of cleaning appliances you didn't even know that you had. Just as he was putting up the mysteriously hidden vacuum cleaner back into its nook, there was a knock at the door.

"That must be Evelyn," he thought. With few long strides, he was at the door. And in fact, it was Evelyn. She was in her casual clothes, since it was a weekend; no uniform. Over her shoulder and abdomen was draped a messenger bag. She had no school, but was still carrying her stuff around. Well, he thought, she was a girl.

"Hi." Evelyn smiled and seemed more cheerful than usual. "How are you feeling?"

He stepped aside for her, and motioned her passed him. "Come on in." Closing the door behind them, Johnny stood back to gauge her reaction of the apartment.

"Wow! What a difference!" Evelyn looked down at her feet. "You own a vacuum?" she said, spotting the tracks left onto the carpet.

He stifled a laugh. "Yeah, it's new." It wasn't entirely untrue. He was pretty sure it had been unused before today.

"It looks really good!" she exclaimed. "What convinced you to clean up?"

Johnny gave a shrug. "I don't know. I kind of got bored."

She gave the whole apartment a once over, sticking her head in the bathroom, the kitchen, and even the bedroom. He was glad he'd ventured into those rooms with the vacuum as well. She came back into the living room and dropped her stuff onto the cleared off coffee table. It was nice to not have to follow trails through the trash.

"Lefty's gonna dig this."

"So, did you guys get back alright last night?" The mention of Lefty reminded him of his earlier concerns of her safety.

She nodded. "Yeah, nothing happened. We talked, he dropped me off, I went back to the dorms, got yelled at by Pinky, and went to bed."

"Was she pissed we bailed?"

"No; just that we disappeared. She had plenty of help with the decorations. And you never answered my question earlier."

"What question?"

"I wanted to know how you were feeling."

Again, he shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'm fine."

"Are your ribs sore?"

"A little, but I can walk around and breathe and stuff fine."

Johnny had ripped off the bandaging Evelyn had applied the night before. It didn't look quite that bad, but she still wanted to clean it up really well one more time.

Evelyn grabbed her bag from the bottom seams and dumped the contents onto the coffee table. A first-aid kit, her wallet, address book, and a pack of gum fell out. She pried open the kit and stuffed everything else back into the bag. "I brought my own cotton balls, this time!" She sounded genuinely pleased with herself.

Laughing inwardly at her comment, Johnny went on ahead and just sat down next to her. "Please don't stab me, this time."

She chuckled. "I won't. I was just irritated with you, last time."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I tend to be a pain in the ass when I get the shit beaten out of me."

Evelyn laughed. "It's okay, I understand. I would be, too."

Pictures of the night before flashed in his mind, the kicks in the stomach, staring into a puddle of his own blood on the ground, how distressed and scared Evelyn was, and how lucky he was that Lefty and the boys showed up to save them. It struck an element of concern in him. "Are you really okay?" he asked solemnly. "I mean it, after what happened last night, you know."

Looking down as she applied the peroxide onto the cotton ball, her own thoughts began to drift back to the night before, too. "Yeah, it was a little scary, but I've seen a lot in my travels, so I guess I'm not too freaked out."

"If I would have known that Jay still had it out for me, I never would have taken you to New Coventry." He closed his eyes as she began to dob the injury over his eyebrow and placed his hand over hers.

Almost instinctively, she slipped her hand away for the first aid kit. "Band aid: yes or no?" After Johnny shook his head to the idea of more bandaging, she started to pack up her first aid items. She wondered why Jay was there in the first place. It was obvious that Johnny and Jay had a history. The nature of that history was unbeknownst to her. "Why does Jay have it out for you anyway, Johnny?"

"He wants control over New Coventry," Johnny leaned back, now, thankful that she was done poking and prodding him. "But me and my boys have always been here. This is our home. We're not letting that skeeze in here."

"Skeeze?" she replied. "What's so bad about him, besides his disregard for harming young girls in the middle of the night? Is he new meat or something?"

"Yeah, he's from out West or something, somewhere in Nevada. Supposedly he has some hardcore thug contacts, but I'm not really buying it."

"Why not? What makes you think he's not that dangerous?"

"I think he was run out and that's why they came all the way to New Hampshire. I mean, really? Outta all the places, that bum's gotta choose New Hampshire?"

"Exile, rather than expansion." Evelyn wondered what it was that Jay did back in Nevada. Probably a lot of violence and drugs. If Johnny was such competition, that made Evelyn think that maybe he was involved in the same corruption. That idea scared her. She had definitely been on the party end of things. She may have been privately tutored for years, but she still had a social life. She had received drugs, but never knew any of the dealers personally. "Is it drugs, Johnny?"

Johnny was surprised by her question. She had looked him straight in the eye and spoke with genuine curiosity. He knew that she wanted a straight answer and nothing more, but he didn't know how to answer a question like that. So he stood and headed for the kitchen, almost like retreating. He didn't want to talk about all that garbage, about what he did for a living, and about how working at the auto shop wasn't it. He didn't want to explain exactly what Jay had against him, and he really didn't want to talk about the night before either. To be honest, he just wanted to take her out for lunch to make up for the night before, but Johnny was certain that Evelyn might be too scared after what happened.

He would carry on to the kitchen, make a pot of coffee, and sit down and talk with her about normal stuff that kids their age talked about. After all this time of detention, and ditching, and being sent to the principal's office, Johnny just wanted to have some actual fun with her that didn't end in danger. "Don't concern yourself with it, Evie. It's not for you to worry about." But that wasn't what Evelyn wanted to hear.

First of all, he called her Evie. She had a nickname, now? Second, she was so angry. She was so angry and she didn't know why. For some reason, Evelyn felt like it was for her to concern herself with. She was interested. She was worried! They had just met three days ago, and now she seemed so emotionally invested in this guy that the thought of him shutting her out infuriated her. All she knew to do was to extract herself from the situation, and that's what she did.

She stood and threw her bag over her shoulder. "You're right, Johnny. It's not. So I won't concern myself with it." She turned and went for the door. "If you need any more help with your injuries let me know. I'm leaving now."

The door slammed behind her. Johnny turned, stunned at the sudden change of the mood. "What did I say?"


Evelyn honestly couldn't believe that that conversation just happened. Irritation was almost seeping out of her pores she was so mad with Johnny, right now.

"What? Why? Why would he just shut me out like that? After everything I've done for him…after only knowing him for three days!" she was saying to herself as she stomped down the paved sidewalk in the opposite direction of Johnny's apartment. Her thoughts kept running together, and she really didn't see the sense and the nonsense in those jumbled thoughts. She was just sort of too mad to really be properly processing through all this.

She had some other things to be doing anyway. She really wanted to meet with Lefty and talk him into taking remedial chemistry courses while the semester was still fresh. As far as Evelyn was concerned, she needed to be heading back to the academy anyway.

She ventured through New Coventry toward the bridge. Far away from the tracks, which were at the very back of New Coventry, she turned the corner, on the same street as YUM YUM Market, which meant she was in Bullworth, again. She was trying to take her thoughts away from the conversation when she came across a vegetable cart outside of YUM YUM's door. She saw an assortment of vegetables and fruit, such as zucchini and mango. It was a surprisingly good variety of food. She pulled out her wallet and asked about the zucchini. The cafeteria at the academy didn't have the best food options. She figured she'd just stock up in her dorm room.

As the vendor handed her the fruits and veggies in a small brown bag, she caught sight of a tall man in the corner of her eye just now coming outside of YUM YUM. He was holding a can of spray paint and a carton of eggs. He most certainly was up to no good. He immediately looked at her and saw her staring. She thought it was strange how his sight fell directly onto her. But then she noticed.

He was tall, with short, dark, curly hair, and extremely thick eye brows. His arms were so thick that it looked like he was about to tip over. It was Maurice from the night before. Fear fell over her and consumed her entire body. She immediately regretted leaving Johnny's apartment.

Her eyes fell away from him. She gave a quick and discrete nod to the vender, and turned on her heels swiftly, crossing the street. She shoved the bag of goods into her messenger bad on the off chance she ended up having to bolt her way back to the dorms. She knew that she told Lefty she'd be biking, but her bike currently had a flat tire so she had walked this morning. It wasn't like it was that far, really. The community was fairly open and the streets were pretty empty when she started her short trek.

She was walking at a very quick pace, crossing the street to the bridge, near the entrance to New Coventry. She glanced over her shoulder to see Maurice about fifteen paces behind her, possibly following her. She quickened her pace even more, and glanced back again. His pace increased as well. It was obvious he was gaining on her. Her nerves were wrecked and she didn't know what to do short of running. She kept thinking that maybe since she was so small that she would be faster than him, but she wasn't willing to bet her safety on that. Evelyn just wanted to start jogging, but she didn't want to alert him.

"Just get to the front gates," she kept thinking to herself. "I hope a police officer drives by."

She could hear a car over the loud beating of her heart. At first, she assumed it was an unknown driver swooping past on their way to Old Bullworth Vale. Evelyn gave it pretty much no thought at all, but her heart managed to drop even lower into her stomach when the car came into view. She recognized that car, the black sedan and as soon as it passed her, as if the driver had seen her, it slowly came to a stop and park.

Evelyn found herself stopping, too, and gave a quick glance over her shoulder to check for Maurice. He was still gaining on her, but he was about fifty paces back. He never crossed the bridge it looked like. She turned her attention back to the black sedan. Out of the back seat, a familiar face got out. Tall, handsome, and blonde, he walked over to Evelyn, rolling up the sleeves of his Aqua Berry sweater. Nervous and in attempts to get as far away from Maurice as she could, she took a few nervous steps in Derby's direction.

"Evelyn," he said simply, giving an amused smirk. It was obvious how unaware he was of what was going on. "I haven't seen you since this summer. It's a shame you haven't come to see me."

Looking at Maurice and then turning back to Derby she said as she began to head for the gates again, "Not, now Derby." The nervousness in her voice was evident, now.

The smirk on Derby's face dissipated and confusion appeared. "What's wrong?"

Evelyn pointed behind her. "I have a little unwanted company."

Derby followed her target to see Maurice at the end of the bridge. Evelyn watched the expressions on his face change as he caught sight of the brute, as they transitioned from indifference to almost surprise, as if he knew Maurice or something.

He motioned to the car and forced a smile. "Would you like a ride?"

Although Maurice seemed significantly less menacing across the bridge, she still felt the need to keep herself as far away as possible from the giant bully. She made her way to the car door, expecting Derby to be right behind her, but she could hear the sound of his footsteps fade away. She turned to realize that he had been walking away from her rather than the same direction as her. He was on his way to Maurice. She couldn't believe what he was about to do, go talk to that brute? What was the point? He was going to get himself killed!

The driver of Derby's car stood behind her now, opening the door. He didn't seem to phased either. He was completely checked out, himself, not even making eye contact with Evelyn. She knew that she needed to get in the car, but she couldn't seem to move herself from her spot. It was like she was cemented down to the sidewalk.

Wracked with worry, she watched Derby stop about four paces away from Maurice. Maurice was so tall that she could see his face just over the back of Derby's head. She watched his expression go from indifference to surprise, just as Derby's own face did two minutes ago. Then, Maurice turned on his heels and walk away, as if…retreating! What incredible circumstances she found herself in.

As Derby was halfway down the bridge, back in her direction, she felt safe enough to crawl into the car now. Moments later, Derby crawled in right behind her.

He gave a sigh of relief. "Well, that's that."

"What did you say to him?"

"Unfortunately, Maurice and I are sort of…acquaintances, technically."

"Technically?" she retorted. "Either you are or you aren't, Derby. And why would you be hanging out with someone like that, anyway?" The idea of Maurice and Derby interacting with one another on a personal basis was completely unbelievable. She couldn't think of any circumstances in which Derby would deem that acceptable. He picked his friends very meticulously, because he held his status in very high regard.

"Not that you can say much. Word has it that you and that greaser scumbag are associating." The car began to move.

"First off, don't insult my friends," she snapped. "Second, Johnny is a nice guy. That guy," she said referring to Maurice, "do you know what he does? He's involved in drugs, deep, with his asshole boss, who, just by the way, jumped me last night!"

"What." His tone was flat, almost laced with anger.

"Yeah," she trailed off, not really sure how to respond further. She wasn't exactly looking to recant the events of last night.

"Stop the car!" he called to the driver in the front.

"What are you doing?"

"No, what are you doing, Evelyn? I understand why you haven't spoken to me, after what your father said about us. I understand why he wouldn't approve of us together, but do you really think that he would approve of Johnny Vincent, anymore?" He spat his name.

Derby was referring to the conversation Evelyn had had with her father months ago, at the possibility of him approving of their becoming serious. Her father was no fool and was very aware of Derby's bad habits, and did not approve at all. She put her father's opinion in very high regard and was very plain with Derby when she said that she wouldn't be dating anyone her father didn't approve of first. Knowing her father for the longest time, Derby managed to let it go, as far as Evelyn knew. Looking back at her father's reaction to the discovery of her and Derby's…relationship, she could begin to understand that Johnny probably wouldn't fit the bill of her father's approval either.

"Johnny and I are just friends. He can't control who I'm friends with."

"Yeah, but Johnny is a thug," he retorted angrily. "Whether or not you're romantic, he still would disapprove."

She could understand his irritation. If she denied him because of her father's opinion, it would be insulting if she only now began to act freely for the sake of someone she's not even seriously involved with, or at least that's how she assumed Derby saw it.

For a moment, she sat, trying to think of a response. She didn't want to bring up their relationship or Derby's ever so blatant and very present feelings for her, so as to avoid any awkwardness. She recollected the events of the day, only to come across one unique fact.

"Why were you driving from New Coventry?" she asked. "Old Bullworth Vale is on a completely different side of the school. There's a different road and everything. The only thing I can see you going for is City Hall and that's closed on weekends anyway."

He let out a sigh. "It's nothing to worry about."

Coming from New Coventry and knowing Maurice, and the information that she received about Jay, earlier that day, whom Maurice was acquainted with, it all became rather clear.

"Jay is your dealer, isn't he?" She peered at him suspiciously through the darkness of the back of the car, the tinted windows blocking any sunlight.

Derby wasn't shy at all when it came to the drug scene. He wasn't involved in anything serious, but the occasional joint wasn't very discouraging, and by occasional, he meant frequent: very, very frequent.

"And don't lie to me, Derby."

"I don't see why you're so interested anyway, Evie. You and I haven't even spoken since the summer ended."

Her suspicion faded and sorrow began to creep through her. She could tell how genuinely hurt he seemed to be by the impossibility of their relation. It was quite sad, actually. "I'm sorry, Derby. Things just happened a certain way. I assumed you'd be too hurt for us to be around each other. I was trying to protect you." She was only trying to do what she thought was best. Never would she treat someone badly and it not affect her conscience.

"Well, you failed." His tone was short. "Start the car. Let's go back to school."

"Derby," she said, trying to reach him on a different, deeper note. "Please, please stay away from that Jay guy. He's crooked. I even seem to think that he was run out of the last town he was in. There's no telling what kind of crooked shit he was doing! I mean, I don't care if you smoke or not, but just don't get it from that creep."

It looked like he was thinking about it, which was more than she honestly thought she was going to get out of him. He let out a sigh and finally gave, "Fine. I'll find a new dealer, but I am not buying from Johnny. My money will not go into that cretin's pocket."

She gave him a dirty look, at the sound of his insult.

"Sorry. Habit."

The car pulled into the Bullworth Academy car parking lot, near the shop area.

"On a happier note, are you going to be attending my party this upcoming weekend?"

She always found it amazing how he could just jump out of a topic.

"I…highly doubt it." She couldn't see herself in that atmosphere again. Derby seemed to have tainted her, and she didn't like it. Through several of those months they spent together, they attended many social functions, and many parties. She promised herself that she would focus on school when she left the Summer House.

"Why not?" The driver opened his door and he stepped out, followed by Evelyn. "It'll be fun. I've arranged for the prefects to pay special attention to the boy's dorm so as to have an excuse why they miss the event at Harrington."

"Derby, I was serious. Please, don't deal with Jay anymore," she said jumping back to their last subject, afraid he was just trying to distract her.

It was obvious he was annoyed, how he dropped his head back and grimaced. "Ugh, I know, and I already agreed. Stop mothering me." He had always said that she was extremely protective, but he liked that aspect in her.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"You swear?"

"I swear."

"Good."

"As long as you come to my party."

"HEY. Don't try to sneak conditions into this agreement!"

"Why not? Come to the party! It's private invitation. There won't even be that many people there. Maybe twenty people, on the second floor of Harrington House."

"I'll consider it."

"Don't consider, do it. Never consider, do." As he always said.

Don't consider – Do. These words were words she heard quite too often.

She began to walk away. "Goodbye Derby. Thank you for the ride!"

"It's this coming Friday, 9 o'clock!"

"Goodbye, Derby!"

"And wear something strapless!"

Middle finger.