Chapter 7: Chicken
"This is your chance!" Molly whispered to me excitedly. "That boy you like!"
"No, we can't exactly think about that now, can we?" I muttered back to her. We had gathered back at my house, crowding into my living room, at three in the morning when I had found them still at the club, and hauled them back. Of course my father was all right with it. He's single.
Despite this meeting being at my house, because apparently I was the only person with a stable living place (not entirely true), the older DJ's were mostly the ones speaking on behalf of the rest of us.
"I say this is a brilliant plan. And when they're sleeping, we snap all their records and tapes in half." Lacy said excitedly.
"Well, wouldn't this opportunity be very favourable for a… collaboration of sorts?" Gertrude said wisely. Even though she sounded wise, and I kind of agreed with her, still most of the crew groaned, and started arguing against it.
"Any dealings with these toddlers would be most unpleasant. They've been like this to us since before we set sail, if you recall." Kelly justified, trying to silence the bickering. I stopped to think. I'd never heard that story before. It must make sense though, since both our stations had to have started way before I showed up, and Justice and Molly had mentioned that Jackie had an encounter with Quentin.
"We have no choice but to go! We can't let them walk all over us!" Frankie said.
"If we go, they're going to ruin our reputation!" Kelly said.
"If we don't go, they're going to do that anyways. We may as well go with what honour we have left. I say no more hiding." Frankie argued.
"Same here! There're girls coming around my house looking for you, Meryl, saying Gavin sent them." Lacy said. She took on a tone of annoyance that I rarely heard before tonight, and her eyes, I thought, were about to roll themselves out of their sockets.
"Oi, they're still out there?" Molly asked, prodding my arm. I shrugged.
"I agree…" Jackie suddenly began. This whole while, she had been sitting, listening to the opinions laid down with contemplative eyes, and everyone shut up to hear her out. "I agree with Gertrude."
Everyone who had been against what wise Gertrude had said was clearly disappointed, because they knew that Jackie held the last word.
"But we can't exactly send us all down there." Lacy said.
"I'll send myself, along with volunteers. Anyone going in there will certainly not be going alone."
Two weeks later, we left early in the morning, the seven of us: Frankie, Gertrude, Jackie, Molly, Justice, Thelma and me.
I wasn't too excited to go back on, but I could tell that Jackie felt even less excited than me. As Radio Rock's boat lights could be seen in the distance, her face lost a little more colour. I felt bad for even knowing about her and Quentin, since I thought if I slept with someone I wouldn't like some seventeen year old to know. She nervously kept buttoning and unbuttoning her jacket, and looked worse than me on my first date.
But what I found funny, as we were approaching, there was already a boat leaving. A young woman, blonde and pretty, maybe a little older than Molly, was pouting, but no tears. Obviously someone on the boat upset her, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was that skank Gavin. She sailed away, leaving the rest of us wondering.
There were no DJ's waiting for us outside, which I kind of suspected since this was half unannounced—we didn't tell them we were coming first thing, but we were scheduled to come within the two weeks we were given.
We came up to the side, and one of the others who worked on the boat for maintenance came to help us on board, grinning all the while because he probably knew our predicament. Crap already.
He showed us to the main lounge, and I already knew the way but stood at the back.
When we dropped our stuff, no one occupied the room. I could faintly hear the hums of voices coming from the dining room.
"Jackie they're in the dining room." I voiced to her.
Uncharacteristically, she whispered to me, maybe sounding a little nervous, "Should I go, or you? I mean, you have been here before."
I froze as well, and for a moment, I looked onto Jackie as my equal. I mean, she never really showed her emotions before anything having to do with Quentin, which brought her to the emotional level of a youngster like me. And I hardly ever admitted I was young.
"I'll go." I said, and left the rest of my group restlessly annoyed at being there. Also I knew they were uncomfortable, not even two minutes on the boat.
I tiptoed to the dining room, a shabby enough place, with generally filthy wear and tear to it much like the rest of this place. I stood in the doorway, and listened for a bit rather than make my presence known, because everyone was gathered, obviously having some heated discussion.
Everyone was to one side, save for one man. Unsurprisingly, it was Gavin. Why wasn't I shocked everyone was crossing their arms at him. I mean, typically he was a well-liked guy for his "cool" factor, but he seemed like the type to put himself into these types of situations to make him the enemy.
"…It's the dark side of rock and roll." Gavin said. I briefly wondered what he did this time.
"Can you tell me one thing?" I whipped my head to Simon. His usually happy voice was choked with sadness. From this angle, I could see the glare of light against his watery eyes. I never knew Simon closely, but whatever brought his spirits down certainly must have been harsh. "Before she left this morning, you didn't… you know?"
There was a silence that had me guessing they weren't about to like the answer. I looked at the Count, who was unimpressed to say the least, and rubbed his stubbly face.
His inevitable reply came. "Just one little pop." I immediately thought 'wow, who'd he fuck this time?' "I thought it was the least I could do after all the trouble the lovely girl had gone to."
Simon immediately rose, and strode towards the only exit, and I made room in the doorway. The trouble being now, I was in perfect view. Carl quickly followed, but stopped shortly to give me a perplexed look.
"Hi." I waved nervously to the rest of the room after Carl had left, unsure of how to react to this somewhat mysterious argument. I tried to ignore Gavin's face, which had turned a tinge smug at my arrival.
After everyone somewhat acknowledged my presence in their own way, I managed to see Angus whisper back to Dave, "Can't blame him though." They were still into the argument.
"Oh yeah you can." The Count said loudly, not looking back at that nut. "Mister, have you ever heard of the Vietnam War?" His sceptical gaze was focused on Gavin harshly.
In his amused voice, he replied, "I have."
"Well, that Holocaust is simply a playground skirmish next to what you're about to experience." I think his American accent just got a little less annoying as a result of threatening Gavin.
Even though Gavin started to chuckle, Count continued, "I'm declaring war. W-A-R. I'm gonna tear you apart."
I decided before this would get out of my depth, I would go find Carl, who went after Simon. But first, I decided to tell my crew.
On my way back, Quentin came in stride with me to the lounge. "Back already?" He asked in a pleased tone.
I'd never had a playful banter with him since he always intimidated me a little.
"Brought a little something back with me." I bragged, testing the waters with him.
"Is that so?" He turned to look down at me, his smirk ready, but his eyes unreadable beyond his sunglasses, this fact making me adjust my glasses further up my nose so that my eyes were completely out of view. We turned into the lounge, and I could see his mouth twist in some sort of recognition upon seeing my crew. I'd been waiting for that reaction, actually.
Jackie wasn't looking at us, but was in a heated conversation with the rest of my crew. Behind us, Radio Rock filed through, their faces somewhat brightening at our attendance; Obviously not because they were happy to see us.
I cringed, because Jackie turned around, and only had petrified eyes for the man standing next to me. I took comfort for her, in that the rest of her face was stone.
"Quentin." She stated.
"Jaclyn." He said, bemused. I could see my crew's eyes widen, along with my own. No one called her that, and got away with it.
She looked down in humour, knowing all too well how she herself reacted to that name. "It's Jackie."
"Not to me." His voice was assuming, but Jackie kept her cool.
I slipped behind the group, as it was awkward enough already, and went out the door of the lounge to find Carl like I had promised myself.
As soon as I turned that corner that led towards their bunks, a hand had already wound itself around my wrist, gripping tight and stopping me.
Immediately after I caught my breath I taunted, "How did you fuck up this time, to make your whole crew angry?"
"Not how, who." Gavin said, not the least bit shameful.
I shook my head, putting the pieces together. "That was Simon's wife!" I loosened my wrist from his hand.
"Was. She's gone now, so I can't see the problem anymore." He waved his hands for emphasis and annoyance, and placed them in his navy trouser pockets.
"Yeah, but guess who's wifeless now?" I whispered furiously.
He paused for a moment and observed me for a fraction of a second. "I didn't think you cared who I slept with."
He shrugged, smirked, and left without letting me have a proper chance to respond to that. I'd probably end up coming up with a proper retort hours later when I was left to myself, not that it would matter by then to Gavin.
I was glad for the cover of my sunglasses. "I don't."
I carried on down the cramped corridor and heard faint sobs coming from Simon's room, and I knocked tentatively. Without waiting for a reply, since there was none, I opened the door to see Carl anxiously sitting on the floor, while Simon sat on the bed. They both looked up to see me.
Quietly I shut the door behind me, and went to go sit next to him.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" I said softly. I knew my voice was much more gentle than I ought to have it in front of these people. As an extra incentive, I started to rub gentle circles on his back, like my grandmother did when I would stay with her, for comfort.
I don't quite know why I was being so nice to him. I mean, as I might have mentioned before, he was a jolly enough fellow, but we weren't exactly mates yet.
"No." He mustered faintly. I was about to back away, figuring he wanted to be alone, but he sunk his face into my shoulder, and started to sob. I could generally settle small arguments on my own, but a full-blown crying man on my shoulder was a tad out of my area of expertise. And I still don't know why I came to see Simon.
I ruffled his hair and started to smooth it down like I would do for my baby cousins when I wanted them to calm down. Then I looked at Carl, my eyes wide with fear. I tried to convey my panic at this situation, but he gave me a half hazard side-face grin, and two thumbs up. Sure, maybe I looked like I was doing fine, but c'mon.
We—excuse me, I—managed to get him to stop crying, and talk. He told me how he'd met this lovely lady, who he was sure was the one. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together… or so he thought. Simon, probably the most innocent grown man I've ever encountered, was played for a fool. She married him to be on the boat to be with Gavin. That swine. That whole time he knew what she was there to do, and he never said a thing. That's just as bad as if he suggested she do it. But as bad of a part that Gavin played, Eleanor was way up there in my bad books now. That blonde I saw this morning, which, now that I think of it, was probably only sad that she lost Gavin, deserved to be kicked off. I'm only sad that I probably won't be the one to kill the instigator, Gavin, since Count staked his claim, and Simon was too big a softie.
Simon finally took his head off my shoulder, and I looked down to see that my gray sweater was now damp with salty tears.
"It's okay Simon, you don't need people like her in your life." I said, patting his back, indicating we should get up.
I had been paying avid attention Simon, so much so, that Carl slipped my mind. He was on the floor, sleeping. I nudged his pale face with the toe of my shoe, and he woke with a start. "C'mon." I said. He followed, and stretched lethargically.
We decided to join the rest of the gang, who were in the lounge, divided into two obvious cliques. There was Gavin sitting with Mark and Dave, while Angus, Kevin, Felicity, Count, News John, and Harold sat to the other side. Then there was my crew, huddled tightly still. The two Radio Rock groups had one thing in common; they were sizing up the comrades formerly known as Pop Wave.
As soon as we walked in, everyone looked up, expressions varying. I could tell Jackie was angry that I was away, but mostly people wondering why we were with Simon, I'm sure. Hey, I have to keep informed.
"Hello, all." I addressed, since there was no way I could get Carl or Simon to speak.
"Well, now that we're all here, we can examine the situation." Quentin began brightly. "And ponder why Meryl would have brought other people with her."
I looked around, trying to appear nonchalant about it. I'd let Jackie handle this one.
"Well, technically only I needed to come with her, but the rest of my girls are here for…support." Jackie boasted.
"Why? We're only doing one show." Dave stated.
The Count waved his hand around a bit. "No, no," Everyone looked at him expectantly, "they're looking for a bargain."
I could hear Gavin snort very loudly cigarette smoke out his nose.
"How very unbecoming. Gavin making pig sounds." I commented low enough for it to sound like I was thinking aloud, but loud enough for a couple sniggers.
"So you're suggesting we let you stay here to perform alongside us?" Gavin said with disgust after sneering at me.
"And why not? After all, we did decide to not say what you did and press charges for attempted homicide when you sunk our boat." Jackie crafted. It certainly was a stretch, considering we did alert authorities. But no one had to know that.
"No, the deal was for only one show with Meryl, complete with full-on humiliation." Gavin said while laughing at us.
Everyone ignored him. "This could be beneficial for ratings. That would be yet another kick in the nuts for the British government." Quentin mused.
"They're staying here?" Kavanagh asked, sounding panicky. I believe he must have expected his crew to back him up, but there was no respect left for him at the moment.
Count laughed at his discomfort, while Dave spoke, "They're staying here." Dave was probably excited to get his hands on a woman. I'm not surprised.
"I'm not sharing my air time with a bunch of overrated radio broads."
"I thought this was what you wanted." I said to him with fake curiosity.
"The deal was—" he started.
"I don't think you're in a position to argue." Count said. Everyone else's disapproving stares were proof.
"Besides, Gavin, we'll have loads of fun. After all, there's no need to be so uptight about it. What would the listeners think; Gavin not game?" I suggested. I just egged him on; guys are way too competitive.
Later, when everyone was set up with a room—some people had to share, and Quentin made the boys move in together for the time being— and the matter was partially settled, we decided to find out later how long we would be staying.
I went up on deck to get some space, but my good friend Carl was already there.
"Hullo." I said, coming beside him.
"Hi." He lowered his head onto the railing on top of his folded hands.
"So that sure was something, eh?"
"Yeah, you guys staying here."
"I was thinking more about Simon. Poor lad."
"You really need to stop acting like that."
"What?" I defended.
"Lad. Like you're old. Because you're not."
"I never said I was, Carl." We were kind of lightly arguing, but the matter obviously bothered him.
"Well you're not. You're my age. Maybe younger."
"Girls mature faster than boys. This boat is kind of living proof of that." I said jokingly.
"So."
"What brought this on?"
"There're forty year old men on board. Sure they're fun, but..." You're way out of your depth, Carl.
I snorted, and dropped my head into my hands. This was just too funny. "And you're saying this because?"
"Simon will be alright." Carl said softly, aware that he might've took a step too far with this 'argument'. He immediately switched topics to my previous issue, since I clearly won.
"Good." I said quietly also, and we just stood relaxing for a moment. I still didn't understand what exactly he was trying to say.
"Well, I'm going inside now. By the way, Count is supposed to be on air soon, for some big announcement to challenge Gavin. Should be interesting." He slowly turned around, and as his invitation, he beckoned with his head in the direction he was going.
"I might as well. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
In his studio, Count sat in his swivel chair, and was thrumming his fingers on his desk, waiting for the jingle to finish from News John's reports.
He waited three beats before booming his American accent over the air, "My dear listeners, you may have noticed a certain cooling of the relationship between his royal highness, the Count of Cool, and a guy called Gavin. Well, I am eager to show the world that he is a coward. So I'm suggesting something that's pretty big where I come from, and it's a game called Chicken!" He started to crow like a chicken, mocking Gavin through the glass, since he was there, subjected to watch. "We will let you know how that goes, tomorrow, when your very own Count comes back on the air, victorious."
"Alright everyone, let's take this show outside." Dave announced, procuring a megaphone from somewhere. I'd learn to stop asking questions in time, I guess.
Outside on the deck, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Of course Count had tried to explain the game well enough, but he mostly told everyone to watch.
"The man who climbs furthest is the victor!" Dave exclaimed. Count and Gavin stood of either side of the boat's antenna. "May the best man win… and the biggest chicken lose!"
They readied to climb, placing their feet on the first bars. "Are we ready?" Gavin and Count both put out their cigarettes, "Then let the ascent commence!"
The two men began to climb quickly, and instantly everyone started to cheer for Count. Soon I caught myself practically roaring like everyone else, cheering for Count, but I reserved myself a bit, opting to clap. I would occasionally glance over at Simon, who wasn't making a sound, but you could see the determination in his face, wanting with all of his might for Count to win.
Nearly halfway to the top, they were neck and neck, but Count lost his footing. I recoiled at bit, along with everyone else, voicing our awe; Count was a little ways away from being a pancake on the deck. He held on for his life though, but gave Gavin the lead. I only felt disappointed that I couldn't hear them discuss while Count regained his footing.
Radio Rock began to yell at them to stop, and get back down. "Come on guys, don't be stupid!" Dave spoke through the megaphone. "Enough is enough, you made your point!" However, they resumed their climb.
"Quentin, do something!" Felicity begged.
He rolled his head and muttered a profanity before gaining the nerve to tell two grown men, "For god's sake, STOP!"
I was almost saddened that neither of them gave the impression of giving up. While all of us were still busy watching the climbing DJ's, I could hear Quentin senselessly say, "All he did was have sex with someone's wife… Sorry Simon, nothing personal…" That awkward moment was almost funny because it was Quentin, but still too soon to make light of, and you could see the glare coming off of Simon's face.
"If you fall, you will die!" Dave tried. "Oh my god." They were approaching the top, and both weren't making their way down anytime soon.
Finally, they sat atop the perpendicular beams, resting in place, talking from what I could see. They swivelled their heads in both directions, and I had a very frightening thought. They wouldn't do that would they?
Wahhh sorry this is sooo late :(
Please review anyways…
-sage94
