Crimson High – The Jane Story
Chapter nine
I awoke from a restless first night on the floor to find James already awake. I rolled over and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I could feel that my hair was standing up all over the place, as I knew it often did in the morning. I ran my fingers through it to smooth it down, and James turned to me. "You want some breakfast?"
I nodded, my mouth dry from sleeping. I headed downstairs with James to find Tommy and Michael already awake. Tommy munched on a piece of toast, and grinned when I entered the room. I smiled back as James handed me several slices of lukewarm toast on a light blue plate. I buttered them and sat down as Anthony entered the room. "Morning, boys," he greeted. "Patrick."
"Morning, sir," I replied, trying to be polite.
He left through the back door, not taking any food with him. James turned to me. "He normally does that. He's going off to work today."
"What do you guys normally do?" I asked, genuinely curious.
James shrugged. "Whatever we like. It's Spring break."
"So you just relax?" I asked.
Michael nodded. "We have video games and things that we like to play."
I chuckled dryly. It seemed such an innocent answer for a family going through what these boys were. I stood up, grabbing the last piece of now cold toast off of my plate. I headed up the stairs and almost got pushed over by Teresa rushing down. I looked at her in surprise. "You look in a hurry, Teresa," I said, noting her jeans and t-shirt. "Going out somewhere?"
She smiled at me, but something seemed a little off. "I'm meeting with some of my friends for breakfast. You can come if you want."
I nodded, rushing off to finish getting myself ready. I ran my brush through my hair and brushed my teeth quickly. I met Teresa at the car we would be using for the duration of our stay. It was her neighbour's car, a blue hatchback. We got in, and drove into town.
XxxxxxxxxxxX
We stopped and parked outside a restaurant named O'Malley's. I followed Teresa into the packed restaurant and followed her as she wound between the tables. Teresa spotted a dark haired girl sitting in the corner with her friend and headed over to them. The other girl – she had dark red hair and brown eyes – stood up to greet Teresa. She gave Teresa a warm hug. "Teresa," she said. "It's been so long. It's so nice to see you."
"It's good to see you too," replied Teresa, returning the hug.
Teresa greeted the other girl with a hug, and then turned to me. "I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine. Erica, Sarah, this is Patrick Jane."
Erica turned out to be the dark haired girl with dark eyes. Sarah had much lighter eyes, and reminded me a lot of Grace Van Pelt. I shook hands with both of them, and could see that Sarah, at least, expected that I would be there. Erica was tongue-tied, and I felt it necessary to keep it that way. I was charming her for fun, and I suspected that Teresa had guessed what I was up to. "So," said Sarah to Teresa. "How is California?"
Teresa shrugged, indifferent to the draws of California. "It's warmer than here, but that's about all that's exciting about it. How have things been up here? Have I missed anything?"
Sarah launched into a tale about life at a school I would never go to, about people I would never meet, but I indulged it all. Teresa sat listening, and occasionally asking questions. I could tell that she had missed her life back home, and I felt a pang of guilt. I knew I would be taking her back to California in two weeks' time. Erica sat quietly, not adding much to the conversation. I could only guess that she and Teresa weren't such great friends. In a lull in the conversation she turned to me. "So," she said to me. "Where did Teresa find you?" her tone seemed to have a bitter edge to it that I couldn't quite place.
I shrugged. This conversation wasn't going to go anywhere and I knew it. But I decided to humour her anyway. It would be rude not to. "I met Teresa at school, and tried to help her fit in. She has some great friends down there, and I know she has some great ones up here too."
I was avoiding talking about myself, because I wanted Teresa to talk to her friends, not me. Erica ignored my intentions and pressed for more. "What do you think of school down in California?"
It was an odd question, so I shrugged again. "It's school. Just in a different state. The situation is the same though."
Erica smiled, and I recognised the expression in her eyes. "You don't think it could be different in a place like that?"
"A place like what?" I pretended to be confused. I knew exactly what she meant, but I refused to entertain her thoughts any longer.
Teresa abruptly stood up, and Sarah did the same. Erica and I watched as they wound their way to the front door and outside. Then she turned to me. "So, Patrick," she said, trying to slide her hand across the table to mine. "Why do you want Teresa? I think you and I would get along much better."
I moved my hand away from hers. I was surprised at how forward she was with me. This was a girl who was used to getting what she wanted. I also could see that she was needy and demanding. Way too much like Lorelei was. "Erica," I said, trying to think of a way to distract her. "You just wouldn't understand my childhood the way she does."
Erica looked confused, and I watched her process my words. I took her moment of silence to dig around in my pockets. "What childhood?" she asked, curious.
I pulled out the coin I had used to teach Tommy a trick. "I grew up in the carnival. My dad taught me all sorts of tricks. My favourite, is the disappearing coin." I held up the coin, and drew her eyes to it. "Even if you watch carefully, you can't see it." I kept my voice soft, and made the coin disappear. "If you watch carefully, you can see it reappear." I kept my voice soft, talking to her, as I slowly moved the coin. When I was certain that she was hypnotised, I gently grabbed her elbow. "Every time you think to be demanding towards anyone, your mind won't let you. You won't be able to demand anything from anyone. Do you understand?"
She nodded slowly, and I snapped her out of it. I could see Teresa and Sarah heading back through the crowded restaurant towards us. I continued to play with the coin as I told her a story of life in the carnival. She was very enthralled by my life, and didn't even notice when Teresa and Sarah sat down. We all chatted for another hour after they returned, and I entertained them with my stories. Soon, we all got up to leave. "This was nice," Teresa said to both of them. "We must do it again."
Teresa and I headed back to the house, and I sat silently in the car. I was thinking about how forward Erica had been towards me, and that, hopefully, I had cured her of it. "Missing the company of Erica?" Teresa jibed playfully, interrupting my musings.
I smiled, amused at the underlying tone of jealousy in her voice. I was surprised at how well she hid it. I decided to ease Teresa's worry that I might fall for Erica. "She seems relatively sweet, but reminds me a lot of Lorelei, which is why I'm not missing her too much."
"Lorelei?" Teresa asked, confused at my comparison.
I waved my hands about dismissively. "High maintenance. I prefer someone who doesn't need me to take care of them."
Teresa sat for a moment in thought. Suddenly, she turned to me in shock. "You hypnotised her?"
I laughed, surprised she guessed so quickly. "It was the only way to get her to leave me alone. She should have no harmful side effects. If anything, she'll be less needy."
Teresa chuckled, and we drove back home in comfortable silence.
XxxxxxxxxxxX
Several days passed, and life appeared very normal. Teresa's dad didn't drink at all in those few days. She and I went out a lot with her brothers, and I could see that she had really missed them. Tommy grew very attached to me, and followed me everywhere. I could only guess that I had been the first positive male role model he had ever encountered, and that was a big draw for him. The other two brothers warmed up to me too, and soon they accepted me as one of them.
A week after Teresa and I arrived, the five of us were sitting in the living room watching a movie. I had managed to slide my arm around Teresa about ten minutes into the movie, but she didn't seem to mind. I knew that she trusted me; not an easy thing for her, given her home life. I couldn't resist placing a light kiss on her temple about halfway through the movie. However, Teresa couldn't relax. I could feel the tension in her body. Her father had left, announcing that he was going out with friends, and he wasn't home yet. At the end of the movie, Teresa sent her two youngest brothers off to bed. James, Teresa and I sat in the living room, unspoken concern in the air. James went to the window as a car pulled up outside, and watched something happening in the yard outside the window. He turned to Teresa, his face white with fear. "Go up to your room," ordered Teresa. "Now."
James nodded, and vanished quickly upstairs. I turned to Teresa, and watched her sigh. "Is it bad?" I asked, concerned for her safety.
Teresa nodded. "Dad's back from the pub. He's been drinking again. I don't want you to see this…"
I shook my head, cutting her off. "You're not sending me off to my room, Teresa. I want to protect you because I care a lot about you."
The front door opened abruptly, and Teresa stood up quickly. I stood with her, and realised that this may be my last chance to make her see I really did care. We didn't have a lot of time. I bent down and pressed my lips to hers. Her lips were soft, and I was annoyed I couldn't kiss her for longer. I pulled away after just a second. "You need to deal with your father. He can't go on like this."
Teresa nodded, seemingly dazed. She turned away as the front door slammed, and I watched her slip back into an old routine. "TERESA!" Anthony sounded angry, and he was obviously drunk. "TERESA!"
I stepped back behind the sofa, and watched as Anthony stumbled into the room. Teresa's face was emotionless. "Dad, you're drunk. You said you wouldn't…"
He waved her comment off with his casual flick of the hand. "I know what this looks like," he slurred, "but it was only one drink. Bob took me out…"
He spotted me standing behind the sofa, and scowled dangerously. "What is that doing here? I thought we got rid of him."
Teresa frowned, annoyed. "Dad, Patrick is our guest."
"I DON'T CARE!" yelled Anthony. "HE IS A BAD INFLUENCE AND I WANT HIM OUT!"
I resented the rude comment, but I knew when I needed to run. I only wished Teresa would too. But I could see she was ready for a fight. I remembered the same determination from when she fought with Lorelei, and feared for her safety. Anthony was far stronger than Lorelei was. I stepped back, and Anthony scowled again. "Mr Lisbon," I said, trying to be polite. "Maybe you'd better lie down…"
"Teresa," Anthony turned to her. "You bring this boy into my house, and let him stay one week, and now he thinks he owns the place. Boy, you are in my house, and you can't tell me what I can and can't do in my house. NOW, GET OUT!"
He picked up the TV controller and threw it at me. I dropped down onto my knees behind the sofa as the controller went wide and smashed into a picture of Teresa's mother on the wall. Now that I was out of Anthony's vision field, he was satisfied that I had 'left'. He now turned his attention to Teresa. "Dad," I heard her say, her voice giving away to me that she was backing away from him. "Dad, you don't want to do this. Please just relax and sit down."
Don't you tell me what to do in my house." Anthony's voice lurched abruptly towards hers. "You buggered off for eight months, had fun down in California, and left me and the boys to fend for ourselves. You can't come back and start telling me what to do again. That's not how it works around here."
"Dad," I heard her say again, her voice moving away from him. "You can't say that I did nothing. I was working to support this family, because they needed the money…"
Anthony had finished with talking; I felt his heavy footsteps on the floor as he lurched forward. I jumped up just in time to watch Teresa duck under Anthony's flying fist. She ducked as he swung again, his fist flying over her head. She now had her back up against the wall, and could go nowhere. I felt helpless, and desperately racked my brain for a way to help her. I made a split-second decision, but I was running out of precious time to act. This was a horrific scene in front of me, and I could only yell her name in horror as the third blow headed straight for her face.
A/N: I know; an evil cliffy. However, I should be able to update these regularly because I'm now home again. Please review, and tell me what you think Jane's idea to help Lisbon is. More reviews mean quicker updates (evil to fish, but I enjoy your feedback). Happy reading. Thanks.
