Awakening
Bonus: Misfits?
Senior Year, May
Carrie White, Freddy Holt
"Ewen High was just like every other school in that it had its own assortment of bullies and misfits. What was different at Ewen was the fact that one particular misfit seemed to get more than her fair share of the attention. Sure, other students were picked on - sometimes horribly. However, most of the other less popular students were fortunate in that they usually only had one or two bullies to contend with. That wasn't the case with Carrie White. She was an acceptable target and every day was open season. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised she did what she did."
- Excerpt from "We Survived the Black Prom" by Norma Watson.
The end was nigh and the halls were filled with excitement. May is usually a happy time in most schools as summer break is within sight, but for seniors it is positively thrilling. It was a wonderful period in a teen's life; one chapter was coming to a close and another is waiting to open wide. Between graduation and prom, it was a wonder that the faculty was able to exercise any control over the student body at all. Some teachers were better at keeping a tight rein than others, and Mr. Scharnhorst was having a tough time with his charges.
Freddy Holt was doing his utmost not to yawn. His grades in his third period biology class were quite good, and he already had a solid understanding of what was being covered. Much of his teacher's efforts were geared towards preparing his students for the upcoming final exam. Freddy wasn't particularly concerned. Later on, he'd scan through his notes just to make certain he didn't misremember anything. Senior year finals were a pretty much a joke anyway, and he knew he was in no danger of being denied graduation. For now, he was simply trying to look like he was paying attention – a task made more difficult by the room's stuffiness and Scharnhorst's droning.
Besides, he had more important things to worry about than common-sense science. He was on the yearbook committee and was charged with getting video clips for the DVD-R that was going to be included with it this year. Freddy was responsible for letters S through Z, and had made some headway, but the deadline loomed large and there were some tough ones left to do. He mentally ran down a checklist of student's he still had to film. Jessica Upshaw was the last one he had interviewed, and what was supposed to be a brief message ended up sounding more like an acceptance speech. He'd have to be careful about giving the others too much leeway. He had an interest in film and photography, which made it less of a chore – most of the time.
He couldn't really complain, though. Poor Jeanie Gault was assigned H through M and had been nagged by Chris Hargensen almost non-stop. Fortunately, three names on Freddy's to-do list were in his Biology class, and he would have a chance to catch them after the bell rang. Unfortunately these three students, the Wilson twins and Carrie White, would probably prove to be a pain in the neck. There was no helping it. He had to do what he had to do.
"Does anyone want to hazard a guess about how old the Earth is? Anyone?" Nobody volunteered. Mr. Scharnhorst looked around the room. He was a middle-aged, slightly paunchy man with a receding hairline. His patience was disappearing almost as quickly as his hair.
"Ow! Stop it!" Freddy didn't turn around. He had known the source of the voice for almost twelve years and had a good idea what was going on. Someone was pestering Carrie White again. He groaned inwardly and shook his head. Same shit, different day.
"OK, Ms. White. Would you like to take a shot?" Since no one else took the bait, Mr. Scharnhorst settled for an unwitting victim. There was poorly concealed irritation in his voice and the class picked up on it immediately. The scattered giggling was silenced by a single withering look from him. Everyone knew Mr. Scharnhorst took a dim view of anyone who disrupted the flow of his lessons, and no one could derail a lecture quite like Carrie. Freddy didn't think it was worth the effort to turn around and watch. Come on, you don't really want her to answer you. Just leave her alone and move on.
"Ohuh?" Carrie said something that wasn't audible. Freddy imagined her lowering her eyes, which were probably half hidden behind a curtain of unkempt strawberry blonde hair, and timidly shaking her head. One look at the belligerent way Scharnhorst had folded his arms across his chest told him he wasn't far from the mark.
"You do realize class participation is major part of your grade, right?"
You know what he wants to hear. Just regurgitate what's in the textbook so we can continue, Freddy thought at Carrie. Thankfully, whatever response she was thinking up was preempted by the bell and the abrupt shuffle of chairs. With a relieved sigh, Scharnhorst turned and began to erase the board.
"Ohuh? A-duh? You are such a retard," Mark, one of Ewen High's jocks growled at Carrie as she gathered her things. Freddy was tempted to point out the irony in his statement, but thought better of it. He'd had enough run-ins with Mark and his friends to know better than to stick his neck out. Not every athlete at Ewen was a jerk, but for every Tommy Ross or George Dawson, there were two or three like Mark.
"She actually believes in Intelligent Design!" One of the Wilson twins chimed in. Freddy couldn't tell them apart, and couldn't care less. They were equally obnoxious. He tried to recall what Norma Watson had nicknamed their clique and failed. When they were on their own, they usually didn't bother him too much. Things were different when they had an audience, though, and they were truly a nightmare when Hargensen was around. Chris seemed to bring out the absolute worst in people.
"There's nothing intelligent about Intelligent Design," Jessica Upshaw commented. When it came to the whole science versus religion debate, Fred always fell on the side of science. With that said, just because he disagreed with Carrie's views didn't mean he thought it was right to ridicule her.
Don't react, Fred thought, hoping Carrie would be wise enough not to rise to their provocation. Don't react. It's like catnip to them. Just ignore it.
"There's nothing intelligent about Carrie, either!" One of the Wilsons replied.
"Ooh! Are you going to cry?"
"Science is a sin! Mr. Scharnhorst's going to hell! " Said the other twin, imitating Carrie.
"Excuse me? I'm going where?" Mr. Scharnhorst snarled over his shoulder. He paused for a moment, as if he were about to say something, and then shook his head. Freddy suspected that he'd heard the whole exchange and only opted to intervene when his name was uttered. Mark and the Wilsons could probably commit murder without Mr. Scharnhorst raising so much as an eyebrow. Typical.
Carrie didn't respond, and silently slipped past her tormentors. As she made her way to the door she nearly bumped into Freddy. It was almost as if she had her eyes half-closed. Great, she's probably crying – which means she'll making a bee line for the girl's bathroom. He actually felt pretty terrible about how she was treated. He wasn't popular himself; far from it in fact. In many ways he was a misfit just like her and people bullied him fairly frequently. He knew what it was like to be picked on, although he was relatively lucky compared to her. While he wasn't called the myriad awful things Carrie was, he did have insults hurled at him on a semi-regular basis. Because of his slightly larger than normal nose, many of his classmates referred to him as the Beak instead of his proper name. Most of his peers did so without malice, but some of them did. He was also lucky in that had a handful of friends, and girls even talked to him – occasionally, anyway. He only had to contend with a few jerk jocks and the occasional run in with lowlifes like Henry Trennant or Kenny Garson. Carrie appeared to be getting it from all directions, though. Anyone in school who was slightly higher than her on the social ladder seemed to be willing to take a turn putting her down.
Freddy considered taking off down the hallway after her, but decided against it. Carrie looked as if she was pretty well freaked out and wouldn't be amenable to talking on camera. He'd try to corner during lunch or study hall. The Twins, however, had stuck around near the door and were chatting with Heather McKenna and Chris. Freddy and Joe Vreck had lobbied to have a picture of Chris and her friends labeled "the Evil Fempire" in the yearbook, but Mrs. Rennie vetoed the idea. He suspected that Chris probably would have approved of it. With a sigh, he dug his Sony HDR-CX190 camcorder out of his backpack and approached the alpha girls. They can sense fear. Be confident and don't make direct eye contact.
The next couple of periods went by in a flash, and Freddy was still unable to think of a way to break the ice and get Carrie on camera. The Wilsons insisted on being interviewed together, which in of itself wasn't a problem – save for the creepiness when they completed each other's sentences. What was a problem was Chris and Heather's interference. Freddy knew he'd have to go back and edit them out, which was time consuming, but not too difficult. He expected Carrie to be much more problematic, and wasn't even sure what to ask her. He doubted she'd be particularly nostalgic about her time at Ewen, and he had no idea what her plans were after graduation. There was a rumor floating around that she hadn't even applied to college, so that ruled out that line of questioning. But before he could ask her anything, he had to locate her. Carrie wasn't in the cafeteria during lunch, and Freddy was sincerely hoping she hadn't decided to spend the rest of the day hiding in the ladies' room. She occasionally spent lunch and study hall in the library, so he settled on making that his next stop.
"Hey, Holt!" Vicky Hanscome called out as Freddy passed by. "I could recommend a good plastic surgeon to help you with your… problem." Vicky gestured at her nose as Helen Shyres and Rhonda Simard began baying with laughter.
"Not if he's the one who did that to you. I could recommend a good medical malpractice lawyer." Vicky scowled at him. He usually didn't bother responding to people like Vicky. It wasn't worth it.
It took him a couple of minutes to locate her sitting alone at a quiet table in the reference section. She seemed to be diligently drawing in her sketchbook. Freddy wasn't surprised that she was by herself, but was grateful all the same. He suspected that she would be even less willing to cooperate with other people watching. He took a breath and approached. Strangely enough, he was very nervous.
"Um, Hi. I was wondering if I could get you to say something for the video yearbook." Freddy felt his hands become moist, and stuffed them in the pockets of his Old Navy jeans. He thought it would be better to keep his camera in his backpack until Carrie agreed to participate.
"Excuse me?" Carrie slammed her book shut and stared at him as though he'd just developed a third eye. He never really understood why some of their classmates called her hideous; she was plain, but was hardly ugly. She did have acne and her hair needed some serious work, but her face was well proportioned. What got Freddy's attention were her eyes, though. She had beautiful, gentle brown eyes that seemed to catch and take hold of the neon overhead lights. He couldn't fathom why anyone who actually bothered to look into those eyes would even contemplate being cruel to her. Carrie blinked slowly a couple of times.
"Mrs. Rennie wants me, well us, to interview all of the graduating students," He explained, still not feeling particularly confident. "We're making a DVD to go with the yearbook, and would like to have each of our classmates say something."
"I-I… No. Please, I'd rather not," Carrie shook her head, and began to pack her things.
"Everyone else is. Besides, a lot of people would probably be disappointed if you didn't do one."
"Nobody cares about what I have to say," Carrie shook her head even more vigorously. She obviously wasn't buying it.
"I do, and people change. In a couple of years they might feel differently," he said, shrugging off his backpack. Carrie stopped putting her books away and began to silently pick at one of her cuticles for a moment or two. He didn't want to push her too hard and upset her. "Who knows, you might even end up being friends with Chris Hargensen somewhere down the line."
Carrie's eyes narrowed at the mention of Hargensen's name. Freddy could hear her nails scrape against the textured surface of her sketchbook.
"I mean, who knows what the future will bring. Chris might very well end up fat and stuck in a dead-end job while you turn out to be beautiful and successful," he rushed to add. That was lame, Fred, incredibly lame.
"I wouldn't know what to say."
"It doesn't have to be anything profound. Just talk about how you feel about graduating or some of your memories from..." Freddy's sentence died in this throat. He mentally kicked himself.
Smart one! He thought. How about you ask her if she has any other traumatic memories she'd like to share with everyone? "You could talk about what you'd like to do after leaving here. You know, like your hopes for the future. That kind of thing."
"I-I didn't apply to any colleges. Mo… my mother and I are still discussing it." Her lower lip quivered slightly as she stared at the floor. For a moment or two, Freddy was certain she was about to burst into tears. Thankfully, she didn't. He took the opportunity to take out his camcorder.
"You don't have to say anything you don't want to, and I'll let you see it afterwards. If you don't like it, we can redo it." Carrie nodded slightly. She still didn't really seem convinced, but Freddy figured this was as close to consent as he was going to get. "Mrs. Rennie double-checks everything, so you really don't have anything to worry about. She wouldn't let anyone do anything to embarrass you."
Freddy and Carrie chatted for a little while as he set up. He was surprised to hear that she also had an interest in photography, and that her mother had given her a Fujifilm Instax 210 for her birthday. He had heard that she was into art, but didn't know that her hobby extended that far. She said she would love to have a digital camera, but didn't have a computer to upload it to. At one point Carrie almost smiled and came within a hairs breadth of laughing. Freddy actually found himself thinking that she'd probably make a really good friend if anyone were to give her a chance. After a brief discussion, they settled on talking about where Carrie would like to go after graduating.
"There's so much out there that I'd love to see and do. I-I'd really like to see Rome and Paris. I've always dreamed about seeing the Holy Land and Egypt. There are so many places I've read about and would love to visit." She closed her eyes and sighed as if she were summoning the memories she hoped to make someday. "I-I guess I'd really just like to get out of Chamberlain - at least for a little while."
When Carrie was finished, Freddy handed his camera over to her. He was typically very protective of his equipment, and Carrie had a reputation for being clumsy, but he thought it was the right thing to do. She blushed as she watched herself, but seemed happy enough. Relief swept over Freddy as she agreed to let him use the footage. They packed their things and parted company. One more name crossed off. The others shouldn't be too hard.
"Watch it, Freak!" Eric, one of Mark's jock friends said as he knocked his shoulder into Freddy as he was leaving the library. Ignore him and move on, he thought as he rolled his eyes. So not worth the trouble…
Thanks to LunaLovegood4Ever for suggesting a Fred-centric chapter and thanks to Brainstormandththinker for all of the great help!
Notes: King didn't make much use of Freddy "the Beak" Holt in the book apart from naming as a misfit with an unfortunately large nose. He did have a somewhat bigger role in the 1976 and 2013 films. I was kind of curious as to what sort of relationship he'd have with Carrie. I didn't really play up his nose as much as King did.
I did have the Mark and Eric from The Rage in mind when I chose names for the mean jocks, but they're probably not going to have too much more in common with their counterparts (other than being jerks).
The next upcoming chapters are Ultras, According to Chris, and Mean.
Character Notes: Freddy "The Beak" Holt
Canon: Again, not much is said about him in the book, but in the films he's shown to be into photography (both the De Palma and Pierce versions) and adept at using a computer. It's implied fairly heavily implied that he's not popular, but is still shown to be on good terms with Tommy etc. King never mentions whether or not he attended the prom, but he does in the original film and remake.
Age: 16 (July 31st)
Appearance: Cute in a sort of academic way. Freddy is tall and thin (some of his less polite classmates would call him scrawny – among other things). He has dark reddish-brown hair and dark eyes. His most distinguishing feature is his nose, which while somewhat larger than other peoples' noses, is nowhere near as monstrous people make it out to be. He was originally given the nickname "the Beak" by a well meaning, but painfully naïve teacher at Barker Street Elementary School – unfortunately it stuck. He usually dresses fairly casually, typically wearing jeans and either knit or button-down shirts and sneakers.
Personality etc: Freddy is very intelligent and is a hard working student. He is prone to sarcasm. Freddy routinely make honor roll and was accepted to several excellent colleges. He's unpopular, but does tend to get along well some unexpected people – including athletes like Tommy Ross, Roy Evarts and George Dawson. George and Roy do tease him from time to time, but also stick up for him when he's bullied by other students. He is friends with Joe Vreck and George Chizmar. He had a huge crush on Heather McKenna – which wasn't reciprocated. Freddy feels sorry for Carrie, but still finds her frustrating from time to time. He tends to get picked on by a number of Ewen's athletes, the Ultras and people like Kenny Garson. He's very knowledgeable when it comes to electronics and computers – and he loves photography and videography.
