Chapter Ten
Very early in the morning, I woke up to the sound of someone opening the front door and stumbling over the stoop, even though I had left the hall light on before going to sleep. I sat straight up in bed, my heart pounding at the sudden noise. It had started to rain around ten and I had been tossing and turning fitfully for most of the night listening to the drops on the roof. I had just managed to fall asleep before the crash. I got up and quietly opened my door and peered over the top of the railing, even though I knew there was no use in being quiet, as I was the only one who had been asleep. I saw my father, rubbing his temples tiredly and staggering slowly into the kitchen.
"Hey," I whispered, walking down the stairs, wrapping my arms around my chest to keep out the unexpected chill upon leaving the warmth of my bed. It had gotten quite cold over the night, and I was only wearing an oversized t-shirt and leggings. My father was busy wiping the condensation from his glasses with his shirt sleeve.
"I hope I didn't wake you up," he said, putting his glasses back on. He looked exhausted, which was understandable, seeing as he had just taken a six hour flight across the country. "The front porch was slippery."
"No, it's fine, I wasn't sleeping," I lied, suppressing a yawn. The kitchen clock read two a.m. "So what happened over there?"
"I should probably tell you everything in the morning, when it's not so late," he said, filling a glass with water from the faucet. "It's a very messy and complicated situation."
"I don't think I'm going to fall asleep for awhile, anyway," I remarked, my curiosity trumping my sleepiness. "But I understand if you're tired."
"No, its okay," he answered, sitting down in a kitchen chair. "To make a long story short, this is not the first time things of this nature have happened with Dawn. Carol's obviously upset, and it seems like Jack has done very little to discipline Dawn, or get the help she needs. Last time it happened Carol vowed to kick Dawn out, and the problem is that she plans to stick to her word."
"Can she legally do that?" I asked. After all, it was Jack's home, and he was Dawn's parent, not Carol.
"Well, technically Carol doesn't have guardianship over Dawn or Jeff, and therefore has no legal responsibility to either minor, which makes for a convoluted scenario," replied my father, using his best lawyer voice. "She also has partial ownership of the house and the well-being of her own child to consider, which could make for a compelling court case, if Carol were to take it that far. But I doubt it will. I think the solution agreed upon was that Dawn should come to live with us, but everything is still up in the air at this point."
"So Dawn might live in Connecticut again?" I asked incredulously, my jaw nearly hitting the floor. I think Dawn would take a park bench in LA over having to live in Stoneybrook for anytime longer than a week.
"Well, that's another issue. Dawn is adamantly opposed to leaving California. She claims that it is her home and refuses to live anywhere else," my father yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "She may not have a choice when the time comes. I don't necessarily agree with Carol's actions, but I can certainly understand where she is coming from. If you ever behaved in the same way, I would not be so lenient as Jack and Sharon, that's for sure. Not that you would ever act like that."
"Yeah," I mumbled, shifting nervously and a little guiltily. While I would never sell or even try pot, I wonder what my father would do if he found out that I been drunk only two nights earlier. I quickly changed the subject. "When is Sharon coming back?"
"She took the rest of the week off from work and plans to stay in California until everything smoothes over," he answered. "I think she's going to pull Dawn out of school for a few days, and look into getting her some counseling, or something along those lines."
"It will probably do her good," I said whole-heartedly. It had certainly helped me. Sometimes I wish I had never stopped going to Dr. Reese.
"In any case, it's going to be a long and bumpy process," he responded, looking very tired as he filled his glass once again with water. "And you should probably get to bed. I nearly forgot it was a Sunday night."
I agreed. I hugged my father goodnight, and trudged up to my bedroom. It was truly sad about Dawn, but I couldn't help feeling slightly thrilled at the prospect of having a whole week without Sharon. It was almost like having a mini-vacation.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of real rain combined with the sound of the recorded one coming from my alarm clock.
"Shut the hell up," I muttered at my alarm, swatting the snooze button with surprising strength for someone who was still half asleep, knocking it off my night stand completely. I rolled over and groaned; my body stiff from lack of sleep. I could feel a grouchy mood starting before I even opened my eyes.
Even after my shower I still felt far from refreshed. Glancing into the mirror, I looked like someone who had gotten four hours of sleep, appropriately enough. I decided today would be a good one to wear makeup. I normally don't bother with cosmetics on normal school days, but I make exceptions for days where I look particularly horrendous. I applied a light coat of cover-up and blush, and brushed my eyelids with plum eye shadow. It looked nice, but casual enough for school.
Downstairs, I saw my father had left a pot of coffee on for me, knowing that I was going to be tired and thus cranky that morning. I poured myself a cup and had a slice of toast before beginning my walk to school. I knew better than to expect Kristy to pick me up after our last conversation.
I grabbed my umbrella and put on my khaki trench coat, and headed into the soppy mess outside. The sidewalks were matted with clumps of wet leaves, their once vibrant color now darkened and dulled by the steady drizzle of rain. I gingerly walked around puddles and the pink earthworms that had twisted their way up from the ground. I was supposed to meet Claudia at her home, seeing as she lived right along the way, but I wasn't shocked when she wasn't ready by the time I got to her house. Claudia's mother let me in.
"Come inside," she said pleasantly, taking my wet umbrella from me and shaking it off on the porch. "Don't worry about tracking mud in the kitchen, I'm going to mop later today anyway. Are you hungry? Do you want anything to eat or drink?"
"No thanks, I had breakfast already," I said, unsure of how to respond to Mrs. Kishi's perpetual cheeriness. Maybe she was on some kind of medication that made her overly happy.
"Claudia should be ready soon," she said, offering me a chair at the kitchen table and pulling one out for her to sit in. "How are your father and stepmother?"
"Good," I responded, not wanting to go into much more detail than that. "Busy at work, but other than that, they're fine."
"Hopefully not too busy," chirped Mrs. Kishi, folding her hands at the table. "One should always make time for family."
If I were Kristy, I would have asked what she was busy doing while her daughter was cutting class and getting high, but instead I agreed with a simple nod and a smile. Luckily Claudia came running down the stairs, hurriedly shoving papers and things into her green satchel bag that doubled as a backpack. She had a large studio portfolio tucked under one arm.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," breezed Claudia, stopping on the bottom stair to lace up her black combat boots. She had paired them with black leggings, a red and blue tie dyed tunic shirt, and a black zip up hoodie. She looked about as tired and grumpy as me. She pulled out a box of garbage bags from under the kitchen sink and wrapped her portfolio in two of them, sealing them with a large strip of duct tape.
"I'm not taking any chances," she said, ripping off a piece of tape with her teeth. "Watercolors plus rain equals bad news bears."
"I wish you had at least taken half the care with your other homework, instead of shoving it in your bag," chided Mrs. Kishi, her pleasant exterior completely dropped. She sighed. "How can I expect you to pass anything when you don't even eat breakfast?"
Claudia grabbed a package of poptarts from off the counter and making a bratty face, waved them at her mother.
"This good enough?" she asked in a haughty tone, gathering up her things. "I don't have time to stop and eat, or I'm going to make Mary Anne late." She stormed out the door, barely saying goodbye to her mother. I waved and wished her a good day before making an awkward exit behind Claudia.
"Has your mother been having a lot of mood swings lately?" I asked, running to catch up with Claudia, who had rushed far ahead, clutching what now looked like a large black tarp close to her body. I offered her my umbrella, and we both took shelter underneath, continuing at her fast pace.
"Yeah, bitchy, naggy and super strict," she scoffed. "She told me that if I don't pass my next English test, I have to quit the play. Fuck that! If I did that, Heather Epstein would take over my role, and I could not subject the school to that torture."
We got to school fairly quickly, considering we were practically running, and I shook off my umbrella as we entered the main doors.
"God, I hate the fucking rain!" she cried, shaking out her long wet hair. "I'm going to go drop this off in the art room before something bad happens to it. Then I'm going to have my morning smoke." She smirked. "If my mom doesn't think I can pass without having a good breakfast, she should see me if I don't get to have a cigarette. I'd have failed out by now!"
With that she turned and walked down the hallway, holding delicately onto her portfolio still wrapped in the garbage bag. About halfway down, she turned around suddenly and yelled back to me.
"Oh yeah, tickets for the play go on sale today, so you better hurry up and get them before all the best seats are taken!" she called, walking backwards.
I waved in response and made my way to homeroom. The morning slowly progressed from there. I was a little nervous about lunch, as the last time Kristy and I had a huge fight, I ended up eating alone. But I planned to get there early and claim a seat at the table before she could even attempt to bar me from it. Besides, I doubted Abby would abandon me, and Tawny was more my friend than hers. Plus there was always Alan or Claudia if Kristy became too intolerable.
As lunch period rolled around, I practically rushed out of class to the cafeteria without even stopping at my locker. I was one of the first on line for lunch, and the second one seated at the table. Abby always seemed to get to lunch before anyone else.
"Hey, you really did a number on Thomas," she said, peeling back the lid on her pudding cup. "She was practically fuming when she called me on Saturday, and wouldn't say a word to me during the ride to school today. She almost didn't let me in the car, except I held onto the bike rack and refused to let go, even when she started driving."
She punched a hole in the top of her juice carton with her straw, while the Shillabar twins took their seat next to her. They eyed me coolly and muttered a hello. I knew Kristy had likely gotten to them, but at least they weren't ignoring me. Tawny soon joined us, and we started a boring but safe conversation on the school's decision to pave the small basketball court and turn it into a parking lot. It was a few minutes well into the period, but Kristy still hadn't arrived.
"Where is Kristy today?" asked Tawny innocently, unaware of our most recent fight. "Is she sick or something?"
"She's having an emergency meeting with the officers of Student Government," answered Miranda, peeling the sticker off her apple and avoiding eye contact with me. "Something about the food drive or the ball, or both, I think."
"All the officers have lunch this period?" asked Tawny. "I thought some of them were seniors."
"I guess she got them special permission to leave class," replied Mariah, shrugging her shoulders.
"Sweet!" cried Abby through a large mouthful of chocolate pudding. "I wish I got to leave class for my extracurricular crap!"
"You do!" I exclaimed, giggling. "You get to skip all the time because of games. Besides, you know nothing gets in the way of Kristy and her emergency meetings."
Abby and I both laughed, while Miranda and Mariah exchanged a glance. I felt someone come up from behind and place a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Alan standing behind me.
"What are you laughing at?" he said, taking the empty seat next to me that was usually reserved for Kristy. Not anymore. He helped himself to a spoonful of my pudding that I wasn't planning on eating anyway.
I saw Mariah and Miranda scrunch their nose in disgust, making me want to roll my eyes. I think they still believed that boys have cooties.
"Alan, what are doing here?" asked Abby, grabbing her own pudding in protection. "You never could take a hint, could you?"
I flashed Abby a nasty look, and turned to Alan.
"Don't listen to her," I said, laughing her rude remark off. "She's just upset because she didn't cause bruising in both of Dori's eyes." Sure enough, Dori had come to school with a normal looking nose, but the power of Abby's punch and the amount of swelling had left her with a right black eye.
"Hah," snickered Alan. "You should have aimed for her mouth. Then maybe she'd have shut up for a few days."
Abby smiled and shook her head in spite of herself, while the other three girls bombarded her with questions about Dori, realizing she had been the one who had given the bitchiest girl in school a black eye. While they talked, Alan and I had our own side conversation.
"So, what are you doing tomorrow, at about six?" he asked, looking at me expectantly.
"Nothing," I answered truthfully.
"How about I pick you up at your house around that time, then?" he said, getting up from his chair. "I was going to ask you to go out today, but riding a moped in the rain is not exactly fun or safe, especially with two people."
"Tomorrow's fine," I replied, feeling my face grow hot as I became well aware of the other girls blatantly staring at me and Alan. "See you then."
"See you then," he repeated, ruffling my hair as he left our table. I turned to my gaping friends. "What are you guys looking at?"
"Ew, Mary Anne, Alan Gray?" shrieked Mariah, the first direct thing she had said to me all period.
"You are not going out on a date with him, are you?" bellowed Abby, looking at me as if I was a complete stranger. "You and Alan on a date?"
"What's so bad about him?" asked Tawny, confused at the other's reactions. "I think he's pretty cute."
"No, no, no," cried Abby, shaking her head. "You don't know him like we do. Alan is a pest and an annoyance, and has been since day one." Miranda and Mariah nodded in agreement. "He's obviously hoodwinked poor Mary Anne into going on a date with him, somehow."
"He is not that bad at all," I explained to Tawny, annoyed. "He's changed a lot. Besides it's technically our second date."
I thought Abby's jaw was going to unhinge and fall to the ground.
"Oh my gosh," she murmured, holding her hand up to her mouth in shock. "You like him!" She burst into giggles. "You like Alan!" For some reason this was the funniest thing on earth to her.
"C, mon, grow up," I muttered, failing to find the humor.
Mariah and Miranda started to laugh with her and even Tawny had an amused smirk on her face. I knew I was pink all over, and if there's one thing I hate more than being the center of attention, it's being laughed at when I clearly am not partaking in the joke.
"I have to go," I said abruptly and lamely. "I need to get stuff out of my locker before next period."
I grabbed my tray and hurried away from the giggles of the other girls. Once in the hallway, I exited using the side entrance next to the cafeteria to get to my locker on the other side of the school. Being a junior, I knew all the best routes to avoid hall monitors, and seeing as I didn't have a hall pass, the only safe way was to go outside.
The rain felt surprisingly nice on my flushed face as I dashed across the long grassy courtyard, my shoes sinking into the wet ground. As I ran, I passed the student government office and caught sight of Kristy in the window. She wasn't presiding bossily over a meeting, like I had expected, but was instead sitting alone at a desk, eating a sandwich and hunched over a notebook, her long dark hair touching the pages. For a minute I forgot that it was pouring and I was getting soaked, and stared at Kristy diligently reading her notes in the empty office, completely unaware that someone was watching. I felt a sharp pang of guilt watching her eat lunch alone, and the fact that she had presumably lied about the meeting just to avoid the sight of me. Yet it seemed incredibly unlike Kristy to be the one to back down and timidly hide in a corner, playing the passive role. That was something I would do, not her.
The thought passed through my mind as I made my way to the other side of the courtyard, leaving behind the somewhat disturbing image of Kristy. Was she actually afraid to face me? It seemed too far fetched to believe, yet the evidence seemed to suggest the contrary.
The rest of the day seemed to go by in a haze, and halfway home I remembered that I had completely forgotten to order tickets for Claudia's play. I wasn't too bothered by it, because I hadn't asked Abby or Alan what day they would like to go. The fact that I was mentally including Alan in all of my upcoming activities slightly unnerved me. We had gone out on one date, but were technically not dating. Besides, until my embarrassment at lunch I had refused to admit even to myself that I had liked him. I had no clue what would actually happen between us. My world had seemed to go topsy-turvy lately, what with me liking Alan, Sharon leaving temporarily, and Kristy acting scared of me. It was actually sort of amazing.
Once I got home I decided to make a thick hearty stew considering it was such a miserable day, and added large chunks of beef to the crock pot without any worry over vegetarian backlash. While it simmered, I started an English paper that was due at the end of the week. At about five, I received a call from Claudia.
"Hey, what's up?" I said, typing a sentence.
"My stupid English test, that's what," she grumbled. "I get off rehearsal in about an hour. You don't know anything about Lord of the Flies, do you?"
"Yeah, I had to read it last year for school," I replied. "How about you come over after rehearsal, have dinner with me and I'll help you study."
"That sounds great," she said, sighing in relief. "I don't even know what it's about. I was just gonna sparknote it, but Mrs. Jennings always asks such detailed questions."
I didn't expect her to have read it, but I was completely baffled as to how Claudia could have gone through class without even knowing the basic plot of the book. But I didn't dwell on it, and at about quarter to six I heard a knock on the door.
"Hey," she called, letting herself in. "We got out early today, because they had to work out some technical kinks and couldn't do with us actors hanging around." She wiped her boots on the welcome mat.
"Have something to eat and we can study in the kitchen," I said. I ladled out two bowls of stew for each of us and Claudia threw her bag down on the table. "You brought your book, right?"
"Ummm," said Claudia, beginning to search through her bag. She dumped its entire contents onto the table, some of the junk spilling onto the floor. Nowhere in the mess did I see a book. "Guess not." She picked up the stuff that was on the floor and shoved it back into her purse.
"I think I have a copy somewhere," I replied. I went upstairs and looked at my bookcase, but didn't see it there. I rummaged through my desk and found my English notebook from last year, which had a whole section dedicated to the Lord of the Flies. I perused the bookcase in the guest bedroom, and finally saw it tucked away on the last shelf. I grabbed it and ran downstairs.
"You know, you'd probably actually like this book, seeing as it's about a bunch of school children stranded on a deserted island," I said as I walked down the staircase. "Although I think you and Dawn handled things much better than these boys."
As I walked into the kitchen, I saw my father getting himself a bowl of stew.
"Hey dad," I said, smiling. "I didn't even hear you come in."
He returned the smile, but he had a very strange expression on his face. I didn't understand, until I noticed exactly what was sprawled across our kitchen table. Besides copious amounts of junk food wrappers and random scraps of papers, there was also a pack of cigarettes, something that looked suspiciously like a flattened joint, and a condom. I felt my face grow pale. My father didn't say anything else, but went into the living room and turned the television on, which was extremely unusual as my father never watched TV. I sat quietly down next to Claudia, who was eating her stew, oblivious to everything.
"Claudia," I whispered, nudging her. "You're going to get me in trouble with all this stuff out in the open. Why do you have a condom, anyway?"
"I'm prepared for everything," she said back casually. "I'm not currently having sex, but if the occasion arises"-She giggled at her play on words- "I'll have one handy. I'm not going to be stupid about it. Besides, this junk is tame anyway. You're lucky he didn't see some of my other stuff."
"What other stuff?" I asked. I was tired of turning a blind eye to something that was potentially serious. "Do you do other drugs?"
She shrugged.
"Not really," she replied casually. "But I'll try anything once." She opened my copy of Lord of the Flies, and starting thumbing through the pages. "Okay, so what do I have to know about this thing and what does it have to do with flies?"
We spent the next hour going over the entire premise of the book, with me mostly identifying important passages, themes, etc. and pointing them out to Claudia. I could guess at what the essay topics were likely to be, so I helped her draw up a few outlines to go over that night. As long as she didn't forget everything, she would likely pass, even without reading the book.
"Maybe I should speed-read this tonight before I go to bed," she said, as she gathered up her outlines. "It doesn't seem all that bad."
"Yeah, that would probably be good," I answered. I handed her my notebook. "Here, you better take this. I took good notes last year."
"Thanks," she said. I showed her to the front door. "Oh, and I wouldn't worry about your dad. It's not as if it was your stuff."
"Yeah," I replied, still not reassured. "Well, have a goodnight. And good luck."
"Yup," she answered. She walked out the door and then quickly turned around. "If my mom calls you, can you tell her we're still studying and I'm in the bathroom or something? I have to run a few errands before I go home, and I might not be back until late."
"Okay," I sighed. "Just call me if you need anything."
Claudia smiled and stepped out into the rain, which was barely at a drizzle now. I shut the door and went back inside, where my father was cleaning out his bowl in the sink. I didn't say anything, but sheepishly cleared the table.
"How did the studying go?" he asked, wiping his hands on a dish towel.
"Fine," I said, not looking him in the eyes. "I think she'll pass her test."
"I think you know I was a little upset when I came and saw some…unsavory things sprawled across my table," he affirmed, getting straight to the point.
"I didn't know she had those things in her purse," I said, getting defensive. I was lying. I knew damn well that Claudia smoked and did pot, but I didn't see how I should be blamed for it.
"I'm not mad at you. Or Claudia, for that matter, and nobody's in trouble," my father answered calmly. He sat down at the kitchen table and I prepared myself for a serious discussion. "I believe you. I just don't want to see you or anyone else fall into the same kind of trouble as Dawn."
"I know," I said quietly. I went to the sink and started to rinse the dishes from dinner and placed them in the dishwasher.
"I'm glad that you're helping Claudia, but I don't think it's a good idea if you two spend too much time together outside of school," he said. "She's obviously doing some dangerous things, and I would hate to see you pressured into anything you wouldn't want to do."
"I wouldn't do anything I wouldn't want to," I responded a little snappishly. "I'm not stupid."
"I never said you were," he said, either ignoring my attitude or failing to notice it. "But no more hanging out with Claudia outside of the house. I'd be a bad parent to let you hang out with people who I knew were doing drugs."
"That's not fair," I whined. I sounded immature and knew it. "I'm not doing drugs and I've never seen Claudia do them. We don't do stuff like that together." I tried to sound as convincing as possible. "I'm helping her stop."
I felt a little sick at my last comment. If anything, I was an enabler.
"I'm very proud of you," said my father. "But I need to think about your well being."
I didn't say anything else, and my father quietly walked out of the room while I slammed the dishwasher door shut. I ran upstairs to my room and closed the door, on the verge of fuming. I wasn't going to stop hanging out with Claudia, regardless of what my father said. If it meant a lie, I would tell a lie. I had gotten used to that lately.