Chapter Ten: Surprises
Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Friday October 1, 2010
"Hey guys," I greeted my seventh period AP European History class as I half scurried into the room almost a full minute after the late bell.
"Ms. B, you're late!" Mike, a senior who sat near the door, exclaimed in mock offense.
"I'm sorry, I was gossiping," I joked. "So are you guys excited? Your last chapter quiz you can use your notes on!"
A collective groan came from the group of fourteen juniors and seniors—a pretty small class compared to my other periods. Even the other AP Euro class I taught fourth period had twenty-one students. AP Euro was a really popular elective among the students back in Louisiana, but this was the first year it was offered at this school, so not many people were willing to sign up. The thirty five students in my fourth and seventh periods were the only ones signed up for this school year.
"Oh, stop whining," I rolled my eyes once they quieted down a little. "It had to happen eventually. You won't be able to use your notes on the AP exam in May," I told them for the millionth time as I passed out the scantrons and test packets.
"Can we just not take anymore chapter quizzes?" Lexi Miller asked from her seat in the middle of the room, the other students nodding their approval at this idea.
"Okay, and then I can just start collecting and grading your notes." I grinned mischievously as I placed the left over materials on the table at the front of the room and began erasing my front board.
"Never mind," she said quickly. "I'd rather fail a twenty point quiz than fifty or more points of notes."
"Good choice," I laughed and shook my head at her, going over to my desk and powering up my laptop.
"Ms. Burke you really don't look like a teacher," Sonya observed between bubbling in answers from her seat near my desk.
"Uhm, is that a compliment or an insult?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.
"I just mean that on days like today when you aren't all dressed up, you look like you could be our age, not like twenty-something," she clarified but avoided the question. "Like, most days you are wearing all your really cute dresses and skirts and stuff with your flats, but today you have your jeans, a t-shirt, and old converses. You still look good; you just look a lot younger."
"Uhm, thanks I guess," I half chuckled, taken aback by the bluntness of her comment.
"Who is that on your shirt by the way?" McKenna asked from her spot next to Sonya.
"Oh my god, go home," I stared at her, shaking my head in disappointment. "You are officially failing this class now just for that," I teased her and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I don't know who it is either," Mike added as he changed an answer.
"Seriously? Does anyone here know who it is? Someone say you do so I can pass at least one of you guys!" I looked around the class.
"Isn't that Frank Sinatra? My sister listens to his music. Why does it say 'Chairman of the Board' under his picture?" Morgan guessed after placing her finished quiz on the front table.
"Yes, it's Frank Sinatra, and Chairman of the Board is just something a lot of people called him back in the day," I explained as I typed in my password.
"Ooh, Ms. B, is that your boyfriend? He's seriously hot!" Sophia gushed, as she walked towards the front of the room to turn in her quiz, but becoming distracted by my background.
"Goodness, you guys are so nosey today," I sighed, feigning exasperation. Then losing the act, I nodded in confirmation. "Yes, that's my boyfriend Neal. And yes he is 'seriously hot' as you so eloquently put it. Do all of you want to see the picture since she brought it up?"
I got a bunch of yeses and a few nods, so I unplugged the cord to the projector from my work PC that the school had provided and plugged it into my laptop so that they all could see the image. "I know this is the highlight of your day, right?" I asked sarcastically with a smirk. The picture on the screen was of Neal and me at Elizabeth's baby shower. We were sitting together on the couch, my head leaning on his shoulder, his arm securely around my waist, both of us smiling widely at the camera and Satchmo was stretched out across both of our laps.
There were various noises of approval from the girls while the four boys in the class just nodded and looked back to the quiz. "Ms. B is that your personal laptop?" Nicole asked me.
"Yes ma'am. Why?"
"Can you show us more pictures?"
"Once everyone is done the quiz and I run the scantrons through so you all can see your grades. I don't have anything else planned for you guys today, so if we still have time after that, which we more than likely will since it looks like everyone is done or almost done, then I'll show you guys some pics. Okay?"
"Sh-weet," Nicole nodded to herself as she turned her attention back to the quiz.
My smirk came back to my face as I scanned the room and noticed Mike with his phone in his lap, fingers flying over the keys. "I guess I can text now too, since Mike is allowed to," I said and pulled out my phone, checking some of my messages that I had gotten during the day. One was from Elle thanking me for helping her reorganize Chase's room yesterday, and one from Caroline asking if I wanted to come over for dinner tomorrow night.
"Ms. B, I think you should take his phone," Lexi said teasingly and flicked the back of his head as she walked passed him to put her test on the front table.
"I know, but since I text in school too that would make me a hypocrite. So I am just a total enabler. "
"God, Mike, look what you've done," Lexi scolded him. "Turning our teacher into an enabler."
"Yeah, and to think this is one of my better classes," I chuckled to myself and turned the projector off as I opened up my pictures, and went to the folder with all the pictures I had taken since moving back to New York. I opened up a full-screen image of the first picture and scanned the desks of my students. "All of you finished? Alright I'll be back with your graded tests," I got up quickly and grabbed the stack of answer sheets and headed to the social studies office to run them through to be scanned and graded.
I was back less than five minutes later and handed the papers back face down so no one else could see what they got. "I took a peek while they were getting graded, and I'm pretty sure the highest grade was a fifteen out of twenty. No one got anything higher did they? So, it'll be a five point curve. But seriously, you guys need to start studying your notes. After today you won't be able to use them anymore, and if your only getting fifteens with them, that makes me really nervous. You guys know if you're having trouble with anything you can come talk to me before or after school, or email me or something. I get here at around six-thirty to seven in the morning, and I'm usually here until about four. Yes, McKenna?" I asked when she raised her hand.
"Do you think we could do more class discussions like we did with chapter ten? That helped me a lot."
"Pfft, you just like sitting in a circle," Sonya teased her. "But that actually was really helpful."
"Okay, we can do one for the next chapter, and then I'll see about doing more from there," I nodded my head, already remapping my lesson plans in my head. "Alright, you guys still wanna see these pictures?" I got a bunch of enthusiastic yeses from the girls and the guys just shrugged. I quickly recollected the quizzes so I could put them in the grade book later before getting started.
I got through about half of the folder, they kept having me stop on certain pictures with questions of who was in the pictures, where it was, what was going on, up until the bell rang at two-fifteen for them all to go home.
"Excuse me," a tentative voice came to me from the door about half an hour after all the students were long gone. I didn't look away from the work computer and kept putting grades in, but I called back for whoever it was to come in. I was surprised when I finally turned away from the PC to find myself face to face with a woman about the same age as me, give or take a few years.
"Uhm, can I help you with something?" I asked and stood to shake her hand when she offered it. I knew almost all of the staff at the school, so I knew she didn't work here. And unless she had a kid when she was about ten, she couldn't be the parent of a student.
"Yes or at least I hope so. You are Annabelle Burke, right?"
"Yes, and you are . . ." I trailed off awkwardly.
"Cassidy . . . Cassidy Caffrey. I'm trying to find my brother. A woman named June said she didn't know where he was, but that you would probably know," she told me quickly, staring at me anxiously.
"You-You're Neal's sister?" I asked in shock and sat down suddenly. Neal had never said anything about having a sister. As a matter of fact, he had never told me anything about his family at all. "I didn't know he had any siblings."
"It doesn't surprise me that he didn't tell you. Our last conversation didn't exactly go well," she admitted, looking down quickly and then looking back up at me again. Getting a good view of her, it was actually kind of obvious that she and Neal were related. She had the same dark coffee toned hair and electric blue eyes that he had.
"Sibling fights are never pretty, Cassidy," I sighed. "As close as I am with Peter, we used to fight constantly when we both still lived at home. Did you drive here or walk?"
"I walked," she answered and held up a small suitcase. "I went from the airport to meet Mozzie at the park, he sent me to June, and June sent me to you."
"Just be glad I work at a school in Manhattan and not in Queens where I live. Come on, you can come home with me, and stay with me if you need a place, and I'm going over Neal's tonight, so I'll bring you with me," I offered and began shutting down the computer and packing up all the things I would need to take home.
"No, please, I don't want to impose or anything," she said quickly. "I can get a hotel or something."
"Not a problem at all, Cassidy. I'll need help carrying all of this anyway," I winked at her. I handed her my binder of papers I needed to grade and then slung my laptop case over my shoulder and grabbed my purse. "Alrighty, let's roll, girl."
"Thanks for this Annabelle," she grinned at me and followed me out.
"Don't worry about it. But I do want to know what exactly this fight of yours was about. When was the last time you saw him anyway?"
"Fifteen years ago," she told me, making me stop in my tracks.
"You haven't seen or talked to him in fifteen years?" I asked, my jaw nearly hitting the floor. Somewhere in the back of my mind my inner vanity grumbled. She was just about as tall as her brother, only about two inches shorter really, and I had to look up to talk to her. "It must've been some fight."
"It was. I was ten, he was seventeen. It was right after he dropped out of high school. I walked into his room in the middle of the night like I always did when I had a nightmare, and found him packing his bags. If our parents had been home, we would've woken them right up the way we were screaming at each other. I didn't want him to leave; he was more like a parent to me than our mom and dad were. But he was determined to make it out of that town, no matter what. We both said a lot of things we didn't mean, and haven't talked since. When I saw he was out of prison last year, I started saving up, put in a request for time off at work, and, well, here I am," she explained as we headed for the subway.
"He's never told me anything about his, er your, family. Whenever I try to bring it up he finds a way to avoid the question," I told her as we held on tightly to the poles in the center isle of the car; naturally there were no seats available.
"I can't blame him. Like I said, we got pretty nasty that night. He has quite the temper if you push him hard enough."
"Oh, I know," I agreed quickly, shuddering slightly as I remembered the scene just a few weeks ago when Neal had finally confronted Fowler. I wasn't there, but Peter had told me enough to scare me. Neal had had a gun. Neal never uses guns, never.
"So do you think he'll still be mad?" she asked, anxiety flooding her voice again.
I sighed and shrugged. "I honestly don't know. He is your brother, and I seriously don't think he would turn away family. But on the other hand, you probably know just as well as I do, he can hold a grudge if he really wants to."
"This is true," she nodded and then the rest of the ride to Queens was spent in silence.
When we got to the apartment, I set her up in my guest bedroom and let her get settled and I got some grading out of the way while we passed the time until five when I was supposed to meet Neal. We intended when we made the plan the other night for him to call me when he was finished working for the day, but now I had to somehow convince him to stay in and hang out at June's. And the one method I thought of to convince him . . . well he would be especially unhappy with me when he found out my real motive.
It was around four thirty when he finally called me. "Hey babe," I answered, picking at my navy blue nail polish nervously.
"Hey Belle," he answered. It sounded like he was in a good. Great, so now I get to feel guilty too. If he was already in a bad mood then I wouldn't feel quite so bad forcing him to face a fight he had fifteen years ago, but now I was jut going to destroy his day. Go me! But so far I really liked Cassidy, and we were getting along pretty well for having just met, and I wanted to do this for her. Plus I was also kind of mad at him for not telling me he had a little sister, especially since they, according to Cassidy, used to be so close. So a small part of me felt that he deserved to have his day ruined. God, when did I become so vengeful?
"So, about tonight," I started.
"Yeah, do you have someplace in mind you want to go? Are you still at the school? If you haven't left yet, it's in my radius, I can just meet you there and we'll figure it out then."
"No, I'm at home. And, well, uhm, actually, I was kind of hoping we could just stay at June's tonight," Cassidy walked out of her room while I was midsentence, making me feel both guilty and embarrassed.
"Why? I thought you wanted to go out?" he asked, obviously not catching my hint. For such a smart guy, he can have his so-called 'blonde moments'.
"Yes, well, babe, we really haven't had any time alone recently . . ." I trailed off blushing as Cassidy tried her hardest not to laugh at me.
"Oh," he said quickly, finally catching on. "Yeah, well then I guess I'll meet you at my place then. Do you want me to cook something for dinner first, or do you just want to order something later?"
"It doesn't really matter, whichever is easier," I answered quickly, begging whatever powerful beings might be out there to put this conversation to an end.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you when you get here. Love you," he laughed slightly at my hurry, probably misinterpreting it.
"Love you too," I grimaced as I hung up the phone. "God, I am such a bitch," I groaned and put my head in my hands as Cassidy burst into hysterical laughter.
"Wow that is the best thing I've ever heard! As grossed out as I am by the idea of my brother having sex that will just make the look on his face when he sees me so much funnier. I can't believe that you did that," she exclaimed as she continued giggling.
And I couldn't help but laugh too. I still felt guilty, but just the fact that she found it as funny as she did made me start. "He's gonna be so pissed at me," I laughed and ran my hand through my hair.
"Yeah, probably," she nodded her agreement.
"Come on, let's get going," I shook my head and shoved my phone in my pocket and grabbed my keys.
Once again our journey was quiet, the both of us becoming more and more nervous as we drew closer to June's house, all the laughter from earlier completely gone from our minds. "Are you ready?" I asked her, scratching my arms as we waited for someone to answer the front door.
"No, but do I really have a choice?"
"I guess not," I sighed as the door opened. "Hey, June, how are you?" I asked her, putting a smile on my face as she hugged me.
"Well, I'm doing just fine Annabelle. And how are those teenagers treating you?"
"Giving me migraines, but it's always worth it," I grinned at her.
"Yeah, well, you're a stronger woman than I am. Neal is up in his room. And glad to see you back here again young lady," she nodded at Cassidy, who smiled and half waved as June walked off.
"Come on," I nodded for her to follow me upstairs. "Do you want me to go in first and then come get you?" She didn't speak but just nodded rapidly. She looked like I felt whenever I got really anxious. "It'll be okay, Cassidy," I tried to reassure her and squeezed her arm gently before heading into Neal's room, leaving her waiting in the hall.
"Hey," he grinned widely at me, leaving the stove to come meet me at the door.
I tried pretending I wasn't scared to death and smiled back, wrapping my arms tightly around my neck and standing on my toes so I could meet him for a kiss. "Oh, what are you making me?" I asked, peeking over his shoulder at the stove.
"You'll see," he smirked at me and kissed me again, holding me tighter to him.
"Mm, babe, wait," I forced myself to break away, something I always hate doing when I'm kissing him. "I need to talk to you about something. It's really important."
"What?" he asked, looking more than a little disappointed and slightly concerned.
"Why haven't you ever told me about your family?" I asked.
"Because, we have more important things to do." He leaned down and tried to kiss me again, but I wouldn't let him.
"No, we need to talk about this now. Why is it that I didn't find out you had a sister until she came into my classroom after school today?" I demanded and crossed my arms over my chest and stepping away from him, my temper suddenly flaring up.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, obviously confused by my change in demeanor. Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure that was the first time he had ever seen me legitimately angry.
"Let me show you," I glared at him and turned on my heel back to the door. I threw it open and went out to see Cassidy standing nearly frozen against the wall. "Come on, Cassidy," I held out a hand to her, which she took after a second's hesitation.
"Hi, Neal," she greeted him meekly. I stood to the side, letting them do their own thing while my anger boiled inside me, growing stronger by the second.
"Cassidy? Is that really you?" he asked in utter disbelief.
She rolled her eyes and grinned slightly. "No, I made it up and tracked you down for fun. Yes it's me."
"Yes, it's you, sarcastic," he flashed a grin of his own and hugged her tightly. At least he's on someone's good side again, because for some reason I just couldn't get over the fact that he had hidden her from me. It's like the anger jumped on me out of nowhere and now that it had its teeth in me it didn't want to let go.
"I'm so sorry," she sighed when they pulled away. "I shouldn't have tried to stop you."
"No, I shouldn't have left you alone," he replied.
"Don't say that. Look what you'd have missed out on if you'd stayed," she gestured to me. "Although, you may want to miss what comes after I leave," she commented after taking in the scowl on my face, which I'm sure was very attractive.
"Ah, yeah," he sighed, shifting under my gaze. He knew he was in trouble. "Maybe we should talk later. Peter is starting his paternity leave tomorrow; maybe we can meet for lunch or something?"
"Yeah, here," she pulled a notepad and pen from her purse and scrawled down her phone number. "And Annabelle is letting me stay with her, so you can call me there too."
"Here," I told her and held out my keys, "so you can actually go inside instead of waiting for me."
"Thanks," she half grinned. Then she raised her eyebrows and looked between the two of us. "Good luck, Neal, I think you'll need it."
"Oh he will," I grinned tensely at her as she left. "You know, it's sad that right now I prefer your sister who I just met a few hours ago," I said to him once she was gone.
"Belle," he started tentatively.
"No, don't even start to argue with me," I snapped starting to raise my voice as I stood up straighter. I'm sure I didn't look very imposing, but it was apparently enough to get him quiet. God, what was wrong with me? I normally won't even defend myself when fighting with someone, let alone start the fight. "What else haven't you told me about? You don't have a wife and kids you're hiding somewhere do you? How many times have I asked you about your family? How many opportunities have you had to tell me about this? We've been together for almost five months, Neal! Five fucking months! And for how badly things ended between you two, how is it that I haven't heard about her before? You know more about me than Peter, Elle, Caroline, and both of my therapists combined. Why is it that I can trust you with information like that, but you can't even let me know that you have a sibling?"
"Really, so you've told me everything about your life?" he snapped, trying to turn it around on me.
"I never said I did. But I guess now it's a good thing I didn't because now at least we're somewhere close to even," I shouted, throwing my arms up.
"Fine, you want to know about my family? Alright, our dad was a drunk, our mom was always working, and they left me to take care of Cassidy. I was seventeen and selfish and got tired of playing dad, so I dropped out of school and got the hell out of Texas. I started out in Vegas where I met Mozzie, and then I'm sure Peter can fill you in on how I spent the fifteen years after that. I've had Mozzie check up on her from time to time, but I haven't talked to her again until today. Satisfied?" he yelled back, his hands curling into fists. And just like that, the anger all drained from my body and I felt like I was going to start crying any second.
"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered and swiped at my eyes with the back of my hand, a pathetic attempt to keep the make up from running down my face. "I don't know why I got so mad . . . I just," I sighed. "I thought we could trust each other. Why couldn't you talk to me about this?"
"Because I didn't want to fight you about it," he let out a frustrated laugh at the irony. "The last person I talked to about Cassidy was Kate. We fought for three days because she wanted me to track her down to fix things, but it was also when Peter first started chasing me and I didn't want to risk it."
I wiped my eyes again before walking back over to him and letting him pull me back into his arms. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," I sniffed. "And that I'm getting make up on your shirt," I added with a small laugh.
"Don't worry about it. And you're right, I should've told you sooner," he sighed and rested his chin on the top of my head.
"Gah, leave me alone," I snapped at my phone and silenced it almost as soon as the ringtone started. Whatever Peter had to say could wait until tomorrow.
"Feeling bipolar lately?" he asked with a slight laugh when I all but threw my phone onto the table.
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes and leaned my head on his chest again. "I don't feel like talking to anyone else right now."
"But apparently Peter really wants to talk to you," he sighed when we both began to feel his blackberry buzzing in his pocket. "Yeah," he answered on the second ring. His eyes widened and he made a few hums of agreement before finally saying, "Yeah, she's with me now. I'll tell her and then we'll be there as soon as we can. Yeah, bye."
"What's going on?" I looked up at him, my eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
"Elizabeth's in labor, they just checked into the hospital, and she's been asking for both of us, but more specifically you."
"Oh my god!" I nearly jumped away from him. "Come on, let's go," I pushed when he wasn't moving fast enough.
He just shook his head and laughed at me before going to turn off the stove. "You're just the aunt and you're this nervous? I hate to imagine what Peter will be like when we get there."
"Oh, just hush and get a move on," I snapped and shoved his shoulder lightly as he pulled his jacket back on and placed his hat on his head. "Do you want a jacket? I think I have a hoodie that you left here a while back."
"Yeah, sure," I huffed and held my hand out impatiently. I yanked it on as soon as he handed it over and was out the door a second later.
So who else is uber excited for Chase? I know I am! I can't wait to write the little booger in! It will make my White Collar withdrawl a little less painful as I wait in agony for January to come. And as for you loverly readers of mine, I have two things I would like to say. First, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update and thank you for being patient with me. And second, you guys can now talk to Annabelle! She has her own twitter and gmail accounts which I personally maintain. Her twitter account is belleburke, and her gmail account is aburke1984. So make sure you follow her, because she tweets quite often about whats going on in her life, and feel free to email her anytime and I will make sure she replies!
Thanks guys! Much love until next time,
~TheRatPack
Oh, and P.S. in case you didn't realize it for yourself as you read the chapter, I am keeping Mozzie alive and well in my story. I don't care whether he survives the shot or dies in the show, I love the character and he will remain a part of the Stolen Sweets world.