Chapter Eleven: Spiderwebs
"So…"
"So…?"
"So how was your first day a la trabajador?" Candy's step mom (Or DragonLady as she loved to refer to her as) had recently hired a private Spanish tutor for her, after an unfortunate "D" in the class last semester. Candy was, at first adamant about the thought of a tutor, and for good reason. Her last tutor had a head of thinning gray hair, a similar crooked line of hair shadowing their upper lip, and a "dirty laundry" scent that followed them into every room they passed. No, Ms. Marshall was not someone you wanted in your house, let alone to have taught you. This time, however, her stepmother, still seeking to breach Candy's good side, had employed Michael Pierce, a member of the Spanish Honor Society in a magnet school in north Hillsdale. Although the thought of having a tutor her own age was enticing, his shaggy, brown hair, green-gray eyes and it's-Practically-Winter-and-I've-Still-Got-My-Summer-Tan, didn't hurt either.
"Do you realize you just said 'How was your first day at the working hard?'", Helga said, stopping for a moment, her book in midair.
"Who cares, how was it?" Candy asked again, continuing with the task at hand, namely replacing a gray cart of books onto the library shelves.
"It was…ugh…" She replied, pushing the books in with such force that the books on the other side of the shelf moved.
"What happened?" Candy asked, full of questions that day. She'd already found out that Helga's place of employment was the same that she and Arnold had suggested, but that fact didn't seem like enough to merit her day as "ugh".
"Well despite the obvious coincidence of being stuck in a job with Arnold, I had to spend forever learning how to water plants-"
"Water Plants? Wow, looks like you need the tutor more than I do…" Candy joked, moving farther down the aisle.
"All the plants need different doses. Like prescription medicine, or something. Anyway, a blast of icy water from an overhead sprayer, a visit from your brother-"
"Stepbrother. STEP-BROTHER. He came by the shop yesterday?"
"Yeah.", Helga said, her voice already dripping with disdain.
"No way, that's awesome!" Candy replied, obviously ecstatic.
"Maybe for you." Helga said, wondering why Candy was so happy that Sean had paid her a visit. Maybe it was the fact that, even for a few minutes, he was not home.
"Did you see what he was driving when he pulled up?" Candy asked, her laughter subsiding, but only minimally.
"No. He has his license?" Helga asked, in reply. If Sean was as young as he acted, she wouldn't have been surprised if her wore a diaper under those poster-boy jeans.
"No. My dad caught him driving his pickup truck home, but he wouldn't tell him where he went. This is great, I finally have dirt on him!" Candy said, laughing again and narrowing her eyes in a heinous way that scared Helga a little.
"I'm so happy for you.", Helga said, resuming her work.
"So why was he there anyway?" Candy asked, snapped out of her devious daze.
"I dunno, he bought flowers and candy."
"Gross…" Candy said, hopping on one foot to place a book on the second highest shelf in that row of the Non-Fiction books. Candy was "short", no more than five foot two inches tall. Her personality, however, was probably 6 feet high. She was often loud and energetic, and never at a loss for words. Most evident, nonetheless, was that she was opinionated. Even when someone didn't quite agree with her opinion, she'd plant the tiniest seed of doubt in your mind. "My stepbrother likes you…"
"What? That's not only ridiculous, that's disgusting; vile even."
"It does explain some things, though…" Candy said, knowing that she was slowly but surely drawing Helga in more and more.
"Like…?" Helga asked.
Hook, Line, Sinker. "Well, he just sort of…mentions you sometimes…a lot…"
"A lot?" Helga repeated.
"Oh yeah," Candy said, getting a little carried away. Sean had told her about his interest in Annabelle, and Candy knew he'd try some stupidly charming trick to get her attention. "At first he'd just make fun of you, or whatever. Now it's like 'Does she have any classes with you? How old is she? What's her last name?', ya know, stupid stuff. "
"Ugh, that's gross." Helga said, kneeling on the ground to pick up a book that had slid under a beige colored shelf. Her extended arm returned holding the book and covered in a thin layer of dust.
"I know, your arm is filthy." Candy stated.
"Not that, I meant your brother."
"Stepbrother. I told you, I'm not related to that thing."
"Whatever, think we're done yet?" Helga asked, bored with the chore.
"Who cares; we did our time let's go."
"Good job, girls."
Helga and Candy wheeled to face Mrs. Voss, the head librarian, and notorious worst-dressed teacher in the school. Her attire usually consisted of her hair, brown, sprinkled with silvery gray, cut short in flat curls. She wore her pants high, but not regular high. She wore these in the Jaleel-White-as-Steve-Urkel style. Add a floppy blouse and too big glasses, and you have Mrs. Voss.
"Ms…" she began, waiting for Candy and Helga, Candy in particular, to fill in the blank.
"Candy." she replied, sugary and perky as the name itself.
"Ms. Candy and Ms…" She'd evidently not been well with names. She'd known them perfectly well half an hour ago when she bellowed them throughout the library.
"Annabelle." Helga answered. For the first week of her name/alias, she'd practically cringe when anyone said it. She knew she was lying, not just to 99.8 of the student and faculty body (save Dr. Phelps), but had also conveniently forgotten to tell Olga about any of this, and for obvious reasons. Olga opening her home to Helga was a stroke of good grace, and letting her sister know that she'd rejected her family's name, and Olga's as well, wasn't the best way to rekindle a sister/sister relationship.
"Well, Ms. Candy and Ms. Annabelle, I certainly hope that this will keep the two of you from any excessive talking while in the library." Her statement was met with identical, disgruntled replies of "yes". "And I hope you, in particular Ms. Candy have learned that checking e-mail is not permitted on any of the school's computers."
"Understood." Candy replied, her eyes cast as upwards as possible, while still exposing the green rings of her eyes.
As soon as Mrs. Voss was out of earshot, Candy turned back to Helga. "Can we go now? This place smells, and I think I'm getting claustrophobic."
"I'll be out in a second." Helga said. Candy shrugged her shoulders in reply and exited the library.
Helga skimmed the aisles again, looking for a green book that was purposefully sticking out of a group of other books. While replacing the cart of returned books, Helga recognized the book and made a note to pick it up and spend the remainder of her lunch reading it. She'd see Candy in last period, anyway.
"I hate it when a job is half done…" said the standing being, mockingly dangling a green bound book in front of Helga's nose.
Snatching at the book, Helga couldn't help but try to flash Sean one of her evil glares. He remained unaffected as each time to grabbed for the book, he drew it farther and farther behind him; first and inch, then two, until her forehead was a few inches from his nose.
"Forget it then…", Helga said, getting the gist of his little "game" and retreating to the other side of the library. Expectedly, he followed, talking all the way.
"So…did you get my roses?", he asked, catching up with her quickly.
"I don't really like roses…"Helga replied, still walking, lest Ms. Voss attack again, but still quickening her pace.
"Anything else you don't like? Just so I know nex-"
"Well, let's see…Avril Lavigne, bad romantic comedies, oh yeah, and…you." Helga said, flashing a cheesy smile for a split second before turning and continuing towards the librarian's desk. A tug at her right arm stopped her in her tracks.
"I still can't understand what on earth-"
For the second time in their brief conversation, Helga interrupted Sean mid-sentence. Only this time, she didn't do so with her words. Since his free hand was wrapped around her wrist, she took the opportunity to snatch the book from his other hand, and strike him on the side of the head with it, with just the right amount of force. Too gently, and it would have been seen as flirting. Any harder and she might have caused more brain damage then he already had.
"Next time," she said, already turning away. "You can try keeping your hands off of me."
Lingering back until everyone at the front counter had dissipated, Helga walked up to the librarian and slid her book across the table. "Checkout, please." she muttered. No need to get the librarians worked up if she suddenly dropped her tone when they asked her anything else.
"Alright, last name please." the librarian, whose name she failed to get, asked.
"Pataki." she replied.
"And first?"
The second person in the school to know her name, her real name, was going to be a librarian. The only down side to this was that this school official didn't have any confidentiality vows to abide by.
"Helga." Helga said, in an even lower voice.
"Okay…one moment please…" the librarian said, punching in numbers and scanning the barcode of the book with a small gray device. "Due back in 4 weeks."
"Thanks…" Helga said, exiting the library, and picking up her book bag from a nearby chair on the way out.
Once outside, Helga let out the breath she'd been holding for most of the past 4 minutes. Going to Annabelle from Helga took longer than she thought, but still shortened the more she did it. Unfortunately, her newly freed breath was about to return to captivity.
"I saw that…"
"Saw what?" she asked. He couldn't mean what she thought it meant. Seeing something doesn't mean hearing it. Arnold could have seen her lean in when she told the librarian her real name, but that doesn't mean he necessarily heard it. He could have seen the librarian type something into the computer on her desk, but that doesn't mean he actually saw what it was that she typed. Besides, she checked all around the desk…no one was there.
"That thing with Sean. Pretty bold, if I do say so myself." Arnold said, arms crossed, leaning on the wall next to the library.
"I guess…" Helga said, beginning to walk away. All she needed was to say too much, and blow her cover.
"Frankly, I'd like to know the same thing." Arnold said, not moving.
"Know what?" It seemed as though she'd be asking all the questions today.
"Why you don't like Sean. I mean, sure he's pig-headed, but he's loaded. That and his looks usually make girls ignore his…less than humble attitude."
"Correction, Arnold. Some girls go for that stuff. Honestly, I'm looking for a little more than a fat wallet and the emotional depth of a puddle." Helga retorted.
"There you go, again. Being judgmental…" Arnold replied, finally prying himself off of the wall, and walking towards Helga confidently.
Feeling slightly cornered, Helga began to raise her voice. "Judgmental! Last I checked he's the one coming to my place of employment and leaving flowers, and cornering me in the library, and…being weird. And from what you've just told me, he's probably tried this bit on several other girls, thinking that all will react in the same way. That, Arnold, is judgmental." Helga replied, now fuming.
"That sounds about right…"
"And if I know anything…" Helga continued. "He's been watching a large portion if not all of this conversation from over my shoulder."
Arnold glanced just above her shoulder. Sure enough, there was Sean, stealing the occasional, yet completely indiscreet glance at he and Helga. The sight made him smile before nodding back at Helga.
"Yeah, big surprise…" Helga said, walking towards the cafeteria and away from the drama that was…
"Sean…Sean? Sean!"
"Yeah,…what?"
Ms. Voss sighed from behind her desk, beckoning Sean to work. "Sean, if you're going to be a library aide, it'd help if you'd actually aide us."
"Sorry, Ms. V."
Ms. Voss began walking away, slightly annoyed, not only at the boy's lack of work ethic, but also his incessant use of that ridiculous nickname. Before she got far, he was calling her name again, this time in whole.
"What is it, Sean?" she replied, wearily. It was early afternoon, and she was already exhausted from the 4 English classes that had visited the library.
"Could I possibly use your computer? All the student one's have a weird firewall, and I need to look up something for my History class." he asked.
Most times, Ms. Voss would insist that he use one of the student computers. The firewalls and blocks were made by the state's board of education and kept student's from searching inappropriate sites, or exposing the school's computers to any viruses. But given her headache, and lack of aspirin, she decided to let him go ahead and use hers.
"Go ahead…but you know the rules."
"Thank you." Sean replied, in his most Wally Cleaver voice.
After Ms. Voss had moved from out of eyeshot and into the back office of the library, Sean went into the Library's Files, ass opposed to the Internet. Biting his lower lip and typing furiously, Sean stared at the computer screen, determined in his search. He muttered something to himself as his eyes began scanning the page. He didn't have to look far before seeing the words that darkened under the cursor.
MOST RECENT CHECKOUTS
Since the list was arranged by book title, and not by the name of the person who checked it out, all he had to do was remember what book she checked out. As soon as he saw the name, his memory kicked in. He was close.
DIGITAL FORTRESS,
AUTHOR: BROWN, DAN
Clicking on the book title, his face was as devilish as the Grinch's when the page went white and then refreshed itself, this time giving the name of the student who checked it out.
"Bingo." he said, glancing around him just before hitting the Print button. "I've got you now…"
"Olga, I'm home…" Helga bellowed, not really expecting a reply. She flopped her books down on the kitchen table and followed the enticing aromas into the kitchen.
"Hey, wash up will you…we're having company for dinner." Olga said, standing over the kitchen sink, scrubbing a bright orange carrot.
"Who's coming?" Helga asked, after drying her hands on an already damp dish towel.
"Drew, and a friend of yours…Sean."
Had Helga been holding a plate, it would have shattered. The damp dish rag hit the floor with a practically inaudible flop, but to Helga, it was the only noise she could hear. Olga's rambling about dinner was drowned out, first by the plummet of the towel, then by the words that reverberated in Helga's head:
"He knows…"
Mwahahahahahaha! I am the Queen of Cliffhangers! Not really, my friend Andrea advised me to stop it here. I really wanted to continue, but, Andi knows best. I know, I know, I was supposed to update Ruthless first, but I was so inspired tonight (Andi strikes again) that I had to. I promise, Ruthless is next. Okay. Now review…PLEASE!
P.S. I got the idea for Candy's tutor from an…odd place. The tutor's last name is my ex's middle name, and after we…parted ways, I was going to change it. But hen I was like "I'm not gonna let him affect my writing!" so I changed it back. Then we were friends for a while, so I kept it. Then he pissed me off, like REALLY pissed me off. So I changed it again. Then, another friend was getting all PMS on me for no reason, and he defended me, so I changed t back. And despite having shaggy hair, he's blonde, blue-eyed and is one of the palest people I've ever seen…the total opposite of Micheal Pierce. That's High School for ya…
Peace,
PointyO