Dylan

21. Clashing

'So you and your parents decided to accept the invitation to Grove Hills?'

Dylan raised an eyebrow at Rod. 'Yes, but how did you know?'

'Word's out about the keg party Kris Brocklethwaite's throwing while his parents are out of town.'

Dylan said, 'Hmm.'

Rod raised an eyebrow at Dylan. 'Okay, out with it.'

'Oh, I just decided to drop the idea of telling my parents that Kris is planning on going ahead with the keg party in spite of their other arrangements, in favour of the higher risk and higher pay-off option of letting him go ahead without interference and hoping he'll get busted and catch hell afterwards.'

Rod nodded. 'I remember his last party. Cheerleaders passed out in the bathroom, ambulance called, stomach pumps.'

'My parents remember that incident, too. I reminded them of what happened last time Kris was left to his own devices in the house. Kris insisted it wasn't cheerleaders in the plural, only Aggie, as if that makes a difference.'

Rod frowned. 'I don't think there is an Aggie in the cheerleading squad.'

'You're as bad as he is. Maybe he got the name muddled, or maybe I did. Anyway, how do you know about this keg party?'

'Well, obviously I'm not invited, but I have my ways of knowing what parties are on so I can decide which ones to crash.'

'I give my seal of approval to anything you can do to make things worse for Kris as he disobeys parental instructions while the rest of the family is away.'

'That's the part I was wondering about', said Rod. 'You didn't look keen about the Grove Hills thing, not that you ever look keen about anything.'

'My father gave me a cash bribe.'

'He thinks you can benefit from the academic opportunities?'

'He thinks I can benefit from the networking opportunities.'

Rod shook his head. 'As if you'll talk to anybody there.'

'As if anybody there will talk to me.'

'And what does your mother think about all this?'

'I think she was about to start on one of her rants about the convent school the Ma'am sent her to so that she'd learn to be a good home-maker, when my father bribed her to let him handle the situation. After that, he bribed Kris as well, just to stop the complaining about being left behind.'

'That money's probably earmarked for the keg party, or the dry-cleaning bill afterwards.'

'After I mentioned that other incident, Dad said he'd arrange for Kris to stay with Simon, even though he hated having to deal with Leonard Griffith. Then Kris took the money and charged off. He was probably going to call Simon. Those would have been interesting phone calls to eavesdrop on.'

— 'Of course Kris is welcome to stay here any time! Good for my boy to have his partner in crime on the premises to see what mischief they can cook up together!'

Hank winced slightly at the sound of the raucously cheerful voice at the other end of the line. He forced a laugh in an effort to seem in tune with the other man's attitude, then said, 'Actually, Leonard, I was hoping that—'

— 'Speaking of mischief, I should tell you about the little success I chalked up on my last "business trip", if you know what I mean! You should have seen this little number, I tell you! Heh-heh!' Leonard gave a lecherous chuckle that made Hank wince.

'I just wanted to talk about Kris. I didn't think it was such a good idea to leave him in the house by—'

— 'Yeah, I heard about the trouble you had last time! Heh-heh! Oh well, boys will be boys, you know! Can't expect Simon to be any different after the tricks his old man got up to at the same age! He's a real chip off the old block! Of course, he knows he'll catch hell from me if I find out he's been up to anything over the line. Same way my father raised me. That's how I learned the best ways of keeping out of trouble. What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over, right? Heh-heh!'

Hank cleared his throat. 'I was only thinking that with Kris staying with you—'

— '—they'll be thick as thieves, I know!'

Hank coughed more loudly. 'What I meant was, perhaps a little more supervision would be in order.'

— 'Of course! Didn't you hear what I said? I'll make sure they know what's what. No, if I catch them breaking curfew, I won't be cutting them any slack!'

— 'Dad'll probably tell us curfew's brought forward to eleven—'

Kris couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'Eleven?'

— 'Hey, that makes everything easier. He'll check on us once at eleven and then go for a beer. Then we climb out the window and meet Tim and Stevie—'

'Check.' Kris made a note. 'I'll arrange for them to look after the keg, then.'

— '—then it's over to your place for the party!'

'Sounds like you've got it covered, Simon.'

— 'Hey, you didn't think I was going to let our parents outsmart me, did you?'

Dylan was glad when the car trip to Grove Hills was over. Prolonged confinement with his parents always made him surly. Well, surlier.

Joey Lyndon rode with them. He'd received the same invitation as Dylan, but his parents were going to a brunch at a country club where they'd spent three years on a waiting list. The plan was for them to meet Joey and the Brocklethwaites at Grove Hills later.

Joey's presence gave Dylan's parents somebody to talk to instead of him, which might have counted as a plus, except that what they mostly talked to him about was his long list of extracurricular activities. That brought Dylan's parents back round to asking Dylan why he didn't participate more, turning the possible plus into an actual minus. When it came out that Joey was on the tennis team, Dylan had to remind his parents, as if his choice needed further explanation, that tennis, although not football, was still a sport.

However, when they finally arrived at Grove Hills (which looked like an Old World manorial estate), the parents were taken off somewhere to be processed separately. Joey and Dylan walked through the door to a building under a huge welcome banner and were met by a recruiter called Martin, who introduced them to three Grove Hills students: Leo, Grace, and Cameron. Martin asked them to tell Joey and Dylan about Grove Hills.

'So you're not going to', Dylan said.

Martin grinned awkwardly. 'Of course, I'll be talking more to everybody later.'

'I suppose so', said Dylan. 'I mean, there's nothing we can do to stop you, right?'

Martin gave a nervous chuckle and left them.

Grace started talking about Grove Hills. 'The thing here is', she began, 'that everybody is judged by strictly intellectual standards.'

'Well', said Dylan grudgingly, 'that doesn't sound too bad.'

'Exactly!' said Leo, looking towards Grace.

'That's right!' said Cameron, also looking towards Grace.

Dylan noticed something. The two boys stood on either side of Grace, and while whichever one was talking to her looked her directly in the eye, the one she was looking away from let his gaze fall to her bust. They alternated as if by clockwork so that she never noticed what was going on.

Grace's outfit didn't set off her bust (or anything else about her appearance), but Dylan couldn't help recognising that it was larger for her age and firmer for its size than he would previously have thought possible. Her face was unusual in a different way, with one side of her jaw a fraction more prominent than the other, her eyebrows slightly out of alignment, and her nose just a trifle crooked. Her appearance would have intrigued Rod. Kris would have looked at her twice; exactly twice.

Simon's little sisters, Samantha and Christine, came in to the room where Kris and Simon were sitting on the couch watching television.

'Can we watch Fashionvision? pleease?'

Simon snapped back at them. 'We're watching the boxing, you little whiners. Clear out, okay?'

'But we wanna watch Fashionvision! Why can't we watch Fashionvision? Kuh-ri-iss, why can't we watch Fashionvision?'

Kris shrugged. 'Sorry, kids. We're in the middle of a fight here.' He gestured at the screen.

Samantha and Christine walked up to Kris. 'Is it a good fight, Kris?'

'Are they good boxers, Kris?'

'Can you fight like that, Kris?'

'Show us how you box, Kris, pleease?'

Simon glared at his sisters. 'I thought I told you to get out of here and quit bugging us!'

'Simon won't show us boxing.'

'Simon won't give us swimming lessons.'

'Will you give us swimming lessons, Kris?'

'Pleease, Kris?'

'Sure thing, kids', said Kris. 'Just let your brother and me watch the fight now. Go and practise doing each other's hair or something.'

'Okay, Kris!'

'Thanks, Kris!'

When the two girls had scurried from the room, Kris turned to Simon and said, 'You know they're too old to behave like that for real, don't you? They just put it on to get on your nerves. Shrug it off, that's the trick.'

'It's easy for you to talk, Kuh-riss. I have to put up with those two every, single, freaking day!'

'Oh yeah? Well, every single freaking day I have to put up with D—' Kris broke off suddenly. He tried to avoid admitting he and Dylan were related. He really didn't want to mention it in front of Simon.

Simon sneered at Kris. 'What? You have to put up with what?'

'Nothing I can't handle.'

'And what have you got to handle that's like two whiny little sisters?'

'Nothing, okay?'

Simon smirked triumphantly. 'So don't tell me, okay?'

'Okay.' Kris shrugged off his irritation. They'd have the keg party later. 'Come on, let's watch the fight.'

The film Grove Hills screened for the prospective new students talked about all the opportunities for enjoyment the school offered. Dylan hated that. He made a small disgusted noise. Joey, sitting next to him, shot him a look—pained but not surprised—while the boy on the other side of Joey shushed him.

When the film had finished Martin came out on the stage and suggested that they get to know each other a little better by talking about their goals in life. Joey was happy to volunteer to speak first. Dylan didn't pay attention to his exact words, but the general impression was of both entrepreneurial spirit and high-minded aspiration.

Whatever Joey said, it encouraged Martin to ask for the next response from the person sitting next to Joey, in other words, Dylan.

'If we're going to get to know each other', said Dylan, 'why don't you tell us about your goals in life, Martin? What was it you always aspired to, and when did you decide to give up your dreams and settle for being a Grove Hills recruiter instead?'

Hank and Jacquie were attending a presentation for parents of prospective Grove Hills students (although Jacquie was snoozing through most of it) when Joey Lyndon's parents arrived and took the seats saved for them next to the Brocklethwaites.

They only confirmed that they were the Lyndons after making it clear that they didn't like the way Hank automatically assumed as much. Hank could practically hear them thinking, 'You just think we must be Joey's parents because we're black!', something he could neither admit nor deny. As he struggled for words, they introduced themselves as Andrea and Mickey, and Andrea produced photographs of their younger children, Roger and Elsa, for Jacquie to admire.

Hank made another attempt to mend fences with Mickey. Joey had told them in the car how Mickey had taken a career break from his senior executive position in order to spend some time as a stay-at-home father. Now Hank told Mickey how much that impressed him.

Mickey explained that Andrea's business was at a crucial stage in its growth after its market breakthrough with her folding coffee cup invention. 'It just made more sense for me to be the one to take some time off', he said. 'Of course, she discusses everything that's going on with me, so I'm not really cut off from the world of business. I'm more like a part-time consultant.'

Hank made supportive noises as Mickey went on about it, but secretly he couldn't help thinking that Mickey seemed to be what some people would call hen-pecked, although of course Hank would never use that word himself.

Leo and Cameron were still hanging around Grace. Dylan was feeling sure that they spent a lot of time hanging around Grace. All three of them were still playing the part of hosts for Joey and Dylan. Fortunately, from Dylan's point of view, Joey was carrying the burden of interacting with them. Dylan stayed close in the hope that the group would shield him from attempts at interaction from anybody else.

As far as Dylan could tell, their main topic of conversation at the moment was how badly some of their fellow-students had performed in their latest standardised tests. He knew that he personally would perform better in that kind of peer assessment than he did at Lawndale High, where the other students rated themselves as cooler than he was. Here, being a 'brain' wouldn't be a bad thing. But here, would he even count as a 'brain'? He'd been saddled with that identity for as long as he could remember, and he'd never liked it, but at least it was an identity. What if it got taken away from him? Would he have anything left?

The Brocklethwaites chatted with the Lyndons during a break in the program.

'That boy of yours is a real ball of fire!' Hank said to Mickey. 'I wish Dylan would be that enthusiastic about getting involved in something. In anything. If Joey can find a place for himself at Lawndale High, why can't Dylan?'

'What are you saying? You think it should be hard for Joey?'

'No, not at all! You're exactly right! That's what I mean! Sure, every now and then you might run into somebody who's a little bit prejudiced …'

'Prejudiced? What kind of prejudice are you talking about, Hank?'

'Oh, nothing, I just thought'—Hank hastily emptied his glass—'look, ah, can I get you another drink?'

Across the room, Andrea was telling Jacquie that people in business for themselves needed good tax accountants.

'Don't you agree?'

'Oh!' said Jacquie. 'Um—I suppose so …'

'Maybe it would be different if the tax system were more reasonable, but with so much money being funnelled from productive people like ourselves to welfare cheats … Do you see what I mean?'

Jacquie nodded. 'Nobody likes to see people cheating on welfare.'

Hank passed by at just that moment, carrying a couple of empty glasses. 'Now, Jacquie, welfare has its place. Don't you agree, Andrea?'

'Why would you think I'd be pro-welfare?'

Tierney walked into Rod's bedroom and found him watching Sick, Sad World.

'Hey, Roddie', said Tierney. 'I just drove past the Brocklethwaite place. There's cop cars there, with their lights flashing.'

Rod just kept watching the screen, where an interviewer was asking a man, 'And you still want her, after she forged your signature, stole your children's pocket money, and sold both your dogs?'

'Sure, she's a little flighty', said the man, and then, outlining an hourglass in the air with his hands, 'but have you seen her?'

'Don't you want to phone Dylan', Tierney said, 'make sure he's all right?'

'Dylan's out of town with his parents for the weekend', said Rod, still not looking up. 'There's only Kris at home.'

'Kris?'

'Dylan's brother.'

'Oh, right', said Tierney. 'Dylan's brother.'

'He's throwing a keg party while his parents are away.'

'Hmm', Tierney said. 'Maybe some neighbours called the police to complain about the noise.'

Rod finally looked up at Tierney. 'You know what? I'll bet something like that is exactly what happened. I guess I'll find out what happened from Dylan after he gets home with his parents.' Privately he looked forward to that.

The Brocklethwaites and the Lyndons were still sitting together as they listened to another lecture. This time the speaker was talking about the level of parental involvement expected at Grove Hills. Hank believed in parental involvement in principle, but the described schedule of meetings, fund-raisers, and 'clean-up parties' (whatever they were) sounded like more than his job would leave him time for. A lot more.

Changing the topic, another parent asked about the school's success rate at getting students into top colleges.

The speaker cited a hard-to-credit figure of 91%. The parent then wanted to know what became of the other 9%.

The speaker cleared her throat. 'Grove Hills has an unparalleled reputation for its results, results which depends on the environment we create. It's an environment where students compete to be the best—healthy competition, of course, healthy competition—but afterwards, some students need a different environment for a time, a more restful one.'

There was some muttering in the audience, and parents looked side to side at each other. Even the Lyndons seemed a little disturbed.

'Could you tell us what sort of different environment that might be?' said Andrea.

'Oh, you know, one where there's not so much pressure to compete for good grades, an environment with fewer expectations …' The speaker cleared her throat and went on in a much lower voice. 'Sometimes an environment without expectations about dressing and feeding yourself …'

Parents looked at each other again. More muttering.

'Before I was at Grove Hills', said Leo, 'people just laughed at me if I quoted Ine Rand.' Dylan didn't bother to tell him the correct way to pronounce 'Ayn'.

Joey said, 'Rand's ideas aren't all that, you know—'

Grace interrupted Joey. 'What's different here at Grove Hills is that the standards are set by intellectual analysis. People listen to me—I mean, people listen to each other and weigh what they have to say. Ideas stand or fall on their merits, and people aren't judged by some arbitrary standards of so-called "popularity" and "fashionability" dictated by the captain of the cheerleading squad.'

Dylan couldn't help interjecting. 'Joey's dating the captain of the cheerleading squad.'

Grace's irregular face got more irregular. 'Maybe', she said to Joey, 'you're not the right kind of person for Grove Hills after all.'

Joey frowned. 'Listen', he said, 'I'm sorry if some queen bee made your life hell at your old school, and I guess it's nice for you that you get a lot more attention here.' Joey flicked quick sideways glances at Leo and Cameron. 'But Van's a decent person. She's hard-working, conscientious, and she looks out for her friends; even people who aren't her friends. If that's not good enough for you, maybe you're the one who needs to change the standards you judge people by. I don't know what this school has taught you, but one thing it hasn't taught you is to take a good hard look at yourself.'

Joey turned and stalked away so abruptly that everybody's eyes jerked involuntarily after him. Then Leo said, 'We don't need him.' Both his eyes and Cameron's snapped back towards Grace, who once again wasn't noticing where on her anatomy their gazes fell.

Grace looked at Dylan. 'And what about you?' she said.

'Oh, I don't need him.' Dylan paused for a moment to let his eyes scan the three of them. Then he said, 'I don't need any of you, either. Back home I have an actual friend.' Then he walked off just as Joey had done.

In the car on the ride home, Joey found his parents unusually receptive to his wish not to have even more pressure put on him. He was grateful. It was hard enough living up to the standards of a model student at Lawndale, let alone Grove Hills. He got the feeling his father had been standing up for him as a way of working off some kind of resentment against his mother. He decided to change the subject and ask them what they'd thought of the Brocklethwaites.

'Those two are completely whacko', said his father.

'Nutjobs', agreed his mother.

In the car on the ride home, Dylan found that his parents had cooled down on the idea of sending him to Grove Hills. A lot. They passed it off as respecting his wishes, and he decided to change the subject and ask them what they'd thought of the Lyndons. He got an insincerely complimentary response which could only mean one thing.

'They didn't like you, right?'

'I don't know why you always take such a negative attitude, Dylan', said his father.

'But they didn't like you, right, Mom?'

'Uhhh …'

'Wow. That bad.'

His parents did not try to involve him further in their own desultory conversation, leaving him free to wonder about what sort of goings-on Kris might have been involved in during the parental absence, and what sort of intervention Rod might have come up with. When they got back to Lawndale, they found Kris waiting expectantly for them in front of the house.

'Hi', he said in greeting, and Dylan was sure he heard a note of unease. Their parents returned Kris's greeting, and Kris said, 'Hi', again. 'Hi Dad. Hi Mom. Uh, hi Dylan. How'd your weekend go?'

Their parents muttered indistinct responses, but Dylan just gave Kris a laser-like stare.

'Well, everything's fine here in Lawndale!' Kris said. 'Uh, you don't have to pay any attention to, uh, it's nothing really, uh, that whole business, uh, with the police—'

'The police!' said their mother, her voice rising.

'The police!' said their father, his voice dropping.

Dylan silently thanked Rod for his coming-home present.